The Best Indie Games Of All Time

Summary

• Indie games have become more accessible thanks to cheaper technology, allowing even small teams or individuals to create great games on a shoestring budget.
• These indie games showcase creativity and unique spins on different genres, bringing fresh experiences to the game industry.
• Some standout indie games include Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Night in the Woods, and Hollow Knight, all offering exceptional gameplay and storytelling.

In the early 2000s, you would need a large studio to create a game; good computers were still very expensive and not as commonplace as they are today. With technology getting cheaper, the equipment needed to make a game is in most homes today.

Thanks to this, when someone wants to make a game, they no longer need a large budget or a huge team. Instead, a shoestring budget and a small team are more than enough to create a great game, with some even going at it alone and creating an entire game single-handedly.

Today, indie games are bigger than ever with hundreds coming out every year, all with a unique spin. Creativity is alive and well in the game industry thanks to the indie scene. Over the past couple of generations, we have seen a wealth of great indie games, with these being the stand outs.

A game’s inclusion on this list takes into account the overall impact the title has had in the video game industry as well as how greatly it’s been reviewed or commented upon by members of TheGamer’s staff. While there’s a degree of subjectivity over what constitutes the best, we take into account replayability, gameplay innovation, and narrative impact. Also, we love games.

Vampire Survivors

Describing what it’s like to play Vampire Survivors to someone who’s never seen it before is almost an exercise in futility. It’s hard to convey how gratifying yet simple it is to play it in gameplay terms. The best way I can think to describe Vampire Survivors is comparing it to popping open a bag of your favorite chips.

There’s no long-winded meal prep, it’s easy to just consume chip after chip, and once you’re done, you’ll usually find that you’re still hungry for more. With Vampire Survivors, it takes mere seconds to understand how to play, it’s remarkably easy to find yourself storming through run after run, and you’ll find that even after hundreds of hours of playing, you just won’t be able to get enough.

On the tin, you’re just controlling your ‘survivor’ through waves of increasing enemies, collecting passive items that will help you make it farther and farther. But to describe it as such is doing Vampire Survivors a disservice. It is a genius of enticing game design, and one of the best games to come out in 2022.

Outer Wilds

Not including one of the greatest games to ever include a time loop on this list is perhaps the biggest sin we’ve ever committed, but we’re rectifying it now. Entire essays could be written on the simple beauty and ingenious progression of Outer Wilds.

Your universe is set to die every 20 minutes, so you have that long to explore the various planets in your solar system looking for answers to why your star goes supernova and why you’re stuck in a loop experiencing it over and over again.

It’s the sort of game that if you’re not prepared for its type of puzzle-solving, it might not click with you. But if you go in with zero expectations, it’s the sort of unforgettable gaming experience that astonishes and delights. Outer Wilds is emblematic of the kind of unique game developers can make when they’re not necessarily bound by triple-A limits and considerations.

Cocoon

One of the greatest things about indie games is how often they are unafraid to push the boundaries of what we expect in a game’s mechanics or explore stories that usually go untold. 2023’s Cocoon doesn’t have a ground-breaking story, but it most certainly possesses some mind-bending mechanics.

The central focus of the game revolves around the concept of recursive worlds. Your little character uses “orbs” to solve puzzles, and each orb not only contains a whole world within it, it also allows you to utilize various abilities.

Our Jamie Latour sums up his praise of Cocoon’s puzzles in his review quite succinctly.

The puzzles of Cocoon are challenging but offer up some unique situations that require you to think hard about how to use an orb’s power to manipulate the levels and their environments.

One orb can make platforms out of green fog; another shoots out little lasers. So as you navigate through the alien, minimalist setting of Cocoon, you have to juggle the different abilities of each orb in your head as well as unlock new areas within them to progress.

It sounds complicated, but that’s the wonder of Cocoon. It takes this wildly complex notion and helps make it intuitive.

Risk Of Rain 2

You may not have heard of Hopoo Games’ masterpiece, but it is without a doubt one of the best roguelike experiences around. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it gives Hades a run for its money, if that says anything. Risk of Rain 2 combines every single aspect of what makes it a game to absolute perfection.

From the flow of combat to the item stacking to the music to the map design to the class synergy, everything just fits together.

This is my personal favorite game on this list, and I’d even go so far as to say it’s one of my favorite games of all time.

As you go on runs, whether you’re looking to just survive as long as possible or you’re seeking to rush to the Mithrix boss fight, you become mesmerized by how well it blends into one continuous experience. If you’re a fan of the roguelike genre at all and you haven’t played Risk of Rain 2, you need to rectify that immediately.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent catapulted the indie horror genre into the limelight. Though small scary games were continually making the rounds, Amnesia’s expert take on terror illuminated what amazing (and horrific) diamonds were lurking in the dark.

You creep through shadow-filled stone hallways, controlling a character with only vague recollections of who he is, all the while being hunted by an otherworldly monster. And a sanity mechanic that harms your character the more you look at what’s chasing you brilliantly forces you to willfully cower in order to protect yourself.

Night In The Woods

Night in the Woods follows Mae Borowski, a young adult who moves back in with her parents after dropping out of college. In the game, you explore Possum Springs, interacting with the people who inhabit the town while discovering the sinister secret behind the disappearance of Mae’s friend Casey Hartley.

Night in the Woods tells its narrative through Mae’s interactions with the characters and via her exploring the town’s landmarks every day. With her journey being the focal point of the game, it’s definitely the game to play if you prefer a narrative-based experience.

Cave Story

Developed by Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya, the Metroidvania Cave Story is hailed as one of the most influential indie video games, a feat that is especially impressive when you consider that it was made by one person.

In Cave Story, you play as an amnesiac robot named Quote, aiming to stop the Doctor from kidnapping the Mimigas for nefarious purposes. While the game has a linear story, it still has elements of exploration through its platforming sections, as you pick up different weapons to help with your journey through the caves.

Hades

In Supergiant Games’ roguelike Hades, you play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, who is leaving the Underworld to meet his mother Persephone against his father’s wishes. As Zagreus tries to reach the surface, he’s thwarted by his father’s minions. If you enjoy Greek mythology, you’re sure to enjoy how the characters are reimagined here.

Hades’ gameplay is directly tied to its narrative involving Zagreus’ escape, as after each “death”, you will have to attempt to escape once again, growing stronger with every subsequent run and unlocking new pieces of dialogue, buffs, and even weapons.

Hades also received critical acclaim for its storytelling and game direction, winning Best Indie at the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards and the Video Game Awards.

It was also adored here at TheGamer, earning a 5/5 from its reviewer.

Hades is, to put it plainly, a masterpiece. It has a refreshingly unique trajectory, tells a compelling story with an alluring cast, and has such a good handle on moment-to-moment play that it is never anything less than genuinely excellent.

Read our review here!

Hades 2

Are we seriously including something that’s still in Early Access on a list like this? Yes. Yes, we are. Hades 2 is already everything a sequel should be: bigger, better, and knowing how to double down on what makes its predecessor so beloved while adding enough twists to keep things fresh.

Supergiant Games has taken a keen look at Hades’ systems, from magic to map design and more, and it’s working toward something that may pull off that rarest of tricks: lightning in a bottle twice.

Stardew Valley

Inspired by the original Harvest Moon games, ConcernedApe’s cozy farming simulator Stardew Valley is one of the best games of its genre, thanks to its gameplay cycle. It involves you tending your farm, exploring the nearby town, and forming relationships with the people of Pelican Town.

In Stardew Valley, you inherit your late grandfather’s abandoned farm, and it’s up to you to restore it to its full potential – generating produce you can share with the local populace or use to complete the Community Center.

If you’re looking for a game to sink hundreds of hours into, this is the one to pick, whether you spend that time fishing at the beach, fighting monsters in the mines or romancing the eligible bachelors.

Many of us here at TheGamer have sunk hundreds of hours into Stardew Valley. When it came time to discuss whether it was worth a person’s time and money, you can bet we had positive things to say.

There’s not enough words to describe just how delightful Stardew Valley honestly is. It’s the cozy little farming life you’ve always envisioned.

Read more of our thoughts on Stardew Valley here!

Hollow Knight

Developed by Team Cherry, Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania that has received acclaim for its challenging but rewarding boss fights. In Hollow Knight, you play as the Knight, a Nail-wielding bug that’s called to the fallen kingdom of Hallownest to rid it of the infection.

As the Knight, you must explore the desolate kingdom in order to figure out how to stave off the infection plaguing the land and its inhabitants.

Ari Gibson’s incredible artwork, paired with the game’s score by Christopher Larkin, makes Hollow Knight a truly unforgettable gaming experience. While it might be hard to get used to the difficulty at first, it’s worth it in the end.

Enter The Gungeon

Enter the Gungeon is a rogue-like, top-down, run-and-gun, similar to games like Robotron or Smash TV. There are multiple characters, all with different attributes and skills to choose, with a massive collection of guns to find as you make your way through the game.

Each enemy in the game is a bullet of some kind and will fire colorful bullets at you in rapid succession that you must avoid or dodge through with your invincible roll. Once you die in Enter the Gungeon, you restart the entire game with none of the previous equipment you acquired.

Limbo

The entirely black-and-white atmospheric Limbo is a puzzle platformer where you make your way through a dark, dank forest and industrial town in order to return to your sister. You cannot attack, but instead complete puzzles to progress through the game and take out a massive spider that is stalking you.

Despite the game’s ambiguous nature, some fan theories on the ending have been enormously saddening to consider.

Once you have completed Limbo, and finally find your sister, you are set right back to the beginning of the game to relive it all over again because, as the game states, you are in Limbo.

Hotline Miami

The dark, weird atmosphere, trippy music, and mysterious calls from an unknown source make Hotline Miami feel like an odd fever-dream. You are called and given cryptic messages that indicate who you must take out next. The fast-paced, one-hit combat, along with the music and art style, put you in a trance of sorts.

Hotline Miami offers many masks, all with different perks that will help you when completing missions. There is a story in the game, but it isn’t willing to just give it up; you will have to read through each message carefully to uncover the game’s premise.

Crypt Of The Necrodancer

Take the classic dungeon crawler, add elements of a rhythm game, and you will have some idea of how Crypt of the Necrodancer plays. There is a dance track always going in the background, and you must time each movement and attack to the beat.

Another title in the series, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, is Cadence of Hyrule. It takes the gameplay found in Crypt of the Necrodancer and brings it into the world of The Legend of Zelda.

Undertale

Undertale wears its influences on its sleeve. If you are not familiar with the Super Nintendo classic Earthbound, you may not be aware of just how much Undertale borrows from it thematically and aesthetically, while still having a personality all its own.

Undertale was created by one person, Toby Fox, and plays like an old-school JRPG but with a twist, you do not have to actually kill anyone – instead, you can “subdue” your opponent through a series of comedic actions or words.

Undertale has a lot of heart, and is most assuredly one of those games that should be on everyone’s to-play list, no matter what your preferred genre is.

Darkest Dungeon

If you are into Lovecraftian mythology, Darkest Dungeon is a must-play. You play through a somewhat typical turn-based RPG that emphasizes the order of your team with some characters being better in the front, back or middle – but on top of managing your team’s health, you must also manage their sanity.

The very sight of the eldritch abominations you encounter will drive your party mad, resultingt in their stats reducing. Darkest Dungeon is very hard and will take a lot of knowledge and planning in order to make it through the night.

Spelunky

In Spelunky, you must make your way down a mine, seeing stranger and stranger things as you progress. You are equipped with a limited number of ropes and bombs, which you must use to progress through randomly generated levels that become tougher the deeper you go.

Each level in Spelunky has four parts; you must go through all four parts with supplies three separate times in order to open a shortcut to that portion of the mines. However, as the game progresses, it demands that you go through each stage in succession with one life to truly beat the game.

Braid

The time-based puzzler Braid is an early indie game that set a standard of quality for future titles. In Braid, you have the ability to turn back time; this is useful for those jumps you didn’t quite make but is also at the center of most of the game’s puzzles.

The deeper you get into the game, the more time-related elements are added to puzzles. As you make your way through Braid, you uncover a cryptic story about nuclear weapons disguised as a love story.

Cuphead

Cuphead is a run–and–gun that focuses mostly on multi-stage boss battles and has the occasional run-and–gun, bullet-hell stages.

One of the most prominent things about Cuphead is its art style. It has the aesthetic of an old 1920s cartoon, with music to match. Each boss is incredibly well animated, with the game as a whole being about as much fun to watch as it is to play.

I’d even say it’s better to watch someone else play it, because watching the rage at those numerous yet inevitable deaths is definitely better observed than experienced.