Top 38 Indie Games of the 2020s

By YPB TeamOct 23

Tiny teams, big swings: roguelikes, cozy oddities, horror experiments, and a few breakouts nobody saw coming.

1
Balatro
A 2024 poker-inspired roguelike deckbuilder that became a surprise global hit.
1000pts
2
Hades
Supergiant's 2020 roguelike about Zagreus fighting out of the Greek underworld.
793pts
3
Cult of the Lamb
A 2022 roguelike where you build a cult as a possessed lamb.
638pts
4
Signalis
A 2022 survival horror game inspired by PS1 classics and Evangelion.
606pts
5
Sea of Stars
Sabotage Studio's 2023 turn-based RPG inspired by 16-bit classics.
585pts
6
Tiny Glade
A 2024 relaxing castle-building toy with no goals.
569pts
7
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Sandfall Interactive's 2025 turn-based RPG with a Belle Epoque fantasy setting.
529pts
8
Stray
BlueTwelve's 2022 adventure played as a cat in a cyberpunk city of robots.
483pts
9
Phasmophobia
A 2020 online co-op ghost-hunting game that exploded on streaming.
483pts
10
Inscryption
Daniel Mullins' 2021 card-battling roguelike wrapped in escape-room horror.
483pts
11
Dredge
A 2023 fishing adventure that slides into Lovecraftian horror.
483pts
12
Ultrakill
A 2020 retro-style first-person shooter built around style and blood.
483pts
13
Pizza Tower
A 2023 frantic platformer with a hand-drawn, cartoon-chaos style.
483pts
14
Unpacking
A 2021 zen puzzle game that tells a life story through moving boxes.
483pts
15
Vampire Survivors
A 2022 minimalist survival game that kicked off the bullet-heaven wave.
433pts
16
Chants of Sennaar
A 2023 puzzle adventure about deciphering several invented languages.
433pts
17
Cassette Beasts
A 2023 monster-collecting RPG where you fuse creatures together.
433pts
18
Spiritfarer
A 2020 cozy management game about ferrying spirits to the afterlife.
432pts
19
Citizen Sleeper
A 2022 narrative RPG about a digital consciousness on a space station.
375pts
20
Brotato
A 2022 arena shooter roguelite starring a potato with many guns.
375pts
21
Animal Well
Billy Basso's 2024 atmospheric puzzle-platformer packed with secrets.
375pts
22
Loop Hero
A 2021 deckbuilding strategy game where you lay out the world as the hero loops.
375pts
23
Valheim
A 2021 Viking survival game that sold millions in early access.
309pts
24
Hades II
Supergiant's sequel following Melinoë's fight against the Titan of Time.
309pts
25
Blue Prince
A 2025 puzzle roguelike where you draft the rooms of a shifting mansion.
309pts
26
Schedule I
A 2025 open-world crime sim about running a drug empire.
309pts
27
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Team Cherry's long-awaited sequel starring Hornet, released in 2025.
309pts
28
Lethal Company
A 2023 co-op horror game about scavenging scrap on hostile moons.
309pts
29
Buckshot Roulette
A 2024 horror take on Russian roulette played with a shotgun.
233pts
30
Dispatch
AdHoc Studio's 2025 episodic superhero workplace comedy adventure.
233pts
31
Void Stranger
A 2023 puzzle game with deeply layered secrets, hidden behind a minimal surface.
233pts
32
Death's Door
Acid Nerve's 2021 action-adventure about a crow reaper.
233pts
33
Dave the Diver
Mintrocket's 2023 blend of ocean exploration and running a sushi restaurant.
233pts
34
Neon White
A 2022 speedrunning first-person card-platformer set in heaven.
144pts
35
Peak
A 2025 co-op climbing game about scaling a mountain with friends.
144pts
36
Cocoon
Jeppe Carlsen's 2023 puzzle adventure about worlds nested inside orbs.
144pts
37
Tunic
A 2022 isometric adventure about a little fox and a game manual you slowly decode.
0pts
38
Mouthwashing
A 2024 short psychological horror game about a crashed space freighter.
0pts