# Top 38 Indie Games of the 2020s

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

*By YPB Team · Published October 23, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-38-indie-games-of-the-2020s*

---

## Current results (no votes yet)

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

Tags: games, 2020s, indie, pc