# The best indie games of all time

Games from small independent studios (or single developers) that critics and players rate highest: OpenCritic's all-time indie ranking combined with long-running community rankings.

- 1063 votes · 28 items
- Mar 12, 2026 · Poppy W.
- https://even.best/en/l/50/the-best-indie-games-of-all-time

## Top 25

1. **Hades** (73 · ▲84 ▼11) — Supergiant Games, 2020. OpenCritic's top indie game (94): a roguelike escape from the Greek underworld.
2. **Hollow Knight** (59 · ▲63 ▼4) — Team Cherry, 2017. A vast hand-drawn metroidvania in the fallen insect kingdom of Hallownest.
3. **Celeste** (50 · ▲57 ▼7) — Maddy Makes Games, 2018. Precision platforming up a mountain and a story about anxiety; OpenCritic 92.
4. **Undertale** (45 · ▲51 ▼6) — Toby Fox, 2015. An RPG where every monster can be spared, with a cult soundtrack.
5. **Journey** (42 · ▲45 ▼3) — Thatgamecompany, 2012. A wordless desert pilgrimage; OpenCritic 93 for its 2015 PS4 version.
6. **Stardew Valley** (40 · ▲52 ▼12) — Made by Eric Barone alone, 2016. Farming-life sim that has sold over 40 million copies.
7. **The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth** (35 · ▲37 ▼2) — Edmund McMillen and Nicalis, 2014. A dungeon-crawling roguelike with hundreds of items.
8. **Terraria** (34 · ▲40 ▼6) — Re-Logic, 2011. 2D sandbox of digging, building and boss fights, one of the best-selling games ever.
9. **Limbo** (33 · ▲37 ▼4) — Playdead, 2010. The black-and-white puzzle-platformer that kicked off the indie boom on Xbox Live Arcade.
10. **Inside** (30 · ▲39 ▼9) — Playdead, 2016. A bleak, wordless puzzle-platformer; OpenCritic 91.
11. **Hollow Knight: Silksong** (30 · ▲37 ▼7) — Team Cherry, 2025. The long-awaited sequel starring Hornet; OpenCritic 91.
12. **Outer Wilds** (28 · ▲32 ▼4) — Mobius Digital, 2019. Explore a solar system caught in a 22-minute time loop.
13. **Cuphead** (25 · ▲31 ▼6) — Studio MDHR, 2017. Boss-rush run-and-gun drawn like 1930s cartoons.
14. **Balatro** (25 · ▲28 ▼3) — LocalThunk, 2024. The poker-hand roguelike deck-builder made by one person.
15. **Braid** (23 · ▲29 ▼6) — Jonathan Blow, 2008. A time-rewinding puzzle-platformer and an indie milestone.
16. **Disco Elysium** (21 · ▲24 ▼3) — ZA/UM, 2019. A detective RPG with no combat, all dialogue and skill checks.
17. **Return of the Obra Dinn** (20 · ▲21 ▼1) — Lucas Pope, 2018. Deduce the fate of a ghost ship's 60 crew members; OpenCritic 89.
18. **Ori and the Will of the Wisps** (16 · ▲19 ▼3) — Moon Studios, 2020. A gorgeous metroidvania sequel; OpenCritic 90.
19. **Spelunky** (15 · ▲22 ▼7) — Derek Yu, 2008 (HD remake 2012). The roguelike platformer that popularised procedural levels.
20. **Fez** (14 · ▲21 ▼7) — Polytope Corporation, 2012. A 2D world that rotates to reveal its third dimension.
21. **Hotline Miami** (14 · ▲18 ▼4) — Dennaton Games, 2012. Ultra-violent top-down action with a neon synthwave soundtrack.
22. **Super Meat Boy** (13 · ▲22 ▼9) — Team Meat, 2010. Brutally hard and fast platforming with instant respawns.
23. **Bastion** (12 · ▲18 ▼6) — Supergiant Games, 2011. An action RPG with a narrator who reacts to everything you do.
24. **The Witness** (11 · ▲17 ▼6) — Thekla, 2016. Jonathan Blow's island of over 500 line puzzles.
25. **Dead Cells** (11 · ▲16 ▼5) — Motion Twin, 2018. A fast roguevania; its Queen and the Sea DLC scored 93 on OpenCritic.
26. **Pizza Tower** (9 · ▲16 ▼7) — Tour De Pizza, 2023. A manic Wario Land-style platformer; OpenCritic 91.
27. **Neon White** (9 · ▲14 ▼5) — Angel Matrix, 2022. Speedrunning first-person platforming with demon-slaying cards; OpenCritic 89.
28. **FTL: Faster Than Light** (8 · ▲14 ▼6) — Subset Games, 2012. Manage a starship crew in a roguelike flight across the galaxy.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.