Best Indie Games on Steam
Games from smaller teams, independent studios, or creator-led development.
Browse all Indie →
1Terraria
- Players say: Explore a randomly generated 2D world, mine and craft gear, build a home, and fight increasingly dangerous monsters and bosses. Players like: Deep Gear Progression · Replayable Adventures · Creative Building
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Dig, fight, explore, build! Nothing is impossible in this action-packed adventure game. Four Pack also available!
May 16, 2011
In this game, you can…
- kill one world-changing boss and watch new biomes appear, new ores rise up, and the whole map turn into a deadlier version of itself.
- hunt down specific triggers to summon absurd bosses, like catching a rare worm just to call up a sea monster that can wipe you.
- fight a boss rush that starts with a cult leader, escalates into world-invading pillars, and ends with a final boss dropping in immediately after the last pillar falls.
- build a tiny shelter before night, then hold out until dawn against monsters that suddenly flood the surface.
- dig so deep you stumble into giant underground landmarks like beehives, buried pyramids, and hidden mushroom biomes.
- build a custom arena with platforms and buffs, then use it to fight bosses on your own terms instead of wherever you happen to meet them.
- build a hotel-like tower of houses to attract dozens of NPC residents, then watch them move in and sell new gear and services.
2Stardew Valley
- Players say: After inheriting an overgrown farm, grow crops, explore mines, fish, and build relationships at your own pace. Players like: Relaxing, Flexible Pace · Varied Farm Activities · Comforting Town Relationships
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You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley. Armed with hand-me-down tools and a few coins, you set out to begin your new life. Can you learn to live off the land and turn these overgrown fields into a thriving home?
Feb 26, 2016
In this game, you can…
- marry someone with the exact salad you found in a trash can.
- build an 8-player farm together and even tweak the group profit split for a harder run.
- spam bombs in a monster-filled cavern to blast straight through floors for loot.
- run the mines in co-op, with one person fighting monsters while the other grabs ore and bolts.
- restore a run-down community center to reshape the whole town, or buy into a big corporation instead.
- ignore farming and still build a whole life by fishing, mining, foraging, cooking, and specializing into different work paths.
- befriend townspeople by learning their schedules, catching them at dawn, and steadily unlocking personal cutscenes and secrets.
- turn an overgrown inherited farm into a working homestead by clearing debris, planting crops, upgrading tools, and expanding your setup.
3Euro Truck Simulator 2
- Players say: Drive cargo-laden trucks between European cities, master long-haul routes, and grow from hired driver into a fleet owner. Players like: Relaxing Long Drives · European Route Exploration · Company Growth
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Travel across Europe as king of the road, a trucker who delivers important cargo across impressive distances! With dozens of cities to explore, your endurance, skill and speed will all be pushed to their limits.
Oct 12, 2012
In this game, you can…
- practice alley-docking so much in-game that it carries over to real CDL-style trailer backing tests.
- join online convoys where a small bump can turn into a cross-country chase, or into a friendly honk-and-wave road trip with strangers.
- install major map mods and end up convoying through places like Iceland on custom roads with new physics and navigation.
- start with quick jobs, buy your first truck, take out loans, hire drivers, and grow into a multi-garage fleet that earns while you're out hauling.
- hammer down the highway with the speed limiter off, then sweat every speed camera and fine as you try to keep the delivery on time.
- reverse a full trailer into a tight loading bay and park it cleanly.
- cross a border and immediately deal with new road rules, new signage, and suddenly driving on the opposite side in the UK.
- haul everything from fuel and chemicals to oversized machinery and vehicles, then adjust how you drive to keep the cargo intact.
- tune in to live local radio stations as you drive and switch countries until the music and traffic rhythm sync up with the route.
4Phasmophobia
- Players say: Investigate haunted locations alone or with up to three teammates, using ghost-hunting gear and observed behavior to identify spirits. Players like: Co-op with Friends · Ghost Deduction · Tense Investigations
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Phasmophobia is a 4 player online co-op psychological horror. Paranormal activity is on the rise and it’s up to you and your team to use all the ghost-hunting equipment at your disposal in order to gather as much evidence as you can.
Sep 18, 2020
In this game, you can…
- use your real voice to taunt a ghost, and it can hunt you for what you say.
- ask a ghost questions, hear it answer "close" and "die," then get strangled while your friends photograph the body for cash.
- trigger a cursed item that starts a deadly round of hide-and-seek while you listen from a hiding spot.
- insult a ghost inside the house, and it can instantly lock the door and start hunting your teammate.
- sit in the truck watching cameras and sensors while your friends investigate inside and try not to get hunted.
- take a photo of a ghost standing over a collapsing teammate, and sell that death moment as mission-paying evidence.
- watch a ghost ignore everyone else during a hunt, beeline to the basement to stare at you, then walk away.
5The Forest
- Players say: After a plane crash, search for your missing son while crafting shelter, exploring caves, and surviving cannibal mutants. Players like: Base Building · Co-op Chaos · Cave Exploration
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As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants. Build, explore, survive in this terrifying first person survival horror simulator.
Apr 30, 2018
In this game, you can…
- get knocked out, dragged through the forest, and wake up trapped in a cave you have to escape.
- watch cannibals scout your camp, retreat to call reinforcements, and come back as a coordinated raiding party.
- fight off a base siege where mutants smash your walls and one rips up a whole tree to use as a weapon.
- wake up after a plane crash and hunt for your kidnapped son by following clues through caves, boats, and survivor camps.
- build treehouses, cliff forts, and spiked walls, then have a falling tree smash your own structure to pieces.
- craft gear by gluing teeth to your axe, wearing bones as armor, and turning skulls and bodies into lamps and defenses.
- creep through pitch-black caves, squeeze through flooded passages, and surface missing gear with enemies still hunting you.
- turn the crash site into a long-term fortress, or build rafts and dock houses into a whole river-and-coast base network.
6Geometry Dash
- Players say: Tap in time to guide a geometric icon through music-synced hazards, mastering levels or building and sharing your own. Players like: Satisfying Level Clears · Precise Skill Challenges · Creative Community Levels
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Jump and fly your way through danger in this rhythm-based action platformer!
Dec 22, 2014
In this game, you can…
- build full animations, minigames, and even whole games inside the level editor using massive chains of objects and logic-like setups.
- dive into millions of community-made levels and keep finding completely different stages, from quick showcases to absurdly hard challenges.
- get thrown from normal jumping into rocket flight, then into upside-down gravity, without stopping, while squeezing through spike corridors on the beat.
- control a character that runs on its own, and restart the whole level the instant you mess up.
- tap mid-air orbs to launch yourself, hit portals that flip gravity or change speed, and swap into flight or teleport movement mid-run.
- drop and remove checkpoints in practice, drill the nastiest transitions, then go back and clear the entire level in one clean run.
- play levels where the jumps and gravity flips are timed to the soundtrack, so the song effectively tells you when to move.
7Hollow Knight
- Players say: Explore a ruined insect kingdom as a small knight, opening new routes with abilities and facing demanding 2D battles. Players like: Hand-Drawn Art · Haunting Soundtrack · Rewarding Exploration
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Forge your own path in Hollow Knight! An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style.
Feb 24, 2017
In this game, you can…
- jump into the minds of characters and enemies to hear their thoughts and dig up secrets that aren't told in normal dialogue
- learn boss fights with no health bar, reading their patterns until you can tell you're winning just from how they move
- take on a near-mythic platforming gauntlet of saws and spikes that can take hours, then reach a hidden payoff at the end
- get dropped into a kingdom with no map, then slowly piece together where to go by exploring, backtracking, and unlocking routes
- customize your build with charms that can completely change how you fight and move, then swap setups to make the same boss feel different
- chain movement upgrades into fluid traversal: wall jump, double jump, dash, then dash through danger and bounce off enemies to keep flying forward
- realize you've charted a massive interconnected world when the full map finally clicks into place and you can see how everything connects
8Unturned
- Players say: Scavenge a zombie-overrun world, craft gear and shelter, and try to survive alone or with others in co-op and PvP. Players like: Nostalgic Memories · Playing With Friends · Open-Ended Survival
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Unturned is an open-world zombie survival sandbox game. As one of the few not yet turned, you must fight to remain among the living.
Jul 7, 2017
In this game, you can…
- arrest other players with handcuffs and blindfolds instead of killing them, then stage prisoner captures on roleplay servers.
- find a tank, stock ammo for it, and use it to raid other players' bases.
- pose as a killed player, talk your way into their squad, ride in their truck, then shoot the front seats and take everything.
- build a silenced, scoped marksman gun from junk parts, including duct-tape optics and a campfire-made muffler.
- shoot out of vehicles, cram friends into a truck, and do drive-bys as a rolling squad platform.
- fortify rooftops and hillside bases with barricades and traps, or even build on a vehicle to make a moving fortress.
- recruit a beach full of kids into your crew, make yourself the leader, and roll up on bases as a growing mob.
- explore huge maps for hidden bunkers, military zones, and radioactive deadzones, then hop into custom workshop maps built for totally different modes.
9Valheim
- Players say: In a procedurally generated Viking afterlife, gather, craft, build, sail, and defeat biome bosses alone or with friends. Players like: Creative Base Building · Co-op Adventures · Atmospheric Exploration
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A collaborative exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally generated afterlife inspired by Viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!
Sep 9, 2026
In this game, you can…
- build a house with a fireplace and die if you forget ventilation.
- drag a cart full of ore across the wilderness, then end up building roads and supply routes to get it home.
- ship ore and even livestock across islands by building docks and running maritime trade routes.
- hunt sea serpents on purpose at night for food.
- watch enemies from different regions start fighting each other while you just stand back.
- build with structural support so big halls and towers need real beams, not just stacked walls.
- sail in a night storm, guide a friend's ship to port by torchlight, then sprint to the walls when a raid warning hits.
- tear down a bad build and get all the materials back, so you can rebuild freely.
10Don't Starve Together
- Players say: Gather, craft, and build in a strange wilderness, balancing food, sanity, and seasonal threats to survive alone or with friends. Players like: Co-op Survival Stories · Distinctive Hand-Drawn Art · Replayable Survival Loop
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Fight, Farm, Build and Explore Together in the standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve.
Apr 21, 2016
In this game, you can…
- get turned into a ghost when you die, then haunt specific items to resurrect yourself back into your body.
- steal a giant bird egg, keep it from overheating by the fire, and hatch it into a baby that follows you around.
- discover a friendly pig village, use it as a safe base, and then watch the pigs turn into werepigs later.
- turn a tiny camp into a real settlement with farms, spider dens, bee hives, and even a beefalo herd.
- build a trap-filled room just to protect a stolen egg from spiders until it finally hatches.
- bring friends back from death with things like a heart, an amulet, a touch stone, or the starting portal.
- watch a one-eyed giant arrive in winter with ground-shaking footsteps, smash your camp, and force you to survive in the dark.
