Top 10 Indie Games of 2025 – Indie Game Reviewer – The Best Indie Games

IndieGameReviewer.com’s team of writers presents its deeply debated and finally agreed upon list of top indie game picks released in 1.0 versions in 2025, another year that proved indie developers’ incredible capacity to move the medium forward and tell stories and create experiences in myriad ways. Enjoy. (special thanks to Infinity_Waltz for the assist in getting this beast under control.)

10. Asterism

Developer: Claire Morwood
Publisher: Claire Morwood

“Asterism bills itself as a ‘playable indie-rock concept album set in outer space,’ and it is that, and also the passion project of solo developer Claire Morwood, who wrote and performed all the music, created all of the visuals, and coded the game herself. Over the course of the game, you fly to different planets; each has its own music track, its own set of trippy visuals, and its own gameplay. You’ll experience a rhythm game, a SHMUP-like shooter, and a skill-and-action flying game, among others, but gameplay does not gate progress, and if you want to ignore the mini-games and just listen to the music, you can do that.

Notably, the imagery is not (all) created in a typical video game way: Morwood uses crochet, clay modelling, origami, and any number of other crafts to create the visuals for her game, in addition to some more typical CGI. The music is fantastic, the visuals are varied and amazing, and the relatively thin narrative keeps you moving through the game. You cannot get any more indie, creative, or stylish than this, and in a perfect world, this would be my absolute pick for indie game of the year.” ~Greg Costikyan

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam, Itch.io

9. StarVaders

Developer: Pengonauts
Publisher: Joystick Ventures, Playworks

“At first blush, you may think, as I did, that this Neo Memphis-style, mobile-toilet-sitting-vibe aesthetic game would be another annoying Space Invaders revival but with deck-building! Rogue-like, too, am I right?

How wrong you would be to leave at that point, for what you will get instead is an incredibly delicious-feeling pseudo-console circa-2007 throwback with incredible ideas, satisfying combos, addictive progression, and way more depth than anything you’d expect from the box art. The early ’90s ambient techno chillax soundtrack is a perfect pairing for the arcade-style play, even while you are, yes, deck-building to handle the level puzzles (it’s not a puzzle game). If you are a board gamer, you know Under Falling Skies. Think Under Falling Skies meets Slay the Spire via chunky ’90s graphics.

Hovering over any card in your arsenal instantly shows its exact attack patterns on the board, and the endogenous teach is so natural that you’re up and going in seconds. And there is, mercifully, no real-time clock, but instead an overheat mechanism that flames you out as you lay down your card combos. Pure fun, flawlessly executed. Play it.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Read Indie-Game-Freak’s complete review of StarVaders.

Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Steam

8. The Farmer Was Replaced

Developer: Timon Herzog
Publisher: Metaroot (Timon Herzog)

“So…imagine a bullet hell except the bullets are Python scripts and the mobs are farm crops. Imagine it had an interface that made sense of this and worked at speed. Imagine you don’t really need to know Python, but afterwards, you are probably a lot closer than when you started.

But what really is interesting here is that in the age of vibe-coding and ML-leveraged pair-programming run parallel to node-based creative pipelines, you find a game that combines them all to create an addictive and fascinating arcade game for the mid-2020s. Where Zachlikes really crunch your noggin, there is something more…accessible(?) here, transforming these now common daily interactions for millions into a whimsical diversion.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Steam

7. No, I’m Not a Human

Developer: Trioskaz
Publisher: Critical Reflex

“Papers, Please meets John Carpenter’s The Thing is the stuff of nightmares, and it just so happens I’m into that. Possibly the ultimate paranoia simulator, the jagged visuals and surreal design conceal a game that’s all about what we’re willing to do to survive against an ever-present darkness and about the hard choices you sometimes have to make in the process. Good stuff; I just hope you have better luck against the game than Kurt Russell did against the chess computer.” ~TheOvermatt

“This won’t be the first Lucas Pope-like, but for No, I’m Not a Human, the devil is in the details. The innocuous teenagers lurking around the fence in the backyard, paying you no mind, like a tick from Village of the Damned. The jar of homemade kombucha that you’ll drink to restore your health after putting yourself to sleep midday with beer and cigarettes. The neighbors who insist you should all hang together to be safe against ‘them,’ ‘the outsiders.’

While the invaders are interestingly akin to the the oddities of the Solar Sentinels from card game 20 Strong – or at least a weird coincidence, I’m sure it is, but weird aliens from the sun? – it’s also a kind of parable about community, trust, kindness, xenophobia, isolation, paranoia. We can’t believe what we see, can’t trust what we’re told, yet we will really need each other to get through the night. Eerie as hell, using deliberately spartan graphics and mechanisms to reflect the stark pseudo-Eastern bloc setting. Worldbuilding so thick you could eat it with a slab of crusty bread for breakfast. Enjoy your nightmares.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

6. Drop Duchy

Developer: Sleepy Mill Studio
Publisher: The Arcade Crew

“When we were kids, we’d plonk down in front of our NES and play Tetris for hours, rotating a random shape from a fixed set and slamming it down to the bottom to score max points. Drop Duchy takes the Zen art of block-dropping and turns it into a highly strategic 4D chess planning game: each tetromino is terrain or a building, completed lines harvest resources instead of clearing, and your deck decides what tools you can put on the board next.

The UX is ridiculously readable: previews, highlights, and quick explanations let you keep your eyes on the grid (if you don’t do something, the tiles will auto-progress row by row like in Stacklands) until you make your choice. Also, you can scooch them around corners into seemingly lost nooks and crannies.

Not only that, but you can unlock five-plus factions, and you are also placing the enemy tiles, positioning them to their disadvantage, while you maximize your ability to build your army. Then, when you reach a threshold, your units and their units face off in a fascinating programmatic cascading effect that nets you or the enemy coming out on top. Then rinse and repeat (besides the deck-building and tech-trees that will evolve your tactics).

The juice and sound effects are amazingly done, ensuring that every action has bursts of feedback and satisfying impact when a placement pays off. Branching choices between encounters, upgrades that change your placement concerns, and enemy pieces entering the mix all force you to think ahead like a city builder and a tabletop optimizer, weighing space, economy, and the next fight every single drop. Tetromino fans, strategy fans, city-builder fans, and tabletop fans will have a lot to mine here, because the game rewards multi-vector, thoughtful placement over mere pattern-matching and offers a startling amount of depth.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

5. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream

Developer: River End Games
Publisher: Nordcurrent Labs

“Made by a small team of pro-grade industry ex-pats, Eriksholm features deep storytelling, worldbuilding, and character development. There is a huge generosity of vocal performances; NPC barks aren’t throwaways but always append to the backstory and socio-economic context, the pathos of those handling the pandemic, and the industrialization of their once-handmade culture.

The physics of cranes and bridges, all of the animations, the beautiful shaders, the game optimization, the writing, the puzzles, the cleverly timed patrols with their well-broadcast lines of sight/alertness/and aural range, the interactive environments, the stealth timing…it’s a true masterclass of tension and release. Watching a friend play it and squealing as they play hide-and-seek with the patrollers while alternately running and creeping through the obstacle course of occlusion and noise-making terrain was a core holiday experience. Did I mention it is a gob-smackingly beautiful winding world to explore?” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

4. Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist

Developer: Adglobe, Live Wire
Publisher: Binary Haze Interactive

“2021’s Ender Lilies was a fantastic entry in the Metroidvania genre from a first-time developer, but the sequel ups the ante considerably with a much more developed story that gamifies the very experience of powering up your character. The bosses you encounter throughout the game all have a significant connection to the story surrounding young protagonist Lilac, and being able to add them to your repertoire after freeing them from madness helps spread the game’s message of there being hope even in the darkest of settings.

Hot take: this absolutely beats Silksong for my Metroidvania of the year, and it’s not even close.” ~TheOvermatt

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft Xbox X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

3. The Séance of Blake Manor

Developer: Spooky Doorway
Publisher: Raw Fury

“This follow-up from the team behind Darkside Detective is an unexpectedly dark turn from their typical wry humor. It is also a masterwork that will be studied for years to come. An awe-inspiring cast of characters – each with a clandestine motivation, set of connections, and backstories – populates a beautifully wrought mansion rife with clues to connect shadowy operations.

You get the pleasure of exploring at will, ticking the clock forward only when you choose to explore a new cue, link, lead. Dark dreams will come for you between the long days, and a constant sense of dread will be invoked amidst the cel-shaded 3D world in this deliciously rich and evocative play. A true feast.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Windows PC, Linux, Steam

2. Absolum

Developer: Guard Crush Games, Supamonks
Publisher: Dotemu

“While Absolum wows with its gorgeous visuals, stellar music, and tight, satisfying beat-’em-up combat, what makes it really special is how it weaves a Rogue-like structure into what’s normally a very linear genre. Quests stretch across runs and require you to really go out of your way to take different routes across playthroughs, and it’s shocking just how many surprises the game continues to throw at you even after sinking hours into it.

Add in a genuinely fascinating fantasy world that I wish I got to experience even more of, and this is one of the easiest recommendations I’ve made all year. More Rogue-’em-ups, PLEASE!” ~TheOvermatt

“This one hooked me. Initially skeptical of just another Golden Axe clone, I realized that Absolum uses arcade brawlers the same way Monster Train uses cards or Darkest Dungeon uses party management: as the skeleton of a complex but engaging system that’s far more than what it initially appears.” ~Infinity_Waltz

Read TheOvermatt’s complete review of Absolum.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Windows PC, Steam

1. Blue Prince

Developer: Dogubomb
Publisher: Raw Fury

“It is brutally difficult to pick a ‘best game’ of any year. When something like Blue Prince comes along, however, it shakes up the industry. Your dev friends’ Discord keeps popping up notifications that they’re back to playing it some more. Some of them tell you that after 75 hours of play, they are dissatisfied with the ending they got. Some complain it is too complicated, broken, unfinished, repetitive. At the same time, others hide their revelations behind spoiler blackout bars. Clearly, something is going on here.

This clever puzzle has you optimizing and exploring and chaining and retrying to find the path to an elusive room – J.J. Abram’s mystery box, Locke’s light in the tunnel, Forest Fenn’s legendary hidden treasure. You may never get there. You may be dissatisfied with the early ending you get. You may get too creeped out by the theater of the mind this moody and numinous walkabout evokes. Or you may, as some have, find a way to outsmart your eccentric great-uncle’s labyrinth and claim your place as the rightful successor and heir to the secret knowledge.

What fascinates me is how it combines at its surface a Myst and Gone Home style of exploration, with first-person, modular environments that you sequence into a matrix very much like a tabletop game, where your stack of tiles is the timer, along with adaptive cohesion of ideas.

Outer rooms get views of the various lawns, minor updates to each room on each playthrough, and give you a little bow on the back at the end of a run, naming your type of structure (for example, a cottage, nook, or manor, etc.). While you can stay in each to explore its contents as much as you like, each new door you open and room you choose thereof – in fact, any time you change rooms at all – will subtract time from your energy total for the day. Run out of said energy, and you start over on a new day. Some day, it’s better to just call it quits and start over.

Curiosity may cloud your judgement, and should you fail, or not get the cards/rooms you wish for, you will start anew, rebuilding the mansion procedurally, trying to find the path to the mythic elixir. It works on multiple cognitive layers simultaneously and creates a reflection of your grit for you to ponder. Each room will slowly teach you its boons and banes, and there are many games available for you in this box, should you choose to persevere. It would, by the way, make a fantastic tabletop game.

Developer Tonda Ros came from a background in film, self-taught in game development, and created the initial prototype that matured into this strange wonder, which will undoubtedly set a keystone in the timeline and spawn many imitators.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

“I don’t even know how human beings designed this game. You know you’re in for a wild ride when the Steam page quotes not review outlets, but the designers of Inscryption, Balatro, and Tunic. Go in cold and get ready to be blown away.”~TheOvermatt

Platforms: Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

STAFF PICKS

TheOvermatt’s Pick: Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo

Developer: Pocket Trap
Publisher: PM Studios

“A game by people who wear their love for both The Legend of Zelda and the Game Boy Advance on their sleeve, Pipistrello is the kind of simple yet brilliant dungeon crawler we rarely see outside the indie space anymore. It’s one thing that the dungeons are expertly designed and the new tools you unlock make puzzles and combat a blast, but the game also just oozes personality from every aspect. Its story is also shockingly impressive, with dialogue that’s genuinely funny and an actually well-thought-out commentary on the perils of rampant capitalism. If you played Minish Cap as obsessively as I did back in the day, this is a must-buy.” ~TheOvermatt

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, Steam

Amanda Bower’s Pick: Threefold Recital

Developer: Everscape Games
Publisher: Indienova

“This narrative-driven adventure follows three protagonists, all of whom have miraculously achieved human form. A wolf monk, a fox priest, and a snake artist are woven together to unveil the conspiracy that lingers in Bluescales. Threefold Recital’s rich story is embedded with fun character development, charming moments, and unexpected twists. Though the pacing is sluggish at times, I love a good mystery, and this endearing visual novel kept me hooked on its line from start to finish.” ~Amanda Bower

Read Amanda Bower’s complete review of Threefold Recital.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

Infinity_Waltz’s Pick: The Horror at Highrook

Developer: Nullpointer Games
Publisher: Outersloth

“TheOvermatt’s review of this horror-themed, board game-inspired release covers most of what makes it great – the way it recreates the feel of tabletop favorites, the mood, the way it gradually eases the player into its mechanics and its compelling narrative alike – but what grabbed me almost as much is how good it just feels to play. The UI, the little pairings of clicking sounds and gliding animations, the tiny details that go into the experience of playing a game and can all too often create a minor sense of hard-to-place annoyance…Nullpointer Games gets them all perfect here. It’s just a delight to play, even as you’re descending deeper into madness and paranoia the longer you stay in Highrook Manor.” ~Infinity_Waltz

Read TheOvermatt’s complete review of The Horror at Highrook.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

FICTiVTRUiSM’s Pick: Home

Developer: Mr.Spoon
Publisher: Mr.Spoon

“Home is a clear example of why indie games matter. They don’t necessarily have to aim to exist in an established popular genre like a Rogue-like or a Metroidvania. Sometimes they arise from a place of feeling. The visual novel genre is unique in that its primary focus is its writing, and Home nails the drama, the pain, and the feelings of hope it aims to convey. What makes it shine the most is its vulnerability. Based on the real events in the developer’s life, it’s a raw and emotional musical story that pulled on my heartstrings. It’s a game that deserves more attention and one I won’t soon forget.” ~FictiveTruism

Read FICTiVTRUiSM’s complete review of Home.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

Indie-Game-Freak’s Picks: Despelote

Developer: Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena
Publisher: Panic

“Despelote isn’t a football game in the FIFA sense, but it serves as the armature for your journey as an eight-year-old in early-2000s Quito, Ecuador, kicking a ball through school days and streets while you overhear adults, town gossip, and the country’s mood during the country’s World Cup qualifying run.

Sometimes you’re literally playing the soccer game on the TV while your parents talk in the living room watching it, sometimes you’re kicking the ball around at recess and overhear clandestine street banter, hearsay, and anthropological snippets in the native dialect, which nails what the game is really doing: immersing the participant in a view of a country that may not be often well-understood from the outside. But more importantly, it is a wonderland of ideas for how to approach interactive storytelling. A very special work.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, Mac, Steam

Indie-Game-Freak’s Picks: The Drifter

Developer: Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd
Publisher: Powerhoof

“I have to keep this short ’cause I’m way above my quota of and-anding exceptional games released in 2025. But Drifter, which easily could have been in any Game of the Year list, is one of the standouts. It is to point-and-click what uni is to gas station sushi: an intense, ultraviolent, yet startlingly humanized treatise of a man caught in an implausibly dark slipstream, discovering a wide variety of characters with rich backstories and socio-economic concerns along the way.

Don’t mistake that for some pedantic blue heart parade, though. This beautifully wrought pixel-art world is full of action and mystery, and though it may loop you through some time-based and other styles of puzzles until you get it right, the intensity of those moments will leave a beautiful scar in your memory and entrench itself in your list of greats in the oeuvre, thereafter.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows PC, Mac, Steam

Honorable Mentions

Survivalist: Invisible Strain

Developer: Bob
Publisher: Ginormocorp Incorporated

“This is included here because it is neither a staff pick, nor a sacrificial lamb, nor in the top ten. A little wonky, a little nuts, this exceptional work, second in a series, is an overly ambitious and often successful mix of base-building, fast zombie-dodging, life sim, branching narrative, open-world adventure, where a top-right frame shows your characters’ facial expressions, apart from the isometric top-down view of the world and mini-maps in other panels. Manage your inventory, manage your mood, manage your diabetes…this is a truly incredible work that has its diehard acolytes but has also left many wondering what on earth they are playing. Flawed, and moreso, brilliant.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Microsoft Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, Steam

Cabernet

Developer: Party for Introverts
Publisher: Akupara Games

“Cabernet is an ambitious, story-driven game about being a vampire. Its emphasis on player choice creates a narrative that is gripping and evocative. The idea of being a vampire is cool and all, but the real mystery comes from interpersonal relationships: what it would really mean for a vampire to exist alongside humans and other vampires in a small town and the messy situations that can occur because of it. It’s one of the best games of 2025, and it’s well worth your time.” ~FICTiVTRUiSM

Read FICTiVTRUiSM’s complete review of Cabernet.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft Xbox X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

Karma: The Dark World

Developer: Pollard Studio
Publisher: Wired Productions, Gamirror Games

“My god, where did this come from? I hate to make a dashed list of genre or title mashups to explain a game, but I have little space to cover this dark wonder, so take some Dark City, The Matrix, Dishonored, Bioshock, Terry Gilliam, and put it through a high-end Koei Tecmo filter, and you get a Lewis Carroll-esque treatise on surveillance capitalism, dystopian extropianism, and boiler-room noir. Aesthetically, it punches way above its weight class, and whether you want to call it an interactive movie, a stylish walkabout on a bad acid trip, or just a masterwork in dystopian immersion, it is a great ride. Play it.” ~Indie-Game-Freak

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

SACRIFICIAL LAMBS

Every year, there are a few incredible indie standouts we don’t include because they’ve already gotten more than enough attention to find audiences. Here are a few favorites from 2025:

Hades II

Developer: Supergiant Games
Publisher: Supergiant Games

“I spoke at length about this in my review, but in short, Hades II takes the masterful mix of narrative and action Supergiant managed to pull off in the first game, and hones the gameplay to a razor’s edge while also expanding it. There are more reasons to keep replaying than ever, and while the story might not hit some of the emotional highs of the first game, I think the sheer quality and variety each run through the worlds of the gods demonstrates more than makes up for it.” ~TheOvermatt

Read TheOverMatt’s complete review of Hades II.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Windows PC, Mac, Steam

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Developer: Sandfall Interactive
Publisher: Kepler Interactive

“I personally really struggle with whether or not this game should even be considered ‘indie’ by the same standards we hold other games we review to. What I do NOT struggle with, however, is saying that this stunning, heartfelt, incredibly well-designed piece of RPG art is the current frontrunner for my Game of the Decade, and the competition isn’t even close. This deserves the pile of accolades it’s gotten and even more, not just for what it does, but for what it represents: passion, dedication, and the will to create art on your own terms, even in an industry obsessed with chasing trends and pure profit. Shoot, maybe it is indie after all…” ~TheOvermatt

Platforms: Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

Dispatch

Developer: AdHoc Studio
Publisher: AdHoc Studio

“In Dispatch, you play as Robert Robertson, formerly the superhero Mechaman (until your supersuit was destroyed). You’ve got no inherent superpowers without your suit, so you take a job with the Superhero Dispatch Network, a company that people contract with to provide superhero support in case, say, supervillains show up to attack your business. Much of the game involves you looking at a map of Torrance, CA (a Los Angeles suburb) as people call in for SDN support, which can be anything from “My preschool class would love to talk to a superhero” to “Aliens are attacking a bridge over the river!,” and you choose from a team of a dozen superheroes, deciding who should respond.

They vary greatly by capabilities and personality; ideally, you send your buff combat types to fight the aliens and somebody really charismatic to talk to the kids, but over the course of a shift, your options may be slim, because everyone is already out in the field.

In part, this is canny game design: the developers didn’t have to implement an elaborate combat system, because all of that is implied, not shown, as you manage your team. But the meat of the game is essentially a Telltale-like visual novel in which you interact with other characters and make dialogue choices (there’s also a fairly complex hacking minigame). Dispatch shines in its narrative choices, voice acting, and the connections you make with your team and other characters. It is unquestionably one of the best-written and most emotionally impactful narrative games of the year.” ~Greg Costikyan

Read Greg Costikyan’s complete review of Dispatch.

Platforms: Sony PS5, Windows PC, Steam

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

Developer: Don’t Nod
Publisher: Don’t Nod

“Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is from Don’t Nod, the original creators of the landmark and much beloved Life Is Strange series. They no longer own that IP (because the game industry sucks) and did not develop more recent versions of the series. Lost Records is clearly their attempt to recapture the magic of Life Is Strange: a narrative game captured mainly in dialogue choices with some occasional stabs at deeper gameplay.

The game is played over two timeframes: the main characters as teen friends and then reconnecting in their 30s, reuniting in their hometown. The narrative has twists and shocking surprises enough to make the connection to Life Is Strange relevant, and if it doesn’t quite recapture the thrill of that game, it’s intriguing enough to merit your attention.” ~Greg Costikyan

Platforms: Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox X/S Series, Windows PC, Steam

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