The video game industry is bloated with AAA blockbusters every year, and for the most part, these are all the games that fans play. It is difficult to
The video game industry is bloated with AAA blockbusters every year, and for the most part, these are all the games that fans play. It is difficult to argue, because the amount of time and money creates such a expansive experience on a grand scale and so much content to enjoy, such as Red Dead Redemption 2. However, indie games offer more creativity, agency, passion, and original content, which is why the genre keeps getting more popular.
Indie is low for independent, with most of the games being on a smaller budget and produced in-house rather than having funding from a huge studio or being published by someone else. The definition is changing, but for the most part, fans can tell what an indie game is by vibes alone. This list will rank the ten greatest indie games of all time based on gameplay, design, art, creativity, influence, popularity, fan opinion, critical acclaim, and overall quality.
10
‘Journey’ (2012)
Journey-video-gameImage via Sony Computer Entertainment
Indie games have a lot of unique concepts, and one of the most refreshing is Journey, an adventure game where players travel through a expansive desert. While exploring the space, which also includes a canyon and a giant mountain, players piece together the ruins and history along their journey.
While it may feel like one of the best open-world video games ever, Journey is a linear adventure, but it uses its level design to create this feeling. As opposed to typical action and drama, Journey is a melancholic adventure that evokes profound emotions of wonder and amazement. Its art style and visuals are absolutely gorgeous, accentuating the emotional power of this brilliant but underappreciated title.
9
‘Stardew Valley’ (2016)
Stardew-Valley-EmilyImage via Proprietary Engine
Most of the indie games on this list are fairly well-known, but one of the most celebrated is Stardew Valley, the iconic life simulator. When players inherit a farm, they spend their time growing crops, mining, exploring, tending to the fields, and building a relationship with the local residents, all with the goal of restoring the valley.
Maybe the most impressive thing about Stardew Valley is that it was made entirely by one person, Eric Barone, highlighting its significance as an indie title. The satisfying gameplay loop has players mining, farming, and exploring, slowly building the community from the ground up. The progression system is also well-designed, giving players full freedom to do what they want and literally reaping what they sow.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
The Matrix
Mad Max
Blade Runner
Dune
Star Wars
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.
APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it.
BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don’t keep you alive.
CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who’s pulling the strings.
DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it.
EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can’t fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don’t need resources — you can generate them.
BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it.
CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on.
EShips and credits. The galaxy is huge — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re straightforward about what you’re actually afraid of.
AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant.
BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left.
CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you’re a problem, you’re already out of time.
DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn’t even know I was playing.
EThe Empire tightening its grip until there’s nowhere left to run.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it.
BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better.
CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy.
DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can’t beat a system you refuse to understand.
EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — tight, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is straightforward.
CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions.
DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand.
EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire’s attention rarely reaches.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
AA tight crew of believers who’ve seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose.
BOne or two people I’d trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks.
CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice.
DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last.
EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
AI won’t harm the innocent — even the ones who’d report me without hesitation.
BI do what I have to to protect the people I’ve chosen. Everything else is negotiable.
CThe line shifts depending on who’s asking and what’s at stake.
DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people’s future, even if it’d aid now.
ESome lines, once crossed, can’t be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it.
BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving.
CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out.
DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations.
EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else’s boot.
REVEAL MY WORLD →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t aid but notice the seams in things.
- You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
- You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
- You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
- The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are difficult to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
- You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
- You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
- You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
- In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
- You read people accurately, keep your circle miniature, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
- In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
- You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
- In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
- Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
- You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
- Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
- In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is expansive, deafening, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
- You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
- You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
- You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
- In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
8
‘Hollow Knight’ (2017)
A bug wearing a robe in a forest in Hollow KnightImage via Team Cherry
2D indie platformers are a dime a dozen, meaning many get crowded in with the rest, but only a select few separate themselves from the others, including Hollow Knight. Players control a bug-like character in the Kingdom of Hallownest, which is plagued by a mysterious infection that is turning the bugs evil, leading the character to fight the deity responsible for the chaos.
The sequel was worth the wait, but it still isn’t better than the original, which remains at the pinnacle of 2D platformer games. Hollow Knight is the gold standard of up-to-date metroidvanias, using a tight design that makes exploring similar areas feel fresh and rewarding. With some of the best art in video game history, Hollow Knight is visually stunning and fun to play.
7
‘Inside’ (2016)
Light focused on a boy walking in a line of people in InsideImage via Playdead
Playdead is an iconic game studio, but fans are still waiting for their next effort, especially since their last one, Inside, is one of the best indie games. When players escape a mysterious facility, they must make their way through the dim laboratory that seems to be experimenting on people. But more dangers await players the further they go into the facility.
Lighting is an critical but underrated design tool, and Inside understood that, using it to facilitate the design and guidance. Not only does it work for the gameplay, but the lighting actually enhances the eerie vibe and setting. The atmospheric tension is dense, using its environmental storytelling to expand upon its dim narrative without being heavy-handed, simply letting players experience it.
6
‘Hades’ (2020)
Zagreus in the underworld in HadesImage via Supergiant Games
The recent sequel is just as critically acclaimed, but the first Hades is an original concept that kicked off the series. Zagreus is the son of Hades, who spends his days trying to escape Hell and his father. As he attempts to get to Olympus and learn the secret of his hidden mother, Persephone, he must constantly try to escape, slowly getting further each attempt.
While it didn’t win, Hades was a Game of the Year candidate, proving that it can spar with the heavyweights the medium has to offer. It features some of the best roguelike gameplay ever, using multiple weapons to aid players experiment and learn what they like. However, Hades also solves the biggest issue of roguelikes, narrative progression, by making the mechanics part of the story and modern lore being revealed with each attempt.
5
‘Undertale’ (2015)
Undertale-Video-GameImage via Toby Fox
This list features the greatest indie games of all time, but it also has the most iconic indie game, Undertale. When a human child falls into the Underground, a subterranean realm where monsters are banished, they must navigate this fascinating world with humanized creatures, deciding when to fight and when to utilize peace to escape.
The morality system adds an extra layer of gameplay, making combat more engaging, as players need to actually think before they attack. Each choice matters, and players face considerable consequences for their actions, making the morality system even more crucial. Undertale became a staple of the indie genre because of its deeply personal story and imaginative gameplay.
4
‘Celeste’ (2018)
Celeste-Video-GameImage via Extremely OK Games
As mentioned, the indie genre isn’t low of 2D platformers, and standing at the peak of it all is Celeste. Wanting to prove something to herself, the character climbs the titular mountain, facing off against all of its enemies and mysteries, including an evil doppelgänger of herself.
What is so great about indie games is that they feel personal and relatable, bursting with thematic resonance and critical themes. Celeste reinforces its motifs and messages about depression, mental health, and anxiety through the design, highlighting personal struggle. It is a gruelling climb to the top, but that challenge is well worth the reward, with players going through that journey alongside the character.
3
‘Disco Elysium’ (2019)
Fully immersing oneself in the game is a key attraction of RPGs, with players embodying the roles they were given, and one of the greatest is Disco Elysium. Playing as an amnesiac detective, players must keep themselves composed while investigating a political murder with sedate implications, as well as piece together their own fragmented memory.
Most RPGs utilize typical loot and leveling systems, but Disco Elysium adopts a unique gameplay style where combat stems from discussion, with players using their multiple personalities. This novel approach helped it become one of the greatest RPGs of all time, especially since it boasts well-written dialogue. Disco Elysium’s narrative is also elaborate, thematic, political, and deeply personal, making it a must-play indie experience.
2
‘Outer Wilds’ (2019)
outer-wilds-echoes-of-the-eye-social-featuredImage via Mobius Digital
Every video game has a gameplay loop, but some titles go a step further by making the gameplay a loop. Outer Wilds has players controlling an astronaut in an unexplored region of space, but every 22 minutes, time resets. Using what they learned in the previous loop, they must slowly progress further and learn what mysteries the galaxy and its residents hold.
Some fans debate the claims that Outer Wilds is an indie because, while it was made by Mobius Digital, it was published by Annapurna Interactive. Either way, this game is a true masterpiece that takes a different approach to progression, basing it around knowledge rather than locks and keys or skills. Exploration, experimentation, and curiosity take priority, creating an adventure of a lifetime that is surreal and full of sci-fi wonder.
1
‘What Remains of Edith Finch’ (2017)
A person swinging in front of a lake in What Remains of Edith FinchImage via Giant Sparrow
Like a few other entries on this list, fans are still waiting for the next game by Giant Sparrow, considering their last effort, What Remains of Edith Finch, is the best indie game of all time. The titular character returns to her family home years after Edith’s mother left with her because of the curse that will claim the lives of every member of the Finch family, hoping to learn the cause of it.
As the player explores each family member’s history, they utilize modern mechanics that relate to the narrative, offering varied gameplay that keeps it fresh and engaging. A video game perfect from start to finish, What Remains of Edith Finch arguably has the best narrative design, weaving original gameplay with a thought-provoking plot to create a relevant, immersive, and heavy-hitting story. It is a profound look at grief, proving that video games are, in fact, art.
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