The best indie games on PC and Nintendo Switch
Small studios, big ideas: games made away from the big publishers, often bolder, more personal and more playful than the next sequel.
How to find games that really suit you: Select up to 5 games you have played and enjoyed. Playalike compares 36 traits such as combat, story and atmosphere and suggests games that hit exactly the same spot, even across genres.
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1 Stardew Valley
- Cosy, great for unwinding
- Distinctive, stylised art style
- Co-op or multiplayer
A relaxing farming sim with village life, friendships and a co-op mode.
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2 Hades
- Action-packed real-time combat
- Distinctive, stylised art style
- Runs that play out differently every time
Escape from the underworld as a roguelike with fast-paced combat and a story that grows with every run.
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3 Terraria
- Lots to discover
- Strong character progression
- Open world
A 2D sandbox adventure where you dig, build and craft while ever-tougher bosses unlock new gear tiers and biomes. Its huge item pool and hidden secrets make it a near-endless experience, especially with friends.
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4 Hollow Knight
- Lots to discover
- Distinctive, stylised art style
- Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)
A hand-drawn Metroidvania in a ruined insect kingdom full of secrets.
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5 Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
- Lots of humour
- Distinctive, stylised art style
- Sandbox with your own goals
A chaotic physics battle sandbox where you place wobbly units from eras ranging from the Stone Age to fantasy and watch them hilariously clash. Figuring out the perfect army on a tight budget meets glorious slapstick absurdity.
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6 Undertale
- Strong, story-driven narrative
- Choices with consequences
- Lots of humour
A charming indie RPG where every fight can be resolved without violence, blending turn-based menus with bullet-hell dodging. Its quirky humor, memorable monsters and a story that remembers your choices made it a cult classic.
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7 Garry's Mod
- Sandbox with your own goals
- Co-op or multiplayer
- Lots of humour
An endless physics sandbox on the Source engine where you spawn, weld and pose props, ragdolls and contraptions however you like. Its legendary status comes from countless community game modes like Trouble in Terrorist Town and Prop Hunt that deliver chaotic multiplayer fun.
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8 Slay the Spire
- Turn-based combat
- Tactical depth
- Cards and deck-building
A deckbuilding roguelike in which every run demands new card combinations and strategies.
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9 Vampire Survivors
- Strong character progression
- Runs that play out differently every time
- Action-packed real-time combat
A minimalist auto-attacking roguelite where you only steer while your weapons fire on their own, snowballing through clever upgrade synergies into a screen-clearing force against thousands of monsters. Short runs and constant unlocks make it wildly addictive.
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10 Celeste
- Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)
- Jumping and platforming
- Challenging difficulty
A precise platformer about climbing a mountain and overcoming inner fears.
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11 Subnautica
- Lots to discover
- Open world
- Sci-fi setting
Stranded on an ocean planet, you dive ever deeper into a gorgeous yet terrifying alien sea. You build bases and submarines while piecing together the planet's mystery, and the dark depths themselves become the real source of dread.
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12 Balatro
- Tactical depth
- Distinctive, stylised art style
- Cards and deck-building
An addictive poker roguelike where Jokers, card upgrades and wild synergies push your scores to absurd heights. Every run plays differently, and the hunt for the perfect build never gets old.
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13 RimWorld
- Economy and management
- Deep systems to master
- Sandbox with your own goals
A colony sim where an AI storyteller turns raids, famines and your settlers' personal dramas into unique, often darkly funny emergent stories. Its deep simulation and per-colonist management make every run unpredictable.
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14 The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
- Runs that play out differently every time
- Action-packed real-time combat
- Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)
A frantic top-down roguelike shooter where Isaac fires tears through randomly generated basements. Hundreds of items stack into wild combinations, making every run different and grotesquely strange.
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15 Hotline Miami
- Action-packed real-time combat
- Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)
- Dark, serious atmosphere
A brutally fast top-down shooter where one hit kills and every floor is mastered through rapid trial, error and instant restarts. Its neon visuals, pulsing synthwave soundtrack and unsettling, surreal story about violence make it unforgettable.
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16 Inside
- Dark, serious atmosphere
- Distinctive, stylised art style
- Lavish presentation
A wordless, oppressive puzzle-platformer in which a boy slips through a bleak dystopia, controlling bodies with his mind along the way. Masterful atmosphere and a disturbing finale make it unforgettable.
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17 Life Is Strange
- Strong, story-driven narrative
- Choices with consequences
- Dark, serious atmosphere
As photography student Max, you discover you can rewind time and dig into a disappearance in a sleepy coastal town, with your choices shaping friendships and fates. It's a heartfelt coming-of-age drama with an unforgettable indie soundtrack.
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18 Stray
- Sci-fi setting
- Lavish presentation
- Strong, story-driven narrative
You play a stray cat lost in a decaying, robot-inhabited neon city, climbing, sneaking and poking around to uncover what happened to it. Its charming feline interactions and dense cyberpunk atmosphere make this short adventure stand out.
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19 Dead Cells
- Action-packed real-time combat
- Runs that play out differently every time
- Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)
A fast, fluid 2D roguelite with Metroidvania structure, where tight, punchy combat and a huge arsenal of weapons make every run feel different. Permanent unlocks and new routes give you a real sense of progress even as you die again and again.
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20 Slime Rancher
- Cosy, great for unwinding
- Lots to discover
- Distinctive, stylised art style
As rancher Beatrix, you vacuum up adorable slimes on a distant planet, feed them and sell their plorts to expand your ranch. It pairs a laid-back farming loop with relaxed exploration of a colorful world full of secrets and new slime species.
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21 Lethal Company
- Co-op or multiplayer
- Playing together in co-op
- Lots of humour
You and your friends scavenge dangerous abandoned moons for scrap to meet the Company's quota. Proximity voice chat, lethal monsters and chaotic mishaps blend real tension with slapstick laughs.
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22 Deep Rock Galactic
- Action-packed real-time combat
- Co-op or multiplayer
- Sci-fi setting
Play as gruff space dwarves carving through fully destructible procedural caves with up to three friends, mining minerals and holding off massive alien swarms. Complementary classes, dry humor and a famously wholesome community make every dive a blast – Rock and Stone!
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23 Katana Zero
- Action-packed real-time combat
- Timing and reflexes matter (parrying, dodging)
- Dark, serious atmosphere
A blistering neo-noir action platformer where one hit kills and each room plays like a puzzle solved with your katana, slow-motion and deflected bullets. It's wrapped in a twisted, fragmented story with dialogue choices and a superb synthwave soundtrack.
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24 The Forest
- Dark, serious atmosphere
- Building and crafting
- Dread and tension
After a plane crash you build shelters and traps in a dense forest while tribes of cannibals stalk and attack you. Creepy mutant-filled caves and the mystery of your missing son drive the exploration, and it's best played with friends in co-op.
Not quite your taste?
Tell us your favourite games and we'll find recommendations that fit you exactly.
