The best indie games of the last 5 years
Why the indie scene matters more than ever, and the games that prove small teams can compete with the biggest studios.
Mira Voss
February 2, 2026
Hades and Hollow Knight
Hades (Supergiant): the roguelike that finally crossed over. Ran the Game of the Year shortlist.
Hollow Knight (Team Cherry): Metroidvania of the decade. Hand-drawn, melancholic, vast. Three people made it.
Stardew Valley and Disco Elysium
Stardew Valley: one developer, six years, $30M+ in sales. Reignited the farming-sim genre on his own.
Disco Elysium: detective RPG with no combat. Pure dialogue and skill checks. Won a Best Narrative award and earned its place in the canon.
Slay the Spire and the rising tide
Slay the Spire essentially created the modern deck-building roguelike subgenre.
Honorable mentions: Vampire Survivors (one developer, took the world by storm), Inscryption, Dredge, Cocoon, Animal Well — the indie scene is producing more must-plays than triple-A.
People also ask
Why are indie games so good now?+
Tools (Unity, Unreal, Godot) are free. Steam removed publisher gatekeeping. A small team with a clear vision can compete with 200-person AAA studios.
How much do these cost?+
$15–25 each. Most go on regular sales. Far better value-per-dollar than $70 AAA releases.
Where to find new indies?+
Steam Next Fest demos, Game Pass indie spotlight, /r/IndieGaming on Reddit. New gems drop every month.