Best Indie Games on Steam

Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated indie games.

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Zeno Clash Zeno Clash is an action/fighting game set in a punk fantasy world. The game is played from a first person perspective and the combat is generally up close and brutal. Experience a deep storyline set in a fantastic world.

Price -75% 2.53€
Rating 8.3
Release 21 Apr 2009
Cogs Cogs is a puzzle game where players build machines from sliding tiles. Players can choose from 50 levels and 3 gameplay modes. New puzzles are unlocked by building contraptions quickly and efficiently. Inventor Mode: Starting with simple puzzles, players are introduced to the widgets that are used to build machines — gears, pipes,...

Price -58% 2.11€
Rating 8.4
Release 14 Apr 2009
Braid This is the original version of Braid from 2009, which may not work well on newer systems. For an updated version of the game with nicer graphics, more levels and a large amount of developer commentary, see Braid, Anniversary Edition.

Price -79% 3.18€
Rating 9.1
Release 10 Apr 2009
And Yet It Moves And Yet It Moves is a puzzle-platformer, set in a unique world, made of ripped paper. Within the paper-collage you can jump, run and last but certainly not least: rotate the world. Learn how to apply the physical consequences of rotation to master the many tricky situations you may encounter.

Price 9.75€
Rating 6.8
Release 02 Apr 2009
Caster Dash across Scenic Locations destroying bug like creatures called the Flanx using 6 Unique Attacks that include Massive Terrain Deformation and High Speed Barrages of Energy Blasts!

Price 9.75€
Rating 7.7
Release 19 Mar 2009
The Path There is one rule in the game. And it needs to be broken. There is one goal. And when you attain it, you die.

Price 8.49€
Rating 7.5
Release 18 Mar 2009
The Maw The pinnacle of alien evolution, Maw is a cowardly fat blob concerned mostly with snacking and lounging. He can, however, absorb the traits of anything he eats, is virtually indestructible, and can grow to unlimited size. If he wasn't a danger to all life in the universe, he'd make the perfect pet.

Price -80% 1.99€
Rating 7.8
Release 09 Mar 2009
Penumbra Overture Penumbra: Overture is a first person survival horror game, emphasizing on survival and problem solving instead of mindless violence and gore.

Price 9.75€
Rating 8.7
Release 06 Mar 2009
Spectromancer A turn-based online fantasy card game. No character leveling, no grinding, no deck building - just 100% skill-based and fast-paced card battles!

Price 6.89€
Rating 8.1
Release 11 Feb 2009
Eschalon: Book I Eschalon: Book I is an old-school role-playing game that will take you across massive outdoor environments and deep into dozens of sprawling dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of who you are. It features a tile-built, turn-based game world where the result of absolutely every action is rolled, calculated or statistically...

Price Free to play
Rating 8.0
Release 10 Feb 2009
Dystopia Dystopia is a cyberpunk game with tense combat situations in a high-tech world spanned by computer networks. Playing as either Punk mercenaries, or Corporate security forces, the player will fight through the physical world to gain access, via jack-in terminals, to cyberspace.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.1
Release 06 Feb 2009
Penumbra: Black Plague Gold Edition Surrounded by enemies and assaulted by terror from all sides, Philip must collect clues and solve vexing puzzles while combating the gnawing psychological terrors that assail his mind and threaten to strip him of his sanity.

Price 9.75€
Rating 9.0
Release 23 Jan 2009
Penguins Arena: Sedna's World Penguins Arena is a thrilling and innovative First Penguin Shooter with quick, hectic rounds and where the magic of reincarnation, combined with the supernatural ability to return to the game as a ghost, ensures that your character has every chance to change your tribe's fate, even in the afterlife.

Price -35% 3.92€
Rating 8.5
Release 18 Dec 2008
Aquaria Aquaria is an award-winning action-adventure game set in a massive underwater world teeming with life and filled with ancient secrets. Join Naija, a lone underwater adventurer, as she travels from hidden caves shrouded in darkness, to beautiful, sunlit oases in search of her past.

Price -78% 2.22€
Rating 8.4
Release 15 Dec 2008
Defense Grid: The Awakening Defense Grid: The Awakening is a unique spin on tower defense gameplay that will appeal to players of all skill levels. A horde of enemies is invading, and it's up to the player to stop them by strategically building fortification towers around their base.

Price -34% 5.30€
Rating 9.3
Release 08 Dec 2008
Iron Grip: Warlord Iron Grip: Warlord invigorates tower defense with first-person shooter elements to give a new twist to the genre.It puts you in the heat of the battle, fighting off hordes of AI-controlled invaders. Play alone or with friends, in a diverse and challenging struggle to save all of Atelia.

Price 35.88€
Rating 8.0
Release 05 Dec 2008
Mount & Blade Calradia is a land at war, offering great riches and even greater dangers to adventurers and mercenaries that flock to shed their blood on its soil. With courage and a strong sword, an unknown stranger can make a name as a warrior. Free-form sand-box gameplay.

Price -79% 2.10€
Rating 8.9
Release 03 Nov 2008
Spectraball Spectraball combines elements of platforming, puzzle solving, addictive gameplay, and stunning visuals to deliver an experience that sets a new standard for the genre. In addition, Spectraball utilizes Steamworks, offering full support for achievements and stat tracking.

Price 4.99€
Rating 7.3
Release 20 Oct 2008
World of Goo World of Goo is a multiple award winning physics based puzzle / construction game made entirely by two guys.

Price -77% 2.91€
Rating 9.1
Release 13 Oct 2008
Zombie Panic! Source Dive into the zombie apocalypse with Zombie Panic! Source: a cooperative, survival-horror first-person-shooter. A fast-paced standalone modification.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.2
Release 03 Oct 2008
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee® Selected by the fickle finger of fate, Abe™, floor-waxer first class for RuptureFarms, was catapulted into a life of adventure when he overheard plans by his boss, Molluck the Glukkon™, to turn Abe and his fellow Mudokons into Tasty Treats as part of a last-ditch effort to rescue Molluck's failing meat-packing empire.

Price -82% 0.55€
Rating 8.3
Release 28 Aug 2008
Dracula: Origin Dracula: Origin reveals the dark origins of the Dracula curse. Step into the shoes of the famous Professor Van Helsing and experience a thrilling journey that will take you from London to Egypt, Austria and through Carpathian Europe right into the terrifying lair of the Dark Prince.

Price -76% 2.43€
Rating 6.9
Release 07 Aug 2008
The Wonderful End of the World You can't save the whole world. It's going to be eaten by a mythological demon with the head of a fish. But as a puppet that absorbs all it touches, you can try to rescue as much of Earth's greatness as you can before the end arrives. In the beginning, you roam the Earth, capable of absorbing only the tiniest of objects.

Price 9.99€
Rating 7.4
Release 17 Jul 2008
Insecticide Part 1 Enter the fast shooting world of INSECTICIDE as hot shot rookie Detective Chrys Liszt and help solve a crime of epic proportions. Lead your team on a bug hunt, collecting clues and solving puzzles. Use old-fashioned street smarts, unique insect abilities and an arsenal of ingenious bug weapons to confront your suspects.

Price -90% 0.42€
Rating 7.1
Release 01 Jul 2008
Gumboy Tournament Test your reflexes, judgment and tactics while facing up to eight other players in this follow-up to the critically acclaimed and popular arcade game Gumboy: Crazy Adventures, winner of numerous accolades including Gametunnel's GAME OF THE YEAR 2006.

Price -61% 1.17€
Rating 6.7
Release 19 May 2008
TrackMania Nations Forever A free game in the truest sense of the word, TrackMania Nations Forever lets you drive at mind-blowing speeds on fun and spectacular tracks in solo and multiplayer modes.TrackMania Nations Forever offers a new "Forever" version of the Stadium environment, a solid solo mode and 65 brand new, progressively challenging tracks.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.8
Release 16 Apr 2008
AudioSurf Ride your music. Audiosurf is a music-adapting puzzle racer where you use your own music to create your own experience. The shape, the speed, and the mood of each ride is determined by the song you choose.

Price 9.75€
Rating 9.3
Release 15 Feb 2008
PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords delivers, for the first time ever, classic puzzle-game action backed with an epic story of good vs. evil. Challenge your match 3 skills as you battle against computer opponents to save the Kingdom of Etheria from the evil Lord Bane.

Price 8.19€
Rating 8.3
Release 29 Jan 2008
Nexus - The Jupiter Incident Ambitious megacorporations monopolize the conquest of space and the colonization of the solar system. At the very edge of the solar system, the companies make a discovery that will shift the technological advantage and upset the balance. And so a new conflict is born: "The Jupiter Incident."

Price -92% 0.89€
Rating 8.2
Release 03 Jul 2007
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is a old school style shooter, but remixed for the 21st century with next generation graphics and deep, modern gameplay. Playing is simple: you are a geometric "ship" trapped in a grid world, facing off against waves of deadly wanderers, snakes, and repulsars.

Price 3.99€
Rating 8.6
Release 18 Jun 2007
Zen of Sudoku From the creators of Natural Selection comes Zen of Sudoku, a relaxing, easy to play version of Sudoku for your PC.Relax with hand-painted Japanese-styled backgrounds, no timer and lush natural soundscapes.Stimulates your brain to keep it healthy and alert.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.3
Release 14 Dec 2006
Garry's Mod Garry's Mod is a physics sandbox. There aren't any predefined aims or goals. We give you the tools and leave you to play.

Price 9.99€
Rating 9.6
Release 29 Nov 2006
Psychonauts A Psychic Odyssey Through the Minds of Misfits, Monsters, and Madmen. This classic action/adventure platformer from acclaimed developers Double Fine Productions follows the story of a young psychic named Razputin.

Price -95% 0.59€
Rating 9.3
Release 11 Oct 2006
Zuma Deluxe Deep in the jungle lie hidden temples bursting with traps and trickery, and it's up to you to uncover their treasures. Fire magical balls from your stone frog idol to make matches of three or more and clear the deadly chain before it reaches the golden skull.

Price -80% 0.99€
Rating 9.2
Release 30 Aug 2006
Uplink Uplink lets you play as a freelance hacker tackling risky contracts for corporations. Break into systems, steal data, sabotage rivals, and upgrade your gear. Support factions or go rogue in this immersive, strategy-driven hacking simulation game where your choices shape the outcome.

Price -92% 1.00€
Rating 8.7
Release 23 Aug 2006
The Ship: Murder Party The Ship is a murder mystery multiplayer.

Price -94% 0.61€
Rating 8.3
Release 11 Jul 2006

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