Most Popular Side Scroller Games on Steam
Unlike generic lists, our game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated side scroller games.
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Hollow Knight
Forge your own path in Hollow Knight! An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style.
Geometry Dash
Jump and fly your way through danger in this rhythm-based action platformer!
Cuphead
Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition
The definitive version of the smash-hit Metroidvania-style action-platformer, Guacamelee! STCE adds new levels, powers, challenges, and refinements to the sprawling, ridiculous, Mexican-inspired adventure of the original Guacamelee! Gold Edition.
Celeste
Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight platformer from the creators of TowerFall. Brave hundreds of hand-crafted challenges, uncover devious secrets, and piece together the mystery of the mountain.
BattleBlock Theater®
Welcome to BattleBlock Theater! You’ve got no where to go but up...on stage. Play single player or co-op to free your friends and save Hatty Hattington! Jump, solve and battle your way through a mysterious theater inhabited by highly technological felines.
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
“Ori and the Blind Forest” tells the tale of a young orphan destined for heroics, through a visually stunning Action-Platformer crafted by Moon Studios.
Ori and the Blind Forest
“Ori and the Blind Forest” tells the tale of a young orphan destined for heroics, through a visually stunning action-platformer crafted by Moon Studios for PC.
Super Meat Boy
The infamous, tough-as-nails platformer comes to Steam with a playable Head Crab character (Steam-exclusive)!
Awesomenauts
Use your power, show your might! Play this Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game! AWESOMENAUTS combines 2D platforming with team-based strategy and hero based action. Whether you are a new recruit or an intergalactic legend, play AWESOMENAUTS!
The Expendabros
The Expendabros have assembled and set their sights on the forces of ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks in the forests of Eastern Europe.
DISTRAINT: Deluxe Edition
DISTRAINT is a 2D psychological horror adventure game for PC. In order to secure a partnership in a famous company, Price seizes the property of an elderly woman. In that very moment, he finds out the price of his humanity.
Skul: The Hero Slayer
Guide 'Skul' on his quest to single-handedly take on the Imperial Army and rescue his King from captivity, in an action-packed rogue-lite 2D platformer for the ages.
Blasphemous
Blasphemous is a brutal action-platformer with skilled hack’n slash combat set in the nightmare world of Cvstodia. Explore, upgrade your abilities, and perform savage executions on the hordes of enemies that stand between you and your quest to break eternal damnation.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is an exploration-focused, side-scroller action RPG by Koji Igarashi. Play as Miriam, an orphan scarred by an alchemist's curse that slowly crystallizes her body. Battle through a demon-infested castle and defeat its master to save yourself, and all of humanity!
Your Only Move Is HUSTLE
Master your technique, execute flashy combos, and outsmart opponents across the world, frame-by-frame. Slow down the clock to fine-tune your fighting style in this innovative, turn-based combat simulator. Pulverize your friends and choreograph spectacular fight scenes. No training mode required.
My Friend Pedro
My Friend Pedro is a violent ballet about friendship, imagination, and one man’s struggle to obliterate anyone in his path at the behest of a sentient banana.
ASTLIBRA Revision
Confront time and fate in the 2D action RPG, Astlibra Revision. Explore meticulously crafted worlds, fight brutal boss battles, and upgrade your skills to take down enemies lurking around every corner.
Sonic Mania
Sonic Mania is an all-new adventure with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles full of unique bosses, rolling 2D landscapes, and fun classic gameplay.
ICEY
ICEY is a 2D side-scrolling action game and a META game in disguise. As you follow the narrator's omnipresent voice, you will see through ICEY's eyes and learn the truth about her world. The narrator will constantly urge you in one direction, but you must ask, "Why? Why am I following his directions?“ Obey? Rebel?
Lost Castle / 失落城堡
Lost Castle is an action RPG beat'em up with roguelike elements and randomized dungeons for up to four players online and local!
Spelunky 2
Spelunky 2 builds upon the unique, randomized challenges that made the original a roguelike classic, offering a huge adventure designed to satisfy players old and new. Meet the next generation of explorers as they find themselves on the Moon, searching for treasure and missing family.
Salt and Sanctuary
Explore a haunting, punishing island in this stylized 2D action RPG. Salt and Sanctuary combines fast and brutal 2D combat with richly developed RPG mechanics in a cursed realm of forgotten cities, blood-soaked dungeons, and desecrated monuments.
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Immerse yourself in a gorgeous hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond.
Mark of the Ninja
In Mark of the Ninja, you'll know what it is to truly be a ninja. You must be silent, agile and clever to outwit your opponents in a world of gorgeous scenery and flowing animation. Marked with cursed tattoos giving you heightened senses, every situation presents you with options.
Rogue Legacy 2
Rogue Legacy 2 is what you'd get if you mashed Rogue Legacy and a sequel together. Every time you die, your children will succeed you, and each child is unique. Your daughter might be a Colourblind Archer, and your son could be a Pacifistic Chef. Either way, one of them is getting conscripted.
BRAIN / OUT
Brain / Out is a multiplayer shooter with a nostalgic post-Soviet feel. Experience dynamic battles and exterminate your enemies with a large arsenal of modern weaponry. Lock'n'load!
Kingdom: New Lands
Kingdom: New Lands builds upon the award-winning gameplay and mystery of Kingdom by introducing an abundance of new content to the IGF-nominated title while maintaining the simplicity and depth that legions of monarchs have come to experience and enjoy.
MapleStory
Join over 260 million players worldwide in MapleStory, the world’s biggest 2D MMORPG adventure! Play now for free.
METAL SLUG 3
“METAL SLUG 3”, the masterpiece in SNK’s emblematic 2D run & gun action shooting game series, still continues to fascinate millions of fans worldwide to this day for its intricate dot-pixel graphics, and simple and intuitive game controls, heads out to the Steam gaming platform!
