Top 10 Indie Game Developers and their Best Games

The game’s focus on fast and flashy combat coupled with beautiful hand-animated graphics and subtle storytelling brought it much deserved renown. He was like a treasure hunter, like… his name was “ARMOND CHESTERFIELD”, like “ARM IN CHEST… erfield.” That’s a game that is conventionally not like Wario really, it’s a shooter by design. I think that’s the one that got a little forgotten in that video, and I just want to shout it out because the developer is fantastic and the game is super cool. But, I think it wasn’t necessarily positioned as a genre to start with.

Based Out Of: Bordeaux, France

It used intriguing mechanics to traverse the obstacles, and there were several ways for the character to die. Although it’s a relatively short game, clocking in at around three and a half hours, it’ll take players considerably longer if they want to earn all the trophies/ achievements. The 2D side-scroller takes gamers on a journey through a deadly world as they play as a young boy searching for his sister. Beautiful monochromatic graphics complemented a hauntingly captivating story. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive from critics and players alike, and people seemed to enjoy the level of challenge presented in the game. It snowballed, and in September 2020, it hit an incredible peak of 438,524 people playing the game all at the same time on Steam alone.

With a focus on game culture and retro development, Mega Cat Studios aims to improve and inspire the gaming community. For this next pick on our list of the top indie gaming companies, we’re ready to give a bouquet of flowers to the great ASKIISOFT. They certainly deserve it thanks to its ode to the super tough side-scrolling action games of old such as Ninja Gaiden. That game is Katana ZERO, an indie gaming darling that looks, plays, and sounds like a long-lost 16-bit era gem. ASKIISOFT’s cherished work on that game and its first release Tower of Heaven point to the studio’s expertise in producing love letters to the good old days of 90s gaming.

Meanwhile, back on the world map, your settlements grow and you unlock new troop types. It feels strange to play a citybuilder that’s not open-ended and doesn’t let you tinker with your city forever. It also feels strange that no matter how efficiently you design your city, your residents may well kick your ass out due to events that take place elsewhere. Frostpunk does things differently, and that’s one of the things that makes it great. You discover the importance of the wild beefalo herd, and the value of dealing with the Pig King.

As of September 2021, Stardew Valley had sold over 15 million copies, with no signs of slowing. It’s garnered a cult following, and is one of the top life-sim games on the market. They were founded in 2015, but their founder Marcus Bromander had previously released games under the moniker PuffballsUnited, notably several Henry Stickmin titles. However, none had grown particularly big, and when Innersloth released Among Us in June 2018, it fell flat.

It’s the biggest list yet, too–in five years of putting together this end-of-year countdown, the competition is stronger than ever, and plenty of great titles had to hit the cutting room floor. It’s also launched careers for many content creators, particularly on Youtube, with players such as Dream making a name for themselves through the game. Mojang regularly release updates for it, so the game is constantly evolving. They also released Minecraft Dungeons in May 2020, which allowed players to experience the game they’d come to love in a brand new format. With over 200 million copies sold, Minecraft is not only the best selling indie, but the best selling game ever, at least at the time of publishing.

Skate Story

So, when we did our initial recordings, and our initial voice test for him, a lot of it for me was like, “Okay, well, I really think that the Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog is super funny,” and the visual design is very inspired by him. So, let’s do some of that, but let’s indie developers games make him have a sinister side to him too. Meanwhile, Vian feels the low-poly look is a reaction to the triple-A space. “I think it’s a response to overly bloated, overly complex games. One of the things I like about PS1 is there’s less stuff on the screen, and then what is there is more meaningful,” he explains. Crow Country makes an intriguing case study of capturing PS1 nostalgia because while it’s a survival horror clearly influenced by Resident Evil in its abandoned setting and brain-teasing puzzles, it also echoes two other visual styles from the PS1 era. While all those games take quite different approaches, it’s perhaps no coincidence that these purposely lo-fi productions do all happen to be horror, or are at least inspired by PS1-era survival horror games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

• These types of games have solidified Mediatonic’s quirky sensibility which fits so perfectly into the indie gaming scene, one that was swiftly mixed with enormous commercial success after the release of 2020’s Fall Guys.
• A 2022 LEGO game with absolutely stellar reviews drops to its lowest-ever price across multiple storefronts—but only for a limited time.
• Indie gaming is one of the best parts of the gaming industry in my opinion, and there continue to be shining examples of why they’re so special.
• I feel very grateful for the fact that I’ve been given the opportunity to work with a team like this where we can just make stuff we want and is creatively satisfying.

Their most successful game in terms of sales was The Escapists, which sold over one million copies within its first year of release. Developer Ben Esposito’s resume includes level design and prototyping for various titles, including Giant Sparrow’s The Unfinished Swan and What Remains of Edith Finch. His most celebrated works are his most recent, Neon White and Donut County showcase colorful characters and quick game mechanics, one as a first-person shooter and the other as a playful puzzler. Esposito also co-founded indie-developer collective Glitch City, where members can collaborate and host events. Mobius Digital, founded by Heroes actor Masi Oka, broke through the indie sphere in 2019 after the release of sci-fi RPG Outer Wilds. Starting as a graduate thesis project by USC alumnus Alex Beachum, Outer Wilds was taken on by Mobius Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive.

Hollow Knight has gone on to sell over 3 million copies, and that number was taken in 2020, so it’s probably even higher now. It’s the kind of accomplishment that most other indie developers can only dream of, and well-deserved in my opinion. They made a flawless game that was popular with critics and gamers alike, and they reaped the rewards.

Balatro is a game about creating different poker hands for score, with better hands being worth more. Players can discard cards for new ones a set number of times before having to play hands to reach a score in order to move on to the next round. In between rounds, or antes, players will visit the shop to buy different ways to enhance their run.

There are so many wonderful indie developers that I’ve included in this list, but so many more that I simply didn’t have the space to. Indie gaming is one of the best parts of the gaming industry in my opinion, and there continue to be shining examples of why they’re so special. Unbound by pressure from rich executives, indies allow the developers to explore between genres, creating new and unique games that leave an impact on those who play them.