Since you’re already reading this post, chances are that you’re a decently big fan of video games. And if you’re the kind of person who pays any attention at all to the gaming industry at large, then chances are again that you have played or heard about at least a dozen indie games yourself.
While the big-name AAA games released every year might get the bigger spotlight at the yearly game shows or with TV and video ads promoting them, for many gamers it's the indie titles that quietly release with the only marketing being done by the dev team’s own social media pages that are the real standout stars every year.
And when considering the quality that such comparatively smaller dev teams can manage using their passion for their homegrown projects, it’s not hard to see why many prefer the indie sphere of games when looking for what to play next, and rightly so in many cases.
In this particular list, I’ve had to limit myself to picking just fifteen of some of the best-reviewed indie games that you can get on PC today. But more specifically than just indie games, this list is made up of a wide variety of fantasy indie games. A genre that has spanned for generations before and after the creation of video games, and a genre that allows for a vast selection of creative stories and worlds to be told in countless different ways.
The fantasy medium was designed for telling fantastical stories, and the gaming world has proven time and time again that it was made for telling some of the best of those stories ever written, making for a prosperous pairing all around, and thus, giving us as great a reason as any to celebrate some of those games in the form of this post.
So with the stage properly set, let’s quit talking about how we’re going to talk about video games and get to doing just that, shall we?
#15 Sea of Stars (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch)
Sea of Stars | Launch Trailer
Starting off our list is the newest release of all the games we’ll be talking about here today: Sea of Stars, a turn-based RPG that takes many thematic elements from all the classic RPGs you can think of and gives it a modernized twist through numerous new features and improvements that fully helps it stand out from the rest.
Set thousands of years before the events of ‘The Messenger’, another game made by the same dev team ‘Sabotage’, you control the two main heroes, Valere the Lunar Monk who was born on the Winter Solstice, and Zale the Solar Blade Dancer born on the Summer Solstice, along with a few friends you can recruit along the way. From freely being able to swim through water, climb up ledges, and jump off cliffs, Sea of Stars does well to improve upon the old-school “bound-to-the-grid tileset movement” style of classic RPGs, which the game promises to “unshackle” you from using its unique navigation system that seamlessly allows you to freely travel the world around you.
Being an RPG, it would be careless of me to not talk about the game’s combat system, which Sea of Stars gives a new take on by stripping away grinding elements, random encounters, and scene transitions to separate battlefield screens in a collective effort to make the game more immersive. The actual combat itself features timing your attack prompts with the animations for bonus damage, multi-character combo attacks, and a “locks” system that encourages using different damage types to counter enemies while they try to charge up more powerful attacks.
When not in combat or progressing through the main quest of stopping the evil Fleshmancer and his horrid creations, the game is filled with a plentiful supply of side features, from doing side-quests, going fishing, sailing across the sea, or relaxing in the tavern while playing an in-universe board game to the backdrop of classic pub-going music. Sea of Stars offers dozens of ways to interact with its “world you can touch”, utilizing modern improvements on classic ideas to make the game truly feel like something entirely new.
Though the game hasn’t even been out a month at the time of writing, the game already sold over 100,000 copies on the very first day of launch, and with reviews ranging from “favorable” to “universal acclaim”, it’s clear this newly released title is already a welcome addition to the RPG scene. From a humble beginning as a Kickstarter campaign, Sea of Stars has already come a long way since development began in 2020. If you’re a fan of the classic RPGs of old and want to sink your teeth into something new, then this new frontrunner might just be what you’re looking for.
In this turn-based RPG inspired by the classics, it's up to the two heroes Valere and Zale to combine the powers of the moon and sun to defeat the evil Fleshmancer.
#14: Webbed (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)
Webbed - Launch Trailer
Unlike most fantasy games where you’re typically squishing spiders of varying sizes, in Webbed you play as the spider yourself for once instead. A jumping peacock spider called Buddy to be specific, one who sets out to venture across the vast and dangerous wilderness of a fictional Australia, on a quest to rescue her boyfriend after he was kidnapped by a comparatively enormous bowerbird. Using your webs to traverse through this fantastical Australian wilderness, it’s up to you to venture out and team up with other small-sized inhabitants of nature so you can find the daunting bowerbird and rescue your love in this creative platforming title.
Webbed’s gameplay consists of you using your natural webbing to either swing through your environment or to build structures in which to climb along while also using them to catch your prey, doing so across the multiple unique environments of the interconnected map where you’ll meet other miniature creatures, from ants to dung beetles. You’ll have much to do when traversing Webbed’s world, from helping your new comrades inside the ant colony to performing gnarly tricks on your skateboard, this creative platformer about the ultimate little guys of our natural world is great fun all around no matter how you slice it.
Since its release in 2021, Webbed has been nominated for a handful of awards and even won the “Excellence in Design” award at the Freeplay Awards show in Australia, the country’s longest-running independent games festival. If you were to ask my opinion, I hope that we’ll see more games of this quality from developers SBug Games in the future.
It is also my opinion that if creative and well-designed platformers with equally charming pixel graphics sound like something you want to sink your venomous fangs into, then you shouldn’t hesitate to pick up your copy of Webbed today. Did I mention you can get laser eyes?
Even the average arachnophobe won’t be able to help themselves from feeling for the plights of the common spider when playing Webbed.
#13: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (PC/Mac/Linux/PS3/PS4/PS Vita/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Wii U/Nintendo 3DS/Amazon Fire TV)
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove - Launch Trailer
The quite literally groundbreaking saga of Shovel Knight returns in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, a collection that combines the original game along with the 4 bonus game campaigns released separately as Kickstarter-funded bonuses, all put together in one highly praised bundle that’s worth its weight in gold. Most prominently Treasure Trove features the original game’s campaign, where Shovel Knight must return to the Tower of Fate to free his beloved Shield Knight from her imprisonment within the evil clutches of a being known only as the Enchantress.
Along this campaign filled with platforming, treasure hunting, and shovel-based combat, you will face off against a series of other ‘Knights’ that attempt to stop you from completing your quest. Among them are Plague Knight, Specter Knight, and King Knight, who each have individual campaigns to play through using their own set of unique quirks and skills rather than a shovel, on top of the additional ‘Shovel Knight Showdown’ campaign that lets up to four players battle it out through a campaign of sorts using 20 different and unique characters from across the original campaign.
This indie platformer harkens back to all the classic 2D pixel platformer classics of the NES and SNES eras, with its unique shovel-based combat and movement options, well-thought-out level design, entertaining worldbuilding, and charming visuals all around making it one of the best games to come out of the mid-2010s. A sentiment shared by many, as the game was released to universal acclaim across the board in 2014, along with winning the Best Independent Game award at the 2014 Game Awards show, along with the Best eShop games award for both 3DS and Wii U according to both Nintendo’s fans and staff members, along with multiple awards won at IGN’s best of 2014 show.
On top of its many award accolades, the game had sold over 2.65 million copies as of September 2019, and even further beyond have we seen Shovel Knight himself appear across numerous other indie games of various styles as a guest character, who according to many users over the years, has cemented himself firmly as a beloved indie icon from an incredibly well-done game.
Virtually anyone who’s been a fan of the indie gaming world for the past decade has heard of Shovel Knight, with many having played through the game time and again since its 2014 release thanks to its well-crafted gameplay and thoughtfully laid-out world. I can assure anyone reading this, if you’re a fan of old-school 2D platformers in any way, then Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is a collection you don’t want to miss out on.
This smash-hit pixel-perfect platformer brings a new appreciation to your everyday shovel as you use the titular Shovel Knight’s tool of choice to combat the forces of evil and save the realm. And maybe find some gold too.
#12: Fran Bow (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch//iOS/Android)
FRAN BOW - Official Trailer
After witnessing the brutal murder of her parents and being institutionalized at Oswald Asylum, you join ten-year-old Fran in this interesting blend of psychological horror elements and a point-and-click adventure game.
The game opens with Fran having a dream about her beloved cat and only friend Mr. Midnight, who was left behind in the outside world when Fran was administered. After this dream, she decides to escape the asylum and return home to her only living relative, Aunt Grace. In Fran Bow, you’ll have to self-administer special pills that let Fran see into a terrible and frightening world of blood, guts, and nightmares to solve puzzles and escape into the nearby forest, which happens to be filled with mysterious spirits of nature…
Perhaps the most unique title on this list for its twisted sense of storytelling that combines both brutal visuals of psychological trauma and a strangely uplifting message of hope, Fran Bow stands out among the icons of the point-and-click puzzle genre, such as King’s Quest or Sam & Max, by taking a disturbing twist on premises of such stories like Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz.
Using creepy and unique hand-drawn art, the world of Fran Bow has a distinct look to it that oozes with bloody charm throughout every level, as you help Fran on her adventure while trying to fend off vivid images of demons and death that become far too real as the game progresses. Though it's not the highest-rated and perhaps the most widely known game on this list, Fran Bow still has a fairly large fanbase and deserves its spot here among the rest due to its uniquely interesting story and disturbing themes that ultimately make the titular protagonist a character you can easily root for.
Fran Bow gives you every bit of that strange charm that you would expect out of any great point-and-click game and gives it to you with a new blood-soaked lens to watch it through. If you’re looking for a new adventure to journey through and you think you have what it takes to help poor Fran survive in this world of abusive doctors and diabolical demonic visions, then 2015’s Fran Bow might just be right up your alley. Just remember to take your medication when playing.
In this psychologically twisted title, you join Fran, a ten-year-old girl who grapples with grizzly hallucinations that start to seem all too real after witnessing her parent’s murder.
#11: Kingdom Two Crowns (PC/Mac/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
Kingdom Two Crowns - Launch Trailer
In this third installment of the ‘Kingdom’ series, Two Crowns is a 2D side-scrolling game that combines strategy and resource management with a minimalistic feel to it, where the player’s King or Queen must build their kingdom from the ground up by tossing gold coins to peasants to turn them into loyal citizens. But while building your kingdom, you must also defend against the ‘Greed’, a race of faceless monsters that swarm your kingdom every night with the sole intent of tearing down everything you’ve built.
With the same beautifully created modern pixel graphics the series is known for, Two Crowns raises the franchise’s bar to its highest point by introducing a new campaign mode and a new co-op mode, along with dozens of new gameplay elements and features that keep this latest installment feeling fresh as you defend the crown in your procedurally generated realm.
While Kingdom Two Crowns might not appeal to every player, for many the surprising difficulty that comes with building and defending your realm is an intriguing challenge that keeps players coming back for more. Shaking up things from the previous two iterations of the series, Two Crowns offers a new campaign mode where you don’t just build a kingdom to survive, but to thrive, as you can spread your influence across multiple new islands without having to run away.
On top of the series staple of the usual medieval era setting, Two Crowns also offers you new setting options such as the Dead Lands free DLC that puts you into a dark gothic-style world with unique rulers and mounts, a Feudal Japan setting where you build a clan of warrior ninjas, and the latest and only paid DLC setting of Norse Lands that also offers a variety of new gameplay mechanics.
And if all that wasn’t enough already, there are dozens of other little things like new mounts that sometimes can attack your enemies and other details I won’t go into length talking about here. Instead, I’ll let you, the reader, decide if you have what it takes to pick up the crown and do what other leaders before you could not: stand your ground against the Greed and bring your kingdom into a prosperous new future, in Kingdom Two Crowns. Long may you reign, Your Majesty.
“Wise Rulers know their kingdom will fall, Brave Rulers do not despair. Great Rulers know their riches can rule, And spend every coin with great care.” -Kingdom’s Website
#10: Volcano Princess (PC)
Volcano Princess Apr.21 Final Trailer
Though the future of the kingdom is at stake in this title just as with the previously listed game, instead of fighting a swarm of bloodthirsty monsters, you’re fighting to give your daughter the best life and future that you possibly can in Volcano Princess.
Developed by Egg Hatcher, a two-girl studio based in Beijing China, Volcano Princess blends the usual style of other ‘princess-daughter raising sims’ you might find with new RPG elements, putting you in the position to make a plentiful amount of decisions regarding what hobbies you and your daughter explore, while also having her meet noble figures to help prepare her for her future role as princess of the realm. With multiple endings to find based on the choices that you make, what kind of father will you be, and what kind of future will you give to your daughter?
In a world where demonic monsters and men wage war, times are uncertain for the kingdom, and the people are going to look to the princess to help guide them through these tumultuous times. Across her lifetime from a young child to a fully grown adult, depending on the activities you spend time doing with your daughter, and on which of a series of noblemen and noblewomen you decide your daughter should spend time learning under, your child can grow up into one of many different women.
From a warrior princess who rides in full armor with the knights of her army, to a gentle and kind leader who spends time caring for the animals of the forest, ultimately it's up to you to decide how you will raise your daughter, where the choices you make will help guide the young princess to a future where she’s her own functioning woman, while also trying to make sure you both remember that nothing is more important than family.
This is probably the most lighthearted game on this list so far, and some readers might be put off by that fact. But with an Overwhelmingly Positive score with over 20,000 reviews on Steam, Volcano Princess still firmly earns itself a position on this list. And on the other side of the same coin, there are also just as many readers who are probably captivated by the concept of having to be the best man you can for your daughter so she can live a better life than you could ever dream of… just in a virtual sense.
However you feel about it, this early 2023 release touts highly praised reviews, and gives you the chance to help lead a young would-be ruler to the best possible life you can give her. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, then check it out on Steam today.
With the recent passing of your wife, it’s up to you to be the best father you can be as you try to provide the best life possible for your daughter, the future ruler of the kingdom.
#9: Dwarf Fortress (PC/Mac/Linux)
Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition - Launch Trailer
Developed as a passion project by a pair of brothers for over 20 years running, Dwarf Fortress is by far the ultimate storytelling game ever created. When beginning a game of Dwarf Fortress, you don’t just pop into a new character that exists in an already pre-set world, but instead, you generate anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years of history across an entire randomly generated world that is constantly in flux across the entire globe, history that has numerous examples of religions and their deities, historical figures, kingdoms and factions long gone, and ancient arts and artifacts that hold historical significance, along with much, much more.
In this entirely new, fully fleshed out, and alive world that you just created in the span of a few minutes, you control but one small group of dwarves who set out to construct a new underground fortress from the ground down. But with threats of flooding, bloodthirsty monsters, starvation, madness, or even invading armies of other races, the most important rule of Dwarf Fortress to remember is: Losing is fun!
I can’t describe enough about this game to really sell it in just this one post, so I’ll try to focus on the most important parts. Dwarf Fortress is a construction and management simulation where you lead a small starting team of five dwarves as they construct their very own underground fortress that will eventually attract new residents, where every character or creature you see on screen has their own list of personal history and personality traits that make them stand out from one another, along with giving them their own unique skills, wants, needs and desires.
Dwarf Fortress has incredibly realistic detail across the board, the most prominent example being that you can target every individual part of another creature’s body when in combat, providing a wide range of options that lets a dwarf stab another dwarf in the chest, break their legs, rip off their entire jawbone, and so much more.
There’s no better game to lead us into the single digits on this list than this one. The amount of things that can be done here is just too long for me to fit into this one segment on this list, so you’ll just have to go and see for yourself that I’m not overstating the details of this game in the slightest. Developers Tarn and Zach Adams have been working on this game for over 20 years, and though for most of its existence, it has existed as a text-based tileset, last year the Steam edition of Dwarf Fortress was released with band-new pixel graphics which, along with new in-game tutorials, helps streamline the entire experience for new players just starting things out.
If you want to experience the most advanced world simulation game ever devised for yourself, then I fully recommend you check out the legendary Dwarf Fortress as soon as you can.
Since development began in 2002, Dwarf Fortress has woven its legend over the years as being one of the most in-depth world simulation games anyone ever dared to make.
#8: Loop Hero (PC/Mac/Linux/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch)
Loop Hero Launch Trailer
Loop Hero is a unique take on the roguelike genre, where instead of playing as your hero directly, you utilize a mystical deck of cards that you place down at the start of every expedition through a randomly generated loop path, each card altering the world around you further and further by adding new buildings, new enemies, new terrain tiles, and more until eventually you fall in battle and start over again.
Each expedition through the looping world unlocks new items like new cards to be placed down, new powerful equipment to use in battle, new characters to add to your camp of displaced survivors, and even new player classes for your hero, along with even more to discover. It’s up to you to overcome the overwhelming forces of evil ahead of you and to break the time loop set in place by the Litch, or to die trying, revive in the next loop, die, die, then die again…
Developed by Russia-based studio Four Quarters and published by notorious indie-icon developers Devolver Digital, Loop Hero stands out uniquely among other roguelikes for the way it makes you your own worst enemy. Because, let’s say for example, while you are placing down mountain terrain cards that give you more bonus health the more of them you put together along the randomly generated world your current run is set in, if you place too many down at once, in spawns a new enemy type along your path which you will have to face.
But in contrast to creating new obstacles for yourself, you also create new bonuses by discovering new characters and upgrades for your campsite that help improve your stats for every new run, such as gathering enough resources to build a new kitchen or blacksmith workshop that unlocks helpful new items.
I started playing Loop Hero only fairly recently before writing this post, so while I alone can’t give a fully expert opinion on it, I can say that its Very Positive score on Steam from over 29,000 reviews shows that it has plenty of reason to be here on this list.
You can also trust Devolver Digital to know good indie games when they see them, as we’ve seen time and time again from the over one hundred games they’ve helped produce over the years. If you’re looking for a new tactical roguelike with some interesting retro-style pixel art to sink a couple dozen hours into, I can strongly recommend you give Loop Hero a try.
The evil Litch has thrown the world and its inhabitants into never-ending chaos via a timeless loop, and it’s up to you to try and salvage what’s left of your crumbling reality.
#7: Blade & Sorcery (PC/Oculus Quest)
Blade and Sorcery | Official Update 10 Trailer - The Dungeons Update
Built from the ground up specifically for Virtual Reality, Blade & Sorcery is a sandbox combat simulator within a medieval fantasy setting that focuses on melee, ranged, and magic combat, all fully utilized in a uniquely realistic game engine with physics-driven interaction and combat systems.
Objects have a weight that follows the laws of physics, creatures have full body physics and genuine presence in the world around you, and blades can realistically penetrate soft materials while deflecting incoming magic in a system crafted with specifically designed hitboxes. The playstyle in-game is entirely dictated by the user’s movements, giving for an incredibly immersive VR experience that leaves out all the nasty bits of actually being stabbed with a sword.
Blade & Sorcery stands out very uniquely in this list as being the only VR-based game present in it, and what a strong addition it is to both this list and to VR gaming as a whole, since though there are many other fighting games for VR systems out on the market today, none stand out quite as uniquely as this particular title.
With the physics engine used specifically for the VR landscape, it does succeed in its main goal of immersing you in the battles against numerous waves of NPC enemies, which you will get to fight against with a wide assortment of different weapons and magical spells, all in a realistically designed setting that properly lets you see and feel the attacks as they strike true. Plus, if the base game isn’t enough for you, there’s also an extensive modding scene that adds in various weapons from other realities, like Lightsabers as just one such example.
While Virtual Reality games are a rather niche market for most gamers at this point in time, if you do have the means to go out and get yourself some high-end VR equipment for your PC, I can certainly recommend that you go and check out Blade & Sorcery at some point. Because after all, which of us hasn’t at least once fantasized about being a heroic knight or a wizard with amazing magical spells that fights off waves of bad guys? Well now, thanks to this game, you can bring those fantasies to life in the virtual world.
Become an all-powerful mage, a cunning archer, a fierce warrior, and more in this VR fantasy sword-fighting simulator.
#6: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (PC/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 | Release Trailer
In Warhammer: Vermintide 2, you’re put at the forefront of the early days of the End Times. The world is quite literally being swarmed by the skittering horde of half-men-half-rats known as the Skaven, who have joined forces with the savage armies of the Warriors of Chaos, in a grand pact to ravage the world of man and bring it to its knees.
It’s up to the ‘Ubersreik Five’, a group of five highly skilled warriors and survivors of the ‘Vermintide’ that plagued the titular city of Ubersreik, to fight against the endless waves of Skaven and the forces of Chaos across multiple campaigns, utilizing unique skills across the five characters, as well as over fifty different weapons the players can use to cut through wave after wave of rodents in this game’s intense melee-based combat system.
Kotaku quoted Vermintide as being “The best four-player Co-Op since Left 4 Dead”, and with over 73,000 user reviews putting the game at a Very Positive status, it’s hard not to agree with that sentiment. Unlike the undead, however, the rats can protect themselves to some degree with shields and blades at the simplest, along with a variety of more dangerous and unique units that the Skaven will send at you to tear you apart.
So in turn, you’ll have to apply a bit more critical thinking when using your own character’s unique weapons and skills, which themselves vary on what “Career” you select for your character.
Vermintide 2 sold over 500,000 copies in the first 4 days of its 2018 PC release, and over 2 million at the end of 2019, cementing this sequel’s status as another welcome entry to the Warhammer universe.
It’s not hard to imagine why the game’s done as well as it has, is it? You and three friends join up together to bash through an endless sea of vile, murderous rats in a quest to save the world from being destroyed ten times over. This ‘Left 4 Dead-like’ as some call this style of game is a fantastic experience, whether you know anything about the Warhammer world or not.
Having played both titles extensively myself, I can safely say that, if you want some not-so-mindless swarm-slaughtering fun, the Vermintide series is one you shouldn’t wait to check out.
Set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, it’s up to you and three friends to fend off the endless forces of the skittering Skaven swarm and the ruinous Chaos army in what is being called the End Times.
#5: Slime Rancher (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)
Slime Rancher - Over 3 Million Copies Sold!
Taking us into the top 5 on our list is none other than Slime Rancher. In this game, you enter the role of Beatrix LaBeau, a young woman with plenty of grit and a can-do spirit who begins a new life of wrangling slimes.
Slimes are gelatinous alien organisms that produce ‘Plorts’ when fed, a valuable resource that is, depending on the type, a “multipurpose generic substance” that can be converted into anything from food products to household cleaners back on Earth. With the opportunity to make mountains of cash, Beatrix sets out across the Far, Far Range to make herself rich, but she has to be careful when doing so, as this alien world is full of mystery and unknown dangers… on top of a large number of slimes.
Slime Rancher is a relatively calm and relaxing game compared to some of the others on this list, as the majority of the game’s premise is generally gathering up slimes, of which there are over ten unique types of slimes to collect that each has unique traits that range from cute and cuddly to surprisingly dangerous.
Slime Rancher brings a unique twist to the farming simulator genre, where while your slimes are your “crops” that provide the profits, it also mixes in adventure and platformer elements as you explore across the vast sandbox this world has to offer, discovering plenty of well-hidden secrets, and even more elusive varieties of slime to make a few extra ‘Newbucks’ with.
The game currently sits at an Overwhelmingly Positive status with over 97,00 user reviews, and as of January 2022, the game has sold over 5 million total copies, letting you know that there are plenty of other slime ranchers out there who can recommend you try this game.
Compared to all of the dungeon dives, fortress building, or demonic hallucination combating that can happen in the other games on this list, Slime Rancher takes you on a much gentler, yet still fast-moving pace as you work to improve your ranch on the Far, Far Range so you can, in turn, improve your profits and unlock multiple new areas to explore.
If you’re a fan of the cool and casual or if you’ve played a farming sim game before and thought “This could use more slime-based game mechanics”, then Slime Rancher is a game you should set your sights on sooner or later.
A thousand lightyears away from Earth on the ‘Far, Far Range’, Beatrix LaBeau sets out on her new life with her lucrative new career as an upstart slime rancher.
#4: Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (PC/Mac/Linux via Steam Proton/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator - Full release Trailer
Originally launched in alpha in 2016, since then Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, or just TABS for short, has taken off across the globe as a highly creative and incredibly fun battle simulator that gives you over one hundred and thirty unit types across fourteen thematically themed factions to pit together in virtually limitless different ways across two warring armies, letting you play out practically any type of fight that you can think of.
Each of the selectable units is a low polygon, wavy-armed warrior, each having their own specific weapons and items, along with their own unique AIs to determine how that specific unit type will fight in this sandbox world brought to life with a wacky and unique physics system that makes this game stand out from other combat sims all the more.
Though you do have the option of stepping into the shoes of any one of the units in your army to experience the fight up close whenever you choose, the majority of the game is spent looking down at the battlefield from overhead as the red and blue units try to inch out a victory over the other team. The main campaign mode focuses on you devising a strategy that will have your team outlast the other, but thanks to various free updates over the years there are other ways to play, such as a timed survival challenge mode, a mode where you must target a specific unit, and more.
Additionally, through updates, the game allows you to create your own game modes, your own campaigns, and even your own custom units to fight with and their own unique factions to fight for, along with dozens of other features that I just don’t have the space to talk about extensively in this one post.
On the outside, TABS seems just like any other ‘turn off your brain and goof off’ type game, where in actuality the silly exterior and the goofy physics mask over an actual need to think tactically about how to best use your slew of silly looking soldiers to slaughter the enemy team before they can do the same to you.
With over 104,000 user reviews that put this game into the Overwhelmingly Positive category on Steam, it’s safe to say that there’s plenty of reason to give Totally Accurate Battle Simulator a try. At least if you think you have what it takes to lead an army of lute players, painters, and minotaurs to victory.
Red and Blue armies wage war across time and space with over one hundred unique units ranging from cavemen to samurai, pirates to knights, and all-powerful deities to wooly mammoths in this physics-based war sim.
#3: Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps Accolades Trailer
We enter our top 3 with Ori and the Will of the Wisps, the award-winning and critically acclaimed sequel to the 2015 original Ori and the Blind Forest. Just as with Blind Forest, Will of the Wisps is a masterfully crafted game that features a stunning world brought to life with hand-painted art and set to a fully original orchestrated musical score that combines brilliantly with the fast-paced platforming gameplay, all tied together inside a deeply moving and emotional story that might just bring you to tears.
With universal acclaim across the board, numerous awards won and nominated for, and with many claiming the game to be an artistic masterpiece, Will of the Wisps might just be the most notably successful indie title on our list so far.
Set right after the events of the first game, we once again join Ori, a diminutive Guardian Spirit of the forest, as they fly on the back of their friend Ku, a baby owl, where soon a giant thunderstorm separates the two in a strange new forest called Niwen. From here it’s up to Ori to find their friend as they explore this exotic new world filled with new mysteries and dangers while traversing through many well-designed levels using excellently crafted platforming gameplay.
In the strange new land of Niwen, Ori will be faced with many more perilous hardships and roadblocks on a quest that might just have Ori unravel their own destiny.
From the unique art style and story to the tight controls with new ways to traverse the world, this critically acclaimed 2020 release is one platformer that you should play at one point or another if you’re at all a fan of platforming adventure games. While the highly enjoyable gameplay will draw you in first, the beautifully unique graphics and potentially heartbreaking story will be what hook you in to stay.
With over 107,000 Steam user reviews and an Overwhelmingly Positive score, virtually everyone who’s played the Ori series can tell you that it’s well worth the price of admission.
In this award-winning sequel to the award-winning original, players rejoin Ori in a beautiful new adventure that features old friends and new ones while mourning those we lose along the way.
#2: Darkest Dungeon (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS Vita/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS)
Darkest Dungeon - Release Trailer [OFFICIAL]
Darkest Dungeon is a challenging turn-based RPG roguelike set in a grim, dark gothic world devoid of hope, where it’s up to you to recruit and lead bands of heroes into a series of increasingly deadly and despair-filled dungeons. Your heroes are far from flawless ideals however, as entering the dark of the dungeons will afflict your roster with sudden bouts of paranoia, irrationality, fear, masochism, and many more gameplay-affecting quirks.
Such quirks typically tend to appear at the worst of times as your heroes face off against waves of enemies, an array of diseases, and the ever-encroaching darkness that persists all around you. In a quest to reclaim your ancestor’s ruined estate, will you survive in the darkest dungeon, or will you die surrounded by fear and darkness like many before you?
With many accolades under its belt, such as being voted PC Gamer’s Best RPG of 2016, Darkest Dungeon is revered by many for its grim and gritty atmosphere paired with its unique take on the genre that gives you a slew of imperfect heroes who can fall prey to fear, disease, or infighting, and it is squarely on your shoulders to make them the best band of heroes you can in your quest to reclaim your ancestor’s estate by fighting through a series of procedurally generated dungeons.
Only one week after the game’s initial 2016 early access release, the game had already sold over 650,000 copies, and just under two years later in December 2017, the game had sold over two million copies across all consoles, further cementing its status as a fan favorite standout among roguelikes, RPGs, and dungeon crawlers alike.
This particular title has been on my gaming to-do list for a while now. I’m a big fan of the weird, grizzly Lovecraft-esc art style and worldbuilding of Darkest Dungeon, and even more so am I a fan of putting myself in hair-pulling difficult situations that I have to strive to overcome… for some reason.
So with that said, after writing this blog I’m finally going to give this game a proper, thorough try myself, and I hope after seeing this title in the #2 position of our list that you’ll join me in venturing down into the Darkest Dungeon.
In this unique blend of the classic dungeon crawler genre, you lead a band of flawed heroes as they battle against the psychological torments inflicted by every horrible thing that awaits you in the all-consuming dark.
But don’t go dying in those dungeons just yet, because we’ve still got one last game to talk about on this list. So let’s get right into welcoming the #1 entry on this list…!
#1: Slay the Spire (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
Slay the Spire - Official Launch Trailer
Filling in our #1 spot on this list, Slay the Spire brings together all of your favorite features of a roguelike game’s progression systems and innovatively combines them with the gameplay of a card deck builder.
At the start of each game’s run, you select one of four predetermined characters with their own unique health pool, amount of gold, and relic that grants them a unique ability, then you set out into the Spire with an initial set of basic cards that will grow and expand as you progress through several levels of the Spire’s dungeons, each with a unique branching pathway structure of random encounters and a final boss to battle.
Players will have to develop their strategies on the fly with the random selection of cards they’ll find throughout their run, having to use quick thinking and a bit of luck to find the most valuable loot across the current floor, and actually make it out alive on the other side while they’re at it.
Though similar to the previous game listed as being a roguelike dungeon crawler, Slay the Spire stands out both with its creative use of card deck-building gameplay mechanics, and a more deceptively ‘cute’ art style that hides its own slew of vicious monsters.
Initially, the game had a very slow start during its 2017 early access release, but over time the game had rapidly ramped up considerably in popularity, and in March 2019 it exceeded 1.5 million total unique players, along with being nominated for a handful of awards in the years following. Following the newfound success of the game itself, in 2021 developers Mega Crit announced that they would also be working on a board game adaptation as well.
Overall, Slay the Spire’s dynamic deck-building gameplay and ever-changing landscapes within the Spire itself make this title a welcome surprise to most when they start playing and realize just how enjoyable and even addicting this game can be.
With over 350 unique cards to collect, over 200 items to be found throughout your various attempts to conquer the Spire, over 50 unique combat encounters, and much, much more, it is almost assured that if you’re a fan of the roguelike genre in any capacity, then Slay the Spire might just end up becoming your brand new obsession.
Touted as being easy to learn but hard to master, Slay the Spire fuses deck building and roguelikes together for an experience that’s as frustrating as it is entertaining.
Conclusion
And with all that said, our list of just some of the best fantasy indie titles you can buy today is complete. Of course with the list only being a top 15, there are still many, many, *many* more incredible games out there that we just didn’t have the time to talk about here today.
So that’s why I welcome you, my dear readers, to go to the comments below and talk about some of your own favorite fantasy indie games! Whether you want to talk more about some of the games listed here, or you want to make your own list of games that you think should have been included on this list instead, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Because, after all, we all know there’s no shortage of unique and amazing stories to be told across the sphere of the independent gaming world, so why not take the chance to discuss them wherever you can?
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