Summary
It is truly gratifying to see these indie games shine like diamonds within the treasure trove of the Xbox Game Pass collection. Read on if you want to see which are the best indie games most deserving of your time.
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You’ll frequently see great indie games blend different elements to create amazing new concepts that are rarely seen in the bigger and (usually) safer triple-A spaces.Dredgeblends the coziness of a cute fishing simulator with the creeping horror of a Lovecraftian tale. And despite this seeming like an unconventional mix, it works! You play as a fisherman hauling in your catch and distributing it to folks on shore.
However, the later you stay out at sea, the darker the skies become and the blacker the waves, the more ominous things get. And the more likely that you’re going to get got by a nasty, otherworldly creature of the deep. It’s amazing good fun, and describingDredge’spremise is not doing it justice. However, trust us when we say it’s a fantastic indie game that is well worth checking out. Just ensure you have the stomach for some unnerving horror in your cozy sim.
The hallmark of a good indie game is ingenuity. Independent gaming spaces offer more room for experimentation than the bigger budget, more rigid triple-A titles, strangely enough. So when looking for a good indie game, nay, one of the best indie games this year, you need to find that spark of creativity. 2025 has given usBlue Prince.Blue Princeis a phenomenal indie title. Describing its gameplay loop of walking through a manor house, solving puzzles and “creating” rooms as you go along, sounds confusing.
But it’s remarkably straightforward to grasp once you start playing. And the constant stream of trial-and-error and discovery never lets up. You’re always on the verge of revealing a new secret, solving a new puzzle, or uncovering yet another new mystery to unravel. It’s a recent release, but you can just tell when you’re playingBlue Princethat it’s going to be remembered as one of the greats.
2024 saw the rise of many a great indie game.Mouthwashingwas a fantastic narrative horror game;Nevawas a gorgeous indie puzzle-platformer. But no indie game took the world by storm in 2024 so much as the roguelike darlingBalatro. Inspired by poker (though to be clear, this plays in no way like actual poker),Balatrois a deckbuilding roguelike in which you build “hands,” some of which are based on legit poker hands, to create interesting combos.
This all builds up to beating “boss blinds” in which you hope your hands and collection of Jokers will see you through. It’s tough to explain in words how engagingBalatrocan be, especially if you’ve never played a deckbuilder before. But rest assured that the game does a far better job than I do. Picture a mix ofVampire SurvivorswithSlay the Spire. If that sounds at all intriguing to you,Balatrois the indie game of your dreams.
Fair warning though. Prepare yourself for losing practically all your time as you go on run after run after run after run after run after run after run after…you get the idea.
Billed as a reverse-horror game (and quite accurately),Carrionslips you into the sinuous tentacles of an unidentified mass of flesh, teeth, and eyeballs being studied in a secure research facility when — oopsie — you manage to escape containment and proceed to wreak havoc.
Carrion’sgameplay constitutes a slick metroidvania-like with a few tonally-appropriate turns. You’ll skitter and slide through the facility, chomping down on hapless humans to replenish health, grow bigger and sustain your gory sojourn to uncover your origin story. You’ll occasionally happen across DNA samples that increase and augment your abilities, giving you more options for dismemberment, consumption, or traversal.
All in all, yes, this makes for a relatively straightforward experience of relatively simple combat encounters and traversal puzzles, but it’s executed so well and stylishly that it really won’t ever surface as a negative. The fun’s in the smooth-yet-visceral moment to moment gameplay and clear homage to 80s and early 90s sci-fi horror, and it’s delivered in spades.
The indie space is where the horror genre truly flourishes, andStill Wakes the Deepis an example of this trend. Developed by The Chinese Room (known for makingAmnesia: A Machine for PigsandEverybody’s Gone to the Rapture),Still Wakes the Deeptakes us to an oil rig in the middle of the tumultuous North Sea. The crew drills too far one day, and Cthulhu-esque hell breaks loose. With stellar vocal performances from the cast to guide you, you navigate through the crumbling rig, looking for a way off for you and your coworkers.
While it’s more on the walking simulator side of things than a puzzler or survival horror, it’s a gripping story that keeps you riveted to the inexplicable terror that’s visited upon you. Plus, if you have any sort of fear about being stranded in the middle of the ocean, the setting is absolutely prime for playing on that anxiety.
Difficulty is not a prerequisite to be considered an indie game, but if it were, you can bet thatSifuwould make the list. This third-person brawler is one of the toughest games we’ve ever played. In it, you are a person whose family was murdered by a group of assassins. Your job is to take them all out, one by one, before you die of old age. The only problem is every defeat you suffer ages you on the spot. And if you’re too elderly by the time you get to the final boss, don’t expect to win easily.
Sifu’scombat mechanics are merciless, but precise. When an opponent lands a hit on you, it has the potential to end your current run. But if you master the fighting mechanics, there is no other game on Earth that will make you feel like a John Wick. Not even an officially licensed John Wick game.
A handful of the games here are remarkable given the creativity behind their game mechanics. The other handful landed on this list due to their incredible narrative, andCitizen Sleepersettles itself solidly in the camp of the latter. The dice-rolling and text-reading that makes up the majority of its gameplay work solidly, but they’re nothing to cry home about.Citizen Sleeper’sstory, on the other hand, is just so engrossing, it’s one of those games that will not only keep you up late into the night playing it, but will have you ruminating on its themes and implications long after you’ve finished it.
Without spoiling too much of this seriously awesome story, you play as a “Sleeper” whose body has an impending expiration date that weighs on all of your choices. Every interaction you engage in, every purchase you expend wages on, and every activity that sucks up your precious time, is a hard decision you have to make. And with themes like that, can you blame us for pondering onCitizen Sleeperyears after its release?
Full disclosure. We should have addedDead Cellsto this list ages ago. But it was one of the many superb indie games that was always on our “to-play” list, never our “have-played” list. But now, we can finally say, at the time of this update,Dead Cellsis under our belts and on this list.
Dead Cellsis a roguelite platformer that sees you take control of a sentient pile of goop that goes on runs through decrepit dungeons, shadow-filled sewers, and grim graveyards. There’s a loose story behind your runs; a decaying kingdom under siege from some sort of “malaise” and an Alchemist who ran numerous experiments on living beings. But the star ofDead Cellsis its combat.
As you go through the game over and over again to varying degrees of success depending on what weapons you pick up, what permanent upgrades you’ve managed to apply, and your knowledge of enemy movesets, you’ll gain a mastery overDead Cells’rewarding combat system. You’ll learn which weapons suit your playstyle and which boosts fit these weapons. You’ll learn the timing of when to parry or dodge for each monster. And, most importantly, you’ll learn what the game expects of you.
Another part ofDead Cellsthat shouldn’t go unmentioned is its humor. There is an understated sense of humor throughout the title that’s perfectly embodied by your little-pile-of-goop-inhabiting-a-body character, who shrugs and shakes their head when they come across something mystifying. So as you play throughDead Cells, wondering why on earth you hadn’t played it earlier, it’s this exact motion that’s your answer.
Indies are where the creativity and ingenuity of games really shine, and a perfect example of this isSuperhot. It takes a relatively oversaturated genre (the first-person shooter) and turns it into something truly unique. The slogan forSuperhot: Mind Control Deleteis that time only moves when you do. So when you’re placed into various scenarios of geometric-looking enemies approaching, even though your first impulse will be to rush in guns blazing, stopping to take stock of your environment is what will win you the encounter.
In that sense,Superhot almost feels more like a puzzle game than an FPS game. You have to look around, plan where you’ll move, anticipate where bullets will be flying past you as your opponents open fire, and fight back accordingly. As you start out, it’s a bit of a trial-and-error style of play. At least that’s how it was for me.
But as you get used to the measured flow of combat, you’ll soon find yourself mowing through encounters like there’s no tomorrow. And the cherry on top is getting to rewatch the action in real-time clips afterwards. Makes you feel like a total badass. And there’s no other game that accomplishes this quite likeSuperhot.
Firewatchis a first-person 3D narrative experience — that’s walking simulator, if you’re less into verbose nomenclature — that has the player filling the shoes of Henry, who has taken a job as a fire lookout to get a bit of distance from his home life after it takes a series of heartwrenchingly tragic turns. Shortly after arriving at his solitary lookout tower in the middle of the expansive Shoshone National Forest, Henry is contacted by his supervisor, Delilah, via his handheld walkie-talkie. She’s stationed in another tower, but you never really conventionally “meet” other characters in-person, save for a few odd encounters.
Focusing most of the game’s narrative and plot development into such a remote form of communication helps reinforce the game’s contemplative, solitary thematic elements — and it proves quite effective as events around the forest become increasingly unnerving and uncanny.Firewatchis a delightfully off-beat indie experience altogether, and though most of the core “mechanics” simply revolve around choice-based dialogue tree interactions, it never fails to keep you immersed with its flair for visual design and excellent character writing.
