15 Best Indie Games of 2025, Ranked

2025 didn’t belong to the mega-budget blockbusters. It was the scrappy, imaginative indie games that stole the year. So I pulled together the 15 that actually stuck with me — the ones that surprised me, got weird in the best ways, and didn’t need nine-figure budgets to hit hard. If you skipped these, fix that.

1. Yes, Your Grace 2: Snowfall
   A cinematic kingdom-management follow-up that drops you into a Slavic folklore-flavored realm and makes you juggle resources, fragile alliances, and your own family drama. Every decision can launch your reign into glory or sink it with a single misstep. It definitely has shades of that big, thorny palace-intrigue energy.

2. Wanderstop
   If Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing are your comfort food, this is dessert. You run a tea shop tucked deep in a forest, brewing for whoever wanders in. The loop is gentle by design: it’s about healing and letting go, not min-maxing. Smooth, thoughtful, and content to let you just… be.

3. Despelote
   Not another soccer sim — a love letter to what it feels like when the sport takes over a country. You’re an eight-year-old in Ecuador during the 2002 World Cup qualifying run, navigating school, errands, and neighborhood streets as you boot a ball around and soak up the sounds of a nation living and breathing football.

4. PEAK
   Survive a plane crash with up to three friends, then climb a deadly, mysterious mountain island together. It’s a co-op survival-climbing gauntlet where communication and trust matter as much as your next foothold. The art is charming; the odds are not. Four distinct biomes, questionable scavenged snacks, and a constant fight to manage stamina.

5. Baby Steps
   Yes, it’s literally a walking simulator — and that’s the point. You control Nate, an unemployed underachiever who wakes up in a strange cave and has to clamber up a mountain by moving each leg with its own button. It’s slow, awkward, and hilarious… until one bad plant sends you tumbling and erases 30 minutes of work.

6. Keep Driving
   A lo-fi, early-2000s road trip in a beat-up sedan on the way to a music festival. The world is procedurally generated in chunky, analog-flavored pixel art, and the problems range from stubborn sheep in the road to, no joke, plot holes. You resolve situations with a clever card-based system, which gives this chill cruise surprising teeth.

7. BALL x PIT
   Arcade action meets roguelike meets post-apocalyptic town builder — somehow it clicks. A colossal sphere wiped out the city of Balon and left, well, a pit. Your job is to rebuild the town up top and send brave souls down below. It shifts gears constantly and refuses to get stale.

8. Promise Mascot Agency
   An open-world RPG crossed with a management sim where you play a presumed-dead Yakuza fixer trapped in a cursed town. Your partners? A crew of mascots and a severed pinky. The mission list is equally absurd and riveting: recover your mother’s money while untangling political and supernatural conspiracies — all while running your agency. Weird in a very good way.

9. NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound
   A 2D platformer that puts you in Kenji Monzu’s sandals, defending the Hayabusa clan village while Ryu handles business in America. The pixel art is brutally gorgeous, and the combat feels like a rhythm you learn rather than a wall you smash into. Precision and patience are rewarded — and, shockingly, it isn’t out to punish you for breathing.

10. Hollow Knight: Silksong
    The long-awaited sequel finally lands, swapping Hallownest for the kingdom of Pharloom and putting Hornet front and center. Expect new traversal tricks, fresh combat options, and boss fights that play like wicked little operas. It delivers on the years of hype.

11. Hades II
    After a healthy stint in early access, the full release absolutely sings. As Melinoe, you’re striking back at the Titan of Time with weapons soaked in ancient magic, craftable tools, and builds that twist every run into something new. More regions, more challenges, more reasons to say “just one more.”

12. Blue Prince
    A first-person puzzle-mystery with a roguelike backbone. You’re Simon Jones, newly in possession of a sprawling manor, on a clock to find Room 46. You explore one room at a time, but you only get a limited number of steps per in-game day before the layout resets. Every clue counts; every move matters.

13. Dispatch
    A superhero interactive story with a flex of a voice cast — Paul Aaron, Jeffrey Wright, Jacksepticeye, Laura Bailey, and more. You’re steering choices that actually shape the narrative as you help Robert Roberston (aka Mecha Man) balance saving the day with saving his own life from falling apart.

14. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
    One of the year’s standout RPGs. You’re back in 15th-century Europe as Henry’s quest for justice and revenge barrels forward. The historical detail is obsessive in a good way, choices ripple with real consequences, and the combat makes every clash feel like a sweaty medieval duel.

15. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    My indie of the year — frankly, a GOTY contender period. The hook is brilliant and bleak: each year, a cursed artist paints a number, and everyone that age dies. You’re an expeditioner racing to end the cycle. It’s a stunner visually, with deep character customization, tactile combat, and dialogue moments that actually matter.

Alright, your turn: what indie from 2025 owned your free time? Drop it in the comments.