For a strong starting point, try Balatro for poker-inspired score building, Animal Well for eerie exploration, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes for a surreal puzzle mystery, UFO 50 for a collection of compact games, or 1000xRESIST for an award-recognized debut. This is a curated list, not an objective ranking: the best choice depends on the kind of play you want.
What counts as an indie game here?
“Indie” is a useful shorthand, not a clean line. This list uses it for games made by independent or smaller creative teams, including teams that work with publishers. As VG Insights notes, the category is increasingly difficult to define, and indie-style teams can operate within larger corporations. Developer and publisher are named where established; neither label alone settles how independent a game is.
The picks reflect distinct play styles and recognition, rather than sales or a single measure of quality. The Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) named Balatro its 2025 Game of the Year and Best Debut for games of 2024; the awards archive also recognizes Animal Well, UFO 50, and 1000xRESIST. Those results are signals of industry recognition, not proof that every player will prefer the same title. GDCA awards archive.
Which 2024 indie game should you play?
| Game | Developer / publisher | What it offers | Best fit if you want |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balatro | LocalThunk / Playstack | Poker-inspired roguelike deck-building and score-chasing | A focused, repeatable run built around scoring hands and changing how they pay off |
| Animal Well | Billy Basso / Bigmode | Exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving in an underground world | Eerie discovery and challenges that open as you explore |
| Lorelei and the Laser Eyes | Simogo / Annapurna Interactive | A puzzle mystery set around a seemingly abandoned hotel | Room-by-room puzzles and dreamlike uncertainty |
| UFO 50 | Mossmouth and a team led by Derek Yu | 50 complete games spanning genres including shoot-’em-ups, strategy, racing, and role-playing | Variety and a collection to dip into rather than one central loop |
| 1000xRESIST | Sunset Visitor / Fellow Traveller | An award-recognized debut; a detailed plot description is not established by the sources cited here | A title to investigate if award recognition is a useful discovery signal |
Five standout indie games of 2024
Balatro: poker hands turned into score-building runs
Solo developer LocalThunk’s Balatro, published by Playstack, takes inspiration from poker without simply asking you to play a conventional poker game. You score hands and use jokers to alter scoring, turning each run into a challenge of building a more effective combination. The Associated Press describes it as “a solitaire version of poker in which you score points by racking up good hands.” Its compact premise and changing scoring possibilities give it a strong “one more hand” pull, as AP put it. The GDCA awarded it Game of the Year and Best Debut at its 2025 ceremony honoring games of 2024. Associated Press: best video games of 2024.
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Animal Well: exploration with an eerie edge
Designed by Billy Basso and published by Bigmode, Animal Well centers on exploring an underground network populated by strange animals. Platforming and puzzles are part of the journey, and exploration can reveal further challenges. The result, as described by AP, is less about a straightforward march through levels than about finding out what the world contains and how its spaces connect. The GDCA listed it among honorable mentions in its 2025 archive. Associated Press: best video games of 2024.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes: a hotel full of puzzles
Simogo’s puzzle mystery, published by Annapurna Interactive, follows a woman exploring a seemingly abandoned hotel. Each room brings a puzzle, while the surrounding mystery leans into dreamlike uncertainty. That makes it a natural choice for players drawn to deliberate, room-by-room problem-solving and atmosphere rather than a single action-centered loop. Unity named it a runner-up for Best Desktop/Console Game in its 2024 awards. Associated Press: best video games of 2024; Unity Awards 2024.
UFO 50: one collection, 50 different games
Made by Mossmouth and a team led by Spelunky designer Derek Yu, UFO 50 is unusual in scope: AP describes it as 50 complete games across genres such as shoot-’em-ups, strategy, racing, and role-playing. That breadth is its defining draw. If you want one polished central loop, the other picks may be a closer match; if you like changing genres and sampling compact experiences, the collection offers a very different kind of variety. The GDCA included it among honorable mentions. Associated Press: best video games of 2024.
1000xRESIST: an award-recognized debut
Sunset Visitor’s 1000xRESIST, published by Fellow Traveller, was a GDCA Best Debut finalist and a runner-up for Best 3D Visuals at the 2024 Unity Awards. Those honors make it worth considering for readers looking beyond the more widely described picks here. The cited award listings establish its recognition, but do not provide enough detail to responsibly summarize its plot or gameplay in this guide. GDCA awards archive; Unity Awards 2024.
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Other award-recognized games to consider
Neva by Nomada Studio and Devolver Digital was a GDCA honorable mention. Ultros by Hadoque and Kepler Interactive appeared among the Unity Awards’ Best 2D Visuals runners-up. The award records support including them as additional candidates, but do not establish enough detail here to compare their mechanics or stories with the five picks above. GDCA awards archive; Unity Awards 2024.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What 2024’s indie market figures do—and don’t—say
VG Insights and Sensor Tower’s Global Indie Games Market Report 2024 offers a Steam snapshot as of September 30, 2024, not a final tally for the whole year. Its chart reports indie games at 58% of Steam units sold and 48% of full-game revenue; full-game revenue excludes in-game spending. The report also lists 13,007 indie games released, 504 million units sold, and $8.3 billion in full-game revenue in its snapshot. These are market estimates with the report’s stated inclusion criteria, not measures of artistic merit or a ranking of the games in this article.
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The report says indie games’ share of full-game revenue doubled since 2018, while also emphasizing how hard “indie” is to define. It identifies Black Myth: Wukong and Palworld as major drivers of 2024 market growth. Those broader market trends provide context, but they do not establish which individual game is best. VG Insights / Sensor Tower: Global Indie Games Market Report 2024.
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