We all know the popular RPGs that hog the limelight – big names with even bigger budgets. But what about the hidden gems?
The best indie RPGs often fly under the radar, delivering amazing stories, creative mechanics, and unforgettable vibes. It’s time to shine a light on those games we too often undervalue.
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Disco Elysium
| Release date: | 2019-10-15 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Adventure & Indie |
| Developer: | ZA/UM |
The game kicks off quietly enough: the main character wakes up with amnesia, only to be tossed into the whirlwind of events. As a memoryless detective, you’re tasked with solving the mysterious death of a hanged man.
Disco Elysium is technically an RPG, but it feels more like an adventure game where dialogues drive the story. Combat takes place on a more intellectual level, there’s no traditional scuffle here. Instead, your choices in dialogue trees shape how conflicts unfold. It’s a game full of strong personalities, a well-written story and real consequences.
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Chained Echoes
| Release date: | 2022-12-08 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Strategy & Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Adventure & Indie |
| Developer: | Ark Heiral |
An independent developer, Matthias Linda, created Chained Echoes by taking inspiration from the style of classic jRPGs and blending it with retro-inspired gameplay and vibrant 16-bit pixel art.
After a short time of peace, war erupts once again across the continent, and your party must face enemies using their unique abilities in strategic battles. Chained Echoes evokes nostalgia, but with modernised mechanics lets you fully immerse in the world of Valandis. A standout feature of this indie gem is it’s turn-based combat, simple on the surface, but still engaging and satysfying.
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Hades
| Release date: | 2020-09-17 |
| Genre: | Adventure & Role-playing (RPG) & Hack and slash/Beat 'em up & Indie |
| Developer: | Supergiant Games |
The world of Hades draws heavily from Greek mythology. As Zagreus, son of Hades and prince of the Underworld, you must fight your way to the realm of the living.
In this game, even death feels like progress. You’ll probably die, a lot, but surprisingly it nevel feels discouraging. The core gameplay revolves around a fast-paced hack’n’slash combat system, giving you multiple attack types and four main dungeons to conquer on your escape attempts.
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CrossCode
| Release date: | 2015-05-15 |
| Genre: | Shooter & Puzzle & Role-playing (RPG) & Adventure & Indie |
| Developer: | Radical Fish Games |
Cross code is one big adventure with diverse locations to explore, tons of items to collect, and plenty of challenging puzzles to decipher.
You jump into the sci-fi MMO world, that is actually inside the game, as Lea, a mute character with a mysterious past. The combat is the real deal: melee combos, charged shots, dodges and elemental powers. The story is complex yet compelling; you’ll unfold it gradually as you play, all from a charming top-down perspective.
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Omori
| Release date: | 2020-12-25 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Adventure & Indie |
| Developer: | OMOCAT |
Omori is certainly an underrated game. Its charming visuals are just the tip of the iceberg compared to the deep, emotional story it tells.
Underneath the pastel colors and quirky characters, the game is dealing with some heavy emotional stuff. You play as a teenager Omori, who drifts between a surreal dream world and the harsh reality of his everyday life. The game features turn-based battles based on a rock-paper-scissors combat system.
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The Thaumaturge
| Release date: | 2024-03-04 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Adventure |
| Developer: | Fool's Theory |
Perhaps the scale of the Thaumaturge doesn’t match the size of other productions in the RPG genre, but it is still a well-developed production in terms of plot and elaborate mechanics.
You play as Wiktor, a man with supernatural abilities, on a mission to uncover the truth behind his father’s death. The game, set in early 20th-century Warsaw, is rich with NPCs to interact with, items that come in handy during investigations, and conversations that gradually reveal the plot. The Thaumaturge does a great job of making your choices feel like they genuinely shape the story.
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Shattered Haven
| Release date: | 2013-03-18 |
| Genre: | Puzzle & Adventure |
| Developer: | Arcen Games, LLC |
The Grays have taken over the decaying world and your party must put an end to their reign. Arcen Games delivers an RPG where environmental puzzles are the key to defeating your enemies.
The pressure is on, each of 100 carefully designed levels challenges you to solve a puzzle to beat your foes. You’ve got weapons, traps and a variety of tool at your disposal, but there’s no one ‘correct’ solution. Experimentation and clever thinking are often the real path to victory. With each new location, the bar of expectation gets higher, and poor choices can have deadly consequences.
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Slay the Spire
| Release date: | 2019-01-23 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Strategy & Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Adventure & Indie & Card & Board Game |
| Developer: | Mega Crit Games |
Slay the Spire is one of those card games that’s easy to grasp but offers a real challenge when it comes to face enemies.
It’s a roguelike deck-building game with RPG elements. Your journey begins by choosing one of four pre-made characters, each with their own unique set of cards. What makes this game stand out is how naturally you learn as you go, each battle teaches you something new, pulling you deeper into the mechanics. With procedurally generated levels and a huge variety of cards packed with unique abilities, every run feels brand new.
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Sea of Stars
| Release date: | 2023-08-29 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Adventure & Indie |
| Developer: | Sabotage |
Sea of Stars shows a fresh, modern take on the classic retro style. It has all the essential of an RPG – from exploring a pixelated world, an engaging story to interacting with objects and NPCs.
As you explore this fantasy world with a group of friends, you’ll encounter natural obstacles, your party will need to swim across water, jump over barriers, and use their skills to fight off enemies. But it’s not just about combat, cooking, completing quests, and sailing all add extra layers of fun, letting you made the most of what the game offers.
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Undertale
| Release date: | 2015-09-15 |
| Genre: | Role-playing (RPG) & Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Adventure & Indie & Puzzle |
| Developer: | tobyfox |
A vulnerable child falls into Undertale, a world where humans don’t belong. Deep underground, monsters lurk, waiting for chances like this, and you must find a way out while facing the nightmares.
At the start of your journey, a friendly monster named Toriel will guide you and teach how to survive. Not all monsters are completely evil, but once you enter battle mode, they’ll respond differently depending on your attitude raising the difficulty level if you choose violence. The world is presented in pixel art style with a mysterious atmosphere.
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So there you have it, some incredible indie RPGs that totally deserve more attention. Next time you’re looking for a new game, skip the usual titles and give one of these legends a shot.