Indie role-playing games are where the genre takes its biggest swings. Free from the demands of a blockbuster budget, indie developers reinvent what an RPG can be — combat-free detective stories, monster-catching adventures, hand-painted JRPG throwbacks. This is our running ranking of the best of them.
We update this list as we review more games, so bookmark it and check back. Entries link straight to our full reviews.
How we rank
Every game here is weighed on originality, the strength of its writing and world, the depth of its systems, how cleverly it uses a small budget, and how much it makes us want to come back. Rankings are deliberately opinionated — that is the point.
The Top 20 Indie RPGs
1. Disco Elysium
A combat-free detective RPG with arguably the best writing in the medium. You play an amnesiac cop unravelling a murder — and himself.
2. Undertale
The RPG where mercy is a mechanic. Toby Fox’s genre-bending classic lets you spare every monster you meet, and changes based on how you do it.
3. Sea of Stars
A radiant, modern throwback to 16-bit turn-based RPGs — gorgeous pixel art, timing-based combat, and not a single random encounter.
4. CrossCode
Twin-stick action meets Zelda-grade puzzles in one of the most underrated action RPGs around.
5. OMORI
Full review coming soon.
6. Citizen Sleeper
Full review coming soon.
7. Chained Echoes
Full review coming soon.
8. Cassette Beasts
Full review coming soon.
9. Stardew Valley
Full review coming soon.
10. Eastward
Full review coming soon.
11. Wildermyth
Full review coming soon.
12. Cosmic Star Heroine
Full review coming soon.
13. To the Moon
Full review coming soon.
14. Cris Tales
Full review coming soon.
15. Moonlighter
Full review coming soon.
16. Children of Morta
Full review coming soon.
17. Crystal Project
Full review coming soon.
18. Hyper Light Drifter
Full review coming soon.
19. Roadwarden
Full review coming soon.
20. Ara Fell
Full review coming soon.
More indie RPGs to come
This list is a living document. Have a favorite we have not covered yet? It may already be in our backlog — check back as we keep reviewing.