Who Is The Best Indie Game Studio?

Who is the best indie game developer in the world? It’s actually a loaded question because the term indie casts such a wide net across the gaming industry today. You have some indie studios that are only a few people like Mega Crit who made Slay the Spire and on the other hand you have a studio like IO Interactive who have recently reclaimed their independence and are closer to 300 employees. This is a very big difference and there are many studios like both.

For this list we are looking at the more classical term for indie studio that will help keep the list tight and focused with only studios that are smaller in nature. Bigger gaming studios already get enough attention but what about the smaller ones that are making fantastic experiences.

Nearly thirty of the best and brightest indie game studios were taken into consideration, made sure they were eligible based on the rules we laid out beforehand and then rated them against one another to find out who the top five indie game studios are. All it takes is one amazing game to take a studio from unknown to top of the list or another excellent game in the portfolio which means that this list could be very different a year from now, but in 2021, here are the best indie game studios.

Rules

Similar to the other studio ranking list that we have made for PlayStation Studios, Xbox Game Studios, and even our Third Party Studio Rankings, it’s important to lay some rules out beforehand.

Rule 1: The studio must be independent and privately owned. While this might sound strange that are plenty that seem like small indie studios but are owned by much bigger corporations like Campo Santo being owned by Valve, Night School and their recent acquisition by Amazon, and Klei who were acquired by Tencent earlier this year.

Rule 2: No one hit wonders! We are only going to be including studios with at least two games developed and published within the last calendar decade. This would eliminate a studio like Team Cherry who have been hard at work on the ultra anticipated Hollow Knight SilkSong, but as of right now have only released Hollow Knight.

Rule 3: The studio needs to be fairly active, which means that only studios with at least two games over the past calendar decade will be included. Although a decade might sound like a long time, developing games is a long and slow process that takes many years to fulfill the original vision. This means a studio like Playdead won’t be included since Limbo came out in 2010.

Rule 4: There will be a recency bias. This means that the last effort means the most and carries more weight towards the studios final score. This will be achieved by multiplying the most recent release score by 1.1.

Rule 5: This list will be console focused meaning that the release of a game needs to be primarily consoles based. This means that no exclusive VR, mobile or PC only games will be included.

Rule 6: Only Studios under 100 people will be considered as any bigger and you technically outgrown your indie competition and are now judged against bigger studios.

Worthy Mentions

Hello Games

Depending on which No Man ‘s Sky is taken into consideration for this list, Hello Games could have been higher on the list or not even including either. When No Man’s Sky launched back in 2016, it was a decent game with aspirations that might have been higher than what was marketed. The concept of being able to travel to an almost endless amount of planets, 18 quintillion to be exact and possibly never meeting another human player sounded promising.

Unfortunately, Sony gained publishing rights for the game and might have marketed the game as something different then it was. At the time the PS4 was still looking for as many exclusives as it could find as many of their high profile games were still in development. Hello Games was a small studio composed of just a handful of people with a big ideas. Before No Man’s Sky, the team was only known for Joe Danger and it should have been expected that this would be high budget ideas with independent scope.

Many people felt burned from the lack of promised features and things not being as advertised and as a result, critical reception floundered. However, in arguably one the greatest turnarounds in gaming history, Hello Games went silent and to this day have worked to deliver the vision they had initially. VR, multiplayer, base building, cross platform, vehicles, and even next gen support for the Xbox Series X and the PS5.

Without a doubt, Hello Games took the fate of their company into their own hands and worked very hard to establish themselves as a studio that is capable of making big games but more importantly is the kind of studio that will stand behind their product. Hello Games next title is in development but learning from their mistakes of the past, plan to remain silent until it is fully ready for release.

Top 5 High Profile Indie Studios

Hazelight - 5th Place (176.9)

Founded by Josef Fares in 2014, Hazelight Studios have made a decent mark on the gaming industry in around seven years and two games so far. This has been done by making two very smart decisions along with quality gameplay.

Similar to the way the Nintendo pivoted after the GameCube and went with the “blue ocean strategy” where there was less competition, Hazelight have found a niche area of gaming where they can remain unchallenged for the time being. Hazelight’s focus is on providing high quality co-op only experiences. Currently, there isn’t anything else like Hazelight’s offerings at the moment. Sure, other games do co-op but they don’t build entire games, including mechanics and direction around it.

A Way Out was a very fun couch co-op experience that had an interesting story about a couple of guys trying to break out of prison and did quite well commercially selling over a million copies in it’s first couple weeks. Hazelight continued their success According to Fares in an interview with IGN, and to the surprise of EA, It Takes Two has sold around 3.5 million to date.

The other smart decision that Hazelight has made is that they have gotten their games published under the EA Originals label that seems like the best of both worlds. In many reports and even from Josef Fares himself, EA is only looking to recoup their cost and then the rest remains with the developer. Obviously the benefit of having a huge company like EA publishing your game is that they have a much greater marketing reach than smaller publisher.

The progress that Hazelight made from their first game to their second is quite a stark difference as It Takes Two has an average review of 89 compared to the 79 for A Way Out. It Takes Two also sold a million copies within the first month and as of today has sold over 3 million copies. What’s even more impressive about these numbers is that the game includes the friend pass which means that only one person has to buy the game and you can gift your friend a code so they can play the game with you.

It Takes Two sales will likely grow steadily higher as game of the year lists begin rolling out late November and early December as the game will likely be in discussion as one of the top games of the year, resulting in a sales boost for those who have yet to play the co-op adventure. Moving forward we can continue to expect more of the same from Fares as he says “the is so much stuff to be explored in narrative experiences”.

Drinkbox Studios - 4th Place (180.5)

One of the most anticipated indie games for 2021 was “Nobody Saves The World” from Drinkbox, but how did the studio get here. Started in 2008, Drinkbox has become known for making the excellent 2D Metroidvania series Guacamelee. A series that was heavily inspired by Metroid, all of its exploring and character power-ups and then adding in some co-op as well as some brawler gameplay. Although sales figures can’t be found publicly, the original PlayStation exclusive was received well enough that five years after the first the studio released a sequel.

One of the great things about Drinkbox Studios is that they don’t seem to be content with resting on their laurels. The company is interested in challenging themselves with new art design or new genres. Their first two games were the Tales from Space series which is a side scrolling puzzler. It was a well received series that saw great critical reception with its second release in 2012 with many outlets putting it on the shortlist for the best handheld game of the year or the best indie game of the year.

Moving on to their second genre was Guacamelee tackling the Metroidvania genre by paying homage to the masters of the genre while adding in co-op and brawling flair of their own. Both games were received extremely well from critics with scoring the game well in to the 8’s with many scoring it in the 9’s.

Looking into the future, Drinkbox plans to take on their third genre in just over a decade with the Xbox exclusive Nobody Saves the World that was revealed during a Xbox Showcase in early 2021 with a late 2021 release date. Nobody Saves The World is a top down, action RPG where you control “nobody” who is able to change forms throughout the course of your procedural dungeon crawling.

The game looks to be a massive departure from their past two genres and if history tells us anything, Nobody Saves the World will be a diamond of an indie game. Every year, it seems that more Indies are being considered for game of the year and getting more exposure than ever. With Microsoft behind this game and hopefully adding it to Game Pass to get it into more peoples hands, the addition of online co-op to a drink box game, Nobody Saves The World looks very promising. The only downside is that the game was delayed until early 2022 so the team could take a little longer making sure the game released is the game that matches their vision.

Extremely OK Games (Formerly Matt Makes Games) - 3rd Place (185.2)

What used to be Helix Games became Matt Makes Games and is now Extremely OK Games, which is bold pivot to make after the critical success of Celeste and TowerFall, but the decision obviously shows how the studio has grown over the years from the ideas and talents focused around one person to a much more team oriented approach.

TowerFall obviously didn’t gain much attention when it was initially released as an OUYA exclusive, but it would soon be released for PlayStation about a year after and then many other systems soon after. It was on console that it gained a warm critical reception and a decent fan following with good success for an indie title. Polygon named TowerFall among the decades Top 25 games, which is high praise considering all the amazing experiences over the decade.

As much success as TowerFall earned, it wasn’t until Celeste that Matt Makes Games was truly put onto the map as a studio to watch. In 2018, Matt Makes Games released the tough as nails, 8 bit platformer about a girl who must scale a mountain and all that gets in the way as a metaphor for dealing with depression and anxiety. It was a very refreshing and awakening story about the struggles of mental health while at the same time as having great visuals, excellent soundtrack and a near perfect level design. The levels became increasingly challenging but always within reach of the skills the game provided you.

As a result of the excellent design across the board, Celeste was a critical and commercial smash. Not only did the game sell over a million copies, according to IGN, which is very impressive for any game, let alone a small indie title. I played it on the Switch and feel like that is where the majority of the sales came from. Celeste also won Best Independent Game at The Game Awards while also being nominated for Game of the Year, alongside games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War.

According to Thorson when speaking with IGN, their upcoming game, Earthblade, will be nothing like anything they have made before and is also using their internally developed physics engine. Earthblade was announced early in 2021 as a vibe reveal trailer that likely means it is still very early in development and based on the art and music that was shown could range from any type of game from a Zelda style adventure to a Dead Cells roguelike to a Ori Metroidvania. Very little is known but with the track record of the studio, expectation will be higher for this project than anything they have developed thus far.

Supergiant - 2nd Place (187.3)

Easily one of the most consistent studios on this list, and easily everyones favourite indie darling studio, especially after Hades, Supergiant Games have made a great name for themselves in just over ten years since they were founded in 2009. Bastion, Transistor, Pyre and Hades have established Supergiant as an elite indie studio. Although the first three entires are all spins on the action RPG formula, it wasn’t until Hades that Supergiant explored a new genre that the studio became a household name.

Hades, took the rogue-like formula and added a deep level of story telling that unfolds upon each run, that drives the player not only to go farther during each run las tradition in the genre but to learn more about each character and yourself. It has been said a thousand times already but the games combat felt responsive and crisp. The story was engrossing, and the design gave the player plenty of freedom. Who did you want to ally? What did you want to upgrade? What weapon did you want to use? The answer was irrelevant because the game was refined so well that there was no wrong choices.

This refinement was thanks to nearly two years that the game spent in early access on the Epic Games Store that coincided with the launch of the platform, which would prove to be a boon or a win win as the Epic Games store had a fantastic exclusive, and Supergiant had some great exposure during their early access. This exposure would lead to an abundance of positive word of mouth that would lead to nearly 700K copies sold during the early access period.

Following nearly two years of early access, Hades released as a timed exlcisuve for the Nintendo Switch, which was yet another excellent choice by the studio as they likely not only secured some extra funds for the studio due to the exclusivity deal, but with the Nintendo Switch being such a runaway success and the perfect place to play Indies, this was another match made in heaven. According to GameSpot within just the first three days of the full release of the game that coincided with the launch on the Switch, Hades had sold over a million copies, taking into account what it sold during early access.

Hades wasn’t just a commercial success as it was also a critical success that would go on to win many awards including Game of The Year from many different award shows and at The Game Awards, won the Best Indie Game and Best Action Game.

Moon Studios - 1st Place (190.3)

Moon Studios is likely to be the team on this list that is most likely to be acquired first. Having developed two games published by Microsoft and with Xbox Game Studios in a frenzy of acquiring studios over the past console generation, it seems like only a matter of time. Although for their third game, the studio has partnered with Private Divison, a TTWO subsidiary, to publish their next game.

Moon Studios is known for their work on the fantastic Ori series. Ori and the Blind Forest was a diamond in the coalmine that was known as the Xbox One generation. Blind Forest oozed with excellence at every facet of the game. It was visually stunning and likely the best looking Metroidvania of all time thanks to the amazing art direction and art style. The world was alive with the background being as important as the foreground.

Ori and the Blind Forest was much more than just a visually stunning game as the score and the gutwrenching story worked harmoniously. Despite its cute looking protagonist, Ori and The Blind Forest was emotionally rich. Art and story would be wasted if the gameplay wasn’t outstanding and it was. The controls and level design were near perfect, the pacing always kept you engaged and the set pieces that were spiced throughout were a true spectacle to watch, even if you had to do them multiple times.

It was released during the Xbox One generation when Microsoft had stepped away from revealing exact sales data, but the founder of the studio told GameSpot that the game was profitable within a week of release, which led to a sequel and a bump in size from the studio as they ballooned from around 20 people to about 80 based on the success of The Blind Forest.

Ori and The Will of The Wisps didn’t quite make a big splash like the first game as it came out of nowhere but it was another exceptional Metroidvania that added enough new elements and a fresh story to be worthy and was among the short lists for best game of the year. It was a great swan song for the Xbox One as it released just mere months before the Xbox transitioned to a new generation.

If there was to be one criticism thrown at Moon Studios, it would be that they have only made two games and both of those game are in the same series in the same genre. Yes, those are arguably two of the best looking and best playing Metroidvanias around but they are essentially a very similar game using a very similar skill set. There is nothing wrong with being great at one thing but when looking at most studios on this list, they have all shown the ability to produce excellent games in different genres.

The good news is that their next project is a departure from what Moon Studios have become known for. In a recent job posting spotted by Video Games Chronicle, Moon is hiring for an Action RPG. “after redefining the metroidvania genre, our next goal is to revolutionize the ARPG genre. You have a love for all things Diablo, Zelda, Dark Souls and other games in the genre” These are some bold words and although I don’t think they will cause a revolutionary change in ARPG’s, the potential of what they can produce is exciting.

Studios Considered

Moon Studios - Ori and The Blind Forest (88) + Ori and The Will of The Wisps (93x1.1) = 190.3

Supergiant - Pyre (85) + Hades (93x1.1) = 187.3

Studio MDHR - Only Cuphead

Team Cherry - Only Hollow Knight

Giant Squid - Abzu (82) + Pathless (78x1.1) = 167.8

House House - Push Me Pull You (75) + Untitled Goose Game (80x1.1) = 163

Matt Makes Games (EXOK) - TowerFall (84) + Celeste (92x1.1) = 185.2

Yacht Club - Only Shovel Knight and expansions

Brace Yourself Games - Crypt of Necrodancer (83) + Cadence of Hyrule (85x1.1) = 176.5

Capybara Games - Below (75) + Grindstone Switch (87x1.1) = 170.7

Hazelight - A Way Out (79) + It Takes Two (89x1.1) = 176.9

Hello Games - No Man’s Sky (83) + The Last Campfire (83x1.1) = 174.5

Ghost Town Games - Overcooked (80) + Overcooked 2 (81x1.1) = 169.1

Drinkbox - Severed (87) + Guacamelee 2 (85x1.1) = 180.5

illfonic - Friday 13th (61) + Predator: Hunting Grounds (60x1.1) = 127

Thunder Lotus - Sundered (76) +Spiritfarer (83x1.1) = 167.3

Klei - Owned by Tencent

Thekla - only one game in last decade

Heart Machine - Solar Ash not released at time of list

Mobius Digital - only Outer Wilds

Playdead - only one game released in past decade

Studio Jumpship - no game released yet

Campo Santo - owned by Valve

Night School - Owned by Amazon.

Mossmouth - only Spelunky 2 in last decade

Subset Games - Faster Than Light - not on console