Skip to content
indielist (beta)

The best atmospheric indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

atmosphericgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-09-07. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 432 atmospheric indie games on Steam, holding 12,383,977 reviews at an average of 89% positive. This list ranks them by Steam review count, the most reliable public sales proxy, with a white-box sales estimate behind every title. The most reviewed is Terraria with 1,238,172 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Terraria · 1,238,172 reviews · 97% positive · 2011
  2. Euro Truck Simulator 2 · 783,526 reviews · 97% positive · 2012
  3. The Forest · 681,741 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  4. Hollow Knight · 501,741 reviews · 97% positive · 2017
  5. Lethal Company · 411,377 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
  6. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth · 393,010 reviews · 97% positive · 2014
  7. Subnautica · 379,589 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  8. Don't Starve Together · 375,815 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
  9. No Man's Sky · 310,268 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  10. Hades · 285,527 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  11. Stray · 157,286 reviews · 97% positive · 2022
  12. Dead Cells · 155,998 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  13. Darkest Dungeon® · 140,551 reviews · 92% positive · 2016
  14. ASTRONEER · 139,217 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  15. Black Mesa · 134,638 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  16. Celeste · 131,634 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  17. MiSide · 121,725 reviews · 98% positive · 2024
  18. Starbound · 120,672 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
  19. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut · 116,394 reviews · 93% positive · 2019
  20. Hades II · 114,178 reviews · 96% positive · 2025

How this list is built

Games are ranked by Steam review count, the most reliable public proxy for sales when actual figures are private. Each title links to its indielist page, where the white-box sales estimate expands into the full Boxleiter formula, so you can audit the number rather than trust a black box. Review counts come from Steam; sales figures are estimates, not official sales data.

Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.