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indielist (beta)

The best base-building indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

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

indielist tracks 96 base-building indie games on Steam, holding 5,038,451 reviews at an average of 86% 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 ARK: Survival Evolved with 586,217 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. ARK: Survival Evolved · 586,217 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  2. Valheim · 458,539 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
  3. Palworld · 409,299 reviews · 95% positive · 2026
  4. Subnautica · 379,589 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  5. Raft · 323,060 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
  6. Schedule I · 287,984 reviews · 98% positive · 2025
  7. Satisfactory · 234,628 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  8. Factorio · 234,322 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  9. RimWorld · 208,289 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  10. ASTRONEER · 139,217 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  11. Oxygen Not Included · 135,173 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  12. Cult of the Lamb · 111,806 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  13. Scrap Mechanic · 109,201 reviews · 92% positive · 2026
  14. ARK: Survival Ascended · 105,872 reviews · 60% positive · 2023
  15. Subnautica: Below Zero · 99,295 reviews · 90% positive · 2021
  16. Kenshi · 98,181 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  17. Enshrouded · 93,071 reviews · 86% positive · 2024
  18. House Flipper · 92,227 reviews · 94% positive · 2018
  19. This War of Mine · 89,170 reviews · 94% positive · 2014
  20. Dyson Sphere Program · 83,444 reviews · 97% positive · 2021

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.