Skip to content
indielist (beta)

The best emotional indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

emotionalgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-10-23. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 47 emotional indie games on Steam, holding 806,151 reviews at an average of 91% 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 DELTARUNE with 127,974 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. DELTARUNE · 127,974 reviews · 98% positive · 2025
  2. This War of Mine · 89,428 reviews · 94% positive · 2014
  3. To the Moon · 86,876 reviews · 96% positive · 2012
  4. A Way Out · 78,776 reviews · 88% positive · 2020
  5. What Remains of Edith Finch · 47,521 reviews · 96% positive · 2017
  6. Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition · 47,509 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  7. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe · 34,502 reviews · 94% positive · 2022
  8. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk · 32,044 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
  9. Sally Face - Episode One · 28,045 reviews · 97% positive · 2016
  10. Before Your Eyes · 21,417 reviews · 98% positive · 2021
  11. The Beginner's Guide · 19,990 reviews · 88% positive · 2015
  12. The Last Campfire · 17,747 reviews · 97% positive · 2021
  13. Wildermyth · 16,379 reviews · 95% positive · 2021
  14. Until Then · 16,125 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  15. Gone Home · 13,650 reviews · 77% positive · 2013
  16. Sea of Stars: Sunset Edition · 12,245 reviews · 88% positive · 2023
  17. Coffee Talk · 11,352 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  18. BOKURA · 10,982 reviews · 91% positive · 2023
  19. Planet of Lana · 9,790 reviews · 93% positive · 2023
  20. Neva · 9,524 reviews · 94% positive · 2024

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.