The best hand-drawn indie games, ranked by reviews
5 min read for players
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Data report Assembled from live indielist data on 2026-06-06. Rankings update as data changes.
indielist tracks 40 hand-drawn indie games on Steam, holding 1,712,894 reviews at an average of 93% 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 Hollow Knight with 487,097 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are modeled estimates that each expand into their full formula.
The ranking
- Hollow Knight · 487,097 reviews · 97% positive · 2017
- Hades · 281,339 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
- Cuphead · 188,579 reviews · 96% positive · 2017
- Hades II · 110,808 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
- GRIS · 82,436 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
- OMORI · 78,134 reviews · 97% positive · 2020
- The Henry Stickmin Collection · 53,634 reviews · 99% positive · 2020
- Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition · 46,336 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
- ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights · 41,953 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
- Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator · 37,031 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
- Nine Sols · 36,717 reviews · 94% positive · 2024
- Stacklands · 28,512 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
- Dorfromantik · 27,088 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
- Sally Face - Episode One · 24,760 reviews · 97% positive · 2016
- Before Your Eyes · 20,416 reviews · 98% positive · 2021
- Fran Bow · 19,879 reviews · 97% positive · 2015
- Backpack Battles · 18,545 reviews · 91% positive · 2025
- Wildermyth · 18,148 reviews · 95% positive · 2021
- Lost in Play · 8,568 reviews · 98% positive · 2022
- In Stars And Time · 8,377 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
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 modeled estimates, not official sales data.
Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.