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indielist (beta)

The best perma death 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 53 perma death indie games on Steam, holding 1,711,704 reviews at an average of 90% 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 Lethal Company with 411,377 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Lethal Company · 411,377 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
  2. Hades · 285,527 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  3. Darkest Dungeon® · 140,551 reviews · 92% positive · 2016
  4. My Summer Car · 117,330 reviews · 95% positive · 2025
  5. Hades II · 114,178 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
  6. Don't Starve · 113,439 reviews · 97% positive · 2013
  7. Noita · 81,032 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  8. FTL: Faster Than Light · 62,676 reviews · 95% positive · 2012
  9. The Binding of Isaac · 49,184 reviews · 95% positive · 2011
  10. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk · 31,753 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
  11. Roboquest · 24,378 reviews · 95% positive · 2023
  12. Darkest Dungeon® II · 24,177 reviews · 75% positive · 2023
  13. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 · 23,829 reviews · 94% positive · 2014
  14. Risk of Rain (2013) · 20,767 reviews · 93% positive · 2013
  15. Spelunky 2 · 19,712 reviews · 93% positive · 2020
  16. Peglin · 16,614 reviews · 84% positive · 2024
  17. Nuclear Throne · 15,024 reviews · 96% positive · 2015
  18. Spelunky · 14,670 reviews · 92% positive · 2013
  19. The Last Spell · 13,199 reviews · 91% positive · 2023
  20. Baldi's Basics Plus · 10,856 reviews · 98% positive · 2020

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.