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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 2026-10-23. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 53 perma death indie games on Steam, holding 1,687,112 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 411,982 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Lethal Company · 411,982 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
  2. Hades · 287,428 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  3. Darkest Dungeon® · 141,589 reviews · 92% positive · 2016
  4. Hades II · 115,411 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
  5. My Summer Car · 109,459 reviews · 95% positive · 2025
  6. Don't Starve · 97,202 reviews · 97% positive · 2013
  7. Noita · 81,754 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  8. FTL: Faster Than Light · 63,006 reviews · 95% positive · 2012
  9. The Binding of Isaac · 49,343 reviews · 95% positive · 2011
  10. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk · 32,044 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
  11. Darkest Dungeon® II · 24,468 reviews · 75% positive · 2023
  12. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 · 24,003 reviews · 94% positive · 2014
  13. Risk of Rain (2013) · 20,778 reviews · 93% positive · 2013
  14. Spelunky 2 · 19,823 reviews · 93% positive · 2020
  15. Roboquest · 19,267 reviews · 95% positive · 2023
  16. Peglin · 16,694 reviews · 84% positive · 2024
  17. Nuclear Throne · 15,104 reviews · 96% positive · 2015
  18. Spelunky · 14,692 reviews · 92% positive · 2013
  19. The Last Spell · 13,350 reviews · 91% positive · 2023
  20. Baldi's Basics Plus · 11,070 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.