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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 2026-07-24. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 50 perma death indie games on Steam, holding 1,700,814 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 410,693 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Lethal Company · 410,693 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
  2. Hades · 283,755 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  3. Darkest Dungeon® · 139,306 reviews · 92% positive · 2016
  4. Don't Starve · 113,208 reviews · 97% positive · 2013
  5. Hades II · 112,612 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
  6. My Summer Car · 106,838 reviews · 95% positive · 2025
  7. Noita · 80,410 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  8. FTL: Faster Than Light · 62,406 reviews · 95% positive · 2012
  9. The Binding of Isaac · 48,973 reviews · 95% positive · 2011
  10. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk · 31,530 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
  11. Roboquest · 24,246 reviews · 95% positive · 2023
  12. Darkest Dungeon® II · 23,844 reviews · 75% positive · 2023
  13. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 · 23,623 reviews · 94% positive · 2014
  14. Spelunky 2 · 21,836 reviews · 93% positive · 2020
  15. Risk of Rain (2013) · 20,758 reviews · 93% positive · 2013
  16. Nuclear Throne · 19,691 reviews · 96% positive · 2015
  17. Peglin · 17,554 reviews · 84% positive · 2024
  18. Spelunky · 14,627 reviews · 92% positive · 2013
  19. The Last Spell · 13,520 reviews · 91% positive · 2023
  20. Baldi's Basics Plus · 11,343 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.