The best programming indie games, ranked by reviews

Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-09-07. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 16 programming indie games on Steam, holding 89,620 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 Baba Is You with 20,973 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

1. Baba Is You · 20,973 reviews · 98% positive · 2019
2. Hacknet · 16,892 reviews · 94% positive · 2015
3. The Farmer Was Replaced · 9,238 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
4. Software Inc. · 7,565 reviews · 94% positive · 2015
5. while True: learn() · 7,313 reviews · 91% positive · 2019
6. Opus Magnum · 7,199 reviews · 97% positive · 2017
7. SHENZHEN I/O · 3,730 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
8. TIS-100 · 3,384 reviews · 97% positive · 2015
9. Juno: New Origins · 3,080 reviews · 89% positive · 2023
10. SpaceChem · 2,624 reviews · 92% positive · 2011
11. Grey Hack · 1,797 reviews · 90% positive · 2017
12. Infinifactory · 1,790 reviews · 95% positive · 2015
13. EXAPUNKS · 1,371 reviews · 95% positive · 2018
14. The Magic Circle · 1,079 reviews · 92% positive · 2015
15. Contraption Maker · 918 reviews · 91% positive · 2014
16. ServiceIT: You can do IT · 667 reviews · 57% positive · 2025

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.