Skip to content
indielist (beta)

The best sci-fi indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

sci-figenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

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

indielist tracks 160 sci-fi indie games on Steam, holding 4,621,867 reviews at an average of 88% 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 ARK: Survival Evolved with 586,217 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. ARK: Survival Evolved · 586,217 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  2. Lethal Company · 411,377 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
  3. Subnautica · 379,589 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  4. No Man's Sky · 310,268 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  5. Satisfactory · 234,628 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  6. RimWorld · 208,289 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  7. Stray · 157,286 reviews · 97% positive · 2022
  8. ASTRONEER · 139,217 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  9. Oxygen Not Included · 135,173 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  10. Black Mesa · 134,638 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  11. Starbound · 120,672 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
  12. Kerbal Space Program · 120,435 reviews · 96% positive · 2015
  13. ARK: Survival Ascended · 105,872 reviews · 60% positive · 2023
  14. Outlast · 104,099 reviews · 96% positive · 2013
  15. Subnautica: Below Zero · 99,295 reviews · 90% positive · 2021
  16. Outer Wilds · 87,474 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
  17. Dyson Sphere Program · 83,444 reviews · 97% positive · 2021
  18. Katana ZERO · 66,310 reviews · 98% positive · 2019
  19. FTL: Faster Than Light · 62,676 reviews · 95% positive · 2012
  20. SOMA · 52,758 reviews · 96% positive · 2015

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.