The best shoot 'em up 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 26 shoot 'em up indie games on Steam, holding 295,234 reviews at an average of 92% 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 Cuphead with 200,544 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.
The ranking
- Cuphead · 200,544 reviews · 96% positive · 2017
- 20 Minutes Till Dawn · 27,921 reviews · 90% positive · 2023
- Nova Drift · 13,052 reviews · 96% positive · 2024
- Furi · 11,284 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
- HARD BULLET · 5,886 reviews · 83% positive · 2020
- Beat Hazard · 5,073 reviews · 95% positive · 2010
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime · 3,375 reviews · 93% positive · 2015
- Star of Providence · 3,195 reviews · 97% positive · 2017
- The Citadel · 2,664 reviews · 93% positive · 2020
- Mirage Feathers · 2,595 reviews · 98% positive · 2024
- Ikaruga · 2,210 reviews · 95% positive · 2014
- ZeroRanger · 2,059 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
- NIMRODS · 1,803 reviews · 85% positive · 2024
- The Void Rains Upon Her Heart · 1,672 reviews · 99% positive · 2018
- Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith. · 1,646 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
- Touhou Kanjuden ~ Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. · 1,533 reviews · 98% positive · 2019
- Beat Hazard 2 · 1,394 reviews · 86% positive · 2019
- Badlands Crew - Drive, Command, Conquer · 1,139 reviews · 79% positive · 2025
- Touhou Kikeijuu ~ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature. · 1,039 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
- Guns of Fury · 981 reviews · 89% 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.