The best automation 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 38 automation indie games on Steam, holding 1,494,300 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 Palworld with 379,930 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.
The ranking
- Palworld · 379,930 reviews · 94% positive · 2026
- Schedule I · 282,319 reviews · 98% positive · 2025
- Satisfactory · 232,215 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
- Factorio · 193,619 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
- ASTRONEER · 118,359 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
- Dyson Sphere Program · 83,095 reviews · 97% positive · 2021
- Hydroneer · 26,916 reviews · 86% positive · 2020
- Necesse · 23,379 reviews · 93% positive · 2025
- Craftopia · 18,310 reviews · 76% positive · 2020
- Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game · 16,518 reviews · 94% positive · 2015
- Melvor Idle · 14,460 reviews · 90% positive · 2021
- shapez · 14,069 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
- shapez 2 - Factory · 13,482 reviews · 97% positive · 2026
- Captain of Industry · 10,682 reviews · 90% positive · 2022
- The Farmer Was Replaced · 8,881 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
- Software Inc. · 7,499 reviews · 94% positive · 2015
- Opus Magnum · 7,102 reviews · 97% positive · 2017
- Factory Town · 4,131 reviews · 91% positive · 2021
- TIS-100 · 4,091 reviews · 97% positive · 2015
- SHENZHEN I/O · 3,718 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
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.