Best Indie Games On Xbox Game Pass

The diversity of games available on the Xbox Game Pass library is a true delight for all who subscribe to the service. And while flashy, triple-A titles are major draws, understated indie games should also garner attention from the masses. These titles provide experiences that are innovative and daring, showcasing what a small studio of dedicated developers can do with passion and hard work.

It is truly gratifying to see these indie games shine like diamonds within the treasure trove of the Xbox Game Pass collection. Read on if you want to see which are the best indie games most deserving of your time.

18 Rollerdrome

There are so many great indie games we’ve already included on this list, it feels like we’re exaggerating when we extol the virtues of yet another. But we can’t help it that Game Pass is getting banger after banger when it comes to indie games. Rollerdrome is the amazing skate-park-turned-death-arena shooter game that combines the fluidity of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater with the cerebral gunplay of Doom Eternal.

Words aren’t enough to describe how seamless combat feels in Rollerdrome. You play as Kara Hassan, a competitor in the titular sport, and though the story is a bit barebones, who needs a narrative when you’re whirling and flipping and shooting other enemy players in slow motion? Nothing feels as sublime as slowing time, aiming, taking the shot, absolutely annihilating an opponent, and then pulling off a sweet trick to reload your weapon.

17 Cocoon

Made from some of the brains behind Limbo and Inside, Cocoon is a mind-bending puzzle game that exceeds all expectations. It strikes the perfect balance between being challenging and enjoyable, and exhibits how indie games are where innovation is truly taking place.

Cocoon has you solve a variety of puzzles that revolve around the concept of a recursive world. Even talking about the concept of recursive worlds can be difficult to explain, so it’s a sign of genius that Geometric Interactive not only made this approachable, but built its entire game around it. 2023 is a year where games like Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Starfield came out. And yet, Cocoon outshines them all when it comes to the fascinating gameplay loop that keeps you jumping into (and out of) its worlds.

16 Celeste

Celeste is a game about overcoming obstacles, whether they be facing your personal anxieties or scaling a snowy mountain. This platformer might look like your average, pixelated indie title, but its themes carry the narrative straight into the hearts of players. As a matter of fact, the difficulty of facing these platforming challenges ties in to the difficulty of fighting your inner demons.

Celeste gained widespread recognition, even winning Best Independent Game at the 2018 Game Awards. Though its trials might be daunting, seeing your way through to its conclusion is a reward that goes beyond simply completing a game.

15 Amnesia: The Bunker

It’s always a joy for the indie scene to get another sparkling horror gem, and Amnesia is back to reclaim its crown with Amnesia: The Bunker. If you were dissatisfied with Amnesia: Rebirth’s linearity and railroaded story, The Bunker is here to give you the roguelike Amnesia experience you never knew you wanted. You play as a French soldier in World War I with a spotty memory, but you do know you need to escape the underground bunker you find yourself trapped in.

Armed with a single pistol and a few expendable resources, you venture out from your one relatively “safe” room to see if you can collect the tools you need to bust your way out of there. And with the expected Amnesia monster chasing you every time you make a sound, every crawl outside of your manual-save safe room feels more and more like you’re making a doomed run in a horror roguelike. Once you get into this mindset, the ingenuity of Amnesia: The Bunker shines more brilliantly than one of those flare traps you might run into. Frictional Games has done it again.

14 Goat Simulator

Goat Simulator takes the wild proposition of playing as a goat and just runs with it in one of the most delightful indie sim games ever made. While it is most definitely not an accurate depiction of what a real goat’s life is like, it is one of the most entertaining “simulator” games available, and it is an utter joy to see it as part of the Xbox Game Pass’ library.

In Goat Simulator, being a goat means wreaking absolute havoc wherever you go. Bleat people into oblivion, lick random objects and carry them with you with your prehensile tongue, or headbutt cars until they explode. All of these activities are valid.

13 Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon can be summed up quite tersely — it’s Lovecraftian horror as seen through a hardcore roguelike RPG with a killer artistic aesthetic, but that does it a criminal level of injustice. Though RNG can have a heavy hand in dictating its thrills, Darkest Dungeon’s incorporation of a “stress” mechanic that reflects the psychological toll of facing the extraplanar horrors of its dark fantasy world is quite ingenious.

The game’s roster of recruitable heroes can develop fears and phobias stemming from their encounters, or fall to outright madness should their mental threshold be crossed. One needs to weigh the costs and benefits of sending out a well-worn hero not only in terms of blood and gold, but the very sanity of their semi-stalwart adventurers.

12 Valheim

You’d think the gaming world would be weary of yet another sandbox survival game, but Valheim came along as an early access darling and blew our minds all the way to Viking heaven. The combination of group work that’s inherent to the genre and the engaging boss fights scattered throughout the world contribute to making Valheim one of the best games you could be playing on Xbox Game Pass right now. And what’s even more astounding is the fact that it’s a work in progress; this isn’t even the final product and it’s amazingly fun.

You and your friends can spend your time crafting the most homely Viking base imaginable and gearing up to take on the various world bosses, or you can just explore the land to your heart’s content. Valheim is everything good about the genre, and then some. Just be careful of how much time you spend immersed in your world. If ever an indie game was a time-sink, it’s this one.

11 Inside

Though Playdead initially wowed players with its first puzzle platformer, Limbo, it was its second that truly showcased the polish and prestige of its talent. Inside is a master class in atmospheric storytelling. The young boy you play as never speaks a word. He just continually walks forward, from the left side of the screen to the right. But despite that, you gain a horrific understanding of the world he resides in.

As with most indie titles, Inside is a short experience. However, it’s not one that should be missed. In the relative three hours you spend playing, you’ll experience more emotions than you would in the entirety of some of today’s modern, 20-hour triple-A titles. With zero desire to spoil the narrative, all we can say is that Inside is a classic indie game that bears playing at least once in your lifetime.

10 Scorn

There are some that might be understandably thrown off by Scorn’s complete lack of handholding. Whether you’re looking at its practically nonexistent UI or its obtuse puzzles that are never explained, Scorn is a tough nut to crack. But if you want to experience a game with perhaps the most engrossing environments and intriguing semi-narrative ever created, you’d be hard-pressed to find one that’s better than Scorn. It’s not exactly a typical horror game, nor is it a fast-paced first-person shooter.

It’s a strange blend of genres that focuses more on the thematic elements of its atmosphere to both tell a story and encourage players to continue forward. Yes, the combat can be frustrating, but if you enjoy intriguing settings and are okay with the grossest upgrade system we’ve ever seen, Scorn is the perfect game for you.

9 Amnesia: Collection

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is one of the most classic horror titles in the history of gaming, let alone an iconic indie game that saw widespread popularity. The collection currently on Game Pass takes you through three of the games set in this universe. Even if it was just The Dark Descent you got to play through, the time spent playing and the negligible file size makes this a must-have. It’s a master class in horror.

Without the backing of a triple-A team or budget, Frictional Games manages to scare the skin off of millions of players simply by possessing a firm understanding of what inspires terror. Amnesia’s atmosphere and narrative contribute to further building this horrific experience, and while it might not sound like we’re encouraging you to play this, rest assured, we most sincerely are.

8 Vampire Survivors

Look no further than Vampire Survivors if you are at all interested in playing the hit roguelike title that inspired dozens of copycats. The object of the game is exceedingly simple, but it is in Vampire Survivors’ simplicity where its genius lies. All you have to do to play the game is move your little character and watch as their automatic passives slowly but surely demolish the monsters around them.

The more monsters you slay, the more you level up, the more passives you can acquire and upgrade, the more monsters you can slay, and so on and so forth. That’s all there is to it really. But it’s brilliant. It’s engrossing. It can keep you playing for hours on end without awareness of how much time has passed. There’s no way to truly sell Vampire Survivors without first having experienced it. So trust us. Go play it.

7 Escape Academy

It’s an egregious oversight that Escape Academy has not gotten more attention. While it’s a fairly straightforward puzzle experience, the similarities it has with real-life escape rooms makes the game one of the best couch co-op experiences around. You and a partner are students in this prestigious school for “escapists.” While it sounds ludicrous and goofy, the logic and puzzles within the scenarios you have to escape are absolutely perfect.

Nothing feels too hard or too easy. And having a friend beside you for the whole thing improves upon perfection. Escape Academy is an indie game you shouldn’t miss, and it’s also one of the finest cooperative titles to come out.

6 Death’s Door

Death’s Door is a delightful Soulslike game, and while that comparison has made the rounds more times than we can count, it’s there for a reason. You play as a Reaper who must collect the souls of various bosses, and you journey to these bosses by working your way through various lands that are all connected to each other, all while picking up bits of the story by reading item descriptions. Sound familiar?

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However, the fighting mechanics of Death’s Door have been streamlined. While the experience is still difficult enough, with a small player healthpool and unforgiving enemies, it still plays a bit like baby’s first Dark Souls. This is by no means a flaw. Death’s Door is delightful, and tells a fantastic narrative even with the minimalist approach to storytelling. And it makes the difficulty inherent to most Soulslikes more approachable.

5 Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley became such a sensation over the years following its release that it feels hardly fair to call it an indie title at this point. But there’s no escaping the facts — this charmingly retro farming sim was a solo development project with a meager budget. What really stands out about SDV, beyond its rags-to-riches development story, is the deceptively deep layering of different gameplay mechanics.

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The core gameplay loop is, of course, managing and building your farm, but romancing the townspeople results in a sort of dating sim element. Venturing to the mines to fight monsters and plunder riches plays out as a barebones action-RPG reminiscent of retro Zelda titles. And really, this just scratches the surface of the surprisingly chill long-form adventure that’s placed at the fingertips of prospective players.

4 Superliminal

Great indie games are the ones that give zany ideas a chance that triple-A titles usually won’t. Superliminal is a superb example of the magic an indie game can give to players when a unique concept is given an opportunity to breathe. Similar to how Portal taught you to solve puzzles by “thinking with portals,” Superliminal teaches you to solve puzzles by quite literally changing your perspective.

You know how objects from far away can seem small because of the distance? And small items that are held up right in front of your eyes can seem huge? That’s basically the gist of Superliminal’s premise. From distance to shadows to angles, the game tests your ability to think outside of the box. The Xbox Game Pass library is brightened with the inclusion of this hidden gem, and its digestible completion time makes it a more attrBesactive game to try out.

3 Among Us

Among Us is the indie game that took the world by storm. Groups of friends flocked to play this social mystery game, and it’s a trend that persists to this day. Though Among Us started primarily as a mobile and PC game, it has made the move to Xbox consoles, further expanding its player base. Its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass is a definite boon for the indie presence in its library. More people than ever can complete tasks alongside their fellow crewmates, sabotage critical functions on the ship as an impostor, and accidentally eject innocents after heated discussions.

2 Deep Rock Galactic

Space dwarves stripping various intergalactic caves of their precious resources for fun and profit makes for an incredibly enjoyable cooperative multiplayer experience in Deep Rock Galactic. Simply put, this game is a blast — each of up to four players selects an entirely unique character class and plunges into a procedurally generated dungeon alongside their bearded comrades to accomplish a variety of objectives for their corporate overlords while fending off waves of arachnid aliens hellbent on eating them alive. It’s a good time.

1 Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is what happens when a Soulslike meets a Metroidvania and wraps itself up with an adorably gothic art style — magic, in a word. Exploring the world of Hallownest and meeting its surprisingly charming insectoid inhabitants is a remarkably Zen experience, the combat is tense and satisfying, and the setting is entirely compelling. How happily the light Soulslike features marry into this side-scrolling action-RPG adventure can’t be overstated, and it’s entirely worth a whirl for gamers of all stripes.

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