The 10 Best Indie Games Ever Made
From a roguelike about escaping Hell to a solar system stuck in a time loop, these are the small-team games that rewrote what big games could be.
Ranked by ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini — models trained on just about every review, critic poll, fan forum and best-of list ever written. Ask them enough times and you get the internet's consensus.
What indie game should I play right now?
Our pickReturn of the Obra Dinn“Nothing else makes you feel like a real detective; every correct deduction clicks.”The AIs ranked it #9.Already played it? The AIs' #1: Hades · Deep cut: Slay the Spire
- 2
2.Outer Wilds
Mobius Digital, 2019
A tiny solar system, a 22-minute time loop, and one of gaming's great mysteries. Pure curiosity is the only upgrade you get. Gemini had it as its #1, and Claude kept it right behind Hades.
ChatGPT#7
Claude#2
Gemini#1 - 3
3.Disco Elysium
ZA/UM, 2019
A washed-up detective, a broken mind, and a skill system where your own thoughts argue back. It's the best-written RPG ever made, with almost no combat. Every engine kept it in its top five.
ChatGPT#2Claude#5Gemini#3 - 4
4.Hollow Knight
Team Cherry, 2017
Team Cherry's hand-drawn bug kingdom of Hallownest is vast, haunting and brutally fair. Its tight combat and lonely atmosphere made it the metroidvania benchmark. Gemini had it as high as #2.
ChatGPT#6Claude#4Gemini#2 - 5
5.Stardew Valley
ConcernedApe, 2016
One developer, a farm and endless cozy days. Stardew Valley turned a Harvest Moon love letter into a comfort-gaming phenomenon. It's remarkably steady: it sat near the middle of every engine's list.
ChatGPT#5Claude#6Gemini#5 - 9
9.Return of the Obra Dinn
Lucas Pope, 2018
Lucas Pope's monochrome murder puzzle has you deduce the fate of a ship's crew from frozen moments of death. Claude and ChatGPT loved it, though Gemini never named it.
ChatGPT#10Claude#9Geminiskipped it - 10
10.Slay the Spire
Mega Crit, 2019
The deckbuilding roguelike that launched a whole genre. Every run is a puzzle of synergies and risk, and it's dangerously replayable. Gemini loved it; ChatGPT never listed it.
ChatGPTskipped itClaude#10Gemini#9
Lone wolves
In one AI's top 10, never named by the others.
- Terraria
- Braid
Questions
- What indie game should I play right now?
- Start with Hades (Supergiant, 2020). Already played it? Try Outer Wilds or, for something less obvious, Slay the Spire.
- According to AI, what is #1 of the best indie games ever made?
- Hades (Supergiant, 2020). Claude put it first; the combined vote across all 15 answers made it #1.
- Do ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini agree on the best indie games ever made?
- Partly. 8 of the 10 picks made all 3 AIs' lists. The biggest split was Minecraft: ChatGPT #1, Claude #8, Gemini #8.
- Which best indie games ever made did only one AI pick?
- Terraria (only ChatGPT); Braid (only Gemini).
- How was this ranking of the best indie games ever made made?
- We asked ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini "What are the 10 best indie games ever made? Rank them from 1 to 10, best first." 5 times each, every time in a fresh chat, in 2026-11. A #1 earns 10 points and a #10 earns 1; each AI's points are averaged over its runs and each AI gets an equal say.
Keep arguing
The 10 Best Open-World Games Ever Made
Hyrule, the Old West, the Lands Between and a certain blocky sandbox: the open worlds the internet can't stop returning to, from freeform classics to modern marvels.
The 10 Best RPGs of All Time
From a 2023 phenomenon to a 1995 time-travel classic, the role-playing games that define the genre, plus the one ChatGPT shrugged off and the one Gemini skipped.
The 10 Best Video Games of All Time
From a falling-blocks puzzler to a 3D Hyrule, this list spans four decades of play, with Nintendo's heavy hitters, PC landmarks and one very punishing action RPG.
The 10 Best PlayStation Games of All Time
From a post-apocalyptic road trip to a cursed gothic nightmare, the ten PlayStation games that define the console's legacy across four generations, with one clear champion.
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How this list was made · image credits
We asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini “What are the 10 best indie games ever made? Rank them from 1 to 10, best first.” 5 times each, every time in a fresh chat, collected 2026-11-02. A #1 earns 10 points and a #10 earns 1; each AI's points are averaged over its runs, and each AI gets an equal say.
- Hades: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
- Outer Wilds: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
- Disco Elysium: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
- Hollow Knight: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
- Stardew Valley: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
- Undertale: Original: Toby Fox and / or Temmie Chang Vector: Theinstantmatrix, Public domain
- Celeste: Maddy Makes Games, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Return of the Obra Dinn: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
- Slay the Spire: via Wikipedia (non-free, used for commentary)
