Demon Tides (3d platformer, Mario Odyssey crossed with LoZ Wind Waker)

Bug Fables (Paper Mario-esque RPG)

Ultrakill (boomer shooter)

Session. Skate Sim (EA Skate but without EA)

Synthetik 1 & 2 (isometric futuristic rouge like)

Vall Halla (cyberpunk bartender visual novel)

Dungeons of Hinterburg (Dungeon crawling RPG with a Persona like social system)

Cairn (mountain climbing sim with a great story)

Tactical Breach Wizards (XCOM style game with wizards and defenstration)

Noita (magic based rouge like with a lot of secrets)

Cassette Beasts (Pokemon)

Signalis (classic Resident Evil/Silent Hill style horror game)

Dredge (fishing, but Lovecraftian)

Tunic (Legend of Zelda mixed with Dark Souls)

Neon White (movement based FPS with a goal to speedrun short levels)

SUPERHOT (FPS, time moves when you move)

VOID BREAKER (rouge like FPS with insane upgrades)

CrossCode is one of my favourite indie games, well worth a try, long one though.

Balatro

Here’s a couple unique ones:

Showgunners - Turn Based Strategy with some great art and setting.

Lonestar - Space based rogue like turn based with a surprisingly intricate combat system.

Project Wingman - Love letter to Ace Combat with a soundtrack that just DOES NOT miss.

Tactical Breach Wizards - XCOM with wizards. Funny as hell.

Battletech - Older title by Harebrained Schemes but still awesome. Giant stompy robots turn based. Great plot too. Actually had the original devs of Battletech on board.

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is like Skyrim but with better combat and dar King Arthur themed.

Potion Craft is a game where you run an alchemist shop, entirely stylized to look like medieval paintings.

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a game about a digital companion that likes you too much.

I could give more, but I never see anyone recommend those, and you have a lot of recommendations in this thread already.

Dredge if you haven’t touched it yet … fishing but deeply unsettling in the best way. Short, cheap, stays with you.

Tunic if you want something that genuinely respects your intelligence. Feels like Zelda until it doesn’t.

And if you’re okay with losing sleep, Noita. Just go in blind.

I got an amazing amount of content per dollar spent on Onirism, a third-person shooter where you play as a 10-year-old girl searching a dream world for her stolen stuffed animal. That premise sounds like it would make for a simple, cutesy kids’ game - but the main inspirations for the gameplay come from Serious Sam and Doom Eternal.

Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane is one of the standouts of many indie games imitating Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney’s famous formula. At some point it even got an overhaul to the script of multiple cases.

Motorslice is a new one, most directly influenced by the classic Prince of Persia: Sands of Time series, having you leap around between obstacles to navigate a world of cement and evil construction machines.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

• Katana Zero

• Stick it to the man (Humorous platformer with a funny story/art style)

• Shakedown Hawaii (Like GTA 1/2 but your a businessman shaking people down for profit)

• Distance (Obstacle Avoidable Racing Game)

• Carrion (You play as a monster trying to escape a facility)

• The Precinct (Be a Cop)

• Chicken Invaders Ultimate

• Wreckage (Homage to Twisted Metal Series)

• Bash Moto (Upcoming Road Rash 95 like game. Can’t wait for it to release!)

• Hypersonic (Upcoming F-ZERO like game)

• Aero GPX (F-ZERO like game)

• Time Loader (3D Platformed/Puzzler with a good story)

• DemonStar - Original Missions (Remastered game of the original shareware, by the original developer)

• Sleeping Dogs (Could you consider it an indie game, I believe not but please try it out its great!)

• Phogs

• Hot Brass (Topdown SWAT game solo or with friends locally or online)

• Two games: Capsized and Cryptark

• Broforce

Edit: Added more games and fixed some typos.

• Your Spider - I gotta mention this one again because it deserves far more attention than it got.
• 10 Dead Doves - One of the few games that made me want to play through a second time. Interesting story, some funny moments, emotional moments, good voice acting. I highly recommend this one.
• The Eternal Castle (remastered) - It’s a remake of a game from 1987, but the animation is great and the visual style is really cool.
• The Upturned - A cartoony horror-comedy game with a great sense of humor.
• Withering Rooms - The story is interesting and the atmosphere is great.
• Exanima - Read about the features. This one is more impressive than the screenshots make it look (at least for me).
• Praey for the Gods - This one is for anyone who’s looking for more games like Shadow of the Collossus.

ive sunk almost 100 hours into Inscryption (deck building roguelike)

I recently released a demo for my action platformer No More Mages! Hope you enjoy if you get around to it, more being added soon.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3993180/No_More_Mages/

Tons. The Wild at Heart, Ballionaire, Hades, Silksong if you’re a glutton for punishment, Neon Abyss, 80 Days, Islanders, most of the Steamworld franchise.

Some of them many not be truly indie but definitely aren’t AAA. These are some of my favorites from the past year.

Oxygen not included Project Zomboid

Reventure. Yes, I know Pixelatto passed by some controversies, but the game is still good.