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indielist (beta)

The best base-building indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

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Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-06-13. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 94 base-building indie games on Steam, holding 5,363,210 reviews at an average of 85% 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 ARK: Survival Evolved with 579,791 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. ARK: Survival Evolved · 579,791 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  2. Valheim · 453,292 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
  3. Palworld · 356,085 reviews · 94% positive · 2024
  4. Subnautica · 333,593 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  5. Raft · 318,498 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
  6. Schedule I · 276,252 reviews · 98% positive · 2025
  7. Satisfactory · 229,323 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  8. RimWorld · 203,969 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  9. Factorio · 191,955 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  10. Oxygen Not Included · 132,475 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  11. ASTRONEER · 117,913 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  12. Frostpunk · 112,553 reviews · 93% positive · 2018
  13. Cult of the Lamb · 107,337 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  14. Scrap Mechanic · 104,965 reviews · 92% positive · 2016
  15. Subnautica: Below Zero · 97,862 reviews · 90% positive · 2021
  16. ARK: Survival Ascended · 97,685 reviews · 60% positive · 2023
  17. Kenshi · 95,600 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  18. House Flipper · 91,755 reviews · 94% positive · 2018
  19. Enshrouded · 90,563 reviews · 86% positive · 2024
  20. This War of Mine · 88,747 reviews · 94% positive · 2014

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.