Skip to content
indielist (beta)

The best perma death indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

perma-deathgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

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

indielist tracks 37 perma death indie games on Steam, holding 1,806,576 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 Lethal Company with 409,883 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Lethal Company · 409,883 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
  2. Hades · 281,617 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  3. Darkest Dungeon® · 138,565 reviews · 92% positive · 2016
  4. Hades II · 111,058 reviews · 96% positive · 2025
  5. My Summer Car · 105,569 reviews · 95% positive · 2025
  6. Don't Starve · 96,238 reviews · 97% positive · 2013
  7. Noita · 79,689 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  8. XCOM® 2 · 78,860 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  9. FTL: Faster Than Light · 62,132 reviews · 95% positive · 2012
  10. State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition · 57,706 reviews · 83% positive · 2020
  11. The Binding of Isaac · 48,753 reviews · 95% positive · 2011
  12. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk · 33,541 reviews · 96% positive · 2020
  13. Risk of Rain (2013) · 29,811 reviews · 93% positive · 2013
  14. Darkest Dungeon® II · 26,096 reviews · 75% positive · 2023
  15. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 · 25,744 reviews · 94% positive · 2014
  16. Roboquest · 24,043 reviews · 95% positive · 2023
  17. Spelunky 2 · 21,712 reviews · 93% positive · 2020
  18. Nuclear Throne · 19,584 reviews · 96% positive · 2015
  19. Peglin · 17,425 reviews · 84% positive · 2024
  20. Spelunky · 16,597 reviews · 92% positive · 2013

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.