The best side scroller 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 45 side scroller indie games on Steam, holding 2,154,032 reviews at an average of 92% 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 Geometry Dash with 561,151 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.
The ranking
- Geometry Dash · 561,151 reviews · 93% positive · 2014
- Hollow Knight · 488,027 reviews · 97% positive · 2017
- Cuphead · 189,840 reviews · 96% positive · 2017
- Celeste · 127,326 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
- BattleBlock Theater® · 55,550 reviews · 97% positive · 2014
- Blasphemous · 51,690 reviews · 90% positive · 2019
- Ori and the Blind Forest · 50,579 reviews · 94% positive · 2015
- Skul: The Hero Slayer · 50,456 reviews · 93% positive · 2021
- Broforce · 49,159 reviews · 97% positive · 2015
- ROUNDS · 43,267 reviews · 95% positive · 2021
- SANABI · 40,755 reviews · 97% positive · 2023
- LIMBO · 39,812 reviews · 92% positive · 2011
- Super Meat Boy · 29,347 reviews · 94% positive · 2010
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night · 29,185 reviews · 93% positive · 2019
- Valiant Hearts: The Great War™ / Soldats Inconnus : Mémoires de la Grande Guerre™ · 27,297 reviews · 96% positive · 2014
- Spelunky 2 · 21,712 reviews · 93% positive · 2020
- Salt and Sanctuary · 21,646 reviews · 89% positive · 2016
- Streets of Rage 4 · 19,401 reviews · 92% positive · 2020
- Dust: An Elysian Tail · 18,995 reviews · 95% positive · 2013
- ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist · 18,010 reviews · 95% positive · 2025
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.