Best Indie Sci-Fi RPGs

Role-playing games make up a broad and varied genre, heavily saturated in a variety of sub-genres. From old CRPGs like Baldur's Gate to turn-based RPGs, such as Octopath Travelerto the first-person open worlds of Skyrim and Fall outthere is something for everyone.

RPGs often cover a wide scale, but indie RPGs tend to be smaller in scope, usually having to make sacrifices elsewhere to make room for ambition. Caves of Qudfor example, it's an extremely expansive experience despite being an indie game, but it has minimal art direction. However, indie games tend to thrive on limitations, and this has led to a large number of ambitious RPGs set in creatively crafted sci-fi worlds.

5 Star Traders: Frontiers

An ambitious sandbox RPG set in a dangerous galaxy

While its smaller independent budget may be obvious, Star Traders: Frontiers is an ambitious sci-fi RPG that is sure to please sandbox fans. Star Traders: Frontiers puts players in the role of a captain, leading and managing his crew in an abundance of adventures across the galaxy. This leads to a variety of role-playing opportunities, as players can heavily customize their squad by specializing them for specific roles.

Players can expect to spend a lot of time roaming the galaxy, trading (or smuggling) goods, hunting for bounties, and fending off wild pirates. Star Traders: Frontiers it also features missions to complete, unique mini-games, and a dual combat system for space and ground combat. All this to say that Star Traders is a varied experience full of content and role-playing opportunities, offering a low-budget sandbox that punches above its weight.

4 Griftlands

A unique combination of RPG and deck-Builder

Developed by indie darlings Klei Entertainment (the team behind big names such as Don't starve and Oxygen is not included), Griftlands is an ambitious twist on the rogue-like deck builder that blends several elements of the RPG genre. As in all of Klei's games, Griftlands features a great art style, depicting a strange and alien world populated by strange characters with memorable designs.

Griftlands excels, however, in its unique gameplay loop, which combines RPG-style character dialogue and meaningful choices with a mix of deck-builder turn-based combat and an inventive negotiation system. This negotiation system allows players to resolve conflicts in a passive manner, adding to the RPG mechanics and deepening the overall experience as it requires players to build and master two unique decks.

3 Space wreckage

• Platform(s): PC
• Release: 2023
• Developer(s): Pahris Entertainment SIA
• Genre: RPG

This criminally underrated sci-fi RPG features an ancient art style and charming gameplay, giving players a Fall out-inspired experience that is designed to be played multiple times. Space wreckage it's a small, short and sweet RPG, and that goes hand-in-hand with a game that revolves a lot around a player's character stats.

In fact, many of the player's options in Space wreckage are limited by their stats, making character creation important and encouraging players to experiment with multiple characters to see everything there is to see. Space wreckageThe old-school isometric style and retro-RPG gameplay hearkens back to the original Fall out in more ways than one, but it stands out as its own beast due to its accessible nature and short duration.

2 Citizen Sleeper

A contemplative sci-fi RPG inspired by the tabletop

Drawing heavily from tabletop RPGs, primarily in the name of player agency and immersive RPGs, Citizen Sleeper is a quiet science RPG with a cyberpunk twist. The game takes place on a desperate, ruined space station populated by a diverse cast of memorable characters.

Citizen Sleeper it's a text-heavy experience that won't appeal to the less patient, but those who take the time to enjoy her writing and immerse themselves in her world will find a remarkably atmospheric game underneath. There are also mechanics, choices to be made, driven by dice mechanics and ticking clocks in true TTRPG fashion.

1 Caves of Qud

Exploring a surreal sci-fi fantasy world

Set to finally leave early access later this year, there's never been a better time to jump in Caves of Qud. This expansive RPG takes place in an imaginative open world that blends science fiction with fantasy in inventive ways, offering a strange and alluring land full of surprises and fun to explore. Caves of Qud it may be minimal in its art direction, but the creativity on display is sure to ignite the imagination.

Caves of QudThe aforementioned minimalistic visuals are in keeping with its traditional rogue-like gameplay, but players shouldn't let any of that scare them off; the unforgiving nature of its gameplay can be circumvented through the game's RPG mode, which allows players to enjoy the game as if it were a regular RPG. In addition, the minimalist visuals allow players to enjoy the game as if they were in a book, with loosely drawn sprites offering evocative suggestions for the player's imagination.