fossick /ˈfɒsɪk/ (v.) 1. to rummage through abandoned diggings in search of gems others missed. 2. to unearth brilliant indie games nobody is playing yet.
Great games almost nobody found.
We rank Steam's long tail by an overlooked score — quality the crowd agrees on, weighted up when almost nobody's found it yet. Not the bestsellers. The buried ones.
34,112 scanned
→ 29,260 with enough reviews to judge
→ 4,973 cleared the quality bar (top ~quarter)
🎲 Surprise me
◆ Top hidden gems
Quality × hiddenness × deserve gap × grassroots — every badge explains why.
#1◆ 87Swirl W@tch
🕳 ×9 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie, Simulation
▮ ~2k players$14.99
#2◆ 87Ichima-san
🕳 ×7 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Adventure, Indie
▮ ~3k players$10.99
#3◆ 87Geo Mythica
🕳 ×8 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Adventure, Indie, RPG
▮ ~1k players$14.99
#4◆ 86Closer To Home
🕳 ×8 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Casual, Indie
▮ ~2k players$9.99
#5◆ 86Astro Pig
🕳 ×6 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Adventure, Indie
▮ ~3k players$9.99
#6◆ 86Void Wizard
🕳 ×6 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action
▮ ~2k players$1.99
#7◆ 86The Specter's Desire
🕳 ×9 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Indie
▮ ~2k players$19.99
#8◆ 86Eigengrau
🕳 ×5 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie
▮ ~4k players$9.99
#9◆ 86RECORD_DrowsyVortex
🕳 ×9 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Adventure, Indie, RPG, Strategy
▮ ~2k players$9.99
#10◆ 86Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy
🕳 ×6 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Indie, RPG
▮ ~2k players-72% $2.79
#11◆ 86Ballads of Reemus: When the Bed Bites
🕳 ×5 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Adventure, Casual, Indie
▮ ~4k players$4.99
#12◆ 86Lost Frontier
🕳 ×7 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Indie, Strategy
▮ ~2k players$4.99
🌅 Fresh finds
Strong early reviews, released within the year — catch them before the algorithm decides.
◆ 72Melody's Escape 2
🌅 Just out🌱 Solo grassroots🔁 Franchise
Indie
▮ ~12k players$14.99
◆ 84Project Absentia
🌅 Just out🕳 ×10 gap🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie
▮ ~3k players$19.99
◆ 75CYBERMATRIX
🌅 Just out🌱 Solo grassroots
Action, Indie
▮ ~5k players$12.00
◆ 61Easy Pose
🌅 Just out🌱 Solo grassroots
▮ ~36k players$12.99
◆ 81XF Extreme Formula
🌅 Just out🕳 ×3 gap🌱 Solo grassroots
Action, Racing
▮ ~7k players-55% $5.39
◆ 72Midnight Special
🌅 Just out
Indie
▮ ~5k players$14.99
◆ 75Hotel Architect
🌅 Just out
Indie, Simulation, Strategy
▮ ~11k players$29.99
◆ 82Duriano
🌅 Just out🕳 ×4 gap🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie, Strategy
▮ ~5k players-20% $11.99
🕳 The deserve gap
Games with several times fewer players than their quality, age and price predict.
◆ 69Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions
🕳 ×20 gap
Adventure, Casual, Indie, Strategy
▮ ~880 players$24.99
◆ 81Gods of the Twilight
🕳 ×19 gap🌱 Solo grassroots✅ Organic reviews
Adventure, Casual, Early Access
▮ ~840 players$19.99
◆ 79The Donnerwald Experiment
🕳 ×17 gap🌱 Solo grassroots✅ Organic reviews
Indie, RPG, Early Access
▮ ~1k players$19.99
◆ 78Bonaparte - A Mechanized Revolution
🕳 ×17 gap
Simulation, Strategy
▮ ~1k players$24.99
◆ 81The Darkness Below
🕳 ×17 gap🌱 Solo grassroots
Adventure, Indie, RPG
▮ ~1k players$16.99
◆ 75Mystery Case Files: Moths to a Flame Collector's Edition
🕳 ×14 gap
Adventure, Casual
▮ ~2k players$19.99
◆ 80Genotype
🕳 ×13 gap
Action, Adventure
▮ ~1k players$24.99
◆ 69Primal Hearts 2
🕳 ×13 gap🔁 Franchise
Adventure
▮ ~1k players$24.99
🚀 Should be huge
Hidden gems have levels: these already found a crowd — and deserve a far bigger one.
◆ 60Kabuto Park
💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Casual, Indie, RPG, Simulation, Strategy
▮ ~41k players$4.99
◆ 52Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue - EXTRA2
💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Adventure, Casual, Sports
▮ ~71k players$24.99
◆ 50A Tower Full of Cats
💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Adventure, Casual
▮ ~79k players$5.99
◆ 51Aventura Copilului Albastru și Urât
🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Adventure, Casual, Indie
▮ ~99k players-25% $1.49
◆ 52The Upturned
🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Action, Adventure, Indie
▮ ~95k players$9.99
◆ 58Beastieball
💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Adventure, Indie, RPG, Sports, Early Access
▮ ~47k players$24.99
◆ 54Dialtown: Phone Dating Sim
🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Casual, Indie
▮ ~78k players$7.99
◆ 53The Void Rains Upon Her Heart
💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Action, Indie, Early Access
▮ ~66k players$12.99
Flawless & tiny
Overwhelmingly loved, still barely owned.
◆ 81Shooters, Ready!
🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier
Action, Casual, Indie, Sports
▮ ~9k players-50% $2.49
◆ 82TETRACHROMA
🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier✅ Organic reviews
Action, Casual
▮ ~8k players$4.99
◆ 81UOS Prototype
🌱 Solo grassroots✅ Organic reviews
Early Access
▮ ~7k playersFree
◆ 78PRODUCER 2021
💎 Genre outlier✅ Organic reviews
Adventure, RPG, Simulation
▮ ~7k players$9.99
◆ 81混世萌王喵霸霸 Cute Chaos Demon Nyanbaba
🕳 ×3 gap
Casual, Indie
▮ ~5k players-51% $0.49
◆ 83机械恋心
🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure✅ Organic reviews
Adventure, Casual, Indie, Free To Play, Early Access
▮ ~2k playersFree
◆ 86Sophstar
🕳 ×4 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie
▮ ~4k players$9.99
◆ 83Last Stand Delivery
🕳 ×5 gap🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier
Strategy
▮ ~4k players$6.99
Deeply buried
Fewer than 60 reviews. The true long tail.
◆ 85The Katydids Incident
🕳 ×7 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Indie, Simulation
▮ ~2k players-15% $4.24
◆ 85Deity Driving
🕳 ×6 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Adventure
▮ ~2k playersFree
◆ 85Unbreakable Vr Runner
🕳 ×5 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Adventure, Indie, Sports
▮ ~2k players$3.99
◆ 84MeowGun: Hell Denizen
🕳 ×4 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie
▮ ~1k players$12.99
◆ 84Hyper Space
🕳 ×7 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, Strategy
▮ ~2k players$4.99
◆ 84WE ARE DOOMED
🕳 ×11 gap🌱 Solo grassroots✅ Organic reviews
Action, Indie
▮ ~1k players$9.99
◆ 84Punch Bomb
🕳 ×8 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Action, Indie, Early Access
▮ ~1k players$6.99
◆ 84No Delivery
🕳 ×5 gap🌱 Solo grassroots🪙 Buried treasure
Indie, RPG
▮ ~2k players$5.00
Still being played
Players seen in-game at our latest crawl.
◆ 68Guilty as Sock!
🌱 Solo grassroots
Casual, Simulation
▮ ~21k players$5.50
◆ 70Void War
🌱 Solo grassroots
Adventure, Indie, RPG, Simulation, Strategy
▮ ~16k players$19.99
◆ 51Laundry Store Simulator
Indie, Simulation
▮ ~40k players$11.99
◆ 62Cornerpond
🌱 Solo grassroots💎 Genre outlier🚀 Should be huge
Casual, Indie, Simulation
▮ ~42k players-35% $1.94
◆ 35Farm Together 2
🔁 Franchise
Casual, Indie, Simulation
▮ ~148k players$25.99
◆ 48Ropuka's Idle Island
🚀 Should be huge
Casual, Indie, Simulation
▮ ~79k players$3.99
◆ 68Mini Cozy Room: Lo-Fi
💎 Genre outlier
Casual, Indie
▮ ~21k players-50% $2.49
◆ 48Nice Day for Fishing
Adventure, RPG
▮ ~37k players$19.99