Best Games By Annapurna Interactive

Key Takeaways

• Annapurna Interactive has launched numerous successful indie games, including partnerships with Remedy Entertainment.
• Titles like Open Roads, Twelve Minutes, and Donut County have received critical acclaim and won awards.
• Annapurna Interactive continues to pioneer unique and visually distinct games that push boundaries in the indie game industry.

Since 2016, Annapurna Interactive has assisted in launching dozens of titles across every platform. The publisher established itself as a pillar in the independent game scene, with multiple titles under Annapurna Interactive’s publishing umbrella garnering BAFTA awards and numerous other accolades throughout the years.

Annapurna is showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon by having a slew of promising titles on the horizon, which now even includes an exciting partnership with Remedy Entertainment with its Control and Alan Wake universe. Until then, here are some of the best games that you should absolutely check out from Annapurna if you haven’t already.

Updated on September 26, 2024, by Dennis Moiseyev: Annapurna Interactive is one of the most prominent indie game publishers in the industry, focused on bringing you some of the most visually distinct and creative games that developers could conceptualize, bordering on arthouse and experimental design. While there has been news of mass resignations by Annapurna’s staff, in-development projects will continue their progress. In the meantime, here are some more critically acclaimed and award-winning games that Annapurna has to offer!

18 Open Roads

Open Roads is a road trip game starring a mother and daughter duo, Opal and Tess Devine, who are voiced by Keri Russell (The Americans, The Diplomat, and Cocaine Bear) and Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Unbelievable, and No One Will Save You). Going through their attic, they uncover clues pointing to darker family secrets and lost treasure, which sends them on a quest for answers. The art style also brilliantly blends 3D first-person with hand-illustrated characters.

While Open Roads seems to be the least critically acclaimed game from the publisher thus far and can leave you with a mixed impression, it’s made by an independent team formerly of Fullbright, the studio behind the hits Gone Home and Tacoma. Open Roads was also part of the official selection for the 2023 Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Edition showcase.

17 Twelve Minutes

Twelve Minutes was developed by Luís António and published by Annapurna in 2021. It’s a top-down game, a refreshing change from most modern games, that takes place almost exclusively in one small apartment where you are trying to solve a murder mystery in a time-loop fashion. Plus, it stars James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe.

Twelve Minutes received great reviews and won several awards, including the Best Puzzle and Trivia Games in the Webby Awards show. It even received praise from Hideo Kojima himself, who said it made him think about making another adventure game.

16 Donut County

Donut County is the kind of game you’ve probably seen in an app before. You move around a hole, and the hole gets a little bigger every time something falls into it. It’s a lot like Katamari Damacy, except it’s a hole instead of a ball.

The creator of Donut County, Ben Esposito, merges this simple mechanic with silly, lighthearted storytelling techniques and genuinely adorable characters to create something wonderful. As a result, Donut County has been nominated for many awards and won Mobile Game of the Year at the SXSW Gaming Awards.

15 Flower

Originally launched back in 2009, thatgamecompany’s Flower offers you what’s titled ‘an interactive escape.’ In Flower, you utilize a highly simplistic set of controls to control the wind as you experience lavish landscapes and embark on a personal yet emotional journey.

Flower received plenty of critical acclaim, garnering two game awards. On top of the BAFTA and the VGX awards it earned, another amazing fact about this simple and relaxing little game is that it’s among the first collection of games to be featured in the Smithsonian.

14 The Unfinished Swan

The Unfinished Swan features an all-white landscape and asks you to help Monroe paint his surroundings with ink to better see the structures and explore. The one-and-only Terry Gilliam voices the King in this narrative; oh, and of course, you are always on the tail of a wandering swan.

Launched all the way back in 2012 as a timed PlayStation exclusive from the studio that would later bring you What Remains of Edith Finch, Giant Sparrow’s The Unfinished Swan has won two separate BAFTA awards for Game Innovation and Best Debut Game.

13 Florence

Florence revolves around a young woman’s first love and the eventual hardships that follow. Uniquely, completion of Florence will only take players 30 to 40 minutes. The game’s minimal commitment and proven quality should be more than enough for those curious to give it a go.

Developed by Mountains and launching first on mobile devices in 2018, Florence has garnered a total of seven awards; winning a Game Award, a BAFTA, an Apple Design award, a DICE award, two separate Game Developers Choice awards, and a Webby award.

12 Kentucky Route Zero

Kentucky Route Zero is a five-part adventure game known for its artistic vision in both its visuals and approach to game narrative, which take on a more Lynchian vibe. It then finally received a console port via the TV Edition, which also brought the fifth and final part of the game along with it seven years after its original launch!

Cardboard Computer’s Kentucky Route Zero has earned several awards dating back to 2013. It’s been awarded third and fourth in two different Game of the Decade lists, two Game of the Year awards, a Best Musical award, and a Best Narrative award.

11 Gorogoa

Coveted as a remarkable puzzle game, critics recommend Gorogoa as a must-play for puzzle game genre fans. Illustrated by Jason Roberts in a hand-drawn style, Gorogoa is described as more than a game, expressing itself through charming scenes and one-of-a-kind puzzle mechanics.

In Gorogoa, you create panels of scenes with puzzle tiles, and that’s the unique way the story gets told here. This game has been awarded several artistic awards and three gaming awards, winning two separate GDC awards as well as a BAFTA award for Debut Game, all in 2018.

10 The Artful Escape

The Artful Escape is a musical and psychedelic sci-fi journey born from the vision of Australian musician Johnny Galvatron of The Galvatrons. You’re a teenage guitarist named Francis Vendetti going on a colorful and trippy adventure to alien worlds across the Cosmic Extraordinary, jamming out and fighting bosses. The cast even enlists stars like Carl Weathers, Lena Headey, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Strong, and Michael Johnston.

The game’s elaborate art and design certainly made it a major award contender. In 2022, The Artful Escape took home the BAFTA award for Artistic Achievement, a NAVGTR award for Art Direction, and a Webby for Technical Achievement.

9 Sayonara Wild Hearts

Simogo’s Sayonara Wild Hearts is depicted as a pop album in the form of a video game. This title plays like a rhythm arcade game, featuring colorful visuals as you follow the psychedelic heartbreak of a young woman. Sprinkled into this extravagant musical and visual journey are also sword-fighting action and motorcycle riding.

Launched in 2019, Simogo’s pop album hybrid was nominated for three categories at the Game Awards, including Best Music and Best Art Direction, and was awarded a BAFTA, a DICE award, an Apple Design award, a Webby award, and a Pégases award.

8 Gone Home

Fullbrights’ exploration walking simulator, Gone Home, was initially launched back in 2013. You return home expecting your family to greet you as you arrive, but what you are met with is an abandoned house. You are tasked with deducing what became of your family, complete with the director’s commentary.

Gone Home has garnered a lot of game awards. Some of the most notable awards are two IGN awards, two VGX awards, three Game of the Year awards, a BAFTA, and a Game Developers Choice award.

7 Lorelei And The Laser Eyes

Developer Simogo’s follow-up to Sayonara Wild Hearts is Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, a very different aesthetic from the colorful 2019 rhythm game. However, it’s already proving to be yet another masterpiece for Annapurna Interactive.

This game is designed in 3D with an eerie and distinct black-and-white art style featuring shaded characters, the colors coming in for the laser eyes, and deep reds present among certain gameplay elements. It’s a game that blends horror, mystery, intricate puzzles, and surrealism, all set inside a hauntingly atmospheric hotel.

6 Neon White

Game designer Ben Esposito’s partnership with Annapurna continued with Neon White, this time developed with a larger team under the studio Angel Matrix. It’s an incredibly out-of-the-box first-person movement shooter and platformer featuring an anime visual novel-style twist. You’re the titular character summoned to Heaven from Hell, where you blast away various types of demons via abilities unlocked from Soul Cards.

Like Esposito’s past games, Neon White once again saw some awards recognition. Although this game ultimately didn’t take home any, Neon White was nonetheless nominated for multiple awards at the Game Awards, DICE Awards, Golden Joystick Awards, NAVGTR Awards, and GDC Awards, including Game of the Year and Best Action Game, and notably lost Best Debut Indie And Best Indie to Annapurna’s Stray.

5 Cocoon

Geometric Interactive was co-founded by developer Jeppe Carlsen of Limbo and Inside fame, with Cocoon being its debut title. You’ll notice right away it’s more visually striking and vibrant than Carlsen’s former work at Playdead, and the orb puzzles are highly innovative. You play as a bug born from a cocoon, who soon gets transported to worlds within worlds tucked inside orbs, bringing lots of mesmerizing yet challenging fun.

Cocoon has been nominated for four BAFTAs and won massive accolades, most notably Best Debut Indie at the 2023 Game Awards. It also won a DICE award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game, the Breakthrough Award at the Golden Joystick Awards, and received multiple other nominations.

4 Outer Wilds

Starting as a USC master’s degree thesis project, Mobius Games’ Outer Wilds officially launched in 2019. Outer Wilds asks players to take on a time loop to unravel the mystery of the cosmos. By visiting neighboring planets, you are tasked with deciphering the marvel behind the universe coming to an end.

Outer Wilds has accumulated multiple awards and is one of the most highly acclaimed sci-fi games you can play. Outer Wilds won three BAFTAs (including the highest honor of Best Game), a Pégases Award, and a Golden Joystick Award.

3 Stray

Stray is a glorious adventure game where you play as a cat who is trying to return to the surface world after falling into an underground city. It feels incredibly satisfying to make those leaps and bounds that you see cats performing in real life – and that’s just the controls – we haven’t even mentioned the art, storytelling, music, and all the other things that went into it.

Stray won Best Debut Indie and Best Indie at the 2022 Game Awards and was nominated for Game of the Year, but ultimately ended up winning PlayStation Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. It was also nominated for nine BAFTA awards in 2023 and multiple NAVGTR awards, winning for Art Direction and Original Family Game in the latter.

2 What Remains Of Edith Finch

Releasing in 2017 from the team that brought you The Unfinished Swan, Giant Sparrow’s acclaimed game, What Remains of Edith Finch, features a set of strange tales about your family. You return to the Finch house tasked with figuring out why you are the last one alive of all your family members. With varying gameplay from beat to beat, a humbling story is woven at its core.

What Remains of Edith Finch won eight awards. Most notably, it won Best Narrative at the Game Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards, as well as Excellence in Narrative at the SXSW Gaming Awards, and won a Games for Change award for its gameplay.

1 Journey

Originally launched as a PlayStation exclusive back in 2012 from the studio that brought you Flower, thatgamecompany’s Journey puts you in control of a wanderer lost in a massive desert. Players can glide across the dunes and soar above ruins in a powerful tale told without words. Surprisingly enough, the game also features a multiplayer element, allowing players to interact with each other and help decipher puzzles along the way.

Journey earned several awards, with some notable ones being three VGX awards (including for Best PS3 Game and Best Independent Game), four BAFTAs for its original music, audio design, art, and game design, and all six of its GDC award categories (including Game of the Year)!