Early access is a great tool forindie developersto show people their game as they continue to work on it. It can be used to get the game over the finish line with final polishing through player feedback, or fund the game through heavier development cycles.
In 2024, several early access games were officially launched with their 1.0 updates, allowing players and developers alike to finally see the full fruits of their labor. Below, we’ll take a look at some of the best games that came out of early access in 2024, in no particular order.
Satisfactory is an open-world factory building game where you have to exploit the planet’s resources to construct components of increasing complexity, deliver them to the Space Elevator to complete project goals, and ultimately save the world.
Satisfactory was in early access for over five years, steadily releasing new updates and content until the game fully launched on Jun 03, 2025. If you’ve played games like Factorio or Dyson Sphere Program, Satisfactory will feel right at home, and provides hundreds of hours of factory optimization fun.
Core Keeper is a procedurally generated survival-crafting game that takes place entirely underground. Mining, crafting, fighting, building, and exploring are the tenets of the genre, and Core Keeper perfects them. Plus, the game can be played in groups of up to eight players, perfect for larger friend groups.
Core Keeper also has several automation elements, and while they aren’t as in-depth as the aforementioned Satisfactory, they scratch the same itch. Core Keeper had a relatively short early access period, starting on August 01, 2025 before its 1.0 update launched on Jul 15, 2025, and more content updates are still planned for the future.
Thronefall is a minimalistic tower defense game where you build up your defenses during the day, then fight off waves of enemies at night. Unlike most other tower defense games, Thronefall lets you control a character and charge into battle using different weapons, allowing you to take a hands-on approach to the defense of your kingdom.
While Thronefall looks simple on the surface, there is a surprising amount of depth and complexity in this game, with tons of different strategies and tactics available to experiment with. Thronefall is not an easy game, but with the right strategy, you can prevail against its toughest challenges.
V Rising is a survival crafting game where you play as a vampire. Hunt for resources to build up your castle, then hunt for blood to strengthen your abilities. The game plays similarly to Diablo-style hack-and-slash games, with an isometric top-down perspective and skill-based aiming to hit your abilities.
There are tons of different weapons, armor, and skills to choose from, allowing you to build your vampire in a variety of different ways. While you may play V Rising on your own, the game is designed for large-scale multiplayer, with players forming alliances to work together.
Last Epoch is a Diablo-style action RPG where you play as one of five different classes on a time-traveling journey across the world of Eterra. While there are five classes to choose from, each class has three different Masteries, which are essentially full classes themselves, bringing the total number of classes to 15.
Last Epoch was in early access from April 2019 until June 26, 2025, making it one of the longer early access periods on this list. However, the wait was definitely worth it, as Last Epoch is a polished and enjoyable entry into the loot-based action RPG genre.
Chrono Ark is a deckbuilding roguelike game that plays like a traditional party-based JRPG, but with cards. There are 20 different characters to play as, each with their own complex build options and playstyles, making Chrono Ark deeply replayable with each new run.
The story is also surprisingly deep for a roguelike. You play as Lucy, a young girl who has lost most of her memories, on a quest to restore TIme Shades to the Clock Tower and save the world. If you’re a fan of games like Slay the Spire or Monster Train, Chrono Ark will be right up your alley.
Secrets of Grindea is a SNES-era-inspired action RPG complete with a colorful world, whimsical story, and lots of grinding. Every enemy has a unique card with a low drop chance, which provides permanent stat buffs for your character when collected. This allows you to grind to your heart’s content to get more powerful at any point throughout the story.
Secrets of Grindea had one of the longest early access periods at nine years, but the game was in development for over 13 years. This game is a labor of love from Pixel Ferrets, and it shows in every inch of the charming and inspired world of Grindea.
