10 Best 2D Games of 2026

Hollow Knight takes first place because it offers the most game for the least money of any 2D title here. Team Cherry describes it as a classically styled 2D action adventure set in Hallownest, a ruined insect kingdom of caverns, ancient cities and wastes that connect into one large map. You fight more than 130 enemies and 30 bosses, gain spells, a dash and wings, and equip Charms that change how your character plays. Four free expansions, Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood and Godmaster, added bosses, quests and refinements without raising the price. Every character is animated frame by frame, and Christopher Larkin wrote the score. On Steam, 97% of more than 186,000 English reviews are positive, the joint best ratio on this list. The downsides: it is hard, you must buy and complete maps yourself, and the opening hours can feel lost. At $14.99, it is still the safest first pick.

Silksong is the newest game on this list and, on paper, the biggest. Team Cherry casts Hornet as a captured hunter climbing through Pharloom, a kingdom of mossy grottos, gilded cities and misted moors, toward a citadel at its peak. The store page promises over 200 enemies and over 40 bosses, a larger count than the first game, plus craftable tools such as weapons, traps and mechanisms. Quests ask you to hunt rare beasts and solve mysteries for the people you meet, and Steel Soul mode returns once you finish. Steam shows a Metacritic score of 90, the highest of any game here, and 93% of more than 147,000 English reviews are positive. It also lists a keyboard-only option and save-anytime support. It ranks second rather than first because it costs $19.99 and expects players to be comfortable with hard combat from the opening areas. Fans of the first game should buy it without hesitation.

Celeste is the pick for players who care most about jumping well. Its developers describe a hand-crafted platformer with more than 700 screens of hard challenges and secrets, built on three moves: jump, air-dash and climb. The depth comes from how those moves combine, and lightning-fast respawns turn each death into a quick lesson rather than a long walk back. A story about Madeline facing her inner demons runs through the climb, and expert players can open B-side chapters built for the bravest climbers. The soundtrack, led by live piano and synths, runs over two hours and was an IGF Excellence in Audio finalist. Steam lists a minimum of 2 GB of RAM and Intel HD 4000 graphics, so almost any laptop can run it, and 97% of nearly 63,000 English reviews are positive. It is single-player only and offers less free exploration than Hollow Knight. At $19.99, it is the best pure platformer here.

Terraria is the cheapest game on this list and the one with the most players behind it. Re-Logic sums it up as dig, fight, explore and build, in randomly generated worlds where you mine materials, craft ever-improving gear and machinery, and fight bigger and bigger foes, or build a town for the allies you meet. Steam lists online co-op and online PvP, Workshop support and full controller support, and Re-Logic promotes free content updates. More than 605,000 English Steam reviews have been written, 97% of them positive, far more than any other game here. It runs on very old hardware, with a 2.0 GHz processor and 2.5 GB of RAM listed. It sits fourth because it is a sandbox first: there is less designed platforming than in Celeste or Hollow Knight, and new players get little direction. For groups of friends who want a 2D world they can shape, nothing here comes close at $9.99.

Dead Cells is for players who want 2D action they can pick up for half an hour. Motion Twin calls it a roguelite, metroidvania-inspired action-platformer: you control a failed alchemic experiment that takes over bodies to explore a cursed island and an ever-changing castle. There are no checkpoints, so you beat the final boss in one go or start over, but new paths, levels, mutations, abilities and weapons stay unlocked between runs. The combat is quick and responsive, with an emergency roll for escapes. Steam lists Workshop support, full controller support and modest requirements of 2 GB of RAM and 500 MB of storage. 96% of nearly 45,000 English reviews are positive. Players who dislike repeating areas should look elsewhere, since restarting is the core loop, and there is no multiplayer. At $24.99, it costs more than Hollow Knight or Celeste, which is why it ranks below them.

Cuphead stands out on looks alone. Studio MDHR built it with techniques from 1930s cartoons: traditional hand-drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds and original jazz recordings. Underneath is a run and gun game that centers on boss battles. You play as Cuphead or Mugman, alone or in local co-op, crossing strange worlds, unlocking weapons and super moves, and trying to pay back a debt to the devil. Steam lists shared-screen co-op and Remote Play Together, so a friend can join online through Steam, and 96% of more than 66,000 English reviews are positive. The bosses are very demanding, and the game asks players to learn attack patterns through repeated failure. The Delicious Last Course expansion is sold separately for $7.99, and there is no Linux version. It ranks eighth because its focus on bosses gives it less variety than the games above it, not because it is weak.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the most visually ambitious game on this list. Moon Studios, which also made Ori and the Blind Forest, sets this sequel in a vast world drawn in hand-painted artwork and scored by a full orchestra. The story starts when a flight puts the owlet Ku in danger, and Ori must heal a broken land to bring a family back together. The studio pairs that story with tightly crafted platforming, large enemies and puzzles. Steam lists HDR support and full controller support, a Metacritic score of 88, and 96% positive among more than 32,000 English reviews. The trade-offs are cost and hardware: it is $29.99, it runs only on Windows through Steam, and it asks for 8 GB of RAM and 20 GB of storage, far more than any other game here. Players with a capable PC who want a story-driven 2D adventure should put it near the top of their list.

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is the best value per game on this list, even with the highest price tag. Yacht Club Games bundles all five games in the series: the original Shovel of Hope, Plague of Shadows with its bomb-crafting Plague Knight, Specter of Torment with wall-climbing Specter Knight, King of Cards, which the studio calls the biggest of them, and Showdown, a platform fighter for up to four local players. Everything follows 8-bit design, art and music, with modern parallax backgrounds and animation, and the soundtrack comes from Jake Kaufman with songs by Manami Matsumae. Shovel of Hope has a co-op campaign, and there are challenge modes and a Body Swap mode. It runs on 2 GB of RAM and needs 250 MB of storage. 95% of more than 10,000 English Steam reviews are positive. The $39.99 price is the highest here and the retro look will not suit everyone, but five campaigns make it a deep package.

Super Meat Boy is the oldest game on this list and still one of the purest tests of 2D platforming skill. Team Meat describes a tough platformer in which a cube of meat leaps between walls, over buzz saws and through crumbling caves to save his girlfriend, who is made of bandages. The store page lists a story mode of more than 300 levels across five or more chapters, boss fights, warp zones into other games, a level editor and more than 16 unlockable characters from other indie games. Levels are short, so each attempt takes seconds, and Steam Leaderboards let you compare times. It runs on almost anything, with 1 GB of RAM and 300 MB of storage listed, and 93% of over 14,000 English reviews are positive. It ranks below Celeste because it has less story, older presentation and a steeper difficulty curve. At $14.99, it is still a strong buy for players who want pure reflex platforming.

Rayman Legends is the friendliest group game on this list. Ubisoft sends Rayman, Globox and the Teensies through a set of paintings into five worlds, from a towering beanstalk to Mount Olympus, where you rescue kidnapped Teensies and find secrets. Up to four players can join on one screen, and Kung Foot adds a local versus mode for breaks between levels. The musical maps, where jumps and punches land on the beat of rock and salsa tracks, are its most memorable idea, and Steam shows a Metacritic score of 89. It finishes tenth for practical reasons. At $29.99, it costs twice as much as Hollow Knight. Its English Steam reviews are 86% positive, the lowest share here, from a much smaller base of about 4,400. Steam does not list full controller support for it, and it is Windows only. For families who want a bright co-op platformer, it remains a good choice.