Steam reviews
17 of 26 Steam user reviews are positive (65.4%) and Steam's own label is “Mixed”, according to Steam's review summary for Planet in the Shadows at the last data refresh.
Games like Planet in the Shadows
- Outer Wilds
- Subnautica
- Kairo
Drafted by Claude; not individually verified.
Good for
- Players who enjoy atmospheric exploration with minimal hand-holding
- Fans of environmental storytelling where the world communicates its own history
- Short focused indie experiences rather than large open-ended sandboxes
Avoid if
- Absence of combat or progression mechanics limits engagement for action-oriented players
- Narrative is sparse — players who want explicit story beats will feel underserved
- Production values reflect indie budget in visual scope and audio quality
Is Planet in the Shadows an indie game?
Yes. Steam lists Planet in the Shadows under the "Indie" genre, and its publisher is not on this site's major-publisher list.
- Steam genre tags on record: Adventure, Indie — includes "Indie".
- Developer: Sergey Bobrov.
- Publisher: Sergey Bobrov — same as the developer, i.e. self-published; not on this site's major-publisher list.
The rubric, its limits and the publisher list: methodology.