The CD Project Red Games from Poland (Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077) should be well known.
Anno and Wreckfest are German. As well as one of my favourite games, Suzerain.
From Austria: Ori and the Blind Forest / Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios)
From Sweden: Valheim (Irongate Studios) Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios) Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead - published by Sony) And of course Paradox Grand Strategy Games
From Finland: Cities:Skylines 1 & 2
From Italy: Assetto Corsa (Kunos Simulazioni)
From Belgium: Baldurs Gate 3 & Divinity (Larian Studios)
From Denmark: Hitman games (IO)
IO is also making a new Bond game and there’s a gameplay video on YouTube
EA DICE(creators of Battlefield) is based in Sweden. EA Gothenburg(aka Ghost Games), creators of the Need for Speed games are also based in Sweden. Funcom, creators of Dune Awakening are swedish.
Avalanche Studios, creators of Just Cause games, are based in Sweden. Mojang, creators of Minecraft are swedish too. Frictional Games, creators of Amnesia and Soma are swedish. Fatshark, creators of Warhammer 40k Darktide are swedish.
It is important to note that nowadays, games are developed by devs all over the world, especially AAA games. But there are a lot of game devs based in Sweden.
Baba Is You is Finnish (and hands down the best puzzle game ever).
Deep Rock Galactic is a great co-op or Bosco player game made in Denmark
Disco Elysium is Estonian (though, IIRC, owned by corporate predators who forced its creators out of their own universe)
- Valheim
- Enshrouded
- No Mans Sky
Steam World Dig 2
One of my favorite games. It even got funding from the European Union. It’s developed by the Swedish studio Image & Form (now Thunderful Development)
I really liked Mutazione! Made by an indiedev in, I think, the Netherlands. It has a very unique vibe to it with great world building~
Paradox Interactive has many strategy games that span from Roman times all the way to the present. The more well-known ones include Hearts of Iron IV (HOI4), Europa Universalis IV (EU4)—with the next installment in development—and Victoria 3 (Vic3), among others.
If you like factory building games you might like Satisfactory (swedish).
Don’t forget the Kingdom Come series.
STALKER and STALKER 2 are made by a Ukrainian studio.
STALKER 2 had a difficult development finish due to the war breaking out, half the studio had to evacuate to Romania, the other half stayed and took care of the servers before the data could be migrated. A lot of the devs got drafted (one was actually joining stand-ups from his trench on the frontline, whenever he could).
The release was shaky, but a friend tells me that right now the game is excellent. And they’re still patching and improving it!
Adding on to this: Metro 2033 is also made by a Ukrainian Studio and published by Austrian publisher Deep Silver.
Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness is a slightly obscure CRPG from Hungary / Austria Coridden is a very unique ARPG from Sweden If you are willing to slightly stretch your definition of european you can also get the IMO best two CRPGs on the market Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader from Owlcat which have their headquarter in Cyprus, but if I understand correctly most of the actual development happens in Armenia.
Supraland, Supraworld, and Supraland: Six Inches Under are German made and my favorite games of all time and I’ve played literally thousands since the 80s.
Dunno how up to date on gaming news you are in general, but there’s a game released this year called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 made by a relatively small French studio. It’s been extremely well received and is most likely winning Game of the Year as alluded to by the devs of Baldurs Gate 3, the previous year’s winner.
The story and dialogue is exceptionally well written, graphics and artistic style is stunning, and it’s got probably the best soundtrack to a game I’ve ever heard.
It somehow melds the best of French culture with JRPG mechanics and improves upon it with like much better storytelling.
President Macron even acknowledged what an achievement it was for a French company.
It’s the best gaming experience I’ve had in years and you should really play it if you haven’t already. That is all.
I’ve almost beat the game and I still have no fucking clue what it’s about but I love the fight mechanics and I have them all looking as stupid as possible like mimes with electroshock hair.
Seriously the fight mechanics are damn good.
It’s a lot like Super Mario RPG with the timed attacks and defense but with lots of extra layers in how each character plays. It’s pretty great!
Everspace 2. The first one was kind of a rouge like but the second feels very reminiscent of Freelancer with a bit of a smaller scope. Something that all the other space games of the last years failed to deliver.
