The best gnome games in 2026

1Gnomes

Genre

Turn-based tower defense with roguelike runs

Developer

DYSTOPIAN

Released

April 4, 2025

Platforms

Windows on Steam, with a free demo

Steam reviews

Very Positive, 94% of about 1,800

Gnomes is the game most people mean by “gnome game” right now. You defend a village garden from a goblin horde. During your turn you can move your gnomes around the map as often as you like. Then night falls and the goblins attack. Between waves you plant crops, earn gold and buy upgrades that are dealt at random, so every run plays differently. Each day the map grows further into goblin territory until you face the goblin king.

It’s small and simple to look at, with chunky pixel art, but the strategy goes deep. Relics, plants, tools and buildings combine in ways that can turn a weak run around. Different guilds start you with a different type of gnome and a run-changing relic. PC Gamer reported that it passed 10,000 sales in its first weeks. Reviewers have called it one of the best tower defense roguelikes of 2025.

Best for: strategy fans who like short, replayable runs. A run takes about half an hour.

New to it? Read our Gnomes guide on how runs, guilds and relics work.

2Burglin’ Gnomes

Genre

First-person online co-op heist

Developer

Fobri (a solo developer from Finland)

Released

June 10, 2026

Platforms

Windows on Steam. No console or mobile version has been announced.

Steam reviews

Very Positive, 81% of about 2,700 English reviews

In Burglin’ Gnomes you and up to five friends play gnomes who are tiny enough to fit in a sock drawer. The High-Gnome sends your crew into a human’s house with a list of tasks. You sneak through rooms that look enormous at your size, steal everyday items, and take them home to craft gear and upgrade your base. Gnomes are fragile, so a lot of the fun comes from rescuing teammates and from everything going wrong at once.

The game was a hit before it launched. The free demo drew more than 30,000 players at once in early 2026, and the full game peaked at around 10,000 concurrent players in its launch week. Some players have reported bugs and balance problems since then. Recent reviews were Mostly Positive when we checked.

For parents: Steam’s content notes say gnomes can be dismembered and die in other brutal ways. The human sometimes appears nude while bathing. That nudity is censored and can be turned off completely in the settings.

Best for: groups of friends who liked chaotic co-op games such as Lethal Company.

3(the) Gnorp Apologue

Genre

Incremental strategy

Developer

Myco (a solo developer from Norway)

Released

December 14, 2023

Platforms

Windows on Steam

Steam reviews

Overwhelmingly Positive

Strictly speaking, gnorps aren’t gnomes, but they’re close enough that Steam sells this game in a bundle with Gnomes. You help a crowd of tiny gnorps smash a giant rock for shards, then spend those shards on more gnorps, new abilities and wildly over-the-top upgrades. Your job is to plan which upgrades to combine so the numbers climb faster. It’s an idle game that rewards planning more than clicking.

The game sold more than 120,000 copies in its first month, according to the GameDiscoverCo newsletter, almost entirely through YouTube videos and word of mouth.

Best for: anyone who enjoyed Cookie Clicker but wanted more strategy and a lot more particle effects.

4Gnomes Garden series

Genre

Casual time management and building

Publisher

8Floor

Released

First game on Steam on December 18, 2015, followed by many sequels

Platforms

Windows (Steam), Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Price

$4.99 on Xbox. One chapter is free to start on iPhone, with in-app purchases.

The Gnomes Garden games are relaxed, level-based management games. Each level gives you a map, a few gnome workers and a goal. You gather resources, clear paths, repair buildings and race the clock for a three-star rating. The story follows a princess trying to save her fairy-tale kingdom, and the sequels add new settings, including Halloween and Christmas chapters.

There are several entries, including Gnomes Garden 2, Gnomes Garden 3: The Thief of Castles, New Home, Halloween, Christmas Story and The Lost King. Steam reviews for the early games are mostly positive. The Lost King has mixed reviews.

Best for: casual players and anyone who likes short, low-stress levels. It’s also a good pick for playing on the couch on Xbox.

5Gnomoria

Genre

Colony sim and sandbox city builder

Developer

Robotronic Games

Released

February 23, 2016, after about three years in early access

Platforms

Windows, Mac and Linux on Steam

Steam reviews

Mostly Positive, 73% of about 2,100

Gnomoria is the classic pick for colony-sim fans. You lead a small band of gnomes into a randomly generated world, then dig, farm, craft and build a kingdom while fending off whatever wanders in. It’s often described as a friendlier, more readable take on Dwarf Fortress. It has detailed workshops and mechanisms built from parts like levers, hatches and steam engines.

The catch is that the developer stopped updating it soon after the full release, and some long-running saves run into bugs. If you like the idea, a free fan-made remake called Ingnomia is also on Steam. It was rebuilt from scratch and uses some of Gnomoria’s art with the developer’s permission.

Best for: builders who like to plan, and Dwarf Fortress and RimWorld fans who want a gnome-flavored change.

6Gnaughty Gnomes

Genre

Multiplayer casual fighting and party game

Developer

SandCastles Studio

Released

March 3, 2026

Platforms

PC on Steam

Price

$7.99

Gnaughty Gnomes is a gnome brawler for groups. You customize your gnome from more than 5,000 combinations, then fight in fast matches. Between rounds you pick from over 100 upgrade cards that can change the rules of the match. Modes include free-for-all, teams, and a prop hunt mode where one gnome searches for the others hiding as objects.

It’s a small release with only a handful of reviews so far. Early players liked how funny it is but mentioned launch bugs. Treat it as a fun night with friends rather than a game you’ll play for months.

Best for: friend groups looking for a cheap, silly party game.

7Find the Gnome and Find the Gnome 2

Genre

Hidden object

Developer

GameFeelings

Released

2018 (first game), December 13, 2022 (sequel)

Platforms

PC on Steam. The first game also runs on Mac and Linux.

Price

$1.99 for the first game

If you think of “find the gnome” puzzles when you hear “gnome game,” these are for you. The first game is a cheap top-down 3D hunt where you spot and catch garden gnomes by watching for odd behavior. The sequel adds hand-drawn comics based on Dutch gnome folklore, scenes from cities to farms, light puzzles, and a drone you use to chase gnomes that try to run away. It supports controllers and has difficulty settings.

Best for: younger players and anyone who likes relaxed seek-and-find games. For a free alternative in your browser, try our own Find the Gnome game, which isn’t connected to these Steam games.

8The GNOME games collection

Genre

Puzzle, card, board and arcade classics

Developer

The GNOME Project

Released

First released in 1998 and still updated

Platforms

Linux

Price

Free and open source

This one has nothing to do with garden gnomes, but it brings plenty of searchers to the word “gnome game.” GNOME is a desktop for Linux, and its games collection includes Mines, Sudoku, Chess, Mahjongg, AisleRiot solitaire, the Tetris-like Quadrapassel and about a dozen more. They’re small, polished and great for a five-minute break.

See our GNOME games guide for the full list and install commands.

Upcoming gnome games to watch

The Journey of the Gnomes: The Battle of the Elder Isles by House of Imaginarium is a survivors-like game in the style of Vampire Survivors. A gnome wizard takes on an army of darkness with dozens of spells across 13 locations. Steam lists it as planned for 2027.

Hidden Gnomes is a calm hidden-object game with hand-drawn crowds and no timers. The gnomes’ looks and positions change every session, so you can’t just memorize them. It’s listed as coming soon on Steam, and a demo is available.