Ever since releasing Super Meat Boy alongside Tommy Refenes, Edmund McMillen has been churning out fan-favorite indie games with his trademark art style. Until recently, the most successful of these games was The Binding of Isaac, but that’s far from McMillen’s only great game. The indie dev has put out games across several different genres, giving fans plenty to dive into, regardless of their preferences. And with the recent release of Mewgenics, McMillen might’ve topped his greatest creation.
Here are Edmund McMillen’s five best games.
5) The Legend of Bum-bo
The Legend of Bum-bo serves as a prequel to The Binding of Isaac, which is why the art looks so similar. However, Bum-bo takes gameplay in a completely different direction. Instead of the roguelite combat Isaac players are used to, Bum-bo plays more like Bejeweled, using tile-matching to cast spells, deal damage, and defend the protagonist.
It’s a much smaller package than BoI, but it works well as a spin-off from the main campaign. The star of the show is the creative art style. While Bum-bo looks like Issac, it looks like a production a kid would put on for his family at a reunion. The cardboard aesthetic does just enough to help Bum-bo stand out from the regular Isaac universe.
4) Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy wasn’t McMillen’s first game, but it was his first hit. The tough-as-nails platformer felt like a callback to the classics, giving players a gauntlet of difficult levels to master. It was almost instantly a hit, with players and critics praising the near-perfect gameplay.
One of the standout features was how quickly you loaded back into a level after dying. After all, you’re probably exploding into fleshy bits dozens or hundreds of times during each level, so having that snappy reload kept the action moving. McMillen left Team Meat in 2017, which means he did not take part in the final release of Super Meat Boy Forever and doesn’t have anything to do with the upcoming Super Meat Boy 3D. Still, the original game is one of the greats.
3) The End Is Nigh
The End is Nigh saw McMillen team back up with Tyler Glaiel. The duo had previously worked on Aether in 2008, and they proved to be an excellent combination. The End is Nigh is McMillen’s spiritual successor to Super Meat Boy, using difficult platforming across 600 single-screen levels to tell its story.
With The End is Nigh, McMillen and Glaiel upped the exploration factor from Meat Boy, turning the platformer into something of a puzzle-platformer filled with secrets. Toss in a personal story looking into McMillen’s struggles with game development while working on The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. At the time, McMillen called it his best work ever. He’s since changed that tune slightly, but that doesn’t mean The End is Nigh isn’t one of the best platformers of its era.
2) The Binding of Isaac
I’ll be honest and say that there’s a little bias in putting The Binding of Isaac this high. My Steam hour counter says I’ve played BoI for over 1,200 hours, so it’s fair to say that I might be a little lost in the sauce. Still, Isaac (and its many expansions) are some of the best roguelike gameplay you’ll ever experience.
There is so much content to dive into. Issac is filled with items to unlock, bosses to fight, and secret characters to meet. McMillen and Florian Himsl took inspiration from classic The Legend of Zelda gameplay, but added the roguelike elements to create something truly special. The Wrath of the Lamb DLC made it even better, and the Rebirth remake took things to the next level. Add in several more official expansions, a handful of fan mods, and even a card game, and you have a genuine phenomenon that everyone should play.
1) Mewgenics
Before it was released in February 2026, McMillen called Mewgenics his best game ever. Far be it from me to disagree with the creator. Look, Mewgenics has barely been out for a week at the time of this writing, so I might be falling into the “cult of the new.” That said, the mix between cat breeding and turn-based tactical combat is a match made in heaven.
McMillen again worked with Tyler Glaiel for this one, and the duo has truly outdone themselves. Mewgenics is easy to learn and nearly impossible to master, thanks to the interactions of all the different mechanics. It feels almost unthinkable for a game to be this jam-packed with content, but Mewgenics pulled it off, and McMillen and Glaiel have claimed they already have a few DLCs in the pipeline. I’m already looking at that hour counter and realizing that I am in danger.
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