Canadian games to support during the U.S. trade war

Now that the U.S. has launched a profoundly stupid trade war with Canada and made traitorous threats to unlawfully annex us, many Canadians have understandably found themselves avoiding American businesses in favour of local alternatives. Indeed, surveys have found that over 60 per cent of people have shifted to a “Buy Canadian” mentality in recent weeks, although there’s also been some confusion about what that means.

With respect to video games, one of the most popular forms of entertainment, a “Buy Canadian” approach can likewise be a bit tricky. That’s because Canada’s gaming industry — while a $5.1 billion powerhouse behind many of the most globally popular games — naturally has a lot of American backers.

Therefore, you might wonder, how you can support Canadian games. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered. Below, you’ll find a pretty extensive list of games that are both made and owned by Canadians, and, later on, lists of those that were developed here but have some degree of foreign ownership, American or otherwise. (It should also be noted that there are many cases where games receive much of their funding from Canadian programs, like the Canada Media Fund and provincial digital media tax credits, and then get publishing support from a foreign publisher, like Vancouver-based Sunset Visitor on 1000xResist.)

Of course, these aren’t exhaustive lists, given how many Canadian games are out there, but we think it’s a pretty well-rounded lineup covering all kinds of genres and interests. We’ve also linked to the official websites for each game so you can access direct links to your preferred platforms where applicable.

Canadian-made and Canadian-owned

Cuphead is one of the most beloved Canadian games, and it’s Canadian-owned, to boot! (Image credit: Studio MDHR)

• Alto’s Adventure and Odyssey (Toronto and UK’s Team Alto) — endless runner focused on snowboarding
• Boyfriend Dungeon (Montreal’s KitFox Games) — dungeon-crawler dating sim
• Celeste (Vancouver’s Extremely OK Games) — narrative-driven platformer set on a fictionalized version of the eponymous Vancouver mountain
• Chivalry 2 (Toronto’s Torn Banner) — medieval-set hack-and-slash multiplayer game
• Company of Heroes and Homeworld series (Vancouver’s Relic Entertainment) — historical and sci-fi real-time strategy games
• Cuphead (Oakville, Ontario’s Studio MDHR) — run-and-gun 2D platformer with 1930s-inspired hand-drawn animation
• Darkest Dungeon/Darkest Dungeon II (Vancouver’s Red Hook Studios) — gothic roguelike RPG
• Dead by Daylight (Montreal’s Behaviour Interactive) — multiplayer horror game featuring crossovers with games, movies and TV series
• Été (Montreal’s Impossible Studio) — relaxing painting game set in Montreal
• Eternal Strands (Quebec City’s Yellow Brick Games) — Zelda- and Shadow of the Colossus-inspired action-adventure game led by Dragon Age veteran Mike Laidlaw
• Goodbye Volcano High (Montreal’s KO_OP) — coming-of-age narrative adventure game
• Grindstone (Toronto’s Capybara Games) — cartoonish colour-matching puzzle game
• Guacamelee!/Guacamelee! 2 (Toronto’s Drinkbox) — Metroidvania action-platformer
• Hill Agency: Purity/Decay (Hamilton, Ontario’s Achimostawinan Games) — Indigenous futuristic detective noir mystery
• The Long Dark (Vancouver’s Hinterland Studio) — first-person survival game set in the frigid Canadian wilderness
• Nobody Saves the World (Toronto’s Drinkbox Studios) — action-RPG dungeon crawler
• Moving Houses (St. John’s, NL’s Gord Games) — a physics-based horror game
• Outlast series (Montreal’s Red Barrels) — psychological horror
• Psychroma (Toronto’s Rocket Adrift) — psychological horror side-scroller
• Ravenlok (Toronto’s Cococucumber) — fantasy action-RPG
• Rogue Legacy and Rogue Legacy 2 (Toronto’s Cellar Door Games) — action roguelike platformers
• Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess (Toronto’s Black Tabby Games) — horror visual novels [console version of Slay the Princess published by U.S.-based Serenity Forge]
• Sea of Stars (Quebec City’s Sabotage) — Chrono Trigger-inspired turn-based RPG
• A Short Hike (Toronto’s Adam Robinson-Yu) — relaxing adventure game
• Solace State (Toronto’s Vivid Foundry) — hacktivist cyberpunk visual novel
• Spirit City: Lo-Fi Sessions (Montreal’s Mooncube Games) — cozy relaxing music experience
• Spiritfarer (Montreal’s Thunder Lotus) — cozy management game set in the afterlife
• Squad and Starship Troopers: Extermination (Vancouver’s Offworld Industries) — co-operative shooters
• Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina) (Montreal’s Unreliable Narrators) — adventure game set in 17th-century Canada co-starring an Indigenous hunter [published by Montreal’s Indie Asylum]
• Venba (Toronto’s Visai Games) — narrative cooking game about an Indo-Canadian family in Toronto

Canadian-made, foreign-backed (but still not American)

1000xResist was made by Vancouver’s Sunset Visitor with the backing of Australian publisher Fellow Traveller. (Image credit: Fellow Traveller)

We also want to highlight a bunch of Canadian games that were published by foreign companies that aren’t American. After all, Canada has no beef with our friends in Europe, the U.K., Japan and the like!

• Assassin’s Creed series (primarily developed by Ubisoft Montreal) — historical open-world action-adventure [published by France’s Ubisoft]
• Balatro (lone anonymous developer Localthunk from Saskatchewan) — poker-inspired roguelite deck-builder [published by London, England’s Playstack]
• Crypt of the Necrodancer/Cadence of Hyrule — rhythm games [the former is published by China-owned, Vancouver-based Klei Entertainment, the latter is published by Japan’s Nintendo]
• Don’t Starve (Vancouver’s Klei Entertainment) — atmospheric survival game with a unique art style [owned by China-based Tencent]
• Far Cry series (primarily developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto) — open-world first-person shooter [published by France’s Ubisoft]
• A Little to the Left (Halifax’s Max Inferno) — relaxing organizational puzzle game [published by U.K.’s Secret Mode]
• Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Vancouver’s Next Level Games) — action-adventure Mario spin-off game [published by Japan’s Nintendo]
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal) — third-person action-adventure [owned by Sweden’s Embracer]
• 1000xResist (Vancouver’s Sunset Visitor) — high-concept sci-fi narrative adventure game about clones on a pandemic-ravaged Earth [published by Australia’s Fellow Traveller]
• MechWarrior series (Burnaby, B.C.’s Piranha Games) — vehicle simulation [owned by Sweden’s Enad Global 7]
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (lead developer Eidos Montreal, co-developed by San Francisco’s Crystal Dynamics) — Lara Croft action-adventure game [owned by Sweden’s Embracer Group]
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal) — tactical multiplayer shooter [owned by France’s Ubisoft]
• Warframe (London, Ontario’s Digital Extremes) — free-to-play action RPG third-person multiplayer shooter [owned by China’s Tencent]

Canadian games with American backing

The beloved Mass Effect trilogy was made by BioWare Edmonton, which is owned by California-based EA. (Image credit: EA)

It should be noted that many Canadian games are published and/or owned by American companies. We’ll list some of them here so those who want a full boycott of any “American products” can proceed at their own discretion. (It should be stressed, however, that it can be really hard to get funding, so don’t hold it against the indie games, especially, for having American backers.)

• Age of Empires IV (co-developed by Vancouver’s Relic and Redmond, Washington’s World’s Edge) — historical real-time strategy [published by California’s Xbox]
• The Big Con (Toronto’s Mighty Yell Studios) — ’90s-set adventure game about a teenage con artist [published by California’s Skybound Games]
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Vancouver’s Wishes Ultd.) — top-down colouring adventure game [published by Michigan’s Finji]
• Dawn of the Monsters (Toronto’s 13AM Games) — kaiju beat ’em up set in Toronto [published by California’s WayForward]
• Dead Space remake (Montreal’s EA Motive) — third-person survival horror [published by California’s EA]
• Dragon Age and Mass Effect series (BioWare Edmonton) — fantasy and sci-fi RPGs [published by California’s EA]
• EA Sports FC and NHL series (EA Vancouver) — annualized soccer and hockey games [published by California’s EA]
• Gears of War series (now made by Vancouver’s The Coalition) — third-person shooter [published by California’s Xbox]
• Homeworld 3 (Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive) — sci-fi real-time strategy [published by Texas’ Gearbox]
• Inscryption (Vancouver’s Daniel Mullins Games) — genre-blending roguelike deck-building game [published by Texas’ Devolver Digital]
• In Stars and Time (Toronto’s insertdisc5) — narrative-driven turn-based RPG [published by California’s Armor Games]
• Lil’ Guardsman (Toronto’s Hilltop) — narrative-driven puzzler set in a medieval fantasy world [published by America’s TinyBuild and the now-defunct Versus Evil]
• PGA Tour series (Lunenberg, Nova Scotia’s HB Studios) — annualized golf games [published by California’s 2K]
• Tunic (Halifax’s Andrew Shouldice) — Zelda-inspired action-adventure game [published by Michigan’s Finji]
• I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (Vancouver’s Northway Games) — narrative-driven RPG [published by Michigan’s Finji]

Upcoming Canadian games

France-owned Ubisoft Quebec is making the highly-anticipated Japan-set Assassin’s Creed Shadows. (Image credit: Ubisoft)

And finally, here are some upcoming Canadian games to keep an eye on. Note that some of these are fully Canadian, while others were made here but are foreign-owned.

• All Systems Dance (Toronto’s Mighty Yell) — rhythm-based adventure game, release date TBA [co-published by Texas’ Strange Scaffold]
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Ubisoft Quebec) — action-adventure game set in feudal Japan, releasing March 20, 2025 [published by France’s Ubisoft]
• Battle Vision Network (Toronto’s Capybara Games) — cozy online colour-matching multiplayer game, release date TBA
• Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 (Vancouver’s Hinterland Studio) — open-world survival game, release date TBA
• Button Man (Halifax’s Styrax Studios) — comic book-inspired side-scrolling beat ’em up set in prohibition-era Halifax, release date TBA 2025
• Hell is Us (Montreal’s Rogue Factor) — third-person action-adventure [published by France’s Nacon]
• Lost Records: Bloom and Rage (Don’t Nod Montreal) — coming-of-age narrative adventure game (Part 1 out now, Part 2 releasing April 15, 2025)  [published by France’s Don’t Nod]
• Fairgame$ (Montreal’s Haven) — competitive heist game [published by Japan’s PlayStation]
• Rooster (Toronto’s Sticky Brain Studios) — casual puzzle adventure game about Chinese culture, release date TBA 2025 [co-published by China’s Astrolabe Games]
• South of Midnight (Montreal’s Compulsion Games) — American Deep South-set action-adventure game, releasing April 8, 2025 [published by California’s Xbox]
• 33 Immortals (Montreal’s Thunder Lotus) — multiplayer action-roguelike inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy, releasing March 18, 2025 in early access
• Threads of Time (Toronto’s Riyo Games) — Chrono Trigger-inspired RPG, release date TBA [published by San Francisco’s Humble Games]

Are you buying more Canadian goods amid the trade war? What about a full boycott of American goods? What are your favourite Canadian games?

Let us know in the comments.

Header image credit: Visai Games (Venba), Hinterland Studio (The Long Dark) and Behaviour Interactive (Dead by Daylight)

Update: 13/03/2025 at 3:13 p.m. EST — Added a line to explain that it’s not uncommon for a Canadian developer to get a lot of funding from provincial and federal programs as well as non-Canadian publishing support.

Update 2: 13/03/2025 at 5:57 p.m. EST — Added Starship Troopers: Extermination and Squad from independent Vancouver-based studio Offworld Industries.

Update 3: 14/03/2025 at 1:17 p.m. EST — Added the two Rogue Legacy titles from independent Toronto-based studio Cellar Door Games.