Given the big swathe of posts about bad behavior from big companies, I figure we could counterbalance that with some positivity about stuff the smaller guys made that often costs us less too.
Swapper
Not my actual favorite, but it’s very high on my list, and I didn’t see it posted yet.
Check out Tunic. I would recommend going blind.
Used to play battlefield 2, BC2 and 3 alot. Then I stopped playing online games and recently started playing “Ravenfield”. It’s succesfully filling the void, there are even battlefield maps and some vehicle/heli/jet/tank mods and ignoring the fact that it looks like battlefield heroes (very indie-style graphics), the physics/handling feels pretty close, especially when flying heli and shooting rockets
The vast majority of my favourite games have been listed, many multiple times, so I’m gonna go with some I didn’t see, though I didn’t look exhaustively, here we go:
Quite a hidden gem in my opinion, almost no one I mention it to has heard of it. 2D platformer with an amazing story and some interesting gimmicks. One of the most surprising and unforgettable indie games I’ve played.
Ninja action-platformer that is way more than it first appears if you stick with it. Hilarious writing, great controls, and amazing music. Genuinely one of my favourite games.
Almost entirely unique in it’s idea. It’s a pinball-metroidvania where you’re a postman dung beetle, and it really works. Gorgeous world, super chill vibes, clever puzzles… What metroid prime pinball should have been.
I have a personal soft spot for Doki Doki Literature Club because it got me into programming when i was young, but that’s far more sentimental and to be honest i wouldn’t play it again as an adult really. If i had to pick something functionally though I’d say Project Zomboid. there’s a fuck ton of fun to be made in that, especially with Multiplayer. Even in singleplayer i like to turn on a NPC mod and assemble my own makeshift Walking Dead cast
Dyson sphere program is still one of my enduring favorites.
Saw someone else out urquan masters, so I’ll put Caves of Qud and Rain World. they both of some of the best pixel art ever, and caves of qud has some the most dynamic story telling in anything I’ve played
Slay The Spire Fury Ori And The Blind Forest
Undertale
i’m not sure The Ur-Quan Masters counts as indie
Factorio.
Dota.
Ok, I know what you’re saying, “But Valve makes Dota2” which, yes, this is true. But the OG game came about from gamers just loving games and making a custom game. I think it’s peak “indie” in it’s origin. Which went off to spawn several clones (League of Legends, Heroes Of Newerth, Heroes Of The Storm, Smite, Pokemon Unite, Paladins, etc.). Dota2 by far has the most hours played of any game.
I play, almost exclusively, non-AAA games. Some gems, known and hidden:
- Autonauts and Autonauts Vs Piratebots - Cute automation games
- Spelunky - Elegantly simple and well executed platformer
- BPM: Bullets Per Minute - Rhythm FPS. Others have tried. None I have found have been as good.
- Immortal Redneck - FPS roguelite
- Ziggurat - FPS Roguelite
- Receiver II - Unique FPS roguelike. Every part of everything that moves is simulated. The hammer on your gun hits a firing pin which hits the primer on the cartridge. You can get stovepipes, misfires, double feeds, etc. You don’t reload by hitting ‘reload’ but go through the full manual of arms in a shooter where the tolerances for failure are fairly slim.
- Valley - running game. The feeling of letting a hill propel your running to otherwise impossible speeds, bottled. Nice little story too.
- Dredge - Lovecraftian fishing game.
- Tunnet - lovecraftian network technician simulator. Build a network to allow communication between computers in an underground society with unspeakable horrors occasionally destroying your mind/body.
- Opus Magnum - Programming puzzles
- Vagante - roguelike with tight tolerances
- Ruiner - Cyberpunk slash n dash with a soundtrack half by Sidewalks and Skeletons. Very fun.
- Tails Noir - Detective story. Normally find the anthro thing a bit tiresome but this was pretty good. Well written.
- Elderborn - First person brawler
- Webbed - be a peacock spider. Rescue your lady spider. Help insects. Fight a bird. Dance.
- A Story About My Uncle - Movement game. Jump, dash, grapnel. Simple and elegant.
- Tormentor X Punisher - Top down twin stick shooter. Everything dies in one hit. All the enemies, and you.
- Tin Can - Survival game in which you try to keep up an escape pod long enough to be rescued, which is hard when it seems to have been made by the lowest bidder’s lowest bidding subcontractor and maintained with all the loving care of a convenience store bathroom.
I loved a tiny one called The Last Day of June.
It was on PlayStation Plus and it really had a great story.
hypnospace outlaw
