With the Super Metroid-inspired Sundered now on our radar, these are the best indie games to keep you hooked.
In case Microsoft’s conference at E3 2017 wasn’ t enough of an indication, indie games are a bigger deal than ever. No longer being overshadowed by the Halo’s and Gears of War’s of the world, it was neat seeing projects like The Artful Escape and Super Lucky’s Tale being used to push the limits of the new Xbox One X just as prominently.
That’s because, these days, a game doesn’ t need to come from a multibillion dollar conglomerate to be compelling both visually and in gameplay. However, instead of bearing a 1: 1 resemblance to real life, many of the best indie games are heavily stylized and simplistic in their mechanics, frankly a pleasant change of pace from their high-budget counterparts.
The trickiest part about indie games is that when anyone can make a game, a lot of shovelware enters the mix. That’s why we’ ve gone ahead and filtered out all the trash – sifting through piles of the top indie games on the market to uncover only the most noteworthy gems. From the inspired Braid to the competitive Nidhogg, these are all the best indie games you can buy.
While we await the arrival of Metroid: Samus Returns on the 3DS, Sundered is sure to give us our fill of 2D Metroid-inspired goodness. Complemented by a beautiful hand-drawn art style, Sundered will immediately draw you in with its visuals, but the appeal doesn’ t stop there. Rather, this game is all about the boss battles.
From Thunder Lotus Games, the developer behind the critically-acclaimed Jotun, Sundered is procedurally generated and draws inspiration from Dark Souls for its combat. The twist is that you can “corrupt” your abilities for more extreme results. A sideways air dash, for instance, can be corrupted into an eight-way air dash.
In corrupting your abilities, however, the game’s ending will differ, with steep challenges awaiting for those who want the uncorrupted ending.
Jonathan Blow’s masterpiece first appears to be a simple pastiche of Super Mario Bros, with a middle-aged curmudgeon replacing the titular plumber but still seeking to rescue a princess.
But as you spend time with it, it reveals more of itself, moving from a series of time-bending puzzles to quiet reflective texts – which doesn’t stop it being the smartest puzzle game until SpaceChem. Blow himself has hinted that the ultimate story might be something to do with the atomic bomb.
First released as PC freeware by Japanese designer Daisuke „Pixel“ Amaya back in 2004 after five years of 100% solo development, Cave Story predates the recent indie renaissance by a few years. Because of when and how it was first released, it’s often forgotten in discussions of indie gaming.
But this classic deserves to be on every best-of list for its loving homage to the classic action platforming games of the Super Nintendo era, its incredible music and its incredibly vibrant world. Oh, and don’t forget the hugely intuitive controls, gobs of secrets and weapons that are entirely too fun to use. If you’ve yet to enjoy this one, just put it on your backlog already.
Most mainstream games are escapist power fantasies, where the player grows their capabilities until they dominate the game’s universe – and then the game ends. Yet many indie games are dis-empowerment fantasies – like the IGF award winner and misery sim Cart Life.
Papers Please is similar to Cart Life – it’s also an IGF winner with elements of misery about it – but it’s better, being a smart, weird sim about the compromised life of a border guard under a totalitarian regime. It’s ugly and desperate, but also innovative, uproariously funny and terribly smart.
Among the hardcore gamers of my acquaintance, Spelunky is the go-to drug. Even today, several years after its release, some of them still play it every day, despite having completed it many times over. That’s because Spelunky, an ostensibly rogue-like platformer with a definite end, is tough, varied and highly randomized.
It also has more dark secrets than a presidential candidate, meaning there are many, many ways to finish it, and its daily challenges are a sure-fire way to public humiliation.
Humor is often something absent from games, mostly being restricted to slapstick comedy or crude one-liners. The Stanley Parable, by contrast, is hilarious without dumbing down. Players follow (or don’t) a very English narrative voice who changes the world around you, depending on your decision.
No decision is punished, every play-through throws up new humor and weirdness. Being trapped in the closet in the Stanley Parable is more moving and funny than 9/10 other games.
Nine years in the making, Owlboy was well worth the wait. Originally contrived for PCs and released in late 2016, the clever masterpiece of an indie game is now available to experience on Mac and Linux as well. Owlboy centers around a race of owl-human hybrid characters called Owls. Of them, you helm control of an Otis, an Owl who is censured by his mentor for his inept flying abilities.
The story sees Otis’ village dismantled by pirates who clearly have conflict with the Owls. As a result, Otis has to work with an assortment of villagers in-game to take out enemies. Of course, when boss battles arise, you’ ll need to manage allies accordingly, as each character comes with their own set of unique skillsets to use in conjunction with one another. If you’ ve ever played and enjoyed a Kid Icarus game, this is one for the books. Otherwise, play it anyway.
Like The Stanley Parable, Gone Home falls into the unofficially deemed „walking simulator“ genre. Unlike the simultaneously clever and philosophical Stanley Parable, however, Gone Home is less fixated on the lighter issues and more concerned with some of life’s more difficult realities.
After getting home from a stay overseas, you play as 21-year-old Kaitlin Greenbriar who is greeted by a vacant residency. While gameplay in Gone Home is mainly limited to scavenging through notes to find out where the protagonist’s family has ventured off to, the gripping story exhibits a rollercoaster of emotions, if you keep an open mind.
Only SpaceChem has mingled education with entertainment as successfully as The Kerbal Space Program. The game is simple – design and build spacecraft to take the cutesy Kerbals to the Mun and beyond.
Yet its focused use of real physics means that you’ll find yourself following NASA in building multi-stage rockets, space stations and exploring the Kerbal’s strange universe on EVAs, before bringing your discoveries back to research on the Kerbal planet – that’s if you can get off the ground at all. It’s a huge, complex, challenging and fun game, that’s smart without being preachy.
The exact opposite of the Kerbal Space Program, The Binding of Isaac is an action roguelike par excellence. Matched only by the equally visceral Nuclear Throne for replayability, you play as a young boy attempting to kill his damned siblings, his Mom, and possibly the Devil, using only his tears. Which he shoots from his eyes, of course.
With hundreds of weird modifiers to discover, endlessly touch procedurally-generated levels, and secrets galore, Isaac is a very dark take on the exploratory model established by Spelunky.
Though you may be turned off by the pixel art graphics, Undertale isn’t a game that could easily have run on the Nintendo Super NES. That’s because, in Undertale, your personal decisions play a huge role in how the game ends, and moreover, how it continues in New Game Plus.
One of the first things you’ll notice about Undertale is how much freedom the game gives you. Despite its cleverly integrated boss matches, you can play through the entire 9 or so hours of Undertale without executing a single kill. Plus, when you complete the game, you’ll be pleased to discover that you can play through Undertale again, this time bearing the weight of your consequences from the previous run.
From developer Playdead, Inside is comparable to its predecessor, Limbo, in some ways but with an added layer of depth that inspires frequent wonder. This is mostly a result of the unspoken narrative, which revolves around yet another nameless boy. In Inside, however, the boy in the story is running away from a group of men who – if you fail to stay out of their sights – will try to mercilessly kill you.
Though it isn’t quite clear why the boy is running from these men or why you should even care since you don’t know who he is, Inside will leave you begging for answers. The bleak, lifeless setting of Inside is more than worth the price of admission. Its minimalist art style alone is avant-garde enough to feel right at home in a museum. Add in a game that’s both fun to play and dripping with curiosity, though, and Inside is one of the best indie games money can buy.
Developed single-handedly by Eric Barone, Stardew Valley is undoubtedly a technical feat for that little facet alone. If you’ ve ever played a Harvest Moon game, you’ re already familiar with the premise of Stardew Valley – you may just not know it yet. Stardew Valley is an addictive farming simulator which sees you interact with townees to the point where you can literally marry them.
Stardew Valley isn’ t just one thing; it’s a whole bunch of things at once. You can engage in crafting, fishing, cooking and even exploring procedurally-generated caves to mine for items and even take on monstrous enemies. However, do keep in mind your health and energy as you’ ll need to make sure your character is in tip-top shape in order to avoid suffering from exhaustion. Lose health and you lose a considerable amount of money and items you’ ve worked hard to attained. Stardew Valley will have you hooked for hours on end, for better or worse. (Better, definitely better.)
From Canadian game developer Alec Holowka, the creator of the award-winning Aquaria (also featured on this list) and independent artist/animator Scott Benson, Night in the Woods is an unconventional side-scrolling adventure game centering around a 20-year-old protagonist named Mae who drops out of college to move back in with her parents.
Featuring a story largely based around dialog choices and mini games that put a spin on mundane tasks like carrying boxes up the stairs and eating perogies, Night in the Woods is a timeless coming-of-age tale. Not only get to experience middle class America through the eyes of a personified cat, but virtually every interaction in-game will have you laughing aloud.
Finally, the man responsible for the incredible orchestral arrangement in the hit PlayStation game Journey is back with Abzu, the first game ever from indie developer Giant Squid Studios.
