ITT: Indie Games

[-HP-]

I'd love to have a "indie games" discussion thread. 
Not the "industry" around it, or dramas, just actually discussing a indie game you've played lately.

Also, any indie game you played in the past and would like to recommend or any upcoming indie game you might have your eye on.
Why you love it, what made you pick it up in the first place, did you finish it, how would you improve it, etc!

I guess I'll start, this is ENCODYA, sort of an attempt at the 90's anime style art direction with point n click adventure gameplay, deffo have my eye on this one.

 

[Radu]

I started playing RiME last night. Didn't get too far, but the atmosphere is spot on Studio Ghibli style. I love it!

Last indie I played prior to this was Supraland. I got it as a birthday gift from @Lizard. It's an fps puzzle inspired by Portal and Metrovania games. Really thought provoking and hilarious. I ended up buying it for Lizard's birthday a month later because I enjoyed it so much

Before that there was DUSK, which in my book is one of the best fps out there. I don't know how you could call yourself a diehard fps fan without having played this.

This one caught my eye because.. well, how many games have the core mechanic of lying your way through it? 

Way back, last year, again, birthday gift from Lizard, FAR: Lone Sails. Definitely recommend this one as well. It's quite a short, about 2 hours, but packed with a lot of feelings.

I don't think this needs an introduction at this point. Also, the ending is "good" despite what some people say. They just didn't get it.

Umm I know there are still zombie fans out there. If you're looking for a bit of strategy and comedy, check out Zombie Night Terror.

For more hardcore horror fans, Darkwood is an incredible atmospheric survival top down game.

And one indie that I've bought but haven't managed to sit down and play, The Light Keeps Us Safe.

Shieet, I didn't realise but I've played quite a handful of indies over the last three years.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Radu

[FMPONE]

I remember when indie games were really exciting

lamest era I can remember for a long, long time

[-HP-]

If you like 16bit platformers, you should check out Owlboy! Really beautiful art, and the gameplay is pretty smooth.

GRIS really struck a chord with me, and it helped me cement what I want to do with my own game. If you like athmospheric platformers, this will serve you well.

Not much to say about this, other than it's the closest thing to Metroid since Metroid! Really damn good platformer, took a while to grow on me but eventually it really clicks. Also, major points for the art style.

[blackdog]

Think the indie that stuck with me the most in recent years was Inside: brilliant 2.5D adventure-platform by the makers of Limbo. Such an unexpected ending

I liked Firewatch but I think it loses itself a bit and the tension it builds.

On my "coming up next" list I want to play 

Rime (above), The Witness, Abzu

 

 

The ones I'm most waiting to be released are:

The new game by Hello Games, The Last Campfire 

Dead Static Drive 

Beware

and our very own Prodeus, first game I ever kickstarted

Very eager to find out what gameplay Europa will have @[HP]

 

[Radu]

8 hours ago, FMPONE said:

I remember when indie games were really exciting

lamest era I can remember for a long, long time

What are some indies that you're nostalgic for?

[General Vivi]

Still one of my favorites from a few years ago. Sad to hear about the studio shutting down. 

Great mix of stealth and action and narrative. HIGHLY recommend. 

 

[FMPONE]

9 hours ago, Radu said:

What are some indies that you're nostalgic for?

I mostly remember being excited about indies a few years back with games like Beginner’s Guide, Her Story, Hotline: Miami 1 and 2 (amazing), Undertale (the second one didn’t do much for me), Limbo, Inside (is Playdead still working on anything?), and Campo Santo with Firewatch, that era. I guess the future could still be bright there, we will have to see how the Egypt game they’re making at Valve turns out. Hollow knight was amazing, I guess were lucky to get a sequel there. Cup head was OK, I probably didn’t love it as much as some people did.

It felt like we were seeing a really wide variety of new and different types of gameplay releases that was totally different from AAA but that still brought a lot of production values as well.

[-HP-]

3 hours ago, General Vivi said:

Still one of my favorites from a few years ago. Sad to hear about the studio shutting down. 

Great mix of stealth and action and narrative. HIGHLY recommend. 

 

I didn't wanna get into industry stuff, but damn man, this game had everything going for it to at least make their money back and keep the team afloat, it's definitely one of life's great mysteries how games like these don't succeed.

I feel, often it's not necessarily about the quality of the game, but also timing and trusting that the community around the game will share it around enough that creates enough buzz and hype around it, never underestimate the importance of a good marketing campaign, indies included. Learn to build but also learn to sell!

I'll deffo check out Echo tho.

[AlexM]

 

[blackdog]

4 hours ago, FMPONE said:

Limbo, Inside (is Playdead still working on anything?)

Yes a few months ago they teased the next game

https://www.vg247.com/2019/07/08/new-art-playdeads-next-game/

we are going to space(?) baby!

Also it seems to me there are still plenty of AAA-indie coming out…

Like, I forgot to mention –I guess it’s still too far away– one of my top awaited indies is (the controversial) Last Night

It reminds me of Flashback and captures lots of imagery of a short story I had started to write when CPUs had 120Mhz, so this gets me particularly excited.

But I mean there have been other very high quality releases. I guess that many of the studios that made the games you mentioned @FMPONE have banked on the success and stepped up further, so they don’t feel like indies, at the same time there are so many releases that you hardly see any breakout stories unless they are heavily backed by publishers for marketing. I mean technically speaking stuff like A Plague Tale is indie and it’s a success –at least in terms of critique.

Edited August 17, 2019 by blackdog

[FMPONE]

3 hours ago, blackdog said:

Yes a few months ago they teased the next game

https://www.vg247.com/2019/07/08/new-art-playdeads-next-game/

we are going to space(?) baby!

Also it seems to me there are still plenty of AAA-indie coming out…

Like, I forgot to mention –I guess it’s still too far away– one of my top awaited indies is (the controversial) Last Night

It reminds me of Flashback and captures lots of imagery of a short story I had started to write when CPUs had 120Mhz, so this gets me particularly excited.

But I mean there have been other very high quality releases. I guess that many of the studios that made the games you mentioned @FMPONE have banked on the success and stepped up further, so they don’t feel like indies, at the same time there are so many releases that you hardly see any breakout stories unless they are heavily backed by publishers for marketing. I mean technically speaking stuff like A Plague Tale is indie and it’s a success –at least in terms of critique.

I fucking love Playdead.

The Last Night looks good but I haven’t heard much there in a while. I was about to buy A Plague Tale but that shit costs $45, lmfao

[Minos]

Lots of good recommendations in this thread!

This is a good challenge, with lots of love and awesome pixel art! Required play if you like Contra, Metal Slug etc (They actually 3d modeled the backgrounds and used gradient maps and hand painted the pixels to save time  )

 

 

[Beck]

I'm properly addicted to Slay the Spire right now.

 

[Pampers]

my switch has been mainly used for two things:

and mostly