There are so many amazing indie games out there, but some of them stand out as must-play experiences. What are your favorite indie games of all time?
Subnautica. One of the best experiences I’ve had in gaming.
Outer Wilds. One of the most creative and thought-provoking games I’ve played. Definitely go into this one knowing as little as possible about it.
Hollow Knight also deserves a spot here, but personally I preferred Salt and Sanctuary.
Disco Elysium blew me away with the writing, absolutely a must-play.
Not posted here yet: Hades. Though, all of Supergiant’s games are worth playing.
I usually only play the large bombast blockbuster titles, but Actual Sunshine did leave me speechless.
We will need a topic for the AAAs as well. 🙂
Do you mean Actual Sunlight?
Yes. My bad on the name. It’s been a couple of years.
I would say Hades.
The gameplay loop, the art direction and the story are all very good.Gris. Gorgeous visuals and stress-free gameplay
Not incredibly long either
Valheim - especially if you fork out for a dedicated server. I was playing with family and friends across the Atlanic, so we’d log on the next day and find new bases and bridges built, etc.
I just wish you could modify and expand the boats!
Airships: Conquer the Skies - a great little 2D airship builder and combat game
Songs of Syx - a fun city builder even if combat is largely unfinished still
Yeah, building in Valheim is mad fun. Adding meaning and difficulty to the acquisition of resources made it so much more satisfying to make things.
FTL, Into the Breach, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Banished
Factorio has been my crack-torio for many years. Satisfactory may have better graphics, but I prefer the simplicity and depth of Factorio.
Oh disco elysium for sure. Fantastic crpg.
It’s such a shame what happened to the creators. They’ve even encouraged people to pirate it.
Celeste took much of my time, even though I’m usually not a big fan of this genre. Stray was pretty interesting for me as a fan of cyberpunk culture. Plague Tale was a breath of fresh air
Not posted here yet: Hades. Though, all of Supergiant’s games are worth playing.
A ton of great suggestions here already. Let me add some more.
Dead Cells: amazing 2D action rogue lite with metroid Vania elements. A game that keeps getting updates faster than I can play them. And they are good.
Battle Brothers: hex based tactics and management game where you play a band of mercenaries in a fantasy world. It’s insanely deep and we’ll made.
There are a lot I’d recommend, but I think the only must-play for me is Cave Story.
When I was growing up, Cave Story was like the paragon of games as art, and was a major inspiration behind me making games as a hobby and getting into software development professionally. Cave Story was made by a single talented auteur, not for profit, and released for free. And it was as good as Metroid and Mario, or maybe even better. It proved to everyone that such a thing was even possible.
I think the only indie game that could possibly compete with Cave Story for the title of “most influential” would be Minecraft. Though Minecraft should probably be disqualified from that title for having sold out to Microsoft as soon as it started to get big…
The original Cave Story is truly a piece of art. I could not believe back then how good this game is that was created by a single person. He did everything. In an Interview Pixel(?) said that he learned composing music while creating the game. He had no knowledge in that field and just tried and stocked to what sounded nice to him. He created one of the most memorable soundtracks I ever heard! What an unbelievable talented and creative person. So inspiring!
The games that stuck with me are (in no special order) Paradise Killer, Sable, Disco Elysium, Gris and of course What remains of Edith Finch.
