Indie Games (or games of lesser fame)

[1nky]

Has anyone found any great online games, or lesser known games that you believe are worth sharing? Post 'em here.

Gretel and Hansel - a darker take on the Brothers Grimm fairytale. A flash-based game, it is composed entirely of scanned-in watercolour pictures. Simplistic, but nothing to sneeze at. There is also some very black humor in this game, so if you're the squeamish type, and don't like watching children fall into some very... bleak situations, this may not be for you. You play as Gretel in this first installment, as she gathers the pebbles necessary to leave a trail back home. (Hansel is pretty much useless. No, really. He's retarded.)

Gretel and Hansel - Part 2 - The much bigger and better next installment to the series. More point and clicky puzzles to do, more ways for Gretel to die, and more achievements to unlock. The atmosphere is made absolutely gorgeous by a new soundtrack by a new composer - and you're further immersed in the supernatural world that this story takes place in - cleverly so. In this installment, you play Gretel (And briefly, Hansel!), as you navigate your way through an enchanted forest, in an attempt to finally get home.

Don't eat the mushrooms.

Yume Nikki - a game which... really kind of messes with you, quite a bit. Literally "Dream Diary," you play a female recluse, who wanders her dreams each night. Each one is strange, and almost nonsensical, until you look at the context the fans have come up with. And then it's really deep, at times horrifying. Recommended if you want a good "what the hell was that?!" moment, but ultimately, your mileage may vary. Freeware-made. You can find the download link here.

Tower of Heaven - A very simple, straightforward game. You are a nameless protagonist, ascending a tower that leads to a God. As you ascend, however, this God begins to lay down laws to make your goal more and more impossible - example, 'Thou shalt not touch the sides of the blocks,' or 'Thou shalt not walk left,' etc. This game is surprisingly replayable, if not just for the gameplay itself, but for the wonderful music as well. And there's definitely an underlying sense of depth, despite the gameboy-esque graphics - they used their medium beautifully.

Machinarium - a lovely, short point-and-click puzzle game (warning, it's incredibly difficult) featuring a coming-of-age story of a little robot off to save his girl from unknown circumstances. Actually, it's a steampunk-esque adventure, with lighthearted overtones. You play a little tin robot named Jozef, who's been kicked out of his home city by a gang of black-capped jerkwad robots. You need to make your way back, figure out the story as you're going along, rescue your adorable girlfriend, and save the city from the Black Cap Brotherhood. A 2D game, it has incredibly charming artwork, a wonderful atmosphere, and probably one of the best game composers I've personally heard. It can be downloaded via Steam, or through the links found here.

[ShaggE]

Thanks for the reminder about Yume Nikki! I've heard so much about it through /x/, and I always forget to download it. Remedying that right now.

[Hayley the Hedgie]

I'd say Touhou, but it would have more fame than lesser. XD

[1nky]

Originally Posted by Hayley the Hedgie

I'd say Touhou, but it would have more fame than lesser. XD

I've seen so many cosplays of that series, it's not funny. :P

What's the series actually about? I've read up on the wiki, and I still can't follow it. XD;

[Gman5852]

Is Super Meat Boy and Indie game?

[Hayley the Hedgie]

Originally Posted by 1nky

I've seen so many cosplays of that series, it's not funny. :P

What's the series actually about? I've read up on the wiki, and I still can't follow it. XD;

Like, there's not much you need to understand. It's a hell bullet shooter game where you take control of this shrine keeper or this witch and fend off the evil spirits and fairies off the face of the Earth, sort off.

[Fly]

I'm currently replaying Ben There, Dan That! and its less freeware sequel, since I forgot how good they are (and now I know Sam and Max, I can get all the references to that, which is nice). They're basically LucasArts pastiches with a SCUMM-like interface, they are British, sweary, and significantly more brilliant than you'd expect a game about the creators' self inserts to be.

The really special thing about it is that there's barely any generic 'I can't pick that up' dialogue - almost everything you do has its own response. Talking to trails of blood! Using Dan on a castle! Trying to cut wires with glue! I don't even want to think about how much time the writers must have spent thinking of witty responses for talking to inanimate objects, but somehow they not only did it, but managed to make it consistently funny.

And the second game is about killing Jetpack Hitler and his army of Nazi tyrannosauruses in order to un-invent the coathanger. If that hasn't sold you, nothing will.

[Rather Dashing]

I'd like to mention that the IGF finalists for 2011 have been announced. The IGF judges have impeccably good taste, and every single finalist every year has some incredible value or merit to them. This year is no exception, and the finalists here are definitely games to play if you ever get the chance(Nidhogg, as far as I can tell, is only available at the NYU Game Center, as it was commissioned for that exhibit).

I absolutely LOVE the IGF. For one week, the guesswork out of indie games shopping is thrown out of the picture. Every year, I dig through the finalists and I have always found at least two games that I will always love to death, because they are hallmarks of excellence or provide an experience so unique and beautiful that it would simply be impossible for the industry machine to spit them out. I beg of you to click the link above, go through the finalists, and see the benchmarks of what the indie video game scene is capable of producing.

[Origami]

^
Why no category for best writing? >=(

[redm]

World of Goo, Shatter, Puzzle dimension, Quantz, Cogs, Beathazard, Brainpipe and geometry wars are a few that I like. I also think Tidalis might be really cool but I need to play it some more.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Gman5852

Is Super Meat Boy and Indie game?

Yes. But it's extremely popular.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Origami

^
Why no category for best writing? >=(

Because it's kind of not the point of the IGF. The event is meant to promote creativity and innovation in game design. Those selected as finalists aren't done so as some sort of comprehensive critical analysis, but as excellent hallmarks of technical or artistic merit that applies directly to the case of something as an interactive experience. That doesn't mean artistic stuff, and well-written stuff, is entirely barred, but it needs to be more than(for example) a fairly cookie-cutter or average game with an excellent script to be a finalist. Besides, considering the winners get cash prizes and often end up with publishing deals and industry success, the judges can award whatever categories they think are most important to promote.

[taumel]

Only a small fraction of the games which are sent each year to the IGF are really good which becomes pretty obvious once you give those a try which aren't mentioned. A good game normally also gets its shed of light.

I think that playing some of the top games beeing presented on the IGF is beside of very very few full price games or games which are too successful for this kind of promotion like Torchlight or even more independent the only way to enjoy video games today. Without indie games i would probably have stopped playing video games already as i can't justify throwing out my time/money for the crap the major publishers dare to release these days.

[ShaggE]

Originally Posted by taumel

Without indie games i would probably have stopped playing video games already as i can't justify throwing out my time/money for the crap the major publishers dare to releae these days.

This. I love my AAA releases just fine, but they've been stagnating for quite awhile now. Every time a big game tries something new, people shun it (until enough people say "hey, this is actually good" ~6 months later), and we get showered with more copypasta sequels. Or in the rare case the game takes off right away, everybody tries to clone it.

This has always been the case, but less and less effort is going into the clones and sequels.

Looking at my hard drive right now, three quarters of my installed games are indies, classics, or the rare big name innovation. The rest are the usual dime-a-dozen shooters, racers, and RPGs, and I haven't finished a single one of them yet. It's not that I don't enjoy them, just that I can't bring myself to choose them over the brilliance that's been coming out of small studios and one-man teams recently.

My god, I'm a game hipster. Kill me now.

[taumel]

Yep, the only AAA game i'm looking forward to this year is Rage. Before this there will be Torchlight II. And then we'll fill this up with several indie titles on various platforms as well as some adventures. Nice surprises are welcome as every year. Btw is Valve still making games? Thinking of Half Life...

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by taumel

Yep, the only AAA game i'm looking forward to this year is Rage. Before this there will be Torchlight II. And then we'll fill this up with several indie titles on various platforms as well as some adventures. Nice surprises are welcome as every year.

Huh, your AAA list is a bit smaller than mine. I'm looking forward to Portal 2, The Witcher 2, Catherine, and Project Dark. Sad that half of them are sequels, but when so much of any given year's AAA output is some form of sequel or reboot, it's not surprising.

[taumel]

Catherine looks interesting but it seems to target too much a younger post teenager audience, from what i've seen so far.

[ShaggE]

I'm still holding out hope for Duke Nukem Forever. Partly because I just want to finally play it and move on, partly because it really does look half decent, and partly because I've been waiting since '97, dammit.

(and I swear, if Gearbox announces a delay, Pitchford shall meet Pitchfork)

[figmentPez]

Originally Posted by ShaggE

My god, I'm a game hipster. Kill me now.

Hiiiipsterrrr!



Why has no one mentioned Zeno Clash yet? Awesome game. I love the art style, kind of Dark Crystal meets Mercer Mayer with a little Planescape: Torment mixed in. The gameplay is pretty good too, and the story is wonderfully bizarre.

Trine is awesome. If you like platformers you should play this. The graphical style is like a glowing fantasy pop-up book, simply gorgeous. The puzzles are fun to solve, the voice acting is fantastic and the story is surprisingly well told. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Blueberry Garden is a fun little art piece. I haven't finished it yet, but it's quirky fun. I might help that I only paid $0.99 for it, but playing it brings a smile to my face.


People have already mentioned World of Goo and Braid... wait, Braid hasn't been mentioned? The "story" is pretentious, but the gameplay is awesome.

EDIT: Machinarium is on my list to play (having gotten it in the Humble Indie Bundle #2). I played Samorost 2 (bought it off steam before the HIB#1) and loved it, so I'm looking forward to another game from the same developers. Right now I'm in the middle of playing Aquaria, and I'm not sure how I feel yet. It's good, but flawed.

[The Mighty M]

Does Bit. Trip. count?