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[Toma]

For the lack of a new banner, please imagine a 2014 in that banner. Just imagine it. IMAGINE.

The result of last years voting - IndieGAF recommends 50 best Indies of 2013, can be found here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=766928

Welcome! This is going to be a really hard task, I know. I suggest reading this post carefully because this voting is a bit.. different than the usual ones. Let me explain how we'll handle this:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Which games can we vote on? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a community vote, so we'll vote on the PC games (yes, restricted to PC, as other platforms, like iOS, doesnt make sense if 90% of us havent played games on that platform) we, as a community, played last year. This means you can vote for any game in any of these threads:

• Indie Games 2014 [January]
• Indie Games 2014 [February]
• Indie Games 2014 [March]
• Indie Games 2014 [April]
• Indie Games 2014 [May]
• Indie Games 2014 [June]
• Indie Games 2014 [July]
• Indie Games 2014 [August]
• Indie Games 2014 [September]
• Indie Games 2014 [October]
• Indie Games 2014 [November]
• Indie Games 2014 [December]

... or any other PC Indie game that released this year, in case we missed including a particular favourite game of yours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Why is this thread in the Community section? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will not advertise this thread outside of the Indie thread, but I will post the banner of the voting thread and a short text on the top of every page of the Indie thread to steer Indie thread regulars into the voting thread. Additionally, I will make a list of every user who voted during a monthly voting in the last year and write them a PM to let them know of the open voting. The reason for this and the creation in the community section is that I want to steer people to the voting thread that actually read the threads/participated in the past monthly votings, and avoid being flooded by the very sizeable amount of users who only played the "biggest" Indie Games.

This is not a general GOTY voting, but a community voting, so I think this should help better represent the opinion and favourite games of the users over in the monthly threads and some of the lurkers who chime in from time to time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| How will the voting work? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only thing you need to know:
You need to provide a list of 20 games, among which you will automatically share 210 points based on your ranking. You dont need to give any points, you simply rank the games. You are free to give multiple ranks to the different games, which in turn means that you skip the following places that would normally correspond to these ranks, like in this example:

1.lkjasd
2.gaksjd
2.gfsa
2.asdh
5.lkjasd: Reloaded

Additionally,you are free to include a second list of up to 30 more games, which will not directly get "points", but only Honor points, which will decide any draws these games might have. Consider it rank 1-50, divided into two lists.

If you want to know more anyway:
The reasoning for this voting system is to allow people freedom over how to judge their games, if you want to rate 20 games in the first place, that is perfectly fine but they will share the total amount of points you will give to your voted games.
The first 20 games will get proper points, like in this example:

1. 20 points
2. 19 points
3. 18 points
4. 17 points
5. 16 points

If you decide to give the same rank to multiple games, these games will get the average amount these ranks would correspond to, like in this example:

1. 20 points
2. 18 points - (19 + 18 + 17) / 3
2. 18 points - (19 + 18 + 17) / 3
2. 18 points - (19 + 18 + 17) / 3
5. 16 points

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| What are we going to use this thread for? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two main things:
1. Your voting posts. Feel free to post an incomplete list with games you keep track of and edit that post until the end of the voting period. Do not post more than one voting post, but please edit your voting post if you already created one. Play some more games. Play games you missed, play games others loved, and possibly change your lists until the 19th.

2. Posts about games you think deserve a mention. If we look at this thread, it should be preferably filled with lots of posts about what makes all these Indie Games so good and why others should play them to include them in their lists. It is fine to post an older post about a game if you consider this post still representative of your current opinion and think it properly expresses why the game is as good as you think it is.

Any posts about the regular december voting, general Indie talk and similar issues still go into the current Indie thread:
Indie Games [December]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| What are we going to do after the voting? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the voting and vote tallying is done, I'll create a proper thread in the Gaming section, showing off the result as a "Best Indie Games last year we think you should be playing." with proper descriptions and pictures/gifs.

Please also stick around after you finished your post, there is a big chunk of work left once we are done with the voting. Writing up the Best of list is a big effort and we need every help we can get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Who the hell made that awesome banner? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A round of applause for Chainsawkitten, everyone.

 

[Toma]

Example voting list (from 2013's april thread)

List 1

• 1. Papers Please
• 2. Factorio
• 3. Kentucky Route Zero
• 4. Slave of God
• 4. Gorogoa
• 4. The Sea will claim everything
• 7. Cesure
• 7. Jelly no Puzzle
• 7. Maldita Castilla
• 7. Starseed Pilgrim
• 11. Back to Bed
• 11. Bientot
• 11. Zineth
• 11. Proteus
• 11. Thirty Flights of Loving
• 16. Cognition
• 16. Steam Marines
• 16. Melodisle
• 16. Mirror Moon

List 2:

• 21. Kyoto
• 21. StarDrive
• 21. Tower of the Gorillion
• 24. 6180 the Moon
• 25. Planet Explorers

Edit: Geez, that was an insane month.

 

[Toma]

Rule change this year: Games eligible for this years voting are releases from January 2014 to the end of 2014 and any game listed in the Indie Threads. I just noticed we did include December games in last years voting, so I scrapped the kinda arbitrary "December not allowed"-rule." We have enough time into January anyway.


Remember to play some more games until the end of the voting period! Check other peoples recommendation and just... have fun!

 

[PandaPedinte]

Rule change this year: Games eligible for this years voting are releases from January 2014 to the end of 2014 and any game listed in the Indie Threads. I just noticed we did include December games in last years voting, so I scrapped the kinda arbitrary "December not allowed"-rule." We have enough time into January anyway.


Remember to play some more games until the end of the voting period! Check other peoples recommendation and just... have fun!

I need to organize my list, but I still have a ton of games top play that may end in my voting submission! Lack of time to play is so sad.

 

[More_Badass]

More impressions to come

1. This War of Mine
This War of Mine explored the horrors of war from a perspective not portrayed in the medium till now and delivered one of the most tense, gripping, and bleak experiences I'd played this year. You never see the war ravaging the country where This War of Mine is set, but its effects are ever present. A gutted war-torn city, all pencil-sketched shadows and ruined structures, reeking of desperation and hopelessness, as explosions thunder and flash ceaselessly outside. This War of Mine is not fun. It's grueling. Unrelenting. Oppressive. You're always on the back foot, always just barely eking out a miserable day-by-day existence; even when your group finally is healthy and has a good amount of food stored, there's always the sense that it can't last long. Even when you're equipped with a knife or gun, combat and violence in general feels like a last resort. In This War of Mine, there are only murky grey choices. Your actions matter, not just at that moment when you're desperate enough to kill and steal from people who are just trying to survive, people trying to keep their group alive just like you are, but also over time as guilt and depression erodes your characters' will to endure. Overall, This War of Mine was just one hell of an engrossing, compelling, and atmospheric experience.

2. NaissanceE
I don't think any game I've played has compelled me to explore and established a sense of place in the way that NaissanceE has.The environments are expansive, monolithic, not always in terms of being open to exploration but in terms of sheer scale. You feel small, lost and utterly alone in this world. It's a world that feels alien and weird, not in the twisting Escher-esque sense that Antichamber had, but like you just don't belong here, that this is truly not a place made for or by humans.. Even though it isn't a horror game, there's a distinct feeling of tension and apprehension of the unknown, and the unsettling sound effects add to this. You feel insignificant within the massive alien spaces, the technological canyons and geographical caverns. No explanations are offered, no story to why you're here or what built this otherworldly place, and none is needed. NaissanceE is all about the experience, that mysterious, engaging, ominous atmosphere that permeates every aspect of the game, and the challenges you face while traversing its cavernous spaces and claustrophobic halls

3. Door Kickers
So you might be thinking "Why do I need this game if I already have Frozen Synapse?". But while Frozen Synapse might be king in terms of multiplayer, I felt like Door Kickers was superior in every other aspects, especially thanks to its grouded SWAT team aesthetic. Go in loud or stealthy, rescue hostages, arrest bad guys, defuse bombs. There's a ton of content, modding, a level editor, a leveling-up system for your squad, and special challenges for each mission. The emphasis is on efficiency. If you don't plan well, if you forget to check your corners, if you don't have a guy covering your back while he picks a lock, your team will pay for it. Split your troops into groups, stack up on doors, peer in with your snake cam. Coordinate simultaneous breaches with flashbangs or have your breacher blast through a locked door for a loud entrance while your stealth team moves in from the back to take out the distracted enemies.

4. Infested Planet
Infested Planet is 300 meets Starship Trooper. That's really the best analogy. Your small team of well-equipped soldiers against hordes of hundreds and hundreds of insectoid aliens. Every battle is a slog, a desperate push and pull as you capture bases, spreading your men and turrets to hold back the encroaching hordes, clearing paths with airstrikes as you upgrade your team with better weapons and defenses. But the tide can turn at any moment; perhaps the horde mutates heavier armor, or poisonous projectiles, or creates an organic minefield. Maybe the hive spawns alien clones of your troopers or becomes resistant to your turret fire. Any combination of random mutators and suddenly your frontline is breached, and there's a panicked rush to assess and adapt.

5. Crypt of the NecroDancer

6. Lovely Planet
A glance at Lovely Planet is most likely to evoke a "WTF" reaction, with its vivid colors and weird style. But don't be fooled by that, because beneath that colorful friendly facade is a hard-as-nails shooter, that challenges your reaction and reflexes like a funhouse FPS take on Hotline Miami. Speed around a corner, fire two shots mid-air to intercept incoming projectiles, land, turn, fire, keep moving, don't stop. Remember that die-restart rhythm of Hotline Miami, until you could practically tear through a level on muscle memory alone? Every level in Lovely Planet is like that, forcing you to improve and learn enemy placement and when and where projectiles will be coming from until you can speed through a level with practiced ease. Lovely Planet is all about speed-running and precision, and feeling like a badass when you perfect a level that killed you countless times before

7. Capsule
Capsule isn't about complex mechanics or stunning graphics. It excels on another level and that is immersion and tension. From the start, you're immersed in the limited claustrophobic view, the smudged flickering screen your only connection with the environment. You feel as if at any moment the screen's going to go dark, your vessel barely hanging on by a thread. But the audio brings everything together. Playing Capsule in the dark and with headphones is a must. Your labored gasping breaths. The scrambled radio signals fading in and out across the expanse (of space? the ocean depths?). The muted rumbling when you collide with debris. In terms of crafting a tangible tense atmosphere through audio and sound alone, Capsule is masterful.

8. Transistor

9. Crimsonland HD

10. Jazzpunk

11. Sunless Sea

12. XenoRaptor

13. Shovel Knight

14. Escape Goat 2
15. Velocibox
16. Cloudbuilt
17. Javel-ein
18. Goat Simulator
19. The Floor Is Jelly
20. Limbs

21. Roguelight
22. Impulse
23. Sub Commander

 

[Toma]

My own consideration list:

January:
Dungeon of the Endless
Hexcells Infinite
Vector
Murder in the Hotel Lisbon
Not the Robots
Outdoor Camping for Deboned Poultry
Rodina
Samurai Gunn
The Novelist
Heroine's Quest
Titan Souls

February:
BloodLust
Kromaia
Heroes of a Broken Land
Lemma
Lyne
Magicians and Looters
Nidhogg
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Strike Vector
The Banner Saga
Castle Doctrine
The Floor is Jelly
The Rapture is here and you will be forcibly removed from your home
Ultimate Space Commando
Zenzizenzic

March:
Action Painting Pro
Black Ice
Banished
Card City Nights
Cosmochoria
Cubesis
Drunken Robot Pornography
Glitchspace
Lennas Inception
Principia
Probably Archery
Xaxi

April:
Broken Robot Love
Capsule
Cloudbuilt
Escape Goat 2
Goat Simulator
Javel-ein
Joylancer
Luftrausers
Mini Metro
Mizunoawa
Museum of Parallel Art
Pilota
Towerfall Ascension
Umbragram

May:
Another Star
Echo of the Wilds
Endless Legend
Icarus Proudbottom's World of Typing Weekly!
Life Goes On
The Sun And Moon
The Fourth Wall
BroForce

June:
A Story About My Uncle
Among the Sleep
Astebreed
Epic Flail
Fearless Fantasy
Flockers
Freaking Meatbags
Hack 'n' Slash
Jet Force
Shipwreck
Shütshimi
You Have to Win the Game

July:
Baby Mommys Curse
Chronology
Crawle
Crimsonland HD
Hardline Gunner
Lantern Forge
Pocket Robots Test Chamber
Sub Commander
Tales of Maj'Eyal
Tobias and the Dark Sceptres
Void

August:
Claire
Crypt of the NecroDancer
DYNETZZLE
Eidolon
Freedom Planet
Lexicopolis
Lifeless Planet
Momodora III
OlliOlli

September:
Awe
Cavern Kings
HopSlide
Mind: Path to Thalamus

October:
Bolt Riley
Cosmonautica
Neverending Nightmares
SanctuaryRPG
The Spatials
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Roguelight

November:
Baezult
Here And There Along The Echo
Luminoso
Metrocide
UnReal World

December:
~stuff~

Others:
This War of Mine
Transistor
Galactic Civilizations 3
Legend of Grimrock 2
Tabletop Simulator
Wasteland 2

Games I still need to play or need to replay: (If there is any game on this list, please make a recommendation post to motivate me to check it out! Seems likely I might not be able to check out all until the voting. Conversely, if something is bad, save me some time and tell me that too.

 

[More_Badass]

Games I still need to play or need to replay: (If there is any game on this list, please make a recommendation post to motivate me to check it out! Seems likely I might not be able to check out all until the voting

Definitely worth a revisit:
Lovely Planet
Banner Saga
Cloudbuilt
Escape Goat 2
Crypt of the NecroDancer
Hack n Slash

Heard good things about:
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Neverending Nightmares

Just to due the sheer dedication and fantastic post-release support, worth giving a try:
Goat Simulator

 

[Chainsawkitten]

Still had the original .xcf:s.

None of the games in the less glorious banner are actually eligible now, though.

 

[Toma]

Still had the original .xcf:s.

None of the games in the less glorious banner are actually eligible now, though.

Eh, its the spirit that counts!
And thanks

 

[Toma]

nvm

 

[NihonTiger90]

My early consideration list so far:

Roguelight
Sky Rogue
Cavern Kings
Wings of Vi
Crypt of the NecroDancer
Nidhogg
Heroine's Quest
Cosmochoria
Action Painting Pro
Shift
Mini Metro
Goat Simulator
The Joylancer
Luftrausers
The Sun and Moon
Javel-Ein

 

[flowsnake]

1. Shovel Knight
1. The Talos Principle
1. Crypt of the Necrodancer
4. Hexcells Plus
5. Escape Goat 2
6. Teslagrad
7. Mini Metro
8. Blackwell Epiphany
9. The Journey Down Chapter 2
10. Kero Blaster
11. The Floor is Jelly
12. The Binding of Isaac Rebirth
13. Luftrausers
14. Freedom Planet
14. Crimsonland
14. Chronology
14. Outland
14. Elliot Quest
14. 1001 Spikes
14. A Bird Story

 

[flowsnake]

Only worth it if you have access to the current Early Access version, the free alpha is way out of date compared to the current version:
Hack 'n' Slash

? That game is fully released. I haven't gotten to it yet though.

 

[More_Badass]

? That game is fully released. I haven't gotten to it yet though.

Oh, my mistake. I got that mixed up with Heart n Slash

 

[Toma]

In case someone is considering which games to give time to for the vote (Baddy seems to have recommended it, but I didnt end up with good impressions):

I got around to play Hack n Slash for my GOTY nomination list and I gotta say... I am not impressed.

The game doesnt feel like a proper hacking/programming game, more like a light puzzle game in a hacking skin. One example: Instead of pushing stones, you need to hit the stone first to give it the property of being pushable and then do that 7 times to solve a stone-pushing puzzle. Similar incidents in other parts of the game.

The level design just seems ... boring? and despite the low playtime still ends up being repetetive. I rarely felt engaged by the solutions or options the game allowed me to do. In terms of puzzle design, I know why they put some limitations on it, but I would have preferred if they just went nuts with it instead of limiting options to obvious solutions.

I am also underwhelmed by the range of choices the game gives you. Most of it are just simple numbers. Admittedly, its cool to look at once you change your first enemy to run 1000x as fast, but that gets old quick. Spoiler for the first boss fight:

Spoiler

So there is that boss and you have turtles attacking you. Solution: Reprogram a turtle to be super strong and to be on your side.

Other solutions? Not really, other than making less strong but multiple turtles. There is just not enough sense of wonder and actual choice. Another idea would have been: Transforming one of the turtles into the good version of the boss and fight it out. Or making the boss hungry until he ate too many turtles and gives up, Or whatever else you might be thinking of.

Other than that it also seems unpolished with too many asset reuses, unpolished animations and some bugs.

The game still has an sorta cute art style (even though I am not a huge fan of it) and is worth playing overall, but I am very glad I got it gifted, as I cant recommend paying more than maybe $5 for it. Maybe in my extended top 50 list if I ponder more about and I miss other choices, but will likely not land in the top 20.

 

[timetokill]

This reminds me, I need to play Capsule.

I can't imagine anything beating Mini Metro for me though. That game absorbed too much of my time.

 

[Toma]

On a similar note regarding my backlog:

Tabletop Simulator is really, really, really good. If you love boardgames, but have troubles finding the time to get together with friends to play them... this is, hands down, the ultimate solution. The base game only contains basic games, but the workshop items have a multitude of serious board games available. K2, Carcassonne, Risk, Takenoko, Hero Quest and 1400 others. The rules are usually not included, but due to the simulated "tactility" of game pieces, it really feels quite engaging. I havent played Monopoly in ages and was never the biggest fan of it, but earlier I sat down and played 2 hours of Fallout Monopoly with a friend from the US. That was really good. This has very, very good chances landing in my top 20. Highly recommended to grab and check out if you like boardgames.

Screenshot of a Munchkin endgame mayhem:

 

[Toma]

Freaking Meatbags has quite a bit of content and unlockables/upgrades now. The campaign seems to be finished, but they might still be working on some additions if I see that correctly. The current version definitely has enough content to be considered for my list now though.

 

[More_Badass]

Freaking Meatbags has quite a bit of content and unlockables/upgrades now. The campaign seems to be finished, but they might still be working on some additions if I see that correctly. The current version definitely has enough content to be considered for my list now though.

Thanks for the update. Hadn't played it in quite a while

 

[Corto]

Hello my independent friends!

Here is my short list to indie game of 2014. And my general GOTY list will be almost the same with very few changes as this year indie games completely rocked my gaming world! hehehe


Divinity: Original Sin
Shadowrun DragonFall
Dungeon of the Endless
Endless Legend
The Talos Principle
A Bird Story
Door Kickers
This War of Mine
Spintires
Broken Age
Luftrausers
Prophour23
Infested Planet
Nuclear Throne
Lovely Planet
Super Time Force Ultra

I need to revisit and give more time to some of the games on this list before giving a proper order to them.

As a last question. Are Early Access games eligible too?

 

[Toma]

As a last question. Are Early Access games eligible too?

If you feel that early access/alpha game was more important to you than any other game this year, sure.

--------------

Crypt of the Necrodancer is pretty sweet. Its more or less an action roguelike and rhythm game with roguelike skin/upgrades/items. Highly unique genre mashup with quite a bit of unlockable content. I was worried that the game might not have enough content, but I was wrong about that. Also, the music is pretty sweet.

Top 20 Candidate.

 

[Wok]

So far, in the appropriate order:

1. Nidhogg
2. Farsh
3. Void
4. Tetrobot&Co
5. Sportsfriends (BaraBariBall, Super Pole Riders)
6. FTL: Advanced Edition
7. Escape Goat 2
8. Battleblock Theater
9. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
10. Scrolls
11. Hexcells Plus
12. Lyne
13. The Fourth Wall
14. The Marvellous Miss Take
15. Gang Beasts
16. TRI: Of Friendship and Madness
17. Chronology
18. The Talos Principle
19. Sokobond
20. Faerie Alchemy

 

[bokkengro]

1. The Talos Principle
2. Transistor
3. Hexcells Infinite
4. Shadowrun Dragonfall - Director's Cut
5. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
5. Divinity: Original Sin
7. Door Kickers
8. The Fall
9. TRI: Of Friendship and Madness
9. QBEH-1
11. Fract OSC
11. Jazzpunk
13. Kentucky Route Zero, Act 3
14. Sunless Sea
15. Invisible, Inc.
16. Mini Metro
17. Crypt of the Necrodancer
18. Nothing to Hide
19. Full Boar
20. Escape Goat 2

 

[PandaPedinte]

Not so preliminary list now:

1. Endless Legend
2. Hatoful Boyfriend
2. Elliot Quest
4. Jazzpunk
4. Mountain
6. Tales of Maj'Eyal
7. You Have to Win the Game
8. Lovely Planet
8. Roguelight
8. OlliOlli
11. A Birds Story
11. Nothing to Hide
13. Cosmochoria
13. Battleblock Theater
13. Lethal League
16. Heroes Rise: The Prodigy
17. Cosmic DJ
18. Pitiri 1977
19. Cavern Kings
20. Super Time Force Ultra

21. Environmental Station Alpha
22. Icarus Proudbottom's World of Typing Weekly!
23. Lenna's Inception
24. Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
25. The Rapture Is Here And You Will Be Forcibly Removed From Your Home
26. Javel-ein
27. Mini Metro
28. Museum of Parallel Art
29. Echo of the Wilds
30. The Sun And Moon
31. Vagante
32. Meowgical Tower
33. Return of the Obra Dinn
34. Kraden's Crypt
35. Only If

 

[Weltall Zero]

Preliminary list, still need to be sorted out and include more games

And probably remove the repeat of Roguelight, which I incidentally played today thanks to this thread and I loved it.

I'm a bit sad that I haven't played 20 indie games released this year that I would consider worthy of a "best of the year" list, due among others to transitioning even more towards portable gaming (with a few of my entries being 3DS and Vita games), catching up on older stuff in my backlog, revisiting classics, and especially getting a Wii U and dedicating much more time to coop with the missus. Hell, Roguelight would make my NINTH entry on my list.

 

[Toma]

And probably remove the repeat of Roguelight, which I incidentally played today thanks to this thread and I loved it.

I'm a bit sad that I haven't played 20 indie games released this year that I would consider worthy of a "best of the year" list, due among others to transitioning even more towards portable gaming (with a few of my entries being 3DS and Vita games), catching up on older stuff in my backlog, revisiting classics, and especially getting a Wii U and dedicating much more time to coop with the missus. Hell, Roguelight would make my NINTH entry on my list.

Make a dedicated PC gaming month and play some recommendations from 2014 until the 19th of January ;p

 

[managore]

And probably remove the repeat of Roguelight

I... I don't mind

 

[Toma]

I played the beginning of the Ultimate Space Commando campaign. Let me just prephase this by saying that its really, damn good, the game just turned out to be a top 5 contender, and I will interrupt my Indie Game playing time to make a thread on it immediately.

These were my initial impressions from the Indie thread:

Ultimate Space Commando 10€ for the Beta

The game is apparently actively in development since 2011 with previous unreleased prototypes going back as far as 2004. And it shows. In contrast to games like Steam Marines, the gameplay of this squad turn-based tactics games is very well thought out with plenty of interesting possibilities and dangers to account for. Just based on pure gameplay, its probably among the best indie efforts I have played in that genre, which is rather high praise. However, I should also mention here that the game is in Beta and currently missing any sort of progress content, meaning there are no interesting scenarios or campaign missions yet. So lets get into the specifics of what this game offers, what its missing and why you should or shouldnt get it.

The game currently has 2 modes and a focus on highscore gaming over progression. I havent played Defend your Base much, but it basically allows you to build a base setup which you need to defend against countless hordes of enemies. This struck me as way less interesting than the normal mode, because the exploration aspect is one of the biggest strengths of the single missions. However I only tried it shortly, so I wont go into much detail about that. If you start single missions, you get this screen:

You probably wont appreciate this if you want a quick and dirty play session, because it does require some preparation time. This is also the reason why the game doesnt have a decent mass appeal yet. The game actually does a magnificent job at making the game very intuitive. You dont have a lot of inventory management, even though you might have plenty of options/weapons at your disposal (more to that later) and most of the game elements are self-explanatory if you played similar games. But throwing someone into a screen that basically tasks you to fully equip an endgame squad is not very newcomer friendly. If you dont like this kind of full control over a single mission and tinkering around with equipment setups, you should probably ignore this game until it at least offers some proper scenarios or the actual campaign. Even a stacked single Mission structure could help here (3 random levels with increasing difficulty and more money to buy equipment), but as it stands, you have full control over the unit setup. The game basically asks you to distribute skill points and buy equipment for your 4 squad members. This took me ~20 minutes on my first try because there are quite a few options to consider here, starting from deciding between several heavy and small guns or melee weapons and going as far as deciding between different ammunition types that differentiate with acid, explosive or armor piercing characteristics.

Once you finally started the single mission, the player sees the actual game. And if you dont know what you are doing, the game can incredibly deadly. Getting trapped between enemies, getting radiated, standing on explosive fluids, friendly fire and elite Monsters that you shouldnt meet unprepared. The normal difficulty is certainly doable if you know you way around the genre, but there are 4 more difficulties above that, so you shouldnt have issues finding a challenge here. The levels are randomly created and have several options to make the map creation or goals more varied and interesting, such as different main objectives (survive, kill all, find xyz, reach exit), secondary objectives, thicker or thinner walls, special monsters and more. The random creation itself is also rather well made because it creates rooms of special interest (secured rooms with equipment or wide open rooms with many monsters) and actually makes the level layout seem diverse.
I also really like the enemy types, which have normal, strong and boss variants and are exponentially more dangerous. I think the full game eventually needs probably way more different enemy types to not feel repetitive, but for the single missions its enough for now. The actual gameplay also deserves another shoutout because even despite quite deep possibilities, the game is still rather easily playable because of the icons on the upper part of the screen which always shows the actions your currently selected unit can do, based on its equipment and inventory. This may sound like a small thing, but its an amazing idea because it gets rid of tedious inventory management/clicking/sorting. Really weird I havent seen this in other games yet.

These single missions offer replayability by being rated with a highscore. Apparently there are also online ladders/leaderboards but they might not be active atm or I didnt figure out how to activate them. By offering different setups/difficulties and goals, USC currently offers a lot to tinker around with if you are fine with challenging yourself to single missions, because the gameplay itself is VERY well thought out. Not having any actual content like the campaign and scenario does probably hurt it for quite a few people, though, which means the current version is only for a very specific group of gamers, and those gamers probably love it. I do. I really, really like it, but I will probably stop playing around with the single missions once I tried higher difficulties and the other objectives, because I'd also like something to actually play for. Progress in the campaign, ala Jagged Alliance or Fallout Tactics? Crafted Scenario challenges that you can 5 star? I'll be back with this game day 1 once these are in.

In any case:
Definitely a good purchase for me and recommended because of the refined gameplay, but the current content of the game (only random, single missions) is not for everyone.

Ignore that "no good content"-part now. More info in the upcoming thread.

 

[Toma]

On second thought, probably going to wait until february for the full release to make a thread. Too many people scared by the "Beta" label, but the game is really, really good.

 

[Toma]

Banner Saga is better than I expected. Fantastic story, animations, campaign progression and combat mechanics. Its a bit slow, but great.

 

[Moobabe]

I... I don't mind

You wouldn't!

 

[Toma]

Not final voting list, will probably adjust quite a bit until the end of the voting period:

Full Bore!
1 Towerfall Ascension
2 Transistor
3 Legend of Grimrock 2
4 Echo of the Wilds
5 Cubesis
6 Ultimate Space Commando
7 Castle Doctrine
8 Eidolon
9 The Banner Saga
10 Dungeon of the Endless
11 Hex MP
12 Endless Legend
13 Crimsonland HD
14 Hexcells Infinite
15. Fract
16 Crypt of the Necrodancer
17 This War of Mine
18 Tabletop Simulator
19 Pilota
20 Heroine's Quest

... Freaking Meatbags


21 Pocket Robots Test Chamber
21 Mind: Path to Thalamus
22 Banished
23 Lyne
24 BloodLust
25 Magicians & Looters
26 Card City Nights
27 Neverending Nightmares
28 Lennas Inception
29 Broken Robot Love
30 The Floor is Jelly
31 Sub Commander
32 Here and There along the Echo
33 Luminoso
34 Lexicopolis
35 Claire
36 Icarus Proudbottom's World of Typing Weekly!
37 Cloudbuilt
38 Samurai Gunn
39 Nidhogg
40 Umbagram
41 Cosmochoria
42 Chronology
43 Jet Force
44 Javel-Ein
45 Heroes of a Broken Land
46 Black Ice
47 Goat Simulator
48 BroForce
49 Mini Metro
50 The Sun and Moon

51 Epic Flail
52 Cosmonautica
53 Freedom Planet
54 Strike Vector
55 The Fourth Wall
56 Vector
57 Glitchspace
58 HopSlide
59 SanctuaryRPG
60 DYNETZZLE Extended
61 Titan Souls
62 Kromaia
63 Lemma
64 You have to win the Game
65 Mizunoawa
66 Capsule
67 Fearless Fantasy
68 Hardline Gunner
69 Drunken Robot Pornography
70 Roguelight
71 Shütshimi
72 Hack n Slash
73 Octodad: Dadliest Catch
74 Life Goes On
75 Rodina
76 Probably Archery
77 Museum of Parallel Art
78 Xaxi
79 Outdoor Camping for Deboned Poultry
80 Not the Robots

Edit, need to add:
Escape Goat 2
Talos Principle
Fract OSC

 

[PandaPedinte]

And probably remove the repeat of Roguelight, which I incidentally played today thanks to this thread and I loved it.

I'm a bit sad that I haven't played 20 indie games released this year that I would consider worthy of a "best of the year" list, due among others to transitioning even more towards portable gaming (with a few of my entries being 3DS and Vita games), catching up on older stuff in my backlog, revisiting classics, and especially getting a Wii U and dedicating much more time to coop with the missus. Hell, Roguelight would make my NINTH entry on my list.

Oops, maybe it was a decision made by my subconscious

I... I don't mind

Of course you don't xD

 

[daydream]

Work-in-progress.

1. Jazzpunk
2. Luftrausers
3. Shovel Knight
4. Kero Blaster
5. OlliOlli
6. Broken Age
7. Crypt of the NecroDancer
8. Freedom Planet
9. Card City Nights
10. The Banner Saga
11. Mini Metro
12. Lyne
13. Nidhogg
14. Legend of Grimrock 2
15. Dungeon of the Endless
16. Escape Goat 2
17. Lovely Planet
18. Heroine's Quest
19. Black Ice
20. Icarus Proudbottom's World of Typing Weekly!

21. Samurai Gunn
22. Jet Force
23. Rex Rocket
24. Return of the Obra Dinn
25. Lethal League
26. BroForce
27. Magicians and Looters
28. Mizunoawa
29.The Floor Is Jelly
30. Murder in the Hotel Lisbon
31. simian.interface
32. Magnetized
33. Cosmochoria
34. Hexcells Infinite
35. Gang Beasts
36. Heavy Bullets
37. Sentris
38. Rock Boshers DX: Director's Cut
39. Shütshimi
40. Hack 'n' Slash
41. Environmental Station Alpha
42. Olympia Rising
43. The Nightmare Cooperative
44. Lennas Inception
45. Echo of the Wilds
46. NaissanceE
47. Sunless Sea
48. Museum of Parallel Art
49. Crawl
50. Cubesis

51. hets
52. Towerfall Ascension
53. Goat Simulator
54. Action Painting Pro (lol)

Here And There Along The Echo -> Weird case, imo. I consider it a part of Kentucky Route Zero (which I would probably put in first place again if I could)

My to-play list aka 'sorry, you're probably out of luck':

Transistor
Cavern Kings
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Luminoso
Elliot Quest
Joylancer
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Divinity: Original Sin
1001 Spikes (blame Nicalis)
The Talos Principle
A Bird Story
Eidolon
Super Time Force
Mind: Path to Thalamus
Lifeless Planet
You Have to Win the Game
Momodora III
Astebreed
A Story About My Uncle
Gods Will Be Watching
The Marvelous Miss Take
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
Strata
Retro Game Crunch
Wings of Vi
Heart & Slash

 

[Toma]

Work-in-progress.

1. Jazzpunk

Holy hell, that good? I sort of ot the impression that the reception was more or less lukewarm with some more or less great resonating jokes and not much "game".

 

[daydream]

Holy hell, that good? I sort of ot the impression that the reception was more or less lukewarm with some more or less great resonating jokes and not much "game".

It's a toss-up between Luftrausers and Jazzpunk for me - and they're obviously totally different games - but I'm giving the edge to Jazzpunk because 1) humour is very difficult to pull off in.. any medium, really and 2) it's just very entertaining and creative, so much so that I'm willing to overlook the few flaws it has, mainly some minigames that fall flat. It is a singular experience in gaming right now, the closest parallel maybe being Octodad. The story is fantastic, it works as a persiflage on your typical secret agent story (think Austin Powers but better) but also goes into some crazy, unexpected directions which you'll have to experience yourself.

As far as the "game" part is concerned, I find the usage of "game" or "gameplay" theoretically underdeveloped and undercomplex to be thrown around as much as it is (especially with polemic intentions). The game is light on cutscenes, therefore it is rich in gameplay. Not to mention the fact that the humour is wonderfully woven into the player's interaction with the world.

 

[Toma]

It's a toss-up between Luftrausers and Jazzpunk for me - and they're obviously totally different games - but I'm giving the edge to Jazzpunk because 1) humour is very difficult to pull off in.. any medium, really and 2) it's just very entertaining and creative, so much so that I'm willing to overlook the few flaws it has, mainly some minigames that fall flat. It is a singular experience in gaming right now, the closest parallel maybe being Octodad. The story is fantastic, it works as a persiflage on your typical secret agent story (think Austin Powers but better) but also goes into some crazy, unexpected directions which you'll have to experience yourself.

As far as the "game" part is concerned, I find the usage of "game" or "gameplay" theoretically underdeveloped and undercomplex to be thrown around as much as it is (especially with polemic intentions). The game is light on cutscenes, therefore it is rich in gameplay. Not to mention the fact that the humour is wonderfully woven into the player's interaction with the world.

Yeah, true. Sorry for not being more specific with my comment, but IS there any interesting player interaction? Difficult puzzles? Exploration? The videos on the game just seem like you just walk around and read the jokes.

I am not trying to be "polemic" or intentionally mean, really just trying to figure out what makes the game THAT good for you.

 

[daydream]

Yeah, true. Sorry for not being more specific with my comment, but IS there any interesting player interaction? Difficult puzzles? Exploration? The videos on the game just seem like you just walk around and read the jokes.

I am not trying to be "polemic" or intentionally mean, really just trying to figure out what makes the game THAT good for you.

Sorry, I cut the comment off early, haha. Didn't realise I was sounding confrontational there so be assured that I wasn't referring to you, of course.

There is definitely a lot of exploration. You'll miss out on the majority of jokes if you don't explore. Progressing the story, however, is linear, and there's no puzzles to speak of outside of that. There's an action component if you will with all the minigames of which there are quite a few. They are obviously hit-or-miss, just like the humour, but the majority of them is very clever, indeed.

Here's the impressions I wrote just after finishing it btw. Now that I've had some distance, I would highlight different aspects of the game than I did in my critique, and overall, my already positive tone has only gotten more glowing looking back, I'd say. There's just nothing else like it at the moment.

Thinking about it again, I would probably consider it equally seminal to Gone Home, with the former rethinking drama in games and the latter rethinking comedy. Gone Home was tighter and more accomplished in its form but Jazzpunk's merits are enough to put it above the rest of the 2014 indies for me, i.e. I consider Luftrausers virtually perfect which Jazzpunk is not. But it's important and novel.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

1. Shovel Knight
2. OlliOlli
3. Luftrausers
4. Lethal League
5. The Banner Saga
6. Never Alone
7. One Finger Death Punch
8. Crimzon Clover World Ignition
9. Hexcells Infinite
10. Hexcells Plus
11. Super Time Force Ultra
12. Kero Blaster
13. Crypt of the NecroDancer
14. Nidhogg
15. Hexcells
16. The Floor is Jelly
17. Escape Goat 2
18. Towerfall Ascension
19. Goat Simulator
20. You Have to Win the Game



Games I'd ideally play before voting is over:


BroForce
Astebreed
Claire
Freedom Planet
Mind: Path to Thalamus
Neverending Nightmares
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Transistor
1001 Spikes

 

[Weltall Zero]

Make a dedicated PC gaming month and play some recommendations from 2014 until the 19th of January ;p

I was planning to do some of the sort, if time allows. I'm already perusing everyone's lists. Worst case scenario, the final tally will be an awesome starting point for next year.

I... I don't mind

Wow, you made it? It's just my kind of game, action roguelike that's straight to the point. Thanks for it, I paid the default donation but I might give some more after I play more. There's not nearly enough games of this kind, have you considered submitting it to Steam/Desura?

Also, if I had to make any criticism, it's that the pixel ratio is not preserved when maximizing the window, necessitating some manual resizing each time it's booted (otherwise the game gets horribly squished). An actual fullscreen mode would be even better, but even adding black bars to the sides of the window would be great.

 

[More_Badass]

I was planning to do some of the sort, if time allows. I'm already perusing everyone's lists. Worst case scenario, the final tally will be an awesome starting point for next year.



Wow, you made it? It's just my kind of game, action roguelike that's straight to the point. Thanks for it, I paid the default donation but I might give some more after I play more. There's not nearly enough games of this kind, have you considered submitting it to Steam/Desura?

Also, if I had to make any criticism, it's that the pixel ratio is not preserved when maximizing the window, necessitating some manual resizing each time it's booted (otherwise the game gets horribly squished). An actual fullscreen mode would be even better, but even adding black bars to the sides of the window would be great.

You should check out his other games. Javel-ein, The Sun & Moon, and HopSlide are all excellent.

 

[SapientWolf]

Starting in on the list:

Magicka: Wizard Wars
Cannon Brawl
Samurai Gunn
Nidhogg
Towerfall Ascension
Super Time Force Ultra
Lethal League
Crimson Clover- WORLD IGNITION
Luftrausers
Kingdoms Rise
Broforce
Broken Age
Minimum
Frozen Cortex (formerly known as Frozen Endzone)
Rocket League
Running With Rifles
Strike Vector
Gang Beasts

I have some more I need to add later as I sort through what has actually been put up for purchase in 2014.

 

[Wok]

By the way, I have filled my GOTY list and there are a few indie games which are not in the indie threads. Is it okay to add them to my indie GOTY list as well, or should I restrain from selecting indie games not featured in the threads?

 

[Toma]

By the way, I have filled my GOTY list and there are a few indie games which are not in the indie threads. Is it okay to add them to my indie GOTY list as well, or should I restrain from selecting indie games not featured in the threads?

Any Indie released this year is fine. If I forget to play a game we didnt feature, I might still play it until the end of the voting period and possibly add it to my list still.

 

[Gilby]

So many games, gonna start writing them down as I remember them. Will properly organize later.

Full Bore
Towerfall Ascension
Samurai Gunn
Tri: Of Friendship And Madness
Nidhogg

 

[eot]

20 games seems a bit high to set as a limit for people just to be allowed to vote.

 

[Toma]

20 games seems a bit high to set as a limit for people just to be allowed to vote.

Thats the point, its to avoid having 500 votes by people who only bought the 5 big indie releases that got mass media attention. It worked pretty well for last years result thread, too, so there wasnt really any reason to change it.

 

[flowsnake]

So far I'm kind of just listing every game I played and didn't hate. I don't play too much.

 

[Toma]

So far I'm kind of just listing every game I played and didn't hate. I don't play too much.

Sure, fine by me Its the 20 Indies you liked the most this year basically then.

 

[Wok]

So far I'm kind of just listing every game I played and didn't hate. I don't play too much.

If I had played more, I think Talos would not be in my list. This game is is one of my biggest disappointments this year: it does not run smoothly on my PC, the robots look dull (nothing compared to the humanoid robots in Portal 2 for instance), and the puzzles are okay-ish. I feel like it is a cheap version of The Witness. I usually dislike Croteam's environments, so with retrospect, it was to be expected.