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[Toma]

I'm actually having trouble making a list of twenty games I like enough. I've played a ton of them this year but I either don't think highly enough of them to vote, and I don't want to list a game just for sake of filling a slot, or I played it last year (or whenever it originally came out) and don't want to vote for it this year.

As far as I am concerned its about the best 20 Indie Games you played this year, and all games we covered in our monthly threads, but which released in 2012 are eligible. That 20 games entry barrier is mostly used to check that the people voting actually played enough games to judge a decent amount of games.

 

[Dog Problems]

As far as I am concerned its about the best 20 Indie Games you played this year, and all games we covered in our monthly threads, but which released in 2012 are eligible. That 20 games entry barrier is mostly used to check that the people voting actually played enough games to judge a decent amount of games.

I'm just trying to narrow it down to the games that left a major impression on me and not many games do that so I'm moving on to games that feature at least one aspect that really stands out for me and even that's difficult, lol.

 

[Toma]

I'm just trying to narrow it down to the games that left a major impression on me and not many games do that so I'm moving on to games that feature at least one aspect that really stands out for me and even that's difficult, lol.

Perfectly fine I am just suggesting to be more inclusive, rather than exclusive in those lists, as that was the original intention with the 20 games limit.

 

[Hofmann]

I'm just trying to narrow it down to the games that left a major impression on me and not many games do that so I'm moving on to games that feature at least one aspect that really stands out for me and even that's difficult, lol.

It's not exactly game of the year voting, more of a community selection of our favourite games we played in recent time, it could even go back to 2012 as these threads are kind of transitional - starting in March we tried to fill the indie gap - so you're free to choose from all the games included in corresponding monthly threads or any other that has been somehow omitted - no one will exclude your picks here for not following some rigid rules like in the main GAF GOTY thread. Taking this into consideration you can vote for Kairo for example, which I know has made a great impression on you, and probably tons of others missing from your current list - this should make it a lot easier picking those 20 titles.

 

[Dog Problems]

Alright, what I did was dedicate the first twenty games to 2013 releases and then I made an extra set of ten for games in 2012 that I loved. I'll probably add another set of ten to the 2012 category once I've put some more thought into it.

 

[Toma]

Contacted 25 others who were active in previous votings. Hope we get a few more people in here.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

Contacted 25 others who were active in previous votings. Hope we get a few more people in here.

Thanks for the PM Toma .

I've bookmarked this to have a proper look later when I'm not so busy. If I can vote for FTL then I shall certainly be voting. Can I vote for FTL 20 times?

 

[Corto]

Hello there! Here is my best-of list of indie games of 2013. Some are truly great others had some innovative mechanic that made for some great eureka moments, others are still a WIP but show great potential.

1. Starseed Pilgrim
2. Spelunky HD
3. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
4. Desktop Dungeons
5. Gorogoa
6. Guacamelee
7. Monaco
8. Teleglitch
9. Kentucky Route Zero
10. Reprisal
11. Expeditions: Conquistador
12. Shadowrun Returns
13. Battle Worlds: Kronos
14. Papers Please
15. Bionic Dues
16. The Swapper
17. Gunpoint
18. Divinity Dragon Commander
19. Proteus
20. Gone Home

 

[gabbo]

1. Papers Please
1. Knock Knock
2. Miasmata
3. Atum
4. Zeno Clash 2
5. Sanctum 2
6. SuperHot
6. Pulse
7. Souvenir
8. Zenith
9. Teleglitch
10. Memory Of A Broken Dimension
11. MirrorMoon
12. Zenith
13. Intrusion 2
14. Save the Date
15. Space Whale
16. The Plan
17. The King of the Wood
18. BosonX

Honourable Mentions (because I own them, but haven't played them yet)
Gone Home
Sang Froid
Gaucamalee
Amnesia A Machine for Pigs

Honourable Mentions that I don't own/are free
Death from a 1000ft fall (LeSam)

 

[Weltall Zero]

That's a lot for the heads up, Toma! This is my list for now:

1. Spelunky
2. Desktop Dungeons
3. Rogue Legacy
4. Starbound
5. Clairvoyance
6. Factorio
7. Gorogoa
8. Maldita Castilla
9. Card Hunter
10. Cart Life
10. Dust: An Elysian Tail
10. Guacamelee
10. Gunpoint
10. La-Mulana
10. Papers Please!
10. Waking Mars
17. One Finger Death Punch
18. Tower of the Gorillion
19. Little Inferno
20. Broforce

21. A Dark Room

I'm assuming these games aren't valid votes, please correct me if they're actually valid, or conversely, if any one in my top 20 is not valid:

x. FTL
x. Super House of Dead Ninjas

.

.

Very similar tastes to mine, must check later on the ones I've not played.

 

[Toma]

List still not final, but I'm getting there:

Voting 1-20:
1. Factorio
2. Full Bore
3. Gunpoint
4. Fjords
5. Card Hunter
6. Gone Home
7. Papers, Please!
8. Cart Life
9. One Way Heroics
10. Gorogoa
11. Starseed Pilgrim
12. La-Mulana
13. Rogue Legacy
14. Paper Sorcerer
15. MirrorMoon EP
16. The Stanley Parable
17. Reus
18. Stasis
19. NEO Scavenger
20. Sentinel

Voting 21-50:
21. Clairvoyance
22. SUPERHOT
23. Ironclad Tactics
24. Spelunky
25. Castle Doctrine
26. Risk of Rain
27. Westerado
28. Dust: An Elysian Tail
29. Ballpoint Universe
30. Draconian Wars
31. Underrail
32. Assault Android Cactus
33. Maldita Castilla
34. Nayas Quest
35. Towerclimb
36. Impulse
37. 7 Grand Steps
38. Shadowrun Returns
39. Shelter
40. One Finger Death Punch
41. Hexcells
42. Didgery
43. Gods will be Watching
44. Proteus
45. Primordia
46. A Dark Room
47. Two Brothers
48. Burn & Turn
49. Tri
50. Timeframe

Still to play if I get it in:
Sir, You are being hunted

Couldnt play for stupid reasons:
Outer Wilds (Still need to try getting it to run)
Secrets of Raetikon (no clue how to download)

Some of the last ones might still get kicked out if I include some others in the top 50.

 

[SapientWolf]

Top 20:

1. Volgarr the Viking
2. Clairvoyance
3. Dust: An Elysian Tail
4. Card Hunter
5. King Arthur's Gold
6. Gunpoint
7. BLEED
8. Risk of Rain
9. Super Splatters
10. Broforce
11. SpyParty
12. Frozen Endzone
13. The Swapper
14. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
15. Samurai Gunn
16. Monaco
17. Cannon Brawl
18. Magicka: Wizard Wars
19. The Showdown Effect
20. One Finger Death Punch

Honorable mentions:
Looks like Towerfall Ascension isn't going to make it on PC in time for voting.
Ace of Spades (never made it on the front page, IIRC)
Little Inferno
Skullgirls
Running With Rifles
Towerclimb
Kingdoms Rise
Castlestorm
Assault Android Cactus
The Tank Game
Cobalt
Paranautical Activity
Ibb and Obb (in closed beta on PC)

 

[phantomspiker]

I might as well give my list a shot.

Steamworld Dig
Sir, You are Being Hunted
Betrayer
Gunpoint
Verdun
Don't Starve
State of Decay
Outlast
Teleglitch
Zeno Clash 2
The Dark Mod
Gone Home
The Wolf Among Us
Sword of the Stars: The Pit
Superhot
The Cave
Rise of the Triad
Eldritch
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons

Brothers was incredible, probably in my top 5 this year.

 

[Toma]

Brothers was incredible, probably in my top 5 this year.

I might as well state that I was playing Shelter and was a bit underwhelmed by it, whereas Gone Home is pretty amazing.
Just finished Shelter and on to Gone Home for the voting list.

 

[phantomspiker]

I might as well state that I was playing Shelter and was a bit underwhelmed by it, whereas Gone Home is pretty amazing.
Just finished Shelter and on to Gone Home for the voting list.

I finished Gone Home a couple of days and thought it was really good too.

Still haven't played Shelter...maybe one day.

 

[Mavromatis]

Here are my votes for the year but I've been away since august so the list is a bit lacking.


Papers, please! 1
Reus 2
A Dark Room 3
Dust: An Elysian Tail 4
Monaco 5
Marvin's Mittens 6
Starseed Pilgrim 7
Slave of God 8
Gods will be watching 9
OpenRA 10
Waking Mars 11
War of the Human Tanks 12
99 Spirits 13
Eador: Masters of the Broken World 14
Steam Marines 15
StarMade 16
The Novelist 17
Westerado 18
Teleglitch 19
Gunpoint 20

 

[Hofmann]

Fun fact, just read that my GOTY has been bought by only 5000 people.

The game I consider the BEST during the past year, has only 5000 people who bought it. That is currently boggling my mind. I mean even if you consider piracy and demo-only players, there still probably not more than 20-30,000 people who even know of the game.


Edit: After writing that, I realized that Hofmanns GOTY might be even less well known
*looks it up*

Ah , KRZ, so not quite. But Paradis Perdus probably takes the crown regarding the most unknown game in the top 20 charts votings.

Nah, the title of most unknown game from the top 20 belongs to 18 cadence - Paradis Perdus appeared on Daydreaming's list. I found my old impressions, if anyone's interested:

5. 18 Cadence

The ''game'' tells a fictional, century long, story of a house at 18 Cadence Street, from the moment it was build in 1900, up to its burning one hundred years later, which ends its life, and everything connected with this place during this period. It's about people and their interwoven fates, about a births of a new life, first loves, lost hopes, about death. How vital role in this context play physical objects of everyday use in portraying undergoing changes: massive wardrobes resistant to the flow of time, the photos leaving with the people to whom they meant anything or even flower bouquets, fleeting to the admirers, in the same way, they will in relation to a history. Things gathered in abudance anticipating the inevitable death of its owners, memories kept in a form of a collection, with each year filling the void after what's been lost, but the time is unrelenting, hundred years whispers measly, that the time will come for them too. Everything is served in a subtle way, like the period of The Great Depression, which we experience through a slowly, year to year, shrinking property. Mixing of those elements; relationships formed between The House at 18 Cadence Street and its Residents - it's a pure poetry.

We're observing it from the perspective of a researcher – house plan: the porch, living room, kitchen and two bedrooms, which intended use changes accordingly to the current needs; on the right side, previously mentioned, list of objects assigned to each of these rooms. The story focuses on passing years – each year is one event in the life of the residents, for each room separately; sometimes they completely turnover the staus quo – like death of a loved one, but mostly they tell about less important episodes, of which everyday life consists of. But exactly, what's important and what is not? That's time for You to come in – demiurge who decides about it. It's worth pointing out about the possibility of confrontating your ideas with the stories constructed by other players, and it's actually quite fascinating to do so. Back to the topic, each of those narrative elements could be commemorated by dragging them to the lower part of the table you're working on - visually juggling with someone's life. Even though it's just a fiction - it's really weird. It needs to be remembered that the board has limited capacity, just like our perceptual abilities. If it gets too messy and we want to include something, we he have to drop something else, but we already make the choices out of snippets at our disposal. If you think about it, it's quite depressing. How will we be remembered? In the age of pervasive social networks, discussion boards, each of us has left some trace, but in the long run the memories of who we really are will be lost in informational flood. In one hundred years this brave new world might colapse under its own weight, just like the House at 18 Cadence Street, taking away digested memories of ourselves.

 

[Funky Functionality]

I'd forgotten about a few from earlier this year and had a chance to play a few more this past weekend. I'm thoroughly addicted to a handful of games now and probably won't be picking up anything else for a month or two. I regret that I never got around to Papers, Please. Soon!

Final list:

1. Antichamber
2. The Castle Doctrine (I haven't gone back to this since its early releases, but it was an amazing experience that I wish more people had tried. Despite early balance issues, it was one of the most tense and rewarding multiplayer games I've ever played.)
3. Starseed Pilgrim
4. Risk of Rain
5. Fez
6. Starbound
7. Factorio
8. Don't Starve
9. Gone Home
10. Naya's Quest
11. Outer Wilds
12. Fjords
13. Proteus
14. Westerado
15. 10,000,000
16. Desktop Dungeons
17. Isle of Bxnes
18. Collapse
19. SuperHot
20. Miasmata

Can't wait to see what 2014 will offer. *hugs pc again*

 

[More_Badass]

Papers Please - Early beta here/$9.99 (PC, Mac)

http://papersplea.se/

Strip away all its other elements and Papers, Please would still be a fun game of logic and matching. But amidst the story and premise, that simple game of logic and studying documents becomes a thoughtful experience with surprising emotional resonance. From your tiny booth, you hold incredible power; with your stamp of approval, you can allow the tired huddled masses into your country or turn them away. At its core, that's the extent of the gameplay: look for discrepancies and signs of errors and forgeries, interrogate the suspicious citizens, and make your decision. But Papers, Please is so much more than that. From your little window slot and desk, you become the linchpin in fates both big and small, from the entire country to the individuals before you to your very family.

Defining moment: For such a mechanical simple game, Papers Please hold tons of depth, but it really hit home when I returned home with my meager wagers and found my family sick and starving, and I could only help one of them,

 

[phantomspiker]

The list so far. Still got Guacamelee and Stanley Parable to play after I beat Resident Evil Revelations. I'm still holding out hope for a Kentucky Route Zero sale.

Brothers and Verdun are too very surprising late entries for me.

*edit* I went ahead and edited my first post with the final list.

 

[Chainsawkitten]

20 games?! There's no way I've even played 20 decent games this year!

*compiles list*

20 games?! I'm gonna need a whole lot more than 20! How is it even possible to fit it in 20 games?!

16. The Plan
18. The Plan

Oops!

 

[Toma]

20 games?! There's no way I've even played 20 decent games this year!

*compiles list*

20 games?! I'm gonna need a whole lot more than 20! How is it even possible to fit it in 20 games?!


Oops!

All hail the 1-50 list.

Doesnt make it easier to decide which games go into 1-20 though.

Oops!

That was his... plan along.
*bada-bum-tish*

 

[PandaPedinte]

20 games?! I'm gonna need a whole lot more than 20! How is it even possible to fit it in 20 games.

This was my initial reaction, I played around 90 games from the all the monthly threads combined and ranking most of the games was a hard task excpet for a few exceptions.

 

[gabbo]

Oops!

That was his... plan along.
*bada-bum-tish*

In which case, I'll edit BosonX in there, unless there's a 'no edit' rule in effect

 

[Toma]

In which case, I'll edit BosonX in there, unless there's a 'no edit' rule in effect

Definitely not, editing is welcome and advised in case of playing more games that others have high up on their list until january 19th.

 

[More_Badass]

The Swapper - No demo/$14.99 (PC)

http://facepalmgames.com/the-swapper/

If there's one phrase that best describes The Swapper, it's "hauntingly atmospheric". Roaming the eerie corridors and expansive spaces, the dimly light rooms, entering zero gravity, the lighting, the unnerving unsettling implications of your device, The Swapper is an game that just oozes atmosphere and tension, even though it's not even a horror game. The game also impressed me with its subdued storytelling. The story is never in-your-face, aside from the rare moments of dialogue from another individual, but for the most part, the story was told through the ominous atmosphere of the ship you traversed and the unsettling consequences of your Swapper device. Even the logs you found were never clear or straightforward, giving the whole game this tense and creepy tone

The Swapper combines so many polished elements in a single package, all working in harmony: the unsettling atmosphere, the visually cool uses of the Swapper device, its tactile clay art style.

Defining moment: Jumping from a high ledge, swapping into clones as I fell, landing safely, and then my other bodies slamming into the ground around me.

 

[More_Badass]

Broforce - Demo here/$10 (PC, Mac)

http://www.freelives.net/broforce-game

Of all the indie games I've purchased since I got into PC gaming over the summer, Broforce is the one I've played most. The game set out to be an ode to 80's and 90's action movies, the Expendables in video game form, and it succeeds on every possible level. Neo, The Terminator, Blade, Rambo, and many more are already on the growing roster, with recent additions like the Boondock Brothers adding even more diversity.

Each level is a fully destructible playground filled with explosive barrels, propane canisters, and many many enemies ranging from simple goons to suicide bombers to guard dogs and mini-gun wielding mini-bosses. The stylized graphics are nicely detailed, with blood, dirt, smoke, and fire flying with every explosion. The destructible environments adds an layer of depth, allowing you to tunnel beneath enemies to flank them or collapse the ground under their feet or crush them beneath trucks and heavy debris. All those tricks and fast reflexes will be needed because the game is not easy. You die in one hit.The tight controls, the over-the-top destruction, the fact that you're playing as some of the coolest action heroes in movies, and the fast-paced challenging gameplay make Broforce an addictive and fun experience.

Defining moment: When one bullet set off a minute long chain reaction of explosions, flying gore, dying enemies, collapsing bridges (but really there are too many great moments to count)

 

[More_Badass]

Teleglitch - Demo here/$12.99 (PC, Mac, Linux)

http://diemore.teleglitch.com/

Teleglitch was my first roguelike, and it certainly made an impression. Take the lightning fast pace of Hotline Miami, with the dread and challenge of your favorite roguelike, and that's Teleglitch in a gritty sci-fi nutshell. It may not have Crysis-level graphics, but the chunky pixels make the indistinct creatures that much more terrifying and the visual distortion that accompanies each gunshot gives your weapons a powerful satisfying heft.

But what matters is the gameplay and in that aspect, Teleglitch shines. The tension of the unknown, the joy of finding a new gun or a medkit, the fear when you're low on health and ammo, is fantastic. When you enter a room armed with only two shotgun rounds, 25 health, and one explosive, and a horde of mutants and zombies rush out of the area where you can't see and you just turn and flee the other way...it's worth every penny.

Defining moment: Down to only a sliver of health and your knife, barely escaping an ambush, then finding a cangun in a side room and obliterating an entire incoming horde in one shot

 

[Wok]

Results of the Steam GotY awards are known. Some indie games are in good positions there.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Was not in the previous indie threads but I've been playing just about nothing but indies all year.

1. Long Live the Queen
2. Skullgirls
3. Cook, Serve, Delicious
4. Rogue Legacy
5. Guacamelee
6. 99 Spirits
7. Gunpoint
8. Fez
9. state of decay
10. Spelunky
11. Papers, Please!
12. Dust: An Elysian Tale
13. Monaco
14. Don't Starve
15. Zeno Clash 2
16. Valdis
17. The Cat Lady
18. Electronic Super Joy
19. Divekick
20. Cognition

 

[PandaPedinte]

Was not in the previous indie threads but I've been playing just about nothing but indies all year.

1. Long Live the Queen
2. Skullgirls
3. Cook, Serve, Delicious
4. Rogue Legacy
5. Guacamelee
6. 99 Spirits
7. Gunpoint
8. Fez
9. state of decay
10. Spelunky
11. Papers, Please!
12. Dust: An Elysian Tale
13. Monaco
14. Don't Starve
15. Zeno Clash 2
16. Valdis
17. The Cat Lady
18. Electronic Super Joy
19. Divekick
20. Cognition

Feel free to check the monthly threads you may find other interesting games there like One Way Heroics, Full Bore, Gods Will be Watching SUPERHOT and many others. The first post always have the most voted games of the monthy so if you don't know what to try go after these.

 

[Caerith]

20 games, huh. That's... hard for me. I've certainly played 20 indie games this year, but only 9 that came out in 2013. Of those 9, there are two I couldn't, in good faith, award any points to, one I didn't care about enough that I would list it, one that I only played a little of because I am waiting for it to get on Steam before I really get into it, and one I am waiting on the developer to update because the text is murderously tiny.

So, that narrows my list of indie games that came out in 2013 to four games:

• Long Live the Queen
• Cook, Serve, Delicious
• Rogue Legacy
• Dust: An Elysian Tale

Which is a shame, because LLTQ is fantastic.

 

[More_Badass]

20 games, huh. That's... hard for me. I've certainly played 20 indie games this year, but only 9 that came out in 2013. Of those 9, there are two I couldn't, in good faith, award any points to, one I didn't care about enough that I would list it, one that I only played a little of because I am waiting for it to get on Steam before I really get into it, and one I am waiting on the developer to update because the text is murderously tiny.

So, that narrows my list of indie games that came out in 2013 to four games:

• Long Live the Queen
• Cook, Serve, Delicious
• Rogue Legacy
• Dust: An Elysian Tale

Which is a shame, because LLTQ is fantastic.

Try the free games featured in the monthly threads. There are some quality free games that others have in their lists, such as SuperHOT and Outer Wilds

 

[Caerith]

Try the free games featured in the monthly threads. There are some quality free games that others have in their lists, such as SuperHOT and Outer Wilds

I'll look into those, but I'm not going to rush through 16 games just so I can vote.

 

[Toma]

I'll look into those, but I'm not going to rush through 16 games just so I can vote.

No sweat. Its more a voting project for those that managed to play and like a few games every month from the ones we covered. Its a bit unreasonable to ask you to speed through a few dozen games just for the voting now.

 

[grindamasta]

So many great indies this year. Here's my list, with the best games that I've finished/played:

1.The Stanley Parable
2.Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
3.The Cat Lady
4.The Swapper
5.Retro/Grade
6.Papo & Yo
7.Fez
8.Gone Home
9.Nihilumbra
10.Monaco
11.Dust: An Elysian Tail
12.Proteus
13.BLEED
14.Guacamelee!
15.Valdis Story: The Abyssal City
16.The Showdown Effect
17.Teleglitch
18.Assault Android Cactus
19.Escape Goat
20.One Finger Death Punch

 

[More_Badass]

The Stanley Parable - Demo on Steam/$14.99 (PC, Mac))

http://www.stanleyparable.com/


The Stanley Parable is a game of contradictions. It's about a man named Stanley, but it's also your story. It's a game about choice, but also the lack of choice. It's funny and humorous, but also surprisingly existential. The Stanley Parable is many things, but one fact remains consistent: it's something you need to experience.

The Stanley Parable may last only four or five hours but it's a one of a kind experience that will have you smiling, chuckling, laughing, confused, reeling from momentary shock and surprise in response to the myriad paths your choices will take you. It's a game tailor made for discussions and excited recollections of your favorite moments and discoveries. More than any other experience this year, it's a game for gamers, in the way it plays with, subverts, comments on the expectations and tropes of the medium. You need to play The Stanley Parable.

Defining moment: The thing about Stanley Parable is that you can't talk about anything specific without spoiling something great, but there was one moment that made me smile and surprised me more than anything else I've played all year. Let's just any gamer will get one hell of a kick out of it.

 

[More_Badass]

NEO Scavenger - Demo on Steam/$9.99 (PC, Mac, Linux)

http://bluebottlegames.com/main/node/2

One of the few turn-based roguelikes I've enjoyed, and set in brutal gritty apocalyptic world where life is short and cheap, and death can come from any angle, from the raiders tracking your footsteps to the cold night air. Sleep in the rain without a sleeping bag? Prepare to come down with severe hypothermia overnight or maybe you'll just freeze to death. Run away from bandits over treacherous terrain? Maybe you'll trip and break a rib. Forgo sleep and stay on the move? You'll pass out from exhaustion. Get cut in a fight? You'd better have painkillers and bandages to prevent the wound from getting infected. Forget to hide your tracks before sleeping? The raiders will have found you by morning. The wealth of options and variables to consider are astounding.

The combat is ruthless and brutal, akin to the quick violent encounters seen in The Road or No Country, and while the encounters are experienced through menus and text, you always have a wide array of tactics at your disposal, ranging from simply fleeing to trying to break line of sight and hide to forcing enemies to surrender or just surrendering yourself. Raiders and bandits are numerous and merciless, but the otherworldly creatures and mutants that roam the map are even more dangerous. All those elements make NEO Scavenger one of the most intense and immersive experiences I've played in a while.

Defining moment: Suffering from infection, down to a glass shard, I attempt a desperate ambush on a pair of bandits. One goes down in the struggle, the other leaves for me dead in the rain with broken ribs and fractured skull. I don't last the night

 

[More_Badass]

Outer Wilds - Freeware (PC, Mac, Linux)

http://outerwilds.com/

I love exploration, and finding new vistas and areas to explore. While Mirrormoon appealed with its abstract environments, Outer Wilds awed by delivering an incredible and intriguing solar system to explore in its short play time. Each attempt offers a new opportunity to head off in a new direction, to practice zero gravity flight, fly a remote drone. To admire the beautiful planet and star filled sky. To land your craft on unexplored worlds, meet new species both friendly and hostile.

Defining moment: That first launch from your landing pad, as you rise through the atmosphere, watch the ground shrink away and ascend into unexplored space for the first time.

 

[More_Badass]

Hey, where's everyone else!

Project Zomboid

http://projectzomboid.com/

Once again technically, Project Zomboid's been out for a while, but the beta only released on Steam recently and I never had an opportunity to play it until this year. Other indies may have had better stories, better art styles. Maybe others were even better games overall. But as a gamer, what I love to experience most are those emergent moments, that can't be achieved by any other medium. And that's what Project Zomboid is, a story generator, providing tales of survival and foolish deaths, of desperate last stands and incredible moments that rival those seen in the best zombie fiction. I guess the same could be said for a game like NEO Scavenger, but as a huge fan of the genre, personally Project Zomboid has the edge. DayZ may represent the human on human violence of the genre better and The Walking Dead may have the emotional edge, but Project Zomboid offers the chance to be a survivor.

Defining moment: Cooking rotting food on a campfire when a horde passes by, fleeing across the fields and forests into a nearby town, as night falls and visibility drops to near nothing, no time to fight back, only to run as long as my sick and weakened body could, before finally getting surrounded, and fighting off the undead horde before going down.

 

[Toma]

Hey, where's everyone else!

Sick. I was planning on writing a few of those here as well, but I cant find the time or the brain capacity to do so.Btw, I love you including 2 screenshots in these posts and the overall formatting. Looks pretty swell.

 

[Lain]

I didn't plan to vote in here, because I'm not a regular of your monthly indie threads and I had the impression from the first post that regular of those threads were the ones preferred to take part in the voting.
But someone posted in the Steam thread asking to come vote, so here are my votes:

1. Valdis Story: Abyssal City
2. Dust: An Elysian Tail
3. 99 Spirits
4. Defenders Quest
5. War of the Human Tanks
6. Cook, Serve, Delicious!
7. Gunpoint
8. Hammerwatch
9. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
10. Guacamelee
11. Papers, please!
12. Unholy Heights
13. Skullgirls
14. Sword of the Stars: The Pit
15. Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos
16. Gateways
17. Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
18. La-Mulana
19. Rogue Legacy
20. Spelunky

 

[Cth]

1. The Swapper
2. Rogue Legacy
3. Risk of Rain
4. Spelunky
5. Cook Serve Delicious
6. Papers Please
7. Shelter
8. The Stanley Parable
9. Kentucky Route Zero
10. Little Inferno
11. Skullgirls
12. Divekick
13. Proteus
14. Teleglitch
15. MirrorMoon
16. Cart Life
17. Guacamelee
18. Antichamber
19. Long Live the Queen
20. Depression Quest

Honorable Mentions:
The Cave
MTB Freeride
Shadowrun Returns
9.03m
Atom Zombie Crusher
The Bridge
Delver
Gods Will Be Watching
Against the Wall
Experiment 12
Viscera Cleanup Detail
Assault Android Cactus
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons
Finding Teddy
Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing
Legend of Dungeon
Speedrunners

 

[AbundantChoice]

1. Gunpoint
2. Warframe
3. Rogue Legacy
3. The Swapper
5. Kerbal Space Program
6. Long Live The Queen
6. Path of Exile
8. Kentucky Route Zero
9. Race the Sun
10. The Stanley Parable
11. Antichamber
12. Shadowrun Returns
13. Papers, Please
14. Desktop Dungeons
15. Monaco
16. Don't Starve
17. Shelter
18. Super House of Dead Ninjas
19. Teleglitch: Die More Edition
20. Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons

 

[NSider]

1. Gunpoint

 

[Toma]

1. Gunpoint

Best list. ;p

 

[Chainsawkitten]

1. Depression Quest
2. Perfectly Valid Reasons
3. Shelter
4. Papo & Yo
5. Proteus
6. Kyoto
7. Thirty Flights of Loving
8. Little Inferno
9. Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
10. The Plan
11. Katabasis
12. Fragments of Him
13. Fez
14. Lumière
15. Césure
16. Triad
17. Remembering
18. Cook, Serve, Delicious!
19. The Connection
20. Very Retrouvaille

 

[More_Badass]

Think I'm going to have to adjust my list and cram Door Kickers in somewhere. Beside some BoI, Door Kickers is the only game I've been playing for the last two/three days. It's so good and polished

 

[not psycho]

1. Volgarr the Viking
2. Spelunky HD
3. Skullgirls
4. BLEED
5. Card Hunter
6. Maldita Castilla
7. Super House of Dead Ninjas
8. Gunpoint
9. Pinball Arcade
10. Bit.Trip Runner 2
11. Antichamber
12. Risk of Rain
13. Valdis Story
14. Zineth
15. Brothers
16. The Swapper
17. Teleglitch
18. Jelly no Puzzle
19. Electronic Super Joy
20. Eldritch

 

[PandaPedinte]

I assume Pinball Arcade Season 1 is not eligible, right?

If it was released in 2013 then it's elegible.