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[64gigabyteram]

I'll start!

2023: Pizza Tower
2022: Shredder's Revenge
2021: Deltarune Chapter 2
2020: Spelunky 2
2019: The Outer Wilds

 

[Punished Miku]

Citizen Sleeper
Signalis
Tinykin
Sable
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone
Immortality
Norco
RPG Time!
Neon White

Harder for me to break down by year. Hmm.

 

[Fbh]

2017: Hollow Knight.
I still like Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata better, but I think it's an amazing game and my favorite Metroidvania to date.

2019: The Outer Wilds
Honestly a game of the gen contender to me, though Sekiro from that year is also one of my favorite games of the gen.

2020: Hades.
Might be my goty that year. I also really enjoyed FF7 Remake though I think Hades is the better and more consistent game

2022: Chained Echoes.
My runner up for Goty after Elden Ring. One of the best JRPG-style games I've played since like the Ps1 era-

 

[64gigabyteram]

022: Chained Echoes.
My runner up for Goty after Elden Ring. One of the best JRPG-style games I've played since like the Ps1 era-

you played sea of stars yet?

 

[Mr Hyde]

Dead Cells
Blasphemous
Hollow Knight
Timbleweed Parks
Beyond a Steel Sky

Can't remember when they were released exactly, maybe some released in the same year, but these are the best I've played in the last five years.

 

[JordiENP]

Celeste
Oxenfree
Omori
Chained Echoes
Fran Bow (more than half a decade, but it's brilliant)

 

[FoxMcChief]

Hades
Vampire Survivors
Death’s Door

 

[TexMex]

Guacamelee 2
Hades
Rogue Legacy 2
Nobody Saves the World
Tinykin

 

[bender]

Spelunky 2 is one of the biggest disappointments of my lifetime.

Windjammers 2 and Infernax are two of my recent favorites. I'm struggling to come up with five though.

I really want to try Pizza Tower out. And if you like Vampire Survivors and Diablo, give Halls of Torment a whirl. It's been eating up my time.

 

[jshackles]

Hades
Vampire Survivors
Dead Cells
Slay the Spire
Monster Train

In that order

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

I'm listing these as my favourite indies over the past few years, not necessarily personal GOTY for whatever year they were released and in no particular order:

Dead Cells
The Messenger
Hades
Tales of Iron
Prodeus
Inscryption
Tunic
UnMetal
Celeste
Hand of Fate
Children of Morta
Hollow Knight
Guacamelee 2

Haven't had an indie this year that rocked my world the way these games did, maybe Sea of Stars will do it, maybe Hades 2 gets a 2023 surprise release (lol), let's see what happens.

EDIT: forgot about Slay the Spire

 

[NeverYouMind]

I am just going to list my favorites from several years prior as nothing recent in indie scene has blown me away:

Hope Lake (2016)
An atmospheric puzzle/hidden object adventure game that follows a detective investigating the disappearance of a young woman. Has a few issues, but is memorable as hell.



Cuphead (2017)
A boss rush focused run n' gun game in classic animation. Kicks your ass, but is a joy to play and watch.



Shaolin vs Wutang (2018)
A fighting game that pays homage to martial arts cinema. Pretty awesome to play locally as well.



Steel Sword Story (2019)
A medieval fantasy sidescroller with cool sprites and action. It also feels good to give meaningful upgrades to the protagonist over the course of the game.



Baldo: The Guardian Owls (2021)
A classic 3D zelda clone with Studio Ghibli aesthetics and presentation done right is mind blowing.



I would also like to give an honorable mention to 2021's Them and Us. It is basically a clone of Resident Evil, but contains more metaphysical concepts with malevolent entities from another dimension and dimension hopping.



P.S. I intended to add Thymesia to the list, but I got burned out on it. Also, by the end of this year my list will likely replace Steel Sword Story with Sea of Stars, which is looking to be a great JRPG, but has yet to release.

 

[adamsapple]

In no specific order, and just the 5 that come to my mind off the top.

Tunic
Signalis
Vampire Survivors
Norco
Chained Echoes

Sea of Stars is coming soon and looks like it'll be a in that list soon, based on the demo.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Vampire Survivors
Dead Cells
Hades
Halls of Torment
Blasphemous

 

[64gigabyteram]

Spelunky 2 is one of the biggest disappointments of my lifetime.

explain

 

[Sleepwalker]

I dont think I played 5 indie games in the past 5 years, sorry.

1. Vampire survivors

das it, only indie.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Hand of Fate
Slay the Spire
Cuphead
Children of Morta
Vampire Survivors
Rogue Legacy

 

[Merkades]

Ones I played or am playing.
Crystal Project
Chained Echoes

Ones who's demo I played and believe to be great.
Sea of Stars
Wandering Sword

No clue on fifth, I may add it later. Maybe Deedlit in Wonderland, I liked it enough I guess.

 

[LegendOfKage]

Rogue Legacy 2
Children of Morta
Undermine
The Messenger

It's hard to think of another, but if you count gameplay rather than the company involved, perhaps the Phoenix Wright trilogy.

 

[Rhazkul]

Slay the Spire
Into The Breach
Monster Train
Hades
Neon Abyss
Crown Trick
Loop Hero
Vampire Survivors

 

[Robb]

Hollow Knight
Celeste
Hades
Cuphead (if it’s considered indie)
Vampire Survivors

 

[Guilty_AI]

2018: Crosscode/AMID EVIL
2019: Luna Nights
2020: Deep Rock Galactic/Risk of Rain 2/Black Mesa
2021: Cruelty Squad/Mystia's Izakaya
2022: Teardown
2023: HROT

 

[ryzen1]

In the last 5 years I only played these:

Hades
Dead Cells
CrossCode

2022: Chained Echoes.
My runner up for Goty after Elden Ring. One of the best JRPG-style games I've played since like the Ps1 era-

Man this reminds me of Terranigma. I really need something like this. But without the stupid turn based combat system.

 

[The Lunch Legend]

Chained Echoes and Eastward .

 

[poodaddy]

Blasphemous, Streets of Rogue, and Hunt down. I'm sure there are others, but those came to mind.

 

[existensmaximum]

I guess.. Shredder's Revenge, Wonder Boy III remake and Monster Boy & the Cursed Kingdom.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

1. The Ascent
2. Bloodstained
3. Shredders Revenge
4. Among US
5. Dead Cells

 

[SpiceRacz]

Amazing how people either can't read the title of the thread and/or do basic math.

Into The Breach
Dead Cells
Hades
Death's Doors
Stray

 

[Bartski]

2019 Blasphemous
2020 Star Renegades
2021 The Ascent
2022 Signalis
2023 Darkest Dungeon 2

 

[yansolo]

can't remember off the top of my head but hollow knight and hades are two of the best games ive played ever

 

[KàIRóS]

1. Astilibra Revision (Action RPG unlike anything you've ever played, Odin Sphere is probably the closest thing)
2. Valdis Story: Abyssal City (Metroidvania similar to any Igavania but with even more RPG mechanics)
3. Ultra Age (Hack and Slash RPG similar to Nier: Automata)
4. Disco Elysium (WRPG similar to Planescape Torment)
5. Bug Fables (Turn Based RPG similar to Paper Mario)

 

[Heisenberg007]

1. Hades (10/10)
2. Neon White (10/10)
3. Hollow Knight (9.5/10)
4. Rogue Legacy 2 (9.5/10)
5. Stray (9/10)

 

[Wildebeest]

19 Supraland
20 In Other Waters (better than citizen sleeper)
21 Severed Steel

 

[Handel]

Disco Elysium
Citizen Sleeper
Omori
Chained Echoes
Pentiment (indie by my definition of small team/budget)

Lots of ones I haven't gotten around to yet, from all I know about Outer Wilds it will become one of my all time favorite games once I play it

 

[AV]

2023: Dave the Diver
2022: Cult of the Lamb
2021: Inscryption
2020: Hades
2019: Slay the Spire

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Here are my GOTY indie picks from the past 5 years in no specific order:

 

[Rhazkul]

Amazing how people either can't read the title of the thread and/or do basic math.

Some people don't care. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[mrmustard]

Vampire Survivors
Hades
Cuphead
Ori
12 Minutes

 

[drganon]

I would've said va11-halla, but that came out in 2016.

Other than that, I don't really play indie games.

 

[Buggy Loop]

2016 - Hyper light drifter
2017 - Hollow Knight
2018 - Celeste
2019 - Slay the spire
2020 - Noita
2021 - Death’s door
2022 - Tunic

 

[Punished Miku]

I'll start!

2023: Pizza Tower
2022: Shredder's Revenge
2021: Deltarune Chapter 2
2020: Spelunky 2
2019: The Outer Wilds

Returning to this thread to actually pick correctly per year now that I have a bit more time. It's not even fair to pick in 2022. Literally one of the most stacked years of all time in terms of indies. Could fill a full list just from 2022.

• 2023: If I had to guess, it could easily be Cocoon which comes out next month. I have a lot of indies left to play this year. Been playing more larger games than usual this year. Harmony looks cool. Dordogne. Planet of Lana, Sea of Stars, tons more still to come this year.
• 2022: Neon White
• 2021: The Forgotten City
• 2020: Hades
• 2019: The Hong Kong Massacre

 

[Roberts]

Nobody Saves the World, Pentiment (not really indie, isn't it?), Tunic, Hades, Tinykin, Vampire Survivors, Cult of The Lamb, Death's Door, Echo Generation, Disco Elysium, Children of Morta, Blasphemous - Sorry for not being able to narrow it down to one game per year because all of them blew my mind.

It's funny how most of them were or are on GP.

Edit:

2019: Blasphemous
2020: Journey to the Savage Planet
2021: Hades
2022: Pentiment
2023: The Last Case of Benedict Fox (so far)

 

[Billbofet]

Slay the spire
Into the breach
Risk of rain 2
Vampire survivors
Hades

 

[Roberts]

2020 Star Renegades

I need to get back to this. I remember really liking it, but other stuff overshadowed it and abandoned the game.

 

[BootsLoader]

Stray

 

[Punished Miku]

2023: The Last Case of Benedict Fox (so far)

Refreshing to see someone else like it. I thought I was the only one. The game has issues, but the setting was so cool.

 

[MagnesD3]

1. Disco Elysium
2. Celeste
3. Bug Fables
4. Inscryption
5. Slay the Spire
6. Hades

Thats probably my favorite indies in the last few years.

 

[Boy bawang]

Rain World
Hollow knight
Celeste
Huntdown
Into the Beach
Katana Zero

In any order. Those are all 10s in my book.

 

[Roberts]

Refreshing to see someone else like it. I thought I was the only one. The game has issues, but the setting was so cool.

I definitely has issues, many of which they managed to fix when I got to play the whole game but I love exploring and the setting was awesome. I doubt it will be in my top 10 or maybe even top20 of the year, but as far as indies go this year, I haven't played a more memorable one yet.

 

[Punished Miku]

I definitely has issues, many of which they managed to fix when I got to play the whole game but I love exploring and the setting was awesome. I doubt it will be in my top 10 or maybe even top20 of the year, but as far as indies go this year, I haven't played a more memorable one yet.

Very light year on indies this year, especially compared to the legendary 2022. I don't have a top pick even for this year yet, so honestly you're probably right.