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[ROMhack]

There's probably a few threads on indie games already but I admire the RPG Hangout thread on this board so want to create one for discussion of indie games too.

What's an indie game?

An indie game is whatever exists in your heart as an indie games. That means anything from Kongregate and Itch.io titles to the heavy hitters of the console scene (e.g. Hollow Knight and What Remains of Edith Finch).

Here's a game that just got ported to Switch:

.​

Here's a random but great free game (steam page):

.​

I'll be updating the board regularly with recommendations and the like.

Feel free to chime in with talk about games you're excited about, or maybe ones that you finally managed to clear from your backlog.

 

[Helios]

Currently going through The Messenger. Haven't gotten to the 16bit part yet, but so far I like the movement quite a lot.
I've also been playing a lot of Warhammer Vermintide 2. The combat in this game is amazing, but I don't really like the itemization. Got to level 30 on Saltzpyre. Playing through Champion difficulty right now but I might switch to Legend once I get a bit more gear.
I'm also thinking of getting Mordhau. That game looks like a ton of fun.

 

[_William]

Idk if A Hat in Time is really counted as an indie game, but it´s so much fun. I´m half-way through it, and really excited to finish it!

 

[ROMhack]

Yeah man I'd count it. Currently on sale I think.

 

[_William]

Yeah man I'd count it. Currently on Sale I think.

It is

 

[ROMhack]

Nintendo currently having a digital sale, I just bought...



Looks good. Ghibli-esque or so I've heard.

Unsure if the sale is EU only.

 

[MafiaMurderBag]

Nice idea for a thread. Over the last few months i've spent more time playing indies and falling in love with gaming all over again. It's a welcome break from the focus tested, generic sandbox, hyper realistic, lowest common denominator AAA drivel we've had over the last couple of years on this gen.

Having little free time i wanna play stuff that's pretty chill, less punishing but has fantastic and interesting art direction and memorable sights & sounds.

Game's i've finished over the last couple of months are: Journey, Rime, Bound, Limbo, Unravel & Every-bodies Gone To The Rapture. I found them all breathtaking and incredibly moving for their own unique reasons and part of the charm is going into them practically dark, It's like being a kid and playing that random PS1 game with no reference that came with on your demo disk or that your friend lent you because his parents brought him a random game and he isn't bothered about entrusting you with it.

 

[game_nomad]

Maybe this thread is for bigger games, but I played a LOT of amazingly original recently released indies. I will list some here. Also those in my list look amazing stylistically:

• Slime Rancher - farming game where you build a ranch with exotic alien creatures. The cool thing is that each species has abilities and behaviors that mess with the surrounding ecosystem. And you can crossbreed them, combining said abilities
• Octogeddon - casual game where you play as gigantic mutated octopus monster. Each tentacle is a mutated creature head that shoots in specific way. For example bee tentacles shoot homing stingers
• Clone Drone in the Danger Zone - still in early access, but it is a lightsaber duelling game with full dismemberment. You can literally cut pixels from your opponent
• Fidel Dungeon Rescue - turn based dungeon crawler, you move on a grid and cannot visit tiles you a already visited. All enemies have weird properties, so it is a puzzle to kill as many as possible get maximum XP. But not slow puzzle, but smart and super fast
• Deadbolt - you play as the Grim Reaper, you are undead assassin that works for a mysterious God to hunt other undead - zombies, vampires, etc. Ultraviolent

 

[ROMhack]

Hey remember when I said I'd update this regularly and forgot all about it.

Here's the game I'm playing:




I'm about halfway through and enjoying it a good deal. Story is a bit cookie-cutter and the game is on the easy side but it's a rather pleasant adventure. Just got through the forbidden forest, which I saw people got lost in a la the water temples but thankfully I didn't have any trouble.

I've seen it likened to Iconoclasts and unfortunately I didn't like that one as much. Maybe I should give it another try.

Great music too.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Both "Stories: The Path of Destinies" and "Omensight" are on sale in a bundle for 8.99 on the Xbox store right now. Both games are absolutely delightful in the way they essentially marry an isometric dungeon crawler with the storytelling of a 'choose your own adventure' book from our childhoods.

 

[ColonizerJ]

I love the idea of supporting indie devs and their games. Doesn't mean I dislike triple A's tho. But who knows, one of these days a really awesome game from an indie dev may pop up again and take the gaming world by storm.

I mean, Warframe (DE) used to be indie. Look at their success now.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

I've been playing a lot of indie games on my Vita and PS3: Braid, Closure, Papers Please.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Indie games have been amazing lately. I put so much time into playing Super Hexagon, Downwell, Slay The Spire, Frostpunk, Tooth & Tail, Parkitect and Battle Brothers the past few years, that I guess it's currently the genre I invest most time in.

Other indies of late I really liked: Forgotten Anne, Corpse Party (original game), Dead Cells, Timespinner, The Messenger (though slightly too hard for me), The Last Door (all seasons), Yoku's Island Express, CrossCode, Cosmic Star Heroine, Shadows of Adam, Tower of Time, La-Mulana 2, Hyper Light Drifter, Crypt of the NecroDancer (but only when playing with bard), The Mummy Demastered, Axiom Verge, Legrand Legacy, Hollow Knight, Vaporum, Cuphead, Undertale, Downwell, Super Hexagon, StarCrawlers, ...

(Actually didn't check in detail if all of them are true indie.)

 

[nikolino840]

 

[nikolino840]

 

[Rya.Reisender]

They Are Billions was just released on GoG and I really like it. It's super hard, though.
It's the first RTS where I was actually forced to religiously build walls because it was impossible to beat even on the easiest difficulty without them.

 

[nikolino840]

 

[Helios]

Picked up FrostPunk. I'm not a big city building fan but I really liked the setting of this game and it's grabbing me. Managing all those resources while trying not to expand too much from the center or other heat sources is quite challenging.

 

[ROMhack]

I wonder, has anybody played a game called Device 6? Only available on iOS and maybe I'm stretching the term 'game'. It's kinda like a text adventure based on The Prisoner. Also has one my favourite ending songs.

 

[ColonizerJ]

Have you guys played the board game Settlers of Catan? I ran out of people to play with so I was looking for an online / PC game and stumbled upon this gem: https://colonist.io

From what I've experienced it was like playing the real Catan:

Got the screenshot from Google. The UI stayed true to Catan.

Plus the devs are really cool as they talk with us in discord and stuff. Might be worth a try!

 

[Katsura]

I love me some indie games. A couple of favourites, which i'm sure everyone know by now but just in case someone missed them

Dead Cells
A metroidvania rogue lite. It nails everything for me. Smooth, skill based combat (I've seen a stream of a guy completing the game at highest difficulty without getting hit once). Lots of stuff to unlock. Very different play styles depending on the build you're going with. I think i'm around 200 hours played on the Switch version

Slay the spire
A deck builder rogue like. While it might appear simple at first, there is a very complex game hiding beneath the surface. So many builds to aim for, 3 classes that play very different from each other, rogue like meaning that no 2 games are the same and once you beat the game with a character you unlock a new game+ version for it, up to new game +20. I put at least 300 hours into this one

 

[eot]

Omg, when I saw this title I was immediately reminded of a game, which after googling turned out to be a different one. I thought I was never going to find it, but I finally did:

Depths of Peril
Anyone remember that one?

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Wow, a new King's Bounty. I still have the original game for Mega Drive (Genesis). I also played the new King's Bounty games, though I feel they always drag on a bit too long, so I love them for 30-50 hours and then just don't feel like finishing them.

Wonder how King's Bounty 2 will be like, the trailer doesn't show any gameplay and it's looks quite 3D, so not sure how well the gameplay holds up. Most of the time when the "great new thing" about a new title of a series was the transition from 2D to 3D, it ended up being really disappointing compared to the original.

Oh that reminds me, I still haven't tried Anodyne 2.

Managing all those resources while trying not to expand too much from the center or other heat sources is quite challenging.

Really loved Frostpunk too. My initial experience was quite frustrating, but then I learned that once you reach a point where you can barely even survive, it's better to just restart the whole game, because otherwise it just spirals down into despair where it's impossible to survive the final frost wave. Once you got the hang of where to place which buildings and what to prioritize first, it became a really enjoyable experience.

Have you guys played the board game Settlers of Catan?

Yes! It's probably my favorite board game next to Carcassonne. I have this weird PVE fetish so I prefer to play against the AI, though! (including co-op)

 

[Hemg]

Bro, APE OUT is an rollercoaster of emotions.



And Jacob Geller is an awesome analyst, he literally goes wild on this!

 

[RydonStarLives]

Has anyone played this title? I am currently playing a few games at the moment, but I want to check it out soon:

 

[Helios]

Has anyone played this title? I am currently playing a few games at the moment, but I want to check it out soon:

I did, though I got side-tracked and started playing some other things. From what I've played it was great, very reminiscent of old Fallouts. Interesting leveling system too.

 

[RydonStarLives]

I did, though I got side-tracked and started playing some other things. From what I've played it was great, very reminiscent of old Fallouts. Interesting leveling system too.

Yeah, I have heard good things. Very robust systems with a lot of different options for play. Do you know if the guy or Studio has done anything else?

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Yeah, I have heard good things. Very robust systems with a lot of different options for play. Do you know if the guy or Studio has done anything else?

Not that I know of, but there's an expansion to the game which is pretty massive: https://www.gog.com/game/underrail_expedition

 

[RydonStarLives]

Well, instead of UnderRail, I started playing this, as it was cheap on steam:

Not sure it counts as Indie, but it "feels" pretty Indie. Meaning that the combat is pretty basic (not meaning that in a derogatory way) and the game states are pretty cut and dry so far. Walk around, talk to people, buy some stuff, get a quest. talk to someone, battle begins. All actions are now within the battle, etc. I like it as it is easy to pick up and play and the plot so far has me engaged. Comparing the combat to something like Jagged Alliance 2 also makes this combat seem basic, but I am not that far into the story, so it might pick up later down the time.

 

[Helios]

Well, instead of UnderRail, I started playing this, as it was cheap on steam:

Not sure it counts as Indie, but it "feels" pretty Indie. Meaning that the combat is pretty basic (not meaning that in a derogatory way) and the game states are pretty cut and dry so far. Walk around, talk to people, buy some stuff, get a quest. talk to someone, battle begins. All actions are now within the battle, etc. I like it as it is easy to pick up and play and the plot so far has me engaged. Comparing the combat to something like Jagged Alliance 2 also makes this combat seem basic, but I am not that far into the story, so it might pick up later down the time.

Returns is a bit rough around the edges. The story takes a weird turn around the end point. Both Shadowrun Dragonfall and Hong Kong are way better in my opinion. Both in terms of gameplay and in terms of story. And yeah, it is definitely indie.

 

[RydonStarLives]

Returns is a bit rough around the edges. The story takes a weird turn around the end point. Both Shadowrun Dragonfall and Hong Kong are way better in my opinion. Both in terms of gameplay and in terms of story. And yeah, it is definitely indie.

Good to know. I will have to check out the other two after I finish the first one

 

[Tesseract]

underrail is excellent but the item management is a little taxing

 

[Rya.Reisender]

underrail is excellent but the item management is a little taxing

I think item management is the main reason I rarely play CRPGs/WRPGs. I don't want to spend half the playtime sorting my inventory and thinking about what I want to get rid of. Just give me unlimited inventory and a "Sell all junk" button that sells all items not needed for any quest.

 

[DrJohnGalt]

Just wrapped up one called Dex on the PS4. Was great good and worth picking up and playing if you can find it cheap. I got my copy for $9 and it included an OST disc and instruction manual. It's a 90s style 2d cyberpunk type game. I loved the idea of the game when I started but the story just didn't hold up thru the end. It wasn't without its flaws but only took about 25 hours (and I dug around for all the collectibles and trophies - turns out it will take more than one play or some clever saves) to finish the main story and side missions.

 

[ROMhack]

Just wrapped up one called Dex on the PS4. Was great good and worth picking up and playing if you can find it cheap. I got my copy for $9 and it included an OST disc and instruction manual. It's a 90s style 2d cyberpunk type game. I loved the idea of the game when I started but the story just didn't hold up thru the end. It wasn't without its flaws but only took about 25 hours (and I dug around for all the collectibles and trophies - turns out it will take more than one play or some clever saves) to finish the main story and side missions.

I quite like the look of that, the world especially.

What's wrong with the story? It looks to me like the main reason to play it (and I really dig those 2D story-driven platformers).

 

[ROMhack]

Sorry to double post but I'm quite keen on Sayonara Wild Hearts. Anybody played it? Looks like pure bubblegum.

 

[DrJohnGalt]

What's wrong with the story? It looks to me like the main reason to play it (and I really dig those 2D story-driven platformers).

The side quests were fun and the main story was interesting, but to me it just felt like the payoff was anticlimactic. Almost like they ran out of time or resources. The arc was a steady slope up then just dropped off. Curious to hear what you think. Could be I was just ready to move on from the game (it usually happens between the 20-30 hour mark in most games).

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Sorry to double post but I'm quite keen on Sayonara Wild Hearts. Anybody played it? Looks like pure bubblegum.

Yeah, that looks and sounds pretty cool. Reminds me a litte of Sin & Punishment 2 (second best Wii game).

I really avoided playing much on Switch so far. Only played Octopath Traveler, Fairune and Golf Story so far. Maybe I should give it a try. I'm just not sure if the Switch is the right platform for skill-based games as the controllers aren't so great.

 

[nikolino840]

 

[Ibara]

I played through Q.U.B.E. recently on the PS4. Great little game, story wasn't very interesting compared to something like Portal but the puzzles were fun and it feels very similar.

 

[ROMhack]

Saw last night that Anodyne is 90% off on Switch. It's a neat, if somewhat experimental, take on 16-bit Zelda games. The gameplay is fairly basic but the main point of it is to take you into a strange world that may (or may not) reflect the mindset of the main character. Being the comparison chap I am, it reminds me of those weird introspective moment towards the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I do thoroughly recommend it if you like weird and offbeat things. Edit: It's similar in a way to Yume Nikki.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

I'd claim Anodyne actually has fantastic gameplay that can easily compare to Zelda's.

I love how you can break the game with your abilities towards the end and find all kinds of secrets.

 

[Marchis_noir]

Real indie game created by 3 people!

 

[Alawar]

Space Robinson – a hardcore roguelike shooter is out on Steam! You think you are a die-hard? Here you will die quick! A proper hardcore RPG-action where you will die a million times across a myriad of procedurally-generated levels. Extremely difficult, but highly addictive Indie Gem in your Steam game collection! Created by a single Indie Developer from Siberia. Launch discount makes it only $8.99 for the first week! The owners of Beholder, Beholder 2 or Do Not Feed the Monkeys will get an additional huge discount! The game on Steam Screenshot

 

[ROMhack]

So this week I've been playing Analogue: A Hate Story, a visual novel about transhumanism. The game is set aboard a spaceship cruising in deep space, the Mugunghwa (which is also the national flower of Korea). The Korean influence doesn't end there as the plot involves drama about two dynastic families - it also features plenty of Korean text. The mystery that drives the game is about an elusive character called The Pale Bride. It's also got two cute as heck AI companions who are your only friends because everybody else has disappeared

 

[SweetShark]

Holy shit. How many games I want to suggest here...
I will take it slow and gently first then.

So first game I want to suggest which even if it is a demo it is a full game in reality.

Blue Omen Operation
Very great action RPG even it it was just an early version.
It combine colorful and crazy cast of characters and the gameplay of Paper Mario.
The Devs even said you can finish the game without taking even once a hit!!! AWESOME!!!
Below you can download the demo.

Blue Omen Operation: KICKSTARTER DEMO by BlueOmenDev

A fast-paced RPG featuring an action-command battle system and an anime-inspired art style.

blueomendev.itch.io

 

[Alawar]

Watchers: Drop Like an Atom Bomb Into 1960s Battle Royale



Watchers, a unique take on the Battle Royale genre where defeated players help take charge over who will be crowned the victor, released! The game features massive 24-player battles in a tactical top-down perspective, set in a vibrant 1960’s styled town. If a player is defeated, they take on the role of a Watcher, where they can help (or hinder) the remaining combatants in the match by deploying experiments and commanding anomalies. Bet on the player you think will win, and use your abilities as a Watcher, and you will gain bonuses if they end up as the champ!



Download for free on Steam right now

 

[Tenaciousmo]

Just finished playing 3 Indies this month

Later Alligator - fantastic adventure W/ minigames game with handrawn animated anthropomorphic alligator - Bonus : Soundtrack from 2 mello




Creature in the Well - Cool pinball/hack and slash thing, short and sweet, could see it getting tiring if it was 6-7 hours , but was a nice 4h.




Valfaris - Sci-fi Metal 2d action platformer that is brutal towards the end. loved the feel of it, and looks great.




I don't know if it counts as an indy, but
Monthergunship - First person Bullet not-quite-hell where you build your own guns. 5-6 hours in and only thinking about that game and what my next gun will be. I do recommend it.

 

[nikolino840]