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[tkscz]

Holy crap I was going to make a thread on this too. Indie games were a lot more varied before, and now it's the same "artsy narrative" style games. I'm assuming there is a relatively large audience for these interactive stories. I don't mind them existing, just that they are becoming the norm for indies and I was enjoying the growth of indie games being more varied in genre.

 

[Shifty1897]

I don't know what you expected from a Nintendo Indie Direct but what I saw was perfectly within expectations. A lot of these games look fun to play!

 

[Raven77]

I mean what were you expecting?

Pepper Grinder looks cool as well as the ones you mentioned. Blanc looks neat.

 

[fart town usa]

I said the same thing about that Super Bros: Sword and Sorcery EP.

Everyone was raving about it, "OOOO you can Tweet...FROM THE GAME!"

 

[Punished Miku]

WORLD OF HORROR launches in summer 2023

Cosmic horror RPG WORLD OF HORROR will exit Early Access and launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam, GOG, Microsoft Store, and Itch.io in summer 2023, publisher Ysbryd Ga…

www.gematsu.com

This looks amazing. Watch that entire trailer. Wow.

 

[bitbydeath]

I don't understand why they look so shit TBH.
Even Pepper Grinder that others have pointed out here as the best looks awful to me.

Why can't indies make games that look like this?

Or

Or

All really old games which still hold-up today.

 

[BadBurger]

To me, back when I started playing indie games - circa 2008 - it felt like all indie games merely chased the current indie trend. Castle Crashers was a hit, so a bunch of forgettable clones came out until a new hit indie worth emulating came out. Maybe for the next year it would be all platformers with a notable gimmick like Fez or Braid. Then simple beat em ups like Gucamelee. And so on (I realize these may be out of chronological order).

In recent years I feel like indie game diversity has actually exploded. It seemed to start around 2016 with the release of Stardew Valley on Steam quickly followed by the very successful and indie-friendly Switch console. Just take the video you shared as an example: it features all manner of genres and genre benders, wildly different art styles, narrative techniques, methods of play, and so on. If we were in 2009 or 2010 watching an indie show case there would be a lot less variety.

 

[Kataploom]

Indies just follow the trend, they have to sell and in other cases they're just dream projects of people looking trending stuff, same for AAA, they're are moments when I see an interesting AAA trailer then the character is shooting at something and I get like "Ah, ok, another TPS/FPS"... Nothing wrong with no liking the trends, that just doesn't mean indie games are getting trash or whatever, "indie" is a wide world btw, you'll find lots of things so different to each other...

What I actually hate is that "indie" seems to be taken as some kind of graphical trend instead, there were games from Devolver and Gearbox in the Direct, like, come on, if they're being published by a publisher then they're literally not indies anymore, specially if such publisher is very well known.

Btw, as someone said, AA is where it's at to me, I tend to look down to indies and AAA, they're most of the time not for me but indies are more often than AAA... Now AA? Those are still the games I like playing a lot, most of the games I liked this gen are AA.

 

[Cao Cao]

Gaming is going down the drain. I already lived through the best time. At least my grandmother and mother did not miss anything out.
Still waiting for games like in the golden era.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/any-indie-games-like-these.1639320/

 

[StueyDuck]

Some comitee who barely touches a controller will never be able to make a proper selection between hundreds of titles being released. Or rather, doubt they're even interested in the first place.
These shows might be a good place to hear names, but you're unlikely to be immediatly infatuated with anything.

The big 3 definitely have become bad at showing the best indies, now it seems MS just waits till it's big on Steam and Sony can still bet on a good horse now and then but they also shown some sloppy turds as of late, Maquette was horse shit and lets not even talk abou OKGO or whatever that tripe was hahaha.

 

[StueyDuck]

I just watched the event, whilst most the games don't interest me in the slightest, I hope pepper grinder comes to Xbox, I think that looks great fun

I'm also still patiently waiting for bomb rush cyberpunk, bad sadly it didn't make a showing, I guess it isn't coming this year anymore?

i thought it looked a ton of fun too but with the character design and blue hair am i gonna spend half the game being preached to about anxiety and ouchy brain like celeste.

 

[DEAD ORIGINAL]

Just go on PS Store the indie trash on there Jumping Burgers, Jumping Dildos.

 

[SweetShark]

they have become so bland and just boring...

I use to love waiting for the next indie world style showcase or ID @ Xbox showing, but indie games now have honestly just become a Hodge podge of the same boring shit thrown together, oh look another quirky visual novel but you also serve tea to cats while doing it?!?!?! there seems to be very little imagination left in independent games . Sure like everything in life there is exceptions to the rule, Outer wilds is straight up one of the best games ever made and titles like valheim and Phasmaphobia wouldn't exist in the AAA realm, but boy oh boy do you have to wade through a sea of sludgy muted color shit with blue hair and probably anxiety issues before you find an actual great game.




As for Exceptions have a nice death looks rad, Rogue Legacy 2 is obviously great and dumb dumb Nintendo put all their good shit in the montage clip at the end which is insane to me.

Am i going crazy? are all these indie games super exciting to you?

You have no idea how many indie games are looking good. You just need to search more I guess. Here is a list I posted for games I waiting to get released:

Alistair's Chest
Atomic Heart
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Bleak Faith: Forsaken
Blue Omen Operation
Brock Crocodile
Brutal Fate
Bushiden
Clive 'N' Wrench
CONSCRIPT
Dark Drive
Dordogne
FictionSphere
Happy Hell
HYPERVIOLENT
I:ROBOT
Iron Meat
Knuckle Sandwich
Lamentum
Mallory
N1RV Ann-A
Negative Atmosphere
Nightmare Cops
OTHER: Her Loving Embrace
Radio The Universe
Rainshade
the machine that BREATHES
Transmute
UFO 50
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider

*I didn't watch the indie showcase btw*

 

[VN1X]

What a weird thread.

So you're 'criticizing' an entire part of the industry because of the look of a few games or that they don't appeal to you? That's great. Entitlement much? Go spend energy on the things you enjoy. Not everything needs to be catered towards you. Bizarre post.

 

[StueyDuck]

What a weird thread.

So you're 'criticizing' an entire part of the industry because of the look of a few games or that they don't appeal to you? That's great. Entitlement much? Go spend energy on the things you enjoy. Not everything needs to be catered towards you. Bizarre post.

have you tried reading the OP? or did you just read one sentence

 

[AV]

Yeah, most of those looked pretty trashy.

But Rogue Legacy 2 is the third best game this year and Golf Story was actually great, so I'm keen for the follow-up.

 

[StueyDuck]

Just go on PS Store the indie trash on there Jumping Burgers, Jumping Dildos.

at least those games clearly portray themselves as low effort trash for chump changes,


these indies nintendo are peddling are going to want to add that nintendo tax for a picture book "game" about anxiety...

You have no idea how many indie games are looking good. You just need to search more I guess. Here is a list I posted for games I waiting to get released:

Alistair's Chest
Atomic Heart
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Bleak Faith: Forsaken
Blue Omen Operation
Brock Crocodile
Brutal Fate
Bushiden
Clive 'N' Wrench
CONSCRIPT
Dark Drive
Dordogne
FictionSphere
Happy Hell
HYPERVIOLENT
I:ROBOT
Iron Meat
Knuckle Sandwich
Lamentum
Mallory
N1RV Ann-A
Negative Atmosphere
Nightmare Cops
OTHER: Her Loving Embrace
Radio The Universe
Rainshade
the machine that BREATHES
Transmute
UFO 50
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider

*I didn't watch the indie showcase btw*

again read the OP, i never said that literally 0 indie games that are good exist.

do people here struggle to read

 

[VN1X]

have you tried reading the OP? or did you just read one sentence

I did and the "cringe" tag is apt so well done on that at least.

 

[SweetShark]

at least those games clearly portray themselves as low effort trash for chump changes,


these indies nintendo are peddling are going to want to add that nintendo tax for a picture book "game" about anxiety...

again read the OP, i never said that literally 0 indie games that are good exist.

do people here struggle to read

Sorry, I am at work at the moment so I always give quick answers like this.

 

[StueyDuck]

I did and the "cringe" tag is apt so well done on that at least.

ouch, and said with such conviction as well.

well enjoy your bland uninspired indie games i suppose

EDIT: Also why can't we criticize a vast majority of indie games? who gives you the authority on any of this. clearly, at least in this thread, most people will agree that most of what nintendo showed was hot shit apart from a few gems... So we all must keep quiet because you say so?

 

[VN1X]

ouch, and said with such conviction as well.

well enjoy your bland uninspired indie games i suppose

I will, thanks.

Let me know how your next thread goes where you argue that every game needs to be Gears of War or else you will commit seppuku. Riveting discussion!

 

[StueyDuck]

I will, thanks.

Let me know how your next thread goes where you argue that every game needs to be Gears of War or else you will commit seppuku. Riveting discussion!

funny how i said neither of those things but you are so butt hurt that someone doesn't want to play another hot shit bland muted color mess where the main character has blue hair and "mental health" issues. wow geez how original!

my favorite part was when i clicked on option B instead of option C and different words appeared on the screen telling me about how "mental health is important, and anxiety is bad"

 

[Impotaku]

its the same with every tier of gaming, nobody said all indies are 100% hits every time, there's a lot of me too copycat shit you have to filter through. The whole idea of the indie showcase is to show people what's coming out it doesn't cover everything but it's better than them all getting pushed to the bottom in the eshop without been seen by anyone. It can be said with AAA games too. Ooh look another over the shoulder 1st person adventure set in a euro looking medieval fantasy worlds, or the multitute of battle arena shooters or bland sportball yearly upgrades. Not all AAA gaming is like that but you can easily do the same thing not all AAA gaming is top tier there's bland copycat shit designed to sell to the lowest hanging fruit that like pretty graphics, learn to use your own tastes instead of been told what to play.

I wouldn't rely just on indie showcase to hunt down whats coming not everything released will appeal to everyone is it really not that hard. I avoid AAA mostly as the genres & themes are not usually to my tastes of what gets released but there are things that tempt me in from time to time. With indies i'm more likely to find something weird & wonderful that leaves me with a satisfying play experience though. Now over 270+ switch games in my library only 10% tops are first party stuff nearly everything else is indie stuff or AA stuff. You don't have to buy all the 16 bit tribute platformers or danger hair feeling simulators there's loads of weird & interesting games out there in between you just need to look for them.

 

[DEAD ORIGINAL]

Indy games we're quality on Xbox 360 and PS3.

 

[Alexios]

Just from skimming your video, what's wrong with Oni or Pepper Grinder and others among those you also note as good? No different to non-indie games, you only like and buy some out of hundreds I imagine so that video already has a better ratio of good to bad, lol. It's just one video focusing on Switch ports that are out or coming soon. That's a pretty narrow view to say the least, there's plenty more good stuff out there, released or upcoming. Boomer shooters like Turbo Overkill or Prodeus, immersive sims like Gloomwood or Peripeteia, city building like Bulwark, racing like Aero GPX, action like Rise of Rebellion or Enenra or Varvarion, there's a ton of variety, in every genre, 2D or 3D, low fi or visually impressive on par with AA or B games, with Unity or UE5 or any other engines, but sure, you have to ignore stuff you don't care about, wow, who knew it's so hard to scroll or skim past content that doesn't seem to suit you? If it's that much trouble then simply stop watching whatever events or showcases and only care when something gets hyped enough to reach you by people with the same tastes as you that you interact with one way or another, like on here



Not to say there aren't some seriously impressive 2D games with wonderful pixel art and animation and what not, this isn't a knock against them just because I focused the embeds on 3D stuff, that's just to make the point that they're far more diverse than any of the haters in here attempt to claim.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Everything that gets popular enough will inevitably see a decline in quality or at least an increase in quantity over quality because of shitheads with their get rich quick schemes.

Like, my favorite kind of indie games are boomer shooters, which thankfully still have a decent selection of high quality titles among them, but as time goes on it starts to get increasingly oversaturated with games that follow the same proven (if not tired) formula. Slap together some pixel art assets on Unity engine, give it that 90s radical edge, sprinkle it with heavy metal soundtrack, and viola! You're guaranteed to attract a horde of 90s kids looking to relive their childhoods.

It's becoming a cliche of its own when you browse Steam store and see about 10 more of these games coming up in the next quarter or so.

 

[kruis]

Holy crap I was going to make a thread on this too. Indie games were a lot more varied before, and now it's the same "artsy narrative" style games. I'm assuming there is a relatively large audience for these interactive stories. I don't mind them existing, just that they are becoming the norm for indies and I was enjoying the growth of indie games being more varied in genre.

Is there really an audience for these artsy narrative games or is it a generational or college thing where the marketing guys have more in common with developers of these niche games than with the broad gaming audience?

 

[Swift_Star]

They look like indies… I can't see the problem.

 

[64gigabyteram]

I don't understand why they look so shit TBH.
Even Pepper Grinder that others have pointed out here as the best looks awful to me.

Why can't indies make games that look like this?

Or

Or

All really old games which still hold-up today.

those 3 games you listed look way worse. and how do they hold up when i don't even remember any of them (and one looks like a Mario Kart clone)
i think pepper grinder will hold up much better and be remembered for years to come

 

[justiceiro]

I watch this channel:
https://youtube.com/c/ClemmyGamesthere isn't a day that i don't found out an interesting new Indie game, even i have to sit through other 9 plain ones.

I agree that the most exciting indie world games are all the ones we already knew about, but there is so many people dedicated to curated the best ones, that i don't really need to rely on these events to catch good games anymore.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

The last indie I remember enjoying (not necessarily the last one to come out, since I played it several years after it did) was Hyper Light Drifter.

It was a real gameplay/skill oriented game with pixelated graphics that actually wasn't just copy-paste and instead tailored to the artstyle it was going for.

 

[tkscz]

Is there really an audience for these artsy narrative games or is it a generational or college thing where the marketing guys have more in common with developers of these niche games than with the broad gaming audience?

Wish I could say. Narrative games for have a large audience but it's usually for anime like interactive narratives or dating Sims. I've never heard anyone playing games where they are just a mom trying to get through the day or a barista listening to other people's issues. Of course a large audience for an indie game could just be 10,000 people as they aren't spending millions to make these games. Even kick starters tend to only ask for $10,000 to make the games.

 

[sachos]

they are fun indie games out there like this one....

That looks amazing wow

 

[nkarafo]

Dunno... IMO, there's a higher chance to find a good AAA or AA game VS a good Indie game. For me, indie games are mostly try hard, artsy fartsy, hipster trash. I can count the ones i enjoyed in the last 2 decades with one hand. Though, that's still better than mobile game shovelware.

In conclusion: AA Games > AAA Games > Indie console/PC games >>> Mobile trash.

 

[Warnen]

Still waiting

 

[skit_data]

Indies were promising 10-15 years ago but nowadays there's simply to much shit to wade through for me to bother. Every now and then you get some real classics (Hollow Knight for example) but most of them just don't appeal to me at all.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

I don't really trust indie games , they're like many exclusive games with zero possibility for a sequel , I'm sorry but they can't earn my trust no matter what the content if they don't wanna continue supporting the idea cause without it it's fake shallow and has no real depth and value as a genuine ip , there's no place for who just wanna make something no matter how , they just do it anyway, I dislike this attitude, it's like a bad singer wanna sing knowing he s at singing.

What.

 

[64gigabyteram]

I don't really trust indie games , they're like many exclusive games with zero possibility for a sequel , I'm sorry but they can't earn my trust no matter what the content if they don't wanna continue supporting the idea cause without it it's fake shallow and has no real depth and value as a genuine ip , there's no place for who just wanna make something no matter how , they just do it anyway, I dislike this attitude, it's like a bad singer wanna sing knowing he s at singing.

not everybody goes into making video games wanting to make something a franchise. It'd be super weird to have a sequel to a one and done because so much shit has to be rewritten.

 

[KXVXII9X]

AA have existed for longer than indie. it just came back thanks to Sony and MS funding smaller developers. i'm all for this btw. indie ideas + AA/AAA budget = instant masterpieces.

I've been saying this since for a few years now. All of my favorite kinds of games have indie-like ideas with AA/AAA funding. Japan Studios games, Media Molecule titles, UbiArt, It Takes Two and other EA Originals, Sifu, Stray, Ori, Psychonauts 2, Devolver Digital games, Larian Studios titles, Nintendo games, Square Enix titles like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy, Vanillaware, and etc.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Hello indies, what furry fantasies are we having today?

 

[sachos]

I think we need more AA devs going for character action/hack & slash games, were is AA Dante/Bayo? How about more AA Resident Evil style games, i know there is Daymere 1998 is that AA? Maybe go back to PS2 era arcade racing games, those are missed too and it may be too hard for small indies to achieve.

 

[Chukhopops]

Is there really an audience for these artsy narrative games or is it a generational or college thing where the marketing guys have more in common with developers of these niche games than with the broad gaming audience?

Once in a while there's a good one like The Artful Escape or Spiritfarer but overall I think they don't sell particularly well.

That being said I think overall indies are better than ever, you just have to use a way to identify the good ones, either Steam curators, reviews, sub services etc.

 

[correojon]

I play a lot of indie games, but I don't like this trend where everything is wholesome, using only pastel colours and all sharp edges have been brushed down into nice round corners so it's all as bland as it can be. I loved Olli Olli World, but that game would've been a million times better with bombastic FX, color explosions, some fast paced music (the music in the game is great, but it's all in the same chill tone), screenshake...Some indie games need to grow fangs and draw a little blood here and there. You can have a positive attitude and even some friendly trash talk and still be welcoming to everyone.

 

[Fuz]

I love indie games and I play lots of them, but the critiques in this thread aren't really that far-fetched.



P.S.
Dear indies, I love you but FUCKING STOP MAKING YOUR SPRITES WITH PROCREATE AND ANIMATING THEM LIKE A CHEAP FLASH MOBILE GAME, thank you.

 

[Randall Sully]

Indie Devs share the mentality of the following examps:
>Born in the late 70s/80s/early 90s
>Grew up on nerdy movies/music/comics/tv with a cultural phenomenon status - see: Ghostbusters or Nirvana and Michael Jackson
>Leans towards the Mario franchise, or maybe niche and archaic series like Earthbound and Metroid
>Hates anything Sonic with a burning passion - starting with Sonic Adventure - tries to interpret that the old American media was what Sonic is supposed to be in the first place
>Went to college - now in dept
>Doesn't know that videogames are actually an British invention
>Online Presence makes it seem they're entire personality is based solely around vidya and nerdy hobbies
>Cares to bother with politics and ideologues
>Admits to liking young anime girls, but not manly enough to admit enjoying actual junior gravure
>Huge Backlog
>Claims to like the Dreamcast or niche games - doesn't invest in them or talk about them on media
>Believes Sonic Adventure is the single worst transition into 3D - when in reality it still holds up better than what it's made out to be - meanwhile Mario 64 does not infact hold up at all regardless of being made out as a more innovative game (that i will agree with) and latches onto other early 3D (or 2D) Platformers when most of them aren't really that great as they're made out to be (Crash - Classic era Megaman - Donkey Kong - Conker)
>Bothered with Internet Personalities or Podcasts, enough to make them Businesses, seek validation from them
>Actually caring about whatever Joe Rogan says, or what some Woke or Anti-Woke person has to say about an ideologies
>Actually caring about TV or Streaming Services in this day and age
>Childhood focused person, always brings it up in a conversation
>Furry and Anti-Transphobe mutual
>Believes Trans and Black people can't hate on they're own activist groups
>Hates Metallica, J.K. Rowling, George Lucas, Yuji Naka and Sonic Team, or public figures that are popular to hate on for the sake of it

 

[Connificent]

 

[Azurro]

I only care about quality Metroidvanias and Conte-likea(is that a word?). Maybe a nostalgic RPG if it is well done and inspired by 32 bit ones, 3D/2D whatever, at a stretch something like RType as well.

All of these trendy roguelikes, lesbian visual novels, "artisti" walking simulators, camping and surviving or whatever have zero appeal to me.

 

[Danjin44]

I think we need more AA devs going for character action/hack & slash games, were is AA Dante/Bayo?

I mean we just got Bayonetta 3.

 

[Pejo]

There's a huge number of demographics into gaming now, so the "core" gamers are catered to less by default. People are making the games they want to play I guess. Particularly I notice with my gf, she plays games on her phone that I wouldn't touch, and most of them I wouldn't even consider games, but I'm sure she thinks the same about the stuff I play too. Like MonHun, she hates it when I play that game for some reason.

 

[A.Romero]

I think you'd have a better time playing on PC where releasing a game is much easier than with any of the platform holders and smaller studios can participate.

As many have said before, there are many options in a wide range of genres.

What's the last indie and non indie game you liked?