My Top Indie Games

So before I start this, please don't sacrifice me to the indie-game Gods for not including games like Celeste and Undertale. The this list is NOT a list of the "best indie games ever made" This is my list. A list of mainstream indie games that I enjoy and put the most time into. I will be doing a list of lesser known indie games that I enjoy that usually won't make and "top" lists but that I believe are worth playing. I also mostly game on Playstation, so though these games are most likely available on other platforms, they are all available on PS4 as of now.

So before I get into my top 10 list I have to drop 1 honorable mention, a fairly new game that I followed the development of and was very excited about. It exceeded some expectations while letting down others. So lets get into this list!

My Honorable Mention: Man Eater by Tripwire Interactive - I followed this game as soon as I had seen the trailer. This was everything I never knew I needed in life. "Open world shark simulator" "GTA with a Shark" "Took inspiration from games like Zelda and Dark Souls". This should have been the perfect game.

So lets get the disappointment out of the way first. My negatives for this game was that it was very repetitive and glitchy. You start off in an area and do a list of missions to open up the next area. Once you open up the next area you do the same set of missions and so on and so forth until you have beat the game with 2 unique boss fights thrown in (one in the middle and one at the end). The glitching came to the collectible items that were required to receive the platinum trophy. I like to consider myself somewhat of a trophy hunter (very loosely). Some of the landmarks glitched so they wouldn't count as collected and beat the game before realizing I had to start all over if I wanted to obtain the trophy.

This is where we get into the positives. Although I ended up having to play through this very repetitive game (3 times in total for a 1 playth-rough trophy) I never found myself getting bored with it. The underwater world as well as the luxurious areas to wastelands were all mesmerizing with beautiful details and fantastic game-play. Starting from a baby shark and growing into a full adult with powered upgrades was fun every time. I can't say that it delivered on being a Souls-like game or comparing to legend of Zelda AT ALL for me. But it was exactly what it needed to be, and that was MAN EATER!

Guacamelee by DrinkBox Studios - Guacamelee is a game i heard about while going through GDC videos. I saw a talk from one of the devs about the artwork and how it related to his culture and where he grew up. I watched it all the way through and was so fascinated with everything about it that I immediately went home and bought it. And I ended up playing through the whole game in a couple sittings. Everything about the game was great.l Puzzles, power-ups and upgrades, turning into a chicken, the functionality, the combat, the artwork. I became completely obsessed! I discovered part 1 not too long before part 2 was announced and waited for it's release. Part 2 came out and I was not one bit disappointed. It was just as good as part 1 and I had just as much fun. It felt like I just picked it up and continued playing from where I left off. Anyone who hasn't played this game needs to go do that ASAP.

Rogue Legacy by Cellar Door Games - What can I say about this game. Rogue-like Rogue Legacy. Perm-a-death and upgrades to power up your heirs and continue where your ancestors left off trying to conquer this castle. Very challenging boss battles and random level generation. As raw as the style of game gets, this is a great pick for people who are into this style of game.

Hotline Miami by Dennaton Games - Hotline Miami brings me right back to when I played GTA 2. The top down retro graphics is nostalgia overload with the modern day blood and violence we have all grown to love so much. Although you go in guns blazing there is an aspect of strategy and puzzle like game-play. This was a refreshing blast from the past that I can't get enough of. There was also a part 2 that was released that is just as enjoyable as the first.

Hollow Knight by Team Cherry - The amazing art in this game is definitely its drawing point. Not to take away from its game-play, but as soon as I seen the trailer I needed no more. I loved what they had done with this game. The game-play is smooth and simplistic and back to the art work, the use of bright colors in its subtlety is such a great choice. A blue tinted black & white art style with bright splashes of color that come out when destroying objects or enemies.

Darkest Dungeon by Red Hook Studios - To start, this was another game that I was drawn to by the artwork that I believe I saw on another GDC talk (I'm a big fan of GDC videos). After initially seeing the artwork and diving deeper into this game, they perm-a-death, game-play and psychological aspect of this game really puts you on edge! You have to protect your party while keeping their mental health in check and that is VERY hard to do when your mental health may not be in the right place watching your characters have a breakdown and attack each other.

Super Meat Boy by Team Meat - SO back when Newgrounds was the hottest thing on the internet, I played the original Meat Boy and that was it. Saw that the game was coming out and really paid it no mind. Then like many other aspiring game developers I watched indie-game the movie and watched Edmund and Tommy's stressful journey through the production of the game. After watching the work put into it and seeing more details I HAD to go support this team (little did I know by this point they were no longer a team) but I still wanted to support these developers and the game looked great, so I had to play it. I played it and I played it and I played it. This game is so damn hard!!! But each run until the time of death can be SO SHORT that you just say "one more time" and "one more time" and "one more time" and continue to see yourself get closer to finishing a level and don't want to lose that momentum! So you tell yourself "I'll beat this level and I'm done". and you FINALLY beat it!!! Then you say "well I spent so much time on that one level, I just want to SEE what the next level looks like, so I'm ready!" and the whole cycle repeats and never lets you go!

Spelunky by Mossmouth - Spelunky is another game that shines in its complicated simplicity. I love playing through this game. You have a choice of different character skins, another procedural generated game that is a new experience every time you play with intense difficulty as you progress (for me anyway).

Nuclear Throne by Vlambeer - Again another GDC talk, and anyone who works with are around or knows anything about indie games knows that Rami Ismail is all over the place. I feel like he is an icon in the field of indie games and is either loved or hated with no in between. I played Ridiculous Fishing before discovering this game, but this game is a bullet hell random generated perm-a-death fight for the throne! Full of enemies, explosions and hidden areas, this is a game I never get tired of playing.

Enter The Gungeon by Devolver Digital - Another bullet hell top down shoot em up with procedural generation. Great simplistic artwork, lighting effects and filters to create an experience. When people talk about Rogue-likes this is always a staple game I hear brought up in conversation. Very fun fast paced game.

Binding of Isaac by Edmund McMillen - Last but but not least and my favorite game on this list. Another game from one of the Team Meat creators Edmund McMillen. I have put a MASSIVE amount of hours into this game. There is so much to do, after every play-through you unlock items, characters and increases the difficulty and length of the game all together. There are TONS of items that have either euphoric or detrimental affects on your play-through. Random generated items and levels, this Zelda dungeon style game, keeps you drawn in. Many updated and DLCs have come out and are still continuing to come out with Repentance hopefully by the end of this year. Besides everything that comes with the game, it was been made available for mods. If you play this game on PC there are no limits to what you can do and create. You can make it more easy, more fun, add enemies, change the look/style/artwork, play it in the style of Pokemon, choose what items you get and way too many things to list. Literally ENDLESS. This is not only my favorite indie game, but one of my all time favorite games ever. I currently do regular streaming of this game on my Twitch page and can't wait for its upcoming DLC release.

In closing, I know a lot of people's lists and opinions will differ from my list, but that's the great thing about the indie and gaming community altogether is that different people have different opinions and it leads for us all to find new games to play and fall in love with. I don't want other lists to be like my list and vice versa because I want to play games I haven't played and enjoy new experiences. In the near future I will be making a follow up to this list with lesser known indie games and hope to make a list of games for you to experience that you haven't before.