Indie games are awesome.
Okay not all of them, but reflecting back on 2016 (yes even though we are well in 2017 now) it was a great year for indie titles. We had games like Enter the Gungeon, Stardew Valley, and Inside (both of which I really need to get around to playing) which were all some of the best games to be released, standing among even triple A titles with million dollar budets. Not saying Overwatch isn’t terrific, but give me another person to play with and Towerfall Ascension can make for endless laugh out loud moments.
Yet sometimes I feel like it’s easy for them to underappreciated.
People think I’m strange because I buy these supposedly second tier games when the reality is indie games have provided some of the richest and funnest gaming moments in recent years. Granted, a big part of it is finding the right indie game. Many, many indie games come out every year, and like non-indie games, some of them do it better than others.
But why do I love indie games so much?
Hopefully I’ll be able to answer that question in this post. While each game has their own merits, I’ll try to generalize my reasoning. But without further ado, let’s start this list:
1) THEY ARE CREATIVE
Indie games are usually made by small teams of people, or in some cases, a single individual, as in the case of Stardew Valley. Because they don’t have overbearing teams and stuff determining what they and can’t do, the resulting games from indie developers are things you wouldn’t normally see in triple A titles. These titles demonstrate new, interesting ideas and unique gameplay, and often the experience that is forged is amazing.
As well as this is the passion backing indie games. Because the developers get free reign over the development, they get to see their dreams realized. The teams’ commitment to their craft is reflected in the polish and refinement present in some indie games
Take Crawl as an example, this is a game which takes a simple idea, pitting friends against each other, and turns it into an interesting game of hot potato, where the person with the hot potato is a hero trying to win the game, and the rest of the players are trying to kill him and take the potato to have their shot at winning. It is hectic and chaotic, while being simple and clever. More than anything, it’s unique. Before this most games I had played were shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, Pokemon games and an assortment of adventure games, but Crawl introduced me to a side of gaming I had never heard of or knew existed, and I was starstruck.
2) THEY ARE GOOD FOR LOW SPEC MACHINES
Many indie games are pretty low demand in the graphics department, and as a person who appreciates good pixel art and gaming on my laptop from time to time, this is a god-send for me. Not saying all indie games use pixel art, but many do, or else they tend to go with something else that looks equally beautiful. Normally, this leads to low graphical demand, and it means when I am out and without my normal gaming PC, I have a number of great games I can jam to on my laptop. Being able to game on demand is important to me, and indie games nail it.
3) THEY ARE CHEAP
More of a minor reason, but it’s something that I can appreciate. Most indie games are under $25 NZD, which is cheap compared to more mainstream titles coming out nowadays which sit at around $100 sometimes. Given the amount of fun and enjoyment gained from these games they are absolutely worth the expense, and when they go on sale they can get so cheap I can hardly resist sometimes.
4) THEY USUALLY HAVE SOME FORM OF CO-OP PLAY
Whether it be couch co-op or online or both, some indie games are made to be played with other people, because gaming is just better with others. In particular local co-op seems to be reasonably prevalent, which is an awesome feature, I love being able to just connect some controllers and play with the people I’m with. Countless times local co-op has turned a boring, yawn-fest into a room full of laughter and excitement. This brings me t my next point, co-op has the potential to produce some outrageous fun, especially with indie games like Rocket League and Towerfall Ascension, and it’s inclusion in these games just turns the experience from awesome to legendary.
Not to say that single player indie titles aren’t just as amazing.
Last year games like Inside and The Witness just go to show some of the incredible experiences you can have in indie games without a player two option.
great list and accurate reasoning. Personally I'm sick of the AAA industry's obsession with graphics at the sacrifice of content, I've played indie games that lasted 100 hours and cost $5 and spend $60 on a AAA game and it's over in less than 10 hours. Golden age of gaming for me was SNES/PS1/PS2 the higher they push for graphics the worse games seem to get, but indie games don't go that route because they don't have all these corporate/marketing suit dudes telling them what to do
Definitely man, I absolutely love Indie games, and like you SNES, PS1 and PS2 were my jam, you throw a N64 in there and you've got the golden quadrant, my favourite games were probably super mario 64, sly cooper, crash bandicoot and crash tag team racing. These AAA games that have come out in the past decade are mostly garbage and require 'additional addons' or 'DLC' as they put it, and makes us gamers feel like: "Why did we buy this goddamn game if you're just going to put half the content in 'DLC' the day of release".
yea N64 was good too, I always found those games were a lot more expensive though for some reason even the used ones would only have like $5 taken off the price tag so as a kid I was more able to hoard up a bunch of playstation games
That's a very good point! Playstation games definitely had the best price, and since I had homestay students living with us growing up, often they would bring 'cracked' games from flea markets in China/Japan/Hong Kong which was pretty awesome.
This post received a 18% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @locikll! For more information, click here!
Yes yes yes! I've fallen in love with many indie games, a lot of the time their stories are a lot more touching than the majority of AAA games that I've played. Love this list!
Definitely man! They have a lot more attention to detail when it comes to story and gameplay! Thanks mate!
Awesome article! You're on a roll today mate!
Thanks man! I really appreciate it :D
Last few years we have a lot great games, we should use it more often
Yeah definitely, heaps of great indie games coming out!
I like Indie Games too. Low budget but gorgeous ideas. I bought several ones over the past years.
They really are, and not all, but some of them are true masterpieces.
Awesome post! I love indies! I recently started playing them way more and I find that some of the best and most rewarding games sometimes are indies. They have had some of the most beautiful stories to tell. did you play what remains of edith finch? I did a review of it here one steemit. I would highly recommend it, its absolutely amazing
Thanks mate! Hell yeah indies usually have much more depth than AAA games now-a-days which is sad but awesome at the same time. No I can't say I have although it looks pretty awesome, might have to get it on steam during the sale :D, thanks for the recommendation!
Oh yeah dud skip out on it I promise you wont regret it. i think its like 20 bucks so its a good price. I like that indies are a thing tho you know it make gaming grow and raises the quality of games.
Oh yeah definitely, I'll probably get it next weekend and give it a shot aye :D
let me know what you think if you do play it
This article makes so much sense! I used to never play indie titles until in 2011 I played Bastion for the first time and couldn't get enough of it. I even e-mailed the creators and told them how great of a game it was. I did the same when I played transistor and they responded both times and it wasn't automated! Since then I've played games like super meat boy, braid, fez, etc. They are beautiful games that can bring a refreshing new concept to the gaming world. It's just sad when an indie comes along with a great concept and flawless execution, only for the general AAA title players not realising that some of the cool "new" concepts in their AAA titles started out in an indie game. Great article! Definitely will be following!
I have played all of the games you have mentioned except for transistor and they are all absolutely amazing, and yeah support with the good indie titles is usually pretty on to it and very friendly and customer-orientated unlike the big companies: Cough Cough
Ubi-DRM-Soft and their UDontPlay also Electronic-DLC-Arts.