Thanks to Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 and PSN on the PS3, indie games started to become more popular outside of the PC market in the late 2000s. They are better marketed, and each console has some killer exclusives. Over time, indie games sort of overtook AAA experiences and helped pad out the year for console game releases.
10 Indie Games That Redefined Gaming
Indie games often have more freedom to push boundaries and explore possibilities, and the gaming medium has evolved because of them.
It was a win-win for all, and some indie games even got so successful that they created or popularized genres. Of the many indie games that have sprung up over the past ten-plus years, which ones were the most original at the time, or are still original to this day? For anyone who loves indie games, these are all worth playing. They will be ranked based on how original the games are.
10
Everything
The Universe’s Life-Sim
Everything is not so much a game as it is a surreal experience. The big gimmick is that everything in the game is playable, from an amoeba in the water to an animal like a cat. Players can move between objects or creatures as they explore, without much in terms of a goal or storyline to guide them.
Also, the physics are not exactly real-world accurate, which is why the game is fun regardless of there not being a point to what’s happening. Watching a wild herd of deer practically somersault over each other, for example, is worth the price of admission alone.
9
Card Shark
Cheaters ARE Winners
Card Shark rewards players for being good cheaters at card games. Players will be recruited into a grifter’s traveling carriage, wherein each chapter goes into a different set of rules on how to trick the overprivileged at cards.
For example, players can be the signaler and help out their mentor by pouring wine or polishing a table a certain way. As the gambler, players then learn different tricks for how to count cards or play with advantages like shuffling with bent corners, which are all useful techniques that real-life grifters have used in the past.
8
Rogue Legacy
The Family Business
Rogue Legacy is another roguelite and one of the earliest to feature a satisfying reward system. Players can go into dungeons to find blueprints (which they can use to craft new gear at home), abilities like a dash that can help them reach new areas, and plenty of gold. Upon death, players have to spend as much gold as they can back home to rebuild their family castle, which serves as the permanent upgrade tree.
The wildest thing is that once players die with their hero, that is it for them. On the next run, they will have to choose a new line in the family tree to play as, all of whom are afflicted with some disease or power-up. Getting wings to fly with is a positive, but walking on the ceiling is more of a negative effect, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
7
What The Golf
Everything Is A Ball
Golf games seem to be the most inviting sport that designers can use to twist the gameplay in clever ways. What the Golf is a humorous golf game where the experience becomes more about getting objects into holes and not so much about getting golf balls into holes.
It’s a miniature golf game involving everything from driving cars to sneaking into a hole like in a stealth game. The gameplay variety never lets up, and most levels should only take a few minutes to complete, making it an addictive game that is hard to put down.
6
Moonlighter
The Legend Of Shopkeeper
Moonlighter is a roguelite at its core, and there are many of those on Steam and other marketplaces. However, what sets this game apart is that players can take back loot they find in dungeons and decide to either use it for crafting or sell it in their shop. With their hard-earned money, players can decide to rebuild the town, which will open up new vendors and other opportunities.
The progression system will make players feel great after every run, and the shopkeeping mechanics can be engaging too, as players try to find the best prices for items or haggle with guests. It’s a fun dynamic — part-shopkeeper sim and part-dungeon crawler — that flips the traditional roguelite formula on its head.
5
Minit
Minute To Win It
Minit is a Zelda-like action-adventure game with a twist: players only get one minute before they have to restart where they last slept. Thankfully, as players progress further, they can unlock new homes, which serve as checkpoints.
On each run, the goal is to find shortcuts or get gear that will help during the next run. The whole experience from start to finish will only last a couple of hours, but that depends on how savvy players are at putting together the best way to get past puzzles. It may be frustrating at times, but there’s no game like it, and it is pretty funny, too.
4
Cuphead
Is This Really A Game?
Cuphead
9/10
- Released
-
September 29, 2017
When Cuphead was first unveiled in 2013, the Internet lost its mind because, while there were many games based on cartoons, none of them looked like this one. It didn’t seem possible, and even after playing Cuphead, it may still feel like sorcery, as the animations are super smooth, just like a real hand-drawn cartoon.
This boss rush game is brutally hard, but the gameplay is solid enough to get by if players are patient enough. Thanks to the game’s success, there are other indie games out there that are borrowing this 1930s animation aesthetic, but doing things differently. For example, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is an upcoming first-person shooter that owes a lot of its upcoming success to Cuphead.
3
Ball X Pit
A Roguelike Arcade Game
Ball X Pit is one of the newest hit indie games, and it is growing in popularity seemingly every day. At its core, it can be likened to a brick breaker game or even pinball. Players will choose their hero and move down a linear track, fighting enemies and getting power-ups along the way. Each power-up introduces or upgrades their ball types. Those balls can also be fused together or evolved to create even wilder combinations.
Since everything is on-rails, it never feels that demoralizing to die during a match, as characters level up permanently, and blueprints can be found to do all sorts of things back in the village. The end goal is to rebuild Ballbylon, and players can do this with a mini-city builder game that takes place between runs. This combo of gameplay types may seem weird, but every aspect of Ball X Pit is fun to engage with.
2
Rocket League
If Only Cars Really Worked Like This
Rocket League is another game that twists the rules of a ball-based sport. Instead of running to goals and kicking soccer balls around with human characters, players drive rocket-powered cars in bigger arenas and try to knock a giant ball into the goal. Everything is physics-based, which means there are no pay-to-win cars to make things easier; players just need to hone their skills to improve. It’s a hard game to master at first, but with practice, these iron competitors will start to feel more lightweight.
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Rocket League has become wildly successful as an indie game, creating tie-ins from giant franchises like Scooby-Doo, Back to the Future, and Metroid. The collaborations are fun, but the game wouldn’t be what it is without a solid soccer experience backing it in every match.
1
Baba Is You
Word-Based Puzzles
Baba is You is a puzzle game all about changing the meaning of words. In each level, the goal is to win, obviously, and that usually involves a flag as the winning condition. However, players can move objects to have different definitions, which changes how the gameplay works.
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For example, Baba is the controllable animal-like protagonist who represents “You,” the player. If players replace Baba in that formula, then players can control something else, like a rock (i.e. “Rock is You”). In some ways, it’s a crash course on coding and game design languages, as players have to think about the rules by which each object behaves, and not just the object itself. It sounds more complicated than it is, and after a few puzzles, everything will start to click.
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