You can’t have a gaming forum (especially an LP forum) without indies! Those lovable little guys that give us hours of enjoyment from their gameplay and hours of ContentID worrying from their royalty free music. Whether it’s roguelite spelunking, or farming, or morph-balling, pointing and clicking, or even (!!!) WALKING, indie games provide a range of experiences that most high-budget titles don’t provide anymore.
Awesome Indies in 2016:
These are just a SMALL SAMPLE of what was maybe the best year for indie games ever.
Absolutely! I’ll add more games to the OP over time as well. I forgot Slime Rancher too!! There are still a couple dozen indie games from 2016 that I really want to play like Deadbolt, Metrico, Solus Project, Stories: Path of Destinies, Pavilion, Owlboy, Momodora 4, ICEY. Just too dang many!!
This really is the golden age of indie games. VA-11 Hall-A is also pretty good; it is a visual novel that takes place in a bar whose story changes based on what drinks you make people.
I’m looking forward to Iconoclasts, a 2D action exploration game by Joakim Sandberg, aka Konjak. You may remember him as the guy behind the Noitu Love games, among others. Inspired in part by Metroid Fusion, it’s been in the works for a good while, but seems on track for a release this year.
It’s not quite as new, but I’m still getting a good play here and there out of Nuclear Throne.
Momodora Reverie Under the Moonlight was for sure in my top games of last year - I’d recommend it highly. I had never heard of the series before it dropped, which is one of my favorite things about the growing indie scene, when you just stumble into awesome shit.
I’ve currently have the upcoming Wizard of Legend on my watch list. All the gifs posted on their twitter looks like it would be totally my jam. Also Flinthook and Remnants of Naezith
RUTM shines the most in its tight controls It really has a nice… uh… “game-feel”.
Oh man, Iconoclasts is coming out this year!? Nice!
Let’s see, my personal list of indies to watch in 2017 is: Snake Pass: I’ve been excited for this game since it was just a tech demo made for a game jam. I’m glad it seems to be coming together so well. Donut County: I’m always on the lookout for puzzle-toys like Windowsill and Donut County looks extremely that. Crossing my fingers that it’ll come out this year, as it’s been delayed before. Heart Forth, Alicia: Who even knows if this’ll come out this year either. It looks real nice but it’s repeatedly been hit with heavy delays in the past. What Remains of Edith Finch Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Hat in Time Yooka Laylee
Those are the only ones I can think of right now that have a projected release date of 2017.
As for what I’m playing right now: I picked up Poi because I was cursed by a warlock to play every 3D platformer I see. It’s a collectathon in the vein of Banjo Kazooie but its controls and level design are much more similar to that of a Mario game. It’s pretty okay! It does have that signature indie awkwardness (I don’t think I’ve seen a character blink once).
The controls feel kind of weird as well. It does that thing that a lot of first-time 3D platform developers do which is give you 100% total control over your character at all times. There’s none of the momentum that makes Mario games feel really fluid and satisfying to play. (I’m not complaining, mind you. Too much control is infinitely better than the other problem that inexperienced devs sometimes run into, which is to give you way too much momentum so it feels like you’re controlling a car made entirely of ice.)
Besides that it has decent level design and does a good job of making levels with lots of nooks and crannies with rewards for you to find to make you feel accomplished for exploring. There’s lots of things to collect, too. In addition to the medals (the main collectables in each level), there’s fossils, golden gears, areas of interest, monsters to photograph , hats, costumes, and some kind of runes (though I haven’t found any of the last three yet).
Another nice feature is a compass item that’ll point you towards objectives and various collectibles. I haven’t found myself needing to use it too much so far but it can be helpful for finding the last few goodies in a level.
Overall it’s a nice little game and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something to tide you over until one of the bigger 3D platformer releases of this year.
It’s certainly better than FreezeMe at least.
My issue with both Poi and FreezeME is that the jumping looks really weird in both. I haven’t played Poi but there’s just something off in both cases about the jump acceleration and falling, like it’s too quick and lacks ease-in/ease-out. If the movement isn’t fun in a 3D platformer it can really take the wind out of the sails.
A Hat in Time seems to not be too bad about its movement, and obviously Yooka Laylee has serious cred behind it. I’m also interested in Snake Pass which bypasses the whole thing by having you be a snake that coils around. Like a platformer meets Zen Bound.
Snakebird - You try to get birds who are snakes to eat fruit. One of the most masterfully designed puzzle games I’ve ever played .The level design is top notch.
Train Valley - Another puzzle game with a very simple premise of building tracks to direct trains to appopriate stations before going bankrupt. It looks naive at first but when the gameplay clicks, you’re in for a ride.
Jalopy - Early Access timepiece that focuses on the mood of the former Eastern bloc in the 90s by making you drive a really cheap car that breaks down way too often and requires repairs. I did a more serious review of it on Steam.
If you’re a fan of horror you’ve probably heard of Anatomy given how it made the rounds last year, but you may not necerssarily have heard of the developer, Kitty Horrorshow, or the rest of her games. Most of 'em are free, they’re all incredibly interesting horror games that forgo most of the usual conventions of the genre and I think they’re all worth the time spent experiencing. And if you’re among the folk that haven’t played Anatomy yet, or just want to add to a good cause, she’s currently doing an ACLU Bundle that includes Anatomy as well as several games previously exclusive to her Patreon subs!!
On the topic of upcoming games I’d be remiss to not mention Ghost of a Tale in an Indie thread, I’ve been following it since the funding campaign in 2013, the guy heading it up is a former Pixar animator and the blog detailing the development has been fascinating to follow. No eta on whether the game will release fully in 2017 though, but here’s hoping.
If anyone’s a fan of Failbetter Games’ work, Sunless Skies just hit Kickstarter… and made 150% of its goal in its first 18 hours or so. Their first release, Sunless Sea, is where my avatar is from - and it miiiight have an island named after me, 'cause I backed that Kickstarter.
My most anticipated indie game coming this year has to be Pyre. Supergiant Games haven’t let me down yet and I cannot wait to see how Pyre utterly destroys me when I finish it. I need the Supergiant style hurt.
Snakebird is great but man it’s fucking hard. I’d never LP it because I’d never be able to finish it, I’d just slam my head into my desk by the end of it until coma or death set in.
Other good indie puzzlers are Hexcells and RYB. Also I’m a fan of Cubotrox which is kind of a cross between Magical Drop and Pictobits.
Knuckle Sandwich is a dang RPG about fast food and cult exploration. At least, that’s what the tagline on the site says. It looks strongly inspired by Earthbound with a touch of WarioWare for good measure, and the music so far is phenomenal. Not sure when it’ll be ready but it’s way up there on my most wanted list!
