We're still a gaming community right guys?
Hoping we can compile a trustworthy-ish list of indie games that are actually worth a damn. I'm maybe a single toe deep into the Indie game world.
What are some of your recommendations?
We're still a gaming community right guys?
Hoping we can compile a trustworthy-ish list of indie games that are actually worth a damn. I'm maybe a single toe deep into the Indie game world.
What are some of your recommendations?
I'd be interested in a list of indie developers that aren't trans. It's disturbing how many indie developers become trans these days.
Yes I noticed this too. Rejects, autists and nerds in general are the main adopters of this nonsense. Most game devs are one of these so the outcome is an overrepresentation of trans in the indie space. My guess is that transdom gives these misfits the societal approval that they were otherwise denied due to their quirks. Presumably the ones that don't follow along (us) either are outwardly normal and/or don't value acceptance as much.
It's straight up autism. It's the autists that are vulnerable to this stuff and the other two groups you list are composed of a significant number of autists, whether they be full blown or just have a touch of the tism.
This is also why speedrunning is even more over-flowing with troons. Autists are naturally drawn to playing a single level over and over and over, and so many end up going troon, and I almost feel sorry for them. Almost. Because so many of them turn around and try to push it onto more people, making them also complicit.
Shit, this explains so much. I could never understand the speedrun craze and the mental illness it must take to make it a thing.
To be fair, I can understand the joy of watching speedruns, but the type of person to actually do speedrunning for the purpose of getting some high score is definitely linked. The only exception is racing through a game against a friend. That's a friendly competition, not obsessive breaking down of a game. It's a fine line, but it's one that exists.
I have kids. I don't feel sorry for them at all. I think they should be sent to hell as expediently as possible.
The reason I feel even a little sorry is that they too were taken advantage of. That doesn't excuse their own choice to then take advantage of others, they're still scum and should be treated as such. But I can't forget that at one point it was someone else who took advantage of them.
Their current state is at least partially the result of that, to the point that were they not taken advantage of, they wouldn't be the scum they are.
When I hear speedrunners being socially challenged.
The original tweet behind the joke almost has a point if it dropped the "Petersonian" half ("Jungian" is the cooler term anyways), and shifted to common cause. That and broadened to include casuals who can't play games a right way if not nudged by the game's design (Doom Eternal being an example that compels varied gameplay), or min-maxers who can't appreciate the art or freeform aspects of a game.
"Kenshi" is one of those that makes these types self destruct. Total sandbox environments really seem to short circuit their brains.
No joke!
Pretty easy way to garner support in the modern world.
I'll start with the easy ones that are moderately anti-woke. Factorio(IIRC) and Rimworld (both one game studios) along with Kingdom Come (Warhorse Studios).
Should also be noted that Tynan, the guy behind Rimworld, did actually whole heartedly dismiss the stupid "gender" cult creeps, and with utter surprise nobody cared outside a handful of freaks. What a surprise.
So a big +1 to Rimworld. Game rarely goes on sale and I haven't seen it dip below 10% (though SteamDB is saying it's been going on sale for 20% off for a while now), but frankly, if you're into colony sims or similar it's worth it at full price. You will get hours out of the game. Coupled with the countless mods and three solid DLC additions, it's got plenty of content to keep you going.
How so?
IIRC, it was basically by acknowledging that the message was seen, then entirely ignored it. He didn't make a big deal about it and within about 3 days, people had moved on. And IIRC it was about troon shit or something similar.
Remember, making a deal out of it will lead to more attention. Ignoring it and making it as irrelevant as possible, treating it with apathy, is the best course of action when you're already successful like Tynan was.
Beyond all reason is a large scale, fan-made, free RTS. Inspired by Total Annihilation, but most people would compare it to Supreme Commander. The maps are less huge, experimental units are cheaper and less game-ending, and building invincible shielded chokepoints is less viable, all things I think Supreme Commander went too far with. It has a lot of quality of life keybinds and the non-cheating AI feels solid, and there are enough people playing that multiplayer is also viable. I recommend 3v3s or bigger with barbarian-level AIs to make the game feel sufficiently interesting- 1v1s are still fun, but don't play into the game's strengths as much. It's in development, and the UI while setting up matches could be better, but otherwise I'd consider it's level of polish acceptable for a final release.
Starsector is probably the best space combat game around, if you don't mind that it's top down 2D. You start with as little as a single frigate and can scale up to a fleet of capital ships and several planets. The combat is designed well enough that it remains interesting for a very long time and pilot decision making has a high skill ceiling, helped by the fact that the enemy AI makes good decisions itself. Good mod support with a lot of excellent mods that add new factions and ships. There isn't a plot or any sort of main campaign missions, just general background lore, but I don't play games for their story. Singleplayer only.
If 2D is not for you and you want a space game where you pilot a ship in 3D space, try Everspace 2 for pure combat or X3 for empire building (Warning: all games by egosoft after X3 are complete trash), but I'm not sure if either of those count as indie.
AI War 1 and 2 are large scale space RTS games. The unique thing about them are that they're extremely asymmetrical- your opponent is an AI that went rogue and conquered nearly the entire human race. It starts with control of every planet in the universe except yours, and has infinite resources, but isn't actively at war with you. You don't win through direct confrontation, but by exploiting various flaws in it's logic, primarily the fact that it doesn't consider you a threat. Your "threat level" is not abstract- it is tracked as an integer and is displayed at the top of the screen, and it deliberately has a fairly predictable effect on the AI's behaviour, particularly at certain thresholds, playing into the theme that you're fighting a programmed AI, not a human. The strategy of the game comes down to analyzing the map and deciding which planets will give you tools which are worth the bump to your threat level while still maintaining a defensible front line. Both games come with several small expansions that make an already complex game potentially overwhelming, and the number of options available when generating a new game are at a level of complexity you would simply never find in a mainstream game. Learning enough to win your first game isn't trivial. This one is probably niche for a reason, but if you invest the effort, it's got a lot to offer. Can be played cooperatively if you have a friend who is as crazy as you are.
Frozen Synapse is a top-down tactical shooter, where you issue orders a few seconds at a time. During the planning phase, you plot what you think the enemy will do over the next five seconds of real time, tell your guys where to go and how to face, submit your orders, watch it all play out, then issue orders for the next five second turn, until someone runs out of guys. There are ten or so different kinds of weapons your guys can have, randomly generated maps, and a few different game modes, so there's quite a lot of variety in how the games play out. Good against AI or a person. Frozen Synapse 2 takes that and adds a strategic map to tie the combat together, but I'm not sure if it's an improvement. There's also a football variant called Frozen Endzone which I've never played.
I'll vouch for Starsector as well. It's Mount and Blade in space and it's fucking amazing.
AI War sounds really interesting. May have to check it out. How hard is it to play for someone not used to RTS games?
I would say most RTS games are hard because they're in real time and you have to manage a lot of units and your production at the same time, and know the correct unit composition to counter your opponent. In AI War 1 or 2, you can pause the game whenever you want and continue to issue orders, your economy is a consequence of how many and which planets you have rather than how regularly you're managing your workers, and your unit composition is more about figuring out how to make a good army out of a randomized selection. One of the hard parts of AI war- deciding which planets to take- has no analogue in normal RTS games. When you fail at AI war, it's not because you didn't move your units in the right pattern, and it's not because you didn't notice a dot on the radar in time, it's because you made a bad decision about your expansion strategy or you underestimated the AI response to something you did or you don't understand how one of the mechanics works. Actually, it's probably that last one, at least for your first couple games.
So in short, skills from a normal RTS wouldn't hurt, but AI War tends to be hard in different ways.
Thanks. Literally the only RTS I've ever played was Lego Battles on the DS (very fun but strangely hard at some points). I'll have to check it out, thanks!
I've been playing these recently and enjoying them. Keep in mind I am old, so I'm going to be recommending a lot of games that remind me of the ones I played when I was younger.
Aggelos
It's like Wonder Boy, but not. Just enough of it's own thing, and yet there's a lot of familiarity if you've ever played Wonder Boy.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/717310/Aggelos/
Crypt Stalker
More of an action platformer akin to Batman on the NES, rather than a metroidvania. But it's still fun.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/628550/Crypt_Stalker/
Door Kickers: Action Squad
Feels like a more thought out Broforce with less explosions and more of a set gameplay experience. You play as one of many Police SWAT types, and try and rescue hostages, take out baddies, as well as find and disarm the bombs. They also recently added a random mode, and a zombie mode.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/686200/Door_Kickers_Action_Squad/
Dungeons of Sundaria
It's a third or first person dungeon crawl, with loot of all different qualities to collect, sell and equip. Cautious recommend at this point. I like what's there, but it is early acess, and does need more time in the oven. They are working on it and patching it regularly, which is a good sign.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/587520/Dungeons_of_Sundaria/
Huntdown
A bit like Door Kickers, but with less tactical feel and more of a cartoon or comic-like experience. Really well drawn pixel characters too, if a bit silly sometimes. The bosses and gangs wear their inspirations on their sleeves.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/598550/HUNTDOWN/
Micro Mages
Feels like a game that would have done well if it was made for the NES back in the day. Plays a lot like ice climbers mixed with gauntlet in that you have to take out enemies and then find the exit to get to the next floor. Which means collecting power ups, bouncing off walls and using the stage layout to get to the next boss. Each boss is the 3rd stage and I believe there's 5 floors. There's also a skull difficulty which gives the enemies more abilities, different patterns and a slightly more difficult game. But it's by no means actually difficult if you're careful.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1065020/Micro_Mages/
Oniken
A challenging game that revolves around knowing what's going to happen before it happens ala Ninja Gaiden. So there is a lot of redoing stage sections, getting attacked by annoying enemies, or just basically playing the game until you can get through it without dying. While it is tough, I'm probably making it sound harder than it is.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/252010/Oniken_Unstoppable_Edition/
Strange Brigade
You play as an Indiana Jones style character from a cast of characters going through egypt and the carribean in the 1920s as if your action adventure life was a radio serial from the really old timey ... time. I can't think of another game that does this, so it's kinda neat. The narrator, imo, never feels like he overstays his welcome.
And no, it's not really an indie title, but I'm throwing it in here because it was fun to play co-op with a friend all the way through, and it regularly goes on sale complete for under 20 canadian, and I just don't think it got the attention it deserved. I never had it crash, glitch or bug out in the 20 hours it took to get through. Which considering the AAA games that have launched since Strange Brigade came out, and the state in which they launched, is like a diamond in the rough all on it's own.
And if a co-op experience like that is not for you, they also added an arena mode where waves of enemies come at you, as well as a mercenaries from Resident Evil 4 style mode as well.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/312670/Strange_Brigade/
Wife and I loved Strange Brigade. Was worth a run through!
I'm glad you liked it. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of polish the game had. Things just worked. Characters had personality without being obnoxious. There are obvious synergies between some abilities and power ups. Things just made sense. Heck, I even liked some of the puzzles. They did slow down the gameplay a bit, but it was a nice distraction from just shooting things.
Abilities seemed well planned out, and some characters just seemed more suited to certain playstyles than others. Even though everyone can use any gun, each one of them has their own bonuses toward the one they use by default.
IDK if game devs "Mechanistry" are "indie", but their single game, Timberborn, is the best colony building / survival in a long while. Functionnal and tons of fun but still in developpemnt. Pretty enough without needing a good computer.
Silly fun colony building with beavers. Controls are intuitive. Tutorial will get you started.
Setting : The land is a barren wasteland aside from seasonal streams flowing into pretty rivers. You are beaver God. Manage your beavers to chop wood, store water, build dams, grow crops, build houses, bridges and industry, make babies, expand. Make your beavers happy and well fed and they work faster.
Ambitious irrigation projects are fun ( irrigation towers are shit though. Blow a hole with dynamite and fill it with water ).
Easy and Normal modes = relaxing.
Hard mode = the drought can actually kill you if you don't manage well.
Costum difficulty : craft your dream apocalypse.
You can fall back on a previous save if you screw up with a drought season.
Next update will add map previews and costum key binding. Also a new feature : toxic sludge will flow from streams to raise difficulty and keep hydro-power working during drought.
Singleplayer game. No "online or it stops working" bullshit. Install it where you want from a USB key and play.
A small map can run on a potato laptop. Perfect for a bit of fun anywhere.
Mid-range integrated graphics laptop will run all maps well, unless you want flawless max speed 300+ beavers colony.
It goes on sales for special occasions, like for the holydays. ~30 bucks regular.
If you buy from GoG, you get the full install, no "you have to launch Steam too" BS.
It's also easy to find on torrent sites ( which is how I tested it before buying ).
Into the breach. Original turn based strategy with 3 units.
FTL: Faster Than Light made by the same studio is also good. Very fun space combat game
Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight. Hades is fairly woke but still good.
The Hades guys were smart enough to have a setting (Ancient Greek gods) where some gay shit is completely expected and they kept post-Obama trans flag and pronoun stuff out of it. Being incredibly well made also doesn't hurt.
The Greeks being rampant homos is bullshit
Black Athena would like a word with you; they are absolutely pozzed and pro-blackwashing white people
Symphony of War is probably my favorite Not-Fire Emblem (well its probably closer to other "platoon" SRPGs but I haven't played any of those besides Soul Nomad) of the last few years. Its an RPG Maker game with all that implies, but it does a considerable amount more with it than almost any I've seen.
It also has a Giant Woman as a unit, a smug big titty witch you can knock down a peg, and dragon riders (always a plus for me).
I'll also always shill Book of Demons, as its one of my favorite games of all time and a game that needs to get bigger so that its Flex-o-gram system can become industry standard. Because being able to say "I got 30 minutes to play" and the game makes a set of levels that should take about 30 minutes and then you can finish is the greatest idea of our generation.
Symphony of War felt more like a legally distinct Ogre Battle to me, in a good way.
Right I've heard that, I've just not played those to say for certain personally.
I'll toss in my recommends:
Vintage Story is a standalone minecraft-like, which takes elements from Terrafirmacraft, recreates them in a custom engine and adds an apocalyptic time-travel twist to create a crunchy survival-crafter experience with a meaningful stone age, where pottery and whatever you scavenge from ruins remains important into the midgame because there are no rock or wood picks. Casting Copper to exit the stone age is mid-game. The Bronze Age is difficult to exit. Late game is Iron and wind power. Endgame is steel, alcohol, and cheese.
The recent 'Resonance Archive' update (v1.18.0) added a meaningful endgame site rich with doomed civilization lore. (Spoilers abound, obviously, but also a potential selling point. YMMV)
I have been getting good mileage out of Wildmender, which is the very finest voxel waterflow simulator you can drown all your plants inside. The devs are green party save-the-rainforest types, but if you care to hold your nose, there's a decent single player game with co-op privation modes available underneath.
My playgroup has been mucking around in Tribes of Midgard. For the 7 bucks I paid in I've gotten a good 30 hours of play in just the Saga Mode. The game really only feels viable when you hit the 3-5 player 'sweet spot' for a critical mass of gathering/exploration. It's a fairly generic collect-a-thon with cosmetics and a procedural map. Most of the unlocks for play related items are golden horn, but there's a platinum currency for whales to obsess over. Just click the black viking chick on the cosmetic menu's banner to buy some... (lol no)
The other game that perpetually draws my attention is CK III, (a not-really indie game) which I mod to scratch my particular autismal fixation on Vikings. I will never get tired of repeatedly sacking Rome and stealing the Pope's fancy hat.
I'll second Symphony of War as being worth the buy in. (Got my hour per dollar out of it. You probably will without even hitting the DLC.)
Necesse is a city builder with dungeon delving/island exploring mechanics I also got my hour per dollar out of. Early access, though.
ZERO Sievert is all the slavic post-apoc flavorland of Tarkov, but single player (ie no hackers) and top-down 2d. Another good buy for the hours per dollar, although there's a good chance of ongoing development nuking your save at some point further along in the Early Access process.
Is The Messenger an indie game? Because it's one of the best platformers I've played in a while. Solid action gameplay plus some good writing make it a good romp.
The only relatively modern indie game I've tried and liked is Against the Storm, a roguelike citybuilder.
Early Access? Boo...
Let me know when it's actually released and I'll give it a go.
Against the Storm was a shockingly good stumble upon. I got it last year with half the content it currently has and it still was an easy 60+ hours.
It manages to do what few "roguelikes" seem to understand. Which is giving you some control towards your builds but not enough to be predictable, but having enough valid choices to be able to stumble upon a working build even by accident instead of having to just give up because you missed some pieces you needed.
The publisher of that, Hooded Horse, has a bunch more games in progress that I'm interested in. A bunch of scifi ones look promising. I hope they don't all get released at the same time.
Been playing Terra Invicta from that pool of games, very good.
Humanity First, baby!
dotAge just came out and has similar gameplay. I never would have expected roguelike and city builder to combine so well, and yet they do.
Mentioned them in another thread, but here it is for maybe more visibility.
Spiderweb Games keeps his politics at home, and makes a bunch of RPGs that have that old school feel (for better or worse) but is continually remaking stuff to up the standards AND coming up with new games to boot. While I haven't played them all, I can say for certain I've never felt like I've wasted my time with them.
And one of the rare indie devs still selling independently of store fronts. You'll have to dig for the form on the site (manual process, obviously, so it makes sense to deprioritize this) but it's there. No woke middle men.
I've sadly not been able to get into some of Jeff's more recent games. Ever since he started trying to mainstream the mechanics and UI for IPad and mobile the combat and overall campaign design just seems to get more and more dull.
Conversely, I will say that he did put a lot of work into improving his writing. I think the peak of his creative ability was around Avernum 5 or 6. Stellar and awe inspiring scenes, his writing was really picking up, a solid balance on most combat mechanics, and he started taking an earnest step into expanding how he tries to tackle deeper plots and stories.
In Avadon I think he tried almost too hard, and ended up disappointed with the lukewarm reception from fans.
I second Spiderweb, if you can get into their games you will have a lot to play. Easy 100+ hours on several of their games.
So many small companies are making incredible games and releasing them. It is the best time to be a Gamer. To truly understand this, stop buying any 'AAA' game. That is not where the innovation, the new ideas, the amazing gaming is happening.
My contributions to awesome gaming suggestions that are not 'AAA' bullshit:
Legend of Grimrock, Legend of Grimrock 2
Legend of Grimrock took me a second try years after my first attempt to really get into but man once I learned that you need to go all in on a weapon type it became a real good time. I spent a lot of time running through custom dungeons after finishing the game. The engine is really solid and let me enjoy a genre I never thought would appeal to me.
Everspace and Everspace2, both made by an indie studio called Rockfish.
If you like American football, but hate the NFL, I highly recommend Retro Bowl on phones and Switch. I prefer the latter, which is only five bucks, plus you can use a controller. No NFL license, so they don't get a penny, but it has fully customizable team names and colors.
I have found absolutely nothing woke within them or regarding the developers.
They just released Retro Bowl College last month, with no NCAA license. It's not yet at version 1.0, but it IS available for phones right now. Hopefully a Switch version comes soon. Also fully customizable as above, with about 250 teams!
Gone Home
Depression Quest
But seriously, I have a hard time finding the good indie stuff. I end up playing older AAA games a lot with lower levels of poz.
I'm currently playing Desolate. It's a first-person open-world survival game with a heavy STALKER vibe, although more melee-heavy. Looks pretty decent and plays well. The atmosphere is great.
Kinda surprised that nobody has mentioned Trepang² yet. I haven't played it myself yet, but everything I've seen is that it's solid.
If you're after boomer shooters, I'd recommend a few titles, like HROT, Turbo Overkill, ULTRAKILL, DUSK. There's more too. I dunno how the devs are, I know that David S (the guy behind Dusk and New Blood (the publishers of a few of these)) is at least left leaning.
Superliminal is a pretty good puzzle game, and though it's a little on the short side, it doesn't overstay its welcome either.
Cultist Simulator is a pretty solid game, though I'm fairly sure that the devs are probably pozzed. That said, I don't think there's any of that in the game, so there's always that.
The cultist sim dev is of the Alec Holowka variety, which is to say likely degenerate trendy progressive type, whom the feminist machine turned on and tried to ruin (disclaimer: half-remembered facts and personal opinions mixed here). Alexis Kennedy - who is also the author of the Fallen London universe though no longer involved with those games - suffered a MeToo attempt by spiteful workplace harpies, who complained that he was horrible and creepy and pursued inappropriate workplace relationships with infant female children aged 20+... all that usual shit. I think he mentioned feeling suicidal for a spell, but unfortunately for his attackers they weren't quite able to get him to kill himself like Quinn did with Holowka, perhaps partly because of the support of the 'victim' of his workplace advances whom he married and remains married to. I believe the dev name Weather Factory now refers basically to him and her.
Long story short, you're inadvertently opposing cancel culture by supporting them, although these types typically never learn so don't imagine there's some kind of conservative hero getting the benefit.
They recently put out Book of Hours which I bought and like, but despite letting it take up a lot of my time, it's impossible to recommend universally. It's basically Cultist Sim with a more colourful table and almost all of the pressure and fail states shaved off, so it ditches the febrile tension of that game, but also many of the parts that made it a game at all. What's left now is a kind of RNG-dependent delve into a chill, text-driven larp as someone restoring an old house and poking at hidden mysteries - but not exactly a game as much as it is a set of recipes and calculations you have to balance and discover.
Trepang is weird because it's really quite good in terms of combat and gameplay, but it didn't exactly leave me as satisfied as I'd expected. I'm honestly not entirely sure why. I guess maybe the lukewarm and artificial-feeling story?
Not that I can blame them, it's tough to fit everything in with a full stamp of quality for an indie studio, especially when they have a high bar to meet on the combat, gameplay, and 3D visuals. And they did give it a reasonably solid try with a story that works extremely well on paper, but just didn't have all the details fleshed out in a compelling way.
Any good story based jrpg like indies? I love the trails and persona series and would like to try games with similar vibes
Thank you for the recommendation :)
You'll probably want to get Lethn to talk on this as our resident Indie professional.
I'm just the guy who only catches on after good word of mouth, I'm more help with Anime lol
Owlcat games sounds pretty woke from the complaints I have heard, particularly with Wrath of the Righteous.
Kingmaker has a cringe feminist literally strong woman barbarian who whines that the men didn't let her be a warrior. Her story has some nuance though.
When a "bisexual" character hits on your PC you get the option to tell him you will punch him if he does it again. Also that character is chaotic evil which is ever so appropriate.
Overall I thought the writing was balanced and didn't appear to be super cringe agenda pushing.
The nuance in her story is that she's a dyke too.
i dont remember exactly but her big reveal that she got scared and ran away and let her tribesmen get killed then lied because she was ashamed was a tiny bit of actual character building in an otherwise textbook mary sue
Stardew Valley: Very relaxing farming game with light RPG elements (i.e. you can build up relationships with people, and can even build up to having a wife [if playing male] or husband [if playing female]). I have more hours into it than I'm willing to admit. Even if you "die" while exploring the caves, or pass out from not making it to bed on time, the penalty for that is rather light. There are also apparently a lot of mods you can add to the base game, but I leave it up to you if you want to start your first run vanilla or not. Controller recommended.
Sub Level Zero: Part of the 6-degrees-of-freedom genre (a la Forsaken and Descent), it combines rogue-lite elements to make for an interesting and replayable game. It has VR support if you are that type of guy, but your mileage may vary as I don't have a headset of my own to test it with. Works equally well with controller and KB+M.
Sky Rogue: A rather simple combat flight simulator with procedurally generated islands. Controller recommended.
Terraria: 2D platformer with light RPG and builder mechanics. It has been in active development (off and on) for more than 10 years since it's original release, and frankly, very few games have a developer that cares THAT much about their game. Controller supported, but KB+M recommended.
Starbound: Basically Terraria, but Sci-Fi.
Knights of Pen and Paper: A 2D-looking game that tries to simulate a Dungeons & Dragon session (albeit dumbed down). I tried it, but it wasn't my cup of tea, but maybe you'll get more out of it. Also has a Sci-Fi themed spinoff called Galaxy of Pen and Paper.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance: RTS game that is a spiritual successor to the 1996 game Total Annihilation (which also has mods). Only 2 resources to manage, but you can build an army that numbers into the hundreds, if not thousands. Main goal is rather simple, when the Commander unit dies, the player is out. Best played with Forged Alliance Forever.
AI War II: Real-Time Strategy game with a twist. Whereas most RTS games are PvP, this is a more asymmetrical PvE, where the computer player learns and changes its behavior depending on how you act. There is also multiplayer available if you want to play with friends, more info here. Just a warning, though, it has DLC.
Risk of Rain 2: Having played the first game, and seen my brother play this one, I would choose this over the first one. FPS with roguelike mechanics.
20XX: Spiritual successor to the classic Mega Man games. Controller Recommended for obvious reasons.
Freedom Planet: Classic Sonic spiritual successor with added combat mechanics. Controller Recommended, and try to get it working with a CRT or scanline filter in ReShade if you can. There is also a sequel.
Kerbal Space Program: Literally rocket science! Avoid KSP2, and try to get some mods for the game.
RedOut: Zero-G high speed racing game, more similar to WipeOut series than F-Zero. Supports both controller and KB+M, but the controls will take some getting used to either way.
BroForce: Fast-paced 2D action platformer, where you get to play as 80s actions heroes (with the names changed around for trademark reasons, I assume), going around blowing #%&@ up because 'Murica. It also has been in off and on development for a while. Controller recommended.
Doom (1993): Yes, I'm being that guy, I will gladly admit to being a sucker for so called "boomer shooters". The recent Unity ports make it so you don't have to tinker around with a source port (such as Odamex, Zandronum, or GZdoom), while still leaving the option open for you to do so. Doom I, II, and 64 are frequently available for cheap, with full controller support (assuming you use the Unity versions). That said, if you don't want to support Bethesda (understandably so), there are... ahem… other ways.
Although there are lots more, these are the ones off the top of my head.
Streets of Rogue (I'm looking forward to 2), Rogue Legacy 2, Death Road to Canada have been what I've been playing lately. I got a lot less time to commit, so these are easy to jump in, jump out, but there's investment over time.
I'm going to plug rimworld for crimes against humanity simulator.
Dwarf Fortress both classic and steam.
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead.
Airships Conquer the Skies is very fun in my opinion but I never see anyone mention it.
If you're one of them strange people that like "proper" sim games. A mod for Aurora 4x called Quasar 4x is great, it runs so much smoother. It's still like playing windows98 though.
KIA2 is definitely a better gaming community here than the so called c/gaming itself whichs is mostly just ConPro morons like hexen at this point.
Blasphemous is top of my indie recommended list. Then CrossCode, Deadcells, fucking FACTORIO beware it's drug like qualities and dyson sphere program in no particular order. Og and dont forget world of horror.
I definitely enjoy the gaming topics posted here for some reason better than there, even though "ConPro morons like hexen" don't bother me. And this really is an awesome list of games. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about this community.
This post is also a great antidote against guys like that handshake who said "Nobody here likes games they just want to bitch."
The Ascent. Surprisingly well done. Cyberpunk done right. Makes you see how much CDPR missed the boat with the setting and themes of Cyberpunk 2077 after playing this game. The devs are Eastern European, so it's quality made and avoids woke nonsense. It's an isometric, multiplayer action-RPG, sort of like what the original Syndicate games would have been had they kept being made in the isometric multiplayer vein.
Starbound: I recommend this game frequently because it's a good, wholesome, fun survival-builder set in space. It literally is Starfield before Starfield in terms of gameplay and questing. You build your spaceship, recruit NPCs, scour planets for resources, build your base(s) wherever you like, and acquire and craft cool weapons and gear. Get the Frackin' Universe mod for the best experience. Supports classic peer-to-peer multiplayer and dedicated modded servers, which is cool.
Prodeus: I cannot recommend this game enough. This IS the definitive evolution of what Doom should have become after Doom 64. It utilises rasterised effects; looks awesome, but has a lot of new-school design cues. Well worth a playthrough, and it's super fun. No woke nonsense and just straight-through badass gameplay.
Midnight Fight Express: Another game I just cannot recommend enough. Made by Eastern Europeans, so you know it's good. It takes subtle pot-shots at woke culture, has a great storyline with some good twists, and most importantly the gameplay is absolutely spot-on. This is probably one of the very best beat-'em-up games I've ever played. It's just so well done. Lots of unlockable content, lots of cool moves to master. And it's highly replayable. I try to support the Eastern European devs because they seem to be one of the last bastions for non-woke gaming (Yes, some East Asian devs can be righteous as well, but you have to weed through a lot of gacha stuff, coomer stuff, or just derivative cash-grabs.)
Gravity Circuit: A Megaman X/Zero like with a heavy focus on melee combat and on-the-fly kit customization. It has fun characters, very stylish animations and a solid underlying aesthetic. A little short, with only 12 stages (Intro, eight bosses, three "Wily Fortress" levels) but clearly intended for repeat playthroughs, experimenting with the different chips and Burst Skills.
The Messenger/Sea of Stars: The Messenger starts out as a Ninja Gaiden styled, 8-bit platformer with a sense of humor and worldbuilding. Then, midway through, you get a plot twist that turns everything on its head and completely re-structures the game, while still building on the skills you developed on the way. Sea of Stars is a RPG with gorgeous pixel art and music, that takes heavy inspiration from Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG, with things like Action Commands and combo attacks. Just like The Messenger, it's got very solid world-building and humor. Mainly because they're set in the same universe, set eons apart. And playing one after the other will have you recognize places, characters, and musical cues in really satisfying ways.
I checked a video because I am looking for a good Chrono Trigger-like game.
Graphics-wise and gameplay, it feels on the spot. The scenery is very pretty. Great color palette ( why so many games go for pastel-everything?). The caracters could have looked better.
I'll try it later.
I've enjoyed the first plague tale game recently. If you like viking fantasy and phycological horror, hellblade Is worth a look, although it is a slower paced game.
Since people already mentioned RimWorld and Timberborn, all I got left to recommend is Sailwind.
Sailwind is an unknown little game, made by a single dev with what looks to be mostly free or very cheap unity assets. But even though the production value may be low, it's still a great niche game.
The game isn't for everyone, it's kinda like a truck simulator but with sailboats in a fictional age of sail setting. You either get hired to deliver cargo from one island to the other, or you can buy cargo yourself and try your luck in the market. There's also a survival aspect, since you need to eat, drink and sleep.
It's got an awesome chill vibe at most times, alternating with "oh shit, this storm is gonna tear my boat apart" moments.
A lot of people will find it boring since there's no combat or multiplayer action of any kind (coop is a distant possiblity in the dev roadmap), so you should check out some videos first to see if it's your cup of tea.
But if you're into sailing, or just into cargo delivery games I hearty recommend it, even if it's in early access and the development process is very slow, it's still very fun as it is.
A one-man job? Pretty well-done.
But not my cup of rhum.
Yeah, it's a one man show, much like the game itself (where you have to handle a sailboat all by yourself). Development has been slow but steady.
I have to give Robot Entertainment a solid mention. Don't think I've actually mentioned their games around here as much as I should have given how much I enjoyed them.
Fun and meme-worthy characters, really fun gameplay in spite of how simple the game can be, and generally lands just the right amount of challenge to keep you trying to improve on your strategies.
My one complaint is maybe with the 3rd. The gameplay is still quite solid overall, but there was definitely some mild early-woke vibes going on with some of the story and characters.
And yes, this studio does "mostly" qualify as indie I think. Not a tiny team mind you, but small enough to qualify as indie. (30 employees, presumably, though I don't know when that number was pulled from).
so salty
This nigga is still whining about this shit.
At this point you one of us mofo, so either you are one of the aforementioned groups or you should leave to not be associated with them.
I was going to sarcastically say that you forgot Nazis, but then I got to you whining about stormfucks. LOL.
Seriously, you just come in and bitch in random threads about this shit. If you think we're all pedo Nazis, why are you here?
You basically have three options: Stop being a bitch, leave, or be a lolcow.