Your personal favorite indie games this gen?

A lot of the times it seems like everyone's top lists are dominated by AAA/retail games. Yet, many of the best games of this generation were actually indie titles.

So in this thread I'd like to see everyone's favorite indie games. Doesn't have to be the best scoring or objectively best, just your personal favorites.. Let the Discussion Begin!!

1.) Journey

I know this is probably expected on most people's lists, but I really loved this game. My favorite part of the game is the fact that it isn't just a game, but more of an experience filled with emotional highs and lows. The game does so without words ever being spoken. The visual style was impressive and at times breath taking.

2.) Super Meat Boy

Actually just got this yesterday on the Steam sale. Quite honestly, I haven't had this much pure fun with a game in some time. It's challenging, nostalgic while feeling new and the controls are perfect. Definitely recommend this game to everyone.

3.) Tokyo Jungle

This game is really rather addicting. It's one of the few games that I've gotten my girl to want to play for extended periods. The story mode was actually really good, but where this game truely shines is the endless (if you can manage) survival mode. Kicking ass has never felt better than when its being done with a Pomeranian!

4.) PixelJunk: Monsters

I honestly believe this is the best tower defense game ever. The opportunity to play through it with a friend or loved one is amazing. It starts out being pretty easy, but the game can get pretty difficult down the road.

5.) Papo & Yo

As I mentioned in one of my previous threads, this game is amazing because it really feels like it has a soul. A very unique title that is sometimes flawed, but every bit worth your time.

Honorable Mentions:

Flower

Shank

Datura

Beat Hazard

Tales from Space: About a Blob

Machinarium

I Am Alive

DeathSpank

Well there's mine, your turn!

Knights of the Chalice

@bussinrounds:

Is it an RPG?

My favorite indie game is kingdom rush and the sequel to it. A tower defense game.

Also samurai siege and clash of clans.

Battleheart is also a personal fav.

I only played Battleheart out of those, and it really was a fantastic title.

Favorite by time spent has to be Minecraft.

followed by Limbo, Cognition , Deadlight, incredipede, Sky nations,

And looking forward to 7days

Kingdom Rush was a ton of fun. I haven't played the sequel. Not even sure if it's on Android yet. But I really liked the first one.

For my pick: Iron Brigade. While it's published by Microsoft, it was made by Double Fine Productions, who are about as indie as you can be. One of my favorite games that year and definitely a great independently developed game.

Journey, Walking Dead, Dust An Elysian Tale, Trials Evolution and Flower

everyday shooter

limbo

journey

closure

brothers: a tale of two sons

gone home

there are plenty of others that are great too though.

Oooh good question. For me it would probably have to be the Witcher though. That game took me by surprise and was an amazing title.

Yup... Knights of The Chalice

• Faster Than Light
• Botanicula
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Orcs Must Die!
• Defense Grid: The Awakening
• Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
• Machinarium
• Fieldrunners 2
• Anomaly: Warzone Earth
• Sanctum 2

I find this to be an extremely exciting era for gaming mostly thanks to indie developers who have really exploded thanks to platforms such as Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight. I became jaded with most of these big budget more-of-the-same games, but my passion for games has been reinvigorated thanks to the aforementioned games and the future looks even brighter.

@UpInFlames:I feel the same way. I still love a lot of AAA titles, but indie gaming is really awesome because of its originality.

I think it's great that people can work hard on a game nowadays with an original idea and become successful without the funding of a publisher.

I feel like a outcast. I have not played any Indie games yet on ps3. Seeing as though ps4 has a lot of indies ahead, I feel I should start to try some out.

Definitely Minecraft for me.

Gunpoint or The Swapper for me

Also TIL: Loads of folk still seem to think Indie just means low budget or small games. I mean come on, Journey is even the first game in the thread :/

it's not a very specific specific (or useful, for that matter) term. most "indie" games do have publishers.

Limbo and Super Meat Boy.

Journey is considered an indie game. Or at least all of the indie gaming publications seem to believe so.

EDIT: If it is bothersome I suppose I could change the Topic Title to say downloadable.

I completely forgot about Everyday Shooter, that was a great game!

Closure was a very interesting concept

The Sea Will Claim Everything

My absolute favorite point and click adventure from this generation. The writing and throwaway dialogue alone is astounding. Quite the experience. I actually helped crowdfund Kyratzes new title "Ithaka of the Clouds" because of how much I enjoyed this title.

Spy Party

A truly unique espionage title. According to the developer, "Spy Party is an asymmetric multiplayer espionage game, dealing with the subtlety of human behavior, character, personality, and social mores, instead of the usual spy games explosions and car chases".

There not a single indie game that impress me as much as the other games that have came out this gen.

@Some-Mist:

Spy party sounds awesome. I'm not really one for point and click adventures though :/

@ZZoMBiE13: A personal thanks for always linking your suggestions. It's the little things that go a long way!

And Why haven't I heard of Iron Brigade? It looks really cool and I love Double Fine.

yeah, closure is pretty crazy. it's a game about death but it's not violent. the level design is just so good that they pulled it off.

my understanding is that it's not really an adventure game. it's a multiplayer game. one player is a sniper looking for the other player hiding among the npc members of a party. the sniper has no idea what their opponent looks like. they just have to figure out who they are by tells in their behavior and speech.

My #1 favorite indie game is Aquaria. It came out before indie games were cool, so nobody played it and sites like Gamespot never bothered reviewing it. Do yourself a favor: download its demo.

Aquaria is a very atmospheric Metroidvania game, underwater. It's a beautiful game with an amazing soundtrack and a strong focus on exploration. Its gameplay is unique: you play as a mermaid who sings to interact with her environment. To me, it's on par with Super Metroid and SOTN; it's different enough from its predecessors to be extremely memorable, while being a high-quality game in the first place.

@ReddestSkies: That artstyle is really drawing me in!

I was talking about his first game The Sea Will Claim Everything. Spy Party sounds like it would be a very interesting and fun to play.

lol my bad

Even though I am useless at it Kerbal Space programme.

I do enjoy sharing the things I like. Plus the new Gamespot makes it very easy to do. They copied the feature from Giant Bomb.

For anyone who hasn't tried it: Just type the "#" in the body of any forum message and a small search window pops up. Pretty nifty. :)

WHAAAAT I didn't even know that! Here I am copying and pasting like I'm living in the dark ages :/

I have not played many indie games this past gen. That said, my choices are:

1. Bastion (if it counts)

2. Everyday Shooter

3. Machinarium

4. The Cave

pretty much hit the nail on the head. I've only played about 40 matches total despite having an invite to the closed beta (which is now an open public beta) long ago, but it's very unique, intense, and fun. It's just hard to find even balanced games all the time.

It's kind of hard. The AI behavior accounts for human error which makes it extremely difficult in figuring out who the spy is. It really helps knowing little bits like if the ambassador puts down his briefcase, 99% of the time when the AI picks up the briefcase, it brings it directly back to the ambassador.

playing as a spy is by far the most INTENSE and probably my favorite part. It's hard to complete your missions under pressure (when the sniper has a trained laser sight on you). I'm getting all giddy just thinking about it :D

Not sure which games are truly indie, but Mark of the Ninja, Hotline Miami, Journey, Antichamber, to the moon all come to mind (in that order). Mark of the Ninja is the most fun stealth game I have ever played tbh thanks to its crystal clear rules.

To name a few:

• Journey
• Flower
• Thomas Was Alone
• Botanicula
• Bit.Trip
• Papers, Please
• MirrorMoon EP
• Race the Sun
• Frozen Synapse
• Ibb & Obb
• Splice
• Auditorium
• Hotline Miami
• Super Meat Boy
• SpaceChem
• Antichamber
• Gunpoint
• VVVVVV

There's plenty more I could name, but I can't think of them right now.

Limbo sucked big time ( except the two puzzles near the end). Super meatboy destroyed my thumbs with those irresponsible controls. My favorites would be Braid and Swapper. Surprised no one mentioned braid.

I really liked Mark of the Ninja... if that is classed as an indie.

I don't really consider Journey and Independent game if Sony funded it and Sony Santa Monica helped during development.

Anyway:
Hotline Miami

Botanicula

The Swapper

AntiChamber

There's also Braid and a couple others that I cannot think of off the top of my head.

And a more recent favorite The Stanley Parable , that is one messed up funny "game"

Super Meat Boy is hands down my favourite indie game this generation.

Just looking at all these indie games is such a reminder of just how great they really are. Most of my best gaming memories this gen have come from indie games.

Not enough people played Osmos, a fantastic physics-based atmospheric puzzle game. It's beautiful, its soundtrack is perfect, and its gameplay is tight, tight, tight. You're a mote, and you have to navigate through space to absorb other motes. To move, you have to eject matter (which makes you shrink). Bigger motes can absorb you, there are other sentient motes and there is antimatter. The objective: become the biggest. The game's core gameplay is simple and extremely efficient, while still opening up possibilities ("shooting" matter towards a bigger mote to move it out of the way). The game has multiple modes which add a lot of variety. Download its demo, try it, love it.

Journey, Guacamelee, The Walking Dead, Dead Nation, Sound Shapes, Scott Pilgrim and Fat Princess spring to mind.

I really do need to play Journey as everyone tells me it's great but I still haven't bought it.

Pixel junk monster must be the most played game on my ps3. In fact I think my girlfriend has played it from start to finish about three times now.

Going to check out aquaria as that looks good stuff.

• Journey
• Flower
• To The Moon
• Thomas Was Alone