Let's end the console wars and recommend each other PSN/XBL indie games that are truly good quality games.

I start by recommending anyone on Xbox One(and pretty much it's on PS4 too) Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas. It's an adventure puzzle game similar to Zelda games. It's top down adventure puzzle that has light RPG elements. It's a 20 hour game but it can stretch more if you don't look up how to do the puzzles since they are hard, well sometimes.

The other I am having a lot of fun is Shantea: 1/2 half Genie Hero. It's a lot of fun and relatively newly released game that came out a week or so ago. It's an platformer with some light back tracking, well redoing the missions to progress or unlock some cool abilities and transformations. I highly recommend this game to any PSN or Xbox Live consumer.

When it comes to Indie recommendations, I always have to bring up this game:

Easily one of the best games I've played this gen, and perhaps one of the best games I've played in general. From a terrific main quest to all the free DLC it has gotten and still has yet to get.

@DJ-Lafleur: Yeah I need to play that before the new one drops off. I was never too enthusiastic about 8-bit looking games but I've heard too many good things about Shovel Knight to pass up. Might get it when my check drops off.

Obvious ones like Braid, Super Meat Boy and the likes aside, I'll go with something I played recently. The Banner Saga was a fun time, the battle system is mostly interesting in that you have to take into account with either going for armor or straight to hp, willpower allowing you to buff your attacks or move further, and the ability types. The way the oregon trail stuff is tied to the battle system is neato. You need to keep morale high to keep your collective willpower high, and how you do that is keep supplies and rest. But that costs renown points, which is what you use to level up your character. There is no permadeath, but characters need rest to actually heal injuries.

All of that stuff makes it a real fun game as far as making decisions, and watching all your decisions pan out. The story is mostly well written for what it is, but then it goes typical Bioware stuff (ex-Bioware crew on the game), and it clearly leads into a sequel. So if you're in the mood for a turn-based strategy/rpg thing with a hint of oregon trail, Banner Saga is a solid playthrough.

Xbox One

@i_p_daily: It was free on Xbox Live a couple of years ago. I remember playing it but I never finished it(don't remember why) but it was a solid game and the story of him trying to get his brother back hit a bit home to me.

People here have already mentioned some beautiful games like Shovel Knight (I love Shovel Knight!!!!!! Level design ftw.) and the Banner Saga.

I'm going to recommend Steamworld Heist. Steamworld heist is a turn-based strategy game. Each 'heist' is broke up into levels set on a 2D plane. At the beginning of a level, you select which crew members and their equipment you wish to take with you. The win-states may differ but typically they revolve around either getting special loot or defeating a boss character. You and the enemy take turns moving about the board.

Combat is handled by way of skill. Think Bubble Bobble or Worms for a second. A line is drawn ahead of you which represents where you are aiming. You have to line up your shot with your opponent manually. There is a sway which makes lining up your weapons not as simple as pointing forward. Each gun also behaves differently. For example, some guns may be equipped with a laser sight which points completely ahead while others don't.

The blend of turn-based strategy and skill-based combat makes a great risk-reward system in this compositely design game. You can either position yourself closer to the enemy for a better chance at making a hit while putting yourself in immediate peril if you miss, or risk taking shots from further back but risk other elements such as alarm systems triggering and distributing more enemies as your turns pass.

It's a really fun and unique game. Well worth a try. :)

Superhot. It's the most innovative shooter in years.

I'm currently playing Dead Effect 2 it's like Doom and Borderlands had a baby.

I'd recommend Terraria, Unepic, The fire in the Flood and Salt and Sanctuary.

Flame in the Flood, recently came out on PS4(or soon....don't know the exact date). It's one of my favorite survival games on XOne. Top down view, rogue like system. You travel in a boat down a river, and you dock at certain islands to get resources. Put in lot of hours into it, if you enjoy these type of survival games I recommend you check it out, as this one stood out for me, and is quite challenging I found.

@i_p_daily:

You stole that one from me. lol That's what I was prepared to post. good stuff. :D

Furi

Astroneer

Pit People

Overcooked

Full Mojo Rampage

SuperTime Force

HyperLight Drifter

Hmm, what hasn't been said?

I'd also recommend:

The Talos Principle; haven't played it yet, but it sounds like The Witness is a gem as well

The Unfinished Swan

The Swapper

Abzu

Day of the Tentacle

^ A super chill list of games there for winding down after a lot day or week

@jg4xchamp: Good to know, I own this game and played it a little, enjoyed it. Thing is, I don't usually enjoy these tactical RPG games, but Id like to give this one a chance it looks cool and the animation is nice.

@oflow: Full Mojo Rampage is neat, same dev as Binding of Isaac if I am not mistaken.

Furi. Get it on whatever you can play it on.

Also Rouge Legacy and any Shantae game

"One ring to rule them all"

Rise and Shine is a lot of fun. I don't know if it's available for PS4.

**** yeah it is.

@thedork_knight said:

Yes!! Great game.

Some of my other favs are:

• Inside (everyone should play this game!!)
• Ori & the Blind Forest
• Firewatch
• Gone Home
• Brothers: Tale of Two Sons
• Limbo
• The Swapper
• Abzu
• The Little Acre
• Three Fourths Home
• Octodad
• Oxenfree
• Thomas Was Alone
• Never Alone

...to name a few.

These small indie games are fast becoming my favourite type of games... it's just proper gaming, without all the filler & samey design that you see in a lot of AAA games.

@jg4xchamp: :) It was honestly one of the better games I played that came out last year.

@hrt_rulz01: Oh yeah! Thank you for mentioning Oxenfree. I don't know what it was about that game, but I absolutely loved it.

@hrt_rulz01: yeah I've been a big indie kick for the last year or so - it's also helpful that they are often smaller in scope so you can actually accomplish something with them if your gaming schedule is really tight. Looking down the barrel of a 100+ hour game these days makes my heart sink TBH

Yeah... whilst I still love certain "larger" games, like Witcher, indies are just so easy to consume, sometimes in one sitting. Love them more & more as I get older.

With Steamworld Heist and Salt & Sanctuary getting an honorable mention.

DD, while admittedly not a perfect game, wins on aesthetics alone. Well done, Red Hook studios. I can't wait for the free "radiant" update that will add new enemies and the DLC should be coming May-ish.

Stayed up waaaay too late playing these three awesome indies.

A lot of of these games are garbage tablet games. No thanks.

@thedork_knight said:

Nailed it!

I'm not a big indie gamer. Ones I have played and enjoyed are Guacamelee, Spelunky, Super Meat Boy, and Outlast.

Well I didn't buy Ori from XBL, but thanks to Steam , I was able to enjoy such a great game.

Stardew Valley.

Anyone played Wasteland 2? Its from the producers of the original Fallout. I saw the gameplay and it looks cool and open world with tons of content. I might get it.

@Alucard_Prime: How long is Flame in the Flood? It looks interesting. Is it really challenging?

From the ones i've played recently: Astroneer, The Solus Project and Hyper Light Drifter.

RIP console wars ;__;

@getyeryayasout: resogun, alienation, super star dust... Anything that says "Housemarque" on it, is an immediate buy.

I'm going to say Titan Souls for this thread. It was one of the more enjoyable games of the last couple years. It's been free on psn + and it's on sale every once in a while.

One boy, one arrow, 20 insane bosses... "The End"

No boss kill has elicited such cheering since maybe Rogue, which should be the first indie game anyone ever buys at this point.

@smearygoose1768: I had 1 playthrough that lasted me an entire day, was playing all day basically from start to finish. In that sense it's less than other survival games I guess.....but it's less padded in way I would say, it's a more focused and shorter experience compared to other similar games(story mode).

There are different modes of play too and once you finish story mode you have an endless mode where basically you just keep going and compete with others via leaderboards.(that's where I am at with the game)

I found it quite challenging at first, because you make mistakes that you learn not to do(trial and error). Basically you often have to make choices when you are on the river, which island you go to.....left , right, middle.....you can see the kind of island from far away as you go down the stream of water and the choices you make will determine how well you do.

It's hard to explain, but for example I was once injured by an animal and needed bandages, and I had none left. So was looking for an island with the ingredients, but I died from the injury before I could get to the island. Had I planned better(stocked up on bandages before deciding to engage the wolf who had attacked me) I would have avoided that. So you learn these things and start over and make better choices as you go down the stream the next time around.

I found the game to be very rewarding when I did well, because it requires planning. You can upgrade your boat too and that helps immensely, but you can't forget to do other stuff like stock up on weapons and traps for animals. At first you are very weak, animals can very quickly take you out if you are not careful so some islands I would basically not even venture into them when I saw a pack of wolves coming closer. So there is also some challenge gameplay-wise, where you learn how to properly use traps and deal with animals and such. It felt quite good when I finished it, good challenge for me.

All these indie games. Pfff! More like games developed by try hard devs who didn't make it big. I still wonder why people buy such games nowadays. Either I'm getting smarter or people are getting stupid.

Wanna start out by saying good job to everyone ignoring the usual retarded trolls trying to derail this thread!

Anyway already been mentioned a lot of great indies, two I would like to add to list is

Hard west ( turn based western shooter, a little like xcom without base building), ton of fun and a greatly overlooked gem!

Stories, great action rpg!

Played both of these of steam, but would think they had found their way to console by now:)

Search deep into your inner self and you'll find the truth! Warning: it might not be the one you expect though....

@darkninja66613: there's some unique experiences that you can find with these games. Also, I'm not always in a mood for a big Steak dinner, you know.....sometimes I feel like a small bowl of pasta.

Then why do they always sell them cheap and have no big of a fanbase? Explain that to me.

I don't actually see your point here.

Can we please not have negativity? :(

Let's focus on the great, fun games being produced by these independent teams from around the world!

Obligatory Cave Story recommendation. If anyone hasn't played - do! It's available on a wide range of platforms and great for fans of 2D Metroid in structure with really tight and fast shooting mechanics.

@darkninja66613: well they are lower budget games that's true, but great game ideas can sometimes shine in those games too. Just like an independent low-budget movie versus a big Hollywood studio production.

Also there are quite a few of them, a sea of indies out there so it can be difficult sometimes landing on the right ones.....threads like these, amongst other things, can help though :)

Does valiant hearts count?

For me if they do it right, they could have made it big into big game industries. But whatever, I hate indie games and wonder why people still buy them instead of great games.

Seraph on PS4. Awesome 2D acrobatic shooter without aiming.