What are your top 5 Indie games!?

I'm in the midst of Dave the Diver and my goodness is it just what the doctor ordered.... Not only does it have more fun and engaging gameplay than most hundred million dollar + games, but the story is better than most of them as well.... Looking for joy in video games? Look at indies. They're the ones making games for us....

In celebration of TheEroica ascending to a higher order of indie satisfaction tell us your top 5 Indie games of all timezzzzz!

• Rogue Legacy (1+2)
• Mark of the Ninja
• The Messanger
• Dead Cells
• Helldivers (1+2)

Honorable mentions to...

• Antichamber
• Rocket League
• Titan Souls
• Sifu
• Brothers Tale of Two Sons. (I cried like a baby with a skinned knee... Amazing game.)

Impeccable taste, my man. Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

-The Binding of Isaac

-Inscryption

-Tetris

-Dead Cells

-Dredge

I don't know if i can even name five. But in no particular order i guess Hades, Helldivers 2, Returnal and Rocket League back in 2015 when it wasn't some esports trash.

@hardwenzen: I was in the Rocket League beta. Probably the most fun I've had in gaming in the last 10 years. It was like being in an exclusive club.

@TheEroica: Play Inscryption. Trust me.

Wait, Helldivers is considered indie?

Well, if Helldivers is considered indie then i'm gonna say the Remnant series.

Yea, before the likes of Hades and Helldivers 2, i considered it as the most fun indie game to date.

Undertale

Outer Wilds

Disco Elysium

Hades

Hollow Knight

Found my 5th game. UNO on the 360😊I have seen more BBC's in that game than what ghost has posted on his sniper1234 account.

Not exactly in this order:

1. Narita Boy
2. Journey
3. Cuphead
4. Dust: An Elysian Tail
5. Ori and the Blind Forest

Man, I remember when this used to be an easy question. Honestly don't know, so many greats.

@ConanTheStoner: Hey, Bronan.

Some that I really enjoyed off the top of my head:

- Cuphead

- Minecraft

- Ori and the Blind Forest

- Ori and the Will of the Wisps

- Another Crab’s Treasure

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights
PowerWash Simulator
Vampire Survivors
Dave the Diver

If we count the Ori games as indies then they take the top 2 spots easily. Super Meat Boy, Castle Crashers, Transistor to round out the list.

Cybershadow and Ghost Runner for honorable mentions.

@getyeryayasout: The truly exclusive club was the 5 of us that bought Super Sonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars... at launch! I get it, but I still think that is a better name.

I've asked this before, but what exactly is the metric for "indie"? Low budget? Small Team? I'll just name a few, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong.

1. Subnautica

2. Guacamole

3. Flower

4. The Swapper

5. Hotline Miami

@dimebag667: Hehe! I was going to mention SSARPBC as well, though I bought it on sale years after release for like $0.89 so I'm not as cool as you are :)

Slice, Dice, and Rice

Alien Hominid

Wreckfest

Samurai Gun

Rushdown Revolt. Y'all should check this one out because they basically give it away for free now. It's like Smash Bros but for serious fighting game fans with big balls.

@judaspete: Haha 😂 Heavy is the crown. But just remember, I put my pants on two legs at a time, just like everyone else 😜. Regardless of the name, I'm just glad those guys got the win they deserve. It's a good game.

A card game with much more?

Hmmm.... What is indie? A question that we can't see to pinpoint. I kinda always looked at indie as games coming out of studios that are owned and operated privately and not owned and funded by parent groups and publishers. As in the influence of money, suggestive ideas, and timeliness are generated from within and not based on a parent companies decisions.

The swapper was sooooo good.... Loved that game so much. I also really liked their follow up, the Swindle, which in a lot of ways is mark of the ninja as a bank robber.

Another great call on Guacamele? That Javiar Jaguar boss fight is one of the toughest I've ever played. It took a lot of patience....

Without order:

• Hotline Miami 1-2
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• The Swapper
• The Witness
• Guacamelee

Mostly big names, not sure if they are all indies 😅.

I really like first person puzzle games (Antichamber, the Room games etc). There are also many games I couldn't mention. To the Moon for example was a fine little indie game.

There are so many. Can make a list now, but it might look different tomorrow.

The Binding of Isaac
Slay the Spire
Dead Cells
Hollow Knight
Risk of Rain 2

In no particular order:

• Factorio
• Satisfactory
• Star Citizen
• DCS World
• World of Warcraft

Those are the big ones. Pretty much 95% of what I play these days is independently published or made by small-scale developers, though, so honestly this list is actively changing. With that said, those are the five I could think of.

Tell me WoW isn't indie and why, I'm curious if anyone will take the bait 😋😁😀

I don't believe it is independently published, Sony did that.

It does have the independent "feel" to it, however.

"Indie" literally means "independently published".

That is, self-published. The people that made the game either bypassed the publisher, or published it themselves (i.e. Coffee Stain Studios made the game and Coffee Stain Publishing published it)

You could extend it to mean that it is published by "independent publishers", such as Devolver Digital or Coffee Stain, but then it isn't technically 100% indie at that point.

Or take it one step further and say if it's not published by a AAA publisher, then it is indie.

It's why I always add the indie or small-scale studio caveat when I talk about indie games lol.

I've also been given a hard time for saying that games or music can feel "indie" without actually being indie and, well, it's hard to describe but games like Helldivers 1 are published by Sony but very much have an indie feel.

On the flipside, games like World of Warcraft are technically independent (Blizzard made WoW and Blizzard published WoW) despite not feeling independent.

Don't play many indies but hotline Miami was a fun game and top of my list.

@mrbojangles25: It's been bankrolled and published by Sony the series is not exactly indie. I thought the series is akin to AA game.

• Saturday Morning RPG (T'was a fun, silly game)
• Rogue Legacy 1
• Salt & Sanctuary

1. OlliOlli World
2. Limbo
3. World of Goo
4. My Time At Portia
5. Stardew Valley

Hollow Knight
Stardew Valley
Celeste
Guacamelee
Undertale

Dead cells are one of the best indian game that I played and loved a lott

Salt and sanctuary was so deliciously good man... I'll meow for that.

• Outer Wilds
• Inside
• Cocoon
• Hollow Knight

Forgot Valfaris. That's atleast worthy of an honorable mention.

@TheEroica: I didn't even know they had a follow-up to The Swapper. I'll have to check that out 👍 Stupid phone; I typed Guacamelee.

@TheEroica: Did you ever play the sequel? It's been on sale a lot of times, but I never pulled the trigger

Edit: to Salt & Sanctuary, Salt & Sacrifice

Outer wilds I've read is one of the greatest GAMES of all times. Agree?

Its not a sequel, it's just another game from curve... Actually I just realized the swapper and the swindle are only related via publisher not developer.

@mrbojangles25: Haha, I'll bite 🧛

If it just means independently published, then that is that. But you raise good points with WoW and Helldiver's. At some point, when the "indie" studio is bigger than the evil publishers, the line really starts to blur. It's like calling glass a liquid. Technically correct, but for all intents and purposes sounds silly.

As far as the "feel" of indie goes, I agree that Helldivers does fit, even if it doesn't work with the definition. But that also makes me wonder if the definition has shifted to include the feeling. And if words and definitions are fluid (just like glass 😜) then that could be the new metric. I'm not necessarily saying it should be, just that it could.

And then we could also get to the point of "who gives a sh!t"? Does anyone really care about the publishing situation, as long as the game is good? It used to be a metric of will, determination and pride to say you did it without compromise, and without help from the big boys. But in this day and age, it's never been easier to do it yourself. Just look at all the out of nowhere titles that land, when over and over giant AAA flops litter the landscape. Don't get me wrong, it's still impressive, but do I really care about how it's published, or how I want to champion their hard work and amazing creativity.

@TheEroica: Ah, gotcha 👍

@mycatismilk: never played salt and sacrifice!! Fell off my radar completely. Was it good?

@TheEroica: Haven't a clue. I haven't purchased it, I just keep seeing it on sale. :3

I don't favor that titling, but I would say it is only genre defining game in recent memory more specifically, for adventure games. Anyone who is a fan of traditional adventure games, is in for a new take on the formula.

I have it on steam and I'm kind of waiting for the moment Im feeling ready for it. My nephew claims outer worlds and subnautica are on another level.

Yeah back when I was working in kitchens a chef told me once (I think he was quoting someone) "intelligence is knowing that tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad".

You can get hung up on technicalities all day but in the end I think there needs to be some wiggle room where denotation and connotation can meet.

I think it does matter how we classify things to a point but I also think there point where we go "guess we agree to disagree" needs to come up sooner than it usually would.

It'd feel like a sin to name any 5 and leave the rest out to dry.

I agree but you can always pick the games that hasn't been mentioned.

1. Crosscode.

2. Dyson Sphere Program.

3. Deep Rock Galactic.

4. Gris.

5. To The Moon.

Here's mine

1. Cuphead
2. Owlboy
3. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
4. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
5. Furi

I tried my hardest with Crosscode but it seemed like there was a lot of grinding which turned me off. It did have its moments though. I might have to give it another chance.

OlliOlli 1&2

Rocket League

FTL

Into The Breach

Fall Guys