Submitted 22 hours ago by Elevator7009@lemmy.zip to games@lemmy.world
Given the swathes of posts about bad behavior from big companies, I figure we could counterbalance that with some positivity about stuff the smaller guys made that often costs us less too.
Shadow Empire. Best 4X wargame ever. 400 page rulebook included. Realistic logistics and planet generation 6000 years in the future!
I think I have that on my GOG account, I’ll have to check later. Also currently on sale there, too, super cheap
Valheim. Bought it late January and already got almost 400 hours on it. Play it vanilla first then modded. I played it with friends, beat final boss on Day 997, we took our times, building and all along the way. Then I started over solo with x3 resources, no raid, and move metals through portal. I just wanted to see if I could solo all game and today I just finished basically everything. So right now, I’m just collecting resources for gears and buildings. Going to make few houses across the map.
I rarely play platformers and really enjoyed Celeste
Same but with spelunky 2
In my thirst for difficult games, I 100%'d it. Took more than a 100 hours but still the most fun I’ve had mastering a game to that level of expertise
One game I love that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Subnautica. The only survival crafting game I ever finished. The story telling and athmosphere are unmatched.
One of the few games I’ve played through too!
Slay the Spire
Vampire Survivors
It might be because I was actually early aboard the hype train for this one; but this onejust scratched that “one more go” itch until 2am.
Enter the Gungeon
Randomly came across this via a YouTube short, and the art-style just meshed with me. Absolutely love the messy bullet-hell quick-play genre in general… Hades being another great example of this.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a magical experience that can’t be described honestly. On difficult stages, it engages all your senses and you’re just 100% inside, enthralled by the visuals, music and rhythm. This is probably the most focused and most precise game ever, everything it has, works. It’s not just my favorite indie game, it’s one of my favorite games ever.
Also, Night in the Woods and Keep Driving. Both resonated with me emotionally in a lot of ways, touching the things I care about. Keep Driving also has a really fun gameplay loop and an incredible music selection (which works as a boost for that emotional factor).
Sayonara Wild Hearts is such a good weekend game. Really cheap, really short, really good and with a soundtrack that you’re going to listen to long after finishing the game.
Highly recommend!
Fun fact: I discovered the soundtrack first, listened to it, checked out the game on YouTube and decided it’s not worth it. Only after something like two years of listening to the soundtrack did I get the game.
N++
Undoubtedly the best, most complete 2D platformer I’ve ever played. Super tight controls and incredible level design, coupled with an episode-long timer mechanic that you can influence makes this one absolutely unmatched. Sure, games like Celeste are flashier, but nothing is a better game than N++. I think I put something like 120 hours into this to get the platinum on PS4. I would happily start over and play the whole thing from scratch again.
Too bad the developer duo basically disappeared… I had an idea for a 2-player sequel but they never responded.
Celeste or Hades
Not just my favorite indie game, Skullgirls is my favorite game. That game is 13 years old, and there are still killer strategies that no one has even found yet, due to how flexible defense and team synergies are.
Vagante is probably my favorite roguelike, trailed closely by Streets of Rogue. As a bonus, both are playable in online and local co-op.
Sadly, the team behind Cannon Brawl never got to make another game together after making one of the best RTS games I’ve ever played, but to be fair, it wasn’t exactly super similar to the likes of C&C and StarCraft. Tooth and Tail is another great indie RTS game that I felt could be a future for the genre, but it didn’t really take off either.
There are also a handful of indie games that I’ve played that very few have. The Masterplan is just shy of being the perfect heist game, including a bunch of mechanics built around holding people at gunpoint. Mind Over Magnet is a clever magnetic platformer that deserved more attention. And most recently, I finally gave up hope that Cloak and Dasher, a fast paced platformer like Super Meat Boy or N++, will ever get another update and leave early access, but what’s there, while kind of thin, is pretty great.
Vagante’s negative reviews criticize its too-numerous insta-death traps. What would your reply be to that?
I would say it’s a game that requires you to play tactically rather than rushing through it. Especially early game, the traps are very reminiscent of Spelunky, and it’s clear where a lot of their inspiration came from, but Vagante gives you even more mechanics to deal with traps, like magic rings that let you go through walls and floors, for instance, but you won’t necessarily find them every run. Noita has caught my attention here and there, but I just never made time to try it.
I’ll put Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead up there with FTL and Dwarf Fortress.
I am having a lot of fun with Timberborn and Big Ambitions.
Timberborn is a colony builder where you are in control of beavers. You have to survive between times of good water, bad water, and no water.
Big Ambitious is a business sum in new York make by the same person who made Startup Company.
Inside Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Eternal Strands Disco Elysium
All very different and unique. All fantastic!
Pyre is my all time favorite, it’s the only game i’ve ever platinumed and still kept playing to see a few more permutations. But by terms of sheer hours put in? Rimworld.
Dungeons of Dredmor! Just a really solid, straightforward roguelike with a ton of stuff and a cheeky sense of humour.
I can’t say it’s my favorite, but after checking out all of these games, I’m just gonna post one I think all you guys would love.
NOITA
I love it and hate it at the same time. Every time after I get far down, I don’t want to play again for a long time.
The Binding of Isaac is already a famous title that has influenced so much of the roguelike/twin-stick-shooter genre. This game has permanently altered my taste in video games.
The game I’ve enjoyed as much as TBoI is Tiny Rogues. It’s much smaller, but still fantastic with rich build variety while never losing the need for skill and good reactions.
Stolen Realm is a turn-based tactical RPG that takes place in procedurally generated dungeons that play like little roguelike runs with overarching character progression. It’s multiplayer, but you can also just control up to six characters on your own too. It does eventually feel pretty repetitive and there are point that seem impossible to win, but it’s a unique game where you continually build that roguelike power fantasy and just progressively become power to the point of it becoming game breaking.
Going Under is an adorable roguelite where you fight through various levels themed around a blend of corporate stereotypes and fantasy creatures like a crypto company run by skeletons or a delivery company run by goblins. The combat is a vaguely souls-like with an emphasis on weight and timing, but your weapons are office items found in each room with that break down very quickly.
Webbed is a cute puzzle/platformer where you play as a little spider on a quest to save your spider boyfriend. The main gimmick is that you can shoot webs to create platforms, pull things, attach things to each other and more. It’s a short and sweet game that’s still decently challenging. It’s the only non-roguelike indie I recommend and it’s that good that I love it despite it being in a genre I rarely play and almost never finish.
Cave Story, the original 2004 version.
I played it a long time ago and I still think about that game from time to time.
Cave Story is undoubtedly the greatest Metroidvania made to date of which I know.
Cave Story really isn’t a metroidvania. The path splits at points, but there’s very little choice where to explore. It’s just a platformer action shooter.
My favorite metroidvania has to be Aquaria. Vibes of the game are on point. The story is great for a game in that genre, and the traversal and combat are unique and tons of fun. Soundtrack is phenomenal.
Check out Gato Roboto if you want a metroidvania similar to Cave Story!
Slice & Dice is the best dice-building roguelite ever and has a free demo that is only content-limited and allows you to already play an infinite amount of runs. I literally played the demo as much as a paid game for a month until I bit down—so hard that, once, when I had my phone in hand and intended to take a shower, I ended up crouching on the bathroom floor furthering a run for an hour before finally pausing to return to the real world.
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone offers awesome online co-op. Noita’s world is just endless (people are still discovering new spell permutations years later). I will never turn down someone’s offer or request to watch a run of FTL: Faster Than Light.
The AAA world is not impressive to me at all, and if anything gets deprioritized in my book; graphics or a third-person view do not a fantastic game make.
Slime Rancher, though most of my library is indie so I could list like ten others.
I won’t list out the “big” famous ones since those get covered anyway (Stardew, Undertale etc.)
There are plenty I love that have a little less polish but charm their way through, like Calico and Yonder. I also just played through Tunic and quite enjoyed it.
A solid indie publisher is Reddeer games - about half my switch titles are by them. Finji is another.
Brotato
Judging by the playtime, Rimworld. It is such an important part of my life at this point, it’s not even funny. I’ve played thousands of hours, and don’t regret it
I’ll have to go with Selaco, it’s not even finished (in fact it’s approximately half done) but it feels more complete than any mainline Halo game after H:Reach. Looks better too.
super meat boy
I guess either Shovel Knight or Hades
It's probably between stardew valley, rivals of aether, or cheaper world.
There's also a number that are almost perfect like wargroove, peglin, and kingdom rush.
Rivals was such a fun/approachable platform fighter. Still is
Cult of the Lamb.
Most of what I play is indie and choosing a favorite is too hard, so instead I’ll go with biggest playtime. Antimatter Dimensions, also on Steam, has quickly shot to having the highest playtime of my Steam library. It is an idle/incremental game.
Not counting that, I’d probably have to go with Stardew Valley.
free in the browser without IAPs
Like what else?
Lots more I cannot remember off the top of my head
lukkolocku@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Crumble A speedrunning platforming game, where you play as a blob with a tongue. Pleasant experience to play through while learning, while absolutely balls to the walls insane when actually speedrunning
Cyberpulse Twin-stick arcade neo style virus slamming game. Great control precision, challenging and colourful. The right thumbstick pressing might take a bit of getting used to.
Pseudoregalia Such a fun old school platformer. Big bunny girl MC for some reason but SUPER FUN and satisfying movement mechanics and the world is built well enough for the mechanics. A few hour long game, unless you look everything up.
Actually going to put some indie demos here I played this weekend, that I really enjoyed: Half-Sword Physics based medieval combat game. Reminds me of Exanima but instead of 2.5D, you can play Half-sword in 3rd or 1st person, which is really fun. Can have full gore or turn the gore completely off.
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon First person (potentially later also 3rd person) RPG, very much in the vein of Elder Scrolls or Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Really enjoyed the demo, it takes place on the tutorial island/dungeon. Going to buy the full version when it releases, because there seems to be a save wipe for 1.0.
Bloodthief Reminds me of Neon White and Ultrakill having an even more indie baby. Seemed to be pretty simple and good speedrunning platforming fun.
Shape of Dreams 2.5D action RPG roguelike. Very pretty and gameplay feels good. Didn’t play it quite enough yet, only thing I kinda disliked was the amount of cooldowns on abilities.
9Kings Small town defense game with waves of enemies led by other kings attacking your kingdom. Really enjoyed this one. Demo isn’t too difficult, even when I am really bad with these type of games.
RKGK (RAKUGAKI) 3rd person platforming game, where you bring some colour to the world with your graffiti. Very fun movement and popping colours. The dialogue isn’t necessarily for me but the gameplay felt really fun.
Unbeatable Colourful rhythm adventure game, style is grear and soundtrack slaps.