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Top Indie Games You Wouldn't Mind Paying For
Alan Skorkin writes "If you are sick of the boring and overpriced commercial games, then have a look at this list. These are
some of the best indie games out there — innovative, immersive, great gameplay and very reasonably priced (some are even free). You would never feel cheated after buying and playing these games. In fact, you would feel like you got the better end of the deal, and that is a lot more than can be said for the vast majority of commercial games out there."
I was seriously impressed with the combat on horseback. When I tried the game, the rest of it was a bit of a clear work-in-progress (that may have changed now), but I've never seen horseback combat done as well as that.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
I haven't played most of the games on the list, however I have played Mount and Blade. And it really is a great game. The graphics are a bit dated, but the gameplay is fantastic. It has easily the best melee combat I've ever played. (It puts Oblivion to shame in that regard.) I downloaded and tried the demo, and it wasn't long before I purchased a serial for it.
For folks who want a bit more detail, the melee combat system works thus: you control the direction of every swing as well as block, by how you move your mouse when you start the swing or block (but there are other options you can choose from, if that doesn't suit your style). The same works when fighting on horseback, and when you're using a pole-arm on horseback you can couch it and run enemies through with it for massive damage. Also, if you run over foot soldiers with your horse, they get knocked down and take damage.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
I want someone to crack the Ninja Gaiden engine, and infuse it with light sabers and force powers. I know Force Unleashed looks awesome, but I don't know if it will be on par with the Ninja Gaiden combat system.
An entire series of rather graphically and musically impressive shooters--all made by a single programmer in his spare time. They're a hell of a lot of fun to play, and their difficult ranges from mildly challenging to rather crazy to utterly nightmarish.
The best free games I've found in a while are Shmups from . Most of them have linux packages, and the windows versions work great in wine too. Fast paced, colorful, intense arcade shooters, it doesn't get much better than this. Go play Torus Trooper and tell me your jaw doesn't drop.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Where was Postal and Postal2?
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Braid is not listed!?!
Having gotten the demo, I had to buy it. The game is absolutly brilliant. It is a work of art, with mindbending, unique puzzles, AND a lot of fun, all at the same time.
If you have an XBOX 360, install the free demo, and if you like it, buy it.
Test your net with Netalyzr
Defcon is wonderful, and it's by the same people that do Uplink and Darwinia, and like their other games, comes in Windows, Mac, and Linux versions.
One of the most engrossing games I have played in years! Also, no DRM, great developer support.
It in nice to be treated like an adult by the developer!
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
If you're looking for a modern and fun combination of the classics Star Control II and Elite, check out Trancendence. Very well done and free.
http://neurohack.com/transcendence/
I enjoy savage2 every now and then.
I agree with the author of the article that Depths of Peril is probably the best indie RPG available today. But of course I haven't played them all. (And he's obviously slanted towards RPGs based on his list.)
I find more and more that my game purchases are smaller games, or just donating on the Paypal buttons of freeware games I like. The last indie game I bought was a simple, mindless (but strangely addictive - at least at first) tile RPG called Battle of Tiles that cost $4.95.
There are so many indie games (freeware and shareware) out there that it's hard to find time to sort through them all.
I have burned so much time in Mount & Blade.
It's such a great sandbox rpg game. There are so many ways to play, without even getting into the mods available. Also, this is a great time to start playing since the game is in its final beta stages.
In the new version, the start is fairly difficult. I'd recommend spending the first few levels participating in the melees in the city arenas and training in the training grounds.
With all the great indie games out these days, I don't know why I occasionally buy retail. I always come back to Mount & Blade and Dwarf Fortress.
This is an excellent list, though I am somewhat disappointed that only one game I looked at (and I checked out most of them) had a native Linux version. I'm sure some work with Wine, but I'm too lazy to look. I'll definitely be trying out Eschalon tonight.
Also, I played Battles of Norghan a few years back and it was addicting. It's a very unique game...the description from TFA, "a blend of strategy and RPG" is about as accurate as you can get, but it really doesn't play like any other game (that I know of) that is called a strategy/RPG. I was a poor college student at the time so I didn't buy it, but I may have to re-download the demo and get into it again.
I have not gotten around to playing it just yet, but reading the story of Boatmurdered prompted me to download it.
The dwarven settlement of Boatmurdered (eh what?) is created and eventually run to the ground by several players, each governing the city for one year of game time. Madness ensues (with lots of homicidal elephants).
I'm a fan of Aquaria, which is sort of an unreal underwater action-adventure Metroidvania sort of thing. It's stunningly beautiful, fun, and reasonably priced.
One of the more fiendishly clever flash puzzle/platformers I've encountered, Shift has the same "Pick up and Play for a few hours" with simple game mechanics that made Portal so fascinating.
There's a couple sequels out there, too. I'd gladly pay for a longer, more complete version of this game.
Seriously. How can the article not even mention the best (and cutest) platform game ever?
For the Slashdot crowd, I can think of nothing better than Fantastic Contraption. It's a free* flash based physics game, where you can construct all sorts of machines, vehicles, catapults, bridges, or whatever else solves the task of 'get this object from a to b'. There's a whole slew of user generated content like the 'find the simplest solution' challenge, or the 'find a green (no motors) solution' challenge.
www.fantasticcontraption.com
*For a $10 donation you get the ability to design your own levels, but that's more of an optional extra than an essential.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
I glanced at a few that looked good and saw Mac support in all the ones I looked at.
I love this trend! I'd be even more impressed if they had linux support as well, but anything but windows is fine with me.
Hmm, "Anything But Windows" would make a great replacement for "News for Nerds".
What blows me away about the game is that you have realistic alternatives for combat and they're all fun.
So far, I've played:
- horse archer on fast horse with two stacks of arrows who rides around shooting people in the face.
- super fast guy on foot who specializes in axes both thrown and wielded.
- traditional knight on warhorse with a lance, sword, shield, and a couple javelins.
- asshole commander who sits on the hill and yells at his troops. (okay, not quite as fun)
Lately I've got a lancer/archer hybrid. On non-mountainous terrain, she kicks all sorts of ass. I'm trying to create an all woman crew (it's way harder to recruit peasant women in this version).
Geneforge series, Exile series, Avernum, Nethergate- all are simply brilliant. I liked Exile 3 most of all, but all are well worth playing.
--Coder
I'd spend $2-$3 to support "You Got A Grappling Hook".
A simple game that has a unique play mechnic, and a great story.
http://www.starflight3.org/
sigh.
Yeah, and I'd pay for it too.
No Battle for Wesnoth love?
Are those too old school, or what? :-(
I've been playing those on VestaPup (a nice Puppy Linux variant), and it's been wonderful! :-)
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
I'd pay for a new Battle for Wesnoth campaign. I'd love to see a bazaar arise, where multiple organizations provide images and story ideas, while all working on the same backend.
Guess I should provide links. :-) Spring is here (TA fans check it out!), and Nexuiz would be here.
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
Spring is one of the best games (RTS) I have ever played the interface is a little rough and it takes a bit to learn unless you played Total Annihilation, but it is incredible for an open-source indie game
"If you are sick of the boring and overpriced commercial games [here's a list of free games because you must be incapable of searching for them]."
Tomorrow, here's a link to LOLcats in case you haven't heard of them.
Bunny Must Die is a great Metroidvania-like game. It's short of course but full of ideas and memorable awesome moments (nope, I don't speak Japanese either). Oh and there's two free games from the developer available: Magical Harvest and Jabberwock which are similar to Zelda games except with more shooting.
Generally a good source for japanese indie games is Palet if you're inclined to actually buy them.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
It's worth noting that Positech is the game company which gained some Slashdottery earlier by being the company whose developer opened a dialogue with software pirates to find out why they do what they do. And because of that, he has removed all DRM and dropped the prices of his games and made bigger and better demos... and a bunch of other things. He's worth checking out.
"I am an Adept of Tantric VAX."
At least, not what most people mean. Stardock may not be a major publisher, but still. The game was written by a development studio, has a publisher, and is for sale in all major stores. Generally by indy people mean a game written by a couple of guys, or maybe just one, and for sale on the the web.
Don't get me wrong, Sins is a great game, possibly the best of 2008, but I wouldn't call it an indy.
Sword of the Stars is pretty good too; it's kind of a cross between Gal Civ 2 and Sins, with turn based strategic gameplay and real-time controllable battles. It's developed by ex Barking Dog Studios peeps, just like Sins :)
Highlights:
No DRM that I've noticed, at least over Impulse.
Semi-randomized tech-trees based on a race's strengths. Just because you've researched Lasers doesn't mean you're going to get Phasers, and research can end early or hit time/cost overruns. Adds extra layers of risk to research.
Radically different propulsion methods for each race. e.g. Humans have very rapid travel along specific "Node lines", but can't stop or turn around mid-way if they detect overwhelming odds on the other side. Hivers have no faster-than-light travel, and take ages to get anywhere, but if they arrive intact they can deploy hypergates to provide instant travel between other gates.
Customizable ships, but not quite to the overwhelming degree of GalCiv 2.
Paying for a game like "Depths of Peril". With any game, I play with the intent of having a fun experience that will make me want to go out and buy it. I always look at the price first to see if that price reflects a quality that I could tolerate. The game lacks a lot of visual polish, which made it very difficult for me to get into the game. The gameplay was also nothing new. Oh, and the website? looks like something I made in 1995. I have a rule of thumb with indie games, and it generally holds true. If the website looks like shit, the game probably looks and plays the same way.
I'm not trying to be a big time jerk here. I just couldn't get into the game. I looked at the keyboard menu and felt overwhelmed. I scanned it and it just made me say "what the fuck?". I tried playing the game and felt like I had no direction for any of the quests (a good tutorial would have helped here).
Essentially, I played better games on my NES that looked roughly the same. If I wanted to pay that kind of money for a game, I'd find one that had better quality put into it. At $10, Depths of Peril might feel fun.
I'm dismayed that AudioSurf wasn't on that list. Not that that game needs more help to make sales (STEAM has seen to that it sells well). It's just nice to see a list that actually recommends good games. I can't say this one has.
If you're into Galaxian-style space shooters, you can't do better than Warblade and it's also available for the Mac. The graphics are stunning. The gameplay is really good, but if there's a complaint it's that you can build up a powerful arsenal of weapons at high levels but if you hit the wrong powerup, you become weak again and it doesn't matter how many lives you have, you'll die a quick painful death.
Anyone ever played The Kingdom of Loathing? It's sort of a cross between a text adventure and an MMO, with some writing that I'd put up there with The Hitchhiker's Guide in terms of humor.
I found out about it two weeks ago from an article in The Escapist, and I can't stop playing it.
And it's free (donations welcome, as it pays the developers' salaries).
An extreamly great indie MMO:
Wurm Online
http://www.wurmonline.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurm_Online
Played it for years now...
I'd be more interested in a review of the results of those actions. See if pirates really can back up their rhetoric with results.
You must be new on /.
I would start by hunting Jellyfish - http://www.bluestar.com.au/jelly.php
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