Are indie titles the best games?

[whm1974]

I've been playing quite a few indies during the last several years and now I'm thinking that should be considered the best as they certainly way to much fun to play. For example, "Basingstoke" along with "Salt and Sanctuary" are the best indies I have played.

So my fellow gamers, what some of your favorites indie titles?

 

[Zenoth]

Not in order of preference, my favorite Indies would be:

- They Are Billions (one of the best RTS games I've played in recent years)
- Cuphead (superb art style, animations, designs, music)
- Broforce (just brainless fun)
- The Binding of Isaac (very creative designs and a nice unique atmosphere)
- Gratuitous Space Battles (amazing sci-fi Turn-Based-meets-RTS hybrid)
- World of Goo (amazing soundtrack, nice puzzles, charming game)
- Enter the Gungeon (plain arcade-style fun in the veins of Total Carnage but on steroids)

And I suppose, technically Indie games; but that I now consider quite a bit more than that would be:

- No Man's Sky (not at launch, and probably not until the release of their 'Next' update; but now it's considerably better than it ever was before)
- Subnautica (very well executed game)
- The Talos Principle (possibly the greatest 'puzzle' style game I've ever played, at least when it comes to 3D ones)
- Ori and the Blind Forest (simply spectacular and grabs onto one's emotions very easily)

I've played more over the years but I didn't get into them much (Terraria, Stardew Valey, Super Meat Boy, etc).

 

[whm1974]

One thing I like about indies is that indie development teams are more likely to support Linux then AAA Studios are.

 

[Franz316]

I can highly recommend What Remains of Edith Finch

 

[whm1974]

Thanks guys. I brought and played "Salt and Sanctuary" due to all the rave reviews I was reading at the time. However I haven't finished yet, so maybe one day I will.

 

[whm1974]

Found this article on Indie vs AAA:
https://g33kp0rn.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/aaa-games-vs-indy-games-is-there-really-a-difference/
Insightful, and is AAA gaming sustainable in the long run due to the ever increasing budgets?

 

[EXCellR8]

I'm not super into Indies, but I really liked Axiom Verge and Dead Cells

 

[cmdrdredd]

Not even close at all. I find 99% of indie games to be trash. Many of them are very poor platformers. Some use “retro” styling as a gimmick to hide an otherwise poorly executed game.

They don’t all suck but I don’t find them to be anywhere near the best games. I play all the free ones from Sony on my PS4 and from humble bundle

 

[EXCellR8]

Some indie developers are in it for the right reason, and I can respect that, but others release half-baked crap to get their 10 bills and then the game gets abandoned. There are definitely some gems to be found but yes a high percentage is shovelware.

 

[mooncancook]

There is treasure buried under the trash. And I appreciate the fact that indie developers know that they can't compete with big publishers in pure resources, so they find other ways to innovate, which brings a breath of needed fresh air.

 

[whm1974]

There is treasure buried under the trash. And I appreciate the fact that indie developers know that they can't compete with big publishers in pure resources, so they find other ways to innovate, which brings a breath of needed fresh air.

Which is why I read review first buying or try the Demo if there is one.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Oh there's a metric ton of garbage indie developers who were only in it to cash in on the indie craze. However, there's also a metric ton of garbage AAA games made by people who never cared about fixing bugs, glitches, but instead only added more DLC or lootboxes. You gotta be picky about what you buy and look at the right places.

 

[PajamaParty]

There are some very good indies and some very bad indies. The same with AAA games. To say that a game is better than some other game just because it's an indie would be wrong.

Some of the indies I enjoyed are Dead Cells and Hollow Knight, but I could list a few more for each genre for sure.

 

[zink77]

Like with anything else most of everything is crap. The reality is indies don't have the funds to do AAA games... but AAA gaming has gone to shit with the rise of the internet with microtransactions, drm and gambling inside games. Gaming as a whole is a clusterfuck.