Board 8 > Johnbobb ranks every indie game he's ever played

(+) Yeah! (+)

Johnbobb posted...

53. Jazzpunk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZqGO6iBb8

When I try to think of the funniest games I've played, Jazzpunk pretty much always comes to mind. I have no idea how to actually describe this game. It's vaguely about an undercover 1950s spy that feels kind of like a James Bond/Hitman mashup, but that barely matters. This is quite possibly the most absurd game I've played. None of it makes any sense, but it's hilarious and worth experincing for yourself.

I watched this trailer and I have no idea wtf just happened.

I forgot to track this once you started it.

I will not make that mistake again.

azuarc posted...

I watched this trailer and I have no idea wtf just happened.

that's a pretty accurate portrayal of the game tbh

Yeahhhhh Thumper

I think I own Jazzpunk somehow, I should play it maybe.

If you like Jazzpunk you should play Sonic Dreams Collection

foolm0r0n posted...

If you like Jazzpunk you should play Sonic Dreams Collection

Goddammit I need to add another to this list

I completely blanked that Sonic Dreams Collection is an indie game and not something actually done by Sonic Team

Bonus Ranking: Sonic Dreams Collection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-QSEZ7ltX4

The fact that this is a real game that was made and Ben Esposito can still manage to get work in the industry is just proof that Sega is more forgiving than Nintendo. It's presented as 4 mini-games that they claim are hacked scrapped projects from the Sonic series. There's Make My Sonic (which doesn't feel that far off from the OC-maker in Sonic Frontiers) and Eggman Origin (a faux-MMO that is basically a bunch of empty space with some eggs). The third game, Sonic Movie Maker, is by far the highlight of the collection. You're a filmmaker thrown into various scenarios where you have to record the adventures of Sonic and friends, with the ability to grab things and move them closer and farther away. Probably the most normal of the games, and would make for a great standalone game under Sonic Team's direction. The fourth, My Roommate Sonic, is a dating sim where you're given the opportunity to try to seduce Sonic. Legitimately, how did Arcane Kids not get sued into oblivion for this one?

I'm gonna drop this just under Roundabout at #88

50. Flower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IS9sGGuvYo

Flower will likely always be known as the game that led to the later creation of Journey, but it's an excellent, beautiful game in its own right. Legitimately, Flower is one of the most relaxing games I think I've ever played. It serves as a great example of what indie games could present that bigger studios never could. Sometimes you just want to play as some loose flower petals flowing through the wind.

49. Gang Beasts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz0BriND6pE

Gang Beasts fluctuates back and forth beween having me love it and hate it, often during the same play session. It doesn't always work quite right, and I fully don't understand what determines how fast you get knocked out and how goddamn long it takes for your opponent to get knocked out. The game has side modes, but does anybody actually play those? Really the appeal here is to beat the absolute living shit out of your friends and random strangers online while wearing silly costumes. I think the biggest draw is the vast variety of stages; sometimes you're fighting in a wrestling room just to throw people off the top rope, other times you're trying to throw them off of a moving car or a blimp or into the ocean, and in each level the way you have to interact with it feels different. My favorite stages are probably the dangling ones: the dual elevators and the scaffoldings can both dropped if you're chaotic enough, potentially killing everyone at once. In the subgenre of random, silly beatups like Fall Guys and Party Animals (which I haven't played yet, but it looks fun), Gang Beasts still stands out.

Johnbobb posted...

Legitimately, how did Arcane Kids not get sued into oblivion for this one?

Fair use since it's actually indie, i.e. no funding or commercialism involved

Wtf Flower too low

Gang Beasts is fun until you get the ferris wheel level and it turns into a 10 minute "who can stay on the single pole" slugfest.

Lots of cool-looking games here I was unaware of! Don't know how I missed Chants of Sennaar but I'm glad it's on my radar now.

Isquen posted...

Gang Beasts is fun until you get the ferris wheel level and it turns into a 10 minute "who can stay on the single pole" slugfest.

Buoy is the worst stage imo

HanOfTheNekos posted...

Wtf Flower too low

Basically everything at this point is at least a solid 9/10

foolm0r0n posted...

Fair use since it's actually indie, i.e. no funding or commercialism involved

If it was Pokmon-based, Nintendo would still find a way

andylt posted...

Lots of cool-looking games here I was unaware of! Don't know how I missed Chants of Sennaar but I'm glad it's on my radar now.

I'm glad! I'm always on the lookout for cool new indie experiences

48 and 47. Overcooked! & Overcooked 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-FR-apUaX0

I was very torn how I wanted to rank the Overcooked games. There have been some slots where multiple games share the same entry, and others where they're separate because of gaps in their rankings. Both Overcooked games are an absolute blast, and I think Overcooked 2 is definitely better than the first (almost entirely just because of having the ability to throw shit across the kitchen, which is of course the true kitchen experience). Initially I had a little more gap between these two, but then ultimately moved them together because I couldn't really justify a big jump the same way I could with Little Nightmares 1 and 2 for example. Fun fact: I played through the Overcooked games with a friend who I had met working in kitchen together, and I swear trying to play this gave me flashbacks in a way that is equal parts stressful and extremely fun.

46. Stacking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJtypcyL5I

Another Tim Schafer! If you like Double Fine's other games and haven't played Stacking (which isn't unlikely, as Stacking unfortunately flew way under the radar) I highly recommend you check it out. It's such a unique mechanic, essentially a puzzle adventure game where you have to proceed using the abilities of various silly characters. But you can only use those characters that are exactly one matryoshka doll size above you (so sometimes you have to capture others to capture that one) and only if you can trick them into facing away from you. It's filled with the classic style of Double Fine humor and is throughoughly enjoyable to play. They didn't cut corners on putting flavor into it either, putting everything into a sort of parody of the industrial revolution with the goal of saving your siblings from an oil baron.

45. Kena: Bridge of Spirits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWh5388AEHw

Fun fact: I've recently been talking with a friend who made fun of me for quitting Nioh 2 for it being too hard (don't come at me, it is, I've played basically every Soulslike, but fuck that game in particular). He's recently been going through Kena: Bridge of Spirits and OH HO HO HO LOOK WHO'S STRUGGLING NOW. Kena is deceptive, because what looks like a normal indie adventure with silly little animal sidekicks is actually one of the most brutally and uncompromisingly difficult action adventures this side of Sekiro. Legitimately, you'll probably watch the trailer thinking "oh that doesn't look too bad" because I did the exact same thing, and then three hours into fighting the fucking Corrupt Woodsmith you'll just be sitting there wondering, "Is it me? Am I bad at video games now?" I mean why is the "collect silly hats for your teenie little blog friends" game this hard? Kena is a visual wonder, with a 3D world that looks much better than most games with 10x its budget manage to.

44. Her Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHw97l7-Lc

You've gotta admire Sam Barlow's commitment to bringing back live action games. Her Story benefits from being his first game to really put this style into the public eye. It's one of the only games (maybe the only game) where I've actively felt compelled to take notes while playing. Legitimately, I had Notepad open the whole time to keep track of important words and what they meant in the context in order to keep deepdiving into the story. And goddamn, what a story this is. It's complex and absolutely fascinating, enough so that I played the entire thing through in one sitting when not intending to because I legitimately couldn't put it down.

43. Abzu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2G54w8H4oM

I think Abzu kind of spelled the end for thatgamecompany in a way. Some of the best talent that made Journey the hit it was went on to form Giant Squid, creating Abzu as a sort of spiritual successor to the uniquely gorgeous visuals and music of Journey and Flower, and by the time another thatgamecompany game finally released, it would be the microtransaction-riddled and uninspired Sky: Children of the Light years later. Abzu, though, is truly beautiful. So much so that there was a moment, maybe 2/3 or so of the way into the game, where I was swimming with some manta rays and listening to whale songs and thought, "man, this is specifically why I like video games."

And that completes this tier! Only 3 more left

Johnbobb posted...

45. Kena: Bridge of Spirits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWh5388AEHw

Fun fact: I've recently been talking with a friend who made fun of me for quitting Nioh 2 for it being too hard (don't come at me, it is, I've played basically every Soulslike, but fuck that game in particular). He's recently been going through Kena: Bridge of Spirits and OH HO HO HO LOOK WHO'S STRUGGLING NOW. Kena is deceptive, because what looks like a normal indie adventure with silly little animal sidekicks is actually one of the most brutally and uncompromisingly difficult action adventures this side of Sekiro. Legitimately, you'll probably watch the trailer thinking "oh that doesn't look too bad" because I did the exact same thing, and then three hours into fighting the fucking Corrupt Woodsmith you'll just be sitting there wondering, "Is it me? Am I bad at video games now?" I mean why is the "collect silly hats for your teenie little blog friends" game this hard? Kena is a visual wonder, with a 3D world that looks much better than most games with 10x its budget manage to.

When Asterigos came out, my reaction was "it's Kena with a white girl as the lead." But I've played Asterigos and I haven't played Kena, so now I'm wondering how true that is, given that it shows up on my wishlist intermittently whenever there's a sale.

I really need to play Her Story.

ABZU is an astonishingly beautiful game but part of me wants it to be non-linear and have more focus on the scuba part. And then I realize what I actually want is just Endless Ocean 3 lmao

Abzu is super beautiful and completely empty. It killed thatgamecompany because it revealed that people like Journey for the superficiality far more than the gameplay.

The "Legitimate Game of the Year Contenders IMO" Tier

42. The Unfinished Swan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFfteZaAXq4

I feel like this one was actually benefited somewhat by when it came out. Now I feel like the first-person surreal/scifi-gimmick puzzle-based exploration genre of indie game is a little oversaturated given how many have come out in the last decade, but when The Unfinished Swan arrived, it was still fairly new. Unfinished Swan's gimmick might be fairly simple but it's immediately striking; you start in a blank, white environment and have to discover it by throwing paint at things until you can slowly uncover where you're going and what you're doing. As the game goes on, the environment changes and becomes more visible, but always makes that great use of negative space. Sometimes you're throwing paint, sometimes water, all while slowly unraveling the tragic story of the King and his kingdom.

41. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HINFL5YrXMA

Man I am a sucker for a murder mystery, especially a murder mystery with supernatural aspects, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter delivers that in waves. You make your way through a tiny town looking for a lost child, Ethan Carter. Everyone is dead or missing, and like several of the games covered previously, you have to find out why. But instead of "they all mysteriously disappeared," you soon discover that basically everoyne here was killed by someone else, and you have to slowly piece together why through supernatural communication with the spirits of the dead and Batman-like visual recreation of the events, occasionally interspersed with surreal, mysterious segments revealing bits of Ethan's mind. Piecing together the story is kind of wild as it turns out everyone was being killed because Ethan released an evil spirit into the town that made everyone kill each other one by one, infectious horror movie style. And THEN it reveals you are a figment of Ethan's imagination allowing Ethan to live out violent supernatural fantasies, most significantly the deaths of his abusive family, in his last moments of life as he's trapped in a burning building with no way out. I've seen mixed reactions to the twists, but it still sticks in my end as one of the most shocking game endings.

40. Undertale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hojv0m3TqA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSqIJRbmaW4

39. Spiritfarer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pKJ-NuSjNE

I played this one on the recommendation of a close friend, and part of me still regrets doing so, because Spiritfarer quite possibly made me cry more than any other game I've played. There's a couple that might come close, but I do honestly think Spiritfarer takes it. It feels pretty inevitable given the subject matter of the game, as you are quite literally escorting people to the afterlife. Every time there's a whole scene of it where you slowly boat them toward their death, and I always fully know what's coming and what to expect, and yet every fucking time it gets me. Because once they're gone, they're gone, and the unique presence they bring to the ship is gone with them. You meet new characters, always knowing their fate ahead of time, but there's always a distinct emptiness on your ship, emphasized by the rooms you built for them remaining abandoned on your overcrowded boat. If there was an award for emotional manipulation of the player, Spiritfarer has very little competition.

38. Doki Doki Literature Club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB1663FTpzU

OH HEY SPEAKING OF EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION. DDLC is interesting because it's a surprise horror game that specifically can't really hide that it's a surprise horror game because it specifically comes with warnings right at the beginning (which is for the best, even if it spoils the surprise). It doesn't really spoil it too much though, because it pretty expertly pulls you into a false sense of security. You see the warning at the beginning, start playing expecting things to get fucked up, and then they just... don't. The game continues to play for hours like a normal cutesy dating sim, and eventually that sense of waiting for something bad to happen goes away and you start to legitimately learn about the characters and the game feels like what it presents itself to be. And as soon as you let your guard down, GET FUCKED PLAYER YOU THOUGHT WE FORGOT? EVERYTHING IS WORSE THAN YOU EXPECTED AND THEN SOME

fucking monikammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The content warning enhanced DDLC a ton for me. I spent the dating sim portion constantly on edge, getting concerned over every little thing that seemed off, and there were a lot of them

I understand why people (both devs and players) want games to be surprising but I can't tell you how infuriating it is to see a game on Steam that's named something like "Whimsical Friends Island" with a description like "A wholesome game where you lead a comfy life on an island where nothing ever goes wrong :)" and I'm just sitting there like. Great! This product description tells me absolutely nothing.

Seeing all the gameplay games die early, and now some of these higher ranking things...

Specifically seeing Unfinished Swan, I just know a stinker like Edith Finch is going to crack the top 10, which is probably one of the worst 'games' of the last 15 years.

Edith Finch is awesome

I played Swan or Ethan Carter for like 20 mins each and they were so meh

Undertale robbed

Spiritfarer seems great too, forgot to play that one

Edith Finch is enjoyable, but nothing beats The Stanley Parable in that genre of walking simulator. I might not have Edith Finch be any higher than this on my own list.

And yes, Undertale was robbed.

TomNook posted...

Seeing all the gameplay games die early, and now some of these higher ranking things...

Specifically seeing Unfinished Swan, I just know a stinker like Edith Finch is going to crack the top 10, which is probably one of the worst 'games' of the last 15 years.

Not gonna spoil my list but this feels like a wild take

Sheep007 posted...

The content warning enhanced DDLC a ton for me. I spent the dating sim portion constantly on edge, getting concerned over every little thing that seemed off, and there were a lot of them

Kenri posted...

I understand why people (both devs and players) want games to be surprising but I can't tell you how infuriating it is to see a game on Steam that's named something like "Whimsical Friends Island" with a description like "A wholesome game where you lead a comfy life on an island where nothing ever goes wrong :)" and I'm just sitting there like. Great! This product description tells me absolutely nothing.

I do appreciate the content warning of the game and I think the game is better for it

I also remember watching a Zero Punctuation video once where he was talking about how the steam bestsellers all look terrible and he was annoyed that some weeb dating sim was #1, and all the comments were just like "he doesn't know!"

The entire trend of games with "meta twists" where people are like "it's not what you expect but I can't tell you anything about the game because that will spoil it!" is really annoying and overdone and gets worse every time another one of them becomes successful. Obviously everyone knows about it because it's the only thing that players ever talk about so people who haven't played the game basically get "pre-spoiled" by knowing that it's one of those types of games.

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

The entire trend of games with "meta twists" where people are like "it's not what you expect but I can't tell you anything about the game because that will spoil it!" is really annoying and overdone and gets worse every time another one of them becomes successful. Obviously everyone knows about it because it's the only thing that players ever talk about so people who haven't played the game basically get "pre-spoiled" by knowing that it's one of those types of games.

I think it's also that most meta-twist games just aren't as good as what they're trying to copy, and a lot of them feel like they're going for shock value/niche internet audiences rather than getting an authentic experience across. To use a couple of the very popular games with meta twists in this thread, Undertale and DDLC basically codified the modern deconstructions of their genres, and the twists are integral to that. They're still pretty good regardless of whether you know the twist. The same can't be said for the hundreds of other self-referential pieces of media which don't typically have the same meat on the bones to justify the whole "ohhh I can't tell you what it's about!!" stuff.

The game that annoyed me the most on the "can't tell you" front was Outer Wilds, which isn't even a meta-twist game, but holy crap if you wouldn't see literally every reference to Outer Wilds for a while go "just trust me bro, it's so amazeballs good but I can't tell you why." They refused to even explain the gameplay, the genre, or anything else.

At least now I think people generally know it's a time loop game. But I ultimately bought the game just to see why SO many people were giving us the "trust me bro" routine...and -- big surprise! -- I didn't like it because it was a type of game I don't enjoy. I didn't like Myst in 1993, and I haven't liked any game that resembles it ever since.

Human society needs to get less anal about spoilers in general.

Oh, there are definitely times when I've been on the other end of not wanting to be spoiled. The folks in the Genshin channel probably know me as the person who very pointedly doesn't want to hear anything about leaks. But in the case of Outer Wilds, the "can't spoil it" bit was extreme. I wouldn't angrily rant against the game if I had never played it, and if I had known what it was going in...I wouldn't have played it!

azuarc posted...

The game that annoyed me the most on the "can't tell you" front was Outer Wilds, which isn't even a meta-twist game, but holy crap if you wouldn't see literally every reference to Outer Wilds for a while go "just trust me bro, it's so amazeballs good but I can't tell you why." They refused to even explain the gameplay, the genre, or anything else.

To be fair it's because the first loop, which is like an hour, is so damn good and impactful if you don't know the twist. If you just played that, and then quit the game because you don't like exploration deduction games, you would still have a great experience, since it's a very different genre than the rest of the game. The demo of the game that was around for years was mostly this part of the game, so that's how the word of mouth spread initially.

Some games now reveal their hand way too early though. Slay the Princess for example is immediately a meta game and you think it will escalate but it stays pretty flat after that. And honestly even DDLC messed itself up with all the Monika stuff. Really undermined the real horror parts of the game.

foolm0r0n posted...

To be fair it's because the first loop, which is like an hour, is so damn good and impactful if you don't know the twist. If you just played that, and then quit the game because you don't like exploration deduction games, you would still have a great experience

I guess I was just always destined to not like this game, then, because I didn't even find the beginning engaging, either.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Human society needs to get less anal about spoilers in general.

I totally disagree actually, I hate the modern idea that shit gets spoiled the second it's released (maybe even beforehand) with a passion. But to use azuarc's example, saying that Outer Wilds is a time loop game is not even remotely a spoiler. It's a) one of the first things you learn about and b) the entire conceit of the game! The genre, conceit, and usually the first hour or so of a game are not spoilers.

azuarc posted...

I guess I was just always destined to not like this game, then, because I didn't even find the beginning engaging, either.

I liked the game a lot but the beginning kinda sucks shit IMO, I dropped the game for months after my first loop.

I generally like going into games knowing very little about them. All I knew about Outer Wilds going in was that it reviewed well, so it was pretty awesome discovering what it was. But of course I understand people wanting to know the basic premise before playing, it helped that I got the game for free.

Ethan Carter being this high is a surprise, I've not heard anyone talk about it. Perhaps I should give that one a go!

azuarc posted...

but holy crap if you wouldn't see literally every reference to Outer Wilds for a while go "just trust me bro, it's so amazeballs good but I can't tell you why." They refused to even explain the gameplay, the genre, or anything else.

Yup I saw a bunch of this on B8 and complained about it a few times before.

The cool thing with Outer Wilds is that you could very easily die just exploring before the 22 minutes are up many times in a row and not even discover that that happens for a while. Then youd think the twist is just that you always go back when you die, and get to experience a second mechanics twist later

whereas DDLC or many of those meta-twist games tip their hand a little too much. I got to DDLC early and it took me like half an hour to know almost exactly what was going to happen

It took me at least six deaths before I realized there was actually a time limit. But I don't think saying there's a time loop really spoils that because it just seemed like I was going through Groundhog Day.

I don't want to get into an unrelated fight in this topic so I'll just summarize my position: when a game is about discovery, I want to preserve as many of those discoveries as possible for as many people as possible. Some of us prefer not to have the first mysteries of the game scratched off already. If spoilers don't bother you and you want to know the game's conceit before going in you can just look up what the game is on wikipedia or something.

Conceit, fine, but genre? I don't think saying it's a Myst-like would have spoiled anything.

andylt posted...

Ethan Carter being this high is a surprise, I've not heard anyone talk about it. Perhaps I should give that one a go!

Yeah I was surprised it didn't get more attention! I think it's definitely something that would appeal to those who like the dark, not quite horror but inching close to it first-person games. Reviews were great, and the only real criticism I ever heard of it is mixed opinions over the very bold ending

Paratroopa1 posted...

I don't want to get into an unrelated fight in this topic so I'll just summarize my position: when a game is about discovery, I want to preserve as many of those discoveries as possible for as many people as possible. Some of us prefer not to have the first mysteries of the game scratched off already. If spoilers don't bother you and you want to know the game's conceit before going in you can just look up what the game is on wikipedia or something.

honestly I'm kind of with Para on this. Like the most I'd want to know about something like Outer Wilds going in is like "it's a first-person space-exploration game that is distinctly unique." I mean really, just knowing a game is something that you don't want to know much about beforehand makes me more compelled to play it.

There are quite a few games (several on this list) where I just wish I could forget them totally and experience them for the first time again

azuarc posted...

Conceit, fine, but genre? I don't think saying it's a Myst-like would have spoiled anything.

It's more than that though because lots of people don't like Myst, so why would they try a Myst-like? Unique games deserve not to be reduced to a single comparison like that.

You tried it and didn't like it. Big deal, you lost like an hour. But there's a very good chance you could've liked it since it's a great game.

It's not like b8 made you play the entirety of Tales of Symphonia for 53 hours, stringing you along saying "I swear it gets better in the next chapter" over and over. Never gonna get over that one.

is it even a Myst-like? I haven't played it in like 20 years but I remember Myst being a point and click. The actual movement is a huge part of Outer Wilds

I can see the parallels but yeah, that's why it's wrong to reduce it like that

Bonus Ranking: Viewfinder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXX1bYpioAM

I have to assume this will be the last bonus ranking, and if not it really, really should be because if I keep playing indies I'll never finish the list at this rate. Viewfinder is yet ANOTHER game in the first person sci-fi reality-bending puzzle indie games, which again is a very overcrowded genre. That being said, I've at least liked every one I've played. Viewfinder is no different, with some very interesting puzzles that vary pretty drastically between hard and super super easy, but overall I'd say it wasn't overly challenging. When the puzzles clicked though, they're great. It does some very cool thing with non-photos having physical existence in the world through paintings or postcards or silly drawings. These are some of the best moments in the game, but unfortunately they don't play into the puzzles too often, they're most just neat. It also does the thing where characters only appear via voice recordings, and the characters really aren't all that interesting. I ended up just not really caring about their stories. That is, EXCEPT for Cait, who is basically the Cheshire Cat if he was British and just tagged along to tell you how smart and good at puzzles you are the whole time. Legitimately, Cait is one of the best game characters of this year.

I did enjoy it a good bit even if it's not one of my favorites ever, I think for now I'm gonna drop it just below Norco at #77

37. Braid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqtSKkyJgFM

Braid felt ahead of its time and basically set the standard for indie games and puzzle platformers for years to come. This is the very great mix between challenging puzzles, fun gameplay, a cool art style, and a compelling background plot. I think this is one of the big points where we really started to see indie games used to present a unique and layered and interpretable story in a way big budget games rarely try to do. But also fuck that two hours of real time to float on a cloud to try and get a puzzle piece, trying to do that on a shared desktop computer suuuuuucked.

36. Antichamber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKU6mUFMnHk

Yet another one of the reality-bending first-person sci-fi puzzle exploration games, I know, but I think Antichamber is legitimately the one that sets the standard for them (aside from Portal, which is fantastic but isn't an indie game). If you enjoyed The Witness, I think you'll get a lot out of Anitchamber. It follows a similar structure of putting you in a big, mysterious place and letting you explore it freely at your own pace, and letting you slowly unlock/uncover new areas with constantly changing game mechanics. It's super challenging and even more trippy. It's difficult to explain exactly how the game works; there's like blocks, and barriers, and Witness-like little wall puzzles, and various guns to alter your block placement. Just a really cool experience.

35. A Plague Tale: Innocence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4FOb16Nenk

This is such a weird one to try to rank, because it is an indie game, according to tons of different publications, but it doesn't really feel like one. And as far as I can tell, A Plague Tale: Requiem is considered a full non-indie game now, so I guess that's the kind of budget jump that makes the difference. I will say, if A Plague Tale: Requiem was considered an indie game, it would place in the top 10 of this list. APT:I is fantastic as well, and way more terrifying that I expected it to be going in. There are AAA-quality performances from everyone here, especially Amicia, who between this and Requiem has secured a spot as one of my all-time favorite video game characters. It's an escort game that never really suffers for it, and in fact always having companions of some sort really makes the characters feel real. Just some incredible and haunting storytelling at work here.