Poll of the Day > What are your 3 favorite indie games?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Minecraft
Stardew Valley
VVVVVV

Curious what other people's lists are. I've pretty much only played the popular indies and not many in general

Terraria
Rocket League

I can't think of a definitive 3rd.

I always forget about Rocket League being an indie game, that might be in my top three actually

Binding of Isaac
FTL
Darkest Dungeon
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I don't know what qualifies as indie anymore.
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vvvvv
Bastion
Hiveswap
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Impossible to determine as the bulk of my games are indie games.

Probably Dwarf Fortress, nethack, binding of isaac, the touhou games... grim dawn might count as indie (the devs made Titan Quest, but that was back with a publisher)
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keyblader1985 posted...

I don't know what qualifies as indie anymore.

What's hard to tell about it?

I guess there are some games that have indie developers with major publishers but I think those still count as indies

off the top of my head:

hollow knight
the shantae games
cuphead

terraria is good as well. And I guess minecraft would be considered indie, right?
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Terarria
Shovel Knight
Toss-up between Limbo, Journey, and Bastion
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These two for sure:
Factorio
Death Road to Canada

#3 would be something drawn from this list:
Creeper World 1-3
Particle Fleet
Endless Legend and Dungeon of the Endless (dev is no longer indie though)

Runners Up include:
Other Endless games
Shenzhen I/O
Kerbal Space Program (hmm, to the degree that it is indie... seems to have an extremely bizarre history...)
Crashlands
Papers, Please
RimWorld
Jets n Guns
maybe Hotline Miami and Serious Sam games, but seems like maybe they aren't indie
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Dead cells
Shovel knight
Shantae

If Shantae doesn't count then replace with star dew valley or golf story.

halo
god of war
mass affect
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Super Meat Boy
Fez
Mark of the Ninja?
Hollow Knight?
Towerfall?

God, theres too many to choose from though.
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There are so many great indies out there that it's hard for me to pick just three but if I really had to...

Guacamelee

Hotline Miami

Valiant Hearts
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LIMBO
Hotline Miami
Undertale
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Super Meat Boy
Hotline Miami
Cuphead

I actually liked Meat Boy back when it was a flash game.
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Sahuagin posted...

maybe Hotline Miami and Serious Sam games, but seems like maybe they aren't indie

Serious Sam I could see, but Hotline Miami (and the sequel) was literally developed by just 2 people. Can't get much more indie then that.
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Dikitain posted...

I actually liked Meat Boy back when it was a flash game.

Speaking of Flash games, I was a huge fan of Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers.
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FTL
Stardew Valley
You Must Build A Boat
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Aw man, Hotline Miami is one of the best for sure too
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TC, you're a real monster for making this thread, you know that? 80% of what I play are indies.

If I had to absolutely choose between the dozens I've played...

1. Hotline Miami
2. The Binding of Isaac (disregard all other indie rougelikes, this is THE ONE*)
3. Terraria

*FTL is pretty cool too for RL games
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Path of Exile
Warframe
Terraria
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Cave Story was one of the first indies I ever played, so that one always comes to mind.
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Hollow Knight
Shovel Knight
Dust

Rogue
Might and Magic Book One
Tetris
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AverageBoss posted...

Hollow Knight
Shovel Knight
King's Knight
Portal Knight
Arkham Knight

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Black ops 4

Shovel Knight
Dead by Daylight
stardew Valley
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Chewster posted...

keyblader1985 posted...

I don't know what qualifies as indie anymore.

What's hard to tell about it?

I guess there are some games that have indie developers with major publishers but I think those still count as indies

So then your definition of an non indie company is one that self publishes and self develops?
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Skyrim is the anti-indie, right?

I can't think of a more mainstream single player game.
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Revelation34 posted...

So then your definition of an non indie company is one that self publishes and self develops?

What? I don't know how you got that out of my post at all.

My point was that big companies like EA and Ubisoft have been involved in publishing indie games (or at least what would otherwise be considered indie games, some people may not consider them indie at that point)

Dikitain posted...

Serious Sam I could see, but Hotline Miami (and the sequel) was literally developed by just 2 people. Can't get much more indie then that.

apparently Serious Sam and Hotline Miami are both published (so funded?) by Devolver Digital

it does say that Hotline Miama is an "indie success"

it seems like "indie" is being used to mean "very small dev team", when I would think it means something like "not funded/supported by a larger company".
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Sahuagin posted...

Dikitain posted...

Serious Sam I could see, but Hotline Miami (and the sequel) was literally developed by just 2 people. Can't get much more indie then that.

apparently Serious Sam and Hotline Miami are both published (so funded?) by Devolver Digital

it does say that Hotline Miama is an "indie success"

it seems like "indie" is being used to mean "very small dev team", when I would think it means something like "not funded/supported by a larger company".

It probably depends on the relationship the publisher has with the development team. A non-indie team would be where the publisher has a lot of say in what, when, and how a game gets released. An indie team would essentially complete the game themselves, and sell it to publishers for more distribution options. In that sense, Steam would even be considered a publisher since they offer a storefront for buying games, and pretty much every indie game listed here is available on Steam or some other digital distribution platform.

I would definitely say indie means small teams, but I would also say that the publisher needs to be very hands-off as well. Hence why I said Serious Sam is questionable, it started as a team of just 6 people, but now the team is around 40 people and Devolver Digital has been involved in a lot of the later games.

edit: And looking into Devolver Digital more, their mission statement is basically offering a way for indie games to be distributed, and they only have 15 employees themselves. They sound pretty indie to me.
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Firewatch - I love walking around in the forest, and until the fires break out and everything goes all conspiracy theory, it's all really peaceful.

Goat Simulator - The most realistic simulation of being a goat ever created.

Dungeons of Dredmor - Basically a modern version of NetHack. Brutally difficult, even on the easiest settings. The first time I encountered a Monster Zoo I just about lost it.

captpackrat posted...

Firewatch - I love walking around in the forest, and until the fires break out and everything goes all conspiracy theory, it's all really peaceful.

Goat Simulator - The most realistic simulation of being a goat ever created.

Dungeons of Dredmor - Basically a modern version of NetHack. Brutally difficult, even on the easiest settings. The first time I encountered a Monster Zoo I just about lost it.

The game pissed me off because I spent so much time as a melee build only to discover that it was impossible to beat the boss even on easiest settings as melee.
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bro. number 1 has gotta be SUPER TIME FORCE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dXhsbo2sU" data-time="

after that. i dunno.the dreamals dream quest game is pretty fun and so is darkest dungeon.
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Dikitain posted...

It probably depends on the relationship the publisher has with the development team. A non-indie team would be where the publisher has a lot of say in what, when, and how a game gets released. An indie team would essentially complete the game themselves, and sell it to publishers for more distribution options. In that sense, Steam would even be considered a publisher since they offer a storefront for buying games, and pretty much every indie game listed here is available on Steam or some other digital distribution platform.

I would definitely say indie means small teams, but I would also say that the publisher needs to be very hands-off as well. Hence why I said Serious Sam is questionable, it started as a team of just 6 people, but now the team is around 40 people and Devolver Digital has been involved in a lot of the later games.

edit: And looking into Devolver Digital more, their mission statement is basically offering a way for indie games to be distributed, and they only have 15 employees themselves. They sound pretty indie to me.

well I don't disagree much, but this just seem to make the concept even more blurry to me

their mission statement is basically offering a way for indie games to be distributed

I read that too and it just sounds like a contradiction. I guess it implies that they will have no say in the creative process.

for Steam, it's a marketplace, not a publisher, and definitely not someone with creative input or financial support.

I guess it's just yet another poorly defined gaming related term, like RPG (and to the degree that it doesn't even mean what it says).
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It's not as bad as "indie rock" which nowadays most people seem to use describe what would be, I guess, alternative rock? But you can have blues rock, hard rock, metal, prog, etc. from "indie" bands too, so I think it's a dumb term.

Then again, "alternative" was already a pretty dumb term to begin with. What is it an alternative to? Now that it seems like it's the predominantly popular type of rock, it's kind of an ironic name at this point.

la-mulana
isaac
ftl
stardew valley
terraria
hollow knight

oh, and dredmor since someone mentioned it and i didn't think of it on my own. good game

Sahuagin posted...

I guess it's just yet another poorly defined gaming related term, like RPG (and to the degree that it doesn't even mean what it says).

Wat.
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Revelation34 posted...

Sahuagin posted...

I guess it's just yet another poorly defined gaming related term, like RPG (and to the degree that it doesn't even mean what it says).

Wat.

Exactly what he said.
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Mead posted...

Exactly what he said.

Wat.
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Zelda is an RPG because you play the role of Link

I play WAY too many indie games to stop at three. Most of my gaming for the last 5-ish years has been indie.

Terraria and Don't Starve Together make the cut for sure.

Too much competition for the third spot,
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Death Road To Canada
Dwarf Fortress
Empyrion - Galactic Survival
FTL
Oxygen Not Included
Prison Architect
Project Zomboid
Skullgirls

Indies I've been meaning to get to, but which appear to be excellent
Factorio
Stardew Valley
Rimworld
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Rimworld
Stardew Valley

Not sure what else I wanna give a nod to. But it sounds like there is a lot of things worth trying in here.

Undertale
Minecraft

And would Sonic Mania count as indie?

Chewster posted...

Zelda is an RPG because you play the role of Link

Then by that logic every game is an RPG.
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Well, my top two will always be Limbo and Inside. Two of my faveriot games of all time. But an honourable follow up would certainly be Hotline Miami 1 and 2 of course.

Chewster posted...

Zelda is an RPG because you play the role of Link

You dont play the role as Link though. You control Link in battle but you dont make any significant choices that affect the narrative.
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