The last couple of years have proven to be absolutely fantastic for fans of indie games. We’ve seen some truly incredible titles hit the market, ranging from the excellent rogue-like Metroidvania Dead Cells, to the somber and explorative Hollow Knight, to the truly joyous Sonic Mania.
The great news? This momentum is showing no sign of slowing down – and there are plenty of fantastic games on their way to PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One right now. Here are just a few of the best that you should keep your eyes open for.
Bad North – Viking Themed RTS Battle
The game presents itself in an isometric format of a procedurally generated island, with strong Nordic themes imbued as the core game art and story. Your journey begins by defending your island home from invaders in long boats, using different line up of troops to formulate different strategies to secure a win. Cool art, somewhat minimalist concept, blood, and steel. What more could you want from this gem (Perhaps release the game today!)
Super Meat Boy Forever – An Action-packed 2D Platformer
Except for this time, you’re not just getting ‘more of the same’. Instead, Super Meat Boy Forever mixed things up by being an endless runner. That would normally cause alarm bells to sound (these games don’t tend to be the meatiest – no pun intended), but we feel that Team Meat has earned our trust. And from the trailers that have been released so far, it sure does look like an action-packed romp. Hopefully, it’s just as good as the original.
Though we would kind of like a return to the platforming formula for number three!
The Last Night – A Blade Runner Inspired Pixel Graphic Detective Noir
To buck that trend, let’s turn our attention to the beautiful looking The Last Night. This is a pixel-art, cyberpunk, noir game. If those all sound like familiar concepts, then I invite you to take a look at any screenshot. This game combines those ideas in a manner that is quite unlike anything else we’ve seen. With stunning reflection effects and brilliant, neon lighting, it’s a genuine marvel to behold.
The game looks to be following in the footsteps of games like Another World and Flashback, so expect some slow puzzle and light platforming where the story takes focus.
Ooblets – Stardew Valley meets Pokemon
What makes this game stand out is the 3rd person nature of the game, which allows the game to showcase a bigger and detailed surrounding which your character then interacts with. Run around the pastel-colored town and environment with your creatures lined up right behind you.
The Occupation – Fixed Time Detective Thriller
Players will have a single day in order to carry out their investigation and this will pass in real time. A race against time to find clues, deciphering codes and messages as well as getting it to the right people. There are a lot of heady ideas here and a unique art style, so we hope it can deliver on the significant promise.
WytchWood – Witches, Potions and Fairytales
Wytchwood centers around a witch character whereby you explore the surrounding woods to forage for items, brew spells and interact with events and characters. The game integrates old gothic European folklore as well well-known fairy tales story and art element, so be ready to encounter somewhat familiar characters or locations.
The game brings a beautiful balance of vibrant and gloomy atmosphere throughout the map, giving the game its unique signature. The ambiance of the woods and the changing seasons is perfectly captured as you explore it, fulfilling quests along the way.
Freedom Planet 2 – Fast Paced Non-Stop Action Platformer
Freedom Planet 2 is a sequel to – you guessed it – Freedom Planet 1. At the time of the first game’s release, it was hailed by many as being ‘the best Sonic game in years’ despite not actually featuring the blue hedgehog. Rather, it was a game that was built by fans as an homage, that eventually evolved into an original project.
Since then we’ve been spoiled by Sonic Mania – the fan game turned officially licensed Sega release – which showed the world how speedy platforming should really be done. The amazing news? The same developer responsible for that title (Christian Whitehead) is going to be working on Freedom Planet 2. That’s a very promising combination…
As you can see then, there are plenty of amazing indie titles to be excited for this year end – and 2019 is looking like more of the same! What are you most excited for?