Obscure Indie Games
Hey, figured there should be a thread for weird or cool indie games we can spread the word about. You know, hose smaller releases that tend to get lost in the shuffle. I look at games like this for a living now, so I have a lot cataloged now. I'll try to avoid releases from Devlover Digital and Adult Swim Games, at least for now.
The Magic Circle
Spoiler warning:
Probably the most "big name" game I'm going to mention in the OP, as it was made by a studio of former Shock series and Dishonored devs and includes the voice work of the lead character from Thief and Dr. Venture. The title is a reference to a game design term and a big hint what the game's goals are. It's a puzzle adventure game where you explore an unfinished game created by a man named Ish, a sort of Lord British parody, and try to rip it apart by controlling the behaviors of the enemies and items within the world. A lot of the story is about exploring balancing game design with narrative and the double-edged sword that is fan obsession, and every single puzzle in the game has dozens of solutions due to the ridiculously free monster attribute system. You can make things like flying turtles and dogs with sniper lasers, for example.
The Halloween Hack
Spoiler warning:
You may have heard rumblings of this one. Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, made this Earthbound ROM-hack in his teenage years, and while some of the writing is very, well, teenager, a lot of it holds up surprisingly well. At the very least, it's an interesting little thing with a surprising amount of ambition and neat monster redesigns. It also marks the first appearance of his signature theme, Megalovania.
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Spoiler warning:
This one is a visual novel made by some guys down in Venezuela, and it stands out for how it explores common cyberpunk themes of Capitalistic dehumanization and transhumanism through the eyes of a lowly bartender. There is a larger story going on revolving around a hacker revolution that many of the main character's friends are involved in, but the game is dead focused on Jill (the main character) and her own personal story of dealing with her past and a failed relationship. Along with looking retro-sleek, it's downright hilarious, with a wide swath of colorful characters, including a genderless brain, a Big Boss dog, a literal cyber ghost, and a low level journalist who's uncle died via dropped piano. There's also the drink making system, which requires you pay attention to dialog so you know what to make and can keep making money so Jill can pay rent.
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Spoiler warning:
A game made by a Russian guy about bird Communism. I'm not joking. It's a game where birds poop on the gasoline powered cyborgs the human race have become to remind them that the birds still need bread to live. It's really damn hard but beatable, and absolutely crazy. There are three story branches, five endings, and it explores themes of family, blood feuds, economic philosophy, terrorism, the potential of science for good and evil, cannibalism, and so, so much more. The translation was also done entirely by the Russian dev itself and includes a cast made up entirely of birds based on Western celebs, and these two unfunny things just become hilarious.
The Westport Independence
Spoiler warning:
The guy behind Papers Please made this free short game awhile back about running a newspaper he abandoned, so some other guys decided to make that a full game, resulting in a title where a newspaper finds itself trying to grow and thrive as a fascist government is about to make a major power grab. It, uh, kind of hits close to home these days. It's really interesting in how it forces you to consider how to craft a narrative under the noise of a horrifying military power, but also makes you consider your staff, each who have their own views and biases and their own worries.
Loren the Amazon Princess
Spoiler warning:
A visual novel/RPG hybrid made by Italian developer Winter Wolves. It's mechanically simplistic in the VN part (romances usually move by selecting the "romance" option I'm dead serious), but battles have an awesome turn based system that require thinking about placement and stat aliments. Conditions stack in this game, and many moves can only be done when targets have a particular condition, so much of the combat is based around weakening enemies and prioritizing who to take off the board first. Love interests are also all very good, including a girl only path with the queen of all amazons and a bisexual swamp witch dom in the expansion. Highly recommend getting the expansion, as it explores a lot of themes from the main game proper and turns it all on its head, plus offers four new party members that are just a mes of fun to play with, especially the monk.
Saturday Morning RPG
Spoiler warning:
The best Paper Mario game Nintendo never made, and also the most 80s thing in existence. This game is all about paying homage to the entirety of 80s pop culture, letting you weaponize popular toys that double as fun minigames. You can use Atari joysticks to summon videogame characters, play Simon to cast status effects, unleash music magic with a keytair, and so on and so on. Characters also include endless references ranging from He-Man and Transformers to War Games and Scruff McGruff the crime dog. Should also be noted the main composer for the game is the composer for Rocky 4 and Transformers: The Movie (you know, the one where everyone dies), and he made a new power ballad that references The Touch. It's incredible.
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Originally Posted by Eldred
