We’re actually in a golden age of indie video games. Whereas there are nonetheless a number of AAA franchises topping gross sales charts on launch, lots of the most viral video games of the final decade have come from small improvement homes. However these video games wouldn’t get off the bottom with out the assistance of a robust writer.
In that house, one identify has helped deliver hit after hit to life. among the most beloved and profitable indie titles of the final 10 years, Devolver Digital has discovered massive wins throughout a wide selection of genres. When you’re in search of a singular, enjoyable indie expertise, it’s robust to go fallacious with a sport that has that Devolver Digital emblem hooked up to it.
Up to date by Stefania Ikeda-Stavridi on March 15, 2024: We’ve up to date the listing by including 5 extra nice titles to take a look at, in addition to, new data on previous entries.
15 Loop Hero
An Modern Gameplay Loop
- Countless replayability, with no two playthroughs ever being the identical.
- Huge and immersive lore to be found.
Loop Hero affords a singular mix of deckbuilding and roguelike gameplay, excellent for followers of each genres. Its wonderful soundtrack, out there for separate buy, provides to the immersive expertise. Nonetheless, some gamers specific disappointment with the dearth of content material, discovering the lore exhausted after 15 hours.
Regardless of this, the sport stays addictive, offering round 20-30 hours of enjoyment. It is meta-progression and satisfying map-building mechanics make it a standout roguelike. Whereas it could really feel grindy at instances, Loop Hero affords sufficient substance to maintain gamers engaged, making it a worthwhile addition to any gaming library.
14 Carrion
Take On The Position Of The Monster
- Play the villain looking for revenge.
- Stealth, technique, and environmental destruction.
Carrion delivers an distinctive sci-fi horror expertise, permitting you to embody the villain looking for revenge in a gore-filled journey. Its nice soundtrack provides to the atmospheric immersion. Whereas the sport’s six-hour size could disappoint some, its clean gameplay and fascinating talents make each second pleasurable.
The artwork fashion is visually pleasing, and the sport introduces sufficient motion and puzzle mechanics to maintain issues recent with out overwhelming gamers. Carrion’s targeted method to storytelling and gameplay is commendable, with playtesting guaranteeing a sophisticated and seamless expertise. Regardless of its lack of a map, Carrion’s pacing, music, and animation make it a must-play indie gem.
13 The Messenger
Quick-Paced Ninja-Motion
- Time-traveling mechanics.
- Difficult boss-battles accompanied by a catchy soundtrack.
The Messenger affords a retro platformer expertise with Metroidvania components and pixel artwork aesthetics. Gamers embark on a ninja’s journey by means of a cursed world, delivering a significant scroll to save lots of their clan. Dynamic gameplay and tight controls make for an epic journey, with character upgrades, hidden ranges, and branching paths to find.
The sport options meticulously designed animations, accompanied by a memorable soundtrack. Whereas the Metroidvania components could not resonate with all gamers, The Messenger delivers entertaining gameplay and humorous dialogue. Regardless of some problem spikes and development challenges, it stays a enjoyable and fascinating expertise total, mixing basic and trendy platforming components seamlessly.
12 Wizard With A Gun
Distinctive Sandbox Survival Journey
- Play alone or with a good friend.
- Countless replayability with procedurally generated environments.
Wizard With A Gun is a web based sandbox survival sport providing cooperative play in a magical wilderness. Whereas enjoyable with a good friend, it lacks depth and suffers from stock administration points. The 2-player restrict feels restrictive, and the sport’s straightforward problem could disappoint.
Regardless of intriguing story concepts and weapon synergies, it feels incomplete, with unresolved story components and cosmetic-focused base objects. Nonetheless, frequent updates promise enhancements, making it value keeping track of for future content material. Moreover, its immersive artwork and fascinating soundtrack improve the general expertise. General, it is an pleasurable expertise with progress potential.
11 Downwell
Vertical Roguelike Motion
- Permadeath mechanics including stress and pleasure.
- Quick-paced motion excellent for fast gaming classes.
Downwell is an superior vertical roguelike motion sport, providing fast-paced motion excellent for fast gaming classes. Regardless of its difficult problem and lack of therapeutic choices, its well-designed mechanics, pleasurable fashion, and satisfying controls make it value attempting.
With its low value and rewarding gameplay, it gives hours of enjoyable, particularly for followers of brutally tough, basic arcade-style video games. The clear artwork fashion and number of palettes add to the general enchantment. General, Downwell affords a difficult however rewarding expertise that is positively value a attempt for its value.
10 Hatoful Boyfriend
The One And Solely Pigeon Relationship Sim
- A hilarious relationship simulator, the place all of the targets are pigeons.
- Distinctive idea with shocking depth.
Initially garnering some notoriety in Japan, it was the 2014 worldwide remake launch that introduced Hatoful Boyfriend to a broader viewers. The sport turned an instantaneous YouTube sensation due to its actually off-the-wall premise.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a visible novel expertise the place you play as the one human attending a faculty for sentient birds. Dubbed “the pigeon relationship simulator” by the final gaming public, Hatoful Boyfriend stands out in a style crowded with anime waifus and husbandos, only a few of that are birds.
9 Katana Zero
Vibrant Quick-Paced Motion With An Addictive Soundtrack
- Quick-paced motion with a visually beautiful cyberpunk aesthetic.
- An immersive soundtrack.
Launched in 2019 and developed by solo designer Justin Stander, Katana Zero is a fast-paced 2D platformer with loopy motion and satisfying fight. The purpose of the sport is to traverse every stage destroying enemies with out being hit a single time. To do that, the participant has quite a lot of motion choices in addition to time manipulation talents.
Katana Zero was a breakout success, reaching over 500,000 copies bought in beneath a yr. Whereas its story obtained a divisive reception, Katana Zero stays a enjoyable, basic motion sport accompanied by an excellent soundtrack. Its solely true downside is that it may be accomplished in simply 5 hours, leaving you wanting extra.
8 Gris
Aesthetically Pleasing Emotional Journey
- An emotional journey all about grief and private progress.
- Fantastically composed music and beautiful hand-drawn visuals.
With attractive visuals and a high-concept story, Gris is a singular journey sport expertise. Developed by Spanish staff Nomada Studio, the sport follows a younger woman named Gris traversing a wierd and fantastical world. She works to revive coloration to the world whereas avoiding unusual ink-like monsters who attempt to devour her.
It’s an attractive story stuffed with partaking music, providing a fascinating escape for gamers looking for a respite from actuality themselves. The expertise was well-received by audiences, permitting Gris to surpass 1 million copies bought and incomes re-releases on trendy consoles in 2022.
7 Hotline Miami
Neon-Crammed Brutality
- Pixel artwork design with a retro aesthetic of the 80s.
- Brutal and fast-paced fight.
A important darling for its off-the-wall story and tight gameplay, Hotline Miami is an all-time indie basic. The sport is a top-down shooter set in Miami within the late 80s, starring a silent protagonist who the group would ultimately check with as “Jacket.” He’ll have to defeat enemies and accumulate their weapons as a way to clear every stage and defeat the boss.
The sport is particularly identified for its excessive lethality. The place most video games give the hero additional stats to outlive waves of enemies, Jacket is simply as brittle as his foes. The sport’s intriguing and cryptic storyline, coupled with mesmerizing neon-filled artwork, make it a real gem. The issue solely provides to its enchantment.
6 Cult Of The Lamb
Lovable Cult Administration Journey
- Lovable but darkish aesthetic.
- Distinctive mix of civilization builder and dungeon-crawling components.
Cute and creepy shouldn’t work this effectively collectively, and but Cult of the Lamb is an lovely expertise brimming with darkness. This Roguelike civilization builder focuses on a possessed little lamb who has been charged with increase a cult to appease its deity.
The randomly generated world is filled with enemies to slay and potential followers to recruit. The Lamb and its followers might want to collect assets, construct new buildings, and carry out varied different duties to develop the cult — all whereas stopping the flock from turning towards their new god.
5 Loss of life’s Door
An Lovable Crow’s Hack & Slash Journey
- Distinctive idea of a hen grim reaper chasing a mysterious door.
- Souls-like sport with an approachable problem.
Darkish Souls meets Tremendous Metroid on this quirky story a few hen grim reaper attempting to open a giant door. Loss of life’s Door combines Metroidvania-style exploration with the punishing fight of a Souls-like to supply a singular problem that rewards attentiveness and persistence. Plus the hen is basically cute.
A follow-up to developer Acid Nerve’s Titan Souls, Loss of life’s Door was effectively obtained upon launch attributable to its quirky tone, eye-catching artwork fashion, and difficult but approachable fight. The music can be one thing you do not need to miss, whereas nothing revolutionary, it’s fairly immersive.
4 Fall Guys: Final Knockout
Healthful And Colourful Battle Royale
- Free-to-play battle royale with accessible gameplay.
- Fixed updates, seasons, and occasions.
The sport that took over Twitch in late 2020, Fall Guys is maybe the wackiest entry within the battle royale style. Gamers management an odd little bean creature who has to traverse Wipeout-style impediment programs whereas racing towards 59 different beans. The sport’s accessibility is certainly one of its strongest fits, due to straightforward controls, an lovely and colourful artwork fashion, and its transition to a free-to-play mannequin, making it an excellent title for players of all ages.
Whereas it was initially revealed by Devolver, Fall Guys’ large success led to its developer Mediatonic’s acquisition by Epic Video games, who additionally obtained the publishing rights. Following the acquisition, Fall Guys would transfer to a free-to-play mannequin, which helped increase its participant base to over 50 million.
3 Enter The Gungeon
Rogue-like Bullet Hell
- Difficult and action-packed gameplay with a dose of humor.
- Ability enchancment is important for advancing within the sport.
Thought-about one of many all-time greats within the Roguelike house, Enter the Gungeon is a top-down bullet hell from the small staff at Dodge Roll. The participant controls a Gungeoneer who wants to overcome the titular Gungeon, defeating its bullet-shaped monsters to amass the gun that may kill the previous.
Like most true Rouguelikes, Gungeon has a punishing problem curve that erases all progress on loss of life. Whereas new potential weapons might be unlocked between runs, the participant doesn’t maintain their progress.
2 The Talos Precept
Thought-Upsetting Puzzle Journey
- Immersive environments impressed by historical ruins and futuristic know-how.
- Wealthy and complicated narrative with difficult puzzles.
A breakout hit within the puzzle style, The Talos Precept exploded onto the scene in 2014. The participant controls a seemingly autonomous robotic exploring a stunning 3D world with quite a lot of distinctive environments. Gamers might want to remedy greater than 120 puzzles, amassing sigils to entry extra of the world.
All through the journey, gamers can uncover laptop terminals and audio recordings that additional the sport’s narrative. A DLC pack referred to as Street to Gehenna was launched the next yr to increase the story and add much more difficult puzzles.
1 Inscryption
Breaking The Fourth Wall By way of Modern Deck-Constructing
- Immersive narrative stuffed with sudden twists.
- Horror, puzzles, and deck-building mix seamlessly collectively.
It’s tough to speak about Inscryption a lot past imprecise reward with out spoiling the expertise not directly. Whereas nominally a deckbuilder Roguelite with a darkish, creepy aesthetic, Inscryption is an expertise that mixes deckbuilder components with basic journey sport mechanics to inform a very distinctive story.
The gameplay within the card battles is surprisingly tight and distinctive for a reasonably crowded style, however there’s a lot to the expertise of taking part in Inscryption that it merely should be performed with an open thoughts.
