Welcome to the closest thing I do to a award show. Here are the rules of this list;
1. These are all games that I’ve played and reviewed this year.
2. There isn’t an order to this list, its not a top 10, these all feature because of how good they are.
3. The games don’t have to have been released this year, merely played by me.
Now that the formalities are done lets get on with it!
Devil Daggers
A fever dream, that’s what this game is. Horrific, fast paced, stressful and highly addictive. All your deaths blur together. Are you on run 16 or 60? Who knows, and who cares?
Blue Estate; The Game
For a while there it looked like on-rail shooters were consigned to the past. But it seems the world of indie development has us covered. This game is irreverent and a ton of fun, if a little on the short side.
Stories: The Path of Destinies
An anthropomorphised fox hacking and slashing in a choose your own adventure? SOLD! It’s a bit of a flawed gem but it’s just so interesting and unique that it deserves a spot here.
Reigns
Imagine playing a game where the main mechanic is the same as Tinders. That game is Reigns and it has far more depth to it than you’d expect given the core mechanic.
Riptale
This game sucked up way more of my life than I care to think about. I know it doesn’t look like much but like with many indie games graphical fidelity takes a backseat to mechanics and the mechanics of this game are rock solid.
Dead Space 2
This is the only triple A title in this list and its published by EA no less. The now defunct development team Visceral Games had done a fine job with the Dead Space series (except arguably Dead Space 3 that has EA’s dirty money grabbing all over it) and they deserved a better fate than they got. Either way some sci-fi horror is always appreciated!
Valley
When is a Walking Simulator not a Walking Simulator? When it’s Valley. This was a big departure for the developers who had previously made Slender: The Arrival and I have to say it paid off because this game is memorable for all the right reasons.
Cuphead
I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t at least heard of Cuphead. With it’s Fleischer-esq art style and animation this game has had no trouble in capturing the attention of the games media and general public alike.
Throw in that the game is actually challenging and good and you get why this game appears here. Style and substance.
Cat Quest
One of two games I have where you play as a cat. It’s a fun little romp filled with cat related puns, something that I appreciate.
OneShot
RPG maker games are often given a bad rap, in many cases this is with good reason, however once every so often one appears that is very different from the rest. This is one of those. I highly recommend playing this one, I can’t tell you much about it because this game goes a little bit meta. It’s also the second game where you play as a cat… sort of.
It seems that this year has been a year of independent games for me. But then given the state of the triple A side of the industry and some of its bullshit (especially in recent months) I’ve been wanting to play more indies. And you know what? I’ve had a great time overall. Here’s to hoping that the big boys of the industry sort their shit out and stop trying to nickel and dime us next year, and if they don’t? Well the indies are always there with something new and fresh.
