10 Favorite Indie Video Games

With all craze induced by PopCap’s latest ‘braineater’ Plants vs. Zombies, I got strong desire to dig out some small and independent games I’ve been playing some time ago (last year, two years ago, etc.). The list became huge, so I had to reduce it to those games who took the most time – not because they were hard, yet enjoyable. PvZ unfortunately couldn’t be on this list, because its developers aren’t ‘indie’ anymore, but I’ve managed to compile some other sweet independent games in this article.


10. Passage

My first pick is pixelated artistic game called Passage. Made by Jason Rohrer, this game presents an entire life, from young adulthood through old age and death, in the span of five minutes. It has ‘memento mori’ concept, which means ‘Remember you will die’.
The game’s long screen represents a lifetime. As you age in the game, your character moves closer and closer to the right edge of the screen, which is presented in somewhat blurry form. As you approach to the right edge of the screen (you get older) future becomes clearer, and you can take a look at a past and memories you left behind. For some, this game was heartbreaking experience.

Free download: http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/


9. Aether

Boy meets monster delving into his own imagination, and together they travel from planet to planet using monster’s tongue as a swinging rope. On their trip (pun, heh?) they encounter happy-looking, but deeply disturbed creatures. Dizzy and hypnotizing experience.

Flash/Browser: http://armorgames.com/play/2153/aether
Free download: http://www.armorgames.com/misc/downloads/aether.zip


8. Cave Story

Cave Story or Dōkutsu Monogatari (in Japanese) is a freeware action-adventure video game released in 2004 for PC. This massive and well-crafted action/adventure game, with outstanding gameplay and well-crafted characters, is one of the best-known indie games, developed for more than 5 years entirely by Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya. Upon release, 1UP.com even described it as "so massive that it rivals modern GBA Castlevania and Metroid games in terms of scope and play time."
What’s even better – it’s totally free.

Free download: http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=cavestory




7. Spelunky

Spelunky is an action adventure game placed in the caves, where players collect treasure, save damsels in distress, and dodge traps.
As of February this year, Spelunky is being in an open beta, so the only negative are the beta bugs that still need to be fixed.

Free download: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4017.0


6. Crayon Physics Deluxe

The objective of Crayon Physics Deluxe is to guide a ball from a predetermined start point so that it touches all of the stars placed on each level. It would be anything strange if this puzzle game isn’t placed on piece of crumpled paper with crayon drawings on it.
This cute game relies on laws of physics, including gravity, mass and kinetic energy.

Free Trial & Buy ($20): http://www.crayonphysics.com/





5. ROM CHECK FAIL

This action platform game is insane mix of arcade or console classics from the past. You’ll meet Space Invaders, Mario, Pac-Man in the same screen, while trying to clear each level of all enemies. However, that isn’t easy task. Why, you ask? Well, look at the screenshot, or try it for free.

Free download: http://www.farbs.org/games.html


4. Samorost 2

Samorost 2 is a wonderful point and click adventure about a little gnome whose dog has been abducted by aliens. Created solely by by Czech student Jakub Dvorsky it has been nominated in 3 categories (Best Game, Best New Character and Best Visual Effects) in the GameShadow Innovation in Games Awards in 2007.

Flash/Browser: http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/






3. Oasis

Civilization meets Minesweeper would be the best description for this strategy/puzzle game from 2005. Your goal is to become Scarab King in ancient Egypt by exploring the land, building cities and fighting barbarians.

Free Trial & Buy ($20): http://www.oasisgame.com/index.php



2. Braid

Most of the indie games are made as platform/puzzle video games. One of the best is Braid, developed by Jonathan Blow. The concept is simple: hero must rescue princess through solving puzzles and avoiding enemies on multiple levels. Enemies, however, can be killed by applying standard platform weapon – if Tim (hero’s name) stomps on them.

Game Info and Download ($15): http://braid-game.com/





1. World of Goo

There’s no doubt which game should be the No1 among indie games. World of Goo certainly was the biggest surprise of the last year and probably one of the best puzzle games ever. Idea is simple: collect silly balls of goo and build bridges and towers in order to reach the other side. As in Crayon Physics, you must pay attention to gravity and kinetics, and natural obstacles such as cliffs, spikes or hills if you want to transfer required number of goo balls through the pipes.

Game Info and Download ($20): http://2dboy.com/games.php




There are also many other independent games that deserve to be on this list, or at least that deserve to be honorably mentioned, such as Knytt Stories, Dwarf Fortress, N+, Gravitation, Hurrican, etc.

I’m also leaving this great link about the top 100 ‘indie’ games for all independent games fans. I hope you’ll find something for you there.

http://www.caltrops.com/article0031_01.php