Undertale is an all-time indie classic for a reason. It’s a masterpiece of storytelling, a wonderful blend of gameplay mechanics, and stylish, retro-inspired visuals.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll blink and find out that you’ve completed Undertale in just one sitting. I slept on the game for far too long, and I wholly regret it. Best of all, Toby Fox has finally released the long-anticipated follow-up, Deltraune, and its first four Chapters.
If you’re too impatient to wait for the rest of Deltarune (honestly, I don’t blame you), chances are that you’ll be looking for another great indie game. There’s a good chance that you’ve already played some classic indies such as Balatro, Cuphead, and Animal Well. None of those reviewed better than Undertale.
These six games, however, did.
We’re using Metacritic as the barometer for this list.
6 Braid
Metascore: 93
The indie scene in 2008 was nothing like it is today. Over the past few years, we’ve seen several legitimate Game of the Year contenders come from the indie category. Back in the Xbox 360 days, though? It felt like all the AAA games actually delivered an AAA experience.
Enter Braid, released through Xbox Live Arcade, which would go on to change the game by showcasing what was possible from independent game developers.
Designed by Jonathan Blow, Braid delivered a fantastic twist on the platforming experience with its incorporation of puzzles and ability to rewind time. Don’t forget, too, about that iconic plot twist at the end of the game, showing that indie games were capable of delivering unforgettable gameplay experiences and incredible narratives to boot.
From this point forward, there was a significant growth in indie developers, all thanks to Braid’s success. One could even say that without Braid, there would be no Undertale.
5 Inside
Metascore: 93
From PlayDead, the team that brought us the excellent indie title Limbo, comes Inside, an indie that transcends the video game medium as we know it.
On the surface level, Inside is a stylish puzzle-platformer with impressive cinematography. It screams “arthouse cinema” with its visuals, luring you in with the graphics before grabbing hold of you with its storytelling and themes.
Those themes have helped propel Inside to its legendary status. There has been so much theorycrafting about the game’s true messages concerning both the main and alternate endings.
The whole “indie games are art” discourse had already been going strong before Inside’s 2016 release, but this is the game that really hammered that point home. Indie games are one of the few places in the gaming space that truly showcase the true artistic ability in the medium. It’s a crowning achievement in entertainment that absolutely deserves all the praise it’s received over the years.
4 Dwarf Fortress
Metascore: 93
Back in my day, Dwarf Fortress looked nothing like it does now. Originally, it had more in common with a MUD (text-based MMORPG that us old-heads remember), utilizing ASCII art and an incredibly steep difficulty curve.
That difficulty curve is still there today, but at least we have actual pixel graphics to make things a little more accessible.
The best part about Dwarf Fortress is failing, which is good because you’re going to fail a lot in this game. Remember that episode of Futurama where Bender is floating through space, becomes God for a civilization, and then ruins everything?
That’s Dwarf Fortress in a nutshell. It’s a roguelike construction management with emergent gameplay where you’re doing well until everyone dies. Can it be frustrating to see everything collapse? Yes, but remember the game’s motto: “Losing is Fun!”
3 Minecraft
Metascore: 93
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- Released
- November 18, 2011
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
- Engine
- LWJGL, PROPRIETARY ENGINE
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Platform(s)
- 3DS, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360
- How Long To Beat
- 129 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 1.42 GB (August 2024)
- Metascore
- 93
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Once upon a time, Minecraft was indeed an indie game. Sure, now it’s owned by Microsoft, which promptly means it’s not an indie game in any way, but that wasn’t the case in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
The game’s alpha released when I was in college, and let me paint the picture for you. While I was working on Halo: Reach’s Legendary difficulty campaign in Northern Kentucky University’s Student Union, literally everyone else was playing Minecraft. They were building their own virtual worlds, comparing their work, and sharing what they’d discovered. I was watching some of my favorite content creators incorporate Minecraft into their videos. This thing was taking over the world.
Of course, nowadays, it’s all about chicken jockeys or whatever the kids are talking about (6 7, am I right, fellow kids?). Back on release, though, Minecraft was cool. It was a chance for people to live out their wildest LEGO dreams, building whatever their imaginations could conjure up.
2 Hades
Metascore: 93
By the time Supergiant Games released Hades, their addictive roguelike dungeon crawler, they had already established themselves as one of the premier indie developers in the industry.
Bastion was their incredible debut release, successfully followed up by Transistor and Pyre, proving they weren’t a flash in the pan. Supergiant’s ability to release a steady cadence of breakout indie hits every handful of years helped mark them as a developer to keep an eye on. So when they revealed an entry into the roguelike genre with Hades, we were intrigued.
I had dabbled in the roguelike genre before, but nothing gripped me quite like Hades. It draws you in with its impressive style and presentation, grabs hold of you with its deep yet still accessible gameplay, and keeps you coming back for more as you find yourself improving with every run.
I could go on and on about how great it feels to build on your character, learn the ins and outs of every weapon, and become an unstoppable killing machine, but instead, let’s talk about that soundtrack. My god, it’s peak cinema that echoes the very best of Doom’s 2016 reboot that keeps you going, even when there’s no hope left inside you.
1 Hades 2
Metascore: 95
Sometimes the sequel is better than the original. That’s the case with the new kid on the block, Hades 2.
Having recently been freed from Early Access, it’s one of the best games of the year. Our review says it best: “Topping the original Hades was a damn near impossible feat, but Supergiant Games pulled it off. While it still has some of the accessibility issues of its predecessor, Hades 2 manages to improve upon the combat, world-building, and content of the first game, making Melinoe’s journey stand out.”
There are far too many sequels out there that stray too far from what made the original so great, and it’s something I’ve noticed happening more often than you realize in the indie space. Hades 2 proves that sticking with what works is never a bad thing, especially when it’s polished to an immaculate shine.
While there may not be much in terms of new ideas, Hades 2 is just more Hades, and that’s most certainly a good thing.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
