As a person who has been playing mostly AAA titles my whole life...

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I recently started playing games like Limbo, The Witness, Firewatch, Prison Architect, and Antichamber. What a breath of fresh air to play games like this from smaller developers. I'm really enjoying new twists on graphical styles and gameplay mechanics that I never really have experienced before. And these games look beautiful and crisp with their abstract art styles on a bigass 3440x1440 monitor.

Just had to share this burst of excitement here.
 
Firewatch is on my list..

Flame in the Flood is pretty.. well.. pretty for a rogue like game.
 
Admittedly LIMBO is probably the high point of what an indie platformer can be. The next game by those guys is called "INSIDE" its great but I gotta warn you, if you thought LIMBO was depressing..jesus. INSIDE fucked my whole day up.
 
I felt like Firewatch was overrated. Certainly not worth $20 and the whole "twist" felt disappointing to me. Worth a playthrough for $5 or so but there's basically zero replay value.

Another one I recently played was Inside (same developer as LIMBO)....it was alright, again not worth $20 and zero replay value. I was disappointed with the ending there, too, but felt it was overall more profound than Firewatch.

If you want to venture outside of platformers and "artistic experiences", there are a lot of good rogue-like indie titles as well, like FTL, Binding of Issac, Enter the Gungeon, Rogue Legacy, etc.
 
I really enjoyed games like Invisible, Inc. and Mark of the Ninja (whose lead designer went on to make Firewatch). I have a bunch on my steam list that I have not played yet. There is also one coming up called Shadow Tactics that looked pretty good.
 
MavericK said:
I felt like Firewatch was overrated. Certainly not worth $20 and the whole "twist" felt disappointing to me. Worth a playthrough for $5 or so but there's basically zero replay value.

Another one I recently played was Inside (same developer as LIMBO)....it was alright, again not worth $20 and zero replay value. I was disappointed with the ending there, too, but felt it was overall more profound than Firewatch.

If you want to venture outside of platformers and "artistic experiences", there are a lot of good rogue-like indie titles as well, like FTL, Binding of Issac, Enter the Gungeon, Rogue Legacy, etc.
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How did you get Firewatch for $20? They charged me $24.99 for it.
 
If you like Prison Architect check out Rimworld, fantastic game built on the same engine.
 
drklu said:
If you like Prison Architect check out Rimworld, fantastic game built on the same engine.
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I've been playing that game for about 2 weeks and it is kicking my ass. So much so that I almost don't like it but maybe I'll get the hang of it. I always run out of medical supplies before I can make or obtain medicine on my own. How can I deal with that better?
 
piscian18 said:
Admittedly LIMBO is probably the high point of what an indie platformer can be. The next game by those guys is called "INSIDE" its great but I gotta warn you, if you thought LIMBO was depressing..jesus. INSIDE fucked my whole day up.
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Inside felt shorter to me too. Not sure why, but it is fantastic. The puzzles were easier than Limbo though.
 
bjornb17 said:
I've been playing that game for about 2 weeks and it is kicking my ass. So much so that I almost don't like it but maybe I'll get the hang of it. I always run out of medical supplies before I can make or obtain medicine on my own. How can I deal with that better?
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Yeah there is a lot to making a successful colony. Here is one i was working on a few patches ago

04olVodh.jpg
 
Firewatch was a good time for me. Wish it had a little more game to it than how linear it ended up being. I found navigating its park really relaxing, and probably enjoyed that aspect of the game more than it's storyline. I thought the chemistry between the two fire wardens was really well done.
 
zamardii12 said:
Inside felt shorter to me too. Not sure why, but it is fantastic. The puzzles were easier than Limbo though.
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Its shortness made it all the more depressing. Yeah I blew through it in a couple hours where as LIMBO at least feels very long. Trying not to spoil it but man when it just ends abruptly and you realized what the story was the whole time you're sitting there like "WTF really?" day ruined.

On a side note OP "OxenFree" is also pretty good if you like these new kind of Story heavy games. I will warn you. You'll think it's essentially a walking simulator but all your dialog choices really Fing matter. I felt a little burned by my ending because I wasn't sure what my choices meant on my play through. The music alone makes the game worth getting it's really stellar.

I would also mention "I am Alive". I havent gotten around to beating it but its a similar murky story game. Shares a lot in common with The Last of Us.

Speaking of Last of Us, if you like that DeadLight was awesome too. Critically underrated game.
 
I'd recommend checking out Axiom Verge, Hyper Light Drifter, FEZ, and Monaco too.
 
Great thread! Legend of Grimrock II is fantastic for a modern take on old school dungeon crawlers. Still love that game. Indie dev, it's only like a 1GB download. Starting off on an empty beach and you just have to begin figuring things out.

Limbo was great, still need to play the sequel. It has the kind of risk taking style that just wouldn't be possible with a big corp publisher.

Also looking forward to The Witness in 4K.
 
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Yeah, I enjoy indie games much more than AAAs anymore (DOOM is the first AAA I've played in forever that I really enjoyed).

I'd recommend Dungeons of Dredmore, Binding of Isaac, FTL, Dust, The Swapper, Papers Please, Super House of Dead Ninjas, Strider, Valdis Story, and on and on.

The Binding of Isaac is my "go to" game when I'm playing solo. There will be times that I won't play it for a month and then I'll pick it back up for a quick run and next thing I know 6 hours have passed and I'm ignoring my online friends and playing it every day. I think I'm coming up on 300 hours for this gem and I when I bought it I thought I'd be lucky to get 10 out of it.
 
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I forgot about The Swapper...that was a very good one. Papers, Please is very unique...also good.
 
bjornb17 said:
I recently started playing games like Limbo, The Witness, Firewatch, Prison Architect, and Antichamber. What a breath of fresh air to play games like this from smaller developers. I'm really enjoying new twists on graphical styles and gameplay mechanics that I never really have experienced before. And these games look beautiful and crisp with their abstract art styles on a bigass 3440x1440 monitor.

Just had to share this burst of excitement here.
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There's some good titles that are a year or two old now too. You might like "The Stanley Parable" or "Contrast". "Cradle" was kind of interesting. My favorite is still an early access with an incomplete story: It is called Subnautica and is a Survival game on a water planet. You are not constricted to Survival mode however, there is a Freedom mode where there is no damage, food system or cost to craft; and a Normal mode.
 
Frraksurred said:
There's some good titles that are a year or two old now too. You might like "The Stanley Parable" or "Contrast". "Cradle" was kind of interesting. My favorite is still an early access with an incomplete story: It is called Subnautica and is a Survival game on a water planet. You are not constricted to Survival mode however, there is a Freedom mode where there is no damage, food system or cost to craft; and a Normal mode.
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These are all good recommendations too. I've been meaning to get back into Subnautica again. I played it a bit early on, but now it supports controllers, so I was thinking it'd be fun to sit back on the couch and play it on a big screen.

Also the game CrossCode. It's in development, but it's VERY polished, has tons of content, and it seems like they're building it out sequentially, so you're basically playing a really polished game that will just have more content as you go. (and I think they're getting closer to being finished too) It's kind of an action JRPG (where combat is done on the map/play-field.) Has great music, the controls are great, etc.

I like Hyper Light Drifter a bit more (the atmosphere is just a bit more my style) but both are great.
 
"Astroneer" looks interesting, and has stayed at the top of Steams popular list for about a month now. I haven't picked it up yet however, so can anyone comment on it?
 
bjornb17 said:
I recently started playing games like Limbo, The Witness, Firewatch, Prison Architect, and Antichamber. What a breath of fresh air to play games like this from smaller developers. I'm really enjoying new twists on graphical styles and gameplay mechanics that I never really have experienced before. And these games look beautiful and crisp with their abstract art styles on a bigass 3440x1440 monitor.

Just had to share this burst of excitement here.
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Just wanted to say that this is ironic after you just upgraded to a pair of Titan X.
 
bjornb17 said:
I recently started playing games like Limbo, The Witness, Firewatch, Prison Architect, and Antichamber. What a breath of fresh air to play games like this from smaller developers. I'm really enjoying new twists on graphical styles and gameplay mechanics that I never really have experienced before. And these games look beautiful and crisp with their abstract art styles on a bigass 3440x1440 monitor.

Just had to share this burst of excitement here.
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Try out Abzu as well. It's pretty and relaxing, but not really a game - more of an interactive experience.
 
Armenius said:
Just wanted to say that this is ironic after you just upgraded to a pair of Titan X.
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LOL - I thought the same. There are some other benefits of the XP's though - the blower style fans work so much better in my case than what they replaced, and also I do have the power to push any game I play (I still play AAA stuff).
 
Yeah, I also still like a good AAA. It's just that the ratio has been leaning toward good indies for a while now. There's still no replacement for a good id shooter, Bethesda sandbox, or other genres of AAA where the indie studios still can't quite pull off the same experience.
 
Played INSIDE based on suggestions here, amazing game! I loved it. Any other similar games or other indie suggestions? Keep them coming!
 
Another one that I just picked up, and absolutely love is Icey. Not only is it a good action game (side-scrolling sword sort of thing), but the way they worked in the narrator (especially in Chinese with subtitle) and humor is incredible. This is all over the reviews, but think Stanley Parable + Side-scrolling Sword game. It's really fun pissing off the narrator, and there is a ton of secret content. Also the artwork is pretty cool, and a little different than what's typical.
 
never limit yourself to one genre or type of game...there are excellent games across the spectrum...I know people that never want to try 3rd person games or RPG's or indie titles etc...you're missing out on some great games if you aren't willing to move out of your comfort zone
 
A lot of indie and early access games have so much gameplay to offer that it's crazy. I've recently been playing: Empyrion - Galactic Survival, PlanetBase, Killing Floor 2, Soma, Starbound -all have been amazing. I've seen but have yet to get: Rimworld, Prison Architect, Xcom, Factorio and a few others I can't think of right now that are also solid games. I don't really play too many triple a high budget games too anymore because I'm almost always highly disappointed for the price or they just don't seem fun. I also for the most part avoid games from Ubisoft and EA as I've been burned too many times with their shenanigans.
 
bboynitrous said:
A lot of indie and early access games have so much gameplay to offer that it's crazy. I've recently been playing: Empyrion - Galactic Survival, PlanetBase, Killing Floor 2, Soma, Starbound -all have been amazing. I've seen but have yet to get: Rimworld, Prison Architect, Xcom, Factorio and a few others I can't think of right now that are also solid games. I don't really play too many triple a high budget games too anymore because I'm almost always highly disappointed for the price or they just don't seem fun. I also for the most part avoid games from Ubisoft and EA as I've been burned too many times with their shenanigans.
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Soma is one of the best games I've played in years. Very good example, and one where the production values rival or surpass those of "real" AAA studio games. I can't think of much at all that had the same impact on me in the last couple of years. Doom probably, Wolfenstein, Dishonored perhaps, etc. Different (well, depending on how its played) play styles, but I think I even like Soma better than BioShock, and that's saying something. Maybe not System Shock but very probably Bio...
 
As your attorney, I advise you to play CRAWL immediately. Picked it up last week, and have been playing it pretty much non-stop, both alone, and with friends (local MP). Really fun game, with cool ideas, excellent music, and the visuals are cool.
 
Yeah, I bought CrossCode last October, after getting hooked on the free demo.

YES, I SAID FREE DEMO :D

After playing for a few hours, I decided to set it aside so I could play it when it was better-balanced. but the combat and puzzles I hit so far were great, and I'm sure a lot has improved in five months. Ill probably pick it back up soon.
 
bjornb17 said:
LOL - I thought the same. There are some other benefits of the XP's though - the blower style fans work so much better in my case than what they replaced, and also I do have the power to push any game I play (I still play AAA stuff).
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Plus, after the wife left, you have a lot more freedom in your life!
 
KazeoHin said:
Plus, after the wife left, you have a lot more freedom in your life!
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Haha, it is either her or the video cards right? She is a power user as well and gets all my hand-me-down stuff. She just got my 980Ti and is next in line for a 3770k or Titan XP when the time comes down the road, so no complaints from her, thankfully. $2600 of video cards (with tax) was still a tough sell though.
 
Submerged is an interesting diversion... slow pace, but really good.
I'm still working my way through it - ya' gotta' be in the right mood.
I got it on sale, for like 50% or 75% off @ Steam.





I also LOVED American McGee's Alice, but built a new PC @ 25-30% through & need to start over.
GRRRRR - there's no digital DL & I can't find my damn disk. :mad:



There's also a sequel - Alice: Madness Returns
~ it's an EA / Origin game, but I got a cd key for $5 or $10 elsewhere.

Alice: Madness Returns™ for PC | Origin
Alice Madness Returns PC CD Key, Key - cdkeys.com
Alice: Madness Returns EA Origin CD Key | Buy on Kinguin

 
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Frraksurred said:
"Astroneer" looks interesting, and has stayed at the top of Steams popular list for about a month now. I haven't picked it up yet however, so can anyone comment on it?
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It's really interesting, but really really in early stages. It's a much tighter, much more focused version of No Man's Sky, without the spaceship/combat part. It has a lot more of the Minecraft-ish elements, as well as base-building/crafting.
 
ghostwich said:
It's really interesting, but really really in early stages. It's a much tighter, much more focused version of No Man's Sky, without the spaceship/combat part. It has a lot more of the Minecraft-ish elements, as well as base-building/crafting.
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If you want a game that has more than No Man's Sky but the same overal feel of exploration and survival, Subnautica is a quality title.
 
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