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It's not the graphics. I find all of these indie titles that people so revere to be shallow and/or not fun. Shovel Knight is an excellent example. I so tried to get into it because I loved the art style and story, but the gameplay mechanics, especially the movement, just felt so off to me that I wasn't having any fun. I spent far too much time trying to adapt to the movement mechanics that I was missing what the rest of the game had to offer.
Super Meat Boy is another example, but with the opposite problem. I found the gameplay and movement mechanics to be quite excellent, but I didn't find the monotonous gameplay loop to be all that engaging and I lost interest about half way through the original game. The challenge of the game can only get you so far.
One indie I absolutely love is The Binding of Isaac. Simple gameplay mechanics and gameplay loop, but each playthrough is different and doesn't overstay its welcome. I really enjoyed finding new items, learning what they do, and then strategizing on what I wanted to pick up and what I wanted to skip on subsequent playthroughs. The difficulty curve was just right. Loved it. Also loved Axiom Verge. Perfect Super Metroid clone that added its own uniqueness to the formula. Really nothing else to say about that.
SOMA is in my backlog, but I loved the Amnesia series and other games that followed that formula like Conarium.
It's really a mixed bag. While indies are more likely to bring unique ideas created with passion to the market, AAA games are more likely to provide a consistently engaging experience. My takeaway is that many indie developers have grand ideas, but do not have the experience to understand gameplay theory and the "why" of actually playing video games.
Hmm, I thought Shovel Knight was spot-on for control mechanics. Even better in Specter of Torment. Axiom Verge is absolutely flawless IMO. Did you try The Messenger?
Hyper Light Drifter, Dead Cells, and Sundered would be some others of my top recommendations. (but then, I probably sound like a broken record)
I actually think many of the indies go beyond just ideas. Some of the games have such precise execution that they're beyond even some of the greatest 16-bit era games. I'm a HUGE classic gamer too, and I still find many of the classics deficient when I go back to them (even when using original hardware). Well, maybe deficient is the wrong word, and doesn't cover what I'm getting at quite right. There will be minor differences of course. It's hard to rival software that talks directly to hardware. Maybe I just adapt easily or something, I don't know but I haven't felt like any of my modern favorites were off in any way.