[DHawkeye]

Over the past year or so, I've become more and more disenchanted with the kinds of video games that have been coming out. For whatever reason, I just don't seem to be able to connect with the vast majority of "mainstream" games, at least not as well I used to. In any case, I've turned to looking for some interesting indie games, and was just wondering what everyone's experience with indie/small developer video games has been.

A game that has recently caught my eye is Gemini Rue. Here's a trailer (ignore the name at the end, it's been changed):



It definitely sounds promising, with the combination of old school adventure-style gameplay, a retro-yet-beautiful graphical style, and a unique story. I was glad to see it featured in PC Gamer this month, hopefully it'll drum up some excitement.

Indiegames.com is a good place to check up on the whole indie game scene.

[ZackMills]

so...you wanna play games that look like they were made in the 16-bit era

[DHawkeye]

ZackMills, on 27 July 2010 - 07:16 PM, said:

so...you wanna play games that look like they were made in the 16-bit era

I want to play games that are fun, creative, interesting, and don't involve space marines shooting giant bugs.

[Makaveli_Reborn]

I've been playing the hell out of Mount & Blade: Warband, it's a blast.

It's from an independent Turkish group called TaleWorlds, and my brother told me that he read they pretty much funded the production of the game with donations from the community after a rough build was concocted and shown around. Here's their website "about us:"

Quote

Taleworlds Entertainment is an independent game development studio based in Ankara, Turkey. The studio has started its life with a garage project called Mount&Blade, which was developed with limited resources, but which neverthless displayed the team's principles of good game design, fresh ideas, and deep, open-ended gameplay. An alpha version of Mount&Blade was released to the public in 2005 and it quickly gained a significant fan-base among gamers. Taleworlds continued to work on the game, eventually partnering with Paradox Interactive to bring out a retail version. The stuido also grew with the game, and is continuing to add talented graphics artists and programmers to its core team.

Paradox itself is a pretty small and highly-regarded outfit.

Anyway, Mount & Blade (Warband is the standalone (and better) expansion) is definitely worth checking out if you're at all interested in kind of a faux Middle-Age RPG where you actually take part in big battles and can serve as a man at arms for various lords or strike out on your own.

The primary complaints are the map-level graphics (the battle graphics are actually pretty nice I think) and the sometimes repetitive gameplay, but I've always argued that both of those things are forgivable if the game entertains.

An even-handed review: http://www.strategyi...and/review.html

[Makaveli_Reborn]

And as an addendum for M&B: Warband, I still, after all this time, find it immensely gratifying to ride past an enemy soldier and split his helmet open with a perfectly timed swing of the sword.

[worst2first]

I am definitely planning on picking up M&B: Warband at some point. I don't need a game to be perfect (particularly visually perfect) if the game play is solid. As much as I love the Medieval Period M&B should be right up my alley.

[DHawkeye]

Makaveli_Reborn, on 27 July 2010 - 07:36 PM, said:

Anyway, Mount & Blade (Warband is the standalone (and better) expansion) is definitely worth checking out if you're at all interested in kind of a faux Middle-Age RPG where you actually take part in big battles and can serve as a man at arms for various lords or strike out on your own.

Sold.

I've actually seen a few Steam friends playing it, but for whatever reason never really looked into it. I'll definitely have to rectify that.

Just off the cuff, another indie game I've enjoyed recently is Machinarium. It's fairly basic old-school point-and-click adventure gameplay, but it's got such a unique way of telling the story, and a beautiful, fascinating world.

[spiker311]

All of these games sound interesting. Keep them coming. I may actually get motivated enough to try one.

[colb]

Limbo (XBL Arcade) looks promising. I'm probably gonna try it out.

[DHawkeye]

colb, on 28 July 2010 - 02:07 PM, said:

Limbo (XBL Arcade) looks promising. I'm probably gonna try it out.

It does indeed look very cool. Unfortunately I don't have a 360, so I'm out of luck there.

A pretty neat little strategy game I just picked up, The Battle for Wesnoth is (in my short time playing it), pretty fun. It's a fairly straight-forward turn based strategy game, but it's got a vast library of units and maps, and tools to design your own units and maps.

And it's free.

[dawg_gone]

DHawkeye, on 27 July 2010 - 08:49 PM, said:

Sold.

I've actually seen a few Steam friends playing it, but for whatever reason never really looked into it. I'll definitely have to rectify that.

Just off the cuff, another indie game I've enjoyed recently is Machinarium. It's fairly basic old-school point-and-click adventure gameplay, but it's got such a unique way of telling the story, and a beautiful, fascinating world.

Thank you for that link to Machinarium. I played the demo today and now I'm downloading the full version. Love it.

[Mr. Tennessee]

This reminds me of something...

Are there any RPG games in the marketplace of the mold that is Dragon Quest/Warrior in terms of that fighting style?

[Keith1212]

I'm definitely going to give Limbo a try. I read the first paragraph of a review and was sold. It sounds really good.

[seandigs]

Mr. Tennessee, on 01 August 2010 - 06:45 PM, said:

This reminds me of something...

Are there any RPG games in the marketplace of the mold that is Dragon Quest/Warrior in terms of that fighting style?

yeah there is one for a dollar made by an indie dev. Breaht of Death, it's in the Dragon Warrior mold, with alot of humor and references to past games.



Limbo was pretty cool. I think it'd be better value at 10 dollars but I didn't feel like 15 was a ripoff.


I've been playing minecraft on pc. It's kind of a sandbox building game w/ a bit of fighting element. Too much to explain right now but google it.

[Mr. Tennessee]

Thanks sean, just bought it. That looks exactly what I am looking for.

[USF Bull]

colb, on 28 July 2010 - 02:07 PM, said:

Limbo (XBL Arcade) looks promising. I'm probably gonna try it out.

I mentioned that in the 360 thread- I got the demo and im considering buying, although I did hear it's a short experience. It looks like Little Big Planet meets Alan Wake meets Braid.

Eventually 1 night ill be bored and just say screw it and pay $15 even though id like it better at $10.

[colb]

Keith1212, on 01 August 2010 - 07:25 PM, said:

I'm definitely going to give Limbo a try. I read the first paragraph of a review and was sold. It sounds really good.

Review: "Limbo is a 2D game, that is really dark and black."

Keith: "I WANT IT!"

[Simo77]

Makaveli_Reborn, on 27 July 2010 - 07:39 PM, said:

And as an addendum for M&B: Warband, I still, after all this time, find it immensely gratifying to ride past an enemy soldier and split his helmet open with a perfectly timed swing of the sword.

I played the hell out of M&B. The one before warband. The game mechanics are the same as far as I can tell. Super fun game. The controls only take a little time to get used to before combat is natural feeling. The larger battles and seiges are a ton of fun.

I understand Warband is esentually the same with better/updated graphics, items, and quests. Also, I think I heard you can become King in Warband. In M&B you could only be a Lord supporting someone else as King.

I've been meaning to pick up Warband. I just haven't gotten around to it. I think it was on sale a week or two ago but I may have missed it. I'm sure I'll check it out at some point as I put a ton of time in the original M&B.

[dawg_gone]

Machinarium was a blast. There were a couple of puzzles that seemed arbitrary (the cat on the roof??) but just a superb game.

I googled around for other good indies and came across Captain Forever. Good simple fun.

[Fluff E Bunny]

Limbo II, Activision Boogaloo