I play a lot of video games; sometimes to have more examples for videos, sometimes to
see if the hype around a title is real, and sometimes because...they’re kinda fun.
A pretty regular comment I get is people asking me for recommendations, especially for indie
games because I include a lot of them in my footage.
So, let’s do it.
Let’s talk about indie games that you should play.
I’m mostly going to talk about less popular indie titles, so stuff like Hollow Knight,
Shovel Knight, Hades, and Celeste won’t be on here, but ya know if you haven’t played
any of those, you probably should.
Also, I’m not gonna talk about games that I’ve already gone in depth about in previous
videos so I can keep things fresh, which largely just means I won’t be talking about A Short
Hike or Outer Wilds, but again you should play those as well because they’re kinda
the best.
Anyway, enough preamble.
Let’s start with CrossCode.
($19.99)
CrossCode should be talked about in the same breath as the most prestigious indie games
out there.
It takes ideas from classic SNES titles like Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, even A Link
To The Past and it innovates on them to make one of the most satisfying action RPGs I’ve
ever played.
While it hasn’t gotten the widespread acclaim that it deserves, it is the kind of game where
if you mention it to someone who has played it, they will go on and on about how great
it is, which ya know can be annoying, but it is typically a sign that something is worth
playing.
The quick pitch is that the main character, Lea has found herself inside of an MMORPG
called CrossWorlds where players take control of physical Avatars through the use of VR
goggles, however, she has no memory whatsoever and is unable to speak.
So, as Lea, you explore CrossWorlds doing quests that are a part of the MMO while also
trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to her.
It’s a neat concept that uses its setting of an MMO to tell a really fun single-player
story, and it is one of the only games I’ve ever played that actually makes a silent protagonist
interesting.
Beyond that, it has a solid combat system that is easy enough to understand, but provides
a lot of depth as you come across new powers and unlock stuff through the skill tree.
Where the game is at its best however is in the dungeons, all of which gave me the same
feeling that I get after beating the very best 2D Zelda dungeons.
They’re filled with puzzles that make you feel smart and talented for solving them and
intense fights that keep you on your toes, some of which also incorporate puzzle elements,
getting players to do more than just mash buttons.
It does an incredible job of tying all of its mechanics together to create an indie
masterpiece.
There is a lot to do, and the majority of it is worth doing, so for those looking for
something you can really sink your teeth into, this is a must-play.
Next up is a game for people who like to feel emotions, which I hope is all of you.
It’s called Before Your Eyes.
I don’t want to say too much about it because it is one of those “the less you know, the
better” kinds of games, but I will say that its story is immensely relatable and moving;
it is a game I think about pretty much everyday, which doesn’t happen that often for me,
especially with relatively short single-player experiences.
A part of this comes from it’s well-written story, but the bigger reason stems from it’s
primary mechanic where if you blink in real life, time in the game will jump forward.
It might be seconds, it might be years, but no matter what, every moment is fleeting and
this is how the story unfolds.
In order to pull this off it uses your webcam to track when you blink, which by the way,
as a dude who somewhat famously doesn’t show his face on the internet, I get being
a little hesitant to play a game that needs to use your camera, but for what it’s worth
nothing is recorded or stored; it just tracks your blinks.
And it is very much worth playing it in this way.
I have never felt as strong of a connection between how a game controls and the themes
it presents.
I found myself desperately trying to stay in certain moments but having my body betray
me with a blink, and then being somewhere completely new, wondering what I missed out
on but also trying to focus on the new moment so that I didn’t miss anything there.
It is a beautiful game with a unique control scheme that leads to a truly immersive experience
because you are essentially the controller and your natural human reactions will influence
how the game plays out.
I wish I could play it again for the first time, so for those of you lucky enough to
not have played it yet, do yourself a favor and buy it.
While we’re on games that feature time manipulation, let’s talk about The Sexy Brutale.
Set in a casino mansion with the same name, The Sexy Brutale drops the player character
in a time loop where they must relive the same masquerade party over and over until
they’re able to save every guest.
Each loop gives the player a chance to learn new information that can be used to solve
various obstacles and further explore the gorgeous and complex mansion.
Along with being in a time loop, the other major element players have to worry about
is that they have to avoid being seen by any of the other characters because reasons.
This leads to it being one big puzzle that has you tracking the movements of the guests
and various happenings around the casino in order to move forward undetected.
It is a cool concept with tons of style that also manages to tell an engaging story.
For the most part, the puzzles struck that solid balance of being complicated enough
to get me thinking, but never so obscure that I felt discouraged to keep going.
If you’re a fan of point and click adventures, this shares a lot of the same DNA, so it almost
certainly would be for you.
Wildermyth is a character-driven randomly generated tactical role-playing game—god
I hate describing video games—that has you live out the life of an adventuring party.
At the start, you create your core group of soon-to-be heroes and then travel the lands
in search of adventure and glory.
You have the option of choosing a premade campaign that has some sort of overarching
threat and various set pieces specifically designed for it or you can do an entirely
procedurally generated one, creating a story unique to you.
Regardless of which you choose, both will have random events occur to your characters
that you will have to navigate through, and depending on your choices, this will have
lasting effects on them, both positive and negative.
The game is largely split into 2 phases, those being exploring and combat.
Exploring has you on the overworld map where you’ll scout new areas, restore cities,
build defenses against coming hoards and complete various personal quests that may come up for
your heroes.
Combat has you resolve various issues that come from overworld travel.
It uses a grid based system that has a fair bit of depth to it.
My favorite part of the combat system is that characters can interact with objects and structures
in the environment; there is even a whole class built around manipulating things like
boulders and torches to attack or protect the party from enemies.
It is pretty amazing the types of stories that Wildermyth is able to weave together
through its procedural generation; I’ve played through a few campaigns, and each time
felt incredibly connected to my heroes, which I didn’t expect to happen when I was first
pitched the game.
It’s really well done and especially, if you like Fire Emblem or Darkest Dungeon or
games like either of those, you should give Wildermyth a shot.
If you watch a lot of my videos, you’ve probably seen footage of this next one, but
I’ve never had the chance to talk about it properly: this is Yoku’s Island Express.
I am fascinated by the way some titles experiment with combining genres, and Yoku’s Island
Express pulls off one of the unlikeliest combinations I could ever think of: a pinball metroidvania.
And I know; to a lot of you that sounds terrible, but let me tell you...it isn’t.
The gameplay centers around the main character Yoku, who is traveling around an island as
the new postmaster, delivering packages and solving problems for the various inhabitants
on the island.
Traversal is done largely through interconnected pinball screens and as Yoku gains more abilities,
you can access parts of the island that were previously unreachable.
The best thing I can say about Yoku’s Island Express is that I don’t even like pinball,
and this is still one of my favorite games of the past 10 years.
There is a lot of charm to its writing and visuals; and, it’s structure made the pinball
elements far more intersting to me as I had something to work towards other than just
breaking a high score and there aren’t costly fail states.
It delivers the spectacle of the greatest pinball machines out there without any of
the frustration.
Yoku is one of those games that you can’t help but smile while playing, which I have
to imagine is good for your brain, and the way it melds two very different genres together
is worth checking out for the ingenuity alone.
Honestly, whether or not you are a fan of pinball or metroidvanias, Yoku’s Island
Express is a fun and intriguing game that also manages to be accessible for players
of all skill levels.
It’s a good time.
Next up is Ape Out.
True to its name, Ape Out is about an Ape that is trying to get out.
It is filled with bombastic action from a top down perspective where you run through
tight corridors, grabbing guards and tossing them unceremoniously against walls and eachother.
It’s fast, it’s tense and it is a hard game to put down.
A big part of what drew me in is it’s adaptive soundtrack that responds to the Ape’s actions;
every attack on an enemy is met with a cymbal crash and as you cause more and more havoc,
the drums beat faster and louder, creating a sense of immersion and importance in every
little thing you do.
The way you tackle any given level feels like an act of expression unique to you.
It is challenging, but not frustratingling so; if you like Hotline Miami, Ape Out hits
a lot of the same notes in terms of gameplay but more focused on the melee side of things.
All in all, it is a simple concept with a killer aesthetic and crunchy gameplay that
is just really fun to play.
Also, I won’t spoil it, but it has one of my favorite endings to any game ever, so I
would argue that it is easily worth checking it out for that alone.
Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight is the perfect game to play while you continue to
wait for any scrap of information to come out about Silksong.
It’s a metroidvania with challenging combat and intriguing platforming set in a cursed
kingdom that you must traverse through and attempt to cleanse.
There’s a bunch of interesting boss fights, obscure lore to try to make meaning out of,
charms that provide passive power ups to support your preferred playstyle, and a killer soundtrack
that almost certainly doesn’t get the love it deserves.
It also has lots of cats.
If that matters to you.
While you shouldn’t go in expecting it to be just like Hollow Knight as both the combat
and platforming feel a fair bit different from it, it does share a lot of similar traits,
so I think fans of Hollow Knight will find a lot to love about Momodora.
I’ve talked in the past about how I don’t 100% most games I play because I end up getting
annoyed with having to do a lot of shit I don’t care about, but Momodora is one of
the few titles that I not only 100%ed but that I also still wanted to play after doing
so, which I think says a fair bit.
Just play it, thank you.
Lastly, let’s talk about The Return of the Obra Dinn.
At least in my circles, this is a somewhat popular game, but after looking up some data
on sales, I realized that not nearly enough people have played it.
Return of the Obra Dinn takes what sounds like one of the lamest jobs ever, an insurance
investigator, and uses it as a base to have the player solve what is essentially one massive
murder mystery.
By using a watch that allows you to see a snapshot of the last moment of a character’s
life, you must connect various bits of information to identify every person on the ship and what
ultimately happened to them.
It causes you to feel really stupid for awhile, but then you start connecting the dots and
start to feel like the smartest person to have ever lived, and I think everyone can
benefit from feeling that way once and awhile.
I love this game a lot because it is the kind of title that I never knew needed until it
came out.
Anyway, It is a one-of-a-kind experience that you’ll wish you could play again for the
first time, so do it.
Okay.
That’s it.
Not only are each of these titles fun to play, but they also all include a ton of creative
design that is worth seeing.
Games like these have helped inform many of my opinions on what goes into good game design,
so I think there’s plenty of value in playing these just to have a wider understanding of
the subject.
So go enjoy some games to see what you’ve been missing.
And for those of you especially interested in the puzzle game recommendations, let me
tell you about this video’s sponsor, Brilliant.
Brilliant is a problem solving website that provides interactive puzzles and interesting
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It has so many topics to check out ranging from logic to computer science fundamentals
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The courses are actually fun and as someone who likes to learn new things, it has been
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My favorite feature on Brilliant is a daily calendar that shows off a new concept and
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It is a great way to learn new stuff without being a massive time commitment, and it gives
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It’s a really cool service that honestly everyone could benefit from, so check it out.
Anyway, thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring this video.
For all of you still here, thank you so much for watching.
This channel would not be possible without viewers like you, and viewers like my patrons
who give generously and I just appreciate you all so much.
Also, special shout out to Elfinrez for being an honorary bagbuten.
I appreciate ya.
Again, thank you and I hope you have a great day and/or night, and I'll see you in the
next one.
Bye.