Indie Games Thread

[SoS]

Noticed that we didn't have a general thread for smaller indie titles and thought I'd make one for those of us who love indies, want to recommend them and share our thoughts on the latest crazes. Whether you're a Shovel Knight afficionado; a Super Meat Boy fanatic or you love to Bind you some Isaac, this is your one stop shop for everything indie.

Insert your own jokes about being too mainstream here.

So what sparked the idea for the thread for me was Shovel Knight; my favourite game of last year (in a year that included my two favourite video game characters clashing) and its totally free new update: Plague of Shadows! Have any of you been playing it? How are you finding Plague Knight different to Shovel Knight? I'll note that this campaign definitely has a significantly higher learning curve than vanilla Shovel Knight, but damn if mastering that Bomb Blast technique isn't satisfying. I've played the first couple of levels and I can't wait to take on the Lich Yard and Spectre Knight again... Oh boy, that's going to be rough isn't it?

[MCXD]

Plague Knight is awesome and Shovel Knight is one of the best games ever made.

You know what other indy game is really rocking my socks? Undertale.

[SoS]

I hear Undertale is excellent but the bullet hell aspects really put me off. Really not my speed.

I just picked up Shantae and the Pirate's Curse woo.

[Loki]

Shadowrun Dragonfall and Shadowrun Hong Kong have been quite great cyberpunk fantasy RPG. I don't care that it's silly to have dwarves and elves in a cyberpunk future setting, it's just fun. Dragonfall has beautifully written characters and the gameplay is pretty nice. Combat is similar to XCOM's but a bit more complex (in both a good and bad way).

Harebrain (the developer) is now making a new Mech Warrior game, Battletech on Kickstarter.

Any fans of FTL should check out Convoy, a similar game except it uses a Road Warrior-esque style setting. It's less random since you can drive back and forth to shops, but the game definitely gets brutal.

Combat is a bit more fun and active than the single ship vs. ship combat of FTL. Instead you command your vehicles to guard a truck that keeps driving forward while enemies spawn and come up against you.

[MCXD]

Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows

I hear Undertale is excellent but the bullet hell aspects really put me off. Really not my speed.

It's very easy by bullet hell shooter standards. I've been watching toooons of playthroughs and nobody, even people with no shump experience whatsoever, is getting stuck for too long on anything...

...At least, not anything that's required to get the best ending. Without spoiling any details whatsoever, there's one boss off the beaten path which is very difficult, but you don't ever need to face them in a normal playthrough.

[Raves]

Opinions on Cave Story?

[biggggg5]

Originally Posted by Raves

Opinions on Cave Story?

enjoyed it and the story. but could only play through once.

[SoS]

Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows

I just picked up Shantae and the Pirate's Curse woo.

Update: Shantae and the Pirate's curse is fun as shit, but really more of a 2D action platformer than a Metroidvania to be honest. It's difficult, but I honestly found it to be kind of cheap in places with enemies coming out of nowhere. Still, I had a lot of fun with it, it's extremely charming, technically excellent and so stupidly silly that it's a thing of beauty. Highly recommend. I'm going to go check out the rest of the franchise.

[Princess Ana]

Originally Posted by MCXD

It's very easy by bullet hell shooter standards. I've been watching toooons of playthroughs and nobody, even people with no shump experience whatsoever, is getting stuck for too long on anything...

...At least, not anything that's required to get the best ending. Without spoiling any details whatsoever, there's one boss off the beaten path which is very difficult, but you don't ever need to face them in a normal playthrough.

Note: Do not open the spoilers if you have not played. I'm actually really serious about this its pretty important.

Spoiler: show

Are we talking eldritch horror Flowey bullshit that I was not prepared for that hold me please

I just bought the game today and I had a ton of fun with it. I have few criticisms of the game, with my only major one being the lack of money throughout, but its still a fun game through and through. The characters are enjoying (*protects Undyne and Muffet*), the gameplay is unique and not too hard, although on occasion you don't get even vaguely hinted at what the alternative methods are to win.

I still have more to go with it but honestly I don't know if i can deal with Flowey at this point. I'm not even that good at Touhou -_-

[SoS]

Man, between Plague of Shadows, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Shantae and Undertale, I've been massively indie-ing as of late. Feels good mang.

Isaac is currently my travel game. I have an hour on the train to and from uni each day, so I usually have time for at least one good run. I'm still terrible at this game, and the only character I can really use "well" is Azazel. But it's sooooo satisfying when I do pull off a good run, such as tonight when I finally got to the Cathedral and motherfuckin Isaac himself. Son got REKT. Shoutout to the Devil room I got beforehand which offered me Brimstone for 2 hearts... You know, Azazel's base weapon? Thanks. Can't wait for the Afterbirth expansion to come to 3DS.

I achieved the "neutral" end today in Undertale, after considerable pressure from the internet to JUST PLAY IT ALREADY GOD. I really enjoyed it actually, though I found the combat frustrating at times. Met a few roadblocks along the way and only managed to get as far as I did through healing item spam, but the dialogue is great and witty, the characters are hilarious and the soundtrack is phenomenal; well worth the extra cash I spent on it.

[Sparkbeat]

Downloaded Eternal Senia yesterday since it has really good reviews and is free, and they definitely weren't lying. It's an ARPG made in RPG Maker where you attack by running into things, but for what it is the combat's really fun. The English (translation I'm assuming) is kinda off at times, but otherwise the story's strong as well. It does require a bit of grinding if you want to get the best armor from each area, but it's nothing horrible, and I was able to reach the first ending of the game in under 4 hours. It is somewhat easy if you get the best armor, and I didn't die until the boss of one of the endings. But all in all, it's been a fun game to just grab and playthrough.

Oh, and I actually just found out that you can actually upgrade skills. Didn't notice it at all until now. So... yeah I guess if I had one complaint it's that it's a bit too easy considering I could beat it without upgrading any of my skills once.

[SoS]

Sounds like a better Hydlide.