That's like saying that indie art is creatively bankrupt because you go on DeviantArt and randomly look through the stuff on there. When people make a lot of stuff, a lot of it is bound to be iffy.
"90% of everything is crap"
His problem is that he's playing somewhat shitty games. My indie game Diarrhea 4 is 100 % shit. Don't settle for anything less!
Do we need to play the first 3 to understand the story?
Diarrhea 4 is the fifth entry in the series, and, like a good shit, they build upon each other.
Can confirm.
Plot twist: anon just hates games. Seriously, if AAA games are creatively bankrupt, and indies are creatively bankrupt, and yet the vast majority of gamers recommend or simply like playing these games, the problem is anon. Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, Celeste, Super Meat Boy, Castle Crashers, Factorio, Into The Breach, Children of Morta, OpenTTD, Loop Hero, Inscryption, Divinity Original Sin 2, theres so many objectively quality indies that are objectively not creatively bankrupt.
where rain world :(
The majority of your list is over 5 years old and nothing newer than 2 years old. That's not a great counter to the pointnof the post. Indie games are largely a massive pile of garbage that maybe once a year has something good come from it.
It's not like every game that came out in the past was good either. Shovelware nearly destroyed the industry twice. When people look to the past, all they remember are the gems, nobody remembers the trash that used to fill up demo discs that came with gaming magazines. Music, TV, movies, books... it's all like this, gaming is not unique.
It's harder to cite recent indie games of good quality because they oftentimes take a lot of time to get noticed. A great example of this is Outer Wilds
see? When I describe things in the broadest, most universal terms possible, all indie games fall into one of four categories
Indie games can be awesome, you just need to find a good way to avoid the crap. For example:
- deck builders - Slay the Spire is the GOAT here, pretty much everything else is a knockoff (though I've heard good things about Monster Train); if you want a really unique experience, try Inscryption
- Metroidvanias - not sure what "loops" are, sounds like OP is talking about rogue-like; Hollow Knight is the GOAT, I've heard Hyper Light Drifter (currently playing and good so far) and Tunic are great as well
- 3D platform - I've heard A Hat in Time is the GOAT here, though there's certainly a lot of crap; if you broaden the definition of "indie" a bit, Psychonauts is great
There are a ton of crappy indie games, but that's just because there's so many games total. I think there are more good indie games than good AAA games, they're just a bit harder to find among all the crap.
OP could be talking about gameplay loops, those are present in every game. Eg Hollow Knight's loop: explore, stab bugs, find charms/upgrades, beat boss, repeat until there is nothing else to do. If a gameplay loop is boring and has no variety it becomes obvious it's a loop, the same way bad films make it obvious you're watching a film with characters of specific archetypes, and a story with an intro, mid point, climax, and a resolution. And by bad I mean bland, there's still a certain joy in comically not well crafted media
In terms of deck builders I've been really enjoying Fights in Tight Spaces. You use cards to build James-Bond-esque fight scenes. Also, for platformers, shovel knight remains excellent.
A Hat in time Is absolutely the GOAT, I spent 9 hours straight playing it on the day I bought it and with all the mod support, replayablility, and dlc, it's a must-play.
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Oooh! I'd forgotten super meat boy. I'm off to see if it works on Steamdeck
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Indie games are so numerous it's basically impossible for most of them to not be shit. The thing is I'll take a great indy game over a great triple a title 9 times out of 10.
Like far cry 6 was pretty damn good. Great customization, decent crafting, excellent graphics and an engaging story. But the weekly shit and end game grinding wore on me. Maybe 120 hours spent. Meanwhile 7 days to die looks janky, has shitty minecraft building, no actual story beyond survival, and I'm pushing 600 hours.
Starfield held me for about 100 hours. Again, graphics, story, crafting, all good enough. But I'd rather play valheim again. Hell, even stalcraft held my attention for longer.
Zachtronics.
I used to hang out on game dev reddits and I saw this a lot. "Today I'm releasing a new game...a breath of the wild clone!"
The only thing I'll give them is the tide of shitty card based roguelikes. It really just ruins my entire day when i find something that looks cool at first glance and goes on about their interesting world only for it to be a shitty spire-like. At least survivor likes feel low budget from the get go.
If you hate video games, keep it to yourself.
I just want a Sims or Spore indie clone that is not managed by the greediest assholes on the planet, is that too much to ask?
Thankfully there is 2 on the way, but somehow they both have ripped the concept of the Sims 4 entirely in half
Life By You is pretty raw/hard simulation, with more emphasis on the gameplay of the simulated people, more reminiscent of the Sims 2 graphically Paralives is soft simulation with more emphasis on building and design, extremely reminiscent of the Sims 4 graphically
Maybe if he scrolls past page 1 of best sellers he'd find some good games
What about Dwarf Fortress
We're talking about games not playable dorf lifetimes
I am so sick of deck builders and rogue-esque games.
This post briefly made me forget how to spell "model"
The amount of people that type rouge instead of rogue is astonishing
How about rougelite? Shouldn't that be spelled "pink"?
Anon forgot to add the Soulslike rip off.
These cowards can't even gaze upon Dominions 6 without succumbing to a brain aneurysm.
Anon was just too feeble minded to play creative games. His pretender clearly didn't take recoup.
My personal chassis took 5 ranks of Life and Earth each that is why I'm FAT!
Sturgeons Law
I was so glad when the theme of doing "RETRO 8 BIT THROWBACKS WITH BLATANTLY TRACED OVER CASTLEVANIA AND MEGA MAN SPRITES!" finally died...
Stopped being fond of Video Game Themed Video Games as well
Though Retro City Rampage is one of the few good examples of both.
He forgot the Phasmophobia clones.
Where does ULTRAKILL fit into this?
They'd probably lump it in with the PS1 aesthetic horror games.
Truth
If you like puzzlers, indies are a gold mine.
You're Finally Awake.
even the worst indie game is still better than what AAA game devs drop today
They hated him, for he spoke the truth.
The weird part is how much people suck indie game devs dicks. Even when the game had mechanics that if it was in an AAA game the reviews would be bombed.
Indie games are usually focused around a handful of mechanics, whereas AAA games often throw in the kitchen sink. When it comes to games, less is often more.
In AAA game, I'll get open world, crafting, dodge and parry combat, RPG mechanics, exploration, etc, and they'll all individually be decent, whereas a good indie game will do one or two of those really well. So my choice is, do I want a wide range of mechanics in one game, or a wide range of games with really well done mechanics?
Some people prefer variety, I prefer focused games. AAA games appeal to a large audience, indies appeal to a niche. If you can find a good niche, indies are hard to beat.
