10 Indie Games that CHANGED my life

I'm at the point in my life where a lot of these AAA games just aren't doing it for me anymore now don't get me wrong there are absolutely exceptions to this rule black myth Wukong is one of my most anticipated games probably of all time and you know I will be playing shadow of the earth Tree on day one there are absolutely still passionate developers out there that have not just thrown in the towel and abandoned everything they once stood for there are so many titles out there that are just being released that are so formulaic and to be honest I'm just bored of it I'm tired of hearing how large your game is and how many planets there are to explore and how a ton of these games are being designed to keep me logged on enough to earn battle pass rewards until the end of freaking time well it seems as if a ton of these major Studios keep fumbling and fumbling Indie Games just keep gaming alive this is where the fresh ideas come from people with boundless creativity that just has me grinning from ear to ear from the very beginning all the way until the credits roll where major companies keep failing Indie Games pull me back in shift my focus and remind me why exactly I love and play video games with all that said and done here are my top 10 Indie video games of all time now keep in mind don't get too hung up on the actual order these are all like N9 out of 10 10 out of 10 games for me and I'm not including any games on here that I have not finished and trust me I've still got a lot to go through well this didn't make my top 10 I felt it was important enough to at least mention Valiant Hearts the the Great War will always hold a special place in my heart because this is one of the first Indie video games I ever played that made me kind of sit back and realize games didn't have to be these huge Blockbusters with million dooll budgets to be amazing and impactful Valiant Hearts takes place during World War I and is a 2d sidescroller where you take control of four different protagonists each having a different role to play during this war this decent puzzles and stealth sections in the midst of fantastic storytelling with real emotional weight I remember being so heavily invested in this story and I was emotionally destroyed by the end of it it gave me a very similar feeling as tell Tales The Walking Dead season 1 and that's just something I will never forget fist is easily the most underappreciated indie game I I think I've ever come across fist takes place in torch City and you play as raon who is an ex soldier in the resistance war after being secluded for a long time his friend gets arrested and you recover the only remaining piece of your armor to try and save him a giant fist this is a 2d sidescrolling Metroid Vania and if you've played games like Hollow Knight Metroid Blasphemous this is going to feel right at home for you now this game may not have insane Innovation and it at times is going to feel very familiar I think it more than makes up for in its execution everything is so polished and detailed the World building of torch city is phenomenal it has characters I genuinely cared about the director of this game took heavy inspiration from Miyazaki and I think it absolutely shows here my favorite part though is the combat the controls are so tight and have serious weight to it there are so many different abilities that I will not spoil here but they just never got old to me mix that with some genuinely awesome boss battles and you have yourself an incredible time and I really wish more people gave this game a chance because I just have unfortunately seen no buzz since its release but if you a fan of Metroid vanas trust me you do not want to miss this one [Music] as someone who loves Souls games Blasphemous just checks off so many boxes for me it's art style World building are absolutely breathtaking such a wide variety of enemies in a world that is itching to be explored if it isn't obvious already I'm a pretty big fan of Metroid vanas and this one is just too good not to put on here I do love the first Blasphemous but I think the sequel is better in almost every aspect now much like Souls games the story is is very Meek here and it's more about atmospheric storytelling than actual dialogue now don't get me wrong there is absolutely a story here and there is some dialogue but it's not why I love this game the visceral combat is only enhanced by the new weapons added in this sequel there tons of brutal executions that are so satisfying every time this game offers a great deal of challenges which I absolutely loved especially in this genre with the exception of a few areas it never felt overwhelmingly punishing either I think if you enjoy any of these Souls games this is an absolute must playay it has been 3 years since the release of death's door and I still think about this game on a frequent and I mean very frequent basis I think it hit me so hard because I had absolutely zero anticipation for this I remember seeing it on my Xbox and I was just intrigued by the art style and it was enough for me to purchase it have you ever had one of those moments in a game early on where something just clicks and happens and you realize you you're just probably going to be in for a magical experience that this exactly what happened here as soon as I stepped into the Hall of doors and the Beautiful soundtrack started playing I knew I was about to experience a masterpiece and it turns out I was right death's door is an isometric hack and slash with souls-like elements you play as a crow who is known as a Reaper to go and collect souls for the reaping commission headquarters I thought this idea was absolutely brilliant having Reapers work in kind of like this office space it's amazing the art style is absolutely gorgeous here and it just fits the world so well so many different unique characters and enemy designs that I was just left enthralled throughout my entire playthrough I've heard people say before that they didn't think the combat was too good but I I have to wholeheartedly disagree I found it to be super enjoyable and you get many different weapons added throughout the playthrough there's a decent amount of boss battles with great music seriously this game's OST is absolutely ridiculous I just had such an incredible time with death store and it's been a game that has continuously been in the back of my head since I finished it in 2021 and again in 2022 [Music] little nightmares is just absolutely brilliant it has remained and probably will always remain in my top 10 now I am lumping both one and two together because to be honest they just feel like one complete package this is just one of those genius type games because there's no actual dialogue in either of them but I remember my jawdropping specifically at the end of the second one because the story was so impressive they have such a way of Storytelling without using any actual words and when it comes to environment this game is second to none talk about a horror game that can be downright disgusting whether it's the environment or the creepy boss battles little nightmares 2 will always have you at the edge of your seat now there is no actual combat in this game it is more like a really long game of hide-and seek but there is something just so off-putting about the idea that you're never really defeating a lot of these creatures but just prolonging the inevitable the mall is such a raw and unique place to explore and six is the only person who has no idea what's going on they also watch a lot of horror movies and jump scares are just so boring to me it's mostly a gimmick obsessed with the idea of insant gratification rather than the longlasting horror that stays with you little nightmares while having some minor jump scares opts for that long lasting horror the idea of looking down a hallway or being completely in the dark and the horror instead comes from what's not on the screen rather than what is at times it's brilliant and it's all drowned out by another amazing OST you will probably notice some kind of theme for all the games I I love having memorable official soundtracks it's often overlooked but I think it is crucial for creating a longlasting impression especially in a horror game if Adrenaline Rush was a video game it would probably look like Katana zero and crazy enough I have been deep in the world of indie games for many years now and though everyone I knew was screaming for me to try this it somehow just kept getting further and further further down the backlog and finally last year after drowning in numerous games that were 80 plus hours I I needed a shorter linear experience for a change and boy was everyone wrong this wasn't just a great video game this was an absolute Masterpiece and I just thought this was some dumb fun action game nobody told me the storytelling was absolutely brilliant you play as a nameless assassin who has the ability to control time and see into the future what is perhaps the most brilliant part is every level is actually of the planning portion of an assassination so instead of dying and restarting someone will tell you that won't work try again and after then successfully planning you will get a playback of how it actually went down and it is just so satisfying every single person including yourself will die in one hit unless it is a boss you can use your sword to attack there are throwables you have a Dodge and roll and you can even reflect bullets and the absolute best ability is to slow down time mid combat it always feels so good and it's never frustrating to die because it moves at such a fast pace with the exception of a few times I never felt like I was cheated it was almost always a mistake on my own part and you will never guess it the OST is an alltime Banger satisfaction is the only word that comes to mind when you finally get that perfect run with everything time to the music I could go on and on about how absolutely incredible this game is but I think you should go into this as blindly as possible it's just an experience that has to be had and if you've been putting this off I need you to check it out immediately this is one of those ones that just again cannot be missed is there anyone out there who isn't a fan of kung fu and doesn't like to feel like a badass genuine question because I'm not sure such a person exist you know the scene from John Wick 1 where he's in the club and there's this incredible music drowning everything out while he takes on 50 guys all by himself that's this entire video game sefue is an exhilarating action game that came out in 2021 and so quickly climb to be an all-timer for me this game was developed by slow clap who if you didn't know also created absolver which is another incredible game with phenomenal hand to-hand combat and this game takes the best elements from absolver and dials it up to 11 there was a simple Revenge story here but again that is not why you're playing it because the combat is the absolute star here and I am not exaggerating when I say this is probably the best hand toand combat system in any video game ever beating people up has just never felt more s satisfying you can use just your hands if you'd like there's bottles you can kick up to throw at people you can use the environment brooms bats you name it and it all finishes with the most incredible takedowns that just had me laughing so hard because of how cool it was now I think a lot of people were put off by this game due to the difficulty because this is a Rog light which means it is inherently difficult every time you die you restart from scratch but of course there are permanent unlocks to make this easier over time now what this game is really cool and unique is that each time you are defeated you gain age and if you choose to get back up you will continue right where you left off and every time you age you will do more damage but you will also take more and you only completely restart When You Reach I believe age 65 it is such a cool concept and when I first played this on release there was no difficulty setting but that has since been added so if you wanted to check out this game but you're not particularly good at Rog lights I think there has never been a better time to check out sefue you see this is what gaming is all about you see we are in in that absolute 10 out of 10 Masterpiece territory now I'm talking completely Flawless top to bottom cuphead is an absolute star in a certified must playay if you even remotely like video games I could spend hours and hours talking about the Brilliance of the handdrawn animation every frame is so meticulously placed the character designs the bosses special moves this game is a true work of art and that cannot be said enough this is one of my favorite looking games ever this game is nothing other than a boss rush you have the occasional running gun missions but even those are optional combine that with an array of weapons and special moves and the addition of Co-op brilliant I also love the difficulty in this game as well it's not completely impossible but it's no walk in the park either and I think it threads that needle perfectly another amazing thing is every single boss is multiphase and it ranges from small changes to catastrophic I'm also a huge fan of the boss battles not having health because the stress and anticipation that builds up when you know were close to the end is exhilarating and when that Bell inevitably Rings you feel like you can finally breathe and you will never guess what the icing on the cake here is the cuphead OST is from the gods this is that absolute Masterpiece level stuff here I don't know who cooked this up they need every raise possible the variety is absolutely insane and it just never got old once and all of this insane value for the base price of $20 and after the delicious last course this could have easily been sold for 60 bucks and it would have been worth every penny again we are in the must-play categories now if for some reason you have never played this I beg you grab a friend and a few beers you will have the time of your life I always thought it's hard to make new friends super giant games has been known by many in recent times from the insane success of Hades which is absolutely deserved by the way long before that was even announced I knew this company had the sauce from a little game called transistor you may be wondering why I have this up here in not Hades and while I think both games are phenomenal this one just speaks to me in a way that Hades never did transistor was also one of the earliest Indie Games I ever played that finally made me look deep into this studio and how they could create such magic and thus began my obsession with Indie Games even beyond all of that I genuinely know there is an incredible game here this far overshadowed by Hades the only thing I really believe future titles have on this is its combat system I don't think it's remotely bad I found it very enjoyable but I do believe it is better in a game like Hades but my God the storytelling is the reason I stayed these guys have been Masters since the beginning you play as somebody who used to be a singer who can no longer speak and while you play the game these songs she used to sings plays and it's just Indescribable preparing for this video I redownloaded and booted up transistor and as soon as that title card hit I got chills down my spine that is how much this game means to me and has impacted me over the last decade it takes a special game to stick with me for that long and I promise transistor is that game Darren Corb who composes all the music is working on levels unseen in video games ever in my opinion there is nobody and I mean no one doing music in video games quite like this it's completely dynamic in game as well and I promise it is something that just has to be experienced for the sake of this list and not having half of it be super giant games which it easily could be I just just opted to go with my favorite of the bunch but trust me I highly recommend all of them they are all must plays for anyone who has never played transistor or any of super Giants games before I envy [Music] you words can't describe the way this game makes me feel I remember the first time I played ory in the blind Forest I was completely enthralled and as soon as they announced the sequel I knew this was going to be a day one buy for me there was only one problem I didn't own it Xbox so I did what any reasonable person would do I bought one the next day to play a single game and I will never forget the first time booting this up and yet again the title screen soundtrack hit and I had tears in my eyes and I knew this game was going to be one to remember I must have played until 3: 400 a.m. the first time I played I completely lost track of time because this game was just operating on another level the world is gorgeous and I mean this is genuinely one of the prettiest games I think I've ever played first ory game was more about platforming the second one ramped it up and gave us not only incredible platforming and level design but amazing boss battles and really fun combat with great Metroid Vania aspects this game just doubles down everything that made the first one great and sares to new heights without making the first one feel obsolete the storytelling in both games is absolute magic with minimal words actually spoken side quests are both meaningful and rewarding I could talk all day long about how incredible I think these games are in a day and age where every game feels like it needs to be 400 hours with content That Never Ends Ori never overstays its welcome but it's a bittersweet ending because I think the gameplay Loop is just so great and you want to stay as long as possible this game just has so much heart soul and passion behind it I can't help but get excited every time I think about it this is the kind of game that ignites that love and passion for video games because the care that has been put into it is omnipresent this is not only one of my favorite Indie video games but just one of my all-time favorites full stop I have to express how wide a margin it is from the number two slot and the number one and that is zero disrespect to the other nine games on this list I think they're all Immaculate but I don't even understand how a game like this exists we have games that cost hundreds of millions of dollars taking multiple Studios years to develop and they charge 70 bucks a pop and they are not a fraction of the game Hollow night is this game was made by three people and it cost $17 there are numerous free dlc's with well over 60 hours of content and if you didn't know Hollow Knight happens to be my favorite video game of all time the art style is absolutely breathtaking the world of hollow Nest is breathing with life around every corner this map is ridiculously large and just has so much to offer but the absolute star here is the combat my God what I love about Hollow Knight is it has this simplistic looking combat system that is easy to follow unlike a game like dead cells where it is extremely hard to tell what is going on but it could not be more complicated I feel like everyone's Hollow Knight experience is relatively similar because I wasn't feeling too good about the combat system for a while but then came that mantis boss and everything clicked I have never felt more in tune with a game's combat system everything just kept getting better and better from there the move sets the different abilities charms the Pogo attacks and this combat system was just magic and please tell me why this small game has 47 bosses and I don't think there is a single bad one this game is also chalk full of lore for people who really want to delve into this world and explore all the side content it has to offer and trust me there is a ton of optional content and for the last time this OST is absolutely insane the first time entering the city of Tei is just an experience this is full stop the best Metroid Vania of all time the best Indie video game of all time and just one of the best video games ever made team Cherry deserves any and all praise that they have gotten and trust me I am kneee into the silk song is never coming out jokes but you better believe I will be there day one regardless because this team is just operating on a level AAA developers can only dream of this is exactly what video games are all about

Channel: Jacob Stevens

Views: 198,251

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Id: oWpZ_sGjl0o

Length: 19min 41sec (1181 seconds)

Published: Tue May 14 2024