The Best Indie Games You've Never Played

indie games are a blessing to us gamers but as much as i'd like to think that everyone and their mother has heard of or played celeste that often just isn't the case that doesn't mean i'll ever stop talking about it i mean obviously but i want to dedicate this video to some games that have gone a little more under the radar from niche genres and markets to a huge difference in advertising budgets indie games generally have a much smaller reach than aaa releases with the expansion of pc gaming and digital shops on consoles new indie games now have much better chances at finding a passionate fan base of their own with some even becoming industry icons like cuphead and shovel knight however the sad truth is that many of them don't get anywhere near the attention they deserve so today i want to switch things up a bit and give some attention to games that i think are worth your time that aren't talked about quite as much as the more well-known indies in the scene real quick before we get started here i just flew in from checking my youtube analytics and boy are my arms tired from wiping my damn tears that is since less than 30 percent of you are subscribed i mean i know it's probably because of the damn jojo tier list but still if you end up enjoying the video consider subscribing now let's get to the first game okay so this is like super underground right no one's played it it's not even made by a aaa publisher which is a bit weird it's called undertale and the cool thing is you don't actually have to kill any of the monsters what if baseball was a little bit more interesting it's no secret that i absolutely adore lethal league blaze if you look up lethal league blaze on youtube i'm right there and right there while it may seem like a jet set radio inspired party game at first glance lethal league blaze is an incredibly innovative and complex fighting game i tend to avoid most fighting games since my little baby brain can't handle toxicity and competitiveness but that didn't stop me from dumping over 80 hours into this one and it might just be my favorite fighting game ever lethal league doesn't force you to memorize insane combo strings and instead implements the mechanical depth mix-ups and mind games of the genre in a whole unique way instead of just fighting each other like barbarians you know fist to fist or weapon to weapon you try to hit each other with a giant ball the catch is that the ball bounces around the room at ludicrous speeds and you basically have to play mental rock paper scissors with each hit you can hit the ball in a variety of different directions each character has unique angles and a special ability and in the span of like one second while charging a hit your brain goes oh man is he gonna try to steal it maybe i should parry but if i parry he could grab that is unless i cancel the parry early but he could bunt if i do that oh [ __ ] oh [ __ ] on top of lethal league blaze being fun as hell pure funky energy is what this game does best the glow up this sequel had upon going from pixel art to cel-shaded 3d was glorious each character is exploding with style the soundtrack goes all over the place with its assortment of electronic artists and the maps all feel unique even though they only differ in width and ceiling height now if you've seen my other lethal league videos you may be wondering why i chose to talk about this game for a third time instead of giving the spotlight to something new it's because making an indie fighting game is hard it's probably one of the hardest genres if not the hardest genre to break into because without a roster of famous characters an already dedicated fan base or a massive advertising budget it's hard to reach the audience you need to keep a fighting game alive some can't find enough players to stay active or just get called a smash clone at first glance for being a platform fighter what i'm saying is i wish lethal league blaze was the biggest fighting game ever despite the hurdles it faces lethal league has managed to maintain a small but dedicated community of passionate players the only reason i was able to make my original guide was because i met high ranked players and mods on the team reptile discord that were nice enough to help me out with the intricacies and details if you're willing to go a little out of the way to learn the mechanics and find people to play with which let's be honest you kinda have to do with any fighting game lethal league blaze does not disappoint and i'm sure the community would appreciate a new player the developers continue to hold tournaments and events while updating the game with new ranked seasons characters and dlc skins basically don't forget about lethal league blaze i love it so much every time i bust it open and play a few matches i get my ass absolutely blasted and ranked but i love it all the same whether playing competitively in a 1v1 or in a hectic screaming match with three friends hitting a ball so hard you warp space-time is always satisfying as hell boom boys boom boys all right mates let's have a rough and tumble net oh my god [Music] have you ever wondered if there was a video game that perfectly captured the tension and skill of a cooking show like masterchef but instead of the ingredients being provided for you in a kitchen you had to go out back and kill wild monsters and to cook the food you have to play a match 3 puzzle game inside each pan no just me i know it sounds weird and battle chef brigade is weird but in a good way despite being published by adult swim games i didn't see this game get much publicity at all upon release in 2017. they did send me this chef's apron though which is pretty cool i gotta admit and man it's a shame that this game didn't get much attention because battle chef brigade is a standout in the cooking game genre i mean not too much competition but still as i've already mentioned the game takes a myriad of gameplay styles and melds them into a super intense cooking experience in each cook-off you'll be given a main ingredient and must make several dishes to the taste preferences of each judge within the time limit running out into the wild to kill monsters switches the gameplay into a beat em up with cool combos and character specific abilities but then you gotta run the ingredients back in and throw them on the stove in strategically equipped pots and pans each ingredient is a different assortment of colored pieces so some cookery can match two instead of three but only 1 color or match 4 but double upgrade because yeah cooking in this game is a match 3 puzzle i know i said it already but i figured i should probably say it again it may sound like this gameplay could get repetitive but there are plenty of new features battle chef brigade throws your way to keep things interesting and instead of trying to explain it from scratch i might as well just use this perfect clip from the review i made back in 2018. now the match 3 tiles break and there's bones in your food that turn into rainbow orbs and there's also different kinds of pots and pans and you can play mini games to buy them and there's also three judges that ask for multiple ingredients also make sure not to include any poison and oh yeah your next main ingredient is a [ __ ] dragon oh [ __ ] oh look at little me gushing about indie games two years ago not much has changed honestly battle chef brigade has a cute cast of characters and boasts a wonderful hand-drawn art style that makes you feel like you're playing through an animated movie the characters and their fighting animations look great and the sketched out watercolor backgrounds add a unique feeling to all of the environments as complicated as it all sounds there's not much else to say about battle chef brigade it's just a simple comfy experience that i wish more people knew about so now that it's in two of my videos i can rest a bit easier i also just really appreciate the review i found that says turns out the lamb sauce was the friends we made along the way [Music] alright ladies and gentlemen next up is the hiddenness gem out of all the hidden gems i've ever found i don't even remember how i found this game to be honest and after scouring the internet i was only able to find a few related articles next to zero youtube coverage and only 45 reviews on its steam page one of which is mine the game i'm talking about is nowhere patrol [Music] early access games are a dime a dozen nowadays and with all the subpar titles that find their time in the spotlight it's a damn shame nowhere patrol went completely under the radar as a finished release i know i called battle chef brigade's lack of popularity a shame but this one is a damn shame it's different nowhere patrol is a boss rush platformer heavily inspired by bullet hells arcade style game design and old school graphics and music and yes i know i could kick things off by saying it's like cuphead but if it were on a sega genesis but i think there's a lot that sets it apart from cuphead and i'm also trying to move away from just calling games x but y in nowhere patrol your character and weapon choices are locked in from the start initially you can choose from one of two characters and one of two weapons a third character and his weapon unlock after beating the final boss and the other weapons can be unlocked by not getting hit in fights each character has two special abilities which will slowly charge on their own but can be charged much faster by performing a staple of the bullet hell genre bullet grazing while the only movement options are run jump and dash being able to dash away from or through point-blank attacks or hang near them to gain special charge rewards skilled play and adds even more replayability to a game designed in an arcade format each boss is animated with super smooth pixel art and is a joy to fight against some transform multiple times and each one has different attack phases and requires super precise dashes or platforming there are even a few levels near the end that offer a nice change of pace by switching to a more traditional side-scrolling shoot-em-up format nowhere patrol's main mode boss rush is designed in an arcade format in the sense that you're meant to play through the entire game in one go there are 11 unique bosses in the game which makes subsequent playthroughs fun and rewarding once you've learned all the attack patterns but boss rush also contains a singular glaring flaw there's no save feature at all on the first playthrough this game is tough as nails it's frustrating as hell each boss has more phases than the last you start off thinking oh okay this bell dude is gonna have three phases oh fourth phase okay i can do that all right i got him and now i'm fighting the floor the floor is the boss now the final boss has like nine or ten phases i don't know i lost count once the final screen started happening and all i could hear was no quick save feature meant i had to leave the game running for most of the day while i took breaks after getting stuck on certain bosses my final clear time was around three hours which is pretty rough to force a player through without being able to exit the game what the [ __ ] however after clearing it i was rewarded with the secret unlockable character murky he does stupid amounts of damage with his special ability but he also falls from the sky and face plants onto the ground at the start of each level which immediately reduces him to one health in every fight you know if i ever start feeling like i hate the universe more than normal i'll be sure to come back and play as this guy while a save feature would be an incredibly useful addition for new players as it seems only 12 percent of people have even finished the game it's literally my only problem with an otherwise insanely polished title that i'm gonna start recommending to everyone if you own a computer go buy nowhere patrol like right now it's an absolute no-brainer of a purchase at its price tag of five dollars yes five dollars you probably didn't see that one coming did you we got a deal alert over here [Music] what's better than one boss rush game well two boss rush games of course fury is a game about really hard boss fights and nothing but boss fights there's no other gameplay muddled in between and for a game like this that's just how i like it like nowhere patrol it'll kick your ass whether you're ready for it or not and i'd only recommend fury if your brain can detect that the boss wielding a sword becomes more dangerous when he decides to pick up the canoe paddle initially i wasn't sure if fury warranted an entire segment in this video but i decided to include it on this list after getting so invested that i finished my entire playthrough in one sitting were my thumbs happy about going nuts for five hours straight no but my brain was moving at a million miles an hour because there's just something so special about a game filled with uniquely designed and increasingly difficult boss fights and don't worry fury rightfully claims its spot in the oops all boss battles section of the cereal aisle while i'm gonna try to spoil as little of fury's mysterious story as possible i think the way in which the fights are paced and organized really help the game stand out running them back to back nowhere patrol style would be a nightmare so fury weaves little chunks of lore in between each fight in each of these little cutscenes you learn a bit more about the space prison your character is trying to escape the walks only last for a few minutes but are a perfect cool down in between each battle that let you process what you just accomplished and steal yourself for whatever's coming next you're initially presented with an easy goal escape the prison you've just woken up in you don't want to be tortured for all eternity right and this jailer guy he just seems mean however as you continue on and the bosses get harder questions start to pop up in your head about why your character has been locked up in a maximum security prison guarded by unique bosses in the first place but enough about story this isn't a game about being friends with bosses well i mean except for the one ending this game is about boss fights fury's gameplay is action packed with a mix between close quarters combat and ranged bullet hell battles each boss has multiple phases where their attack patterns change requiring you to frequently learn parrying rhythms which are super satisfying to pull off with a little practice if the enemy decides to back up or fly off the stage you then have to shoot your little pistol at them while dodging a barrage of bullets while fury's combat options are fairly limited it's not at all a drawback it's a game that's easy to learn but hard to master and instead of providing tons of weapons or skills to choose from it instead makes sure you fully utilize everything at your disposal and designs bosses with this concept in mind you're given a very basic skill set and the game says huh good luck one of the main selling points of fury is definitely its soundtrack like lethal league blaze the soundtrack is composed by a collection of edm artists resulting in blood pumping high octane songs that are a perfect fit for fury's cyberpunk action even if you've never heard of fury you might have heard its most popular song which sounds like this yeah see i know you've heard it if you aren't afraid of well the usual phrase here is a little challenge but for the case of fury it might be considered a big challenge so like i said at the very beginning if you're looking for a game that gets your heart beating fast and your sense is turned up to an 11 consider giving fury a shot there's a harder difficulty that unlocks after you clear the normal game which i haven't even tried yet but i might tackle soon i feel like i'm noticing a trend in my video game habits nowadays just a constant search for painful levels of difficulty so if you want to potentially see me play that along with tons of other games follow me on twitch at twitch.tv yakko cmn link in the description hope to see you there sometime you [ __ ] already forgot about reasonably glazed in you don't forget don't forget [Music] all right last one time to go out with a bang while watching the game awards with some friends in 2018 a particular revealed trailer caught my eye upon seeing the developer sumogo none of my friends had any idea why i was so excited but it's because i fondly remember the creativity of their games back in the early days of mobile gaming you know before the dawn of nothing but micro transactions they pushed the boundaries of the platform with cute titles like beat sneak bandit and much more intricate and artistic endeavors like year walk and device 6. to see sumogo's name after nearly 5 years without a release was really surprising and their newest game sayonara wild hearts gets my highest honor because i can say without a doubt it filled me with childlike wonder oh i said it again it was there on the monitor the whole [Music] time [Music] sayonara wild hearts is a journey like no other after playing the whole thing in one sitting i can confidently say that i have absolutely no idea what i played but it was [ __ ] incredible also this playing an entire game in one sitting thing seems to be a recurring theme after clearing the game i immediately went back and replayed every song until i had a gold rank and all the hidden coins and i still have absolutely no idea what i played officially sayonara wild hearts is described as a pop album video game which is honestly a good description since anything more specific would be incorrect or doing samogo a disservice i went in with no knowledge outside of what i saw in the reveal trailer so i assumed it was a rhythm game i'm a huge fan of the rhythm game genre but i also find that my perfectionism causes me to become disgruntled when playing i tend to shoot for full combos and perfect scores even as the difficulty ramps up but while most rhythm games have you pressing buttons in time with the music sayonara wild hearts can be best described as playing literally along to the music it's not particularly difficult but it doesn't need to be it takes so many ideas and concepts that could be fleshed out into entire levels and just teases you with them for a few seconds then sweeps you right off your damn feet again with something new while your jaw is still hanging open i'd call it a motorcycle action game but by the time i'm done saying that i'll have already jumped off the motorcycle skateboarded in space declared a loon hop back on the motorcycle to fight a giant wolf mech rode on the devil's vomit and finish it off by kissing a dragon there's legitimately a segment in the final song where you grind on rails for exactly 5 seconds and it's never used anywhere else my one brain cell went what sonic adventure 2 grinding and it's over also yes you get to kiss a dragon so i think that's a pretty hard sell if nothing else has enticed you so far everything is so fantastically paced and timed to the music without feeling exhausting wild hearts takes all the designs and mechanical ideas from speed based mini games and merges them into a musical wonderland i'm getting flowery with my language because i don't think it's possible to describe this experience without sounding slightly pretentious i feel like this game just showed up gave me a big ol smooch and told me to enjoy the ride it was so good that i wired up my computer to my tv just to get my parents who don't play video games to try it and also so i could play it on the tv afterwards my journey through sayonara wild hearts provided everything i never knew i needed for a perfect casual game it didn't have a heavy story crazy difficulty spikes or convoluted mechanics in fact it literally doesn't explain a single control scheme through its constantly shifting and evolving stages it's built so masterfully that every mechanic comes naturally as you jump sail fly fight and ride through breathtaking levels that seem so painstakingly crafted despite the fact that you're whizzing through them at high speeds maybe saying this about a game studio and not someone i know personally is a bit strange but i feel so proud of samogo and how far they've come as developers this is my strongest recommendation on this list i literally don't have a single issue with this game other than the fact that it ended i feel like i didn't say much about the soundtrack despite how incredibly catchy and immersive it is and that's because the music is basically the game itself it defines the identity of sayonara wild hearts and truly makes it into the description of a pop album video game you drive across a falling bridge during the bridge of a song if i'm being honest i'm tempted i might just do it i just might yeah [ __ ] it who am i kidding i'll buy the soundtrack on final [Music] and so the ending approaches i could ramble about indie games for hours but i'm only one man and i have other videos to make while i think sayonara wild hearts is a perfect one to end off on there are so many games i'd love to talk about that i've decided to end this video with a round of honorable mentions so buckle up because we're about to speed run some reviews rivals of aether it's just a really good platform fighter with a cool pixel art style blazing beaks imagine a roguelike but the item pickups [ __ ] hurt you and make the game miserable also you play as birds which is the best part but the game's [ __ ] hard as [ __ ] dude the messenger i'll hopefully talk about this one more in depth in a future video but an 8-bit game that starts out like ninja gaiden but then turns into a metroidvania where you jump through portals that switch the whole game to 16-bit orion the will of the wisps is by no means an underrated indie game but god if i don't adore it so much i could slam my head right into my desk wow that one actually hurt valhalla it's a really good cyberpunk visual novel with a hint of bartending simulator but good luck trying to type the name into the store page if you want to buy it touhou luna nights what if metroidvania but touhou wait that means it has touhou [Music] music all right that's just about all the energy i have for now but let me know in the comments if you'd like to see me do another video like this in the future or if you know of any other hidden indie gems that deserve some more love also consider checking out my patreon if you'd like to support my work i've got monthly behind the scenes videos where i talk about games i've played and my editing process and screen credits and shoutouts and exclusive discord chat rooms as always thank you so much for watching and i have just one more game to show you i didn't want to forget it lethal league blaze that is don't forget about the league blaze okay hang on they're they're making a new game let's [ __ ] go let's [ __ ] go welcome to the end screen i'm practically out of breath and losing my voice after this video but i gotta give the big thank yous to nilla knoll slip and all my other lovely patrons scrolling by in the credits look at him go you could be there too i'm gonna go take a nap now

Channel: yakkocmn

Views: 458,473

Keywords: indie games, underrated indie games, underrated video games, yakkocmn, underrated games 2020, best indie games, best indie games 2020, celeste, cuphead, hollow knight, lethal league blaze, battle chef brigade, nowhere patrol, furi, sayonara wild hearts, rivals of aether, blazing beaks, the messenger, ori and the will of the wisps, va11halla, touhou luna nights, bomb rush cyberfunk, new indie games

Id: XZHmhkfB8sY

Length: 23min 34sec (1414 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 05 2020