Best Lesser-Known Indie Games

[joshinthewoods]

Pretty self-explanatory thread.

You don't always need AAA games to have a good time, and I'm always on the lookout for great bite-sized games.

Bonus points if there's plenty of trophies or a platinum.

 

I highly recommend:

 

N++

Oxenfree

Chambara

 

Make sure if it's anything other than PS4 you let us all know.

Edited August 12, 2017 by joshinthewoods

[bruin-rocks]

Lumo is my favourite. 

[ExHaseo]

Dust: An Elysian Tale

Stories: Path of Destinies

 

These are what come to mind in the "lesser-known" category for me.

[Spelunkette]

Linelight is a brilliant puzzler. One of the best games this year, IMO.

[diskdocx]

2 hours ago, joshinthewoods said:

Pretty self-explanatory thread.

You don't always need AAA games to have a good time., and I'm always on the lookout for great bite-sized games.

Bonus points if there's plenty of trophies or a platinum.

 

I highly recommend:

 

N++

Oxenfree

Chambara

Depends on your definition of lesser known, but the Drinkbox studio games (Guacamelee, Mutant Blobs, Severed), FuturLabs (Velocity/Velocity 2x) and Super Giant Games (Transistor, Bastion, Pyre) are all must haves.

 

I just recently platted Head Lander, which was also excellent. Didn't realize it was a Tim Schaefer game. Highly recommended

[Gage]

Chambara and Linelight are the only two things mentioned so far that I'd consider "lesser known", but maybe that's just me.

 

Scrolling down my list of things I've played this last year-ish:

 

Embers of Mirrim: 2D side scrolling puzzler where you play as a weird dog/cat thing that can split in half the solve puzzles. Very fun game, very overlooked (not helped by being a bit on the expensive side likely)

 

GNOG: Simple puzzle game based basically around opening boxes (though not like Open Me!). Very good looking artwork and music, little on the short side. 

 

The Inner World: Point and click, nice looking cartoon-esque graphics. Some good humor. 

 

The Turing Test: 3D puzzler similar to Portal, very interesting story and decent length if you aren't following a guide. Dev's second game after Pneuma: Breath of Life and shows very much how they improved between the two. 

 

Subterrain: Top down twin stick survival horror crafting building thing. Brutal hard, but very good environments and super deep management systems. 

 

Livelock: Twin stick shooter similar to housemarque stuff. Very good overall, highly recommend for fans of the genre. Excellent 3 player coop as well. 

 

Assemblance: 3D walking sim puzzle/meta game. Basically guide is required if you aren't insane and the endings can be finicky, but has an interesting story and is fun if you can appreciate the amount of work that went into the meta game for this. . 

 

Hyper Light Drifter: Probably not that overlooked, but basically top down Souls. Excellent pixel art style, great combat mechanics. 

[MMDE]

PS3 or PS4?

[Bullstomp]

I absolutely loved and rocked the hell out of Quest of Dungeons and Volgarr the Viking. I am also a HUGE fan of Dead Nation but not sure it qualifies as not being well known. . .

[joshinthewoods]

Nice!

Can't wait to look into some of these.

I'm not really looking for the games that NOBODY knows about, just the ones you probably wouldn't hear about if you didn't go looking for independent/smaller games.

[MMDE]

On 8/12/2017 at 9:53 AM, joshinthewoods said:

Nice!

Can't wait to look into some of these.

I'm not really looking for the games that NOBODY knows about, just the ones you probably wouldn't hear about if you didn't go looking for independent/smaller games.

 

But are you only looking for PS4 games or also PS3 games?

 

Here's some PS4 games that I've played, but beware you need to be into the genre:

 

• N++ (amazing 2D platformer)
• Oceanhorn: Monsters of Uncharted Seas (adventure, like Zelda)
• Party Hard (puzzle, but has a bit of boring grind to get a couple of trophies)
• Quest of Dungeons (ARPG, dungeon crawler, rogue-like, boring grind for a couple of trophies)
• Pneuma: Breath of Life (first person puzzle platformer, much like Portal)
• The Talos Principle (first person puzzle platformer, much like Portal but with less humor)
• Letter Quest Remastered (puzzle game, but you need to like scrabble)
• Risk of Rain (side-scrolling platformer action rogue-like with online MP, you'll just have to see videos of it to see if it's for you)
• The Escapists (maybe not indie, idk, but might as well put it in here... puzzle game, but you'll almost have to watch video of it)
• Poncho (decent, but it's a side scrolling puzzle platformer)
• Fenix Furia (great side-scrolling platformer, much like N++, but you can fly and dash etc, but yeah, if you like N++, you'll likely like this too)
• Bard's Gold (side scrolling adventure platformer with rogue-lite elements, will remind you about SNES era games)
• Retsnom (side scrolling puzzle platformer, liked this one quite a lot, made by one person and should be pretty cheap in the PSN store)
• Ether One (first person puzzle game, but it has a lot of glitches on PS4 and load issues... :\)
• Siralim (dungeon crawler, turn based combat, rogue-lite, but it's extremely repetitive and time consuming, so don't get it unless you think you'll like playing it a lot)
• Hand of Fate (the trophy list is quite hard as it currently is, it had a trophy patch that didn't just change the game quite a lot fixing an exploit, but it added trophies required for the plat  Anyway, the game itself is lovely, perhaps a bit too luck based when it gets hard, but it's rogue-like dungeon crawler-ish card game with action rpg battle system.  You're playing against a dungeon master, and the dungeon master adds a lot to the game, especially the mood)
• Resogun (not sure if I should put it here, but it's a great "Defender" clone (shmup game). The PS4 version is by far the superior version with several good DLCs etc.)
• Unmechanical (side scrolling puzzle "platformer", platformer, even if you float around in the air)
• Apotheon (metroidvania game)
• Tennis in the Face (puzzle game, mobile game, but it's pretty fun and doesn't overstay it's welcome)
• Oddworld: New n Tasty (idk if I should put it here, but whatever, it's a side scrolling puzzle platformer, a remake of a classic PS1 game)
• Thomas Was Alone (another side scrolling puzzle platformer)
• Rainbow Moon (TRPG)
• Salt and Sanctuary (2D Dark Souls)
• Guacamelee! (metroidvania)

Edited August 29, 2017 by MMDE

[Darkette]

Super Rude Bear Ressurection. Amazing platformer, if you like SMB you should like this. Not popular at all but I highly recommend. The dev isn't exactly rolling in money either so it'd help him hugely too. 

[joshinthewoods]

6 hours ago, MMDE said:

 

But are you only looking for PS4 games or also PS3 games?
 

I'm personally looking for PS4 (and I'd actually edited one of my previous posts but didn't mention it), but if anyone else is looking for similar things I wouldn't want to limit the thread to exclusively PS4 titles.

[tigersfan3023]

I love flywrench, which is made by the same guys who made nidhogg.  It's a difficult super meat boy esq game.

[Nightstream88]

Dust An Elysian Tail
Seasons After Fall
Embers of Mirrim
Never Alone
Submerged
Trine Trilogy
Apotheon
N++
Unravel
Salt and Sanctuary
Rebel Galaxy
Shadow of the Beast
Gryphon Knight
Freedom Planet
Shiness the Lightning Kingdom
Ghost Blade HD
Resogun
Aeternoblade
DariusBurst Chronicle Saviours
Race the Sun
Entwined
iO

These are about some of the ones I liked at least I think all of these are indie wasn't entirely sure or not if Shadow of the Beast

[TheArcadeKid]

From what I've played recently, Penarium springs to mind. Picked it up for £1.69 in the current summer sale, which is probably as much as it's worth given the small amount of content, but the core gameplay is incredible. Very fast-paced action-platformer where everything actually works; you die, 9 times out of 10 it's on you. One of the most polished lesser known indie titles I've played in a while, even if I finished it and knocked out all the trophies in five or six hours. 

 

Wheels of Aurelia is another one. In fairness it's probably one of those love-or-hate games, or at least like-or-dislike, but I definitely enjoyed it. Dialogue doesn't actually gel together very well - it's more a series of loosely connected snippets - but the look and general atmosphere of the game was really easy to enjoy working towards the platinum. Some strangely catchy music too. 

 

Other mentions go to Kung Fury: Street Rage, Titan Attacks, Ultratron, Aqua Kitty: Milk Mine Defender and Rock Boshers. Again, they're all pretty light on content, but if you can pick them up cheap like I did, they're definitely worth the day or so it'll take to beat them. Despite the short length, they do feel like fully realised indie games.

[voodoo_eyes]

Dex (PS4 version), one of the best indie games I've played so far. Almost forgot to add The Sexy Brutale as well.

Edited August 12, 2017 by voodoo_eyes

[DaisyVilla102]

Aaero - music/rhythm/shooter, I love how the controls are different from the typical game of this genre--it feels so much more natural and fluid.

The Sexy Brutale - awkward, clunky title, but morbid, funny, and very pretty game.  Alternate ending made me cry.

-KLAUS- - for the longest time I was scared off by part of the description on the PSN store: "takes inspiration from hyper-precise classics such as Super Meat Boy". ? Then one week it was 75% off and I finally noticed it had a demo.  I tried it out and immediately bought it, and if it had been full price I'd have been happy to pay it.  I'll probably never plat it, but I'll still have fun replaying it to try

[d1l2e3v4]

Night in the Woods. Seriously loved this game. The writing is amazing, the characters and setting of the game are relatable to a very deep point (for me), and the game has helped me through some very dark times. With a beautiful usage of realistic themes (such as mental disorders, poverty, to name a few without spoiling) , It has to be one of my favorite games that has come out this year so far. It's only downside is really its steep price, at 19,99€. 

 

It's not a game that is ment for everyone, but, fuck. If you've gone through a bad time, this game will be a good game to play. 

 

Trailer for the game: 

 

P.S: If you're looking to get the platinum for this game,  you're in for a bad time. Currently it's glitched, but a patch will come soon, as it's being ported to PS4 right now.

Edited August 12, 2017 by d1l2e3v4
Added a small note about the platinum being glitched. Don't let this keep you away if you're interested in the game! :)

[AvengedEvil]

The Sexy Brutale. This is my game of the year.

[stellanovas]

What Remains of Edith Finch is a masterpiece! 

[AvengedEvil]

If you like Point and Clicks, you should give Thimbleweed Park a try.

[AJ_Radio]

On 8/11/2017 at 6:21 PM, diskdocx said:

Depends on your definition of lesser known, but the Drinkbox studio games (Guacamelee, Mutant Blobs, Severed), FuturLabs (Velocity/Velocity 2x) and Super Giant Games (Transistor, Bastion, Pyre) are all must haves.

 

I just recently platted Head Lander, which was also excellent. Didn't realize it was a Tim Schaefer game. Highly recommended

 

Severed was excellent. Great use of the Vita controls and well designed. My only problem was it was too short.

 

I already have Bastion and Transistor installed and ready for me when I get around to them. I did a test run of Velocity Ultra and 2X on my alt. Terrific games, but definitely difficult, those DLCs in 2X look pretty challenging. All the more reason to be proud when you finish them. 

 

Tim Schaefer is a good man. I enjoyed his previous work, so Headlander will eventually be bought.

[Azure Kite]

The Unfinished Swan  - (First person platformer) Absolutely gorgeous game with a unique gameplay mechanic.

Entwined  - Another game with a gorgeous art style. Was shown at 2014? E3 but never really gained any traction.

 

[Drag-On-Detritus]

Early this year I picked up Seraph on sale & was pretty hooked on it. Slowly got the platinum over a few weeks & didn't find it that difficult (wasn't a total pushover though). So few people seem to have played this. It's just running around shooting, jumping & dodging. Bit grindy & repetitive but feels amazing to play. I even managed not to go mental about having to use the analogue stick in a 2D game (I used to boycott any game that did this). Really good stuff & still less than 20 people here with that platinum (I have no idea why tbh).

 

I saw Dex mentioned a few posts up, that one was really brilliant as well. Great art style, pretty interesting themes & played quite well. Easy trophies if you're good at reading comprehension

 

Super Time Force Ultra is another awesome title I almost didn't play because the tutorial was so long but after suffering through that it was a great time all the way to the platinum.

[AtroxBR]

Three Fourths Home. A visual novel about family and regrets. Very interesting, especially if you actually read everything and not just rush for the 100%.