In this article, we prepared 10 indie games with breathtaking graphics and immersive stories that you probably never heard about.
Usagi Shima is a work-in-progress indie game being created by a Solo Developer Jess a.k.a. _pank0. Usagi Shima『うさぎしま』is a casual, relaxing bunny collecting game developed with Godot Engine and drawn in Krita.
It is heavily inspired by cute, soothing games like Neko Atsume and Animal Crossing. The game’s namesake and setting draw inspiration from Ōkunoshima (大久野島), a real island in Japan that has a lot of bunny inhabitants!
Buy toys and build structures on an abandoned island to entice curious bun tourists to pay you a visit! Discover, take photos, and even befriend a variety of bunnies that visit based on how you’ve decorated and arranged the island.
Sanya is a 2D adventure game about a little boy named Sanya, his dog, friends, and many exciting adventures that await them in a Russian town of the 90s.
It’s a game about everyone who once was a kid. Here you’re going to find a friendship that lasts for life; enjoy a carefree summer until mom will call you home for dinner; remember how it is to have knee bruises and pine needles on your palms.
Main features:
- A fresh take on a point-and-click adventure: non-linear world exploration; relationship development with various characters; a little puppy who will help you in all your adventures;
- Communicate with the world through a child’s perspective. Various mini-games convey the feeling and lived experience of being a kid;
- Non-linear plot with branching and various endings, which evolves depending on where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and who you’ve met;
- The underrepresented unique setting of post-soviet 90s Russia that evokes strong feelings of nostalgia for a place stuck in time;
- The stunning combination of 2D sprites with 3D environment and effects like dynamic lighting and volumetric fog;
- You can pet the dog.
Rendezvous is a 2.5D pixel art action-puzzle adventure game where you follow Setyo, an ex-agent living his quiet life only to find his sister, fraught with danger in the dystopian 2064's city of Neo-Surabaya.
Features:
- A stunning combination of 2D hand-drawn pixel art with modern effects such as dynamic lighting and bloom brings depth and life to the world.
- Find one of few ways and collect items that could help you closer to your goals or even secrets!
- Gather some clues and use everything you know to solve the puzzles that stand in your way.
- Choose between sneak around the enemies or upright confront them with the weapons you have.
In this game made by a solo developer Jacob Dzwinel, you will have to fight your way across the city in a brutal romp that mixes old-school brawlers and fast-paced motion-captured combat. Battle across multiple, distinct hand-crafted levels on foot or a variety of vehicles
Features:
- Master Multiple Combat Systems: Use various weapons, the environment, and more to wade through piles of enemies on your way to victory
- Accessible but Difficult: Start punching in moments but you need to master your combat skills to conquer seemingly impossible challenges
- Become the Ultimate Brawler: Fight. Win. Level up. Unlock cosmetics, new moves, and weapons to aid you in your triumph
Selfloss is a story-driven adventure game about the kind old man in a fantasy setting of Ancient Russian and Icelandic myths. Use the light of your staff to defeat mythical creatures from Slavic fairy tales and help those who need help. Perform a wake ceremony called "selfloss" to heal your own wounded soul.
The game's features:
- The magic staff is the central part of the game mechanics and the game's story. Everything in the world of Selfloss is strangely intertwined with the hero's staff.
- Combat system: control character and his staff simultaneously – the magic staff levitates around the protagonist generating light ray or light shields. You can mix the strategy and dynamic in fights.
- Explore the world of Selfoss on foot or a boat, discover Slavic and Icelandic myths and fairy tales.
- The art style is inspired by the era of post-impressionism. Colors of Selfoss picked corresponding by color theories, especially Simultaneous Contrast theory.
It's the 30s. You are the pilot of a cargo flying 8000 meters over the Atacama*, a mysterious failure in the engine and a miraculous landing has left you stranded in one of the largest and most arid deserts in the world. Will you survive the harsh temperature and conditions of this unique setting? Is there even a way out?
Features:
- Avoid sun exposure and keep your body temperature low.
- Keep yourself well-fed and hydrated. Water will be a scarce resource!
- Find abandoned locations and uses them as temporary refuges.
- Consume energy with every action, find a bed and strategize how many resources are needed to recover it back.
- Unlock different refuge facilities, such as the crafting bench, animal traps, and the fireplace.
- Prepare food and craft all the items required for your survival.
- Hide from the lethal sandstorms.
- Discover the stories of the people that lived in this mysterious part of the desert.
Playable in single-player or online co-op, Wild Planet is a stylish low poly open-world survival game set in a vast alien planet full of diverse biomes. In the game, you’ll explore, hunt the indigenous giant alien bugs, build outposts, and craft weapons and equipment as you attempt to survive and build a life for yourself in the hostile alien environment. The game is set in an ever-changing world shaped by players' actions, Structures built by players are synchronized in the cloud and will spawn randomly in other players' games.
Features:
- Chill co-op experience: To be able to share their adventures and have fun players will be able to team up to 4 players in co-op. The timestamp is synchronized with the database and universal monuments & events are showing up to everyone at the same time
- Layers of civilizations: The planet follows cycles of destruction every 3 months (wipe). Starting from day 1 until day 90 the world will decay and change shapes from day to day. Each wipe brings new dungeons and environmental changes (a lake might become a desert).
- Top-down view: The top-down view gives another way of storytelling and environmental design. The low poly art style works also very well with a top-down view and focuses only on the most important part of the environment.
- A colorful sci-fi atmosphere: The development team wants to bring a chill, positive and colorful experience. Far away from the usual dark sci-fi worlds. A friendly, calm, joyful experience on an alien planet.
Zeepkist is a racing game for those who like weird physics, soapbox racing, and/or creating your own tracks. Zeepkist is still in Early Access, and will be updated throughout development!
The game's features:
- Race against time in single-player, or against your friends in up to 4-player split-screen!
- Create your own zeepkist levels with the integrated level editor, and share them through the Steam Workshop.
- Unlock hats and soapboxes in the Early Access (singleplayer) adventure map, which has 30 levels to complete!
- Enjoy unlimited Dutchness! With classic Dutch content such as the stroopwafel soapbox and the hat of Dutch Santa!
GMH is a horror visual novel with a point & click adventure game system. It tells the horrid story of what happened overnight and a past that is related to it in modern Korea. High school students return to school in the middle of the night, for their own individual motives and start to panic when they encounter ghostly sightings. They are unable to find friends who went there together and also cannot leave the premises. The students then try to disclose the truth behind the ghost stories with a few clues
Features:
- Horror Visual Novel Game with Point & Click Adventure system.
- The main episodes are 2 flows in parallel.
- The side episodes for looking at characters' past.
- Various collectibles such as After Stories of characters, Character Information, and so on.
- Playtime: About 7 hours.
Behind the Beyond is the tale of a young lad who sets off to find a job, but finds a wondrous adventure instead. You follow Johnny's adventures in the form of a Hungarian folktale. On your way, you are drenched in carefully detailed and wonderfully weird artwork based on folk art and various embroidery styles. Your adventures are accompanied by the unique and beautiful music of the amazing Hungarian folk-pop-rock-funk group: Kerekes Band.
Key features:
- Huge, immersive folktale world to explore
- Featuring beautiful folk art and music
- Multiple solutions and multiple endings
- Witty point & click with RPG elements
- English voices, with subtitles in English and Hungarian
These were our 10 indie games that you should definitely check out. What are your favorite indie games? What indie games would you recommend for others? Leave your thoughts down in the comments below.
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