Favorite indie game?

[Silfir]

The heck is ADoM?

Ancient Domains of Mystery, also known as the best damn roguelike ever made.

[Lacco]

The heck is ADoM? A Dance of Mooses?

Ancient Domains of Mystery.

My favourite ascii roguelike fantasy game. I still have it and sometimes play it - it's quite complex by my standards.

I usually compare the deaths with my friends who play it... my dark elf ranger *yeeeah, I did the Drizzt... shut up, I was young * died while fighting werejackals. Large group of werejackals. Who summoned more jackals. And werejackals. It was glorious - he managed to kill around 170 jackals and the screen was still full of them. He died of starvation... he even ran out of jackal bodies (yeah, he ate them while dodging angry jackals!).

A friend of mine had troll monk, who punched anything to death. He got poisoned during a fight with imp. Killed said imp during a long fight - during which he lost all but 5 HP and stopped being poisoned - but started starving. With no other food (or potions) he did the only thing he could.

He ate the imp. Got poisoned. Died shortly

It's that kind of game. I love it.

@Silfir: ninja'd. Who was your favourite dead hero?

[NRSASD]

Oooo sounds intriguing!

[Silfir]

My favorite, because most dramatically appropriate, death was the high elven ranger who picked up a wand of wishing with five charges in the water dragon's lair, and was executed for his theft before he ever got to use any of them.

[Winthur]

Ancient Domains of Mystery, also known as the best damn roguelike ever made.

No, it hurts and I hate it.

Best three characters? Dwarven Priests. Spellcaster with good starting armor, decent starting stats and a lot of brownie points with Dwarftown? Hell yeah.

First one? The one that was the first that managed to beat the Griff cemetery and get a good accumulation of items from 1.1.1. Treasure Hunter. I'm 13 at the time. A 20-something friend of my brother comes around and says "What's that?"
"ADOM, fantasy game."
"Looks gay."
And he pressed the Power button. Everything gone, right this instant. Couldn't even get mad because lol throwing a tantrum would mean you're addicted to video games and should stop. I just kinda sulked, dead inside. 1.1.1. didn't make autobackups.

Second one? My first successful Darkforge diver, plenty of items, did all the quests, first time I saw the Tomb of the High Kings, the only problem I had was not enough gear for ToEF, but I'm running around CoC just minding my own business (even saved Khelavaster) and then the game crashes. I did make a backup. Once. At level 9.

Third one? Got teleportitis from Darkforge pools and didn't have a source of dealing with it. Starved to death once his cooked lizards ran out.

I tried the new version, but they nerfed the stat levelling and as such I'm finding it even harder to get my character off the ground since just running around Strained doesn't help anymore to get cheap Strength, and herb farming is also much harder. I got a GE Wizard all the way to the Pyramid and had a few red dragon scale mails from an early Wish and then didn't calculate the trajectory of the Magic Missile properly, thinking it will bounce off a corner and meet my enemy. Instead I fried myself with it.

Just kinda conceded that I will never beat it. I stick to the coffee break games like DoomRL.

[Feytalist]

Does Supergiant count? If yes, then them. Pyre most recently, but Bastion and Transistor are both amazing. Great aesthetics, great story, great music.

Also Klei Entertainment games - Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included (latter still in Early Access). Fiendishly addictive survival games where pretty much everything can kill you.

Echo - a third person SF stealthy-action hybrid. It's amazingly polished and doesn't look like an indie game at all - but it is. Great game, if a little bit repetitive. Surprising voice actors as well.

Torchlight 2. Like Diablo III, only better. And doesn't take itself seriously.

Love the Torchlight games. It was actually made by Diablo's original creators, and is very similar in style and execution. And, even better, they got Matt Uelmen to do the music - same guy who did Diablo's music. Shame that Runic went out of business.

Age of Decadence:.

The Age of Decadence is great. Surprising depth to such a superficially simple-looking game. Each character's playthroughs van be entirely different. Love the lore and setting as well. I still haven't manage to get the Chosen One ending though :/

[jyqybura]

Pixeljunk: Shooter, Castle Crashers, and Critter Crunch were pretty awesome.

[Drasius]

FTL by a fair margin, with honourable mentions to Factorio, One Finger Death Punch (the simplest concept and controls made hilariously fun) and, surprisingly (since I loathe rythm games), Sequence Beyond the Echo.

Darkest Dungeon also deserves a mention as it would make the list but for being a little to RNG party-wipe frequent for me to really enjoy. I will also give props to SpaceChem (already mentioned in this thread) as a rather fun little effort, though it loses marks for failing you for having the right molecular structure in a mirror orientation.

[Zombimode]

The Age of Decadence is great. Surprising depth to such a superficially simple-looking game. Each character's playthroughs van be entirely different. Love the lore and setting as well. I still haven't manage to get the Chosen One ending though :/

Age of Decadence is amazing. A piece of art. My first playthrough went nowhere. I left Teron way to early and thus I had not nearly enough rescources and skills to get far in Maadoran.
Then I restarted the game with the same archetype (talker loremaster) and manged to become a God in the end.

[Scowling Dragon]

Crypt Of the Necrodancer!

In my opinion probably the best Rougelite....ever. It ditches so many bad parts of the genre, and has so much good design, with a strong focus on skill, without removing the core aspect of s rougelike. Heck play it even if you HATE rougelikes or are new to the genre because it also has a alternate more level (as in floors) based progression system.

Its focus is at making you perfect at its gameplay, but instead of punishing failure it rewards success.

Also amazing music and awesome puns. Got just enough story fir context but completly skippable. Massive amounts of replay value and bonus content. I would strongly recomend getting the dlc as well as tge rebalancing is very high quality, on top of the extra content.

GET IT NOW!!

[DemonicAngel]

Darkest Dungeon. I was a backer and havent regretted it since. One of those tough-as-nails experiences where once you preveal at the end it feels so good.
Binding of Isaac- way too much fun.

Crypt of the necrodancer is good fun too, but my music skills are in need of a tweak

Mark of the ninja. An epitome of 2d stealth

Hand o fate. My computer broke down but this is one of those gems i'll have to finish and play the sequel once its back up and running. Cards and an action a la arkham asylum system? Yes please.

[Jama7301]

Games that I adore that I spend too much time with: FTL, Binding of Isaac, Mercenary Kings, Rocket League and recently, Heat Signature, and Road Retribution (yaaaay, roguelite Road Rash).

Games that have just stuck with me? Undertale for certain. Path of Exile is another, because I love the mechanics.

Games I return to every so often: Battleblock Theater/Castle Crashers, Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden (weird RPG wrapped around some solid mechanics) and Monaco (Top down pixelated heist game with distinct character abilities)

[Hypersmith]

The entire Geneforge saga, by spiderweb software. An amazing story that spans five games, although you can jump into any one and play it as a standalone just fine. Great mechanics and turn based combat with huge versatility, and many ways to approach the problems thrown at you, from diplomacy or stealth to brute forcing your way in. People remember what you say and word spreads, meaning you have to build alliances over time.

No game ever really rivaled those games to me, and I'm planning to replay them soon. Hopefully.

[gomipile]

Dust: An Elysian Tail is probably my favorite indie game. It looks like I'm the first to mention it, too?

Castle Crashers was mentioned, and I've put in quite a few hours on that as well.

I put in over a thousand hours on ARK: Survival Evolved too, but I don't recommend it. It broke me after several patches in succession ruined, spoiled, or destroyed much of what my tribe had worked at building and storing. I don't like it when the developers become the primary antagonists ahead of enemy players or the hostile parts of the game world.

I also enjoy Kerbal Space Program quite a lot.

[Ogremindes]

The entire Geneforge saga, by spiderweb software. An amazing story that spans five games, although you can jump into any one and play it as a standalone just fine. Great mechanics and turn based combat with huge versatility, and many ways to approach the problems thrown at you, from diplomacy or stealth to brute forcing your way in. People remember what you say and word spreads, meaning you have to build alliances over time.

No game ever really rivaled those games to me, and I'm planning to replay them soon. Hopefully.

Yeah, Spiderweb's stuff is great. Exile: Escape from the Pit might even be my favourite indie game (is it indie? It might have been published by Fantasoft). Though I never played it all the way through. I have finished Avernum, though.

[Triaxx]

Dust: An Elysian Tail is an Indie game?

[GloatingSwine]

Dust: An Elysian Tail is an Indie game?

It was pretty much made by one guy on his own.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

It was pretty much made by one guy on his own.

In a cave! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!

Memes aside, it's a very cool game and about as indie as one can get.

[Triaxx]

Huh. Awesome.

[Togath]

I tend to encounter more misses than hits with indie games... but I did enjoy Mark of the Ninja a ton, despite not usually being a fan of 2d platformers. Faeria, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and(if it counts, I mean, it was made by two brothers originally), Runescape have also been ones I've enjoyed. I also liked the bits and pieces of A Hat in Time that I've watched on youtube.

One thing I don't tend to enjoy much is low pixel visuals... though that's not to say games that have them are bad. I just don't personally like the artstyle. I also get that it is waaay easier to make a game when limited on resources if the designs are simpler.

[GloatingSwine]

In a cave! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!

Memes aside, it's a very cool game and about as indie as one can get.

Speaking of, Dean Dodrill/Humble Hearts has a new game coming out pretty soon on the Switch. It's basically a Metal Gear Solid parody called Never Stop Sneakin', top down arcade stealth with a deliberately early PS1 aesthetic.

[NovenFromTheSun]

Dwarf Fortress has been mentioned, though nowadays I only play it with the Dark Ages: War and Mythos mod.

Freedom Planet's fun.

Cave Story will always have a special place with me.

I see a disturbing lack of Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden in this thread. Seriously that game was an experience to say the least. One part has an anti-diabetes cult and that's the most normal thing about them.

Z+Angband is a roguelike I keep coming back to. It has a huge overworld that you can spend a lot of time in, tons of races with interesting abilities, and a fun magic system.

I like Incursion: Hall of the Goblin King too, though playing it depresses me because Return of the Forsaken will likely never be made.

[Jama7301]

Cave Story will always have a special place with me.

I see a disturbing lack of Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden in this thread. Seriously that game was an experience to say the least. One part has an anti-diabetes cult and that's the most normal thing about them.

Seconding Cave Story. It's out on a million and one platforms, and it deserves it.

Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden has a basketball play be an Annihilation class event. It's INCREDIBLE. Guess I'm reinstalling it tonight for another chill-out game.

[Von_Derpington]

I've taken an extreme liking to flash games recently. Some are boring, but finding a really good one is getting a really good game for free. And there are so many that there are quite a few really good ones out there.

[rogerinio]

Lately, I've been sucked in by Dominions 5. It's the ultimate 4x turn strategy game, more deep and vast than any other game available now. There are over 80 nations, 3000 units, hundreds of variations of every unit... Too bad the developers do not care at all about the graphics - it looks terrible, even compared to any game released in the last 15 years... But definitely worth checking out.

[Baby Gary]

Two games that no one has said that are simply amazing are Kingdom Rush and West of Loathing

Kingdom Rush is the best tower defense game out there, period. I am a fan of the tower defense genre and Kingdom Rush is the best by far. The music is great, the art is top notch, and the game is amazing. The easy mode is well... easy. You can just sit down and play through the entire campaign 3 starting each level. Hard mode on the other hand is a lot more of a challenge. You NEED good strategy for that. The towers are all useful, none are obsolete or all powerful, but some of certainly better than others. throughout the game you start to unlock heroes. Heroes add so much more to the game, they have their own unique abilities and you need to play through them to figure out which ones are your favorite. My current favorite is the Ice lady person. I can't remember her real name but her abilities are very useful and powerful. The best thing is that this game is only 10$. To give you an idea of how good this game is 96% of all reviews on steam (there are around 3,300) are positive.

The other amazing game that I have been playing recently is West of Loathing. I don't want to say anything because I don't want to spoil this great game. Just do yourself a favor and buy this game. This game is the best RPG I have ever played. I absolutely love this game. 98% of all 1,600 reviews of steam are positive. The best thing is that this game is only 11$!

Kingdom rush steam page

West of Loathing steam page

One last thing, both these games can be played on windows and mac, so you can't make that excuse not to get these games

AND THE MUSIC IN THESE GAMES IS SOOOOO GOOD, OMG THIS MUSIC IS LEGENDARY! FANFREACKINTASTIC!!!!!

[gooddragon1]

Castle of The Winds.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_the_Winds
Free Download: https://web.archive.org/web/20110717...ft.com/~ricks/

I'm amazed he gave it away for free.

[danzibr]

Kingdom Rush!!! Yes!!!

I'm delighted they announced 4.

Also, checking out Castle of the Winds.

[Baby Gary]

Kingdom Rush!!! Yes!!!

I'm delighted they announced 4.

Also, checking out Castle of the Winds.

There is a Kingdom Rush 4? Where do I sign up!!!!

also have you gotten west of loathing yet? lol Get it now that game is so good!

[Minty]

I don't play many indie games (or many games at all these days), but one I enjoyed recently was Tahira: Echoes of the Astral Empire. Gameplay-wise it's similar to Banner Saga, and aesthetically too with rotoscoped animation. It has a few rough edges, but what most appealed to me was the setting and themes. It has sort of a Dying Earth feel to it, being set on a world that used to be part of a starfaring civilisation but collapsed to a medieval level, and the world was only partially terraformed and is turning back into a desert.

Unfortunately, it's only the first part of the story and doesn't appear to have sold well enough to get a sequel.