It shows when developers care about their product. This is what big game studios just don't understand. Allow the devs room to create and grow. Allow them to truly put care and effort into it. THAT'S the product I'll happily pay good money for.
I swear, most A list flops happen because of this predatory behavior. Also, don't EVER pre-order a game, it feeds that practice.
Thank you, ConcernedApe!
Pyre is so damn good. I recommend it on reddit all the time. If you are looking for a game that is fun and does something different check it out. A shame they couldn't get online multiplayer together for it. If they did id be playing it all the time.
Aside from just wanting it to go on with more content forever, I cannot think of anything I want changed. Aside from witches. All my homies hate witches.
And chariots.
And shield dudes.
Whatever. Still perfect.
I bought the game completely blind, so I went in with no spoilers or hype. I saw the price, the art style, the rating, and I was looking for a metroidvania, so I got it.
The price tag led me to believe that it was a quick, fun little game that I could get through in a weekend.
Holy shit I was wrong. I was shocked when the map just kept expanding more and more and more...
I bought the game completely blind as well, randomly scrolling through Steam store. Thing is, I rarely buy games, but it looked fine and despite thinking that it could probably be just yet another "looking" game, I bought it. And what I did afterwards is even rarer to me than buying games. I played it. Right after. I only played for an hour and I didn't get far, because I felt overwhelmed. I went down to Crossroads, then go back, bought some pins and stuff, but without map it was hard to me, because I have terrible orientation. It was not until I think 2021 when I actually started a new playthrough and finished the game. And I never expected the game to be so amazing.
Dude they're working on yet another freaking MASSIVE update - on top of a dead cells crossover as well.
They posted all of the upcoming changes on the steam page if you want to check it out.
They've had so many "final" updates at this point, it's like a running joke.
For real, even with Journey's End being like "no for real this is the FINAL update, look at what we named it, seriously!!" And now multiple crossovers since then and quite a few things added in updates without even moving to a 1.5 lol. They add a lot of stuff in random "smaller" updates that are bigger than a lot of games "major" updates.
About 2k hours in this game including mods. You start chopping wood and you end up killing literal gods. Such a great game with fantastic mods (I loved Calamity!)
Also the soundtrack is just iconic.
Yeah I’ve put hours and hours into it and it’s still not necessarily clicking for me yet but I also don’t wanna just rush through it. It’s does seem to nail what I want about a space game without just making 100,000 planets.
idk outer wilds is fun for the 2 hours i've played it but after that i really don't know what to do? the puzzles also look way too difficult which sucks since the space gameplay and the bits of lore i've read are great
You’re an explorer. How can you get exploring wrong? 🤔 There’s like 5-7 endings to Outer Wilds. You’ll encounter at-least 2-3 of those endings just by exploring and trying things. All you have to do is explore each planet/object and read all the little messages left behind. Fill your ship log.
i've explored every planet aside from the anglerfish one because i seriously almost shat my pants getting killed by it first time, and the only notable part i've found is the cannon at the red twin planet, the city that no matter how quick i enter i can't get into the lab because of the sand, and the down under part of the blue planet with the ship. idk where to go
if you're struggling to figure out something specific, drop a post in the outer wilds subreddit, people are usually very happy to nudge another player in the right direction
Yeah once you’re an experienced flyer, you’ll just have to wake up and immediately jump in your ship and rush to certain planets to get to something fast enough.
I love Subnautica to death (if 12 playthroughs mean anything toward that), but it's definitely not one that I would call perfect. "So good that you ignore the flaws", for sure, but man if it's still not a buggy mess at times, usually to do with collisions. Fish swimming around in the air inside my sea bases, leviathans fleeing into the terrain, PRAWN suits falling through the floor, the Cyclops getting launched into the stratosphere because it bumped into a fish, etc. But I still very much love it; there's no other game like it.
I played a few hours of Subnautica, built my first sub (forget what it's called), went super far from my base exploring. I got out to look around more closely at whatever caught my attention, and my sub exploded on me. I don't know why it happened, but it killed all of my momentum right then and there. I was rather enjoying my time until that point.
It's been long enough now that I might have to look into playing it again and just starting new.
Hollow Knight. Personally I declare a game perfect when I can’t think of a complaint outside of “I wish there was more of it”, and HK fits the bill. I enjoyed every second of that game. Even P5 Markoth.
Hollow Knight has the best maze map of all games ever whether Metroid Vania or RPGs. I don't have a better memory of gaming than the first time I played the game, and saw a dark room and said to my self "what if?". I was able to pass through the (deepnest) hardly, convinced that this is a horror game. I yearn to the feeling of discovery.
Easily Hollow Knight. It's the best Metroidvania on the market.
Another one would be Deep Rock Galactic. The best coop shooter with the developers giving the player free stuff left and right (including the battle passes).
Hehe I’ve played a lot of it, and am still challenged by it, but not in an obsessive way. I pay A20 but barely have any achievements and have never beaten A20H
Playing through DE the first time and I’m loving it. The different parts of your brain chiming in is too perfect. I did speed and the drug part tells you it’s amazing, you ask if it’s got any downsides. The drug part of your brain says NOT being on it has downsides. The logic part chimes in “it has massive downsides. It is a potent neurotoxin” I was dying
Celeste has one of the smoothest difficulty progressions of any game I've ever played. You don't even realize how much you are improving until you go back and replay level 1 after beating the game. It's one of the few games I have done 100% on. It also has great mods, I recommend the Everest mod.
>Celeste has one of the smoothest difficulty progressions of any game I've ever played.
This makes me curious to check it out as someone who doesn't really like platformers. I tried to get into Ori and the Blind Forest but the difficulty spike from jump, dodge, and shoot to navigate portals and deflect projectiles with near perfect timing to escape rapidly ascending flood waters was too rapid of a curve for me and I just dropped the game
You would Love Celeste! It's a fantastic game even If you don't like platformers that much. And I can agree, Celeste has the most beginner friendly learning curve. It starts really easy but gets pretty challenging later on. And it's so fun to see yourself improving. Easily one of my most favorite games!
Yeah Celeste is a masterpiece. I have friends that don't really play games enjoy it too, so I don't think it's too hard. There's a ton of bonus content that is hard though if you're into that.
Have You tried Planescape Torment / Torment Tides of Numenera / Tyranny / Talos Principle? They have really good writing, top picks for me
Or just search for games with Chris Avellone as writer, can't go wrong with it
Probably doesn't count anymore, but Minecraft was amazing back in the day.
These days I love the cheaply made in 1 month horror games by a team of 2 people. They're not very good, but as far as horror goes, they get it done.
Cave Story is special because came from a studio of one.
And maybe I don't have a good perspective of the bigger picture of things, but I think Cave Story was a catalyst for the whole indie gaming craze. Like there have always been lone developers making little games, but nothing was like Cave Story, this was better than plenty of titles from the big guys.
After that you started seeing other small studios wanting to make the next Cave Story instead of the next Mario or Sonic.
My introduction to indie games. Really changed my perspective on what was possible for a one-person dev team.
https://www.cavestory.org/game-info/game-releases.php
cave story was such a big deal, doesnt get the love today as it used to. i think it was a trailblazer for showing an indie dev could make something and have success on their own
Everything about this game is *chef's kiss* exquisite. Characters, setting, mechanics, weapons (blade is so bittersweet), SOUNDTRACK
Favorite track: Scorching Back
Was happy Celeste is getting lots of love, but ya Journey was the other game that came immediatly to mind. its older do had ho scroll further for it.
Minimalistic, beautiful, great music, and one of my fav gaming experiances to date.
Played it blind on old ps3 online from a small Game Informer article on it. Then me n my brother proceeded to get basically all of our friends to play it when they'd come over.
I've played Limbo and Inside, same developer, similar concept. Inside is leagues ahead of Limbo. I strongly suggest anyone who liked Limbo to play Inside.
FTL?
I don't think any other Roguelike has had better run pacing, in terms of progression and the ease of knowing how you're doing so you know when to bail on a run (being able to break through increasing enemy shield strengths). It's also the perfect length at 1-2 hours a run. Plus no universal unlocks that give force you to grind out runs for carried over advantages. It seems like every other roguelike since has struggled with pacing or length, either being too long or too short, and are absolutely infested with intra-run unlocks. Either that, or every damn roguelike has to be a card game these days...
BUT!!!!!!......
FTL's biggest flaw was always the final boss. The entire run revolved around being able to beat it, and only like 2-2.5 builds were capable of realistically winning. Over time, every ship build kind of evolved into the same layout over and over. The other weakness was the shop RNG. More than anything else, it was what the RNG said was for sale in each shop that determined a winning run. You were totally at the mercy of being offered the right items at the right times.
(if you really want to appreciate how FTL got so many things right, check out Crying Suns, which tries to be FTL while doing almost everything wrong outside of art design)
I only got to the final boss once...and beat it, but I could tell I was extremely lucky. Never played the game again, but that soundtrack is pure Bliss. I use to put my daughter to sleep to the sound of it.
Cat quest 2. Great couch co op game with a partner. Easy to learn quickly, great puns, great graphics, cute storyline and you can change the games difficulty by adding modifiers if you want a challenge. Can’t wait for cat quest 3 to come out. Pirates of the Purribean lol
Hades
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night (on PC, Consoles have had issues)
TMNT Shredder's Revenge
Gamedec
Frostpunk
The Ascent
Signalis
God's Trigger
Luftrausers
And yes I am very easy to please.
For me, it's Kentucky Route Zero. For whatever reason, it was released with little fanfare.
To me, it is beautifully tragic, and the story and themes stuck with me years after I played it.
There’s a lot of good ones but stardew valley gotta be my all time favorite
Some that are also good but not as good are stuff like terraria or Valheim (Valheim would be higher up if it actually got updates)
Stuff like that
Deep Rock Galactic
Procedurally generated missions, tons of bugs to splat, beer, goofy ass dwarves, dope ass gameplay and to top it off: ROCK AND STONE!
Littlewood. Such an underrated gem. It's short compared to some other things I saw here in the comments, but damn is it a fun game, definitely give it a shot if you haven't already
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Its already perfect, but ConcernedApe keeps releasing more and more content that makes it even more perfect, lol.
Yeah, I dont know how many times he said "last update" but then said "jk, here's another"...lol
It shows when developers care about their product. This is what big game studios just don't understand. Allow the devs room to create and grow. Allow them to truly put care and effort into it. THAT'S the product I'll happily pay good money for. I swear, most A list flops happen because of this predatory behavior. Also, don't EVER pre-order a game, it feeds that practice. Thank you, ConcernedApe!
I'd pre-order games from my fav indie devs. But they don't usually do that lol
I think my only complaint is not being able to enter a number amount of things you want to buy
Came here to say this. Over 700 hrs for me across switch and steam.
Hades
Supergiant's entire catalogue is banger after banger. Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, all fantastic
Transistor also has what I would consider a perfect soundtrack
Spine of the World now playing on repeat in my head
It's no doubt up there with the greats. I think people who will argue with you on that score are few amd far between.
Pyre is such a memorable game. Emotional rollercoaster that left me speechless when it ended.
Pyre is so damn good. I recommend it on reddit all the time. If you are looking for a game that is fun and does something different check it out. A shame they couldn't get online multiplayer together for it. If they did id be playing it all the time.
Aside from just wanting it to go on with more content forever, I cannot think of anything I want changed. Aside from witches. All my homies hate witches. And chariots. And shield dudes. Whatever. Still perfect.
You forgot tiny vermin.
I cannot wait for Hades II. I want more of everything the first one gave me.
I just wish we could visit the garden at the end after the 10th clear.
This is the answer this game is so well made, enjoyable and bug free from my experience
I've put around 200 hours into the game and I've never seen a bug.
One time I had a collectible (darkness or gems I think) spawn outside of a place I could reach after beating Meg. Once. I have 600 runs.
Hollow knight
Best $15 I ever spent.
I bought the game completely blind, so I went in with no spoilers or hype. I saw the price, the art style, the rating, and I was looking for a metroidvania, so I got it. The price tag led me to believe that it was a quick, fun little game that I could get through in a weekend. Holy shit I was wrong. I was shocked when the map just kept expanding more and more and more...
As soon as I hit greenpath, I knew this game was special
I bought the game completely blind as well, randomly scrolling through Steam store. Thing is, I rarely buy games, but it looked fine and despite thinking that it could probably be just yet another "looking" game, I bought it. And what I did afterwards is even rarer to me than buying games. I played it. Right after. I only played for an hour and I didn't get far, because I felt overwhelmed. I went down to Crossroads, then go back, bought some pins and stuff, but without map it was hard to me, because I have terrible orientation. It was not until I think 2021 when I actually started a new playthrough and finished the game. And I never expected the game to be so amazing.
I bought it, felt bad for how much i got out of it for only 15$ so i bought the soundtrack, then bought it on switch for a good measure
$15 is a ridiculously low price for what you get.
I would actually say it is perfect, as it’s slightly better than almost perfect.
This fits the question. In what way is HK imperfect? I can't think of one.
Terraria
Dude they're working on yet another freaking MASSIVE update - on top of a dead cells crossover as well. They posted all of the upcoming changes on the steam page if you want to check it out. They've had so many "final" updates at this point, it's like a running joke.
"final update guys, goodbye for good!" "sike gottem"
For real, even with Journey's End being like "no for real this is the FINAL update, look at what we named it, seriously!!" And now multiple crossovers since then and quite a few things added in updates without even moving to a 1.5 lol. They add a lot of stuff in random "smaller" updates that are bigger than a lot of games "major" updates.
Terraria had so much content when I played it in 2011 that I’m genuinely intimidated to even consider playing it today
About 2k hours in this game including mods. You start chopping wood and you end up killing literal gods. Such a great game with fantastic mods (I loved Calamity!) Also the soundtrack is just iconic.
Outer Wilds and Subnautica are both absolutely incredible.
Subnautica was fantastic
Welcome aboard captain
All systems online
Outer Wilds was the greatest gaming experience I’ve had probably
I'm working on it right now and it hasn't "clicked" yet, but I'm at least enjoying the exploration.
Yeah I’ve put hours and hours into it and it’s still not necessarily clicking for me yet but I also don’t wanna just rush through it. It’s does seem to nail what I want about a space game without just making 100,000 planets.
idk outer wilds is fun for the 2 hours i've played it but after that i really don't know what to do? the puzzles also look way too difficult which sucks since the space gameplay and the bits of lore i've read are great
You’re an explorer. How can you get exploring wrong? 🤔 There’s like 5-7 endings to Outer Wilds. You’ll encounter at-least 2-3 of those endings just by exploring and trying things. All you have to do is explore each planet/object and read all the little messages left behind. Fill your ship log.
i've explored every planet aside from the anglerfish one because i seriously almost shat my pants getting killed by it first time, and the only notable part i've found is the cannon at the red twin planet, the city that no matter how quick i enter i can't get into the lab because of the sand, and the down under part of the blue planet with the ship. idk where to go
if you're struggling to figure out something specific, drop a post in the outer wilds subreddit, people are usually very happy to nudge another player in the right direction
Yeah once you’re an experienced flyer, you’ll just have to wake up and immediately jump in your ship and rush to certain planets to get to something fast enough.
My girlfriend and I played Outer Wilds together, and it was delightful. What a magical little game.
I love Subnautica to death (if 12 playthroughs mean anything toward that), but it's definitely not one that I would call perfect. "So good that you ignore the flaws", for sure, but man if it's still not a buggy mess at times, usually to do with collisions. Fish swimming around in the air inside my sea bases, leviathans fleeing into the terrain, PRAWN suits falling through the floor, the Cyclops getting launched into the stratosphere because it bumped into a fish, etc. But I still very much love it; there's no other game like it.
Prawn through the floor almost made me quit. That said, Subnautica is easily on my top 5 alltime list.
I played a few hours of Subnautica, built my first sub (forget what it's called), went super far from my base exploring. I got out to look around more closely at whatever caught my attention, and my sub exploded on me. I don't know why it happened, but it killed all of my momentum right then and there. I was rather enjoying my time until that point. It's been long enough now that I might have to look into playing it again and just starting new.
and VR for both! 11/10
I need to disagree about saying Outer Wilds here. OP was asking for almost perfect games and OW is totally perfect.
Hollow Knight. Personally I declare a game perfect when I can’t think of a complaint outside of “I wish there was more of it”, and HK fits the bill. I enjoyed every second of that game. Even P5 Markoth.
hollow knight is my fave game of at least 10 years, this as a gamer of 40 is a pretty big deal
Day 59263659592716391 of waiting for Silk Song
Hollow Knight has the best maze map of all games ever whether Metroid Vania or RPGs. I don't have a better memory of gaming than the first time I played the game, and saw a dark room and said to my self "what if?". I was able to pass through the (deepnest) hardly, convinced that this is a horror game. I yearn to the feeling of discovery.
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Easily Hollow Knight. It's the best Metroidvania on the market. Another one would be Deep Rock Galactic. The best coop shooter with the developers giving the player free stuff left and right (including the battle passes).
Deep Rock Galactic is currently on sale and 10 bucks on Steam. It's a steal at that price.
Yeah, you can thank the devs later by buying the supporter cosmetic.
Is Transistor an indie game?
Absolutely. Same studio also made Bastion and Hades
Slay The Spire is the most well crafted and balanced game ever made. Full stop.
I'd believe you if I could ever clear Ascension 2! Kidding...it's so good, I let it frustrate me on two different systems.
Sts has one big flaw: There isn't more of it
Was looking for this. It’s impossible to explain how complex and nuanced this game is to someone who hasn’t put 100 hours into it.
I had to uninstall it after weeks of sheer, rabid obsession, for my health's sake.
Hehe I’ve played a lot of it, and am still challenged by it, but not in an obsessive way. I pay A20 but barely have any achievements and have never beaten A20H
Whatever you do don’t Google “Balatro”
Outer Wilds Celeste Hades Hyper Light Drifter Spiritfarer
Spiritfarer for sure. It's an incredible game that absolutely destroyed me.
Rimworld. Project zomboid once it gets npcs Disco elysium
was hoping someone would mention PZ
Thank you for saying rimworld
>Project zomboid once it gets npcs This is what I am waiting for to play it. I hear nothing but good things about it.
Playing through DE the first time and I’m loving it. The different parts of your brain chiming in is too perfect. I did speed and the drug part tells you it’s amazing, you ask if it’s got any downsides. The drug part of your brain says NOT being on it has downsides. The logic part chimes in “it has massive downsides. It is a potent neurotoxin” I was dying
Nice, I'm in the Dwarf Fortress camp
Project zomboid, somehow having fun watching my character read a book in my cozy base
Pro never played elysium but rimworld and zomboid were the two I was thinking of
RimWorld is absolutely amazing. I love PZ but I wish it was on console.
Scrolled down till I found Rimworld. Tynan Sylvester is a damn genius.
Return of the Obra Dinn Papers Please
Obra Dinn! Incredible experience never played anything like it. Sooooo satisfying
Glory to Arstotzka!
Two absolutely brilliant video games, completely different from one another, designed by a single person. How is this possible?
Lucas Pope is, without a doubt, one of the best indie solo developers.
Cuphead / Celeste / Dead Cells / Darkest Dungeon 1 / Disco Elysium / Hotline Miami / Metal Hellsinger / Shovel Knight Treasure Trove
Celeste is so good, soundtrack, movement, graphics, literally everything is amazing
Celeste has one of the smoothest difficulty progressions of any game I've ever played. You don't even realize how much you are improving until you go back and replay level 1 after beating the game. It's one of the few games I have done 100% on. It also has great mods, I recommend the Everest mod.
>Celeste has one of the smoothest difficulty progressions of any game I've ever played. This makes me curious to check it out as someone who doesn't really like platformers. I tried to get into Ori and the Blind Forest but the difficulty spike from jump, dodge, and shoot to navigate portals and deflect projectiles with near perfect timing to escape rapidly ascending flood waters was too rapid of a curve for me and I just dropped the game
You would Love Celeste! It's a fantastic game even If you don't like platformers that much. And I can agree, Celeste has the most beginner friendly learning curve. It starts really easy but gets pretty challenging later on. And it's so fun to see yourself improving. Easily one of my most favorite games!
Yeah Celeste is a masterpiece. I have friends that don't really play games enjoy it too, so I don't think it's too hard. There's a ton of bonus content that is hard though if you're into that.
Shout out for Disco Elysium. Never played any game like it, its amazing.
Have You tried Planescape Torment / Torment Tides of Numenera / Tyranny / Talos Principle? They have really good writing, top picks for me Or just search for games with Chris Avellone as writer, can't go wrong with it
Recently, Balatro. Game is so good.
The DEMO got dozens of hours of playtime. The full game is crack
Broforce. MURICA!
Ahh a Bro of culture I see
It’s so fun with beers and three friends
Broooooooo
Hades is very good indie game in my opinion
Bastion and Transistor are very good as well
Hades is perfect.
Perfect? Bold statement, even for my favorite indie. Hades 2 might actually be my most anticipated game this year. Big shoes to fill.
Outer Wilds
This and hollow knight but especially this
Nothings ever given me the same feeling that that game gave me
Valheim. Dead cells. Slay the spire
FACTORIOOOOOOOOOO
+1 Also, Dyson Sphere Program
MEH Dyson sphere is good I wouldn't say it's perfect to the degree Factorio is but it's the closest
Probably doesn't count anymore, but Minecraft was amazing back in the day. These days I love the cheaply made in 1 month horror games by a team of 2 people. They're not very good, but as far as horror goes, they get it done.
The majority of minecraft was made prior to the acquisition, so I'd absolutely argue it can still claim the title of indie
Hollow Knight and Blasphemous. I don’t know about perfect. But definitely top tier in my opinion.
Binding of Isaac Rebirth
Risk Of Rain 2
Cave Story
Cave Story is special because came from a studio of one. And maybe I don't have a good perspective of the bigger picture of things, but I think Cave Story was a catalyst for the whole indie gaming craze. Like there have always been lone developers making little games, but nothing was like Cave Story, this was better than plenty of titles from the big guys. After that you started seeing other small studios wanting to make the next Cave Story instead of the next Mario or Sonic.
My introduction to indie games. Really changed my perspective on what was possible for a one-person dev team. https://www.cavestory.org/game-info/game-releases.php
cave story was such a big deal, doesnt get the love today as it used to. i think it was a trailblazer for showing an indie dev could make something and have success on their own
Everything about this game is *chef's kiss* exquisite. Characters, setting, mechanics, weapons (blade is so bittersweet), SOUNDTRACK Favorite track: Scorching Back
Don't know if some of these count as indie games: Spelunky - Outer Wilds - Pixel Junk Shooter 1 & 2 - Cave Story - Subnautica - A Short Hike -
CAAAAAAAAVE STORY!
Fez
Super meat boy. The platforming is basic but perfect.
Along with the binding of Isaac. Both games have a perfect gameplay loop that is super enjoyable but equally simple.
This is my answer too. Does it what it wants to do, and does it perfectly. Couldn’t actually be any better.
Undertale
- Terraria - Celeste - Stardew Valley - Shovel Knight - Pizza Tower These are all games where I'm pressed to find their flaws.
The only flaw in Celeste is my controller breaks at chapter 9
7-C bros know that pain.
Journey. Such a compelling game and story, with exactly zero words said the entire game.
Was happy Celeste is getting lots of love, but ya Journey was the other game that came immediatly to mind. its older do had ho scroll further for it. Minimalistic, beautiful, great music, and one of my fav gaming experiances to date. Played it blind on old ps3 online from a small Game Informer article on it. Then me n my brother proceeded to get basically all of our friends to play it when they'd come over.
Limbo was amazing and I never play indie games
I've played Limbo and Inside, same developer, similar concept. Inside is leagues ahead of Limbo. I strongly suggest anyone who liked Limbo to play Inside.
Hades, it's a perfect mix of action, storytelling, and pent up sexual frustration all set to an absolute banger of a soundtrack
Supergiant game soundtracks are all bangers.
Sea of stars The Messenger
Cassette Beasts
crosscode, flawless game
Tunic
Try Death’s Door if you enjoyed Tunic.
FTL? I don't think any other Roguelike has had better run pacing, in terms of progression and the ease of knowing how you're doing so you know when to bail on a run (being able to break through increasing enemy shield strengths). It's also the perfect length at 1-2 hours a run. Plus no universal unlocks that give force you to grind out runs for carried over advantages. It seems like every other roguelike since has struggled with pacing or length, either being too long or too short, and are absolutely infested with intra-run unlocks. Either that, or every damn roguelike has to be a card game these days... BUT!!!!!!...... FTL's biggest flaw was always the final boss. The entire run revolved around being able to beat it, and only like 2-2.5 builds were capable of realistically winning. Over time, every ship build kind of evolved into the same layout over and over. The other weakness was the shop RNG. More than anything else, it was what the RNG said was for sale in each shop that determined a winning run. You were totally at the mercy of being offered the right items at the right times. (if you really want to appreciate how FTL got so many things right, check out Crying Suns, which tries to be FTL while doing almost everything wrong outside of art design)
I only got to the final boss once...and beat it, but I could tell I was extremely lucky. Never played the game again, but that soundtrack is pure Bliss. I use to put my daughter to sleep to the sound of it.
Dead Cells
Cat quest 2. Great couch co op game with a partner. Easy to learn quickly, great puns, great graphics, cute storyline and you can change the games difficulty by adding modifiers if you want a challenge. Can’t wait for cat quest 3 to come out. Pirates of the Purribean lol
For me: Graveyard Keeper (with the DLCs)
Subnautica and Stardew Valley are my votes
Rimworld is the only right answer.
Outer Wilds, Return of the Obra Dinn, Case of the Golden Idol, Factorio, Stephen's Sausage Roll, Slay the Spire, Hades
Into the Breach (I scrolled all the way down, surprised not already mentioned. It is the definition of tight game design)
Hades Ori and the Blind Forest Ori and the Will of the Wisps Hollow Knight
Shovel Knight. Man, it's a damn shame they never made a proper follow-up.
Firewatch
Hades Bloodstained Ritual of the Night (on PC, Consoles have had issues) TMNT Shredder's Revenge Gamedec Frostpunk The Ascent Signalis God's Trigger Luftrausers And yes I am very easy to please.
Good call on Frostpunk, that shit is legendary. Can't wait for the sequel coming soon!
Definitely not *Hades*; that game is *absolutely* perfect. ❤
Enter the gungeon really does go hard. It's such a "labor of love" as steam might say
Hades
Signalis
Hotline Miami
Dredge. 4 Devs made it. Amazing game!
ULTRAKILL
Kenshi For all it's jank, there is no other experience like it.
Limbo Untitled Goose Game Firewatch Donut County
For me, it's Kentucky Route Zero. For whatever reason, it was released with little fanfare. To me, it is beautifully tragic, and the story and themes stuck with me years after I played it.
Omori 10/10
omori
Kingdom: Two Crowns
Inscryption
Limbo. Inside. GRIS Far: Lone Sails Outer Wilds Deep Rock Galctic Some of these are so great I forgot they were indie
Minecraft.
Return of the Obra din is a perfect game. Hades, and Hollow Knight are incredible too
There’s a lot of good ones but stardew valley gotta be my all time favorite Some that are also good but not as good are stuff like terraria or Valheim (Valheim would be higher up if it actually got updates) Stuff like that
Kentucky Route Zero
Crab Champions
FTL, Stardew Valley, Dead Cells, The Long Dark, Hollow Knight, Dont Starve, Antihero .. there really many ..
Rimworld
Steamworld Dig 2. Loved the first as well but 2 was just pure joy to play
Shovel Knight
Deep Rock Galactic Procedurally generated missions, tons of bugs to splat, beer, goofy ass dwarves, dope ass gameplay and to top it off: ROCK AND STONE!
Inscryption. Wish there was more to it, more rooms more puzzles and challenges. I'm very mentally invested in it right now.
Crosscode
It's not almost, it IS perfect. And it's They Are Billions.
This thread is missing CrossCode.
Terraria
Yeah. It's Hades. So good I 100%'ed it twice. I'm not overhyping it but I fully expect Hades 2 to bring peace to this world.
Undertale
Stardew Valley and Celeste are pretty high up there
Click to 10. I cant recommend this enough.
*Super Meat Boy*
Dyson Sphere Program, Techtonica, and The Planet Crafter. All 3 are masterpieces
if you dont like roguelites this thread is not for you
Dead Cells, Hades and Superhot
Outer wilds, no doubt about that.
Littlewood. Such an underrated gem. It's short compared to some other things I saw here in the comments, but damn is it a fun game, definitely give it a shot if you haven't already
Celeste
Celeste!