I think it's gotta be Monolith.
Such a polished twin-stick. With bits of lore that isn't shoved into your face, rather just scattered around.
Pretty amazing soundtrack, pixel art, consistent clean art style, cool weapons system, infinite replayability(if you like top down shooters), active discord/development, just overall clean game. Also a bit of cosmetic customization, which I tend to enjoy.
Oh yea fun/hard af bosses too.
Highly and always recommended to people who like twin-stick.

It's always this, Momodora 4, and UnderRail that I shill for.

My favorite indie game is always changing right now my favorite is Shovel Knight. Why did I pick Shovel Knight this game made me feel like a kid again with its beautiful 8bit style cutscenes and the music reminds me of a classic Mega Man game. The bosses in the game also remind me of a Mega Man game only instead of man or woman at the end of each boss name the bosses all have the last name Knight. I am assuming when I get to the final boss's lair that I will have to fight all of the bosses again in a boss rush. One thing that isn't like Mega Man however is you don't get a boss's ability when they get defeated. Anyway enough rambling I pick Shovel Knight by Yacht Club Games. They deserve a huge round of applause for this awesome game.

Yeah, The Solus Project

It's very intense :D also very well made which only adds to the intensity of trying to make it through the day on a weird alien planet. It has tons of exploration and weird stuff, also extreme weather. You might find yourself trying to escape heatstroke by jumping in the sea only to desperately try to get out of the water when a tornado and lightning storm starts a while later lol :D. And unlike shovelware "survival" games, this one has an actual story and a point to it, you're not just running around and eating until inevitable boredom. Great sound design and graphics too. And for people who don't want to bother with the survival elements, you can just adjust the difficulty so that you can freely enjoy the story and exploration, or if you actually like the struggle, you can set it to harsh settings so you can enjoy trying to not die of hunger, thirst, frost, heat, tornados, lightnings, traps and more :D

One of the very best games from the last decade.

This is a tough one. I would have to say Slay the Spire now.

It has so much replay-ability and the story-lines created are so well crafted. The game seems very simple, being a card based battler, but it is so much more. I can easily put in countless hours and fail trying new combinations. God knows how many times I've tried beating the first difficulty with one particular character and failed too many times to count. Regardless of the difficulty, it is a quick pick up and very addicting. I highly recommend this amazing game!

My favourite Indie Game is going to be FTL, but there are so many good ones I have played over the years. Like Nethack, Antichamber, Avernum, the Blackwell series, Brothers, a tale of two sons, Defense Grid, Jolly Rover, Little Inferno, Mark fo the Ninja, One Finger Death Punch, Spacechem, Torchlight and Trine.

FTL was an original concept at release a game of space battles, but the focus was on the inside of the ships. The rogue lite features, made each run fresh and you had to adapt to what the game provided, instead of just memorizing where to find your favourite weapons or upgrades.

If you took the time to name your crew you could create individualized stories, that didn't always tunr out like you hoped. My roackan crew captained by "The Rock" (original I know) met an untimely death due to running out of fuel. My Engi crew, took great delight in suffocatiing numerous crews of pirates. I even managed to unlock the Crystal Cruiser. FTL was game of numerous stories, that with a little imagination you could add to.

I believe that title goes to Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun.

Why?

At that time I was in a slump. I love tactical stealth games so much but at that time Kojima was unceremonously kicked out from Konami thus killing the MGS franchise. Also a sad tribute cutscene from from Gabe from Splinter Cell hearing he's the last of his kind.

But I keep forgetting that gaming is like evolution itself. When there's an empty niche to fill someone will fill it. Shadow Tactics is the reason I ended up buying a new laptop because my old lagging so bad playing that game. By buying that new laptop I was motivated to save money for bigger ram. And now here I am buying games with RAM requirement larger than 4GB. The butterfly effect is real.

Given the excellent indie games that I've bought through the years, that would be a difficult question to answer. Since KSP technically isn't indie anymore, my choice would be The Curious Expedition.

The combination of 19th century exploration & strategy that includes a certain degree of randomness really speaks to me. The characters are all lovely and you'll be hard-pressed to find another game to feature so many well-known people (the only game that comes to mind is Martian Dreams), each one lending to a different gameplay experience.

Of course, under the beautifully designed mantle there's a quite brutal roguelike game, filled with all kinds of dangers, difficult decisions to be made and enemies that will try to steal your quest's progress for fame and fortune.

All-in-all, every aspect of TCE is executed gracefully and it's one of these indie games (along with Into the Breach) that I never hesitate to recommend to everyone.

Good luck folks!

Armageddon Empires

by Vic Davis

Armageddon Empires is a turn-based strategy game from Cryptic Comet, where the player fights up to three AI-run factions on a post-apocalyptic Earth. There are a lot of welcome details that make it an all-time favorite of mine, where to begin...

The game is full of references to science fiction, but one of the things I like about the game is that these references have actual gameplay impact, they aren't just a nod to fellow nerds. You can commandeer a heavily armored tank eerily similar to the OGRE to slowly plough through the enemy, or rush to destroy mutant cultists who worship an "almighty bomb." Even a faction is an alternate take on the Terminator franchise, with humans used as a resource for conversion to cyborg units. That same faction illustrates one of the cool things about one of the different ways you can play, and sort of proves a point I try to make about the best strategy games being akin to sandbox RPGs: As these ersatz terminators you can choose to never use humans as a resource and still have a viable strategy with just machine troops.

Speaking of "sandbox", I've never seen what is essentially a bunch of desert hexes shown in such variety. The board is an uncompromising selection of wasteland hexes, unapologetically bleak, but the differences in textures and secrets makes exploration surprising and fun every time you play. The game's also a deck builder, back before deck builders were so well-known, with a good amount of of evocative art. AE isn't always a smooth ride to play, but the flaws are easy to get past when you're having this much fun.

Finally, it's hard to guess sometimes what "indie" truly means, but Cryptic Comet was mostly a one-person company, with Davis designing, programming, and selling his games independently of larger producers, publishers, or distributors. I hold out hope that Armageddon Empires and the other gems in his catalog find a place on GOG some day, as I think they would be in good company, and leave many more heavily produced games buried in the dust.

Thanks!

SUPERLIMINAL

Finished in one go. A fantastic puzzle game that works with perspective and its manipulation, while demanding a healthy amount of spatial thinking from the player. Between the tasks a story of a sleep or dream experiment is told, meanwhile - very PORTAL 2 like - a synthetic voice warns us over and over again that we've disregarded the safety precautions of the institute we're in; another time the Doctor in charge talks to us via a cassette deck.

My Valve comparison before is no coincidence: They had a similar idea years ago - back when the ORANGE BOX was published - but did not make anything of it, although it was submitted as a pitch for a PORTAL prequel. After the release of SUPERLIMINAL it became known that Valve hand it over to another studio. The game - called PUNT - should've been released in 2020... but nothing specific is known.

The ending of SUPERLIMINAL is better than its so-to-say idol.
Of course, I won't spoil it here, but the way the premise of the game is being applied to something higher and more important really knocked my socks off.

My favourite is The Binding of Isaac Rebirth.
Amazing gameplay with runs that unlock new dungeons and lots of things making each run feel unique, many pop culture references, huge replayability, fun, has couch coop....

Really good ones that I played are Enter the Gungeon, Braid, Fez, Machinarium, Shadowrun and Battle Brothers.

I wish I had a more recent pick, but I still have to say Stardew Valley because I'm still playing it :D

Hotline Miami

Do you like 80s aesthetics, Electronica and ultravlolence? I finished this game six times, so I guess I do. The simple gameplay and the tough as nails difficulty immediately got me hooked on this. Each map is like a puzzle, trying to figure out the best ways to approach the enemies and clear the map. This is essential, as you are usually dead in one hit. There are combo meters and high scores, so once you are familiar with the 'maps, you can go at them faster and more boldly to aim for completion at higher ranks. This adds a lot to the replay value. There are also several different masks you can wear, all with different traits and abilities.

HM is played in a bird perspective view, with the backgrounds constantly pulsing in different colors. It gives the aesthetic of the good ol' cheesy 80s action movies. I love it. The pixel-art graphics are also done in a very fitting way, and doesn't feel cheap.

A very big appeal is the soundtrack. It is one of my favorite soundtracks in gaming. There's a variety of different Electronica artists contributing here, and each track is perfect for the level, with lots of synths, bass and other familiar elements of electronic music. This is a soundtrack I also enjoy listening to outside of the game, and I've had a ringtone and alarm from HM since it came out.

To summarize, Hotline Miami is my favorite indie game because of the gameplay, the funky story, the excellent soundtrack, and the replayability. The system requirements are also very low, and I used to play this on a laptop that struggled with early 00s games. I really don't have anything negative to say about it, but it has been my favorite indie for years. I greatly enjoyed its sequel as well, but the first one is still the best, in my opinion.

The first thing that happens is a big crash! Sharp rocks carve into the ships belly like butcher carving into a pig. With a jolt of forward momentum your small cage is flung into the inside of the ships hull and you're rendered unconscious. It's chaos, cold water is forcing it's way through the ships newly created opening and is literally ripping it apart, carving bigger breaches in the hull, tearing the vessel up like paper and dragging is down towards the ocean floor.
The sound of wood groaning and crying remains unheard as a tree falling in the woods, until it cries no more.

But somehow, with the help of some miracle, your cage is spared the ships fate, and you, together with you fellow prisoners, are slowly being guided by a gentle current towards a lone island.
Welcome to Legend of Grimrock 2!

What makes Grimrock 2 so great is the ever growing scale and the mystery that drives you ever forward. In the beginning you are more preoccupied with learning how to navigate the local "play area" and how not to get cornered by monsters. Later, finding descent gear, food, and health items. And even later still, trying to figure out how to get in this huge castle and why you have been brought to this island. Are you just here for some wizards entertainment or is there a greater purpose to all this.
The game never really slows down and though there are a few moments and rooms that halted my progress like a an egg hitting a brick wall, I would always return a few days later with a more tactical approach to overcome a difficult boss or monster-closet. (Except for the true last boss, that guy is bullshit and I find no enjoyment in trying to take him down. So eff that noise)
Eventually after conquering the whole island and all the caves, ruins, and dungeons, you have both a strong and well versed party, plus the skills to circle-strafe around enemies while drawing a spell-pattern to fireball them in the back. Something that was almost impossible at the the start, when it was not running into walls when you just wanted to turn.

What also sets Legend of Grimrock 2 apart from other titles is the map creator. There are several other fan-made campaigns you can download that rivals the main game in both puzzle design, map layout, and combat balance. Whenever I get bored and want a relaxing getaway, I usually download a new fan-dungeon and start exploring the deep and mysterious caverns.

Legend of Grimrock 2: a game for the ages.

You stumble through the door and reach a spire, you see what's in front of you... a whale?
You fumble a bit then he starts mumblin' "Another go?" then presents you with odd trinkets
You choose one that makes your health stronger, as you start your ascent you look at your belt
Cards a whole deck, you sigh, then with zeal and confidence you carry on brave warrior...

So that's for Slay the Spire! Man I love that game so much! I have managed to escape 5 times only but man I still cant escape while having all those shards, but I'll persevere! The spire wont put me down for good!