Hollow Knight. It was one of the first games I ever completed, and it beat the crap out of me. The music and the art is fantastic, and there's just so much love put into the game

Favourite indie game: Fez

Why: cute pixel art, interesting idea with the 2D yet 3D (or is it 3D yet 2D?) gameplay.

Has to be, hands down no contest: Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

Nearly 100% voice acted, graphics only slightly below standard for a AAA studio yet it's a small indie studio, GREAT work being done with the Dungeon Maker to enable user built content for replayability, and a very well implemented interpretation of the 5E SRD rule set for DnD.

Bar none, best indie game in quite some time. (UBoat, would be the runnerup here)

My favorite indie game is Psychonauts. It's the perfect 3D platformer, with great movement options, cool abilities, and an amazingly varied and funny assortment of different levels with radically different themes and sometimes whole different mechanics.

Rimworld because i can mod it alot

Everyone needs to check out Hylics! (I wish it were on GOG...) It's a great RPG with a unique art style.

Kingsway, I love how the game is inside of a another computer and the simply combat and exploration in the random generated worlds is enjoyable. Although the game is not giving you freedom to play the game at your own pace, the time limit to gather everything you find and level up gives for a nice fast play style that makes you always plan ahead, because you do not have that much time to prepare. The main goal is to keep moving and get what you need as quickly as possible to have an easier time. Furthermore, I love how after you die or complete the game, you earn gems which allow you to buy wallpapers, shortcuts, cosmetic mouse skin, and little helpful starting items for your next play through. Very fun and always gives you a different world changing the layout of how you travel across the map.

There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension is an intense hit, a volley of brilliance and hilarity that kept me smiling way after I finished it. It’s a game that really, really doesn’t want you to play it, and goes to extreme lengths to try to stop you. It crosses genres with abandon, from point-and-click adventure to arcade brick-breaker to Zelda-like and back again, and nonchalantly throws away ingenious ideas that could each be entire games of their own. I love its confidence, its constantly changing nature, its brassy James Bond title sequence-worthy songs, and its surprisingly poignant central story of loss and love amidst all the fourth-wall breaking madness. Yes, There Is A Game, and everybody should play it, even whilst the exasperated voice of writer/director Pascal Camisotto pleads with you to stop.

The Last Door: I was a backer of the Game Kitchen debut and I was fascinated by the minimalistic approach to horror and adventure, channelling the atmospheres of the pages of Lovecraft and Poe in a few (big) "pixels" and an appropriate soundtrack.
Honorable mentions:
Slain! for the way the devs learnt from the criticism and worked hard to make their game better!
Gorogoa for the incredible persistance of a single creator who has spent six years to realize original drawings and puzzles for a title that is short but well curated.

My fave indie game is probably Firewatch. Never has a game intrigued me as much as this. I don't think I've been more involved in playing and enjoying a video game where the only other interaction w/ an NPC was just a voice on a radio.

6-Thumbs up! :)

I simply prefer to support tiny indie devs over triple AAA copy pasta games. You also have a large collection of games to choose from and they are all cheaper than your average triple A games. I do wish that indie devs can get more exposure so your common joe can support the indie scene more

Kind of hard to say since "Indie Developer" is a bit of a loose term. Does it include only small teams? Or would a new but larger company count so long as it didn't have much publisher backing during most development? Etc. With that in mind, I'll go for a "safe" bet on what counts and say ConcernedApe's "Stardew Valley" While not exactly original and mostly a copy of a game series which is very much not an indie developer by any means, the game is very fun, and an obvious labor of love with consistant free updates (even new farm maps) that seem to take into account player feedback. There aren't too many that show not just the dedication, but also the degree of excellence that this developer has expressed in this game.

Probably the closest to that that I've played would be Re-Logic's "Terraria" in terms of passion and caring about making tha game as excellent as possible... it's close, but for me I slighlty prefer the more laid back "Stardew Valley" with it's focus on engaging NPCs to "Terraria"'s much more action-y playstyle... most of the time at any rate. It's good to have options to suit your mood at the time, and to change up the pace now and then.

I think I'd have to go with Yuppie Psycho. I loved the simple pixel art paired with the animated cut-scenes, and it was a treat to watch Brian take his first big leap in the workforce, only to be suddenly thrust into a literal and metaphorical toxic work environment under the influence of the supernatural.

For me, it's a tie between Cave Story and Aquaria, two games that really opened my eyes to how small teams with small (or no) budgets can create amazing imaginative worlds and meaningful stories. I've been a fan of indie games ever since playing them!