There are quite a few indie/non-AAA games of recent times that are just brilliant; the stanley parable, FTL, BitTrip Runner, Geometry Wars and VVVVVV. The brilliant thing that ties all of these games togeather is the focus on game mechanics and not aesthetics. VVVVVV takes Armor Games' Shift, swaps out the flash visuals for retro graphics, the shift key with the space bar, and chucks a nice non-linear story with many checkpoints and funny screen-names. This is a game that doesn't take too long to complete, but leaves a memorable imprint on you. Be prepared to die again, and again, and again! and then you work it out and nail that screen with a smile on your face!
Every once in a while i'll read a thread on Civfanatics that mentions SMAC's brillance. So I decided to give it a shot during the current GOG sale. All i can say is brillant. Civ 3 with a decent sci fi setting/story, customisable units, interesting tech tree, movies and motives that get you thinking. It feel more fun then civ v:g&k atm or even civ iv:bts. SMAX is included in the latest download.
