Some of the greatest video games I have played are indie. These have started as simple groups of animators and developers who have a dream of creating their own video game.

Here are some well known indie video games that can be found on consoles such as PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

Minecraft

Based on how popular Minecraft is it is hard to believe that it originally started as an indie video game. That being said, Minecraft is not an indie video game anymore since it is now owned by Microsoft.

I don’t think that there are many people who don’t know what Minecraft is. There isn’t much to be said. Limitless creativity, nice to play with lots of people. Great game.

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Undertale

Undertale was created by the solo developer Toby Fox with help from Tammie Chang with art. Inspired by RPGs, Undertale follows similar, heavy pixilation and classical dialogue interactions. The game is meant to be ridiculous and cheesy, but at the same time it touches on many of the inquiries of being a monster and being a human (this is why it is so famous).

When the player fights an enemy they are represented by a red heart which moves to dodge different attacks in a box (really fun game design). The player also has the option to show mercy or not, which is different from many other games that don’t sympathize with the monsters.

The storyline can take a couple different paths including the path of no mercy (much less thinking) and pacifism (more puzzles and interactions). The main character, a human in the world of monsters, learns the backstory to the human souls that were taken. Red (the character) represents determination, orange—bravery, yellow—justice, green—kindness, purple—perseverance, dark blue—integrity, light blue—patience, and white (all the monsters)—hope.

The game is not for everyone but is a very cool experience.

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Hollow Knight / Silk Song

Team Cherry is the creator of Hollow Knight and Silksong. They are a group of three people (Ari Gibson, William Pellen, and Jack Vine). Both of their games are immensely popular and very well done. They spent years handrawing the intricate worlds of Hallownest and Pharloom. Featuring an insect and critter theme world, the art work is spectacular. The drawings capture the essence of the ghoulishness and mystery of the many creatures and biomes that the worlds offer.

At a fundamental level, both games are 2D metroidvanias. This means that they have an open map and certain areas or boss fights will unlock the new abilities that are needed to explore further. So at the end of the game, the characters have an extremely high move set in addition to lots of combat upgrades. In my opinion, this keeps the game interesting when there are new platform mechanics that the player needs to learn in addition to combat mechanics. For instance, in most triple-A PlayStation games (like God of War) there are basic maneuvers like crawl, climb, swing, making movement feel much more like slow puzzle platforming than fast-action platforming.

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⭐️Celeste

Celeste is short for celestial, which means of the stars. This game seems like a simple 2D pixilated platformer with a jump, grab, and eight-direction dash. However, the movement is so well done and includes many other features like wave washing, spike jumping, coyote time, and neutral jumping. These main features make it super fun to speed run.

The story also, at the surface, seems quite simple, but it is very compelling. You play as Madeline, an eager teen who wants to climb to the top of a mountain, and when doing so she confronts her anxiety.

After beating the main game, there are many other extra levels added on for free including the core, a B-side and a C-side for each level, and a ~100 room finale that takes place in the stars. Granted, these extras are considerably hard to complete, which some people like, and some people don’t.

The animation is amazing, the level design is amazing, could not recommend more.

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Cuphead

Cuphead is an older video game with a cartoonish hand drawn style. The game is considered to be difficult, so it is not for everyone. Every single level is a boss fight with some side platforming levels. Some bosses include a dragon, a flower, a genie, circus performers, and a queen bee. Most of the music includes energetic, and chaotic jazz.

The developers of Cuphead are two brothers (Jared and Chad) who created MDHR studios—a very good example about how a small number of people can make their dreams a reality.

The game has a DLC called the delicious last course (inkwell isle four), which adds many new levels and changes the music to include some violin fiddling. :D

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Stardew Valley

Created by Concerned Ape (Eric Barone), Stardew Valley is another instance of a popular game that is created by a single developer. This means that one person created the code, one person created the art, one person created the story, and one person created the music.

Stardew Valley is an amazing open-ended pixilated farming game. In addition to farming, the player also can mine in the mountains, build a community in the neighboring town, fish for exotic specimens, discover the secrets of the valley, and much more.

The game is also based on a four-week season with birthdays, holidays, and special events that happen every year. You can go to the wizard’s hut, the night market, the desert, and (added recently) a tropical island.

I highly recommend this game for people who love animals, plants, and individual freedom.

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Ori

Ori is a 2D metroidvania (like Hollow Knight) highly animated game, where you play as a cute forest mammal with the power of light. There are two games: the blind forest and the will of the wisps. Though I have only played the second game, I will say that the quality of this game is excellent: the movement is very fast and responsive, the world itself feels alive, and the score sounds like a movie soundtrack.

The creatures in this game are both small and large. Some are very peculiar but still feel natural to the environment they are in. From the desert to the tundra all sorts of wild life is present. Some of the creatures will help you, some of them think that you are tasty.

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Be sure to check upcoming issues of the BASD ECHO for an article on video games that are more generally known!