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OIO

Best indie Game - OIO Screenshot

OIO is a puzzle platformer made by the French dev Uncanny Games. The game is kind of like machinarium, in the sense that a lot of the value of the game comes from the atmoshpere, art style, and magnificent aesthetics. The game feels simple and styled with no clashing of graphics. OIO has nothing that really is directly scary, but it is a combination of atmosphere and suggestion that makes the game quite dark. TYhis quality is something that we have really noticed is common in some of the best indie games.

The game doesn’t tell you much in the way of the story, and it doesn’t have much dialog. This focuses you on the game-play and keeps this game kind of casual.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of OIO

There are a few problems with the game, like when you try to move in a direction your character starts moving slowly and then accelerates. This is normally fine, but in this game, the running animation for the character stays the same, even though you are running very slowly, which makes the main character look like Roadrunner from the Looney Tunes.

Best Indie Game - Screen shot of OIO

The basic main mechanic of this game that differentiates it from the average platformer is the ability to grow or destroy wooden platforms by simply throwing seeds at nodes located in parts of the levels. Only three of these platforms can exist at a time, when there are 4 on the field the oldest one is destroyed. This mechanic can get very deep, as sometimes you have to do timing jumps with branches and you have to grow branches off of branches.

OIO is really a puzzle platformer that requires thought and is much deeper than a standard run and jumps indie Mario clone. If you were to compare this to most other puzzle platformers out there, this would come out best. Levels are more than timing your jumps or moving for just enough time, but about thinking and intellectual challenges.

Conclusion: OIO is a great puzzle platformer with great art style and good gameplay.

OIO

8/10

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VVVVVV

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of VVVVVV

VVVVVV is an indie action platformer developed by Terry Cavanagh and was released on January 11, 2010. Its core gameplay mechanic, gravity-flipping was inspired by one of his previous games, Sine Wave Ninja.

In the game, you are Captain Viridian, in a pixelized world. Your ship and crew have been separated in a horrible accident, and your goal is to rescue your crew and escape from the space station that you have been stranded on. There is a twist, though. Unlike common platforming games, you can not jump. Instead, you can flip gravity, causing you to fall in the opposite direction. But you can only flip gravity when you are on a solid surface. This mechanic is used extensively in the game and used to move around, and complete puzzles.

This game is a quick-action-paced game. The game revolves around making quick maneuvers with your gravity-flipping ability, cleverly challenged by trampolines, a number of abstract objects (don’t touch them), and optional yet so satisfying “trinkets” that are extremely hard to acquire. This makes VVVVVV the best indie game if you want to have some great casual fun.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of VVVVVV

Akin to Super Meat Boy, another 2D platformer, the game is very difficult. Some sections, are extremely hard to maneuver around and require perfect coordination of keyboard presses and timing. What VVVVVV does cleverly to prevent this from being detrimental to the game, is by adding quick-save points where you will respawn every time you die. This makes the game less unforgiving, preventing one from having to repeat territory.

The gameplay was madly addicting, except for a frustrating portion here and there. The 8bit music is catchy, the puzzles are entertaining and fast-paced. For the most part, it is a great experience. Savepoints were plentiful that offset this design choice. The graphics were 8bit, which fit the style of the game and provided a nice aesthetic, but the options were lacking and many little things were missing like the ability to lower the volume. The gameplay was top-notch and challenging if a bit repeating at times. The game wasn’t that long too, but it was still good.

Conclusion: Great gameplay if not for some seemingly impossible areas, good aesthetics, good music and it lacked many different settings.

VVVVVV

8/10

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Braid

 Number None, Inc. brings us a beautiful indie game called Braid. Released on April 10, 2009, it showcases beautiful painting work, a deep, rich story as well as great puzzle scenarios. It is definitely one of the best indie games on my list.

The goal of this game is to collect all the puzzle pieces and advance through the worlds, ultimately attempting to rescue his princess. This is done as you control the character Tim through a series of puzzles and worlds from a platforming perspective.

Braid sparks the question: What if you could reverse the mistakes you’ve made? This game has a very cool mechanic: The ability for your character Tim to reverse time. Undoing mistakes can be as simple as getting your revenge on one of the monsters, or as complicated as solving intense puzzles with the new mechanics that keep getting unraveled to keep the game fresh and interesting.

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And Yet it Moves

And Yet it Moves, is a top indie game by independent publisher Broken Rules. Released on April 2, 2009. Its interesting name is a direct English translation of Galileo Galilei’s famous remark, Eppur si muove.  The name is appropriate, as the game involves the world rotating around the main character, an unnamed white figure.

This particular indie game is set in a world reminiscent of a paper collage. The edges are lined with jagged white textures- as if the pieces were ripped out of a magazine itself. The character you control has the uncanny ability to rotate the world in intervals of 90°, affecting everything in it. Gravity will shift, bats will relocate to the “new” ceiling of the cave, and loose rocks will come tumbling down in order to crush you.