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Pound for pound I enjoy indie games more than AAA titles

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Granted, I don’t buy all indie games, but the ones I do buy I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience in the last few years. Indie games offer more unique experiences IMO, a lot of them you can feel the passion and care that went into developing them.

Also, for some of them I think it’s the best thing we have going these days for games that have old school feel and charm.

I even find some games that I don’t think I’m gonna love, I end up loving like The Messenger and Timespinner.

So many more I want to play like Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, and can't wait for Axiom Verge 2 and the next Hollow Knight.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I own Risk of Rain 1 , but still haven't played it. I'm not huge on rogue like, but it is on my list to play one of these days.
 
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I'm currently playing Hollow Knight and Final Fantasy VII Remake and I've been thinking about how different they are. Hollow Knight is such a carefully crafted impressive sequence of levels filled with curated enemy encounters and obstacles that keep a sense of challenge that never gets frustrating. FF, on the other hand, largely consist of walking around empty corridors doing stupid shit while occasionally stumbling upon a group of enemies. And yet the overall spectacle is undeniable, FF makes you feel awesome and I'm a sucker for the occasional use of strong colors. I'm really enjoying both.

So there's definitely space for both as long as they are done with a modicum of sincerity. Their strengths don't overlap that much.
 
Granted, I don’t buy all indie games, but the ones I do buy I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience in the last few years. Indie games offer more unique experiences IMO, a lot of them you can feel the passion and care that went into developing them.

Also, for some of them I think it’s the best thing we have going these days for games that have old school feel and charm.

I even find some games that I don’t think I’m gonna love, I end up loving like The Messenger and Timespinner.

So many more I want to play like Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, and can't wait for Axiom Verge 2 and the next Hollow Knight.
I'd love to see a list of your favorite indies 🙂
 
Axiom Verge
SOMA
Hollow Knight
Celeste
Limbo
Inside
The Witness
The Talos Principle(not sure if it's Indie)
Ori 1 and 2(not sure if technically Indie)
Guacamelee 1 and 2
Shadow Complex
Shovel Knight
The Swapper
Braid

Just to name some.
Yeah, some high quality games there for sure that I also enjoy.
 

Aidah

Member
I love a lot of indie games, but rarely do I consider one the best game in a particular year. I think the last time that happened was with The Witness.

It's true though that indies in general feel much more often like a work of passion and someone trying to make the most enjoyable game they can, rather than the assembly line bloat filled commercial non risk taking product that you often find in AAA. Probably the reason why indies can sometimes rival even the best AAA despite having a small fraction of the budget to work with.
 

Gamernyc78

Banned
Indies have their stars but I have enjoyed and game more on AAA games. My gotg are all in the AAA category. If thy told me games would disappear tomorrow except for ten top indies and Bloodborne I'd choose Bloodborne over any ten indies. That's just me.
 

Saruhashi

Banned
I tend to feel like AAA titles don't have a lot of scope for what they can safely put out there.
If the "story" is problematic then people will complain.
If the performance is a bit off then people will complain.
If the difficulty is too hard then people will complain.
If the gameplay is too different then people will complain.

With indies it's very possible for games to fly under the radar and find their audience without bringing down the wrath of the outrage mob.
Not always, of course.

If you enjoy a tough game like Sekiro then you will find that the community is full of daft debates from people who just want that easy mode "so my girlfriend can enjoy the story". Darkest Dungeon, for example, is just allowed to be what it is and find an audience that loves the game.

If you enjoy something a bit "out there" like Death Stranding then you are nothing more than a Kojima fanboy cos that game is actually really boring and only a fanboy would pretend to enjoy it. Gris or Abzu or that Goose game are just allowed to be what they are and anyone enjoying them is just seen as a regular person enjoying a piece of entertainment for what it is.

Of course there are some real stinkers in the indie market but overall there is a huge and diverse selection of awesome games that don't seem to get much coverage compared to the hyped up major releases.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
I feel the same. During these last couple of years, I've been gravitating towards Indie and AA a lot more, to the point where it's like 90% of my output in terms of what I play.

AA and indies always seems to have room for a lot more creativity than AAA, and even though I enjoy a good blockbuster game once in a while, I quickly go back to the smaller games after I completed it.

I also think it has to do with me looking more and more towards retro, to me rediscovering my roots, as a child growing up with 8, 16 and 32-bit games. This obsession today with realistic graphics, power and violence just turns me off. I want to go back to the simpler days of gaming.
 

klosos

Member
Ill agree with with Hostile_18 Hostile_18 & Danjin44 Danjin44 about AA , at the moment am loving Judgement (Ps4) and enjoying it more then 99% of AAA i have played this Gen, maybe gaming is turning into a graphics race and the AAA scene is not bring much new to the table instead of slicker visuals, id rather new interesting mechanics.
 

Makariel

Member
With Star Citizen now getting near 300 million and still looking like a tech demo rather than anything else, I don't quite understand what "indie" means in 2020. They are all just different games.

Shadow Complex
Isn't that by Epic? If they are indie, then valve is also indie I guess?
 

RedVIper

Banned
Indies have their stars but I have enjoyed and game more on AAA games. My gotg are all in the AAA category. If thy told me games would disappear tomorrow except for ten top indies and Bloodborne I'd choose Bloodborne over any ten indies. That's just me.

I mean I love bloodborne (Obviously), but I've gotten way more gameplay out of factorio alone. I'd give up BB for my favorite indies any day.
 

-YFC-

Member
Agreed. Indies have been replacing that B tier of games of past generations. And I enjoy those more then big 3A games. Especially retro inspired shooters. They're so pure and passionate projects.
 

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
For me it's always waves. I enjoy AAA games for a couple of months, then I go back to playing almost exclusively indies. Every now and then the AAA industry with their lack of innovation and constant trying to get you into microtransaction are just too much.
 

mcz117chief

Member
I enjoyed some AAA games but I would say I enjoyed AA games like Valkyria Chronicles 4 more than most AAA games.
AA are the best. You got the best of both worlds. The passion of a smaller team working on something they want instead of what the corporate wants and they also have a solid budget for high quality production.
 
I love indie games, but looking at my GOAT list the bulk of is AAA type games. I guess high budget games just have the production values and polish that make them more memorable. On the other hand Soma and Darkest Dungeon are in my top 3.
 
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Wonko_C

Member
Sometimes I feel all the power of the PS4 is wasted on me since the great majority of games i have could run even on a PS2. To the point I'm doubting on purchasing a next-gen console and just sticking with PC.

This is also why I roll my eyes when people say most VR games are tech demos, we don't call normal indie games tech demos, do we? They're just indies.

I guess if you're into indie games you will most likely find a lot to play in VR (even in PSVR which is just a fraction of the library of PCVR), yet people keep listing and recommending the same few titles everybody knows like Resident Evil 7, Beat Saber, Super Hot, Skyrim, Astro Bot... all excellent titles but if that's all you play no wonder your headset is collecting dust. Broaden your horizons people! I have 50+ PSVR games (only very few of them are real stinkers), and I have a wishlist of 100 more waiting for me to be purchased and played.

I think I went on a tangent somewhere there so I'll stop for now. :p
 
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Knch

Member
Axiom Verge
SOMA
Hollow Knight
Celeste
Limbo
Inside
The Witness
The Talos Principle(not sure if it's Indie)
Ori 1 and 2(not sure if technically Indie)
Guacamelee 1 and 2
Shadow Complex
Shovel Knight
The Swapper
Braid

Just to name some.
Now weigh them all. (Yes, this is a dumb as fudge joke.)
 

samporter

Banned
Being a Nintendo Switch owner, it's strange but I feel there are too many indie games on the platform. I have to say though I prefer the "AAA" experiences over the indie games, at least on the Switch. I can definitely say titles like Zelda:BOTW, Smash, Mario/MarioKart, Pokemon are superior to any of the indie games, from a value and enjoyment perspective.
 

engstra

Member
Tend to favour indie games to massive AAA ones nowadays. I just find them to be much more interesting, focusing on a certain mechanic or theme instead of trying to do it all. On top of that as I've gotten older, indie games are just much better suited to my schedule and don't overstay their welcome.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I feel the same. Most of my time is spent enjoying indies. It is almost exclusively where all the innovation in gaming takes place outside of the technical.
 

Saber

Gold Member
I do like indie games pretty much, but I wouldn't say that because frankly its pretty dumb imo.

I like games, simple as that. If its damn fun, enjoyable and challegening then it doesn't matter if its an indie, AAA or AA.
 

Neo_game

Member
Indie game can be good and should be respected. But what if they have a higher budget and more people and time to work on the game ? Surely it would be better. I think there are lots of AA games that are underrated and get neglected compared to some AAA
 

Silvawuff

Member
I agree with you here! There are some seriously great Indies out there. I just finished Childen of Morta a few days ago. Good stuff!

I feel like Indies augment a critical missing place in the video game hobby, or we'd just have the FPS/Sportsball/Open World games du jour.
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
I don't really see it as indie vs AAA. It's more about breadth of genre. My Steam wishlist is full of "Indy" games in genre that don't have many "AAA" games
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
Oh absolutely... I totally agree. The biggest, and most important reason I love indie games is that they are free of corporate greed. In most instances you can tell they are made by people who just have a passion for what they are creating. Pure, unadulterated creativity. Yes indie devs still make games to put food on the table... but they also make games because they have a passion for what they are creating.

The AAA gaming industry has become so saturated with following trends and whatever is popular. At the same time putting predatory microtransactions and subliminal addictive game design which is just plain disgusting. The games industry used to be about fun and entertainment. Things have been downhill since 2011-2012.
 

Moogle11

Banned
I go the other way as my tastes shifted to easier, cinematic, narrative driven games as I got older, busier, more stressed and saw my frustration tolerance go out the window.

I do enjoy some indies as there are some great story focused games, immersive “walking sims,” visual novels etc. But the gameplay focused, often hard and worn retro style graphics just usually aren’t my cup of team.

Which is of course fine as I’m always drowning in games to play as is. I’ve been gaming pretty heavily since the NES and I don’t think there’s ever been a better time for gaming in terms of the sheer variety of games out there to choose from.
 
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Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
I'm way more into AAA and AA games than actual Indies. Last one I played and completed was Shovel Knight. I ended up buying Salt and Sanctuary, Axiom Verge and others but quit after maybe 30 minutes if that. I even bought Minecraft Dungeons because I like the idea but quit and uninstalled that game as well despite buying the Hero Edition for $30. Just not into them at all.

For me, Indies have to be more like AA games in terms of budget and esthetic. I'm all in for The Ascent and loved Mutant Year Zero for example. Anything that resembles the 8-bit/16-bit eras is basically a no go for me. But I will say that quality wie, majority of them are real good. I'm just not into them anymore.
 
Of course you would. Because you have good taste my friend.

Indie games sometimes go outside the box to create something new, which is the drug of many of us that are already tired of the same action open world game with fetch quests every year.

I'd argue that creativity shines most on indie games, there are way less suits to appeal.
 
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