The best indie games on pc. Best indie games

Rating: 9.8 (6) | Points: 1948

Mashinky is a railway strategy simulator in which you have to build your own transport empire on a randomly generated map!

Already in RUSSIAN!

The game has been updated to version v21.02.2019.

beacon- a sci-fi action game with elements of a roguelike, where as a result of the crash your ship ends up on an uncharted planet!

The main feature of the game is the ability of the protagonist to improve himself with the help of the DNA of the enemies he killed!

The game has been updated from version 1.9.1a to 2.0a. You can see the list of changes.

factorio- a large-scale 2D sandbox in which you have to prepare an alien planet for the comfortable living of earthly inhabitants!

You will extract resources, research technologies, build infrastructure, automate production and fight foreign enemies.
Use your imagination to design your factories, combine simple elements to create complex structures.
Use management skills wisely to keep it all running smoothly.

Added game soundtrack.

The GOG version of the game has been updated to v0.16.51.

The game has been updated from version 0.17.1 to 0.17.2. You can see the list of changes.

No rating yet

She Dreams Elsewhere- surreal style JRPG Undertale about dreams and how they reflect reality. You play as Talia Sullivan, a strung-out, anxious, comatose woman who sets out on a journey to defeat the nightmares that keep her from waking up, and at the same time she learns exactly how it happened to her. But some nightmares are harder to counter than others...

ClassiCube- a completely free copy that has become more relevant than ever after Mojang shut down all servers minecraft classic. However, the game has a number of improvements over the original, such as improved optimization, support for texture packs, skins, a frame rate limiter and some new blocks, and if you want to play offline, there is a special single player mode for this.

The game has been updated to v1.0.1.0 Beta.

V snowtopia you will create your own ski resort and meet the expectations of demanding visitors in an ever-changing world. Design ski slopes, build cable cars, improve resort and manage labor force to attract ski lovers of all kinds. Can you create a charming village or sprawling ski network? It depends on you!

The game has been updated to v0.5.2.1. Changelog not found.

Terraforming Earth- puzzle platformer where all levels are randomly generated. Take control of three separate robots with unique technological quirks stranded on a desolate Earth. Help them work together to overcome randomly generated obstacles and restore life to the planet. Playing alone, switch between robots. You can also play with friends in local multiplayer co-op mode.

The game has been updated to v0.4.1. List of changes inside the news.

ΔV: Rings of Saturn - Shadows over the Rings- space 2D shooter. On the street in 2273. The unexpected discovery of valuable minerals in Saturn's rings has sparked a cosmic "gold rush". You control a ship mining asteroids in hopes of becoming rich, but you soon find out that all is not what it seems. Immerse yourself in a heavy sci-fi story backed by real physics and science.

The game has been updated to v0.54.0. List of changes inside the news.

Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt is a colorful strategy city-building simulator where you have to build the city of your dreams - from a run-down village to a medieval metropolis!

The game has been updated from version 2.1.0.2 to 2.1.1.3. You can see the list of changes.

This game will tell the story of eight people, whose everyday life changed instantly. They have just survived a plane crash and are now in the middle of a hopeless winter forest Alaska. You play as one of the survivors. Overcome difficulties alone, or unite with others and do everything possible to return home.

In this category, we have collected our favorite games with a small budget and / or ideas that are too bold for AAA projects.

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Best games 2017 | Main nominations

About the nomination

In this category, we have collected our favorite games with a small budget and / or ideas that are too bold for AAA projects. And then immediately a problem arose. There are even more games like this this year than last year! How we did not kill each other during the voting is still not clear, but this is what we ended up with.

Third place. Hollow Knight

A nameless hero with a nail at the ready explores the dungeons under the village of Dortmouth, where the capital of the kingdom of bugs Hallownest was located. What he is looking for, even he himself does not know. Yes, and there is no time to think about such things. Dungeons are deadly: it is very easy to die in them, and even easier to get lost.

It would seem that the usual pretty Metroidvania. But...

And the "but" here is just huge. Hollow Knight Made with incredible love and attention to detail. Exploration and platforming cause exceptionally pleasant emotions. The same applies to the combat system - it is very convenient and understandable.

In addition, the game looks and sounds great - it's easy to immerse yourself in this world. The further, the darker it becomes, and the more often you find yourself in hopeless loneliness, which is only occasionally diluted by fleeting meetings with other characters. But there is only one way to really get rid of it: to reach the very center of Hallownest. Maybe there will be some answers?

Spoiler: definitely will.

Second place. What Remains of Edith Finch

No. Doesn't fit.

No, not enough.

What Remains of Edith Finch - the story of how the last representative of the Finch family returns to an old house family... And again, no. This is a heap of masterfully written or planned details that often tell more than the voice of the main character ... No! Not only. Is this a shark simulator? Photographer? Live comic? Damn!

In fact, What Remains of Edith Finch is all of the above... and more. Have you ever found yourself in a place so densely filled with memories that you were immediately overcome by light sadness? For example, on the street where you once walked hand in hand with a person with whom you have not even talked to for many years? Remember your feelings? What Remains of Edith Finch is about this. The game is a real lace of memories and that same transparent sadness.

In general, making someone empathize with a hill of pixels is not an easy task. Especially if the developers have only a couple of minutes to present the story of each character. In this game, they manage to do it time after time. This is the great power of this whimsical and whimsical "walking simulator" that can impress even the most ardent opponents of the genre.

First place. Cuphead and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

In the first place - an honorable draw.

cuphead impressed us with inhuman attention to detail, limitless fantasy— and, not least, by the fact that at ease she took the bar that we set in advance for the game during the waiting time.

We knew the game would be beautiful. However, animators and artists invested in it not just their soul, but, apparently, the souls of all their relatives and friends. We knew that Cuphead would have a good sound - and we got one of the best soundtracks of the year. We knew, finally, that interesting fights with unusual bosses awaited us. But no one could have predicted that here the queen bee would turn into a damn plane! That's what Cuphead is all about. You think you figured out the game, installed it fair price... but no, it still turns out to be better (and tougher) than expected again and again! Maybe the developers made a deal with the devil?

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, in turn, is an ode to creative independence. These days, major publishers are taking every opportunity to claim that games are very expensive and difficult to make (and therefore absolutely necessary to screw all sorts of microtransactions to them).

But we are talking about a project that deeply and terribly touches on the topic of psychosis and in which a non-professional actress plays the main role! What corporation would take such a risk? That's right, none. We can only be glad that Ninja Theory went the way of independent development, and we got this piece of action-adventure with a great setting, shameful combat, as well as an amazing atmosphere, story and sound.

Worthy of mention

Pyre — last game dreamers from Supergiant Games, authors of almost flawless Bastion and Transistor. The project for these developers is quite unusual: for the first time, text is in the foreground - a lot of wonderfully written text!

It is also one of the brightest sports games of the year. Do you feel bad for the Ritual?

Minecraft is a popular sandbox game with a huge, auto-generated open world and survival elements. In its style, the entire game world consists of specific blocks (objects, landscape, the player himself and mobs), for the creation of which low-resolution textures were used. Players will be able to create or destroy any block, as well as use objects and blocks in a fully three-dimensional environment of the game.

Players need to control characters that are able to destroy or install any type of blocks, with their own hands forming fantastic buildings from them. In addition to the single-player component, there is also the opportunity to show your artistic and building potential in a collective game with many other players in a variety of game modes on numerous servers of this game.

The plot plan of the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent is focused on finding the protagonist Daniel, who has lost his memory, at least some information about what is happening. After waking up in a medieval castle, he realizes that he is in mortal danger, about which he warned himself in ornate notes.

The solution of this riddle, and even the constant confrontation of the mysterious "shadow" will be dealt with by Daniel, believing himself and plunging headlong into the investigation of the mystery of his own misadventures. The eerie atmosphere and intricate plot will not leave horror fans indifferent.

Deadlight is made in the platformer genre (climbing flights of stairs, searching and collecting objects, which are then used to go to new level). It's entertaining computer game, the plot of which takes place not in our world, but in an alternative reality.

At the center of events is a young man named Randall Wayne (the action takes place in 1986 in Seattle). An unknown disease struck and destroyed most of humanity. Those that remain have either gone mad or turned into ruthless killers. The hero will have to survive in these crazy conditions and not lose himself as a person.

Limbo is played in black and white with a dark soundtrack. The player controls a character - a boy who lost his sister. The protagonist wakes up in a hellish forest surrounded by many dangers and goes in search of it. On his way there are gloomy souls, prehistoric spiders and all kinds of traps.

The puzzle game is filled with various challenges that are followed by dynamic chases. Frequent save points will allow you to pause, so that in a moment you will again rush headlong in search of the girl.

Terraria is similar to Minecraft, but has a unique atmosphere created by 2D graphics. The game includes two options for its passage: single player independent mode and multiplayer. By choosing the latter, you can rapidly develop the virtual world with your friends.

The Terraria game involves the creation of a unique world and a personal hero, the choice of activities for which is quite wide. Personally, you will determine the activities of your character at each stage. He can explore, build houses and castles, invent and create weapons, dig passages and find treasures in the ground, fight in battles.

The game can be attributed to the genre of fantastic horror. It is played in the first person, where the main character is Paul Prospero. He is a detective, distinguished from people of a similar profession by his supernatural power. Paul knows how to visualize crime scenes.

The protagonist begins to investigate the disappearance of one boy. Trying to figure out who could kidnap the child and where to look for him, the detective finds himself in a mountainous area. There he sees the body of one of the kidnappers, he was severely mutilated. Thanks to his unusual talents and modern gadgets, main character uncover a series of crimes.

All your attention will be captured by a fascinating story about the struggle between good and evil, where a young man named Tim is trying to save a young princess kidnapped by an evil monster. The game Braid will amaze you with its special and at the same time preserving the traditions of the platform game game story. The fearless hero must overcome following friend after another the most difficult levels. Moving towards his goal, he will run, jump, climb steep surfaces, kill enemies and solve puzzles. An interesting addition will be the ability to control time, which can be rewound or forward as desired.

It is often necessary to use force to keep the peace. When there are no options left to resolve the conflict peacefully, it's time to turn to Broforce, an invincible military organization with meager funding. Members of the organization perform their tasks only by force, not trying to avoid excessive cruelty. The game allows one player or a whole group of friends to immerse themselves in the gameplay. Broforce offers to use a large arsenal of weapons against ruthless enemies.

In Super Meat Boy, a fun platformer, you play as a living cube of meat whose goal is to save your girlfriend made of bandages from an embryo living in a test tube that is hostile to Meat Boy. If you have seen and remember the old platform games on NES consoles, then the gameplay will be familiar to you. Understanding management is not difficult. As the game progresses (there are 300 levels in total), the player will visit a variety of locations. Sometimes Meat Guy will be waiting for strong bosses, which are impossible to defeat on the first attempts. Also in Super Meat Boy there is a level editor for the player to create their own challenges. And seekers of secrets are waiting for Easter eggs, special zones and secret characters.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a unique game for two players. The unique idea is that one player defuses the bomb, and the other, having instructions and knowledge, tells him how to do it. Instructions for Defusing the Bomb in Russian are included, we recommend printing it. First of all, the game catches with its unusualness, you can play it in the company of friends, the main thing is to follow the rules. The person who defuses the bomb must quickly tell what he sees, and the "experts" (there can be any number of them) must understand the structure of the bomb and give advice on how to defuse it. With each level, the complexity of the bomb will increase, tricky modules, various traps, false wires, etc. will be added. And to all this, there will be a timer in front of your eyes, which constantly drives you into stress.

Scrap Mechanic is a huge sandbox constructor for creating all kinds of machines and mechanisms. The action takes place in the near future, people have long been traveling to different planets and creating automated machines there. You play as a mechanic whose job is to maintain such machines. On one of your trips, you are shipwrecked on one of the planets, and now your task is to survive on a fairly hostile planet. The problem is that the local robots that were involved in agriculture, have become uncontrollable, and now, in order to survive, you need to think carefully and use your main advantage - design abilities.

Game under development

According to the ideas of the author, the game "Planet Nomads" will become a huge sandbox on an unknown planet. Players have a lot to explore, and to explore the planet you need to build various reliable and protected machines. This version so far only in general terms demonstrates the possibilities of the game. You will be able to build both small mobile vehicles for moving around the planet, and giant space stations for galactic travel. Build, use, survive - these are the main tasks that will await you in the game.

Sneak Thief is a thief simulator in which a variety of objects await the player. Start like a burglar thief, open simple alarm at home and collect various valuable junk. Once you gain experience, you can go for serious business and maybe even manage to rob a well-guarded bank. Moreover, the player is given complete freedom of choice: you can search weak spots in the system and stealthily rob, or you can arm yourself and take the same bank by brute force.

If you were in awe of the game "Sunless Sea", there you should definitely try the new creation of the studio Failbetter Games called Sunless Skies. This time the action of the game will take place not on the water, but in the air. Control a bizarre flying steam machine, trade, complete various tasks, fight and just explore wonderful world. Sunless Skies kept the atmosphere of the previous part. The developers' attention to detail allows you to believe in the world they have created and immerse yourself in it.

CHKN is a unique sandbox constructor where you will create the most incredible life forms. Create your own pet and explore the world looking for resources to survive as well as find others interesting views to continue their crazy experiments. The CHKN game has a huge number of combinations, and each combination is a unique creature with its own character and behavior.

Alchemist's Awakening is an open world sandbox where you play the role of a young alchemist who explores a wonderful world. Gradually you will explore new possibilities, you have 9 basic elements that you can combine to create various items. Also, with the help of alchemy, you can summon various creatures that will protect you from enemies. By combining different elements, you can build anything from machines to collection necessary elements, ending with creatures that can later be revived. Alchemist's Awakening has three game modes: survival (you enter the world as a novice alchemist and try to survive in it), creative (this mode allows you to conveniently and quickly build whatever you want) and multiplayer (a mode in which you can survive on the map with real players).

Imagine Earth is a new game project in which the player will be asked to create a civilization on an uninhabited planet. Before you is an ideal planet for humanity. Your task is to create a prosperous civilization on the planet. Gradually developing, you must monitor the basic resources, as well as the ecology. A powerful industry provides good resources and a strong impetus for development, but it can completely destroy the planet. You can mindlessly cut down trees, which will very soon lead to a lack of oxygen and other natural disasters. You must learn how to moderately use the wealth of the planet, but at the same time develop your civilization. The problem is that other civilizations are developing on other planets, which will charmingly try to take the lead and because of this they will want to destroy you.

Abandon Ship is an indie strategy adventure based on maritime theme. Immerse yourself in the world of pirates, treasures and fabulous creatures. Gather your team and go in search of treasures. Fight other ships, rob them, look for hidden treasures and avoid the giant octopus. Learn different skills for your team and skillfully use them during the battle. You are the captain, but you should not follow the code and sink with the ship, because the game is not lost while the captain is alive. Sometimes, it is better to escape on a boat than to start the game from the very beginning.

Over the years of existence and development, the segment of indie games has been transformed many times and has become more and more popular. Even indie publishers have appeared, such as Devolver Digital, which takes independent studios under its wing and helps them with the promotion of projects. Nevertheless, we will consider in the ranking the best indie games in the classic sense of the term - those that were published by the developers themselves. So, let's begin:

10. Oxygen Not Included

Space colony simulator from Klei Entertainment, known for the Shank dilogy, the stealth action Mark of the Ninja and the survival simulator Don`t Starve. Oxygen Not Included puts players in control of settler colonists who have landed on an asteroid and established a settlement there.

One of the features of this indie game on PC is hardcore gameplay: living in conditions of lack of resources is obviously not easy, and the leader of the colony will have to take into account many nuances of her life, including the personal characteristics of the settlers. However, survival here is not only difficult, but also very interesting, so the game deserves a place on our list.

9. Thimbleweed Park

8. Hob

Swan Song by Runic Games, also known for the hit duology Torchlight, closed shortly after the release of Hob. The game invites gamers to go on a journey through a mysterious world, where numerous battles and exciting puzzles await them. Hob tells a story without dialogue or text: the player learns about the past and present of the game world by exploring its territories, imbued with its atmosphere and observing its inhabitants.

7 Hollow Knight

6. The Escapists 2

Samizdat in the indie segment allows developers to implement the most daring ideas in games without looking back at publishers who may not like them. One of those brave and unusual projects is The Escapists 2 - prison escape simulator.

Here, players need to develop and implement a plan for release from imprisonment alone or together with friends (supported by co-op for 4 participants). How to do this is up to the heroes themselves to decide: dig an underground passage, bribe the guards, arrange a riot, pretend to be dead and get into a poorly guarded morgue, and so on. At the same time, in the process of preparing an escape plan, it is important not to forget to follow the rules of the prison so as not to arouse suspicion ahead of time.

5. Hand of Fate 2

4. The Long Dark

Survival simulator with stunningly beautiful landscapes and hardcore gameplay that throws the player into a harsh cold world. The Earth has survived a global geomagnetic catastrophe, and people are now forced to survive in conditions of extreme cold.

The Long Dark serves as a tutorial on the topic "How not to freeze in the middle of a snowy desert": here the gameplay is as close to reality as possible, and the player needs to take into account a lot of factors, from temperature environment to the level of fatigue and hunger of the character. In addition to the piercing cold, the constant lack of resources and hungry predators roaming the area, the permanent death function is added, which makes the project very difficult, but at the same time one of the most interesting in the genre.

3. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

An example of how a studio with sheer enthusiasm can create a real masterpiece. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a AAA-class indie game with gorgeous graphics, a great storyline and an unforgettable sound design.

Studio Ninja Theory, known for Heavenly Sword, Enslaved and DmC: Devil May Cry, independently financed the game of their dreams, putting everything on the line: if Hellblade failed, it is unlikely that game developers could continue to operate as an independent team. In order to save money, all means were used: the developers built their own motion capture studio, and main character played by an employee of Ninja Theory.

The result exceeded all expectations: Hellblade: Senua`s Sacrifice is a high-quality action movie that immerses players in the depths of the subconscious of a Celtic warrior suffering from mental disorders. The game is impressive, captivating and intriguing, so you should definitely download it if you appreciate good slashers.

2.Cuphead

A platform game inspired by the classic Disney cartoons of the 1930s and developed over a long seven years. The game is interesting in the absence of ordinary opponents (not counting the levels that are not required to pass) - each enemy here is a boss, of which there are several dozen. Moreover, for each of them it is necessary to find a unique approach with a specific battle tactic.

Cuphead will give you an unforgettable experience: firstly, with a visual style that has no analogues in any game, and secondly, with the complexity of the passage. Hardcore platforming gameplay will test your reflexes for speed and nerves for strength, so it will not be out of place to call a partner for a game together.

For the last few year s.

Players will take part in an exciting story, during which they will decide the fate of the world, argue with each other, fight against numerous enemies, do good deeds and petty atrocities. Divinity: Original Sin 2 gives the heroes complete freedom of action: here you can become anyone, do anything, go to the goal by any means, and if you wish, transform into the role of a game master and create your own adventures, limited only by your imagination.