The votes are in and your top 10 indie games of 2016 have been decided.
We want to thank all of you guys for taking part and making this very special video possible.
So, without further ado, here are the top 10 indie games of 2016 as chosen by you.
Our top 10 begins with Salt and Sanctuary, and what is unabashedly a 2D version of Dark Souls.
Name a component of the famous series and you'll probably find it in Salt and Sanctuary.
Souls and bonfires are rebranded as salt and sanctuaries respectively, deaths are aplenty,
your character is highly customisable, and well, the list goes on.
Still, despite its mimicry, Salt and Sanctuary is different enough to provide a complimentary
rather than repetitive experience to the Souls series.
It's quite easy to downplay the 2D factor, but it does change the dynamic.
Having never been interested in the Souls series, the platforming of Salt and Sanctuary
invited us to test the Souls formula.
Some other changes include new abilities that let you access previously unreachable areas,
customisation quirks such as the Chef class, and of course, the art.
We also appreciate how the game never bogs you down with exposition or narrative detail.
Action comes first, and then everything else unfolds from it—a sign of a game that knows
exactly what its identity is.
With just one developer, graphics from the last century and little pre-release hype,
Stardew Valley defied the odds and became indie gaming's surprise hit of 2016.
In two months, it sold over a million copies on Steam and generated enough demand for the
realisation of console ports.
Like Salt and Sanctuary with Dark Souls, it is too easy to say that Stardew Valley is
another Harvest Moon.
Yes, it is the same game, and yes, it is streamlined—removing some of Harvest Moon's tedium.
But it is naïve to think that Stardew's appeal is confined to just that.
There's the narrative of escaping the city for the simple, outdoorsy and communal life
of the country.
Then there's the endearing passion of developer Eric Barone, who not only spent four years
making the game, but churned out bug-fixing patches each of the first 5 days after launch.
It's a game made with love and it shows by how easily it rewards your efforts and
draws you into its world.
Whilst the first two games on this list closely follow their inspirations, Abzu travels down
its own stream.
It takes some inspiration from Journey—considering that creative director Matt Nava was also
the artist behind Journey, it's only natural.
What is perhaps a bigger influence on the game, is that it's an artist-led project.
The visuals are stunning, and in our opinion it's the best looking indie game of 2016.
The music is also astounding.
Always at a cinematic quality, it is Abzu's emotional conductor, taking you through the
motions.
This immaculate presentation is the driving force of Abzu, immersing you deep underwater
and kindling a desire to discover all its secrets and beautiful worlds.
It quite literally picks you up in its current of loveliness, and in such a gentle way that
you don't even notice.
Adding to that feeling of calm, is the absence of any threats like predators, oxygen loss,
or time-bound missions.
Abzu wants you to take your time and revel in its gorgeousness, like swimming through
rainbows of fish.
It emphasises the present moment, absorbing and enjoying it all.
On another note, an underrated feature of Abzu is its movement.
Both simple and fluid, you feel the pressure and all the movements of the ocean.
In fact, if you dive to the seabed where the ocean pressure is greatest, you move slower.
All up, Abzu transcends beauty and delivers a tranquil and fascinating journey through
a mysterious ocean.
In February, SUPERHOT stopped time and turned an action-styled shooter into a methodical
puzzle game.
After playing the beta, we saw the promise of the time moves only when you do mechanic,
but were also concerned if it would hold up over a full-length game.
Alas, the full version erased those fears, adding new weapons and setups, and never repeating
throughout its 6-hour duration.
In fact, SUPERHOT's unique take on time is the bedrock on which everything else is
built.
For instance, it creates its own unqiue unspoken rules of survival, like taking out enemies
first and being able to stay out in the open because you can dodge bullets.
Having the power to control time, makes you feel like you're a step ahead of everyone,
and that if you do die, which happens a lot, it was of your own doing.
It's critical that SUPERHOT makes you embrace death like that because it is through failing
that the game teaches you all its idiosyncrasies and patterns.
From finish to end, SUPERHOT provides a fresh and enthralling maze of bullets for you to
dissect and navigate.
Having hit early access in early 2015, and then released in full back in January, Darkest
Dungeon feels like it's been around forever.
Nevertheless, we're not complaining, it's one of our favourite games of the year, and
we're glad that you guys voted it into this video.
The game's defining characteristic is stress.
Crawling through the horror-filled dungeons, one of your dungeoneers may tip over the edge
from say, witnessing a teammate's death or not having enough light.
In this scenario, they will most likely go insane and develop an affliction.
This could be masochism, paranoia and so on.
What it means is they will be more prone to death, do more stress damage to the rest of
your team and make your mission even more perilous.
Stress can be managed back at the town via prayer, booze or other vices.
Stress can also cause characters to have quirks like combat penalties or harmful fascinations
with things like gore.
These can also be cured at the town, but at greater cost.
Essentially, this focus on mental health adds an extra layer of character management to
the game.
It also makes the flawed heroes more compelling, recognising their experiences in the dungeons
and crafting a narrative around it.
I'd even name my heroes after their quirks.
For instance, my claustrophobic jester was called Tunnels and my gambling Highwayman,
Dice.
There are 15 different character classes, whose different skillsets bring much variety
to team formation and combat strategy.
Figuring out which classes you like best, and complement one another is half the fun.
Darkest Dungeon is an intense game, and that's an understatement.
It tasks you with managing the stress levels of a band of misfit dungeoneers, all the while
raising your own stress levels in the process.
Now into the top 5, Firewatch is the first game in this video to hit 600 votes.
Now being made into a film, Firewitch has become synonymous with its highly divisive
ending.
Here at Indieformer, we were split on it—Laurence liked it and I thought it was a letdown—reflecting
the public sentiment.
But it is ultimately one aspect of an overall fantastic game.
Above all else, Firewatch is a radio mediated relationship between new fire lookout Henry
and his supervisor Delilah.
So many components make it engrossing, but it starts with the superb writing that handles
humour as well as it does moments of terror and unease.
On top of that, the brilliant work of voice actors Rich Sommers and Cissy Jones bring
the script and characters to life.
Players got to choose Henry's replies to Delilah—choices that never affected the
events of the story, only the course of the conversation.
However, you still cared about your decisions because the game made you care about Henry
and Delilah.
The interplay between the two feels so real, and in fact there is a sense of realism that
permeates throughout Firewatch.
For example, we loved how the trigger on the gamepad was used as the control for the radio,
mimicking the radio's push-to-talk button.
It's a little detail, but one of many that makes the Firewatch experience.
Going back and playing the game now, we realised how quickly the intro established the character
of Henry and the game's mood.
A sad piano and guitar strum in the background, as the tragedy of Henry's romantic past
is told on his way to the lookout tower.
From the word go, you are emotionally hooked.
Firewatch is one of the best made games of 2016, and if you haven't played it yet,
we implore you to do so.
We were a little surprised to find Enter the Gungeon this high in the standings, but it
is probably 2016's best roguelike and a very deserving game.
Thinking back, what stands out most about Gungeon is its personality.
From kicking over tables to create cover to having gun-wielding bullets as enemies, the
game has this fun and silly nature that's highly infectious.
Just try and play it without smiling—it's not easy.
The bullet hell gameplay stands up to genre heavyweights like Isaac and Nuclear Throne.
Although, it still feels distinct, with its unique enemies and obstacles creating its
own rhythm of blasting, dodging and hiding on the run.
The game is a very polished arcade shooter, with aiming, enemy spawns and projectiles
all feeling hard but never unfair.
Ultimately, this is Gungeon's bread and butter—if you can shoot your foes and dodge
their fire, you'll go far.
But in saying that, there is a lot of variety borrowed from Gungeon's roguelike influence.
There are a ton of different guns and items, adding both mystery and discovery to every
playthrough.
Finding a shotgun that'll shoot teddy bears which turn enemies against one another, is
what keeps you coming back again and again.
Cheeky, challenging and always changing, Enter the Gungeon is a very entertaining dungeon
crawler.
At the number 3 spot we have the game that took 10 years to make—Owlboy.
With the likes of Abzu and Firewatch, we've already looked at some games with great production
value.
Unlike them, Owlboy dabbles in the realm of 2D, but it is no less magnificent in appearance.
In November, we harped on about its magical soundtrack that elicited the nostalgia of
Shovel Knight and Disney.
We praised its art too, but having played it more since then, we've realised that
every area has been individually designed.
Whereas other games may copy tile sets, artist Simon Andersen has hand-made every background
dot by dot.
Learning about that level of dedication, it is no wonder that the game took so long to
develop.
The game itself is a metroidvania platformer, and it too is the product of much refinement.
The game ebbs and flows at all the right times and you're never inundated with new systems
or made bored by the same old stuff.
Furthermore, the action is seamlessly tied into the games events, allowing you to be
easily swept up into the narrative's stream.
Owlboy is a delightful love letter to pixels that should be played for its art and music
alone.
Rather incredibly, not one, but two games finished in equal first place with 773 votes
a piece.
As you can tell, one of those is Inside.
You can probably guess the other game too, but let's not say anything just yet.
As for Inside, it's such an immense game that it's hard to know where to start.
The shorthand version, is that it's the spiritual successor to developer Playdead's
earlier title Limbo—another atmospheric puzzle platformer about a nameless boy.
To be honest, I don't know if a game has gripped me from the very start like INSIDE
did back in July.
Tumbling down from a mound of rocks, you begin with a push of momentum, feeling the immediacy
of the need to run.
In the background, trucks hum and lights search, threatening to expose your cover of darkness,
and letting you feel the terror of the little boy.
The suspense builds up, and masked men chase you with the light of their torches, then
a rabid hound blitzes toward you through a lake.
It's dreadful, but heart-poundingly thrilling.
Unfortunately, as the levels become complex, the suspense of these chases is drowned out
by the interruption of dying and having to restart.
Though the puzzles tend to be more advanced than in Limbo, I found I enjoyed INSIDE most
when it was simple in it's design.
I remember noticing a flock of baby chicks follow me towards a barn very early in the
game, and regarding it as a nice but rather innocuous occurrence.
Minutes later, I was in the barn, stuck on a puzzle, when I heard their chirping.
I followed their noise to the barn door, and let them in to discover that they were vital
to solving the puzzle.
That incident was also significant because I had to put the chicks through a machine
and, given the nature of the game, to what I thought would be their deaths.
Seeing them fly out the other end of the machine safe and alive brought me a rare moment of
relief from the grimness of INSIDE's world.
Short yet impactful, INSIDE is a worthy spiritual successor to Limbo.
Sharing the honours with Inside as the number 1 indie game of 2016 as chosen by you, is
Hyper Light Drifter.
The path to this point wasn't always easy for Hyper Light Drifter.
After receiving funding from Kickstarter, multiple setbacks delayed the planned June
2014 release.
Even this year, the year of its release, it had to cancel its PS Vita and Wii U ports.
The upside to everything however, is that we did get to play Hyper Light Drifter this
year and it was pretty fantastic.
With its pixels, dungeons and maps the game feels incredibly retro, yet at the same time,
its gap-clearing dashes, and environmental storytelling make it feel modern.
It can seem weird at times, but that is Hyper Light Drifter—a unique mix of old and new.
The same can be said of its rhythm.
Combat is a ferocious onslaught – a true masterclass in crowd control – but the journey
to the next battle is typically slower and filled with side rooms to explore.
The intersection of the two makes the game balanced and gives it great flow.
By now, you may be sick of us talking about the music of videogames, but we have to talk
about Hyper Light Drifter's soundtrack.
The work of composer Disasterpiece, its mellow synths instil peaceful contemplation as easily
as they do worrying dread, and match the 80's styled art.
A lot of the game's incredible atmosphere must be credited to the music.
Ultimately, Hyper Light Drifter is a flat-out doozy, and both it and Inside are very deserving
of being called 2016's best indie game.
Thankyou to everyone who watched us throughout the year.
We'll see you in 2017 here on Indieformer.
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