Top 10 BEST Indie Games of 2021

 Hi everybody and Welcome to

     Technical Usman and to our annual countdown where we showcase and rank the best indie games having launchedover the year. 2020 has been another vintage one with itfull of breath-taking achievements and wonderous variety so please, make yourself comfortableand settle in for our top 10 most compelling, thought-provoking and most entertaining newindie games of 2020. At number 10, Creaks came out in July andcomes from the studio behind recent point-and-click adventure game classics Machinarium and Samorost.

Top 10 BEST Indie Games of 2021

         As we’ve aged, our gaming tastes have evolvedin such a way we take colossal enjoyment from games and developers able to play with andtease our imaginations. While the puzzle platforming elements of Creakswill be familiar to many and in some ways, the explore, examine trial and error approachbeholden to such games feels in places, just that little bit safe, staid even althoughon reflection, this doesn’t alter the overall sum of the experience Creaks can offer. One of the greatest joys in playing Creaksis the empathy distilling from your character as they make their way through a series ofrooms within a Mansion that’s dripping with a narrative design that uses no vocal cuescalls or dialogue to make sense of the overall gameplay or what you're tasked with doing.

       Creaks uses no hint system by anything that’srecognisable as such rather careful consideration of the score hints when you might be gettingwarm or cooling off. Creaks is visually sublime, and while doesn’tupend the point and click genre like another game still to come, for fans of Amanita andthe genre as a whole, Creaks should be unmissable. At number 9 and from the BAFTA award winningState of Play Studio, in a year where we have played dozens of pure story driven games,South of the Circle which came out late October pipped all of them right at the tail end ofthe year. 

                   Screaming for a screenplay adaptation, Southof the Border is set in the Cold War Period and follows the story of a Cambridge educatorcalled Peter who on route to a research assignment in Antarctica survives a plane crash and musthead out into the frozen wasteland to seek help. What follows is one of the most enthrallingstories of recent years. There are choices to be made along the waywhich are for the most part driven in terms of where you might want to take a conversationor how you might direct a course of action. In saying too much of what goes on withinSouth of the Circle, well that would be so very spoilery although it feels safe to callit a good old fashioned tale that in places twangs the heart strings, fills you with hopeand then later, offers some truly spine tingling sections where things could go either way. Come the end, South of the Circle left uswondering and feeling what we might have done given similar circumstances and as an interactivecinematic story driven experience, its nothing short of a triumph. At number 8, and another game from late inthe year, Tenderfoot Tactics grabbed us first and foremost with it’s trailer that hadhas kind of looking back and for the at each other with one of those, what was that kindof faces. Well what it is, is a splendidly looking artstyle featuring an overworld that’s so very vivid, despite the omnipresent and terriblefog.

   The combat system and ability to manipulatethe terrain around you feel really solid as does overarching lore which enables you toeither power on though ther game in a few hours or take up to around 30 or so plus ifyou want to get out and about to discover the games hidden depths. Tenderfoot Tactics is really special for whatit does and how it plays and feels woefully ignored. From one game just on the cusp of the indiegaming landscape in terms of eyeballs on it to quite the other end of the spectrum withit being one of the biggest indie games of 2020 with it having launched in mid March. This really is one of those games where allof the screen shots and trailers and all of the footage pre launch or since doesn’tcapture how mesmerizingly cinematic Ori and the Will of the Wisps really is. 

         Particularly on the recently update for theXbox Series X where it runs at a buttery smooth 60 to 120 rames per second at a 4k resolution. We’ve not seen anything quite like it withit coming across more like a Hollywood Blockbuster animation than dare we say it a plain oldvideo game. Some might be wondering why this comes relativelyhigh up in this rundown, others will of course be tutting this isn’t an indie at all andwe’re sure we’ll address that down in the comments. In any case, while we adore the game, howit looks, how it plays, the sequel’s focus on combat, rather than the delicate and deftplatforming of the original is what’s pushed this one down our GOTY list in comparisonto what follows. Of course, that’s just our subjective opinion,we know from discourse with viewers since this first launched this greater focus onthe scrapping side of things has others in rapture although most of us seem to agreethe insta kill chase sections are somewhat sub-optimal, even for the die hard fans ofsuch gameplay. So yes, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is stunningachievement, a simply wonderous game and yet for us if given a forced choice, all thingsconsidered from a gameplay perspective, pick the original over this sequel. 6: Spiritfarer. Next up and at number 6, Spiritfarer seesyou play as Stella, or here rather delightful little cat called Daffodil if played in localco-op, the mode in which we spent most of our time playing in. 

     You take on the role of a new Spiritfarer,a ferry master of sorts as you sail across an ocean full of little islands as you searchfor spirits to look after and put up in your boat before sending them off to their finalresting place. All of this is really a rather mesmerisingaction platformer game that’s stuffed full with character driven stories with a littlehint of a Metriodvania put in there for good measure. And goodness me does it all come togetherso very cleanly with it being supremely animated throughout and while the subject at play hereis inextricably linked with death and moving onwards to a, well perhaps a better existence,the subject matter is for the most part handled with care with just the odd misfire here andthere. What’s really so clever with the writinghere in Spiritfarer is how all of the spirits you meet are so very different with theirdiffering wants, asks and demands and much of the fun from playing comes from findingout about their past and what drove them while in the living world. 

          The other aspect that makes Spiritfarer so,so wonderful is how it all looks and sounds – the orchestration sits perhaps just behindOri and the Will of the Wisps in terms of how exquisitely charming it is throughout,punctuating the highs and lows of what in places are supremely dark topics. And on that, while it doesn’t hold backin what it’s shinging a light onto, Spiritfarer is a well judged joy of a game and while wedon’t think we’ll come back to it too often, we’re so very glad to have spentso many hours with Stella, Daffodil and here spirit charges. Moving onwards and at the halfway point inour indie game of the year rundown, In Other Waters plays like nothing else we had a chanceto experience over the whole of the year. It’s supposition and what it does is completelyoutstanding. In Other Waters is set within a mysteriousalien ocean world and features a stranded xenobiologist called Ellery where the gamebeings with the basic premise of you looking to find your missing research partner. 

     Now the twist from the start comes from thenotion you are not playing as the central protagonist, rather you are a semi-sentientguide or AI installed within Ellory’s diving suit with you helping her navigate and makehere way around the Ocean. What works so well is the completely pairedback visuals and the focus on the play back and forth between Ellory and the AI. The conversations flow so very naturally andrealistically with it being so very touching in places. What also works exceptionally well with theminimal visual displays comes from the descriptions of the specimens plants and other creaturesyou come across. In Other Waters forces you to mentally createan image of the underwater ecology and geographic features from the text alone – it’s aterrifically brave thing to have done and quite the achievement for how well all ofthis works with the story unfolding more in your minds eye than it does on the screenin front of you. Next up and just of the podium, Signs of theSojourner is one of those games we thought would have been seen and showcased everywhereacross all of the major gaming news outlets and yet so far, well that hasn’t been thecase. 

             This is the most fun we’ve had with a deckbuilder of sorts within 2020 with it being a card game focussing on compassion relationshipbuilding where your deck is best thought of in terms of your character and personality. The deck echo’s the experiences you havewhile playing with it changing and evolving how you are able to communicate with others. With that in mind you need to think aboutplaying this game in terms of the person you really want to be and how you’re seen byothers. For us, this is a game that remains full ofhopefulness with a message driven by compassion where the end game is the sum of the journeyyou’ve taken along the way. Coupled with the hand drawn visuals and thesuitably designed soundtrack, Signs of the Sojouner is there’s no doubt, the finestindie game hidden gem of the whole of 2020. At number three, Paradise Killer came outthis past September and with it comes a free form detective game like all of the greatswithin this genre, seems to work best when played with others with copious amounts ofdiscussion and plenty of scribbled notes laid bare about the living room floor. For the most part, you are tasked with lookingto solve the riddle of the crime of mass murder where you are free to interrogate people atwill and generally pull together a case that you must defend towards the end game as youpull together the relevant evidence you’ve discovered along the way. For us, it’s the freeform nature of thegame that works so well. You’re not on rails and are not tied todo things in a set order or find things out as other games in this fashion want you tofind them.

     Paradise Killer is also so supremely written,something that’s running right though all of the games in this years countdown, thecharacters are a mix of the strange and the odd and the darn right wonderful with thegame constantly layering doubt upon doubt upon doubt so everyone at times could easilyhave been accountable for the big old central crime you’re here to solve, or any of thesmaller side quests you can potter around while you go about your main business. While the subject matter by its nature isdark, it’s mass murder after all, there’s so much in the way of charm and intrigue inhow all of this has been put together. It rewards patience and a methodical approachand will we think become a yardstick for future detective video game experiences. At number two, and taking the runners up slot,Lair of the Clockwork God came out in February and from beginning to end, it was a cleargame of the year candidate, even so early in the year when it first launched. What makes Lair so very good is not only thewriting and the at times comical levels of near genius on display throughout, I meanreally, humour in video games so often falls so very flat and yet here, this one with it’svery adult humour had us laughing out loud in more places than we can remember a videogame doing before or since. 

          It’s also so very good in what it does withit’s main hookline. Here’s a game with two central characterswith one you play as a classical point and clicker affair and with the other, well you’reneeding what at times are some fairly deft platforming skills. Now these two characters work so well andplay off each other with you in places needing to do some point and click stuff and thena bit of platforming to move from A to B. It is, brilliant and at times revels in theidiosyncratic nature of certain points of these genres, particularly within the pointand click side of things and we just loved it for it. The story line is also first rate, sure it’ssmutty as heck in places, crass and gross but it’s never unpleasant or dare we saycruel. If we boil all of this down, it’s a gameabout change, the passing of time, of not being able to do the things you might haveonce been able to all the while growing that little bit older with a slight begrudgingacceptance. It is brilliant and only the best indie gameto our mind ever made could have kept it from being our 2020 game of the year. At the number one slot we have Hades, andas we said back in late September in our review of this one across PC and the Nintendo Switch,Hades is to our mind the greatest, most fun and most entertaining indie game we’ve everplayed with knocking Dead Cells back into the number two position. Coming from Super Giant Games, Hades putseverything they do so well across their previous games such as Pyre, Bastion and Transistorand mashed alla of this together within a super tight story driven combat focused package. 

               The combat is utterly amazing particularlyas you level up and get stronger with each and every run. The story is also just so first class withit having a permanence as you play with characters reacting to things you have gotten up to duringpast playthroughs when you meet them once more within the underworld. The voice acting as also as the phrase goespitch perfect particularly the main protagonist and Hades with them having that perfect fatherson passive aggressive play off that delivers line after line of jaw to the floor one liners. 

              We’re also huge fans of how at the startunlike say in Dead Cells, you are not the weak and feeble cannon fooder, you can makea decent stab at things although you really do need to die many times over to get goodenough to make a really decent progression. What’s also first rate is the inclusionof a mode whereby players are able to take less damage each time they die which in tern,makes Hades super accessible for people who may not have God like reaction skills. So yea, Hades is easily our game of the yearand as we said earlier, our indie game of all time. If you want to see more on what makes Hadesso great, be sure to follow the link in the card some viwers might see on screen now,or the link you can find down in the video description. So that’s it for our Game of the Year 2020edition. If you’re liked this video please clicklike and also drop us a comment telling us which games you most enjoyed playing overthe course of the year. As always, many thanks for Reading, we’llsee you all here again next time for another indie game Articles.