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The original was posted on /r/games by /u/RogueLightMyFire on 2024-12-23 17:14:32+00:00.
Yes, we all know Balatro is the indie king this year, but every year a bunch of FANTASTIC indie games come out that don't get the recognition they deserve. It's hard to make it as an indie game when there's a sea of thousands of great indie games. Let's give some exposure to some indie games that haven't gotten the love and exposure they deserve. Let's keep it to relatively undiscussed indie games if possible. For example, Nine Sols is a great indie game, but I've seen it discussed to death all over Reddit. So post your true "underappreciated gems" from this year. Here's mine:
- Inkbound - This is from the developers of Monster Train. It's a roguelite tactics game in the vein of Mario + Rabbids and it's one of my favorite games of the year. It's playable both solo and via co-op. Difficulty scales based on the# of party members. I played 60 hours purely solo and completed the highest difficulty runs, so solo play is definitely viable. Monster Train was a good game, but felt very familiar if you played Slay the Spire, but Inkbound feels like they really came into their own. It's a pretty unique take, the style is awesome, the gameplay is rewarding, there's lots of build variety and replayability as well. Everything you'd want in a good roguelite. Highly recommend. It's my #2 game of the year.
- [REDACTED] - This one really flew under the radar, likely due to it's terrible name, but don't be fooled! This game is slick! It's an action roguelite in the vein of Hades, but they splice it up with a twin stick shooter aspect that's pretty compelling. Basically imagine Hades with guns and that's what this is. That probably sounds fun enough, but throw in some pretty great voice acting, funny characters, an awesome style, and set it (bizarrely) in the Callisto Protocol prison and you've got a great little action roguelite with a unique enough twist. This game is VERY Hades, which isn't a bad thing, but it's clear what the inspiration was. Still, though, it's a great game that I'm sure a lot of you will love it. Lots of weapons and run variability as well to keep repeated runs interesting. My #6 game of the Year.
- Ravenswatch - This game is from the developers of Curse of the Dead Gods and is also an action roguelite. This one is less Hades and more Risk of Rain in how it presents itself. Each level has an 18 minute timer that counts down. When it reaches 0 you fight the boss. You spend those 18 minutes prior to the boss fight exploring the procedurally generated levels to find power ups, abilities, gold, complete quests and level up to get stronger to prepare for the boss. There's also a "day/night" cycle going on as you play that changes enemies. All the playable characters are based on folklore, so you've got Beowulf, Little Red Riding Hood, Aladdin, Sun Wukong etc. each character plays very differently with different abilities. Playable solo and co-op. I've played exclusively solo for 25 hours, so friends aren't required. What really sets this game apart for me is all the characters and how differently they play. It adds a ton of replayability. My #7 game of the year.
- Metal Slug: Tactics - This ain't your regular tactics game! It somehow captures the "run and gun" aspect of Metal Slug despite it's turn based nature. There's two big things that separates this game from other tactics games. The first is the "Sync" system where any allied characters within range of the enemy you're attacking will also attack the enemy with a "sync" move. These "sync moves" do not cost an action point for the allied character not initiating the attack. This means positioning is very important and you can take out a lot of enemies in one turn if you have your whole team positioned properly. The other interesting thing this game does is with the "cover/Dodge" system. There's very little cover around the maps and it functions as you expect in these games, get behind it and it provides defense. The "dodge" mechanic is different, though. In this game, the further you move your character each turn, the more dodge points they get. Dodge points function just like cover does and stacks with actual cover. So you can move a character far enough to get 3 dodge points and put them behind cover (+2 defense) they'll end up with 5 points of cover. It's a very interesting mechanic for keeping you moving. It ends up emulating the feel of Metal Slug in a turn based tactics game, which is awesome. Plus, look at that pixel art! It's amazing! My #8 have of the year.
- Kill Knight - Whoa buddy, this game gets intense! It's a twin stick arcade shooter with a heavy emphasis on skill. I love a good twin stick shooter, and this one is probably the best I've played since Nex Machina (which your should also play if you haven't. Housemarque's precursor to Returnal). This one is interesting because it utilizes active reload (think Gears of War) as a main mechanic. It adds a twist, though, by coupling the active reload with other mechanics. For example of your active reload with the shoot button it enhances your weapon in some way (and there's various weapons) to make it more efficient at killing. If you use the melee button to trigger the active reload, you perform a "super melee" that causes enemies to drop special ammo. If you press the dodge button for active reload, you'll suck up all the orbs on screen which powers your special abilities. There's a lot going on. It's almost like Doom Eternals "combat puzzles". It's level based and there's only 5 levels, but each is very challenging. I've personally only completed 3/5 levels after about 15 hours. There's a lot to unlock to bring variability and replayability. There's leaderboards and all that as well if you're competitive. It's a fantastic steam deck game and an easy recommendation for anyone that likes twin stick shooters. It's my #9 game of the year.