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| Source: Freebird Games |
There's been a huge growth in the indie scene since the launch of the Xbox 360. Small releases are gaining acceptance and generating financial returns on platforms from Xbox Live Arcade and Steam to a slew of indie-focused marketplaces like Desura.
Retro aesthetics and arcade mechanics defined the space for years - relegating more thoughtful works to the shadows. But 2012 seemed to change that. Small teams of indies, with the specific goal of engendering a given emotional response, popped upduring the year. The style of simple, focused design is similar to what Team Ico achieved a decade ago.
These days indies and smaller studios are just as likely to experiment with story-telling as they are with mechanics, and long may it continue. The Walking Dead may have raised some questions about what constitutes a 'game,' but it still took numerous game-of-the-year awards.
I've already written about Dear Esther at length. Here are some of the other games that stood out:
To the Moon
To the Moon from Freebird Games is an adventure presented in the style of a 90s JRPG. It’s beautiful and it’s soundtrack is haunting. The story deals with death, with mental illness, with childhood trauma and with love. Somehow it still manages to have a real sense of humour.
A blend of ideas from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and It’s a Wonderful Life, To the Moon follows two scientists tasked with delivering the wishes of a dying man by accessing his memories and helping him to undo some of the mistakes from his past.
The game takes a dark turn however. Granting the man’s wish jeopardises his memories of the life he shared with his deceased wife. It carefully rides the fine line between pathos and schmaltz. Everyone should play it.
Thirty Flights of Loving
This release from Blendo Games presents a short, non-linear story that's heavy on style. It uses jump-cuts to quickly move the story from scene to scene in the way that you wouldn't expect to work in games but that could easily be used on other more gameplay focused releases.
Cart Life
Richard Hofmeier seems like an interesting guy. He certainly knows how to make interesting games. In my play-though of Cart Life: A Retail Simulation for Windows I took on the role of a recently-divorced woman trying to win custody of her daughter.
The game takes the form of a retail sim. The woman sets up a coffee stand and needs to buy equipment, stock, set prices and make and sell coffee while juggling real-life responsibilities like picking her daughter up from school, dealing with bureaucracy and eating lunch.
This hum-drum reality is driven home by the depth of the environment and the simplicity of the systems in place. There appear to be side-quests, and you're surrounded by characters with their own lives and concerns. I never had time for any of that and my cart-life didn't go according to plan.
There are a lot more of these games out there. Miasmata and Kentucky Route Zero are both on the top of my list of games to play. And of course there's The Walking Dead to play through.
My only concern now is the cost. I've been avoiding buying new big-name releases but €5 or €10 here and there for indie releases will add up if I'm not careful.
My backlog is going to remain a main source of gaming in 2013. Right now I'm playing through Final Fantasy X, ten years after my first play-through. These indie games have put me in the mood for some melodrama.
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