We talk about independent games that have affected the industry over the past ten years.
About nomination
This decade has given us a lot of great games, which in the future will be talked about as the heritage of the industry. And in many ways it is worth noting the big studios, but the independent developers. A handful of enthusiasts, sometimes working for an idea for years, risk their well-being for one purpose – to make that game. One that is beyond the power of anyone but them.
When the editors began to compile a list of the most-most, there were so many applicants that it would be simply embarrassing to throw at least one of them. But we still had to: out of more than a hundred projects, we selected almost two dozen. There is no first and last place in this text, as well as those who have not reached quite a bit – each of the games mentioned has contributed to the industry.
Taking up the development Super meat boy, Tommy Refenes and Edmund Macmillen set themselves an extremely clear task: they just wanted to do “their Super Mario Bros.“. However, in fact, the studio Team meat managed to accomplish something much more – she breathed new life into the genre itself; it was she who showed many independent developers that the demand for truly complex games has always been and always will be – it is all about performance. Super Meat Boy packed the complexity of the old platformers into a very compact shell, throwing away everything unnecessary: there were only a meat boy, the love of his life and a billion circular saws on the way to the goal. Still, “just” doesn’t mean “easy.”
Hotline miami – This is a real master class on how to make a player feel like an animal. How to imperceptibly immerse him in a completely different state of reason, in a trance. When a stranger in a rooster mask asks if you like to hurt other people, do not be fooled – the question is rhetorical. Of course I like it! Moreover, you do not even need a reason – if only the process brings pleasure. And studio Dennaton games knows how to deliver it: developers with bare hands squeeze out all the adrenaline from the player to the last drop. Especially when, ten attempts later, the last pixel mafia falls into a pool of blood and the music that hit on the ears breaks off abruptly.
Swedes from Frictional games for many years they became trendsetters in the horror genre, having got to the bottom of the simple truth: we are not afraid of the monsters themselves, but of what will happen if they catch us. That is why in Amnesia: The Dark Descent you can only run away or hide from nightmarish creatures; even looking at them is fraught with problems – if not for physical health, then for mental. Having made the player powerless in the face of danger, the developers managed to twist the degree of paranoia to the maximum: in Amnesia there is no inventory management or combat system. Only you, a huge abandoned castle full of puzzles, and the darkness from which the frail oil lamp hardly rescues. In a word, the concept is simple, but insanely effective – that’s why it was picked up by an army of imitators.
Of all the video games, both independent and big-budget, that have been released over the past ten years, The stanley parable can be safely called one of the most extraordinary (if not most). Because this is no game at all – it is an essay. A sparkling, ironic reflection on freedom of choice, filed in the form of a story about the office workdays of the faceless Stanley, whose actions are dictated by an invisible narrator. That’s just you, the player, not Stanley, and you have the opportunity to choose. Is it worth obeying the orders of the narrator? What will happen if you do everything contrary to the instructions? Is it possible to “break” the game and take the voice-overs by surprise? Alas, it is impossible – but this is the essence. The creators of The Stanley Parable, Davy Riden and William Pugh, masterfully scoff at themselves, and about their audience, and about games as such. Having been in the shoes of Stanley, you are unlikely to be able to look at interactive art as before.
Take documents, check them, put a stamp, give documents; from nine to five, without days off. Papers, Please it’s hard to call fascinating or exciting: just like working with papers in real life, the everyday life of a customs officer on the border of Arstock is terribly monotonous. But the author of the game, Lucas Pope, uses a simulation of this mechanical work to show how insignificant matters of national importance are in the eyes of an ordinary person. Arstotska quarreled with a neighboring country and tightened the visa regime? Great, now I’ll have to deal with paper more. A suicide bomber broke into the checkpoint? Horror, of course, do not wait for compensation for an interrupted working day. One stamp in the passport can change the fate of a stranger – but is it so important when your own family barely makes ends meet? There is no need to be a highbrow critic in order to understand the message, but this Papers, Please is beautiful: she discusses complex topics with very simple means.
There are just great games, and there are great games – and Minecraft unequivocally included in their number, along with Tetris or Half-life. For ten years, from a curious idea, the project of Marcus Persson has grown into the best-selling game of all time and an unprecedented cultural phenomenon that revolutionized the industry. Minecraft has achieved what many developers see only in a dream: absolutely anyone can play it – from preschool children who do not part with tablets, to pensioners who are with “you” with computers. And everyone will have the same fun, everyone will find something to their liking. Someone will build a cozy hut with a garden, others will arm themselves with diamond swords and go in search of adventure, and still others will take a 1: 1 replica of the Sistine Chapel or a working, programmable calculator. The only limit to creative freedom is your imagination.
When PUBG first appeared in early access Steam, many users, despite good reviews and sales, looked at her with disbelief. And now it’s even hard to imagine what the multiplayer shooter market would be like without Brendan Green’s brainchild, which made the “battle royale” a full-fledged genre in itself. Her success was brought not so much by gameplay finds as the approach to design itself. Simple and understandable mechanics create a low threshold for entry, and a ton of tactical nuances and the need to adapt to a situation is a high ceiling of skill. This formula is as simple as elegant – and, fortunately, Green, who learned to program from scratch, had the tenacity to bring it to life. Echoes of PUBG for many years will sound in multiplayer shooters – and it’s not a fact that someday they will die down.
Even people who call Limbo their favorite game, sometimes they cannot clearly tell why they love her so much and what is so special about her. Monochrome visual design? The atmosphere of gloom and hopelessness? The opportunity to kill the protagonist – a boy of about seven – in dozens of cruel ways? In truth, the point is not one component, but the way they work together. Limbo is one of the first independent games that can be equally enjoyed both as a video game and as a work of interactive art. Minimalism in graphics and plot only emphasizes rather ingenious, and sometimes complex puzzles tied to physics; one mistake – and the main character will not even have a wet spot. All five or six hours that go into the passage, you feel insanely uncomfortable – but you can’t take your eyes off Limbo. This is a one way trip.
If Edmund McMillen’s previous work, Super Meat Boy, marked the beginning of the renaissance of hardcore platformers, then The binding of isaac produced the exact opposite effect. She single-handedly killed the genre roguelike, and twice. First in 2011, when the original came out on Flash, and then, a control in the head, in the 2014th release Rebirth, augmented and improved version. Combining the structure of the dungeons of the original The legend of zelda with the speed (and complexity) of bullet-hell actions, the developer created something truly monstrous: with The Binding of Isaac you can easily kill hundreds, if not thousands of hours – and still find something new. And having missed the memories of growing up in a religious family through his crazy imagination, Macmillen presented the game with such a recognizable, charismatic style that it is unlikely to ever grow old. The Binding of Isaac is destined to become an immortal classic, and Isaac himself – endlessly looking for a way out of the basement of his own house, shedding tears. Sorry baby, but you’re too good at your job.
Many games were on this list because their authors managed something that no one had done before – or even thought of trying. Cuphead, on the contrary, does absolutely nothing new, but is proud of it without a shadow of embarrassment – and there is something to be proud of. I mean, just look at her! Game authors Studio MDHR, not just imitate vintage cartoons of the 1930s: their brainchildren is drawn (and animated) by hand, on paper – and only then digitized. However, even more impressive is the fact that Cuphead does not use its devilishly attractive appearance as an excuse to score on gameplay: the developers tried not less, but even more over the gameplay. So much imagination has been invested in each level and in each boss that it would be enough for a dozen separate platformers, but Cuphead is so alone – and it is impossible not to fall in love with it.
No game quotes classic platformers for NES like Mega man, Castlevania or Duck tales as carefully and witty as Shovel knight. She looks and sounds just like a hit of the early nineties, which never happened. Moreover, the developers even remembered little things like a black background during boss battles or an interface that is drawn directly on top of backdrops. But the success of Shovel Knight is not only in successful antique styling. The fact is that all the mechanics are here in their places and everything works like a clock, the controls are responsive and convenient, and the challenge never goes into torture. Yes, sometimes it’s difficult, especially for those who have already forgotten their lessons Ninja gaiden and other old-school militants. But this complexity is honest, depending on skills, and not on luck. The game Yacht club games – A vivid example of how, with small resources and polished to a shine gameplay, you can turn mountains. A real interactive museum of eight-bit arts, which allows gamers of worthy years to recall a remote youth, and younger players help to understand what the bronze age of video games was good for. And an almost perfect retro platformer.
Darkest dungeon – this is when your crusader, from hunger and fear, suddenly falls into religious ecstasy and, winged, wins a hopeless battle, it seemed, in a couple of moves. When a successful trip begins, it rolls into tartarara because of savings on firewood and torches. When a demon summoned out of curiosity with one left makes a well-fed, contented and pumped party. When the boss, who seemed invincible, himself falls under the pressure of a team of jesters, lepers, grave thieves and a plague doctor … These are the things that make rogue-like about managing the damned estate one of the most cruel and addictive games of the decade. The main mechanics here, in fact, is not the study of dungeons, not the pumping of heroes going to the slaughter and not the development of the base, but the vicious and envious bitch-luck. The player can not change anything: just make a decision and hope that the hard one will take out. Thanks to this, the game gives deep and powerful emotions, albeit mostly negative ones. Well, in the end, Darkest Dungeon just looks cool.
The idea of crossing a bagel with a collectible card game has long been in the air, but it’s the studio MegaCrit One of the first managed to bring the concept to an acceptable level. In November 2017, Steam Early Access was released Slay the spire, which today can already be called one of the most influential indie games. It is from her ideas that projects like Hunt hunters or Roguebook and another dozen oblique imitators. Moreover, the formula for success, as usual, is ridiculously simple. This rogue-like with a human face only gives the player maximum information and tries to annoy him as little as possible. The sorties last no more than half an hour and do not have time to get bored. Trials are never too complicated, and inevitable defeats cause excitement, but not the desire to quit and find a better game. The approximate contents of the following rooms are known in advance, so you can meaningfully build a route, rather than rushing through the dark labyrinths, like a blindfolded rat. Deckbuilding is simple and intuitive: we ourselves choose which cards to add to the deck and which ones to remove from it – and neither of which are completely useless, nor any imba among them. As a result, instead of the usual sensation of chaos for such games, we feel that we are in control of what is happening – and this, I must say, is extremely pleasant.
The idea of history, which develops depending on the actions and choices of the player, is itself magnificent, and with The walking dead worked one hundred percent. Narrative designers Telltale games skillfully manipulated emotions, making us feel sincere pride, pity, and sometimes shame for the decisions made. Yes, already the second passage showed that it was precisely manipulation – in the worst sense of the word. That decisions do not, in fact, affect anything. That if you save one of the two doomed characters, he will still die for some idiotic reason, even if it lasts ten minutes longer. And the negative consequences of some decisions were simply impossible to predict. But did it prevent you from enjoying the stories of Lee, Clementine, Michonne and other survivors? In no case. The Walking Dead was a cool, albeit low-cost, interactive movie with cute characters, interesting adventures, moral torment and a couple of really powerful moments that could even beat blockbusters Quantic dream. We will remember this, old Telltale. Sleep well.
Many independent developers for lack of large budgets promote their products through word of mouth. The text is there, the article is here, broadcasts, “let’s plays” – if the game is worthy of attention, then they will definitely talk about it. But release Five Nights at Freddy’s literally blew up the Internet: they talked about it everywhere, every second video blogger played in it. YouTube made a multi-million dollar franchise out of a small indie horror with sequels, spin-offs and books based on motifs – also a film adaptation is just around the corner. Does the game deserve such a resounding success, or was it just lucky to get out at the right time? Both. Its creator, Scott Coughton, grabbed the essence of the horror and managed to submit it in such a way that even a five-clutch will figure it out. Constant tension, suspense, a sense of self-vulnerability. This gamut of emotions very easily provokes a reaction, and it does not matter who you are: a blogger who needs to entertain the audience, or an ordinary person who wants to tickle his nerves.
Despite the controversial reputation as walking simulators, it’s hard to deny the contribution Dear esther into the development of the industry. In the end, she established the framework of the genre that is now universally considered immutable: a strong emphasis on atmosphere and narration, a complete lack of challenge, the inability to “lose” in the usual sense of the word. The brainchild of the studio The chinese room paved the way for a new type of game – interactive experiences, where nothing distracts from meditative walks and plot. After all, “games” are primarily a container for meaning. This is a form, and it can be used as you like. To save the princesses, to brainlessly destroy demonic legions with a shotgun at the ready – or, as the developers showed, in order to tell the audience a melancholy story about the loss of a loved one.
Undertale – This is a JRPG for those who have never seen the Japanese RPG in their eyes. This is a game that at the same time endlessly respects its sources of inspiration, and jokes over their most mossy stamps. But he does it his own way, kindly: the author of the game, Toby Fox, takes apart everything that we love old-fashioned roles like Earthbound and Chrono trigger, – and then reassembles the pieces together in a modern way. Only in Undertale is it better to make friends with a monster than to kill him. Only Undertale mixes the leisurely turn-based combat with the frantic dynamics of bullet-hell shooters. Only in Undertale can a laughing chamomile inspire real terror in a player. But the main merit of Fox is not even insanely ingenious game design, but that, having collected all these ideas in one game, he still managed to make it hospitable. Affordable, comfortable. Those who come to Undertale for scientific purposes will find a story that can be adequately told only in the format of a video game – and nothing else. And all the rest, even the most unusual people for games, will fall into a world full of bright characters and warming, homely good humor. Undertale is made with love – both for the industry and its audience. And this love is very contagious.
Journey has no great plot, no deep mechanics; someone can even say that there is no gameplay in it as well. You simply wander to a high mountain on the horizon – either alone, or, when playing online, with the same nameless pilgrim. But by the end of the journey, without exchanging a word for the whole trip, it will seem to you that you have known him all your life. The experience of playing Journey is simply impossible to forget. Thanks to the excellent work with aesthetics and music, it makes you feel so sincere emotions that the line between the “game” and the real emotional experience is simply erased. Inspiration, fear, hope, despair – they are real. Like the ties that bind two completely strangers united by a common goal: to reach the very end. It is thanks to the Journey release that many gamers (like people unfamiliar with the industry) realized that video games are an art that is accessible and understandable to everyone.
