Best Indie Games of 2013

2013 was a strong year for gaming, illustrated by the launch of a new console generation - the strongest console launch in the history of the medium, and Grand Theft Auto V becoming the quickest entertainment title to make $1b in any medium. The world has seen video games become one of the most popular forms of entertainment and that growth this year was supported by excellent AAA titles including GTA V, The Last of Us, Assassin's Creed 4, Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite that have all been in the conversation for many Game of the Year awards.

While the AAA landscape was very strong, 2013 was an equally strong year for the indie sector. Services like GOG, Green Man Gaming and Steam supported the market and continued to ensure the growth of the indie scene. With more indie hits, there are more indie players and hence, more attention paid to the creativity, themes and discussions that certain games presented throughout 2013.

Here is a list of some of the best indie games of the year - games that all deserve as much recognition as their AAA brethren despite their humble beginnings.

Gone Home Best Indie

It's likely that even if you haven't played it, you've heard of Gone Home. The game quickly became a critical darling, winning Best Indie Game and Best PC Game at the Spike VGX awards.

It's easy to say too much about Gone Home as it's an experience you should go into blind. It is a game that rewards and surprises the unaware because of the way the game subverts player expectations. All you should know is that you play as Kaitlin coming home from a gap year to an empty house and a note from her sister Samantha. You spend the duration of the game exploring, slowly discovering what happened to Sam and Kaitlin's parents.

There's no guarantee that you will love Gone Home, but one thing is sure, you will want to talk about it when you finish. For those with an open heart, there is a touching story about themes gaming rarely tackles hidden in that lonesome house. For those more jaded, they will find a maddening bait and switch that raises the debate of interactive narrative vs. gameplay. But for a short three hour experience, it is well worth your time.

Dont Starve Best Indie

Klei Entertainment just last year released one of their most lauded games with the 2D stealth platformer Mark of the Ninja. For some developers that would be enough to satiate their appetite for a few years, but not Klei. Just a little over a year later, they released Don't Starve.

Some developers might also be tempted to fall back on what worked for them in the past, but instead Klei Entertainment went about creating a completely different experience an ended up releasing Don't Starve in April.

The Tim Burton-esque art direction frames a deep and brutal survival game where one mistake can result in everything you have worked for for 100s of hours, falling apart before your eyes. It is brutal, ruthless and adds a level of intensity we rarely see in modern gaming. It isn't a game you can win, but it instead leaves you to perpetually put off death. It could come in the form of the dark, woodland creatures, the winter, insanity or hunger, but one thing is sure, death is going to find you. But the joy you have putting it off is well worth your time.

Reus Best Indie

God games are a genre that slowly died out over the last decade or so, but it was a genre defined by games like Black and White and Populus. It's hard to find a good experience of late that allows you to control your earth and your population. If you long for such power once again, Reus is something you should consider giving a whirl.

Reus has players take charge of four huge elemental avatars, allowing you to terraform an earth and maximize its output to please the population. This is a god game that isn't about imbuing the player with all the power of an omnipotent being. This is a game about how futile that power is in the face of human greed.

There is a sharp thesis hiding behind the mechanics of the game, instead making Reus about balance rather than authoritative power, where the very people you are providing for, will just as likely destroy your equilibrium. They might even begin a revolt against you, neighboring populations and your massive avatars.

The Stanley Parable Best Indie

The Stanley Parable is a short but sweet journey that easily earned the honor of becoming the darling of gamers and critics alike. It's another game on this list that has come under fire from a certain sect of gamers for "not being a game" due to a lack of interaction with the game world, even if your actions have a very interactive affect on the narrative you experience.

Playing as Stanley, you find yourself one morning in your office job only to find everyone has vanished. All you have is a path ahead of you and a narrator in your head. Choosing whether to abide or rebel against the voice is up to you, but thanks to the game's short story structure, you can complete a story line and hop right back in from the beginning compelling you try every possibility.

To paint a picture in your head tonally, the game is a little like if Portal and the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy got together to talk about the relationship between gamers and game developers. It is easily one of the funniest and insightful gaming experiences you could have this year.

The Swapper Best Indie

In a year where the indie scene was dominated by games that were more about exploring worlds and narratives, The Swapper is one of the games that managed to tell a poignant story and marry it with challenging game mechanics.

You play as an astronaut stranded on the space station Theseus, a research facility studying a group of rocks that may or may not offer intelligent life called 'The Watchers'. To navigate the space station, players must solve puzzles using the Swapper, a device that can replicate a person several times. It works in a similar fashion to Portal, but instead of creating portals, you are making clones that all move at exactly the same time.

The game was fully rendered using stop motion so it looks unique and the story it tells about individualism and humanity is surprisingly hard hitting. The platform puzzles in the game are also intense brain ticklers and you might end up spending more than a reasonable amount of time trying to figure out just one puzzle. If you are looking for a tough challenge and a great sci-fi story to boot, you should check out The Swapper.

Papers Please Best Indie

Games are always at their best when there is more than meets the eye. Some kind of underlining subversion to the tasks you are partaking in. Last year, Spec Ops: The Line and Far Cry 3 were prime examples of this. This year, Papers, Please is the owner of that crown.

Working as a border control officer of the glorious communist state of Arstotzka, your job is to approve the passage of civilians across the country's borders. An ever complicated political situation and a growing list of paperwork to check mean the game's difficulty is gradual but also punishing.

As you work, you will find yourself rejecting people who are of a different race, separating loved ones and keeping parents away from their children, all in order to keep your own family alive. You will realise that you are slowly becoming corrupted with the propaganda of the state in order to survive, the game inadvertently showing you how communist and fascist ideals creep into civilian life. It's pretty smart stuff.

Outlast Best Indie

There is a prevailing argument in the industry that horror games don't sell, with Dead Space and Resident Evil's failings in the market used as examples showing that the genre just can't be profitable. Red Barrel showed earlier this year that that isn't true. In the film world, horror films are rarely mega-hits but are often profitable due to their small budgets. Outlast proves that video games can work on a similar model.

Playing as an investigative journalist, you enter Mount Massive Asylum due to a string of strange reports implicating its owner in corporate mischief. Sneaking in with only your night vision handicam on your person, you quickly find out that you have descended into a hellish world. What follows is a whole host of chase sequences sprinkled with sneaking and hiding sections tailor made to make your heart pump.

Red Barrel games hold the torch for the horror genre and have shown that truly wonderful and remarkably well-produced experiences that focus on dis-empowering rather than empowering players can be profitable and popular. The AAA world has plenty to learn from their example.

Kentucky Route Zero Best Indie

The likelihood is that you haven't played a game quite like Kentucky Route Zero this year and that should encourage readers to go out there and try it.

The game is a dreamlike point-and-click narrative that has you in charge of Conway, a delivery van driver trying to find 6 Dogwood Drive. Your journey to that destination however, is anything but straightforward, as you find yourself meeting and interacting with people who inhabit the surreal world.

The game has some of the most inventive art direction this year, and the choices a player makes to define Conway are very subtle yet always intriguing. The narrative presentation is packed full of ideas, and while the meaning and subtext aren't always entirely clear, it is hard not to get lost in this universe's musings.

Worth noting: The game is a five-part story, with only two episodes released so far. The third has taken a long time to come around, but the developer said this is due to the game upgrading its engine.

Brothers Best Indie Game

Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons was possibly the one standout title to come out of the XBLA this year and hace since made its way onto the PC (and PS3) so you have little excuse to not experience the often underrated Starbreeze Studios game.

Playing as both Naiee and Nayaa, who are mapped to the left and right analogue sticks (or keyboard), players partake on a journey to retrieve a medicine that will make your ill father better. What ensues is a dark fairy tale that starts off as a lighthearted adventure but takes a turn for death and depression. That isn't to say that the magical whimsy ever disappears as the brothers traverse some gorgeously dark locations that are brilliantly designed.

It's one of the best examples of mechanics with narrative weight in 2013. It isn't a perfect system as it is hard to split attention to two avatars at once, but to see a game embrace mechanics as story so thoroughly is extremely encouraging. Don't miss this fantastical journey.

Proteus Best Indie Game

Proteus came out way back in January and thus, has probably been forgotten by some as one of the best experiential games of the year. This game is the most, for want of a better word, 'arty' on this list and it's another example of a game that has come under fire for 'not being a game'. But if you can open your mind enough, Proteus is one of the best audio/visual experiments we've seen in a long time.

While there is a progressive journey, going into the world of Proteus trying to 'complete the game' is totally the wrong mindset. You don't have a goal and you can't interact with anything directly, but instead you are supposed to experience the delight of being in the environment. Walking around and soaking up the sights and sounds is the main draw and if you go in knowing that, the world of Proteus will be full of surprise and wonder.

The game isn't for every gamer, but if you are looking to escape reality and visit a pixelated haven, it is hard to look further than Proteus. As you explore, you will find a progression that you may find touching and profound in its simplicity, but really that is just an added bonus for getting to spend time in a digital Eden.

Best Indie Game Brothers End

The independent game scene is becoming an increasingly important part of the industry, and 2013 further emphasized that fact. Sony is very serious about supporting and attracting independent development on their consoles this generation and Microsoft is trying to do the same with their ID@Xbox division. The market is exploding with talent and as the games on this list have shown, the scene is bursting with ideas. Even at the 2013 Spike VGX, the most exciting and impresive reveal was an indie game titled No Man's Sky.

This list also showcases the sheer variety on offer for those consuming indie games. From nerve shredding horror titles, existential puzzle games, divisive narrative experiences and boarder control simulators, this year has been marked by the diversity on show.

Many of these games are jumping off points to get the community talking about bigger ideas, and for many, even if they don't enjoy every game on this list, it will clarify their point of view about experimentation in the medium.  That is exciting for those of us who have been consuming games for vast portions of our lives.