Independent game developers have plenty of people and companies out there to look up to. One of the most influential game designers out there is Tim Schafer, the founder of Double Fine games. He is known for many popular games both in his time at LucasArts as well as with Double Fine.
Double Fine games have received critical acclaim from reviewers. However, the company began to struggle with some of its big projects, including Psychonauts 2. Microsoft acquired the studio in 2019 in order to help the studio follow through with future games. Double Fine staying afloat is great for gamers who have enjoyed many of their best games over the years.
10 Kinect Party (81)
Double Fine was one of the many companies invested in creating content for the Kinect, the Xbox 360 motion-sensing accessory. They started out with Double Fine Happy Action Theater but then expanded the game some more for a sequel, calling it Kinect Party. The game works like an application where there are up to 36 different tools to play with. Each tool takes full advantage of the Kinect's capabilities. Some of the game modes include putting on virtual costumes and creating castles that could also be destroyed.
9 Iron Brigade (82)
Double Fine and Tim Schafer are more known for their games with comedic undertones, but Iron Brigade is one of the outliers. This Xbox Live Arcade game is a hybrid tower defense game set in an alternate timeline of World War I's end. A radio communication event known as "The Broadcast" killed anyone who listened to it, leading to two surviving veterans gaining knowledge of advanced technology. The two end up using this technology to create weapons that they will eventually use against each other. The goal of the game is for players to protect their base.
8 Costume Quest: Grubbins On Ice (83)
Costume Quest is a quirky adventure RPG that follows a group of friends who must get rid of the monsters in their neighborhood with the power of their Halloween costumes. The game itself received mixed reviews, but its expansion pack was given higher praise.
Grubbins on Ice stars the same characters as they are now in the middle of winter. The goal of the game is to explore the world of Repugia, the world in which monsters live, and help them take down the evil Araxia as part of their revolution.
7 Brütal Legend (83)
For those who have always wanted to be either a rock star or a hero, Brütal Legend allows players to be both. The game is considered a hybrid as it mainly falls under the action-adventure umbrella but includes some real-time strategy gameplay. The game stars Eddie Riggs, voiced by Jack Black, who is a roadie that has been brought to a heavy metal world filled with monsters inspired by music. The goal of the game is to save this world that has been overrun by the supernatural. Weapons include a battle axe, a magical guitar, and a hot rod.
6 Knights And Bikes (83)
Bike riding and frisbee throwing. Sounds like a typical hang out with friends, but Knights And Bikes is not so typical. In this action-adventure co-op game, players are Nessa and Demelza as they explore an ancient island with their pet goose Captain Honkers. Along with their adventure, there is plenty of treasure to find and collect. The gameplay includes fighting enemies using frisbees, water balloons, and more. There are also puzzles along the way that the players must solve in order to find more secrets.
5 Stacking (84)
It's Russian stacking matryoshka dolls as a video game. Stacking has players take control of the smallest doll, whose name is Charlie Blackmore, going out to rescue his siblings from being slaves to a powerful businessman known as the Baron. As Charlie, players can jump inside other dolls in order to grow one size bigger. These dolls are now controllable. These dolls may have abilities that Charlie doesn't, but he can also unstack at any time in order to fulfill a task only he can. This adventure puzzle game is filled with problems that have multiple solutions.
4 Grim Fandango Remastered (84)
Since founding Double Fine, Tim Schafer has not only made a plethora of new games but gone back to recreate some of his big LucasArts hits. One of the highly-acclaimed games remade was Grim Fandango. The game is set in the Land of the Dead, the world in-between life and the afterlife.
Players are Manuel "Manny" Calavera, a travel agent whose sole task is to escort people through the land. He must deal with his client, Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, as they make their way through the puzzle-solving adventure.
3 Day Of The Tentacle Remastered (86)
The first game that Tim Schafer ever led the development of was Day of the Tentacle. This was a 1993 sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion. Over 20 years after its release, Schafer and Double Fine made a remastered version of the game in 2016. The game focuses on Bernard Bernoulli as he and his friends Hoagie and Laverne make an effort to save the world from the Purple Tentacle, a disembodied tentacle created by a mad scientist. The gameplay is a typical point-and-click adventure. The remaster also has a fully-playable version of the original Maniac Mansion.
2 Psychonauts (88)
The anticipation is building for next year's release of Psychonauts 2, and that's mostly because of what the first game meant to those who played it. The original Psychonauts follows Raz, a young kid with psychic powers from the circus who runs away to a camp dedicated to kids with these abilities. The platformer has Raz exploring various people's minds to learn his abilities or help them overcome a fear they may have. All the while, there is an evil plot brewing within the camp that Raz must solve almost entirely on his own.
1 Broken Age (90)
A game that started out as a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, Broken Age is listed on top of Metacritic as Double Fine's best-reviewed game. A point-and-click adventure game, Broken Age is the story of two teenagers who are looking to end the constant cycle they are experiencing in life. The two teens are seen in different worlds, but their paths cross in a strange way. The game is split up into two acts, with the first act released a year before the second. On top of the Kickstarter campaign, there is a documentary based on the development of the game as well.