Indie games can offer a huge variety of focused and innovative experiences that the realm of Triple-A production cannot. A small team with an idea and the motivation to make it work can create truly unique gaming experiences that put the most experienced publishers to shame.

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However, even when an idea is brilliant, it can be difficult to communicate effectively. This means that many indie games have steep or long learning curves that players need to navigate before being able to truly enjoy the experience. The result of this is some amazing games requiring players to push through opening hours that aren't representative of the experience as a whole. Yet, many are absolutely worth it to get to the greatness on the other side.

10 Prison Architect - Keep Prisoners Happy And Locked Up

Prison Architect

Building and maintaining an effective prison isn't an easy task, even in a video game. As with all tycoon games, Prison Architect has a lot of information to give players, so they understand how all of the complex systems work.

As a result, the first few hours in Prison Architect will likely see players going through the checklist of things the game suggests they build in order to learn everything. Once this is over, however, players can start again on a fresh building. Now, they have all the knowledge they need to build a complex and effective prison for themselves.

9 Haven - Lovers Running From Life

haven game

Haven is a beautiful game with a story about two lovers who ran from an oppressive corporate system to be together in a solitary paradise. The heartfelt and realistic depiction of a relationship is one of the most endearing and meaningful romances in a game.

Once the game opens up, players will explore vast terrain and encounter all kinds of cute and weird creatures. However, before they can get to that, the game has to keep players railroaded for a little while to get a grip on the systems. Still fun, but not the open-ended exploration the rest of the game offers.

8 Overcooked - Shouting At Your Friends

Split-screen in Overcooked! All You Can Eat

One of the most chaotic co-op games ever made, Overcooked and its sequel see players creating and serving gourmet-level dishes in increasingly impractical situations. The key success in Overcooked is quick and clear communication between players.

For the first few hours, players will not have that quick and clear communication. Finding a successful formula in Overcooked requires teams to fail several times until they eventually find a system that works for them. Once players establish these systems between themselves, the game becomes a lot less shouty and a lot more satisfying.

7 Star Renegades - An Evolution On Active Time Battles

Star Renegades

One of the more innovating indie games of 2020, Star Renegades, is a roguelike turn-based battler. Taking a party of four out into the world, players encounter enemies they must fight. The battle system is primarily turn-based, but brings in elements of the active-time battle system popularized by the Final Fantasy franchise.

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This system uses a timeline of 60 seconds per turn. Players can see when in the timeline an enemy's action will trigger, and if they perform certain actions quicker, they can push back an enemy's attack all the way until the next turn. The abilities and ways players can manipulate this system take some getting used to, but once they wrap their head around it, it's one of the most intriguing indie strategy games in recent memory.

6 Element TD 2 - Modern Tower Defense

Element TD 2

Tower Defense is a genre that has almost died out in recent years. The mobile gaming scene is the only place that still holds a decent selection of titles. Element TD 2 looks to bring the genre back into the mainstream, having come out of Early Access in April 2021.

The game features a complex but intelligent system of towers spread across six different elements. All these elements have strengths and weaknesses, but the complexity comes with how these elements combine. In doing so, they create all kinds of new towers with offensive, defensive and supporting effects. Learning this takes some time. While the game's single player campaign does teach players the system, it moves quite slowly.

5 Snake Pass - A New Kind Of Platforming

Snake Pass

The Platforming genre lately seemed as if there was nothing more to do with it. As one of the oldest genres in gaming, surely every innovation has been made by now, right? Apparently not, as the makers of Snake Pass showed.

In Snake Pass, players control a cute snake who must traverse a set of increasingly complicated platforming levels. To do this, players must learn how to move like a snake, slithering from side to side and wrapping themselves around the environment to climb. As a completely new movement system, it can take a while to learn how to use it to its true potential, but it makes for a platforming experience like no other.

4 The Binding Of Isaac: Repentance - Punishingly Difficult

binding-of-isaac-repentance-gameplay

The Binding Of Isaac already had a reputation as a difficult game, and it made no false assumptions about that. With the Repentance DLC, released in May 2021, the game has gotten a significant difficulty boost.

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This increased difficulty will make any new player struggle through the first couple of floors. It will likely take several tries before they get a grip on the enemies, items, and effects they have on combat. Roguelikes are all about failing and trying again, each time making a little more progress. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance wants players to be learning for a long time – not to mention find all the secrets tucked away.

3 Towerfall: Ascension - There's Always A Catch

best local co op

While the main selling point of Towerfall: Ascension is the fantastic local multiplayer mode, it also features an expansive and unforgiving single player mode. In this mode, players must fight through 14 different levels of waves of enemies.

The difficulty level scales up with each level, making sure that each level is as punishing as the last. The game pushes the player to master all of the core mechanics, which will, in turn, make them much better at the multiplayer mode. Most importantly, there are several enemies dedicated to teaching the player that the dodge function allows them to catch arrows out of the air. This skill makes every battle a tense and fun touch-and-go encounter.

2 Hotline Miami - Live, Die, Repeat

Bloody scene in bathroom in Hotline Miami 2

To say Hotline Miami has an intense tone would be putting it lightly. It pulls no punches when it comes to the brutality of its content. Furthermore, it's happy to play it all off and one big, twisted joke. Of course, if it doesn't go easy on the narrative, it's not going to go easy on players either.

Each level of Hotline Miami is rough for players when they first enter it. Almost everything kills in one shot. Players have to be aware of everything on the screen, because anything could come and wipe them out at a moment's notice. Each level is a tactile learning process that requires failing and learning several times over.

1 Among Us - Killing Quietly

among us

Since its boom in popularity in autumn of 2020, Among Us has built up a large and dedicated fanbase. Success in Among Us requires an understanding of the layout and tasks of each level. Players need to keep their head on a swivel to catch (or avoid detection as) the Impostor.

The amount of experienced players on servers leads to new players often having a rough time. They are easy pickings while learning how to do tasks, and lack the knowledge to effectively defend themselves in meetings after making beginner mistakes. As such, new players can expect to be accused and ejected before they build up an idea of how best to navigate each situation.

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