Even when AAA game releases wrap up until the next big release season, there are still plenty of yummy indie bites out there that can help you or even create your own uniquely flavored and tasty food.
We’ve got plenty of indie games this week to fit any palette, from the monochrome horror of Silt to the dark and naughty action of Cult of the Lamb to the retro love letter of Arcade Paradise.
So if you’re looking for some of the best PC games we play here at TechRadar, check out our list and dive into the buffet of delicious PC games.
Silt
Silt is described as a surreal underwater puzzle adventure game, in which you control a deep-sea diver as he explores the murky depths of the pitch-black ocean to uncover its mysteries. Its monochrome palette combined with its frightening yet almost childish picture book graphic style creates a unique mix of tension that stays with you long after you finish the game.
Silt plays like a classic side-scrolling platformer where you mainly avoid obstacles and enemies while exploring a vast environment and uncovering hidden secrets. Both the environments and the monsters are stunningly beautiful, with intricate detail and excellent contrast between light and dark to flesh out those details.
What is especially impressive about Silt is the fluidity with which the diver moves through the water. The controls are tight and responsive, refreshing for a horror game as it derives the horror aspects of the atmosphere created by the visuals, music, and sound effects rather than poor controls.
cult of the lamb
In the same vein as titles like The Binding of Isaac, Cult of the Lamb is a rogue that throws random events and enemies at you as you try to keep your cult happy, busy, and properly controlled. The animal-people trope gives this game even more whiplash as you witness lovable animals wielding terrifying powers or being violently killed.
For fans of the roguelike genre, the gameplay is fluid and frenetic, with excellent animation that rarely slows down. Despite its adorable appearance, this game is tough and never fails to challenge one bit. It’s surprisingly robust, with plenty of ways to upgrade your character and cult.
I really, really love the presentation. The vibrant colors, the details, the tight controls, the fact that I’m playing as the cutest, most violent lamb out there. This game is certainly bloody, but it offers much more than that, which is why it has been talked about so much since its release.
arcade paradise
The indie scene has really embraced the retro aesthetic, as many games are developed using 8-bit and 16-bit sprite art, N64/PlayStation-style polygon graphics, or even the 1-bit style of old Japanese PC games from the 1980s. 80s and 90s.
Arcade Paradise is your own tribute to the arcade fever that rocked America’s 80s and 90s. At first it looks like a first-person garbage collection simulator with a retro UI for flavor, but as soon as your character ventures out the back of the laundromat and into the hidden arcade, you can really see this one. I play for what it is.
Garbage collection and other life simulation aspects are an excuse for you to drop coins into various retro-style arcade machines and play some of the most addictive and well-thought-out mini-games I’ve ever gotten my hands on. It’s an absolute delight and I’d recommend it to any millennial looking to recapture the magic of their childhood, or even the younger generation who may have missed out on the magic of old school arcades.
The Last Battle: Aftermath
“Another rogue?” you say dismissively. And I correct you that he is actually a roguelight with a smirk on my face. But this is in a completely different style from Cult of the Lamb, which was a cheesy game with inexcusable gameplay, as Last Stand: Aftermath is a more visually realistic game with slightly more forgiving gameplay.
Aftermath, part of the Last Stand series, follows a group of people who survive a zombie apocalypse. It’s somewhat similar to Hades, including the fact that they’re the same genre, in that the environments and enemies thrown at you are procedurally generated. There is a strong resource management element here, as well as many other gameplay mechanics that need to keep up as you defeat the hordes of zombies that are after you.
There have been many updates and fixes since its release and the two man team continues to work on polishing this hidden gem. But even now, the gameplay rarely gets boring and there’s tons of new content to spice up the formula. Also, since it is a roguelite, it is much more friendly to new players who are not familiar with the genre.
damn to golf
What if in Mario Golf, instead of playing a good game of golf with your friends and friends, you got stuck in Golf Purgatory and had to keep playing golf to become a golf legend and escape? Well, you can find out by playing a sprite-style rogue named Cursed to Golf.
Cursed to Golf is a fully-fledged golf game that accurately reproduces the physics of golf, including swing angles and obstacles. Procedurally generate each environment in a game, creating a new and difficult puzzle to golf each time.
Having to master not just each type of club and using it to get the ball safely through some of the more difficult sections while avoiding water and sand traps can feel diabolical at times. But the smooth animations and powerful physics engine lessen the frustration and instead do what many rogue-likes fail to do, which is make the difficulty feel rewarding on its own merits rather than just another obstacle to conquer.
