Funny Xessive, you thought of idol, Cobra and I, and look who are the first people to post in the thread! Haha... I love indy games so much. So I have to start with my standard plugs, and I'll go from there:
Eternal Daugher (scroll down) is a kickass Metroidvania style game that I love to death. It's free, so if you haven't played it yet, DO IT. I'm still holding out hope for a PSP or DS port someday. It happened to
Cave Story, so why not
Eternal Daughter?
At the same link, there's
I'm O.K., which is the game Derek Yu and Alec Holowka made for Jack Thompson's challenge before they joined forces to become
Bit Blot and create
Aquaria. It's a hilarious farse and pretty sweet for a free game.
That brings us to...
Aquaria! I've
gone on and on about this game many times, but it really is something you need to play if you haven't yet. It's a wonderful game, and I'm reeeally hoping to get in the beta for the next patch (which is going to add a whole effing ton of features and junk, plus widescreen support!). Seriously. Go buy the game right now. Support two of the most talented individual indy developers we've got.
Moonpod is another kickass dev, and they make
Starscape and
Mr. Robot, both of which are very fun. The former is a bit older now, but it's really an awesome game and there isn't a ton of stuff just like it (similar in gameplay, but this has extra depth and a persistent growth aspect to it that other top-down space shooters generally lack). Both are very much worth picking up. Fun sense of style and good gameplay, plus decent length. A little more expensive than some similar games, but the extra cabbage is definitely getting you something here (and what's another $5?).
Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble is totally not like what it sounds like, but it's also really charming and fun. If it sounds like your cup of tea after reading the website, it probably is.
If you like physics puzzlers,
Obulis is definitely worth looking at too.
The big one I haven't tried out but really, really want to is
Depths of Peril. It's basically a
Diablo-style action RPG, but you should really read
GameTunnel's review to see what makes this game so special. In fact, I'll quote from it to give you a glimpse:
Depths of Peril is not that kind of game. The world changes as you play. Threats to the city build up if you – or one of the other factions – don’t stop it. An uprising of a particular monster type in an area, if not stopped, will give rise to a very powerful (and hard-to-kill) “boss” that rises to take leadership. If you (or the other covenants) don’t take care of this specific foe in a timely manner, it will gather together a kind of “posse” of powerful henchmen that will make it even more difficult to eliminate. Leave this new “super-group of evil” alone long enough, and they will unleash their evil plans upon the city – which could make life there very difficult for the NPCs, all the covenants, and your character.
The covenants are another element that completely changes the feel of the game. First of all, you have your own covenant, which resides inside a particular building in the city. You can recruit up to five covenant members, who may join you (one at a time) on adventures, or gang up on raids against other covenants.
A covenant is more than just a pool of henchmen for adventuring and inter-covenant warfare, however. It contains storage areas for equipment (which can follow you from game to game), houses a library of books found in the game (which can give you minor bonuses for all covenant members), and can house up to four relics which also provide bonuses or extra income for your covenant. You can also hire monsters to help guard your covenant house and its all-important lifestone.
But they are also all vying for control of the city, which means you are constantly competing for the best recruits, the best quests, and the greatest influence (and thus a greater portion of the tax base of the city). Because of this, the covenants can become your single greatest threat in the game. Rival covenants may damage your status through rumor and damaging your relationship with other covenants, and outright warfare may erupt.
There are some negatives too, so check out the review, but the buzz thus far that I've seen has been overwhelmingly positive, and the devs seem to be active in their forums and are still patching the game with not only fixes, but tweaks. It sounds so awesome I could spit. I just wish it was multiplayer!
Lastly, I'll mention
Larva Mortus, which is basically... uh...
Crimsonland, but not. It's got actual missions and a story which is decent, and gives it some different environments and objectives, even though the entire point of the game is to just blast the shit out of anything that moves. Levels are randomly generated but still seem to look pretty nice, and it animates well despite not being the most attractive game ever. But it does plenty well enough for a good dose of monster-slaughter. And it isn't super fast paced like other similar games, so some people find that off-putting. It's a bit more thoughtful than something like
Crimsonland.
Okay, so I lied. Lastly...
Zombie Shooter! Because it has zombies and you get to shoot them. HELL YES!
