The Indie Highlight
The Indie Highlight is a showcase of indie games I’ve loved. It’s a celebration of innovative development, personal stories, and risk-taking concepts. A place for me to wax poetic about the games that keep me gaming, from the acclaimed darlings of the scene to the hidden gems.
The article below explains a little about where indie games came from, and what defines them.
Kaze and the Wild Masks
There’s something about ’90s cartoons that nothing has quite been able to touch through the years. Waking up early on a Saturday morning - the only day all week you really wanted to be up early - pouring a massive bowl of sugary cereal, then settling down for several hours of animated goodness. Kaze and the Wild Masks is a much-welcomed harken back to those times.
NextFest - Feb ‘25
The first of this year’s weeklong NextFest events landed at the end of February. There were well over 2000 demos available for players to get a taste of, and some obvious prevailing themes.
Death’s Door
If you don’t get excited about a crow with a lightsaber, I don’t know how to talk to you.
Crow Country
The 90s were a strange old time - 3D graphics were just coming into their own, gaming had started to open to the masses, and theme parks were on a different level. Wait, what?
Valfaris: Mecha Therion
We’re not in a decrepit old church anymore, or crawling our way through slimy, alien tunnels - we’re on a revenge tour in a huge mech, and we’re not slowing down.
Slain: Back From Hell
Heavy metal is always a good choice when picking a theme to base a game on - loud, energetic, and ready to kick you in the teeth.
Sheepy/Froggo’s Adventure
Whilst many indie games are personal stories explored through interactive media, experimental ideas, or even epic tales, there are still some that are just fun adventures that don’t need to be big to feel big.
Graveyard Keeper
Graveyard Keeper feels like a game that happens when the intrusive thoughts win. What happens if you let a random guy in a morally loose town take care of the dead?
Harold Halibut
When it comes to an industry where so much has already been done, it’s hard to think of what new innovations could come along. Harold Halibut is proof that there’s always something new to bring.
Eastern Exorcist
Whilst I’m loath to compare everything to Dark Souls, or label any game with one-on-one combat and souls-as-currency a ‘souls-like’, there is some overlap here. It might be more appropriate to label Eastern Exorcist a souls-lite, but that still spikes the back of my brain. For now, let’s just understand a bit more about the game, and we can find a label later if we need one.