My favorite games on
Indievania are hardly underdogs anymore, but just in case:
-
Blocks That Matter: Ingenious puzzle platformer, with challenging levels, unlockables, achievements that pay hommage to other classic and indie games and awesome soundtrack.
-
Wizorb: Very nice Breakout clone with cute SNES-style graphics, shops, spells and the option to spend your loot on helping to rebuild a village.
-
Vizati: A simple casual but nonetheless challenging puzzle game with relaxing atmosphere.
-
Climb to the Top of the Castle (as already suggested by others): Not quite on par with the first two suggestions above in terms of quality, it has a bit more amateurish feel, but in a way that also makes it charming. It's a common platformer but enjoyable and the handdrawn graphics make it stand out. It also features a game-within-a-game.
I've bought
Metal Dead but haven't played it so far, maybe worth checking out, too, if you like point-and-click adventures. I also haves hopes for enjoying
ThreeDeadZeds and
Corril Slayer, but I haven't got the chance to test them on my desktop PC yet; sadly they don't run so well on my traveling netbook.
Apart from that, I have an eye on
Out There Somewhere and
Qasir Al-Wasat (still in development) but haven't bought them yet, so I can't recommend them from personal experience; they look quite cool to me though. Last but not least I played the demo of the puzzle game
Crystal Hunters and even though it's nothing special, I quite enjoyed it and consider getting it, especially since you can Pay What You Want.
Desura has too many games for me to go through its library right now, but I recommend checking out
Soulcaster and
Soulcaster II.
EDIT:
Additionally to the suggestions you get here, you could also have a look at the
Recommended Indie Games list sorted by genre and use your browser's search function to find out which ones are sold on Desura and Indievania.