Hello everyone!

I am sure there have been many threads on this topic, but I could not find any recent and active one.

I just finished watching TotalBiscuit's video on "The Failure of an Indie Platformer", which focused on a game called Airscape and how it isn't doing very well on Steam. The video made me very sad, because Airscape looks very fun and like something I want to play, and it made me think about how many times I have decided to buy an expensive AAA game that I knew I wouldn't like all too much rather than even taking a look at cheaper Indie games, some of which would cater more to my tastes.

Now, I'm primarily a GoG user, and while there are many Indie Games here, the bulk of them (and especially the unrecognized games) are still on Steam, which I am actively trying to get away from considering how awesome GoG has been over the years with its DRM-free policy and wonderful community.

So yeah, I wanted to ask all of you if there are any Indie games here on GoG that you really liked and that catered to your tastes in particular, but haven't gotten as popular as you would like them to be. Of course, that will always be the case, there are far too many games to keep track of and rarely any demos to make sure that you would want to spend money on the game in question, but still, I am sure you have some favorites that nobody else seems to have even played here in the GoG Community.

(You can definitely also mention games that have gotten recognized, like the Crypt of the Necrodancer or any game like that. I just want to have a broader perspective on the Indie landscape)

If you want to really challenge yourself (and that would be really awesome!) check out your recommendation on Steamspy or any tracking website like that to see whether the game you recommend has less than... Let's say, 500 sales. Try to name more games in that range rather than more popular games.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: I am keeping a list of titles mentioned in this thread, just in case! I am skipping some games like FTL because I feel that everyone knows about those to some extent.

Serpents in the Staglands
Sunless Sea
Her Story
Halfway
The Cat Lady
La Mulana
Elminage Gothic
Lords of Xulima
Revenge of the Titans
Sacrifice

Look at any post by barry_Woodward. He is a champion for little known or underated indie games. As for a steam only game, they only have themselves to blame imo.

I don't see any search option that allows me to search for barry_Woodward's posts, unfortunately :(
I hope he sees this, he sounds like the kind of person I am looking for right now!

Not sure Sacrifice is an "indie", but definitely buy it . It's one of the best games ever made, but hardly anyone knows about it .

Taking a quick glance at the Indie section, I would say that my favorite indie games on gog are FTL, Terraria and Don't Starve, but none of them are underrated or unpopular :-\
Two that possibly qualify are Serpents in the Staglands and Sunless Sea. I don't think either is that popular, though both are excellent.

Serpents in the Staglands suffered from incredibly wonky balancing and some bugs early on, but the creators were incredibly speedy with updates to sort out the issues. What makes it especially fun is its, as far as I can tell, totally new take on rpg mechanics. I found it incredibly refreshing not knowing how to spend skill points and such.

I'm not sure Sunless Sea is that popular either, and I often read about people decrying the game for its difficulty, which personally doesn't bother me. What Sunless Sea has going for it is its incredible atmosphere which I feel is greatly enhanced by its cutthroat difficulty, it's awesome lovecraftian setting and writing and, perhaps most of all, the sense of the great unknown. That is why I would in all seriousness strongly discourage anyone from checking out the wiki. I was having a blast with the game until I eliminated the unknown by falling into the habit of always consulting the wiki whenever I discovered a new island or had to make a difficult choice. Currently I'm trying to forget as much as I can about the game so that I can start again from scratch. Luckily for me my memory isn't all that good :D

Race the Sun is another possible contender. It's presentation is really simplistic and, perhaps in part because it, incredibly effective. And it's fast, real fast. Not since the days of Most Wanted have I felt my pulse racing the way it did when dodging obstacles at breakneck speeds.

Just scroll the first 2-3 pages of general, he has several posts - look on right hand side to see who started the thread. Yes, he provides some very good information and wish list links.

I'm not sure how much success it's had, but I loved Her Story. I would highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys non-linear storytelling. You use different keywords to search for clips, and it's up to you to piece the story together from those clips. The keyword system is great, because any word or phrase can be entered and then up to five (if I remember correctly) clips will show up that contain the word or phrase you entered. It's a fantastic experience, and even after I had found and viewed all of the clips I ended up watching them all again chronologically the next morning.

As a warning though, if the game sounds interesting then don't read anything else about it until you've played it for yourself. Learning important words or phrases outside of the game can potentially harm the experience, since a big part of the game is finding clips and piecing things together on your own.

Please, it's harder to get onto GOG than Steam and most other distributors aren't worth the effort.

Halfway

Sadly underrated by people who as it appears didn't know how to play it properly and blamed it on the game which I think is a bit unfair. It's rare to see indie games in the TBS tactical genre and this one is a gem, not a perfect one but a gem nonetheless.
Its only flaws are that the 3 weapon categories are somewhat imbalanced and that gameplay and mission design become a bit repetitive in the middle of the campaign which can create some slack. On hard mode, this is not a problem though as the campaign remains fun throughout due to the higher challenge. It's a tactical lite game, but not a pushover. In hard mode, things can get hairy in a select few spots even for experienced players. Interestingly, hard mode is more difficult in the beginning and middle than in the end. The final mission is almost easier than in normal mode.

The main criticism was that the hit chances were wacky which seemed to frustrate many players, I found that criticism unjustified and thought it added to the gameplay that you can't gamble on placing your shots for sure. This forces you to tighten up your tactics and not stand around in the open taking risks. Even high percentage shots can miss.
There also isn't any XCOM style cover fire, only reaction fire -after- you get attacked. That means setting up a lazy ass killing corridor is more tricky in Halfway.


Full review

Review of 2nd playthrough (warning: contains some gameplay spoilers)

My heart bleeds. Sorry, zero interest in steam.

Op: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_gog_has_passed_on_that_deserve_a_second_chance

Cool, you've rekindled my interest in the game :) It was the reviews that scared me off at first. As for reaction fire, is it that you can only react after an attack, or is it like the original 1994 XCom where reaction stats duked it out to determine who fired first when you came across an alien, or vice versa?

mmmI don't have time to watch TB video but for those who would prefer to have the gamedev point of view directly, he wrote an article about it two days ago:
http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DanielWest/20150908/253040/Good_isnt_good_enough__releasing_an_indie_game_in_2015.php

You can google for "indiepocalypse", that's the new trending word between gamedev :o)

___________


To vaguely answer your question, I have a GOGmix about unusual GOG games (be it in terms of gameplay, mood/story or artistic vision) you might want to dig t up:
http://www.gog.com/mix/original_and_atypical_games

PS: "The Cat Lady" is the best game on GOG. Period. ^o^

La-Mulana. The best metroidvania on the PC, and certainly one of the top 5 in the genre as a whole. It has a major focus on exploration and puzzle solving, with an aesthetic that draws upon Indiana Jone's adventures. I am hoping that the sequel garners the fame and fortune that the developers deserve.

Time to mention again that "One Finger Death Punch" is one of the most fun games I've ever played and that it's a bloody shame that gog rejected it. If you haven't already, go try it out, fall in love with it and then write a stern letter to gog support about how you want them to release this game here.

Wow, thanks for pointing out Serpents in the Staglands, that one definitely looks interesting! I'll look into it, thank you very much.