Indie games have been a major part of the gaming industry for a very long time now, perhaps for more than 15 years. Yet, it’s still so easy to forget this part of the market thanks to the constant stream of AAA games and the endless trailers and ads that come with them. It’s really a shame too, because it looks like the lion’s share of the industry’s creativity still lives in the independent sector. I was reminded of this while attending BitSummit 2021 this weekend, and I wanted to share some of the more interesting discoveries with you all here. So, let’s get into it.

Super UFO Fighter

Do you like crane games (aka “UFO Catchers”)? Do you think you’re pretty good at them? Then this one might just be right up your alley. Super UFO Fighter is a 1v1 multiplayer game wherein players use their UFOs to capture the most desirable objects. It’s simple and fast-paced, but winning isn’t easy. Players must first break the capsules to find the desired item and then manage to get it into their drop zone. Players can interfere with each other and steal the prize as its being carried, so a round of Super UFO Fighter can get pretty crazy! The full release should be coming later this year, but you can at least enjoy a demo right now.

Koarabyss

This is an action-puzzle game starring a wall-sliding ninja. The objective is simple: make it to the goal and collect as many yellow orbs as possible. It starts out easy enough, but soon hazards like insta-kill spikes and bounce pads get introduced, so players must quickly learn the layout of each stage and perfect their timing. Death means going all the way back to the beginning, but the game is fast to restart, and the stages are short, so it never feels like the bad kind of frustrating. Rather, I could barely pull myself away from Koarabyss; such was my desire to soundly defeat each stage put before me. If this sounds at all interesting to you, it can be found on itch.io, but, be careful, it can be super-addicting!

Berserk Boy

Where Mega Man 11 fails to do the blue-bomber justice, Berserk Boy succeeds with flying colors. This mix of Sonic and Mega Man hits jus the right balance between speed and precision, allowing players to enter that wonderful gaming flow state quite easily. Our main character Kei has several forms to cycle through with different powers, all of which can be combo-ed together to make some really satisfying chains.

Players have no choice but to do this too since Kei doesn’t have a default buster cannon like Mega Man; it’s all special abilities and sonic-style homing attacks, and it feels excellent. If you’ve been looking for a true evolution to Mega Man-style games, then Berserk Boy is absolutely for you! You can try its demo now on Steam!

These are just a handful of the awesome games I saw at BitSummit 2021, but you get the idea, right? There’s so much going on outside of the AAA sector and we’re all still missing out on it! Do yourself a favor and check out which indie games are getting some attention and try them for yourself. You’d be surprised at how much fun you can have. Oh, and here are a few more worth looking into: Ex-Zodiac, Bat Boy, and Dungeon and Gravestone.

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What do you think of indie games? Do you already play them on the regular? Got any recommendations of your own?

image from the Steam screenshot