If you’re a PC gamer who’s bored with the identical previous video games on Steam and Epic Video games Retailer, look no additional as we current one of the best indie video games that aren’t on Steam. We live in an age the place there are numerous video games obtainable to us. But, the key storefronts current solely a fraction of what video games are on the market.
Regardless of not being on giant storefronts, many of those creators are nonetheless spending plenty of their time creating work and should be rightfully compensated. In contrast to bigger storefronts, plenty of the pages for video games you discover on this record will supply the choice to pay what you need for them. Whereas this allows you to play many of those video games without spending a dime, contemplate how a lot it will assist a creator work on their subsequent venture when you resolve to pay for his or her work. For different strategies to help these devs, I counsel trying out sport bundles such because the Queer Video games Bundle 2022, Indiepocalypse, Regionally Sourced, and others.
We shared the finest PC video games, the finest PS5 video games, and one of the best Xbox Collection X video games. Now, we glance past – the place artwork and experiments are transcending boundaries and expectations (this record shouldn’t be ranked in any specific order).
The perfect indie video games that aren’t on Steam
1. First Land by fotocopiadora
You’re trapped in an underground dome of secrets and techniques. As you wander round, you find yourself in tunnels with entrances you’ll be able to’t discover a second time. Portals to different worlds current themselves. There isn’t any one directing you the place to go; you simply must really feel the partitions of the caves and marvel the place precisely you’ve gotten ended up.
Wandering across the tunnels of First Land, trying to find hidden passageways and worms feels claustrophobic. The sounds of the ocean clashing towards the skin and the visions of a world with a visual sky rings inside one’s head. Low synths moan upon getting into rooms, as when you aren’t wandering by a cave that’s alive, responding to your actions.
First Land seems and feels like a misplaced Sega Saturn sport. But, to categorize it as such neglects the sport’s ambitions. First Land goals to impress the participant by house and textual content to consider language, place and time.
2. Search Magician by Moss Salamander
Within the smaller impartial sport scene, the 2D RPG aesthetic has remained well-liked because of the accessibility of growth software program corresponding to RPGMaker and RPG Paper Maker. Whereas this aesthetic might be seen in well-liked titles corresponding to Omori and Undertale, the vary of chance expands a lot extra past well-liked storefronts, from experimental emotional subversive titles to colourful worlds of marvel.
Described by the developer as an RPG impressed by House Funeral about creatures they want to hang around with, Search Magician is a sport of pleasure and marvel within the 2D RPG style. The participant follows Pax the frog magician as he goals to grow to be one of the best magician whereas his little demon pal Lincoln tags alongside. Over the course of the journey, the aquatic creatures struggle and hand around in skeleton-filled caverns and neon critter 80’s arcades. It’s a sport about having fun with the great instances — and all the chums you make alongside the way in which. What extra might you ask for?
3. Decay by Freya Campbell and Grim Baccaris
Unbiased sport engines and frameworks hardly ever make it to storefronts like Steam, however the accomplishments which they obtain in experimentation and elegance deserve equal, if no more, appreciation. Decay brings collectively the expertise of two seminal authors on the earth of interactive fiction, bitsy and Twine to create a sport exploring histories, libraries and witchcraft.
Decay is a library of phrases that asks the participant to query the development and reconstruction of historical past and the methods we come to grasp concepts of evil. Within the background, a twinkling soundtrack performs over a low buzzing tone, leaving a haunting feeling as they proceed to study of this world of magic. Over the course of the sport, the participant reads extra in regards to the world and chances are you’ll start to query simply what half you’ve gotten performed in all of it. One might take as a lot away from Decay’s world as we are able to about our personal.
4. A Star Known as Solar by Cecile Richard
Talking of seminal authors in interactive fiction, Cecile Richard is one other who has constantly launched bitsy titles that completely astound. A Star Known as Solar is one in all Richard’s finest works and some of the emotionally resounding titles made with itch.io. It follows somebody who’s on their own in house going by their each day routine and considering again on their reminiscences of family members. As you water vegetation, sit within the elevator, and look out into house, chances are you’ll begin to look again by yourself reminiscences of the folks you cherish.
The sport might be performed inside 10 minutes, nonetheless, these 10 minutes are densely wealthy. Every body of the sport is full of an emotional environment that’s unparalleled. A Star Known as Solar is the proper argument for the way lo-fi video games uniquely categorical their emotion and tone in ways in which increased constancy video games can not.
5. 10 Lovely Postcards by thecatamites
For over a decade now, thecatamites has been creating video games crammed with attraction and enthusiasm for the methods video games can current character. 10 Lovely Postcards is the developer’s most up-to-date work and the attraction hasn’t gone away a bit.
Thecatamites video games take among the most charming features of video games and discover methods to make them metaphorical and theoretical with out making them into severe theoretical texts. For instance, simply making it so the participant can stroll by dialogue, looks like you’re strolling by what the characters are considering. And even simply making it so there are 9 worlds, like enjoying by 9 ranges of a retro platformer.
10 Lovely Postcards brings thecatamites’ prowess to the flag sport style to create a collection of ideas about photographs, reminiscence, capitalism, and creatures.
6. Flesh, Blood and Concrete by io
By a swirling labyrinth of concrete and reminiscences wrapped in flesh, Lera searches for a approach house. In Flesh, Blood, and Concrete the participant follows Lera as she has gotten misplaced in entrance of a creepy trying condominium constructing with a personality carrying a maid outfit. Over the course of the sport nonetheless, the condominium constructing finally ends up changing into rather more linked to Lera than she initially believed.
Like many different indie RPGMaker titles, Flesh, Blood, and Concrete doesn’t current any advanced mechanics for the participant to study. It’s utterly made up of strolling by rooms, selecting up gadgets, and studying dialogue. Nonetheless, it doesn’t detract from the emotional beats or themes from the sport one bit. Flesh, Blood and Concrete presents some of the compelling and sophisticated metaphors about melancholy, inside turmoil and suicide. Watch out earlier than you play this one; it should depart you feeling heavy.
7. Madotsuki’s Closet by Bagenzo
One of many fantastic issues about making video games exterior of a gated market is that there aren’t many restrictions on what content material creators can put of their sport. This implies there are a ton of video games exterior of Steam which can be variations, critiques, fan video games, and remixes of current video games. These video games carry their creators to pre-existing video games to specific the methods they contact us, be it actually or expressed by new concepts of what they might be.
Madotsuki’s Closet is a sport essay in regards to the sport Yume Nikki. It performs like a dialog between you and the creator, Bagenzo, as she recounts the historical past of the sport’s theories alongside along with her personal. What makes Madotsuki’s Closet transcend its historic retelling is that it acknowledges historical past is private. It’s greater than only a second in time — it’s additionally how the creator skilled that second and found herself.
8. The Crying Sport by Sophie Mallinson
The Crying Sport is a playable essay sport about Sophie Mallinson’s experiences with crying. In it the participant presses the easy button to proceed the animation of crying on display. This pushes ahead dialogue, which is implied to be Mallinson. Every play of The Crying Sport doesn’t solely really feel like an remark of Mallinson’s tears however an opportunity to be with our personal.
The Crying Sport isn’t the one essay sport on the market. If you end up touched by the mix of non-public anecdotes and play, you need to hunt down others on the location. Nonetheless, The Crying Sport is on this record as a result of it’s so concise, relatable and poignant.
9. Curtain by dreamfeel
It follows a lesbian lady navigating and surviving by days of an abusive relationship. As you stroll across the condominium, you start to study the story of a pair who has had their fill of excellent instances collectively together with extraordinarily unhealthy ones. Rooms are crammed with playlists, guitars, music posters, and data. Halfway by it, nonetheless, there’s a twist, permitting avid gamers to see every little thing in a distinct mild. Curtain particularly handles this example by creating metaphysical hallways for the protagonist to stroll by time and expertise completely different intervals of the connection.
Curtain was the sport that modified video games for me. It introduced a brand new approach for me to consider how house and objects can current narrative. It set the thought in my head that video games might be full of concepts from the filters that we see the world by to the colours of the partitions and the objects laid round. Curtain experiments with the concept behind each waterfall there’s a treasure, besides as an alternative of a stat enhance or merchandise, there may be emotional exploration and metaphor.
10. Butterfly Soup by Briana Lei
Butterfly Soup stays some of the influential titles on itch.io to at the present time. One have a look at the infinite feedback might be sufficient to indicate that. Set in 2008, it follows 4 Asian-American queer girls falling in love with each other and enjoying baseball.
The story addresses the state of queerness, how homophobia and racism persists, and the way every character copes with discrimination and id. There are not any actual impactful selections the participant could make all through the sport, however this doesn’t take away from the emotional beats that the sport presents.
11. EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY by alien melon
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY is loads all of sudden, however for a great purpose. It’s a sport about residing on-line and all the methods coping — and penalties include that. As you flick thru a collection of applications, unfinished textual content information, and pop ups, a pained collection of occasions presents itself. Little bunny creatures beg you for solutions to their ache as they’re impaled on one display, and on one other, rabbits wander round questioning why nobody appears to like themselves.
On high of that, poetry pops up within the midst of all of it, leaving you overwhelmed. You find yourself with sensory overload, a pair chuckles, and a heavy feeling of ache. All of it feels painfully acquainted, not too dissimilar from how your disorganized browser tabs could have made you are feeling.
12. The Sleeping Mild by Valerie of DOMINO CLUB
Funnily sufficient, there are literally two video games on this record about lengthy distance relationships in house. Nonetheless, don’t be fooled into skipping this one.
The Domino Membership is a collective of sport creators that anonymously creates video games beneath a unified theme. It’s tough to know that lots of their video games are created from collaborations, conversations, and inspirations behind the scenes. Nonetheless, that’s simply what makes lots of their video games stand out. It’s a collective of sport makers who have already got particular person model, they usually come collectively to create these works.
The Sleeping Mild follows an astronaut who manages more and more advanced methods aboard their ship. As the sport goes on, it’s intermixed with dialogue from a relationship that one assumes was prior to now. The photographs of house more and more grow to be extra lonely as you watch your astronaut juxtaposed with the sunshine of a single star in house.
13. Homeland by Ada Rook
The protagonist of Homeland recounts the letters they’ve despatched to a buddy. They discuss everybody round them making an attempt to persuade them that their buddy is gone, however they proceed to jot down to them. We might assume we’re the blur shifting by the blue-violet caves of Homeland, nevertheless it may be believed to be a metaphor representing an infinite void of hope and despair.
Homeland is a sound artwork piece about somebody who has misplaced a buddy and isn’t certain how you can settle for that they’re gone. The caves are formed like soundwaves that you’re shifting by. You nearly overlook that you’re accountable for the character as you progress by the cave listening to the protagonist’s voice. The voice is taking you on a journey as a lot as urgent the down secret is.
14. BINKY IX: BUBBO I by gisbrecht
It’s laborious to say which sport within the BINKY collection one ought to begin with. Spanning 25 video games, every with a distinct strategy to design and style, one might begin with any one of many BINKY titles. The BINKY collection every present perception into the world of BINKY, but in addition a metacritique of video games themselves. Every lasts wherever between a couple of minutes to an hour relying on the time you resolve to spend on them.
For this record, we suggest beginning with BUBBO I, which is one in all BINKY’s first “grand” adventures when you don’t rely BINKY’s journey by the human physique in BINKY VI or being stranded on Robotic Island in BINKY VII. BUBBO I follows BINKY, who finally ends up on a mysterious island stuffed with dragons and wizards. The distinct camp and lightheartedness which can be iconic to the collection return for this entry as you make mates with each dragon you meet.
15. Riba by nbmach1ne
Fishing has been a big a part of video games for many years and spanning throughout genres. Nonetheless, Riba is a singular strategy to fishing in video video games due to the way in which it treats fishing as a time to wander one’s reminiscences.
Everything of Riba takes place inside a single body containing a lone fisher sitting at a pond. Over the course of the sport, the fisher pulls out some fish and bones, which inform the story of a liked one they misplaced. I received’t go into the main points of all of it as a result of it isn’t too lengthy and it really works loads higher entering into blind. Nonetheless, with every bone fished out, one other a part of this fisher’s life and their family members grow to be extra clear. The pond slowly transforms from a spot for aquatic creatures to a memorial.
16. ANATOMY by Kitty Horrorshow
ANATOMY asks the lifelong query of what it will be prefer to journey by the physique. Nonetheless, in ANATOMY, the physique turns into an more and more horrific home one travels by as they hearken to cassette tapes discovered all through the home. The longer one performs, the extra one questions their very own relationship to their physique — to their very own home and its rooms.
In contrast to many horror video games, ANATOMY doesn’t include any bounce scares nor chase scenes to scare the participant. As an alternative it digs deep into the participant’s personal fears, and creates an atmosphere and narrative that’s more and more discomforting to navigate. With every step you are taking, you may be terrified figuring out that you need to take one other.
