7 Reasons Why: You Should Play Indie Games

Last Updated: July 13, 2018

Indie

The number of games that are available to the public is bewildering!

On steam alone, there are 17,801 games accessible to download – that doesn’t include all the games that are exclusive for console.

What’s interesting is that the vast majority of these games on Steam are Indie Games.

Indie Studios typically produce shorter games with a small team of developers and a limited budget.

Seeing as they have less of a budget, the instalments in this genre are stereotyped to be bad quality games and therefore receive a bad reception.

However,

While not every indie game is perfect, plenty of them offer more enjoyment and detail than some AAA games!

Who are we to tell you to play these games?!

Well, we’re an Indie Game Website with informative case-studies written by our Industry Experts and Gaming Fanatics.

We wanted to share all the reasons why you should give Indie Games a chance.

Today we are going to explore:

7 Reasons Why: You Should Play Indie Games

Indie Games are Cheaper

The first biggest reason for playing Indie Games is the cost per game.

A classic AAA game can cost +$49.99 with other games offering DLCs and extensions for even more money on top of the original price.

On the other hand, Indie Games average at the price of $8.72!

You could potentially by 5 great Indie Games for the price of 1 AAA game. That’s 5 different stories, hundreds of different characters and level designs all for you to explore.

Having the lower prices are particularly beneficial for those on a tight budget.
If you know you can’t stretch to a high-end game, make sure to check out some Indie Games first.

Huge Variety to Choose From

As discussed before, Indie Games makes up the majority of games downloadable on Steam.

Therefore, players have such a huge variety of games choose from.

These are downloads that cover every genre of games in their own unique style – you can never say that you have played all good Indie Games as the release of another great game is imminent.

To understand the variety available, let us look at some examples:

In one corner of the Indie Games category, we have Inside.

Inside

Inside – Hunted and alone a boy finds himself drawn into the center of a dark project.

This game allows the user to follow the journey of a boy while everything in his environment is trying to force upon him a brutal and horrifying death.

Inside is gripping and makes the players want to see our protagonist to safety. Playdead, the developers of Inside, have received critical acclaim for their work.

In the other corner, we have RiME.

Rime

Rime – A puzzle adventure in beautiful yet rugged world of discovery.

You explore the glories of a Mediterranean island and solve puzzles discovering the history behind our protagonist.

You can sit back and enjoy this game taking in the beautiful surroundings and pleasant sounds.

Inside and RiME couldn’t be more different yet they are both Indie Games!

Indie Games are More Original and Creative

Having such a variety of games on the market, you see a wider range of art styles explored in Indie Games.

Rather than trying to create the most realistic-looking characters possible, they create imaginative protagonists and worlds for us to explore.

Okay, I’m not an idiot; I know that there are plenty of creative, higher end games available but what’s exceptionally special about Indie Games is that there is a much wider choice of games with unique stories and art styles.

Take Knights and Bikes for example.

Knights and Bikes – Co-op action adventure in a beautifully hand drawn 3D world.

Made by a team of 2, they have discovered a group of characters so unique and original that a bespoke art and style like this is rarely achieved.

The combination of earthy colors and unique interpretations of people have opened up the opportunity to discover a creative and imaginative story that you don’t see in other games.

The developers of Indie Games, in general, are regularly allowed to spread their wings more when making their game as they have a smaller team to run their ideas by; they don’t have to check with external companies if they can go ahead with an idea.

Therefore, they can let their imagination run as wild as it wants!

Indie Games are developed for the Fans

As cheesy as this sounds, it’s true.

Indie Developers aren’t making these games just to please a publisher or any other bigger scale company – they do it as they have a massive passion for games.

And they specifically make games that they know their audience will want – not necessarily game they have to make.

They introduce us to games that they think have been missing for a while. They are filling the smaller gaps in the market.

This doesn’t mean that other Game Devs hate their jobs. Indie Devs are working specifically on a project they love.

Supporting Smaller Studios

By purchasing an Indie Game, you are supporting a small, self-organized team and helping them fund their next project.

Players are allowing passionate developers to pursue the thing they love doing by buying their game.

You’re giving students jobs by playing these games! It can be difficult for graduates to be immediately recruited by a bigger studio so they typically need to start smaller.

Finally, you are helping new Game Devs gain useful experience they need allowing them to move onto bigger things.

I know I’m making them sound like a Charity: “donate £1 to their game and you can feed an impoverished game developer for a day”.

Of course, that’s not the case.

The point I’m making is that the amount you spend on Indie Games is always being put to good use.

Each game is different

Personally, from my own gaming experiences, I have found many big titles to be quite repetitive.

You can spot similarities in stories, character design, and playing techniques.

Indie Games, however, have us test our gaming capabilities.

Controls are redefined, levels are flipped upside down, characters have new abilities.

And if they’re not designed to test our hand-eye coordination, then they are equipped with deep stories discussing real-life problems and complex characters.

For instance, Night In The Woods entraps its audience with a detailed story exploring the mysteries of a small town and its residences. Not only that, the game is visually stunning and all characters have been well thought out.

Indie Games are highly underrated

Having discovered how great these games are, it’s a shame that some people immediately perceive them to be low quality games given their budget, the small team working on them, and their price.

Without having experienced their awesomeness, players forgo playing Indie Games due to their negative stereotype.

Yet, these games come with the most surprises; never would you have believed you could be so immersed in something made by only a few talented people.

So forget what people tell you. If there’s a rad indie game you want to try, don’t listen to the pessimists in our community. Try the game out and make your own judgments.

So that’s 7 Good Reasons Why: You Should Play Indie Games.

While allowing us such a huge variety of games to play, they don’t leave massive dents in our wallets.

Indie games offer an immense amount of creativity and imagination for us to enjoy and introduce us to original art styles and interpretations of life.

They influence the future of game devs and have directed our industry to make and achieve greater things.

This post was a guest article from doubleupgaming, remember to check out more Indie Game news and case studies over at their site doubleupgaming.com