The Indie Challenge: Round 2, Again

Alright, let’s give this another go.

Originally this GameGrin series was created by Kris West in 2013, who declared that he is “not the sort of person who is fond of Indie games.” In an attempt to broaden his gaming horizons, West challenged himself to play some indie games. Hoping to see what all the fuss is about, Kris came out on the other end with a better understanding of this particular part of the gaming industry.

Scrolling my way through the GameGrin features, looking for something to write about, I came across an attempted revival of The Indie Challenge series and thought it was such a great idea. I was even more excited to see that the revival didn’t end up happening, leaving a re-revival ripe for the taking. My name is Nick, also known as “Pepper”, and like most of you reading this I have been playing videogames as far back as I can remember. The first game I can remember playing would be Half-Life by Valve, although I’m sure I played something more age-appropriate before then.

I have always been a fan of indie games, unlike the creator of this series, so I feel it’s best that I don’t hide that. I’ve had a Steam profile since the year 2000, and very little money for most of that time, making indie games my go-to category when shopping. The indie games industry has been a staple in my gaming library, ranging from unpolished free-to-play games to cheap mega-hits like Undertale. Being known as “the indie game guy” among my friends I’ve been recommending indie games that I love for quite some time. Most of the time I get good feedback on my recommendations, so I figure why not highlight some games I’m really passionate about. For the foreseeable future, I’ll be writing about a mix of indie games, those that I’ve played recently and love/hate, and those that I feel everyone should play through at least once.

Indie games, nowadays, are pretty much any game that doesn’t have a AAA publisher or development studio. Most are smaller passion projects that are made by a team of devoted gamers and creatives. These smaller projects are the ones that I usually would try to highlight because the lesser-known games have proven to be among the best, from my experience. I’ll try my best to keep away from the Early Access titles since an unfinished indie game is usually far from marketable. Next time I’ll be writing about a charming game by the name of Spiritfarer, made by Thunder Lotus Games.

Although I’ll be the one writing these articles, I’d love to get any suggestions from you guys! I’ve played a lot of games, but obviously, there are some that I’ve overlooked. Feel free to comment any suggestions you have down below!