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Best of 2011 (Top 5):
Mining. Building. Fighting. Constructing. In the real world, all of these things are rough, painful sorts of jobs that most people aren't very interested in doing. In the gaming world, they're the Holy Grail of entertainment. Enter King Arthur's Gold, a multiplayer (with some single player, too) construction and combat game similar to Terraria, Minecraft, and hempuli's miniature masterpiece Masjin. Teamwork is the central focus of the game, and while some players will be busy mining and building, others will head out for direct combat with the enemy. How much more exciting could it get?!
A great Calamity rocks the world, wiping out all of civlization in an instant and leaving behind only a handful of floating islands in a vast void. As the Kid, along with your ever-present Narrator as a guide, search the remnants of the world for something that might rebuild it, uncovering the truth about the Calamity (and human nature) as you do. Featuring stunning visuals, an engrossing story related in a unique, immersive fashion, and fast-paced combat with upgradeable weapons, Bastion is a top-notch indie action RPG players looking for another realm and a good story will definitely want to investigate.
Just over two years ago from this day, a relatively unknown indie programmer called Notch posted about a work-in-progress version of a sandbox building game on the TIGSource forums. It was called Minecraft, and at the time, people thought it was really very cool. Fast forward to the present and Minecraft has sold over four million copies, been through extended alpha and beta phases, spawned the Mojang indie studio, and gained so much popularity, the launch of its official version took place at a Las Vegas convention dubbed MineCon. That's an impressive feat for any game, let alone one started by a single person. But now, Minecraft is officially out. No more beta, no more alpha, it's here. Time to lose yourself in a voxel world all over again!
Terraria, a new action/adventure/creativity game from Re-Logic, is perfect for a sand emperor like myself. It offers the thrill of discovery mixed with the chance to meticulously construct your own little village, city or empire. And before you think it: yes, it's a lot like Minecraft, only in 2D!
Johnny has one wish... to go to the moon. As he lays, a dying old man, his only hope to fulfill it lies in the hands of two doctors with a new technology that allows them to alter the memories of their patients and give them what they desire. As they dig deeper into Johnny's past, however, they'll find his wish isn't as simple as it seems, and the path to happiness isn't always a perfectly smooth one. By turns funny, touching, and eerie, this is one indie adventure game you shouldn't miss.
Game of the week
KAG FTW!
KAG WIN
Good job KAG! I just bought it yesterday and am very impressed with it. Not only is it coming out of alpha soon, but... it BEAT MINECRAFT? Impossible, some might say, but damn. Awesome.
...Why is Bastion here?
It's a great game and I love it, but it isn't indie at all, unless Warner Bros is now indie. I'm pretty sure it isn't.
[It's here because we reviewed it in 2011, and this was the best category to put it in. -Jay]
Just some criticism about the way these contests work: it seems that KAG won because the KAG community was directed to vote by a blog post. I'm pretty sure if Notch directed to JIG, or even whoever does Terraria, they would have won... whatever, I guess it doesn't really matter. KAG is pretty great, anyways.
[That would be fair criticism if that's the way it actually works, but it's not. Our
"Best of" awards is not a contest. We take the voting into account, of course, but we have our own ideas of what the best games should be and we influence the results accordingly. -Jay]
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