Quote Originally Posted by calthaer View Post
The Indie games I've loved (I define this as "Finishing the game" or playing the heck out of it if it has no end - any game that holds my interest that long is a winner) over the past decade+ that have been actually fun have been (in no particular order):
Aquaria
Bastion
Transistor
Dead Cells (love this one - it's like SotN turned up to 11)
Fez
Kingdom: Classic + New Lands
Double Dragon Neon (not really "indie" I suppose, but maybe for Capcom it was experimental)
Runespell: Overture
FTL
Into the Breach
Invisible, Inc.
Thea: The Awakening (I'll admit this one may be an acquired taste)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Soulcaster
Hand of Fate
Terraria
Firewatch
Dex
Waking Mars

There are a few others in my Steam library that I haven't tried so far. The only AAA release I can think of that has gotten as much play as any of these has been Civ VI - that has been really fun and I love it. Maybe I'm not giving them enough of a chance because they're so expensive.

Point is...I think gaming is as good as it ever was. When I go to pick up my NES controller, it seems like a huge step down compared to any of the games I just listed - with a few of the absolute greats like Super Mario Bros. 3 being a notable exception. I can't honestly sit here and say "They don't make 'em like they used to" - not in the sense that phrase is used. It's true, they don't - I think they make things BETTER. The problem today isn't in having better games than before, it's in finding them amidst all the mediocre or bad.
I read that list and was like "Oh yeah, I have Bastion. I only got so far and then got distracted by something else." Even when I loaded up my Franken-laptop with Windows 10 recently, I loaded Bastion but only got as far as I did before. Something always comes up and then I don't think about it. Firewatch I'm currently playing when I can on the Friday "game night" with headphones tightly on so the kids don' t hear the language. This is one of those new "games" I like-it pulls me into the story and I want to interact with it more. It actually has dialog options I myself would probably say, which is a bonus. I don't know how "far" I'm into it play wise, but I'm investigating a fenced in section of the park, to lessen any spoilers. I can't seem to wrap my brain around FTL.

Yeah, there IS a lot of stuff out there, which really makes it hard for the cream to rise to the top.