Top 5 Indie PC Games of 2013!

Updated: December 31, 2013

Hello Techfans! Some of our more avid readers will recall a couple weeks back I went over my top 5 big name PC games of 2013, and the reason I used the word big name is because I wanted to bring you guys a separate list completely dedicated to my favorite Indie games of the year! Now just like last time I have to mention that I am quite terrible at playing favorites, and so while I was able to narrow down my choices to 5, ranking them just isn’t going to happen, so these are listed in no particular order. Plus when it comes to Indie games there’s just so many out there that get released, I’m not claiming to have played every single one from this year, these are simply the 5 that I have experienced and loved, and want to share with you guys.

So to kick things off right away is a game that was available in open beta for some time, and found itself fully released earlier this year: Path of Exile. Fusing elements from loot grinders like Diablo II with popular mechanics from some choice Final Fantasy games (materia from FF7, Massive Skill Tree from FF10), Path of Exile is a really fun free to play top down hack n’ slash. Playing alone is all well and good for the challenge and messing around, but party options are what really bring this one alive, with an insane amount of character customization and building theory. A power gamers dream if you really want to test out all the different builds the game has available, this one is tough not to recommend thanks to it’s price tag of 0 (though there are microtransactions for cosmetic things).

The next game on my list is by far the most addictive of the bunch, and that’s Rogue Legacy. Think Castlevania only with a much steeper difficulty curve, and with each death you get your choice of different randomized heroes from a number of classes, with varying mental and physical traits including useful things like a smaller size for fitting in tight areas, to negative things like nearsighted so all things far away are blurry. Dying is something you’ll be doing a lot in this game, but that’s ok because with each hauling back of gold you can buy new items, stat ups, or even unlock more classes to play as. Even if you beat the game fully once it’ll keep you playing with the option for a new game plus mode with higher difficulty; this is one title that once you start, it’s just too damn hard to stop.

Now one of the most bizarrely great games this year takes one of the most mundane and slowest jobs in the world, and finds a way to make it into an addicting and strangely engaging story driven game: Papers, Please. Playing the role of a paper pushing border inspector in a fictional communist nation, players are tasked with finding inconsistencies in paper work or letting people through, all while making money and trying to keep your country safe. As you get farther more and more mechanics are added upping the games complexity and difficulty, and the game sports a surprising number of endings based on how you handle certain situations as the story goes on. It’s hard to explain how exactly this game grows on you the way that it does, being as mundane as it is at first glance, but anyone that starts sinking time into it will find it an engrossing, and difficult game to experience.

Continuing the theme of difficulty, the next game on this list has some of the most complex and mind bending puzzles, all with some of the trippiest visuals in a title from this year: Antichamber. Antichamber takes first person puzzle solving to a new level by making use of physics defying architecture, where the levels and areas around you change each moment just based on how you look at them. Staring at objects for prolonged periods, walking backwards while staring at a point of light, or even getting close to one object and turning around can completely change where you’ll end up. The ability to easily warp out and back to any room you wish (though resetting that room’s individual progress) makes it so that the game keeps a great even pacing and player’s surprisingly never feel quite that lost.

Last on the list is the shortest, yet one of the most impactful stories in a game to come out this year: Brothers. Playing a co-op adventure game with yourself can be a bit confusing at times, and controlling two characters simultaneously with half a controller each can be a bit rough at first. Once players adapt and move through the story however, they will find this title to offer a combinations of intuitive and fun gameplay, beautiful landscapes, and a story that manages to be touching and expressed without the use of any real world language. It only takes a little under 4 hours to complete, but the condensed experience is well worth it. It’s rare to find a game with so little quantity of content have such a strong impact with it’s short time frame, and Brothers manages to pull it off beautifully.

So those are my top 5 indie PC games of the year, make sure to let us know in the comments what your favorites are because we saw a lot of titles this year, almost too many to choose from. Those of you that haven’t played or even heard of some of the games I talked about, I’ll have links posted below to each of them so you can check them out. Thanks for reading Tech of Tomorrow and Happy New Year!