10 Most Fun Indie Games We've Seen at E3 2016
While triple-A games get all the attention, independent games tend to get overlooked. With big names like Bethesda, EA and Sony attending E3, it's easy to overlook the little guys. Not this time, not in this article!
We’ve seen plenty of exciting games at E3 2016, the annual video game conference that takes place in LA, including several independent games that look like tons of fun. Such as...
1. Fe
Last year, EA helped Swedish developer Coldwood publish Unravel, an inspiring game with a heartfelt story, an adorable hero, and gorgeous graphics. This year, EA is helping another Swedish developer do the same. Meet Fe, developed by a small studio in Gothenburg called Zoink.
EA’s partnership with Coldwood made the company reconsider its opinion of indie games. Realizing that indie games are worth it, EA launched EA Originals, an initiative that aims to help small developers bring their interesting games to the world. And the first game to come out of EA Originals, is Fe.
"At its heart, Fe is a personal narrative about our relationship with nature, the land, and its beings," said Patrick Söderlund, Executive Vice President of EA Studios. "It’s a wordless celebration of our longing to be one with world around us. It’s a story that reminds us that everything in this world is connected, living in a delicate balance that is constantly under threat. It's a game full of discovery, conflict, and relationships."
2. Cuphead
Developed by Studio MDHR and backed by Microsoft, Cuphead is a run and gun platformer with a classic feel. Now when I say classic, what I actually mean is 1930s cartoons. That’s right, this indie game looks like a 1930s cartoon, and that’s awesome!
Here’s the trailer we go to see last year, at E3 2015.
And here’s the gameplay trailer we got to see this year, at E3 2016.
Cuphead will be released for PC and Xbox One sometime this year.
3. Vampyr
Dontnod Entertainment, the Paris-based developer that came up with the award-winning Life Is Strange adventure game, is now working on something new: a third-person action role-playing game called Vampyr. You play as Doctor Jonathan Reid, a World War I veteran and a vampire who lives in early 20th century England.
John Reid’s existence is a nightmare. As a doctor, he doesn’t want to hurt others. But because he is a vampire, he has to hurt others to survive. Reid can feed without killing, but then he won’t level up and unlock new abilities. As a doctor, Reid wants to find a cure for his "disease." But to do that, he must take innocent lives. And every life that Reid takes has a butterfly effect on the community and city.
Vampyr will be released in 2017 for PC, Xbox One and PS4.
4. Tyranny
The battle between good and evil is over, and evil has won. That is the basic premise of Tyranny, a role-playing game developed by Paradox Interactive and Obsidian Entertainment. The world of the Tiers is now ruled by Overlord Kyros and the forces of evil. In this world, you are a Fatebinder, and a Fatebinder’s word is law.
What you do has a direct influence on the world around you. So the question is, what will you do? Will you use your power to bring justice and inspire loyalty? Or will you bring fear and cruelty to the beaten people of the Tiers?
5. Inside
2010’s Limbo was a huge success for independent video game developer Playdead. Inside, the sequel to Limbo, is going to be released on June 29 for Xbox One and July 7 for PC via Steam. As you can see from the trailer embedded below, Inside is very similar to Limbo.
Inside’s story revolves around a young boy’s struggles against evil forces that are trying to take over the world through questionable experiments on human bodies. Compared to Limbo, Inside has deeper challenges, more diverse settings, and more refined gameplay.
6. The Culling
At E3 2016, Microsoft announced that Xaviant's The Culling is coming to the Xbox One Game Preview program. “Working with Microsoft and releasing The Culling on Xbox Game Preview is a dream come true,” says Josh Van Veld, director of operations at Xaviant. “We’re thrilled to bring our flavor of adrenaline-filled, competitive battle royale to Xbox fans worldwide.”
The Culling is like The Hunger Games. There are 16 contestants on a remote island paradise and they have 20 minutes to explore, scavenge items, craft weapons, build traps, hunt and kill each other. The one that survives is the winner.
The Culling is already available on Steam – but as an Early Access Game.
7. 100ft Robot Golf
Golf is a pretty boring game. So what can you do to make it exciting? No Goblin has the perfect answer: throw in some gigantic robots. That’s what you get from 100ft Robot Golf. It’s a real time golf game that features impossibly large robots.
You can play 100ft Robot Golf alone or with your friends. If you want to play alone, the game has a campaign mode that "reveals the real stories and experiences of today’s robot golf pilots." And if you want to play with others, the game can handle up to 4 players.
8. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Koji Igarashi’s new game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, was present at this year’s E3. While the game still has some ways to go, things look promising.
The game revolves around Miriam, a young woman who has been cursed by an alchemist. To find a cure for the curse, which is slowly turning her skin into crystal, Miriam must adventure through a demonic castle. What else did you expect from a game that is described as the spiritual successor to the Castlevania series?
9. Outlast II
Speaking about spiritual successors, Outlast II, the sequel to the original Outlast game, was present at E3 2016 as well. Outlast II is set in the same universe as the first game, but it features a new location and new characters – Lynn and Blake Langermann, investigative journalists who are following a trail of clues that started with the seemingly impossible murder of a pregnant woman.
Outlast II will be released for PC, PS4, and Xbox One this fall.
10. Pyre
Supergiant Games, the developer behind the very successful RPGs Bastion and Transistor, brings us Pyre, a party-based RPG in which you have to lead a band of exiles to freedom. This means having to traverse a mystical purgatory and having to face off against various foes in battles called Rites.
Pyre will be released sometime in 2017.
We’ve seen plenty of exciting games at E3 2016, the annual video game conference that takes place in LA, including several independent games that look like tons of fun. Such as...
1. Fe
Last year, EA helped Swedish developer Coldwood publish Unravel, an inspiring game with a heartfelt story, an adorable hero, and gorgeous graphics. This year, EA is helping another Swedish developer do the same. Meet Fe, developed by a small studio in Gothenburg called Zoink.
EA’s partnership with Coldwood made the company reconsider its opinion of indie games. Realizing that indie games are worth it, EA launched EA Originals, an initiative that aims to help small developers bring their interesting games to the world. And the first game to come out of EA Originals, is Fe.
"At its heart, Fe is a personal narrative about our relationship with nature, the land, and its beings," said Patrick Söderlund, Executive Vice President of EA Studios. "It’s a wordless celebration of our longing to be one with world around us. It’s a story that reminds us that everything in this world is connected, living in a delicate balance that is constantly under threat. It's a game full of discovery, conflict, and relationships."
2. Cuphead
Developed by Studio MDHR and backed by Microsoft, Cuphead is a run and gun platformer with a classic feel. Now when I say classic, what I actually mean is 1930s cartoons. That’s right, this indie game looks like a 1930s cartoon, and that’s awesome!
Here’s the trailer we go to see last year, at E3 2015.
And here’s the gameplay trailer we got to see this year, at E3 2016.
Cuphead will be released for PC and Xbox One sometime this year.
3. Vampyr
Dontnod Entertainment, the Paris-based developer that came up with the award-winning Life Is Strange adventure game, is now working on something new: a third-person action role-playing game called Vampyr. You play as Doctor Jonathan Reid, a World War I veteran and a vampire who lives in early 20th century England.
John Reid’s existence is a nightmare. As a doctor, he doesn’t want to hurt others. But because he is a vampire, he has to hurt others to survive. Reid can feed without killing, but then he won’t level up and unlock new abilities. As a doctor, Reid wants to find a cure for his "disease." But to do that, he must take innocent lives. And every life that Reid takes has a butterfly effect on the community and city.
Vampyr will be released in 2017 for PC, Xbox One and PS4.
4. Tyranny
The battle between good and evil is over, and evil has won. That is the basic premise of Tyranny, a role-playing game developed by Paradox Interactive and Obsidian Entertainment. The world of the Tiers is now ruled by Overlord Kyros and the forces of evil. In this world, you are a Fatebinder, and a Fatebinder’s word is law.
What you do has a direct influence on the world around you. So the question is, what will you do? Will you use your power to bring justice and inspire loyalty? Or will you bring fear and cruelty to the beaten people of the Tiers?
5. Inside
2010’s Limbo was a huge success for independent video game developer Playdead. Inside, the sequel to Limbo, is going to be released on June 29 for Xbox One and July 7 for PC via Steam. As you can see from the trailer embedded below, Inside is very similar to Limbo.
Inside’s story revolves around a young boy’s struggles against evil forces that are trying to take over the world through questionable experiments on human bodies. Compared to Limbo, Inside has deeper challenges, more diverse settings, and more refined gameplay.
6. The Culling
At E3 2016, Microsoft announced that Xaviant's The Culling is coming to the Xbox One Game Preview program. “Working with Microsoft and releasing The Culling on Xbox Game Preview is a dream come true,” says Josh Van Veld, director of operations at Xaviant. “We’re thrilled to bring our flavor of adrenaline-filled, competitive battle royale to Xbox fans worldwide.”
The Culling is like The Hunger Games. There are 16 contestants on a remote island paradise and they have 20 minutes to explore, scavenge items, craft weapons, build traps, hunt and kill each other. The one that survives is the winner.
The Culling is already available on Steam – but as an Early Access Game.
7. 100ft Robot Golf
Golf is a pretty boring game. So what can you do to make it exciting? No Goblin has the perfect answer: throw in some gigantic robots. That’s what you get from 100ft Robot Golf. It’s a real time golf game that features impossibly large robots.
You can play 100ft Robot Golf alone or with your friends. If you want to play alone, the game has a campaign mode that "reveals the real stories and experiences of today’s robot golf pilots." And if you want to play with others, the game can handle up to 4 players.
8. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Koji Igarashi’s new game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, was present at this year’s E3. While the game still has some ways to go, things look promising.
The game revolves around Miriam, a young woman who has been cursed by an alchemist. To find a cure for the curse, which is slowly turning her skin into crystal, Miriam must adventure through a demonic castle. What else did you expect from a game that is described as the spiritual successor to the Castlevania series?
9. Outlast II
Speaking about spiritual successors, Outlast II, the sequel to the original Outlast game, was present at E3 2016 as well. Outlast II is set in the same universe as the first game, but it features a new location and new characters – Lynn and Blake Langermann, investigative journalists who are following a trail of clues that started with the seemingly impossible murder of a pregnant woman.
Outlast II will be released for PC, PS4, and Xbox One this fall.
10. Pyre
Supergiant Games, the developer behind the very successful RPGs Bastion and Transistor, brings us Pyre, a party-based RPG in which you have to lead a band of exiles to freedom. This means having to traverse a mystical purgatory and having to face off against various foes in battles called Rites.
Pyre will be released sometime in 2017.
