If you’re sick of playing high-cost, overdeveloped, major AAA releases like Dave The Diver, why not expand your gaming palette and try out some indie recommendations below. We guarantee that, while they may have big budgets, high production value, and a publisher, these titles have easy to recognize elements that will have you asking, “Why haven’t I played this stellar indie game that has such obvious faults that only a AAA developer could solve?”:
Far Cry 6
While Far Cry 6 is about liberating a tropical paradise again, rest assured you will be going after another Wish.com version of Vaas, but in a narrow 60 FOV. Since they can’t afford it, it’s clear only an indie game would buck accessibility and have you playing the game as if staring down a glory hole.
FIFA
It’s quite obvious when a sequel simply changes the number on the cover with no meaningful changes in the game, it’s a clear result of being an indie with no budget. Since indie games are about innovating, they’ve revealed a new system for a sequel that brings sweat to players. That’s it.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
(No, that’s not a map from Assassin’s Creed 2003. That’s from Assassin’s Creed Mirage.)
When a developer has to walk back all the innovations they’ve made on a franchise and go back to the purest, most boring iterations of its past, it’s obvious they’re an indie developer. Only with corporate guidance would Ubisoft have the wisdom to actually listen to fans who just want a cool pirate boating game.
Final Fantasy BirthWalker/NeverParadise/ChocoboRhythm Remastered
Some indie developers crowdfund, some seek out other external investing. Some do what Final Fantasy has done, which is spin off games that no one wanted. Only a true indie developer would innovate this hard, while still retaining archaic gameplay from 20 years ago.
Elder Scrolls VI
A real screenshot of Elder Scrolls VI’s teaser
When indie developers literally cannot develop their own games, they release frameworks and have the modding community make the game for them. This is the premise of Elder Scrolls VI, from famed indie developer Bethesda Game Studios, who pioneered this revolutionary indie developer idea.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
One of the big benefits of AAA development is QA and having massive budgets to ensure performance is top-notch for release. Jedi: Survivor not only had terrible performance issues, but they were so bad, the game became pixelated. 2 points in the indie bucket for this one.
Red Dead Redemption 2
The big metric for AAA games today is how fast they are. You must be able to drive, ride, walk, run 2x faster than real life. Unfortunately, Rockstar Studios being an indie developer, everything you do in-game is 2x slower.
If you want to continue supporting the little guy instead of coddling corporate product pushers, then these indies will surely break the bank of Ubisoft, EA, and more when you buy them instead. Don’t see an indie you loved on this list? Tell us on socials!
