There’s a trend happening on bluesky that came from The Game Awards discourse where someone said if you post “play more indie games” then you need to also post 50 indie game recommendations. I assume this was because the person was tired of the performative posts just vaguely gesturing at indie games. But it worked. People have actually been posting indie game recommendations. However, because I cannot be a normal person, I got annoyed that people were only linking to games on Steam. I posted a list of 50 recommendations on Bluesky but thought I would do the list here as well, where it’s a lot more readable and I can add some nice screenshots. There’s probably a fun theme I could have done instead like 50 Amiga or ZX Spectrum games, or adventure games, but here’s a batch of 50 games …
There’s a trend happening on bluesky that came from The Game Awards discourse where someone said if you post “play more indie games” then you need to also post 50 indie game recommendations. I assume this was because the person was tired of the performative posts just vaguely gesturing at indie games. But it worked. People have actually been posting indie game recommendations. However, because I cannot be a normal person, I got annoyed that people were only linking to games on Steam. I posted a list of 50 recommendations on Bluesky but thought I would do the list here as well, where it’s a lot more readable and I can add some nice screenshots. There’s probably a fun theme I could have done instead like 50 Amiga or ZX Spectrum games, or adventure games, but here’s a batch of 50 games I liked and maybe you’ll feel compelled to do a post recommending indie games.
Landlord Quest – Short point-and-click adventure game where you can see a landlord eat shit. Buying on Itch gives you files to run in ScummVM on everything
DOSember Game Jam – Did you know a game jam just wrapped up where we got 39 brand new games for DOS? So many great games here
SANTA SACK – Tom Hall, of Commander Keen/Doom/Anachronox fame, does so much for the PICO-8 community on Itch, organizes game jams, and makes a Christmas game ever year. This one is an arcade game where you catch presents and avoid coal.
The Round-about Orchard – Julia Minamata, creator of the amazing adventure game The Crimson Diamond, made a fan game for Over The Garden Wall along with people that worked on the show.
Minerva Labyrinth – Just a really good first person dungeon crawler!
Egg by Terry Cavanagh – The best platformer where you play as an egg. Eat shit Dizzy
Everything by DOMINO CLUB – An anonymous game dev collective. No one is doing more interesting experimental games than them
Nikhil Murthy’s Syphilisation – An incredibly interesting take on the 4X genre, like an anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist take on Civilization
Eulogy for Nonno – Very funny short adventure game where you delivery flowers to a home and are mistaken for a long lost cousin and must escape
Maura & Ash – Nice, short queer point-and-click adventure set in space and runs in DOS
FALLSTRUKTUR – Free first-person platformer where you must make your way down a giant structure. Very challenging
The Chambers Beneath – Challenging but easy to pick up roguelike for DOS, available for pay-what-you-want
Neon Hearts City – Cyberpunk point-and-click detective adventure with nice pixel art. I actually wrote more about this one here.
Root Bear – An arcade game for the Playdate where you pour root beer for bears. My kids love it!
Atuel – A free surreal documentary game about the environment with beautiful art. Wrote more about it here.
Backwater Eulogy – A short visual novel memoir about growing up in a rural area. Wrote more here
Rainbows Are Carnivores – The newest game by Robert Yang. A good gay fishing game.
Billy Masters Was Right – A pay-what-you-want point and click adventure with Maniac Mansion-inspired art and a story inspired by The Burbs. Wrote more here.
You Are Generative AI – Twine game where you are a Generative AI consuming power and being useless
Castlevania: Simon’s Destiny – A great, free Castlevania fan game made in GZDoom
CorgiSpace – An excellent collection of PICO-8 games by Adam Saltsman
Mixed Feelings – A ttrpg with mechanics based around making playlists
Type Help – An excellent deduction adventure game made in Twine
Spirit Swap – A Match 3 combined with a queer visual novel. I like the spells/powers you can use during the Match 3 part too. Fantastic soundtrack. Wrote more here.
Museum of All Things – Explore Wikipedia in the form of a 3D museum
Pinboll – Very cute pinball roguelike
Hardcoded – Very NSFW cyberpunk dating sim
Indiepocalypse – Incredible games compilation featuring new indie games every month and excellent curation. New issue each month!
Super 10 Pin – Bowling game that absolutely nails the aesthetic of N64 games
Madvent 5 – Advent calendar of horror games with the aesthetic of PSX games
ocean::ephemera – Beautiful space to explore for 7 minutes
Shindig – Cute point-and-click adventure for kids
A Short Hike – Everyone knows this one but my oldest loves it so much
The Annual Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival – Same author as A Short Hike. You must play this in October. It’s a small Halloween MMO and I had so much fun playing it with my kids
Frogsong – Very cute action adventure game where you play as a frog
Kitsune Tails – Amazing Super Mario Bros 3-like platformer!
Dragonsweeper – Took over my life at the beginning of the year. Great combination of dungeon crawling and Minesweeper
KIDNAME: ICEBOY – Incredible parody of Sierra’s Codename:Iceman and other games by Jim Walls
Stair Quest – Another great parody of Sierra games. An intentionally frustrating game where you navigate stairs. Also has a Winter Edition of the game
Alone on a Journey – Trilogy of solo ttrpgs focused on exploration that were influential to me. Wrote more here.
VIDEOVERSE – Beautiful visual novel inspired by the Wii online community stuff
Enclosure 3-D – Remake of an adventure game inspired Sierra classics and the 3D engine presents that retro art style in a really interesting way
Midnight Scenes – Looooove the Midnight Scenes series. Anthology horror series with each game being playable in one sitting. Wrote more here.
He Fucked the Girl Out Me – Short visual novel about being a sex worker and trauma for the Game Boy. Wrote more here.
Hunger – Another influential solo ttrpgs where you are a vampire. Uses a really neat blackjack-inspired mechanic. Also has a companion game called Thirst. More about it here.
Dinocar – Very cute ttrpg where you build a city for dinosaurs driving cars. Loved playing it with my kids
Parsely – If you are a text adventure fan and want a similar experience with friends, check this out. One player is the “parser” and the rest say commands to solve the adventure
Songs for the Dusk – Great Forged in the Dark ttrpg where the players try to build a better future
Co-open – Really nice game about a child’s first time buying groceries on their own
Cartomancy Anthology – Another influential one. An anthology of games inspired by tarot cards
I hope this helps you find something new on Itch.io!