5. Cibele

Dec 24, 2015  The 10 best indie games of 2015: N, Her Story, Undertale, and more. Suriel Vazquez@SurielVazquez December 24, 2015 8:05 AM. Above: Downwell is one of the biggest surprises on mobile this year. Dec 15, 2015  Nuclear Throne is a 2015 top-down shooter and roguelike video game by independent video game developer Vlambeer. Early prototypes of the game were distributed through Steam's early access program. Mar 11, 2019  20 Great Indie Games That You Need to Be Playing. Layered with clues on top of puzzles on top of maddeningly inventive brain-stumpers, this platformer (of sorts) also features the best-dressed.

Above: “Personal” is a understatement when it comes to Cibele

Developer: Star Maid Games
Publisher: Star Maid Games
Available on: PC, Mac
Price: $8.99

Cibele feels more like an independent film than an independent game. Not because the game doesn’t let you interact with it: you play Cibele by fussing around on a computer desktop with your mouse, then playing a simple online game while your character, Nina, talks to a guildmate of hers. Rather, it feels like an independent film because it’s brief, sentimental, and leaves you feeling like something’s missing. In Cibele’s case, the “missing” part seems intentional, as the hard-cut ending makes you feel the same absence the game’s main character does in that moment. Cibele tackles mature topics through the eyes of a teenager, and we don’t get enough of that in video games.

4. Axiom Verge

Above: Axiom Verge looks just like Super Metroid but does a lot to distinguish itself.

Developer: Thomas Happ Games LLC
Publisher: Thomas Happ Games LLC
Available on: PC, Playstaion 4, Playstation Vita
Price: $19.99

2015 had a lot of games that emanated nostalgic vibes (Super Mario Maker, Galack-Z, Downwell), but none of them iterated on old-school design quite like Axiom Verge. It’s a Metroid clone, sure, but the ways it changes up every aspect of the back-and-forth trek across a single interconnected map give the game its own unique flair. Some of the hidden items scattered across the game require you to perform acts that feel like finding exploits that game’s designer didn’t intend you to execute. Then you find out that’s exactly what you were supposed to do the whole time. It hands you weapons that force you to rethink the game you’ve been playing every few minutes, and tracking down every secret you missed the first time around made for the biggest nostalgia trip of the year.

3. SOMA

Above: SOMA uses a dense, realistic look to introduce some very real fears.

Developer: Frictional Games
Publisher: Frictional Games
Available on: PC, Playstation 4
Price: $19.99

SOMA is ostensibly a horror game, but it’s really a thriller. It pulls off one of the most clever tricks in horror gaming, though: While at first you’re scared of the monsters that might be around every corner, you eventually come to fear the ideas put forth in its diary entries, logs, and plot far more. As you progress, the number of monsters reaches a crescendo, then tapers off as the story goes from scary to downright unsettling. I’ll be thinking about the real “monsters” in SOMA long after I forget about it its physical ones. I can pay a horror game no higher compliment.

2. Her Story

Above: Her Story goes as far as to emulate screen flare in its old-school look.

Developer: Sam Barlow
Publisher: Sam Barlow
Available on: PC, iOS, Mac
Price: $5.99

You don’t kill anything, acquire new items, or even move around in Her Story, but make no mistake: It’s one of the most rewarding games of the year to play. Half of Her Story takes place on the screen of a computer in a dimly-lit room, as you navigate the video files and watch a suspect being interrogated by the police about a murder. The other half takes place in your head as you build a story out of the disparate clips you must search the police database to find. Her Story deftly crafts a game built around subjectivity and perspective, and it’s one of gaming’s rare of examples of the medium being the message.

1. Undertale

Above: Some choices matter more than others.

Developer: Toby Fox
Publisher: Toby Fox
Available on: PC, Mac
Price: $2.99

Undertale does everything an independent title should do. It introduces a gaming archetype (in this case, the role-playing game), then interrogates every aspect of that archetype to deliver new experiences; it uses its small team to nimbly implement ideas big-budget games would have a hard time realizing. Though it starts out as an average RPG, it only uses that form as springboard to mess with every apsect of its design. Boss fights frequently mess with the scope of combat, turning the game into an old-school shooter like Galaga or a platformer for the duration of the fight.

It bends its own design parameters to their breaking point, then breaks them under the weight of a few outlandish ideas that exist outside the traditional boundaries of video games. But I won’t spoil too much; you’ll want to find out what I’m talking about for yourself. Suffice to say, though, Undertale takes video games as a medium to task while simultaneously showing us what they’re capable of. And that’s exactly what we should ask of our independent games. Undertale is not only the best indie game of the year, but one of the best games I’ve played in a long, long time.

Independent games have the capacity to move video games forward; the trends in indie games now might be the ones you see in larger games in the next few years. And if we’re lucky, the giants of the industry will learn a thing or two from these indie marvels.

When it comes to personal computers, the Mac has never been known as a gaming heavyweight: Apple doesn't focus on building machines that have the hard-core processing and graphics power you might find in, say, a Razor PC laptop.

That said, there are still a number of excellent games available to play on your Mac — especially of the indie variety. Two-person development teams and small studios shine on Apple's laptops and desktops, building stories with smart twists and heart-wrenching endings.

There have been many great indie titles for Mac over the years, especially with the advent of the Steam Store, but here are our all-time favorites.

Braid

I'm not generally the type to get overly invested in a game — I'm more of a book and movie person. But when I picked up Braid in 2009 after an off-hand recommendation from a friend, I found myself completely captivated by its mechanics and story.

On its face, Braid is a simple puzzle platformer: You play a man named Tim searching for a princess across the landscape of a strange world, encountering puzzles as you progress through each level. But the true delight of the game is in its controls: Not only can you run forward, jump, and the like — but you can rewind time at any moment, reversing your decisions and movements. It's a simple but beautiful mechanic and quickly becomes one of the primary ways you can solve the hardest puzzles; all the while, it makes you think about time and movement in a completely different way.

Years after its release, Braid is still considered a masterpiece — and it's not hard to see why. (If you can't — just rewind.)

Firewatch

We've said a lot about the magic of Firewatch on iMore over the last year, but the Campo Santo/Panic collaboration continues to merit praise. The 3D mystery and exploration game, which places you as a firewatch in a national park around the late 1980s, captures the essential beauty of being alone in the U.S. wilderness — and the eerieness factor, too. The voice acting here is also top-tier; this is a game that demands headphones and a wistful spirit.

Gone Home

Another entry in the first-person mystery genre, Gone Home puts you in the shoes of a student recently returned from a lengthy overseas trip to her family house, only to find it empty — with her younger sister apparently vanished. It's a wonderful example of the mystery and exploration genre, providing just enough of a creepy flair to keep you on the edge of your seat with just a few major jump-out scares.

For all of its intrigue, however, the game's core centers around family, ambition, and love — and paints those feelings with wrenching truths.

Transistor

Modern RPGs are a dime a dozen, but none are painted in quite so stunning a manner as Transistor. Supergiant Games's sci-fi/action game sets you on a path through a futuristic electro-punk city with a mystical weapon and enemies to outwit and defeat. Though shorter than your average Final Fantasy entry, Transistor nevertheless captivates and offers great replay value with its quests and power-ups — though I'd settle for just exploring its beautifully rendered environments.

Best Indie Games Of All Time

Stardew Valley

Top Free Indie Games

This was an outlier pick for our indie games list courtesy Mobile Nations video producer Justus Perry, but I have to admit that I quickly fell in love with it myself after a few hours. If you're a fan of simulation games but want a little more quirk and a little less 'send your Sim to work for the fortieth time' monotony, Stardew Valley offers you the chance to run your own pixelated farm, interact with the locals, defeat (or join forces with) a possibly evil corporation, explore caverns, and create all sorts of endless weird cooking experiments.

In a month where it's been hard to regularly read Facebook or Twitter, Stardew Valley is an appropriately delightful escape from the real world.

FTL: Faster Than Light

If you've ever dreamed of captaining a starship, it's hard not to love FTL. Subset Games's tactical strategy title puts you in the captain's chair on your way to save the galaxy — if you can make it through any number of insane and sometimes impossible challenges. And those, honestly, end up being the heart of the game: You become attached to your ship and crew — even when you end up accidentally killing them and having to start over.

Your favorite indie games for Mac?

What are your favorite indie games for the Mac? Let us know below!

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Apple is now redirecting (PRODUCT)RED purchases to COVID‑19 relief fund

Best Indie Games Xbox

Now through September 30, Apple is redirecting 100% of a portion of (PRODUCT)RED purchases to the Global Fund’s COVID‑19 Response.