Indy/download games that focus on story and human condition

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'm generally bored of spending £45 on some flashy new game unless I REALLY want it. Maybe it's the stage of my life that bores of such things, but also I think I've always put story, character studies, weighty decisions, slow or quirky gameplay or general quirkiness above shooty shooty prettiness - after all my favourite games include Heavy Rain, Danganronpa, Virtue's Last Reward, This War of Mine, Catherine etc.

 

A couple of months ago I downloaded Firewatch for PS4 and, while I have no real desire to play it again, it totally sucked me into the story of the narrator and of his supervisor Delilah who you only ever contacted over Walkie Talkie. The story unfolded slowly, wasn't brutal or scary and looked a lot at loneliness, relationships, action/response and so on.

 

With the new offers this month I've just bought The Bunker (FMV interactive story about a guy living in a nuclear bunker alone for 30 years), Lifeless Planet (a human condition story about going to another planet) and The Fall (you assume the role of the AI in a combat suit with the dty to protect the person inside you).

 

I'm putting story, concept and how the story might affect my thinking when I lie in bed after playing it, over flashy visuals, excitement and budget. Does anyone have any other great suggestions for other such games?

[MDK]

16 minutes ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

This War of Mine

God damn that game is depressing.

The Stanley Parable might count. The Detail is a point-and-click thingy about a hard boiled cop trying to solve some cases, its nothing special but it tries. Old school, but Myst is probably up your alley.

And even though it isn't Indy or anything but Spec Ops: The Line has a great story based on Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Oh, Valiant Hearts might be to your liking. WWI side scroller.

[Chris2K]

Everybody's Gone To The Rapture ticks a lot of those boxes, it's been called a walking simulation because that's all you do but the story around it is fantastic.

[RazorsEdge]

Firewatch was far and away the best game I played last year.

To The Moon is an indy made RPG game. You play as 2 scientist type folks who go back through an old man's memories. Can't say much more without ruining it. The game relies almost solely on story/a few puzzles, there's no fighting from memory. Its been a couple years since I played it but it was an absolutely gut wrenching story in parts too.

There's also Always Sometimes Monsters. Another indy RPG which almost plays out like a young adult drama with drugs, sex, cheating, violence etc. Every choice you make has a real impact on the rest of the game.

[RoHitman Reigns]

hard as hell as you arent used to using 2 joysticks in the way it asks you to, but Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a touching story and hard but fun gameplay. Well worth the money.

[LittleDaniel]

Thomas Was Alone is the only game about geometric shapes that will also make you cry.

[Bobfoc]

Ether One is a good example. That Dragon, Cancer is another one to try, but it's a very emotionally taxing experience.

[Benji]

11 hours ago, Chris2K said:

Everybody's Gone To The Rapture ticks a lot of those boxes, it's been called a walking simulation because that's all you do but the story around it is fantastic.

EGTTR is wonderful. It's quirky, got a good story, and it's general feel for the era is so perfectly captured. My one complaint is how SLOW walking everywhere is, even when you "run". For a game where all you have to do is walk and press stuff, making 50% of that a chore is a real pain. Good game tho.

Telltale games are obvious, but I'd suggest everyone play The Walking Dead Season 1 (the desire to survive and protect), Tales from the Borderlands (a lot of comedy, but also a lot of emotion on display), and The Wolf Among Us (fear and how it can drive people on many different paths). All very good games about different elements of the human condition.

Life Is Strange is very good. At parts it is a tad dire, and I didn't feel like I invested in one of the main characters as much as most people seemed to have done, but it's a very well written story and one part in it is literally the only time I have ever save-scummed in a choice based game to get what I wanted and not felt any guilt over it.

[JasonM]

Paper's Please is a comical yet dead serious game about being an east-fauxepean border security guard tasked with keeping out all the undesirables wanting to live in your warsaw pacty nation. It's pretty basic looking, but you get money based on how well you do, and a diverging pathline depending on how you deal with some very tough choices where you have to decide to take a bribe that can cost you your job/life, or not being able to afford money for your family.

A lesser known game that is still findable somewhere (dev stopped production and dropped it from steam and whatnot) is Cart Life. Which puts you in the shoes of various characters that run any sort of food truck/cart/locale. Like an eastern european immigrant with a smoking addiction and a cat who opens a small food cart with only a few dollars to his name to fill up the cart and start selling on your first day. It's a mix between people drama and a tycoon game, where money is really really tight and you gotta make choices regarding how you treat your customers and your own character (who starts out living in a rat hole apartment)... It might be tough to find this game though, since the dev fully abandoned the project.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[TEOL]

To The Moon is genuinely one of the greatest games I've ever played. Would also back up a lot of the suggestions made here.

I'd also argue that Undertale qualifies due to its surprisingly deep and complex story.

I probably have a ton of others since it's basically all I play these days other than simulators, but I can't think of any immediately. Go play The Path, nowhere near enough people have.

Oh yeah and Analogue. Play that too.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'll second Firewatch. Really liked it.

[RPS]

The Walking Dead Season 1 is fantastic. 

If you want something a bit more light-hearted and do not mind scary, Until Dawn is really good. It is basically a teen horror movie. It won't necessarily make you stop and consider the human condition, but it tells a pretty silly story and masquerades it with some teenage dialogue and scary shit. 

[probablyoliver]

Gone Home! Sweet jesus Hammy, go and play Gone Home right the fuck now! You'll adore everything about it, I'll stake my reputation on it.

[Chris2K]

5 hours ago, Jasonmufc said:

A lesser known game that is still findable somewhere (dev stopped production and dropped it from steam and whatnot) is Cart Life. Which puts you in the shoes of various characters that run any sort of food truck/cart/locale. Like an eastern european immigrant with a smoking addiction and a cat who opens a small food cart with only a few dollars to his name to fill up the cart and start selling on your first day. It's a mix between people drama and a tycoon game, where money is really really tight and you gotta make choices regarding how you treat your customers and your own character (who starts out living in a rat hole apartment)... It might be tough to find this game though, since the dev fully abandoned the project.

That sounds like something I'd love, it's a shame they abandoned it :(.

[Schlitzbrille]

6 hours ago, Jasonmufc said:

Paper's Please is a comical yet dead serious game about being an east-fauxepean border security guard tasked with keeping out all the undesirables wanting to live in your warsaw pacty nation. It's pretty basic looking, but you get money based on how well you do, and a diverging pathline depending on how you deal with some very tough choices where you have to decide to take a bribe that can cost you your job/life, or not being able to afford money for your family

Have to second this suggestion. Quite depressing if you think about it long enough.

[JasonM]

3 hours ago, Chris2K said:

That sounds like something I'd love, it's a shame they abandoned it :(.

Yeah, it was a pretty decent game but iirc the developer just didn't feel the game was good enough and it had outlived its purposes (He only made the game for a competition, and never intended it to be an actual project.). Also he never expected people to actually want to buy it, and with there being a bunch of big bugs and him not wanting to fix them he just abandoned the project.

In a world where you can find anything on the internet, regardless of how old it is, Cart Life might classify as a 'lost game'. With only the source code being findable on Github.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[MDK]

I feel lucky to have the game. I might even play it!

[Chris2K]

I found it!

 

https://indiegamestand.com/free-games/2199/cart-life/

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

This is why I love you all.

I have Papers Please and found it to be excellent. As for the rest I will research all of them (I've heard of a number of them) and will probably get most of them when they are on offer or cheap. I'll add the Steam ones to my watch list for that purpose.

 

 

8 hours ago, Ollie said:

Gone Home! Sweet jesus Hammy, go and play Gone Home right the fuck now! You'll adore everything about it, I'll stake my reputation on it.

Just watched the trailer. The music and general early '90s vibe was glorious.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I had a £20 Game voucher so went in and got a buy one get one half price deal on MGS (cos I have it on PS3 but don't play PS3 no more)....aaaaaand.....Life is Strange. Which I'm looking forward to a lot.