
Yet, like “Slender,” “Dear Esther” doesn’t focus on anything aside from pushing the player to explore a narrative rather than hunt for puzzles or keys. Open world puzzle games like “Myst” became increasingly rare as shooters and adventure games because they’re tough to market. And yet “Train Simulator” still inspired someone to take a novel approach to one of the funniest YouTube videos of the year: You can’t crash or add anything of merit aside from being late or missing a stop. Yet another annual addition to a game franchise that is both boring and agreeable: You drive a train. Not since the great “Bioshock” has it become so disturbing to find out you’ve been a willing participant in a thought experiment - even if this one just happens to have Alice in Chains on the soundtrack.Īvailable on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Windows. “The Line” inspired a caustic review in The New York Times - frankly, because it doesn’t glorify violence and strongly suggests by the end that playing Walker is like experiencing a virtual PTSD.

You’re constantly hounded by the radioman as he mocks your moves and desperate to find the lost Colonel John Konrad. As Captain Walker, you lead a three-man squad into Dubai after an epic sandstorm that has turned the city into a desert graveyard. In fact, it may be one of the few games about warfare and military that doesn’t involve winning in the traditional sense. The design presents a fascinating experiment in the use of depth in a platforming game, but it also plays with structure, shape and how much one can experience in a game of this sort beyond running and jumping ad infinitum.īorrowing heavily from “Apocalypse Now” rather than gaming precedents, “The Line” isn’t a traditional Spec Ops game.

Profiled in the Sundance-acclaimed documentary “Indie Game: The Movie,” this long-awaited game follows a 2-D sprite named Gomez who happens upon the magical Hexahedron, which brings him crashing into a mixed-up 2-D and 3-D world. But the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft released this year is a welcome addition that simply built upon the cult appeal of the game by making it more widely available. Minecraft has been around since the dawn of gaming on the internet (which isn’t exactly that long ago unless you put it in historical conext). Could you play it differently on a second run? Of course. The ending includes an enticing option found in most “sandbox” games: to start over at the beginning. “Journey” obviously falls into the more artistic and creative side of gaming versus the questionable future of “triple-A” franchises like a “Call of Duty” or “Final Fantasy.” The point of the game is implied by the title. Co-op players can join your game, allowing you to help one another while relying on the characters’ musical way of talking instead of hearing actual voices. Instead of collecting petals like players did in “Flower,” you play as a character with an ever-growing scarf who can only communicate in notes that sync up with the hypnotic soundtrack. The follow-up to thatgamecompany’s 2009 release “Flower” follows a similar plotless-yet-compelling narrative: move forward and meet people. Despite being a single player experience, half the fun involves how players react, so it’s helpful have a companion on this one. Chime sounds hint how close The Slender Man is and he only gets faster as you find more pages. There are no weapons aside from your flashlight, which occasionally has to recharge and which you can’t use while running. The purpose is to wander around a nondescript wooden area filled with ominous locations and find eight pieces of paper–while you avoid being devoured or captured by Slendy.
#BEST INDIE GAMES ON XBOX 360 SIMULATOR#
“The Eight Pages” is a simulator for living out that terror.

He’s the type of monster that pops up behind you and does something–no one has ever figured out just who or what his motivations are.

If you’re not aware of the Slender Man, you’ve got some catching up to do.
#BEST INDIE GAMES ON XBOX 360 MOVIE#
The 35 Best Movie Scores of the 21st Century Gifts for Gamers: Gear, Merch, Memberships, and MoreĢ022 Oscar Predictions: Who Will Win at the 94th Academy Awards Rather than drawing the line around any specific budget size, this list of 2012 indie games sets no barriers except that they’re all worth getting lost in.ĪMC Networks Is Worth Half Its 2015 Value: What's Its Future Beyond 'Walking Dead' Spinoffs? What makes an indie game? It’s about as unclearly defined as what makes an indie film.
