We bring you a selection of the best independent cutting titles of this 2019 that you can acquire during the Christmas holidays.
As usual at this time, since the writing of FreeGameTips we bring you a selection of the 12 best independent titles of this year that you can buy during Christmas. In the meantime nougat there is time to taste those works that we have missed in recent months. There are names that remain in the inkwell, of course, but those you will find below well deserve to be represented.
Elysium disk
It is no accident that Disco Elysium has emerged as the best independent game of the present 2019. Lovers of the traditional role have been represented in it. The freedom to travel the path you want is total, you can even sow a friendship with your home mailbox. In our Reviews we talked about that in order to achieve "excellence" you don't need bulky action sessions, but "you only need commitment and brilliant writers willing to leave your eyelashes writing a monumental work."
And therein lies the key to its greatness. Beyond the action and consequence, a great role-playing game must be based on an exquisite script; The quality of your texts is unquestionable. Now available on PC, it will arrive on console next year.
Blazing chrome
The independent scene could not pass the year without a new exponent of quality of that subset that already forms the neo-retro. Blazing Chrome celebrates the Contra series, blending perfectly with one of its most celebrated episodes, such as The Hard Corps. With this very clear premise in terms of characters, vehicles and even weapons, the Brazilian studio Joymasher has not complicated life and has gone to what works without problems. Thus, they have given birth to an old-fashioned action game, which deviates very little from what we could have seen in a Mega Drive somewhat past mega hertz.
The playable news is not many, limiting itself rather to the way of raising and lowering platforms and some weapons at close range that could have been better exploited. This is compensated with a great action show, the speed of play and the undoubted attraction that this title will exert on those who gave themselves to video games of the 16 bit generation. These elements are plenty to recommend to anyone who usually approaches these types of proposals. You can buy it on PS4, XBox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.
SuperEpic: The Entertainment War
SuperEpic has been slow to arrive, but it is worth the wait. In our Reviews we said that Undercoders had managed to create a very complete title, halfway to pure metroidvania and role-playing elements. "Solid and convincing at the playable level, with additions that are worth discovering as crossmedia elements and with a careful audiovisual finish." So clear.
Therefore, while we said that Baba is You was the surprise of the beginning of the year, SuperEpic: The Entertainment War does the same before the chimes. Available on PC.
Beat Know
Two laser swords and infinity of blocks that cut to the rhythm of the music. This is the exceptionally simple formula of Beat Saber, the most popular phenomenon in rhythm games since the era of Guita Hero. It is this simplicity in its premise that is the main basis of its success, a pillar that supports one of the best and most visceral experiences available today in virtual reality. The basic gameplay of Beat Saber is so entertaining that it constantly calls us to play more, regardless of our level of fatigue. No other game has made us burn more calories this year or leave more moisture in our virtual reality glasses after a session.
To the initial offer that included only a dozen songs have been added since its launch infinity of paid songs (with packs of songs from groups like Panic at the Disco or more recently Green Day), a good amount of free songs, a campaign and various options to customize our gaming experience. Recently they released versions of ninety or three hundred and sixty degrees for many of the available songs that significantly change the way of playing and offer a fresh experience to those who have been cutting boxes from the beginning. Beat Saber is an unstoppable phenomenon and a few seconds of its hyperkinetic playability is enough to understand why. Although much of its community resides on a computer, it can also be purchased on PS4.
Blasphemous
One of the most followed Spanish developments outside our borders, Blasphemous is one of the most solvent metroidvania this year. Strongly enthroned both with the traditions of southern Spain and with the Hidetaka Miyazaki ideology in terms of combat and exploration, it is one of those games in which getting lost in your mapping ends up becoming a more than absorbing experience.
The raw opera of The Game Kitchen is a title with a considerable duration, which has final bosses and very well designed areas in which we will dispatch bizarre versions of Goya's works. After a few months of its launch, the team has been improving some of the roughnesses indicated by the community. This, together with the DLC that seems to be on its way, makes Blasphemous a game with the potential to be considered one of the greats of a genre in which outstanding proposals have not stopped coming out lately. Now available on Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.
Untitled Goose Game
Goose We must sow chaos in a small town accustomed to the excess of tranquility. Untitled Goose Game lives far from the meme that has catapulted it to success, its fame is justified by the way in which the scenario is used in order to complete the list of tasks of each level, small challenges to overcome interacting around a human. For example, there is nothing that bothers a gardener more than losing his fence keys.
The mechanics are as simple as effective. While we squawk we will make the characters react, which usually leaves us free to be able to do everything we want. It is currently available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One (adhered to the Xbox Game Pass service), PS4 and PC.
Katana Zero
Katana Zero is a game that enters through the eyes. That its pixels are among the best distributed in the industry few can doubt it, with scenarios sumptuously full of details and animations perfected to satiety. It is also its playability an authentic delight, mixing the hotline action of Hotline Miami with its absolute intolerance for errors along with the mechanics of "slow motion" and a perspective more similar to traditional 2D platforms. The result is a game that from the beginning to the end demands finesse on the part of the player and that rewards those capable of perfecting the use of his mechanics with satisfactory combat sequences.
What we did not necessarily expect was the ability of Katana Zero to create his own identity through a completely overflowing story that deals with cyberpunk themes, the classic existential question of the world as simulation and other crazy science fiction themes. The result is a plot that never ceases to surprise us from beginning to end and defines Katana Zero as something a little above what its excellent action and style can show in the first place. Available on PC and Nintendo Switch.
Outer Wilds
The Annapurna Interactive label always comes hand in hand with proposals that differ from what we normally see. Outer Wilds is an example of that. Imagine what would happen if the universe restarted every 22 minutes. In such a time frame we must be imaginative, explore regardless of the consequences. Everything is subject to chance, so each trip is a unique sensation.
"For example, Brittle Hollow falls apart into fragments that implode in its core, and in Hourglass Twins a sea of sand from the arid ruins of one planet floods the complex network of caves of another," says the company in one of its demonstrations. And is that sharing what is lived is a fundamental part of, almost, a social experiment. You can find it on PS4, Xbox One (included in Xbox Game Pass) and PC.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Simogo is a developer who until now had only done small-scale projects, small experiments or mobile games that had not had much impact beyond their releases. Hence our surprise when this small studio takes one of the best musical games of recent times out of its sleeve, a title capable of competing with the eternal work of Tetsuya Mizuguchi when merging music with playability to make a transcendental work.
In this case, the musical theme can please those who refuse the synesthetic vibes of Mizuguchi. Sayonara Wild Hearts is a pop game, possibly it could even have been a great pop album having been released as such. The music is simply catchy, sweet melodies that please our ears and threaten to return to our mind months after playing the title. His visual presentation is also sensational, with a color palette of the most original and merging perfectly with the excellent soundtrack. You can find it on Nintendo Switch, PC and Apple Arcade.
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
The Trine saga is one of the historical independent scene. It should be remembered that his first two deliveries had already sold more than seven million copies a few years ago, although things twisted a little with a third installment that did not reach the levels expected after the monumental Trine 2. After a few years silently engaged in other projects, in Frozenbyte they have ended up assuming that Trine worked better as a two-dimensional video game, so the fourth installment takes up the original perspective with an important technical improvement, even if we judge it by the canons of a saga that always worked Perfection visually.
With a hilarious multiplayer mode and a campaign that perfectly exploits the improvements introduced in the control, Trine 4 is the return home for a very beloved saga, especially for how well you have taken care of what really counts: the gameplay . The puzzles have the necessary point of difficulty (especially at the end of the campaign) and adapt perfectly to multiplayer modalities, although the combat leaves much more to be desired on this occasion, with excessively simple confrontations that, yes , are strategically placed so that the pace of the game is balanced. Available on all current platforms.
Slay the Spire
Few roguelites are already able to stand out since the explosion of this subgenre will be more than half a decade ago. Slay the Spire and its attractive proposal that mixes the process of creating a deck with fast rounds and the classic structure of the genre has managed not only to stand out but to become one of the greatest examples. It will take us little to go from not understanding the grace of the game to see ourselves absolutely immersed in an eternal process of perfecting our decks and discovering mechanics. The complexity of which the set of systems that form this title is capable is overwhelming but it is presented to us in such a way that, round by round, game by game we will unravel this complex puzzle.
Despite this, Slay the Spire never overwhelms players with its complexity, it never requires an exceptional mathematical mind. The numbers presented to us are always small and easy to understand (this card doubles your attack, this one divides it in half) and the mechanics of each card are perfectly explained without a doubt in its way of working. This makes that, despite the aforementioned infinite complexity, Slay the Spire has also achieved the milestone of possibly being the easiest card game for a beginner to understand. In short, if you have the slightest curiosity to play a roguelite based on the cards, this is your best option. If you want to do with it you can do it in any of the current systems.
Afterparty
That the Night School study, responsible for the popular Oxenfree, tries again in the genre of point and click adventures is not surprisingly excessive. He does the plot and the change of registration of his second game, Afterparty, a proposal that deepens the treatment of his characters and the discarding of his plot premises. Ideas from which, yes, it draws oil by building a history of those that become interesting as they pass.
Milo and Lola are in a hell in which the flight goes through a confrontation with Satan himself in the classic shot competition of American student films, and from there you can imagine the little seriousness of the group. Current technique, plot and memorable characters shape one of the best adventures of the genre this year. A genre, by the way, that every year usually gives some surprise even after the disappearance of Telltale Games. In addition to other platforms, you can find it in the Microsoft service, Xbox Game Pass.
