Best Indie Games of 2016

By F. O'Sullivan 15 March 2017

Thousands of fresh, innovative indie games were brought out this year. Here’s Game Rant’s look at eight that raised the bar for game developers everywhere.

With the end of the year almost upon us, it’s time to take a look at what made 2016 really stand out. For many gamers, it has to be the indie scene. Though the AAA studios were no slouches, players interested stepping into strange new worlds thought up by developers outside the mainstream had a record year.

No matter the genre, this year saw indie games of all stripes hitting the shelves. Be it platformers, puzzle games or dungeon crawlers, there was a great game for everybody. Here are eight of the best, plus two honorable mentions.

Darkest Dungeon

The list starts with what many think is one of the best indies ever made: Darkest Dungeon. One of the most immersive, scary and difficult roguelikes on the market, it just squeaks into this list through its January release date. The game punishes every mistake you make rather brutally, yet time and again players will find themselves hitting the “new game” button thanks to the truly excellent gameplay. Its creepy atmosphere is mostly evoked through the well-written descriptions, with the hand-drawn art adding detail to the unforgiving dungeons the player descends into. RPG fans will love this game, as will anyone who likes to get truly lost in an experience.

Owlboy

Firewatch

The Witness

The Witness feels like the game Myst should have been – a story-driven puzzle game where each challenge makes sense in the overall scheme of things. Well, almost every one: the game features over 600 puzzles, so a few are bound to be less than perfect. The puzzles are integrated into the story, which features the player making their way through a tropical island studded with odd structures and weird sculptures. There is, of course, a mystery, with the many challenges the player faces serving as tutorials for the skills they’ll eventually need to find out what’s behind the goings-on on the island. The Witness is a wonderfully atmospheric game, though it should go without saying that people who don’t like puzzles should avoid it.