as we approach the tail end of the
current generation
in terms of the quality and variety of
indie games well we've never really had
it so good
the past decade and a half really
coinciding with the launch of the xbox
arcade
back in late 2005 has given us a golden
age for games from smaller independent
studios
and with this independence we've seen
countless works of genius with games
looking into and addressing topics
aaa studios dent or simply aren't able
to touch
welcome once more to get indie gaming
and to the first of a new series
where we take a look back and rank the
best 10 indie games we've played and
enjoyed each year
starting simply as it's a nice round
number back in 2010
we've been planning this series for a
good few months and in all honesty
whittling down all the games we've
played in the last 10 years
has been incredibly hard and we realize
and understand
other people's opinions will almost
certainly be different to our own
and of course that's just fine so with
that
let's crack on with our rundown of what
we think are the best 10 indie games of
2010
let's begin at number 10 with the first
of two games in this rundown with the
word
super in the title here we have super
crate box
now our small little team here at get
indie gaming well we're all around the
same
age and all of us spent far too much of
our childhood weekends well
saturday as back then places were closed
on sunday
down at the long since gone local
arcades where we all grew up
we fondish memories of chucking 20 pence
pieces the uk equivalent at the time to
the us quarter
into the slots of many an arcade game
where the only real aim was to get a
high score
and perhaps make it onto the first page
leaderboard which as far as we can
remember only happened once for us
while away on holiday at a campsite in
north france
in any case super crate box delights
today as it did back then
it recently had a switch release and
we've played it up late on that platform
and again on an aging pc
the gameplay has lost none of its punch
or ability to have you mutter
just one more go where you suddenly find
it's 4am and you've got to get up for
work in a couple of hours
it's that wholesomely addictive with its
super tight and balanced control system
which makes your handling of the
character feel
fine and nimble which is a fabulous
achievement for some
while the learning and difficulty curve
might be on the steep side
although like others in this rundown
practice well it kind of makes perfect
this is classic arcade gameplay for home
and feels as fresh today as it did 10
years
ago
coming next at number 10 and just like
the previous game it
certainly has an arcade feel to it
nimbus is a mash up and mix of
racing game gliding game with some
pretty decent puzzles all thrown into
the mix
it's one of those titles that starts out
simple enough perhaps almost
quite sedately and then boom the
difficulty ranks
up pretty quickly with some sections
being incredibly tricky needing a
certain type of accuracy and finesse
that some will love or others will
simply loathe
what makes this that little bit
different though are the puzzle sections
now they can require quite a little bit
of thought and once beaten
can offer up to some real satisfaction
and broad smiles all around
looking back now this is the kind of
game that with a few tweaks would
probably do
quite well if it came out on the switch
and we're pretty sure a new generation
of players would find both challenge and
fun
within a reboot moving on at number
eight and perhaps the first of the
list's better known games
joe danger came from hello games who you
probably almost certainly know as a
folks behind no man's sky
and the very recent the last campfire so
what's so
great about this one on the face of
things well it's just another
physics-based stunt riding game
although while others such as trails do
try to make things well a little too
serious joe danger is wonderfully
well it's also very casual in the truest
sense of the term
it's terrific to play alone or split
screen
and just as fun for others to passively
watch it's a supremely entertaining and
it's exceptionally fun
for its time and hey even still today it
looks and plays like a game from a
larger double a or
aaa developer and at times it's easy to
forget this was made by a really small
team and pound for pound well this is
still a
cracking achievement
at number seven and yep another arcade
type of game
with shatter which to this day is one of
the best tributes to breakout ever made
for its time it was such a compelling
package it's got
superb stunning graphics and one of the
best
pop synth driven soundtracks of any game
before it
would argue this took breakout to just
that next level with its power up bosses
shields multiballs and much much
more particularly in places where you
could complete a given section to
progress
even without having to shatter all of
the bricks having once
more looked back at this well we really
should have covered this one before in
one of our hidden gems series as it's
really that good if you haven't seen any
videos from that playlist where we take
a look over indie games we think more
people should play
you can check that out by following the
card on screen now
or via a link down in the description
at number six and while we don't play
too many psychological horror games
anymore
back in 2010 we rather enjoyed amnesia
the dark descent
and wanted to give it a home in the best
of this year's rundown
not for what's in the game but what it
leaves out
like other far better writers and
critics have said many times over
what amnesia like many of these things
within the film and game genre does
so well is play with the player's
imagination of what
might be out there rather than what you
can
actually see that uncertainty and
suggestion of terror is so powerful
so much more so than guts gore and most
of the jump scares these games
tend to rely on the developers built and
built upon this concept as the game
progresses the deeper you get
the more suggestive things become your
player character also goes through
stages of psychological change
manifested not only in the visuals but
also in the control input and outputs
things become sluggish and well let's
call them difficult
amnesia the dark descent is a classic of
the horror survival genre
and with a follow-up expected out most
likely next year
if you like a game that messes with your
mind there are few as good at doing it
as this does
up now and halfway through this rundown
of the best indie games of 2010 we have
jolly rover and probably one of the best
and
less well-known games on the list we
couldn't do a countdown of the best
games from this year without a
point-and-click adventure game and while
it 2010 had a few heavy hitters in that
genre
jolly rover was one we can still look
back on with a wry smile
it's very silly in places and perhaps
makes
too much use of the way of dog puns
although the puzzles and challenges and
the overall script are lightly handled
there's a fine and gentle sense of humor
running throughout the tale
and the hand-drawn characters were
standout high points with their bright
touches
and heavy detail and the looks alone is
one of the main reasons we're adding it
into this rundown
the story the dialogue the writing well
jolly rover really is well pieced out
and it's a little gem of a pirate themed
adventure
next up at number four with it coming
out by way of an adobe flash game before
getting a port onto c
plus plus a year later that kind of
makes sense
the as it's more commonly known is a
supremely overlooked game
even with its recent port onto the
switch from which these visuals have
been taken
now v is another one of those games that
makes you think
well isn't it clever when you're playing
it
while you're not able to jump you are
able to change the flow as it were of
gravity
which means you can have your character
fall upwards and
downwards and in so doing make your way
across the levels
it's terrifically unforgiving in places
although its implementation of for its
time generous numbers and positioning of
save points
makes v just that little more accessible
at number three and in this countdown
for the game it was back then
rather than what it's become and all the
politics aside
in all honesty what's there to be said
about minecraft that's yet to be uttered
while technically an early version
popped out in 2009 the alpha and beta
versions well they came out a year later
so that's the hook we're hanging our
coat from now this kind of feels a
little silly to say
and yet minecraft wasn't ever about how
it looked
even for back in 2010 people were
calling it visuals
well they were saying it's a unique
aesthetic which is still today code for
saying it looked pretty tired
but again back then as it does still
today that wasn't the point
that wasn't what minecraft was going for
with its overall offering
it wasn't trying to look beautiful or
play to its peers such as gears or
uncharted
what it did do and does as well today is
offer
players of all ages from preschoolers to
those drawing their pensions and open
world outlook
that affords almost unlimited creativity
what's more in chatting with others work
colleagues friends
family those of us with a real affinity
to the game
often speak of in terms of it offering a
gratifying experience that's of your
own creation again this comes down to
the creativity side of things
with everything you build and earn
within the survival mode of your own
doing
we've spoken to plenty people in the
making of this video and we've mentioned
how great the game made them
feel and how it made us feel as well the
gathering of resources or
often the endeavors that you have to do
require some sort of motivation
and a sense of mastery and purpose that
kind of feeling is often talked about in
such
terms as workplace happiness and we can
totally understand why it applies for
the enjoyment people find in playing
minecraft
and as we say again to this day i can
easily recreate the moment and the
fulfillment i felt
an accomplishment when i put the
finishing touches on my first
rudimentary house
and what's more i'm now able to share
all of this once again from scratch
with a family of my own
at number two super meat boy and it's
ever so lovable character is
instantly recognizable with this game
often held way up high as one of the
yardsticks of the entire indie gaming
scene before
and since its launch in october 2010.
now this is one of those games that
while it is incredibly difficult with it
needing pixel perfect platforming
accuracy throughout
it's always been hyper rewarding and
engaging to play
much of this enjoyment comes by the way
a feeling of success it affords when you
make your way through it
section after section bit by bit with
every death and every experiment and
well you just kind of get better by
playing and in doing so it creates a
wonderful feeling as we said with the
minecraft game
a feeling of mastery and accomplishment
aside from let's say celeste and perhaps
the quite different into the breach
there are very few games out there that
can do what super meat boy does
for many and to be honest this is now us
the skill set needed to complete this
all the way through will be above many
but please
if you haven't played this yet don't try
and let that put you off as it does
reward repetition and patience
which is easy to say unless easy to pull
off particularly as you get to the
pointy end of the game where the
difficulty reaches the kind of levels
associated with controller destruction
and verbal utterances of the loudest and
most potty-mouthed conceivable
and that is just in the normal mode we
can totally forget about
even harder dark world mode where you
can unlock it
and for that your efforts are rewarded
with an even
super hard and each level for us well
that's a whole heap of no
right there one of the best most
enjoyable payoffs though in getting all
the way through a level is the option to
watch
all of your attempts to complete it here
you can sit back and take a view as
dozens and likely hundreds of your
attempts are played out in front of you
so yes there's no denying super meat boy
is
brutal brilliant and beaten into second
place in this rundown
by the very narrowest of margins
at number one we have limbo which came
out in the summer of 2010 and it was
this game that opened my eyes to the
true power of what indie game
storytelling can do
what limbo does is really rather special
within its grainy and soft focused
styled black and white aesthetic
what makes it so good and something i
hadn't experienced before
picking this one up is how it tells a
story all without dialogue
or really any narrative handholding and
the most simple of all soundtracks
there's virtually no signaling or
handholding the developers trust you the
player to explore the world and in so
doing well you just do you move left to
right and well
ultimately it's a tale not about death
but about moving forwards after
loss all of this is ever so cleverly
implied
like all great puzzle games before and
since limbo is one of those that makes
you
feel superbly clever for playing it
the wow moments come thick and fast with
single and multi-layered
elements that forgo gotchas or for what
some people might call
puzzle tricks or stunts now many of
these puzzling sections end up
well they do create the moments that
trigger genuine joy
excitement and curiosity to wanting to
keep play
to keep driving forward to the
conclusion while a relatively short game
on one you can see off in the course of
an extended single sitting or perhaps
over the course of a weekend
it rewards replays with players going
back in
better armed with a notion of what's to
come and the benefits of hindsight for
the enjoyment perspective
well 10 years old limbo has lost none of
its potency
and quite rightly is considered one of
the keystone games in the evolution of
indie game productions so there we go
those are our top 10 indie games from
2010 with us wrapping up the first video
in our new series
of course your picks might be quite
different so please let us know your
favorites from this year
down in the comments as always many
thanks for watching
many thanks of course to our patreon
supporters and we look forward to seeing
you all here once again
for more indie game videos
