New Year Update! Top Games of the Year + New Posts Coming Soon!

It's a new year, meaning that this blog is active once again. To start up the new year, I would first like to state what I consider to be the top three indie games to come out this year. These are games that I already made a recommendation post for so you can check those out if you want to know more about the game.

Top #3: 

-#3: Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt

"Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (by Ludosity developers) is a fun, challenging RPG (role-playing game), and guess what? It's free! You can find it on Steam for free, and you can get a prequel expansion pack (Princess Remedy in a Heap of Trouble) for $2.99 (I have yet to finish the game so I haven't seen the expansion pack yet)."-Recommendation Post #2 
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I feel that Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt deserves to be number 3 in the Top Games of the Year because it has the best value of all the games shown on this blog, being free of course. For that price, it packs plenty of content, characters, and gameplay.

-#2: Stardew Valley

"Stardew Valley (published by Chuckle Fish and developed by Concerned Ape) is one of the most addictingly fun games out there. It uses the elements of Animal Crossing, Facebook games, and phone games, adds depth and complex gameplay, and then creates something new." -Recommendation Post #3
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Stardew Valley is given the number 2 spot here because it is the game that has taken up the most time in my life. It's highly addicting atmosphere and ambiance makes it a fun way to spend the time, developing your farm and feeling like you're accomplishing something. It was all developed by ONE person, so it's existence is a plea of passion on its own, nevermind all the options and beautiful design that it has. 

-#1: Undertale 

"Now here's one you've probably all have heard about by now. Undertale, developed and published by independent creator toby fox, is one of the most popular indie games in recent years. It gained popularity as YouTubers everywhere began to play it. It's not that hard to understand, though, it has a complex story that changes depending on how you play it, interesting characters and settings, a new take on RPG gameplay, and it was all made by only a handful of people. " -Recommendation Post #4
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Undertale achieves the number one spot here because it was worth its price and has all of the characteristics that a good game should have. It's a story told through battle and quirky characters, and a lot of heart and passion was put into this. Its popularity has already reached its peak, but it's still a worthy game to check out. 

Now that that's settled, I would like to move on to talking about some of the games that I will be making Recommendation Posts later throughout the year.

Recommendation Posts

Hyper Light Drifter

-Hyper Light Drifter is a new indie game that came out last November. It is highly puzzling and addicting and uses a unique fighting RPG style with beautiful graphics.

OxenFree

-OxenFree is a very interactive game with well-developed characters and well made 3-D graphics.

Psychonauts

-Psychonauts is a well made 3-D game with a complex story and characters that has been around for many years now. 

Papers, please

-Papers, please is a simple puzzle game with simple graphics, but its story and atmosphere add to its core gameplay.

Game Recommendation #3: Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley (published by Chuckle Fish and developed by Concerned Ape) is one of the most addictingly fun games out there. It uses the elements of Animal Crossing, Facebook games and phone games, adds depth and complex gameplay, and then creates something new.

Story

The main story of Stardew Valley is that you are an office worker for Jojo Market, but one day you get tired of that lifestyle and decide to go to the farm that you inherited from your late grandfather. 

After that, the story differs on the alternate paths that you make through the game. Every day you have a certain amount of energy. You can use that energy to do a variety of things, from growing plants on you farm, to fishing or even going through the depths of mines with monsters to find valuable resources. Your main goal is to make the money you need to survive, to accomplish missions that the NPC's (non-player characters) give you, and to learn more about the people and secrets of the town. You really have to create your own missions for yourself, because just like in real life, there's no real set path.

Gameplay

 

The easiest of the challenges is probably farming, as it doesn't require a ton of skill to accomplish. Fishing takes mental energy, and mining gets harder the farther you go. The hardest part is not running out of energy or money.

As you go on, you learn more about the other characters in the game, and they all have fun personalities. All of the characters have things you can learn about them, and the friendship and romantic story arcs add to the replay-ability of the game.

Customization

At the beginning of the game, you can make your character look like anything because of all the options offered. You get to pick the name of your farm, the color of your eyes, even if you want a cat or a dog. I shouldn't forget to mention that the graphics in this game are beautiful, the pixel style adds to the complexity instead of making it overly simplified.

Who would I recommend this game to?

I would recommend this game to a casual audience who has a lot of time on their hands. This game is insanely addicting, once you start, you don't want to stop for a week of game time. There are constant challenges that you set for yourself that you want to accomplish as soon as possible. So, if you have enough time to dwell into this game, you can check it out here on Steam for $14.99. It is a cheerful, beautiful game where you get to carve your own path in your own world.

So what are your thoughts on Stardew Valley? Do you think it's as addicting as I do? What games would you like me to recommend next?