Top 5 Upcoming Indie PC Games

I have a soft spot for indies, be it in the fields of film, music, or—of course—videogames. And luckily for us, in the past few years there’s been a dramatic rise in the number and quality of independently developed games.

There’s hundreds of thousands to choose from across practically any platform you can think of gaming on, but in this article I’m going to shine the spotlight on just five upcoming indie PC games that I feel are worth keeping an eye out for.

Sarcia #

Reminiscent of LucasArts’ classic adventure game LOOM, SARCIA will have players wielding the universal language of music in order to interact with the game’s world. Every playthrough promises to be unique, including character appearance and who you’ll interact with.

Cube World #

A voxel-based exploration sandbox. Cube World looks to appeal to those who appreciate the openness of Minecraft along with goal-oriented gameplay via RPG-like quests. Aside from an art direction and open randomness reminiscent of Minecraft, it draws inspiration from other games including but not limited to: The Legend of Zelda, Secret of Mana, Landstalker, and Monster Hunter in regards to style, gameplay, and overall feel; and Diablo or World of Warcraft for its RPG elements. It had a rocky alpha release due to a DDOS attack on its servers, but that should all be taken care of by now.

Owlboy #

Owlboy is an old-school platformer where players can take to the skies and roam free to explore vast dungeons and engage in aerial combat with dangerous enemies. Its critically acclaimed pixel art is a nod to the classic games of yesteryear. As players explore, they will uncover a variety of useful items to assist on their journey. Some characters can even join the player and lend their aid. It’s been a long time since anything new has been heard from the developer, and we’re hoping that the game is still being worked on.

Starbound #

Regarded as the spiritual successor of Terraria (indeed, one of Terraria’s former developers is working on this game), Starbound takes the 2D platforming creation genre up to the next level: outer space. Features endless fully procedurally-generated planets with randomized variables such as weather, gravity, difficulty, flora, fauna, and much more. It aims to expand upon its predecessor by adding a storyline which begins with the players’ characters fleeing their homeworld in a space shuttle, just as it’s destroyed by an unknown enemy. From there on out it’s up to the player and his/her friends - yes, the game will have full multiplayer support - to decide what to do and where to go next.

Project Zomboid #

Project Zomboid is quite different from the usual strain of zombie games out there. The developers promise it to be the zombie survival experience we’ve been waiting for. They describe it as an “open-ended sandbox world – survival is your only goal, and we’re sorry to tell you… you WILL die eventually.” While the game isn’t finished yet, there is a playable demo that already shows off some of its main features, including: thousands of ‘proper’ zeds roaming the streets; scavenge food, craft items, construct barricades; day turns to night, electricity falters, hordes migrate, society is in freefall; develop skills through play, while fending off depression, boredom and addictions. And yes, multiplayer co-op is planned.

That about wraps it up for my first Top 5 list. If you have a list of your own to share, let me know in the comments below!