June 29, 2025, 1:53 pm | Read time: 7 minutes
It doesn’t always have to be the big productions. We present four indie games that were relatively inexpensive yet demonstrate what good and innovative games should look like.
Video games are a bit like movies. There are some major publishers like Sony or Nintendo that gather several of their own development studios under their banner, and their projects usually stand out with high budgets and technical brilliance. But there are also many independent teams. Those that have to make do with much less money and have their own distribution channels. Typically, the big spectacles don’t happen here–but there’s always a lot going on both playfully and artistically. TECHBOOK therefore names four indie games that may not impress at first glance but are all the more substantial upon closer inspection.
Cuphead
While Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, or Ubisoft are always trying to outdo each other with the latest graphics, Studio MDHR took the opposite route. Specifically, back to the 1930s. At that time, a very specific animation style prevailed in cartoons, which the team authentically and painstakingly recreated for their indie game “Cuphead.” Every frame in the game was hand-drawn and sometimes even modeled.
The look is wonderfully nostalgic, complemented by a newly composed but equally old-fashioned jazz and ragtime soundtrack that perfectly underscores the colorful and above all chaotic action. In “Cuphead,” you either run and shoot through individual levels, including tricky jumping passages, or face one of the many bosses who try to ensure a quick defeat with nasty tricks and multiple phases.
It’s very entertaining to watch–if only it weren’t so challenging. Fortunately, “Cuphead” can also be played by two people in front of the screen. And if you haven’t had enough by the end, you can get “The Delicious Last Course” (or simply “The DLC”), an expansion that comes with new ideas and levels.
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Journey
Perhaps the layperson doesn’t quite want to accept it yet. But video games are art, just like other narrative media. Period. The designs, the music, the stories–there are countless titles that successfully combine all of this into an impressive work. A prime example of how the medium can also convince on a more abstract and sophisticated level is the indie game “Journey.”
As a player, you control an anonymous figure, wrapped in a wide robe and hood, with a magical scarf, through vast fields and deserts. Depending on the length of the scarf, you can fly for a short time, and new items extend it. But what are you supposed to do in “Journey”? It’s about a “journey,” but it’s not conventionally played and told. There are no texts or spoken language; instead, everything is conveyed through hints in the environment or cryptic, sparse cutscenes.
But it’s not the purpose of the indie game to explain and lay everything out in detail. The player only knows that they are supposed to reach a mountain. But why? Much remains in the dark and is only hinted at. This restraint is a strength: In “Journey,” nothing is spoken, only symbolically shown. And those willing to engage with it experience the journey as a metaphor for life itself and our earthly journey, from birth to death.
Additionally, there are references to a long-forgotten civilization, its rise and fall. “Journey” expresses so much with so little and manages to make poignant statements about life and humanity with minimal means. This includes the hidden online multiplayer: If there’s an internet connection, the game randomly brings another player into your session. Apart from a few signal sounds, you can’t communicate with each other.
And either you go the way together or soon part ways again. Just like in real life, when new acquaintances unexpectedly enter and stay, while others only visit for certain life phases. The gameplay is extremely minimalist. Yet “Journey” fills the receptive heart with the simple yet profound message of what life on Earth means to us: Whether alone or with someone, it is fleeting but, despite all adversities, beautiful.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Video games can place players in situations that would otherwise be impossible–like spaceships on alien planets or the zombie apocalypse. But in the case of the Nordic hack-and-slay adventure “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,” you can somewhat empathize with what many people around the world actually live with–psychosis.
The creators at Ninja Theory focused on mental health in their story about the Celtic girl Senua, who embarks on a journey to hell in the indie game to fight for a second chance for her slain lover. But Senua not only battles the trauma of loss and nasty creatures but also her own mental state–including constantly hearing voices in her head.
Voices of irrationality, voices of doubt, occasionally voices of courage and warning. And because the developers recommend playing “Hellblade” with headphones, you also hear these voices constantly–from the left, from the right, seemingly from everywhere, as if they were in your own head. What might sound annoying on paper actually provides one of the most immersive and intense experiences in recent gaming history and is responsible for constant goosebumps.
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But it’s not just a narrative trick. The voices actually intervene in the gameplay, for example, warning of attacks from behind during combat. There’s also a dark and sometimes eerie atmosphere that’s not for the faint-hearted, and a technical implementation that was astonishing at the time–did an (at the time) independent studio really pull this off? It doesn’t matter that “Hellblade” is relatively short at about 6-7 hours of gameplay. Every minute is worth it. By the way, there’s a sequel for Xbox Series X/S and soon for PS5.
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This War of Mine
There’s plenty of action in video games, including military-themed shooters like “Battlefield,” “Counter-Strike,” or “Call of Duty.” These are generally a lot of fun, but of course, they mostly involve stylistically exaggerated escapism rather than a nuanced or critical examination of the topic of war. Not so with the indie game “This War of Mine.” The management game can rightly be called an anti-war game.
In it, you don’t control and manage muscle-bound super soldiers but civilians in a conflict zone modeled after real wars. You’ve barricaded yourself in a house and must manage scarce resources, repair items, and get others running to ensure survival. Nighttime forays for food and materials are dangerous, as armed guards are everywhere and quick to pull the trigger.
The graphic style and overall mood are kept sober. And it’s not just about the physical well-being of the protagonists but also their mental state. They are often so sad and depressed that they can’t be persuaded to take on tasks. Then it becomes an additional challenge to pull the characters out of their slump. Occasionally, chance intervenes, and you get raided at night–leaving you with fewer resources the next day.
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The goal of the indie game is to have as many people as possible survive until the end of the war, and that’s not easy. The struggle for survival is depicted realistically, dirty, sad, and unglamorous. “This War of Mine” is a depressing game that isn’t really fun, but it uses the medium of video games to give an impression of how difficult life is for civilians in war. It’s less entertaining but profoundly impactful–and unfortunately more relevant today than ever, serving as an example of what the medium of video games can convey.