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Top 10 Best Indie Games of 2011 – Indie Game Reviewer’s Favorite Game Picks of the Year

igr goty 2011

8. Fate of the World: Tipping Point

(Red Redemption Ltd.)

A game like Fate of the World only comes around once in a blue moon. Based on the research of Prof. Myles Allen of Oxford University, and developed and designed by a team whose collective work has featured in such titles as Battlestations: Midway, Mass Effect and Conflict: Desert Storm, FotW is a strategy title (for PC, Mac and Steam) that simulates the science, the politics, the fallout, hunger, uprisings and scarcity models that arise from the social and environmental impact of global climate change over the next 200 years. With the FotW: Tipping Point DLC was improved and new scenarios added. A full real-time day had elapsed before we were able to peel ourselves away from glimpsing into the very real and probably future we face and were trying with all our might to solve.

What becomes most interesting, in terms of gameplay, is whether or not you will utilize questionable black op tactics to get things back under control, and thus the game forces you to question your own moral compass and reconsider the challenges world leaders must face while going on a hell of a ride.

Lastly, while games like Hard Reset, or Magicka were equally deserving, Fate of the World failed to garner the spotlight it deserved and so we will take the hit, in exchange for spreading the word on their behalf.

 

 

 

Top 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. HM1 HM2 HM3 MA

 

17 thoughts on “Top 10 Best Indie Games of 2011 – Indie Game Reviewer’s Favorite Game Picks of the Year

    1. Thank you for posting 🙂 Not sure that Unepic is anything like a AAA title in the contemporary sense, but it sure it as worthy of attention and your money 😉

  1. Wow! This is an incredibly comprehensive list. Though I may not agree fully with the top 10, you’ve done a wonderful job mentioning all these fantastic indie games (some of which I haven’t heard of). I’ll definitely go through this list later to check out any awesome indie game I may have missed. Thanks for putting this list together.

    1. Thank you for your kind acknowledgement. It was a spectacular year and it sure kept us very busy. 🙂 2012 will not slow this trend down one bit.

  2. Man, the Binding of Issac, to me, was the game of the year. I pumped more hours into that game than any other indie game I’ve ever played (we’re talking 40+ here). Plus, I don’t know if you guys heard this, but they’re working on DLC for it that is said to “nearly double the size of the game”, to which my free time responds “Ah crap….”

  3. Thanks for compiling such an extensive list! I missed out on quite a few of these games, unfortunately, but at least now I have a great reference point. One game I am very happy to see included is Rock of Ages. I don’t think that title got nearly enough press, considering how much fun it was.

  4. Great article, and nice to see some titles get acknowledged that didn’t get the press deserved in 2011 by the mainstream media 🙂 Couple of other titles to watch for in 2012 are StarDrive, Kenshi and Airmech, all look really nice, and we have to plug our own title Star Prospector that will be released very soon!

  5. “When we saw the first trailer for Hawken, we thought it was an April Fool’s joke. There was no way the gameplay could look as good as what we were seeing. And yet as further gameplay clips emerge, it seems to hold to its promise. With a fast growing user base who play the beta, it seems it is more than just smoke and mirrors”

    What beta ? Does hawken have a beta running ?

  6. what no machinarium? it’s a great game and deserves to be here! i couldn’t help but not to fall in love in that game and i usually don’t like puzzle games and it was a lot better than tiny bang story

    1. Thanks for commenting. We loved it too. Machinarium, however, was release Friday 16 October 2009…

  7. At first I was disappointed with your list. Especially when I saw Bastion as number one. An average game with a good voiceover seems to have stunned everyone…

    But the rest of your list and the sheer number of Honourable Mentions has really made this a great reference for anyone casually looking around the indie scene. Great range from things like Spacechem and Solar 2 through to odd little gems like To the Moon. Great list, thanks for the (no doubt) many hours that must have gone into putting this together.

    1. It’s always interesting when, in disagreeing with a carefully thought-out and presented opinion, one’s only argument is “no way.”

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