The 21st century has been a huge for indie games. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the greatest indie games released since the year 2000.
Category
🎮️
GamingTranscript
00:00 Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down the Greatest Indie Games Released Since
00:10 the Year 2000.
00:18 Number 20 - Minecraft
00:26 Starting life as the creation of a single developer, Minecraft has grown into a gaming
00:29 behemoth since its original release.
00:31 It's now become a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of kids as Minecraft
00:35 has gone beyond just being a game and is widely used as a learning aid in schools.
00:40 It's a quality game that is fun for people of all ages and just as fun playing solo as
00:43 playing co-op with your friends.
00:45 It's only gone from strength to strength since being bought by Microsoft and though that
00:49 could mean it's not an indie game anymore, it's important not to forget where it came
00:52 from.
00:57 Number 19 - Journey
01:06 Nobody expected Journey to be one of the most profound games ever released in the PS3 era
01:10 back in 2012.
01:11 You take on the mantle of a strange, lone traveler in a vast desert, platforming and
01:15 solving mysterious puzzles.
01:17 Sometimes, you come across other travelers in the same spaces as you, seemingly going
01:21 on the same journey independently.
01:23 At the end of the game, though, you find out that those travelers weren't NPCs at all,
01:27 but other players, appearing in your game seamlessly.
01:30 Aside from the technical achievement of seamless multiplayer like this back in 2012, seeing
01:34 the big list of names at the end as it shows you everybody you helped and who helped you
01:38 is deeply moving.
01:45 Number 18 - Sea of Stars
01:52 Easily the best indie game that came out in 2023, Sea of Stars is a modern take on turn-based
01:56 combat.
01:57 Initially funded through Kickstarter, the game was in development for about three years
02:00 until launching to critical acclaim.
02:02 If you loved classic RPGs like the older Final Fantasy games or Chrono Trigger, Sea of Stars
02:07 was made for you.
02:08 With lovable, well-written characters and beautiful retro graphics, you really can't
02:12 go wrong.
02:13 If you ever wished that studios would keep making games like this, full of heart and
02:17 charm, and you haven't played it yet, you're missing out.
02:20 And unlike plenty of modern RPGs, Sea of Stars actually respects your time and doesn't drag
02:24 on for a hundred hours or more.
02:31 Number 17 - Cuphead
02:38 Provided you can beat the tutorial, you'll find an excellent game waiting for you beyond.
02:42 Cuphead had a lot of attention before it came out because of its animation style, with about
02:46 45,000 hand-drawn frames of animation designed to emulate classic, early cartoons in the
02:51 1930s.
02:52 The music is also reminiscent of the period, with one of the best soundtracks in any video
02:55 game ever.
02:56 If you're looking for a challenge, it's perfect, with frenetic, run-and-gun gameplay that can
03:01 take a long time to master because of its refreshingly high difficulty.
03:04 But no matter how hard it is, you'll never stop having fun because it's so superbly
03:08 designed.
03:14 Number 16 - Subnautica
03:22 If you've got a fear of the ocean, beware.
03:24 Subnautica is one frightening game.
03:26 You play as the last survivor of a spaceship when it crash-lands on an ocean planet.
03:30 Everything becomes a potential crafting material, something you need to survive as you have
03:34 to monitor your hunger, thirst, and oxygen.
03:36 Contend with dangerous oceanic fauna as you build machines that can take you deeper and
03:40 deeper into the sea, unraveling the mysteries of the planet as you do.
03:44 Subnautica is beloved, and if you want to explore the depths of the sea without worrying
03:48 about being crushed alive, you can even play it in creative mode.
03:56 Number 15 - Outer Wilds
04:03 One of the best time-loop games ever made, Outer Wilds gives you a wooden spaceship and
04:07 sends you out to explore, with the catch that every 22 minutes the sun explodes.
04:11 You're trying to solve the mystery of the time loop and the civilization that came before,
04:15 the Nomai.
04:16 Knowing any more than that will ruin the sense of vastness and exploration, and that's
04:20 the whole joy of playing.
04:21 You get to travel to the various planets and unearth their secrets, and the only limitation
04:26 is your own knowledge.
04:27 Go into it knowing as little as possible and just enjoy the ride, since you'll never
04:31 be able to truly re-experience it.
04:39 Number 14 - The Stanley Parable
04:49 On the face of it, The Stanley Parable has a straightforward concept.
04:52 You're a character in a video game and a narrator is describing what you're going
04:56 to do.
04:57 You can choose to obey the narrator or disobey.
04:59 But the genius of the game emerges when it becomes clear just how much choice is accounted
05:03 for in the narrative.
05:04 Just when you think you've outsmarted the game and done something it can't account
05:08 for, you're proven wrong in this masterful commentary on the nature of video games.
05:11 It's got over a dozen different endings to see, especially if you play 2022's lauded
05:16 Ultra Deluxe version.
05:18 Not bad for a Half-Life 2 mod.
05:26 Number 13 - The Binding of Isaac - Rebirth
05:33 This roguelike isn't for the faint of heart, as not only does it have challenging gameplay,
05:37 but also a very distressing story in which you use tears as weapons.
05:41 We play as Isaac, who's being mistreated by his devoutly religious mother.
05:44 You'll unlock more characters and items the more you replay the game, and the more
05:47 difficult endings you reach, adding to the game's already impressive replay value.
05:51 Its various expansions also add more content, bosses and endings to the game, and if you
05:56 play it with all the expansions, it has more than 20 conclusions.
05:59 It's very impressive that a game with such dark subject matter can be so much fun.
06:09 Number 12 - Shovel Knight
06:15 In this 2D platformer, it's up to you, the brave Shovel Knight, to defeat the villainous
06:19 Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter to ultimately save the world, and that's just
06:24 the main campaign.
06:25 Meant to emulate old-school Nintendo games, Shovel Knight executes this mandate perfectly.
06:29 By collecting treasure, you'll be able to buy more items and permanent upgrades to mix
06:33 up the gameplay, and there's also an interesting risk-reward mechanic here because destroying
06:37 checkpoints nets you more gold.
06:39 The charming story and superb character designs for the various knights will keep you coming
06:43 back to Shovel Knight and its numerous campaigns time and time again.
06:53 Number 11 - Braid
07:00 One of the earliest indie games to really take the world by storm, Braid launched on
07:04 the Xbox Live Arcade way back in 2008.
07:06 At the time, indie games still weren't really a thing on consoles, since it was so much
07:10 harder before this era to make and distribute games alone.
07:13 Braid changed all that.
07:15 It was a confounding platformer with a time manipulation mechanic and a plot twist nobody
07:19 saw coming buried at the end.
07:21 Braid is now most famous as a key example of a game where you were the villain all along,
07:25 subverting your expectations about being a young hero trying to save a princess from
07:29 her dangerous capture.
07:36 Number 10 - Inside
07:42 Two years after Braid, another indie game made waves when it appeared on Xbox Live Arcade,
07:47 Limbo.
07:48 It was also a puzzle platformer made entirely in black and white.
07:51 You play as a young boy who is subjected to increasingly violent deaths every time you
07:55 make a mistake.
07:56 Six years on, and it would be followed up with Inside, which was even more disturbing,
08:00 but also more interesting.
08:02 Again, you're playing as a boy, but this time you're trying to break into and then
08:06 out of a strange research facility full of sinister experiments.
08:10 And who can forget that ending?
08:11 Certainly, it was one of the grossest moments in video game history.
08:21 Number 9 - Hollow Knight
08:27 A Metroidvania with Souls-like elements, Hollow Knight has been popular ever since its release.
08:32 With a unique art style built on hand-drawn animation, much like Cuphead, Hollow Knight
08:36 is as relentless as it is beautiful.
08:38 You play as the Knight as it journeys around Hallownest, traveling through various biomes
08:42 and fighting an array of now-iconic bosses.
08:45 It's definitely not for the faint of heart, since if you die, you then have to defeat
08:48 your own shade to get your full health back, but it's deeply rewarding nonetheless.
08:52 Getting to grips with the atmosphere and lore of the world as you slowly get enough skill
08:56 and power to take on tougher bosses is huge fun.
09:03 Number 8 - Fez
09:11 Yet another example of how great Xbox Live Arcade was back in the day, Fez remains an
09:16 icon of the era.
09:17 When it begins, you think it's going to be another 2D platformer, but it's got a
09:20 major twist.
09:21 The entire stage can rotate, which makes the confounding puzzles a joy to solve.
09:26 This makes the puzzles both surprisingly simple and surprisingly complex.
09:29 You'll be racking your brain to work out exactly how to navigate this strange world
09:33 and its shattered boundaries of perception.
09:36 It's a shame that the lead developer, Phil Fish, quit gaming entirely before the sequel
09:40 could be released.
09:45 Number 7 - Papers, Please
09:52 While most video games are designed to be fun, that's not the case with Papers, Please,
09:56 developed entirely by now-legendary indie developer Lucas Pope.
09:59 In Papers, Please, your job is to man a border crossing and deny or allow people access into
10:03 your country, Hrotsotka.
10:05 But if you don't process enough people, you won't get enough pay to feed your family
10:09 back at home, and if you process the wrong people, the consequences will be severe.
10:13 The point of the game is to explore how ordinary people can be manipulated into doing evil
10:17 things, and it achieves this masterfully.
10:20 Pope would go on to make the equally acclaimed and dastardly complex puzzler Return of the
10:24 Orb-a-Din in 2018.
10:32 Number 6 - Stardew Valley
10:42 Inspired by Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley was developed entirely by Eric
10:46 Barone, better known as ConcernedApe.
10:48 The cozy game to end all cozy games, Stardew Valley sees you taken away from the hustle
10:52 and bustle of the big city and its faceless corporations as you inherit your family's
10:56 farm and begin to get it back on its feet.
10:59 Provided you don't side with Joja, and let's be honest, nobody does, you'll see Pelican
11:03 Town brought back to life by your efforts.
11:05 You can invest in dozens of different ways to make money, from becoming an artisan to
11:09 a fisherman to a spelunker, and you can even get married, settle down, and have kids.
11:16 Number 5 - Celeste
11:23 Another retro-style 2D platformer, Celeste is truly a modern masterpiece.
11:27 You play as Madeline, who's very good at parkour but not as good at facing her personal
11:32 demons.
11:33 That's what the whole game is about, as Madeline decides to climb Mount Celeste to regain some
11:36 control over her life, facing her evil counterpart Badeline as she does.
11:40 With themes of mental illness, Celeste is a profound experience at its heart, as well
11:44 as having exceptionally fun, well-designed platforming gameplay and one heck of a soundtrack.
11:49 It's also got very customizable difficulty options, meaning that whatever your skill
11:53 level, you too can reach the summit of the mountain and find a resolution.
12:00 Number 4 - Super Meat Boy
12:05 The predecessor to The Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy was yet another titan of Xbox Live
12:09 Arcade back in its glory days.
12:11 With an ingeniously gory premise, Super Meat Boy became notorious for its difficult but
12:15 addictive gameplay loop.
12:17 You're tasked with mastering the very unforgiving platforming controls to make it through increasingly
12:21 deadly levels.
12:22 300 times you'll reach your beloved bandage girl, only to have her whisked away again
12:26 by Dr. Fetus.
12:27 This forces you to complete yet another level in the meat grinder mountain until you can
12:31 finally rescue her from his clutches.
12:33 You'll have a whale of a time overcoming these challenges.
12:40 Number 3 - Undertale
12:41 It's hard to put the legacy of Undertale into words.
12:49 After all, this is the game that MatPat gifted the Pope a copy of in 2016 to prove the value
12:54 of video games as an art form.
12:55 It took the world by surprise when it came out because of its lovable characters, tricky
12:59 gameplay and of course, that iconic soundtrack.
13:02 It was made almost entirely by Toby Fox, who only occasionally commissioned other people
13:06 to create for it, composing all the music himself.
13:09 Everybody has a favorite Undertale character and a favorite song.
13:12 And if you played the genocide route first, those revelations about your murder spree
13:16 will never leave you.
13:23 Number 2 - Hades
13:30 Supergiant Games was already an indie darling, but this reached new heights with the full
13:34 release of Hades.
13:35 It had already become popular in early access, but in 2020 the complete game dropped on PC
13:40 and Switch, becoming a mammoth hit and a contender for Game of the Year.
13:44 Hades is, for all intents and purposes, a perfect game.
13:47 Its roguelike gameplay is fast and fun, and even when you fail to escape, you're always
13:51 learning new things and getting new lines of dialogue from its roster of well-written
13:55 characters.
13:56 The art is all gorgeous too, with beautiful environments and character portraits that
14:00 make Hades consistently enjoyable no matter how good you are at it.
14:08 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
14:13 about our latest videos.
14:14 You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
14:18 If you're on your phone, make sure to go into your settings and switch on notifications.
14:25 Number 1 – Disco Elysium – The Final Cut
14:34 If you're only going to play one RPG in your whole life, make it Disco Elysium.
14:37 It's impossible to overstate the critical acclaim this game has received since it came
14:41 out, first only on PC, but eventually coming to consoles as well.
14:45 The first thing you notice about the game is its art style, evocative of oil paintings,
14:49 and the second thing you notice is the superb writing, which is arguably unlike any writing
14:53 seen in the medium before.
14:55 Through the alcoholic amnesiac main character, Disco Elysium explores myriad political ideologies
15:00 and belief systems, everything from communism to one man's unshakable belief in cryptids.
15:05 It's a human and heartbreaking masterpiece wrapped up in a murder mystery.
15:13 Let us know in the comments which of these indie darlings is your all-time favorite.
15:22 Did you enjoy this video?
15:23 Check out these other clips from WatchMojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
15:27 to be notified about our latest videos.
15:30 See you next time!
15:39 (upbeat music)