10 Essential Indie Games Every Gamer Should Play

Once upon a time, independently developed video games were almost solely the domain of the PC crowd, but that all changed in 2005 with the release of the Xbox 360. Relaunching its Xbox Live Arcade service alongside their second entry into the console market, Microsoft released a smoother interface, added achievements and free demos, resulting in a thriving downloadable market.

Seeing an opportunity, smaller studios (who'd previously had few chances to show console gamers what they were capable of) jumped at the chance to add their games to the service. Sony soon followed suit with the launch of PlayStation Plus, and the battle to attract the best independent developers had well and truly started.

Year on year, the range and quality of titles available on these services has continually improved, and shows no sign of slowing down with the current console generation.

These games might not have a big studio or huge budget, but in terms of imagination and originality, they very often put AAA titles to shame. At this point, indie games aren't just some off-kilter random recommendation - they're as essential as the Red Dead Redemption 2s and God of Wars of this world.

Back in 2008 designers Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes created a flash game simply entitled Meat Boy and this sequel, originally created for the Xbox 360, would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed on the Xbox Live Arcade service.

A 2D platformer in the purest sense, players control a living slab of meat as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the evil Dr. Fetus. As you do. The opening levels introduce the control scheme, which essentially amounts to running and jumping, before the game quickly ramps up the difficulty.

With instant deaths and no mid-level checkpoints this is a game that could easily have become frustrating, but fantastically precise controls and clever level design constantly surprises and delights, making for an incredibly enjoyable challenge.

Very few will be able to complete all of the games 300+ levels, but that’s no reason to miss out on one of the best platformers available today.