10 Best Indie Video Games Of 2016

1. INSIDE

Abzu game
Playdead Studios

Another follow-up puzzler to build off the back of its previous success is INSIDE. Retaining the familiar monochromatic style and 2.5D platform of 2010's Limbo, INSIDE builds on the dark themes and dystopian setting by using musical cues and spots of colour to guide the player through the tribulations encountered along the way.

As a nameless boy, the player begins a descent into an ever more sinister world of human experimentation and mind control. The atmosphere gets more surreal, tense and dangerous as the player goes from exploring above ground, obeying the normal laws of nature, to navigating underwater and using mind control to solve increasingly complex and obscure puzzles.

Massive environments seem deceptively barren, only for vicious men, dogs or monsters to emerge from the shadows, their desire to harm us all the more terrifying as we don't ever really know why we're there in the first place.

As with Limbo, the beautiful, custom art direction and intuitive gameplay of INSIDE ease the player in, while the dark and mysterious atmosphere urge us ever close to inevitable tragedy.

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What was your favourite indie game of the year? Let us know in the comments!

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Writer, aspiring author, and I won't stop travelling until I've seen it all. Whilst I might take a break now and then to rant about politics or muse over philosophy, I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves, buckle down, and spend some solid hours gaming!