18 Best Indie Games Of The Decade (So Far)

2. Hotline Miami 1 & 2

Sometimes all it takes for a game to settle nicely into your cerebellum is an idea; a bulletproof concept you just know right away is going to be fun to play with and get completely absorbed by - and it's something both Hotline Miami games have in spades.

Playing as an unknown man (who fans have named Jacket), the first game sees you answering a series of phone calls before embarking on the most enjoyable, neon-soaked thrill n' kill-rides ever put to code. When the stupidly effective soundtrack is thumping and you're tacking a variety of weapons from machetes to kitanas, bottles, baseball bats and a bevy of firearms to entire rooms of guards all leaving bloodstained floors and battered corpses in your wake, well, there's nothing like it.

The second game took the first one's ideals and questions of what this type of violence means to those enacting it and cranked the crazy-dials even further, depicting the real-world aftermath of these killing sprees within its own universe. New characters include a group of fans who love everything about Jacket's anti-gangster exploits, but you'll also follow a gang leader, a retired cop and another killer who ends up confronting who's on the other end of that original phone line.

Play them for pure blood-drenched kicks if you like, then sit back and drink in one of the most rewarding stories going that the community has pieced together across both games. It might be visceral and uncompromisingly disturbing at times, but the world of Hotline Miami is one of the most absorbing and impactful in all of gaming.