20 Best Indie Games Of The Decade

7. Hotline Miami 1 & 2

From narratives to lightning-quick game mechanics, Hotline Miami helped usher in the synthwave music revolution - a retro 80s-inspired electronic genre that's now doing festival circuits around the world.

Back to Hotline itself, as two-person dev team Dennaton coded a top-down puzzle blaster that's as rewarding and satisfying as it is to slice you in half.

Set up as a comment on how appealing video game violence can be, you play Jacket, a character that can wield scores of melee weapons, firearms and even human shields to block bullets, should the need arise.

The game is backed by this pulse-pounding, supremely infectious soundtrack comprising artists that are some of the best in the business. Carpenter Brut, Jasper Byrne, Perturbator and Scattle - both Hotline Miami 1 and 2 redefine the power of game mechanics twinned with great music.

Things like this and SUPERHOT are such viscerally cerebral experiences, they let you get in a headspace of pure responsiveness, reacting and experimenting with methods of killing as fast as you can think them up.