Indie gamesVideo Games

Strategy 14 August 2018

Phantom Doctrine is an espionage strategy game developed by the Polish developer CreativeForge Games. The action of the game is set in the 1980 and depicts an alternative version of the Cold War. The player spearheads a secret intelligence agency with the objective to stop a global plot to take control of the entire world. One has to recruit new agents, train and equip them, and provide them with false identities. It is necessary to complete reconnaissance missions, trade information, interrogate prisoners, and manage the operational budget. The missions themselves play an essential role in the game - during a mission, the player has to lead a team comprising of over a dozen agents. Each mission is turn-based. In the game, the player can mount frontal attacks with heavy weaponry as well as assume a more covert approach to complete the objectives. The game has been designed to allow high replayability. The situation in the virtual world tends to change rapidly and many elements are randomly generated. The players get three characters at their disposal - each one with a unique story, which significantly affects the gameplay.

Action 10 August 2018

An unordinary action-adventure game which uses the style and tune of the 60s. The title was created by an independent studio Compulsion Games known for creating Contrast, a title that used similar style. In the game, the player travels to a fictional town in which, due to indoctrination and a wonderful drug, the citizens are constantly happy and all traits of dissatisfaction are immediately eliminated. The protagonist is one of the defiant citizens who are resistant to the system. In order to survive in the surrounding world, he must observe it thoroughly and understand its rules. The action is shown from first-person perspective and the gameplay is focused on exploration, and gathering various items and using them. While doing it, players must behave according to the social norms so that other citizens don’t become suspicious. The world of the game was characteristically exaggerated, but the game tells about many very important topics.

RPG 15 August 2018

A sandbox RPG with strategy game features. The title was developed by Lazy Bear Games. Graveyard Keeper presents an unusual topic – it enables the player to assume the role of the titular keeper of a graveyard located in a typical fantasy realm filled with monsters and magic. The gameplay is focused on running the graveyard business, and during the game the player must take care of activities like moving bodies, digging graves and organizing funerals. At the same time the player must constantly make business-related decisions and invest in expansion and improvement of the graveyard. Since burying the dead isn’t very profitable, the player can also use alternative methods of earning – go into dungeons, participate in witch burning festivals or cooperate with the local church. The title is filled with black humor and parodies the most typical fantasy genre tropes.

RPG 13 February 2018

It is an action RPG, epic in scale, set in the Medieval period, specifically during the Hussite Wars (fought in Europe in the first part of 15th century), and powered by the CryEngine 3. The game was created by a Czech game studio Warhorse, which employs creators of the popular Mafia franchise. You assume the role of a young blacksmith who lost everything to the war. While fulfilling his father’s last will, he gets entangled in a plot to rescue the kidnapped king and prevent a brutal conflict. Being thrown into a vast open world the protagonist hones his skills, eventually becoming a knight or a rogue. The game stands out from the crowd due to its far-flung realism and relative freedom in how you can complete missions. The authors took exceptional care to stay true to historical sources. Furthermore, the game features am original crafting system as well as complex combat mechanics, which lets you perform precise strikes and special attacks.

Action 22 January 2014

Simulation 27 October 2016

A strategy-simulation game developed by German studio Osmotic Studios. The title references the Orwellian theme of Big Brother and the internet surveillance of the modern society in face of global terrorism. The titular Orwell is the name of a computer system that tracks the citizens and finds people suspected of criminal activity. When the fictional city of Bonton becomes the victim of a series of terrorist attacks, the player assumes the role of an operator of the system and is tasked with identifying the terrorists. The gameplay mechanics are focused mostly on watching recordings and files related to the citizens and reporting any suspicious activity to specialized units. In the game the player will frequently bend constitutional laws and dig through private data, hack computers and even impersonate other people. However, one must be very careful because all actions can lead to various consequences.

Action 07 August 2018

An action game with roguelike and metroidvania elements by indie French studio Motion Twin. During the game, you explore a grim castle, whose elements (such as chambers, cloisters, and sewers) are procedurally generated. Given the permadeath system, it means that each new gameplay is a fresh experience, during which you can discover new parts of the fortress. An important aspect of Dead Cells is combat, which is very difficult. To succeed you have to work out the patterns of the enemies' attacks and to get the protagonist to a high enough level. In combat you use melee and ranged weapons, as well as offensive and defensive magic. The game features pleasant 2D pixel-art visuals.

RPG 14 August 2018

Death's Gambit is an oldschool 2D action RPG developed by White Rabbit, inspired by the classic games like Castlevania or Shadow of the Colossus and newer productions such as Demons' Souls. We play as the Emissary of Death, and our job is to purge the world from the immortals. The game takes place on a medieval planet, where we will have to face numerous knights, undead, and monsters. From time to time we will also encounter gigantic monsters that will require us to climb onto them and find their weak points in order to defeat them. Gameplay focuses on action, battles, and high difficulty level. The game requires us to plan our actions and think outside the box. Death's Gambit also has some RPG elements, like the character progression system, special abilities, or a wide array of weapons and equipment.

Strategy 31 July 2018

A sequel to This is the Police. The game was developed by the creators of the original title, Weappy Studio. Similarly to its predecessor, the game combines traits of adventure games and strategy games. In This is the Police 2 the players assume the role of Lilly Reed – a female sheriff who tries to bring order to the small city of Sharpwood.

RPG 08 May 2018

A sequel to the successful RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment. The story told in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire follows the threads started in the first installment of the series. Eothas, the god of renewal and light, comes back to life and takes the form of a statue buried under the protagonist’s keep. Although the stronghold gets destroyed, the main hero survives. From now on, he or she has to pursue a new goal, which is to hunt down Eothas as well as find answers to questions that can bring chaos to the world of gods and mortals. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire takes the player to the eponymous Deadfire archipelago in the far east. In this new region you can travel not only on foot, but also by ship. While controlling your party of characters, in the classic isometric view, you get to explore different locations, complete missions of varying importance and fight with opponents met on the way. Note that the world of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire lives a life of its own, and the choices you made in the first game have consequences here too. Some changes and improvements were made to the User Interface and dialogue system as well as the visuals, which now feature dynamic weather.

Action 09 August 2018

A realistic FPP shooter game, focused on the multiplayer mode for dozens of players at once. Post Scriptum is based on Operation Market Garden, which took place during World War II.

RPG 19 January 2016

A dark fantasy cRPG developed by debuting studio Red Hook. The story is set in a dark, medieval-like universe. While exploring ruins of an old castle and its dungeons, you face off against forces of darkness that overwhelmed the land because of the reckless actions of its previous sovereign. As you delve into the depths, you discover the dark history of a family who brought the evil upon the world. The gameplay focuses on dungeon crawling - dungeons filled with traps and crawling with monsters that need to be dealt with during turn-based combat sequences. An original idea is the sanity indicator of your heroes. Each team member has different personality and reacts differently to what is happening around him/her. Therefore, while playing you should keep an eye on their well being and fear levels, alleviating their stress by drinking alcohol or brawling, if needed.

Action 09 August 2016

A science-fiction, sandbox action game with a focus on multiplayer mode. It was created by Hello Games, company known for the colorful arcade production Joe Danger. The game is set in the distant future in the yet uncharted parts of the cosmos, and the gameplay is presented in two forms. We explore the successive corners of the universe piloting a spacecraft, like we do in typical space-sim productions. Upon landing on a newly discovered planet, the game switches to first-person view. The authors emphasize the complete freedom given to the player during exploration. While visiting places featuring different animals, plants, or even varying composition of the planet's atmosphere, we can focus on exploration, acquisition of raw materials, or the combat against various predators. An important element of the game is the system of procedural generation of worlds, which creates their virtually every element, from the smallest features of the surface to the entire star systems and galaxies.

Action 18 November 2011

A sandbox game that defies classification, developed by the independent Mojang AB studio. Minecraft has been developed with the intention of unleashing the creativity of players, who can freely change the game's virtual world made from voxels (cubic blocks). The gameplay concentrates on terrain transformations, building structures, crafting items, and creating your own adventures. The game consists of two modes: a classic one, which allows for unending experience, and survival, in which we have to prepare to fend off monster assaults at night. In addition to single player, Minecraft also offers online multiplayer. The game from Mojang AB is distinguished by its unique retro visuals.

Arcade 08 December 2017

An unusual first-person stealth game by Dynamix Pixels. In Hello Neighbor, we assume the role of an owner of a suburban house who suspects that his neighbor hides a terrible secret. To confirm his suspicions, he decides to sneak into his home, which won’t be easy since the man is incredibly alert and will stop at nothing to protect his privacy. The goal is to infiltrate the neighbor’s house undetected. Decoys and other distractions are helpful in turning the attention away from us. The primary element of gameplay is the advanced artificial intelligence that lets the neighbor remember the player’s actions and thus foresee his future ones. The paths that we take most frequently are quickly armed with numerous traps and alarms so the game requires creativity and flexibility to be won.

Action 30 April 2018

A first-person perspective (FPP) sandbox survival horror game. The Forest is the work of an independent studio SKS Games, known mainly for the smartphone hit, End Night. The player assumes the role of a sole survivor of a plane crash. The hero ends up on an isolated island far away from civilization, inhabited by a tribe of cannibalistic mutants. The gameplay focuses on the exploration of land (forest, caves, etc.), survival skills (building a shelter, searching for food, setting traps, etc.), and fighting or avoiding confrontation with opponents. The creators have made an effort to create a lively, fast-changing world, allowing for great freedom of action. As for the technical side, The Forest utilizes Unity 4 engine.

Action 2019

An online first-person shooter introducing a massive multiplayer mode inspired by the Japanese novel/manga Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. We assume the role of the participants of sadistic games held by a race of barbarous, high-tech aliens. The story is just a pretext to the actual game, though, as Islands of Nyne: Battle Royale is a multiplayer-only title with gameplay modes for up to 100 players. The players engage in PvP combat taking place on remote islands surrounded by plasma field that slowly absorbs the playing field. We can choose from numerous firearms and melee weapons, while our goal is to eliminate all other participants and finish the battle as the last man standing.

Action 29 August 2017

A sandbox survival simulator set in an open world, which draws inspiration from productions such as DayZ. Unlike in the aforementioned title, this time we fight against powerful prehistoric creature instead of zombies. The game is the debut of an independent studio called Wildcard, founded by a former employee of Microsoft Game Studios. The player begins the game defenseless and naked on an unidentified island, and his or her task is to survive in this new, harsh environment. In order to do that, we must hunt and gather various raw materials which will be used to create the much needed weapons and tools. One of the most fun aspects of ARK: Survival Evolved are the meticulously depicted creatures – the game features more than 60 species of dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals. Since the title features o multiplayer experience, meeting other players in the game world will happen and, depending on their attitude, we can fight them or establish valuable alliances.

Adventure 09 October 2018

A two-dimensional adventure game with platformer features from the independent Polish team at Juggler Games. It takes players to a fictional city ruled by the Evil King and his army of robots. Certain districts have been separated from others by a high wall, and this ghetto is used to contain the so called “worse part of society”. The players take control of two kids trying to survive in the cruel new reality. My Memory Of Us uses side-view camera angle to present the world, and the controlled duo must support each other to overcome all obstacles and solve all puzzles. One of the game’s selling points is a simplified dialogue system based on symbols, as well as its setting being inspired by actual life in Poland under German occupation during World War II, especially inside Jewish ghettos. It also stands out with the monochromatic colors of its visuals.

RPG 02 August 2018

Another expansion pack to one of the most awarded sandbox MMO games on the market – EVE Online, developed by CCP Games. The expansion takes the players to an unknown area of the galaxy where they compete over mutaplasmids that can change the balance of forces in the galaxy.

Strategy 07 March 2018

A real-time strategy taking place in a fantasy universe inspired by Nordic mythology and the Viking way of life. Northgard allows the players to lead a group of Vikings, who after years of tedious exploration have found a mysterious, resource-rich land. To attain their goal of fame and fortune, they will have to face numerous dangers scattered across the new land. Northgard’s gameplay is based on classic real-time strategy games such as Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, or The Settlers. Aside from resource gathering, building settlements, and battles with dozens of units, the game introduces survival elements - the player receives the duty of keeping his clan safe through long, frosty winters. The clan will be facing bloodthirsty wolves, undead warriors, and various mythical creatures, including giants, with whom we can create an alliance. Northgard employs 3D graphics with a light, cartoonish design, while the game itself is seen from an isometric perspective.

Action 24 February 2017

Hollow Knight is a 2D metroidvania game developed by the indie studio Team Cherry. The game takes us to a fantasy underground world located bellow the city of Dirtmouth. The place attracts numerous adventurers, who disappear without a trace when they enter it. We play as an adventurer who decides to face the challenge and find riches, fame, and the answers he is looking for in that underground world. The game is presented from a side-scrolling perspective. Gameplay focuses on the exploration of vast locations, leveling and progressing our character, finding more and more powerful equipment, and fighting with the encountered enemies. During our exploration of the underworld, we will find not only many traps and dangers awaiting us, but also some friendly NPCs that will aid us with their knowledge or useful items.

Simulation 31 August 2018

A flight simulator set in the World War II period; the game was developed by Atomic Jelly and published by Movie Games. The story focuses on the titular 303 Squadron - a Polish combat unit formed in Great Britain. No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron played a key part in the Battle of Britain. The player is given an opportunity to get acquainted with the stories irs pilots, mechanics, and other people who worked at the squadron's main base in Northolt, as well as to take part in authentic battles from the period, recreated in the game on the basis of historical evidence. Mechanics-wise, the creators emphasize quick and dynamic air battles, which situates the game somewhere between a simulation and an arcade experience. Between the subsequent missions, the player visits the aforementioned base, which can be freely explored. One can also fix their plane here and install various modifications. Additionally, the game features a lot of side assignments - those take the player to other military theaters.

Strategy 02 August 2016

An original strategy game with elements of adventure game developed by independent studio Weappy in cooperation with Team 17 Softworks. You take on the role of a chief of police who is about to retire. However, instead of safeguarding the law and order, he decides to use his authority and influence to make a fortune. To this end, the protagonist deals with the local representatives of criminal underground, while trying to keep his actions in the dark. This is the Police features two-layered gameplay, divided into plot and strategy. The former lets you follow the story of the main hero and build relations with key characters. The latter is about planning and execution of criminal operations, while carefully manipulating the actions of police. Moreover, you have to smartly manage your dirty money – safely laundering it for your private needs and investing some into upgrading the police forces.