It’s been a great summer for indie games — here are some of the best

Outside of immoderate notable exceptions, determination haven’t been galore blockbuster games this summertime — but that doesn’t mean determination hasn’t been overmuch to play. In fact, astatine times, it has felt similar a never-ending flood of fascinating indie releases, acknowledgment to games similar Arranger, Animal Well, Crow Country, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

It’s been astir intolerable to support up, but we’ve been playing done astir of these games and settled connected a fistful of recommendations that connection a scope of experiences. There’s everything from shadow-hopping puzzles to comedic platformers to a crippled that mightiness assistance capable the Silksong-shaped spread successful your heart.

Here are immoderate of our favorites.

The Crush House

PC

The Crush House is 1 of the uncommon games that capitalize connected the tomfoolery imaginable of moving a world TV show. Part of the crippled is simply a benignant of assets absorption sim. Ads marque my bosses blessed but marque my assemblage tune out. The different portion is similar a first-person shooter requiring maine to sprint astir the location with a camera trying to seizure the juiciest moments. But I’ve ever hated the manufactured play of world TV, truthful I’m having the astir amusive making the astir boring amusement possible. I haven’t been fired yet, but I consciousness it’s coming. —AP

Flock

PlayStation, PC, Xbox

It’s the creature-collecting of Pokémon but without each of the battles. Also, you tin fly. Flock is each about, well, gathering a flock of cute small creatures. You bash that by soaring astir an idyllic scenery connected the backmost of a elephantine vertebrate and searching retired each carnal you tin (all of which tin likewise fly). Each clip you find thing new, you’ll person to assistance fig retired precisely what it is, and portion the crippled gives you immoderate airy goals, you’re mostly escaped to research connected your own. Even better: portion it’s precise serene to alert solo, you tin besides spell exploring with friends. —AW

Minishoot’ Adventures

PC

Minishoot’ Adventures mixes a twin-stick slug hellhole shooter with top-down Legend of Zelda-style adventuring. Seriously: arsenic a cute spaceship, you’ll research dungeons and cod tiny keys and pieces of heart. It sounds strange, but it’s a genre mashup that wholly works. —JP

Nine Sols

PC

Nine Sols volition consciousness acquainted to Hollow Knight fans: it’s a beautifully styled Metroidvania with pugnacious combat. Nine Sols’ enactment rewards patience and parrying, which is simply a amusive challenge; it’s incredibly satisfying to expertly parry an onslaught and travel up with a finishing move. The game’s copious magnitude of text, portion interesting, tin get successful the mode of the fantabulous action, but if you’ve inactive got your clown constitution connected for Silksong, Nine Sols volition astir apt scratch the itch. —JP

Schim

PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch

Schim is fundamentally “The Floor is Lava” translated into a video game. But alternatively of your mother’s loveseat, you hop betwixt the shadows of radical and objects to navigate the world. It’s a clever crippled that makes usage of elemental things similar position to make analyzable platforming puzzles that are satisfying to solve. Once portion stuck, I had a large “aha!” infinitesimal erstwhile I realized I could make the shadows I needed by possessing a postulation airy and changing the awesome to escaped up a gaggle of diligent bikers. Schim has the benignant of strategical reasoning I unrecorded for. —AP

SteamWorld Heist 2

PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch

It’s been a decennary since the archetypal SteamWorld Heist expanded the robotic franchise with immoderate delicious turn-based pirate action. In the original, you’d enlistee a squad of robots and spell connected missions gathering loot and battling each kinds of enemies. Whereas the archetypal crippled took spot successful space, the sequel goes nautical, with a immense oversea to research and tons of machines to conflict and shipwrecks to plunder. The enactment is akin — which means you’ll beryllium cautiously plotting each determination and onslaught arsenic you strategically research levels — but feels much polished this clip around, buoyed by beauteous 2D visuals and a amazingly heavy storyline.—AW

Thank Goodness You’re Here!

PC, PlayStation, and Switch

This mightiness beryllium the strangest crippled I person ever played. You play arsenic a small fella with a large caput who lone has 2 actions: leap and slap. It’s a small similar Untitled Goose Game, but besides much weirder. You’re tasked with helping folks successful a quaint English colony (who each exclaim “Thank goodness you’re here!” erstwhile you arrive), but things astir ever devolve into immoderate unusual mess. You’ll beryllium collecting vertebrate soldiers, exploring a tiny market store for rats, and navigating everything from underground pipes to a premium chopped of ham. Along the way, you’ll slap a batch of bums and beryllium charmed by the dulcet tones of Matt Berry. —AW