It’s been a type of unusual, busy years the place any of Polygon’s prime 10 video games of the yr may have made the No. 1 slot. Heck, you can develop that outward to incorporate the highest 20. There was a wealth of nice video games all year long, making it not possible to maintain up with the whole lot — even right here at Polygon, the place lots of our jobs are to maintain up with video video games. That’s why we’ve created this listing of 10 video games you may need missed, all from indie studios. They cowl a bunch of various genres, from a goofy multiplayer sport to a list administration roguelike.
Like with Polygon’s listing of the highest 50 video games of the yr, there are many improbable video games that slipped by way of the cracks. Suppose we’ve missed any extra-special indies from the previous yr? Drop your favorites within the feedback.
Bread & Fred
![Art for the co-op platformer Bread and Fred. The illustration shows two penguins. There is a rope attaching the two to each other. One is standing on a rocky ledge and is letting the other jump off the ledge.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YcAgIxXFxU7QJ7Ljr6U3A0NckeQ=/0x0:2560x1734/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2560x1734):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24764088/bread_and_fred2_scaled.jpg)
Picture: SandCastles Studio/Apogee Leisure
Developer: SandCastles Studio
The place to play: Home windows PC
Bread & Fred is a sport you’re going to need to play with a pal. (Solely considered one of you wants a duplicate of the sport, due to Steam’s Distant Play Collectively.) You’ll play as two penguins tied collectively on a brief rope, tasked with climbing a snowy mountain. It’s laborious! The rope could be very quick, that means there’s little wiggle room. Communication is vital to timing every soar exactly — otherwise you would possibly fall down the mountain as soon as once more with a splat. So sure, Bread & Fred is tough, but it surely’s not not possible. Higher but, its problem is fairly hilarious when enjoying with a pal you’re comfy shouting at — or with. The animations have a slapstick ingredient, making the already foolish premise even funnier. —Nicole Carpenter
American Arcadia
![Inside an office, there are several computer screens lit up. In the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, there’s a hand holding a cellphone.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o2slCsrvBwsRCPbygUExwuIgZYM=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165256/ss_a87f88d2ab252704667aa7baa1540ed17bcb07ce.jpg)
Picture: Out of the Blue Video games/Uncooked Fury
Developer: Out of the Blue Video games
The place to play: Home windows PC
Trevor, an workplace drone, wakes up one morning and learns his bosses are conspiring to kill him — and in addition that his total life is constructed on a lie. American Arcadia is about in a ’70s-inspired metropolis known as Arcadia, however one thing’s up with Arcadia: It’s a Truman Present-type widespread deception designed to trick 1000’s of individuals into dwelling guilelessly for the leisure of others. However that’s not American Arcadia’s solely trick. One minute you’re bouncing throughout platforms like some other side-scrolling platformer. The subsequent, you’re fixing puzzles from a first-person perspective. Video video games don’t typically deploy a number of views. Right here, the shift is jarring however efficient; it places you on edge — type of, one imagines, like studying the reality about Arcadia. —Ari Notis
El Paso, Elsewhere
![El Paso, Elsewhere - A protagonist shoots his way through a brightly lit hotel room](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xYgGdv51hS1a0_2mTlWzumPmqDU=/0x0:2560x1440/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2560x1440):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22643169/ss_d55df573b989984f7d234e977fa51b4777664ca2.jpg)
Picture: Unusual Scaffold
Developer: Unusual Scaffold
The place to play: Home windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X
When you can’t get sufficient of Max Payne, you received’t need to miss El Paso, Elsewhere. When vampires and werewolves arrive in a mysterious, supernatural motel, vampire hunter James Savage takes them head-on. What you get is a third-person shooter that revels in PlayStation-era graphics and explosive gameplay, with a story that units the stakes particularly excessive. You see, Savage’s ex is a vampire that’s about to carry out a ritual — in that El Paso motel — to finish the world. Throughout the mayhem of El Paso, Elsewhere, there’s a good looking story about habit and heartbreak that grounds the sport’s bodily demons inside its metaphorical ones.
Sure, I made a Max Payne comparability — and also you’ll see that loads when studying about El Paso, Elsewhere — however the sport is one thing wholly itself. It’s to not be missed. —NC
A Highland Tune
![A girl runs up a mountain in the Scottish Highlands in A Highland Song. A deer rushes up in front of her.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BTg0DokBH1-QKrfCqvk_-Gu8TMM=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165252/ss_602e8e67e0d786f35411c8a67f3d7b2a222850ea.jpg)
Picture: inkle
Developer: inkle
The place to play: Nintendo Change, Home windows PC
A Highland Tune is a type of 2023 latecomers, sneaking into this yr’s launch calendar on Dec. 5. From the creators of 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault, it’s not a sport to be missed. The stylized artwork type completely renders the Scottish Highlands, the place Moira is exploring to be able to get to the ocean. It’s a type of video games, like A Quick Hike, the place the journey is rather more vital than the vacation spot. Set to music from Scottish folks artists TALISK and Fourth Moon, A Highland Tune has so many beautiful, warming moments, even once you’re sheltered up in a cave to flee the chilly. —NC
MyHouse
![A game made on top of Doom, called MyHouse. A person points a gun at a house.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e2QDT20_YRePaDyoKi1Af5zghQs=/0x0:640x480/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:640x480):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165245/screenshot01.png)
Picture: Veddge
Developer: Veddge
The place to play: Home windows PC
MyHouse.wad is a fairly boring Doom mod. I’m no sport designer, and I’m hesitant to repeat a drained line about trendy artwork, however come on: I may have made this! The map is only a typical suburban split-level dwelling. There’s nothing to do however scurry round polygonal furnishings, have a look at cheesy home artwork, and shoot some generic Doom enemies. I believe — if I’m being sincere — its elevated status stems from its tragic backstory.
A Doomworld person named Veddge launched MyHouse.wad on the location’s discussion board again in March. Veddge was clear from the start that MyHouse wasn’t his mod; he’d simply polished it up. The unique model belonged to Veddge’s childhood pal Tom, who had just lately handed away. To honor his pal, he determined to the touch up the map into operable form and share the file with some hardcore Doom nerds — the type of of us who would possibly admire this novice however lovingly made map.
I admire the great intentions. I simply can’t perceive why anyone would discover this regular home all that fascinating. I imply certain, the rooms preserve shifting. And generally there’s no approach out. And different occasions I get up in an empty hospital. However that is only a regular, boring Doom mod. There’s nothing to see here.
Except none of that is true. —Chris Plante
Videoverse
![Videoverse screenshot showing a fictional video game console that looks like a bulky Nintendo 3DS, as well as some magazines, soda, and a calendar on a desk.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-0Q2bO4ahfufJbGSjhpsR0YOAWU=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165181/ss_1829d82d2db610f5a908400cc3a6eb8d74713c32.jpg)
Picture: Kinmoku
Developer: Kinmoku
The place to play: Mac, Linux, Home windows PC
Videoverse is a sport for these of us nostalgic for the early web and its intimate communities. Once I was a child, I spent my free time digging into niches on Neopets and speaking to strangers about shared pursuits in AOL chat rooms. I made associates in boards, creating a web-based world generally extra attractive than my very own actual life. Videoverse is all of these issues on a fictional discussion board devoted to a dying MMO, and it completely captures the drama and unhappiness of letting go. All of sudden, Videoverse has recreated the frivolous, lovely, dramatic, and profound methods know-how has influenced my life, and perhaps yours, too. —NC
A Area for the Unbound
![A row of houses in which the centered one is yellow, rendered in pixel art. Several people stand in front of the homes. (Screenshot from A Space for the Unbound)](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2sUfbsVwBeBzhRx8XZ4Zna_XPvA=/0x0:1408x792/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1408x792):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165232/ss_f5cc3f084909ebd610dc4172a8afce857793ae6b.jpg)
Picture: Mojiken/Toge Productions
Developer: Mojiken
The place to play: Nintendo Change, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X
Set in rural Indonesia, A Area for the Unbound is a slice-of-life story of highschool sweethearts Atma and Raya, who’ve a bucket listing to satisfy. Whereas A Area for the Unbound is an intimate look right into a teenage relationship in ’90s Indonesia, it’s additionally the backdrop for a bigger supernatural energy that’s threatening actuality — the tip of the world. That framing makes for an fascinating dichotomy between the scope of the tales: on a regular basis moments paired with otherworldly drama. It’s a type of video games that’s so earnest that’s it’s simple to miss any flaws or bugs whereas captured by the stakes of the world and its characters. A bonus for pixel artwork followers: The sport is attractive! —NC
Tape to Tape
![Screenshot from Tape to Tape showing a bunch of hockey players on the ice. One team is wearing orange, the other black.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ctzkq-CrVaL7PAXAGx8pyjb5UXw=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165229/ss_98b595451cf3317a5fafbde17de75fc6c8511dc4.jpg)
Picture: Wonderful Rectangle/Null Video games
Developer: Wonderful Rectangle
The place to play: Home windows PC
A hockey sport, however make it roguelite! Tape to Tape is in early entry, so it hasn’t had its full launch simply but. However what it’s now’s very enjoyable: a sport about constructing a hockey group by hiring gamers and managing the group. Play in video games, after all, with totally different — not precise hockey-legal — talents, upgrades, and bribes. Tape to Tape screams ’90s Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey, however much more wacky. As in different roguelites, shedding is ok: It’s a chance to improve your instruments of the commerce and get additional subsequent time.
Seize some hockey followers in your life for on-line multiplayer (with Distant Play Collectively) or on break up display screen. —NC
Moonring
![Screenshot from Moonring, showing retro pixel boat. On the side, there’s a text input screen.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CHKvvuBMSlmfTUJsDlcXR_4ADXw=/0x0:1162x721/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1162x721):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165216/ss_f002332a9a280b5a9437ad6c9676696ff0f3bfb7.jpg)
Picture: Fluttermind
Developer: Fluttermind
The place to play: Home windows PC
Don’t let the old-school visuals idiot you: Moonring is considered one of 2023’s richest online game experiences. Created by Dene Carter, a co-creator of the enduring RPG Fable, the colourful journey provides gamers the expansive freedom popularized by video games of the Eighties — when graphics performed second fiddle to creativity and scope. Commerce with unsavory varieties. Companion with questionable cults. Converse with virtually everybody.
Maybe most significantly for our readers, this Ultima-inspired roguelike is free. Like, free free. At that worth, Carter could get his want of introducing the outdated methods of sport design to new audiences. “I hope Moonring recaptures a few of the spirit of these days for you,” Carter writes on the Moonring Steam web page. “For many who didn’t, I hope that the extra trendy conveniences you discover on this sport mean you can catch a glimpse of what we did 40 years in the past.” —CP
Backpack Hero
![A screenshot from Backpack Hero, with a mouse on the bottom of the screen. The backpack is open up top, showing three items, including a sword.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xu9REwFNxodBfMIEMsUFDDrUyug=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25165221/ss_34b2c0a700a0b3486233b5d73d0643433593975e.jpg)
Picture: Jaspel/Totally different Tales, IndieArk
Developer: Jaspel
The place to play: Nintendo Change, Mac, Home windows PC
Once I can’t sleep, I think about the mysteries of the universe. Like, who got here up with the whiskey bitter? “Whiskey is superb, however what if we added uncooked egg whites?” Backpack Hero’s creators took a equally audacious method with the basic dungeon crawler, splicing the style with the Tetris-like stock administration popularized by Resident Evil 4. Very similar to the foamy cocktail, the outcomes are scrumptious.
Typically, I’m hesitant to listing back-of-the-box bullet factors, however I’m tickled by how massive the creators have made a sport about backpack group: There are over 800 gadgets and 100 enemies, you possibly can play as 5 totally different heroes, and the dungeons are procedurally generated inside a overworld map the participant constructs. Like its hero mouse, Backpack Hero punches approach above its weight class. And it’ll preserve you up at evening, as a result of there’s all the time time for yet one more run. —CP