Indie Games for the Curious College Student

By Jasmine Cummings on October 30, 2016

Twice now I’ve listed anime series for college students, so this time I decided to provide entertainment for the gamers among us to try. There are plenty of indie games that are underappreciated and go unnoticed under the long shadows of the big budget releases we’re used to, such as the Bioshock, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls series, all of which I love myself. But not all games can be AAA, so here are a few that I absolutely love.

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Farm for your Life – We’ll start out with something for the Halloween season. Farm for your Life is a farming, restaurant, and survival simulator all in one. ‘Survival?’ you may ask. ‘In my farming sim?’ That’s right — in FFYL, zombies come out at night with the sole purpose of stealing your produce. Crop zombies might sound a little silly, and they are, but those crops are the lifeblood you need to trade for what you need and feed the hungry survivors who offer materials you can’t get otherwise. And those materials are important, as you need them to build weapons to protect your fields. FFYL is currently 60 percent off during Steam’s Halloween Sale, so you can get it cheap until 11-1-16.

If you’re curious about farming sims but want fewer zombies and more romance, story, and hours and hours of gameplay, Stardew Valley might be more your style. As a spiritual successor to Rune Factory and Harvest Moon, this is a good choice for those used to console games.

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Primordia – Here we have one of my favorite games of all time. In an apocalyptic future all that’s left of Humankind is the advanced technology that’s been left to rust: so says the Gospel of Man. You play as Horatio Nullbuilt, a sentient robot in a barren world populated with other robots, some strange and violent. When the power core keeping Horatio and his companion — Crispin Horatiobuilt — alive is stolen from their derelict ship, they set off on a journey that will set them on the path to discover the truth behind the genocide of humans … and of Horatio’s unknown origin.

There are quite a few puzzles in Primordia but none of them are overly difficult. The game boasts a beautiful world dripping with melancholy and decay, and the voice acting is some of the best I’ve ever heard. In fact, Horatio’s voice actor features heavily in our next entry.

Primordia has also just been released for the iOS, so you can play it on the go!

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Bastion – What if you woke up one day to find the world changed forever by a Calamity that fractured your home? Bastion is a story of the Kid and the survivors he meets along the way, as he leads them to the only safe place left: the Bastion. All that’s left are the four of you, monsters, and the dust of those that have been lost forever. The Kid must explore the now monster filled fantasy-like worlds in order to find crystals that will power the Bastion, but he doesn’t do it alone.

While the game is single player, your every move is narrated by Rucks, the elderly survivor who knows too much. Rucks and Horatio Nullbuilt share the same voice actor, and while you might think constant narration would be annoying after a while, Logan Cunningham’s deep, soothing tone not only provides extra backstory, but it’s incredibly relaxing despite the horror of the Calamity.

If you loved Bastion, you’ll definitely want to give Transistor a try if you’re interested in traveling through a sci-fi world that’s becoming emptier with every passing hour. Another game created by Bastion’s Supergiant Games, Logan once again features heavily as one of the few voiced character in this gorgeous art-deco turn based game that is guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings.

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Rimworld – A one man labor of love, Rimworld is a colony simulator where you control a group of survivors as they face numerous threats and hardships while trying to make a home on an unknown planet. Train animals, find new colonists, and build any kind of base you choose. Your colonists have backstories and traits that give them distinct personalities — they react to horrific events like a real person would, making the game both more difficult and wildly fun. The most unique thing about Rimworld is that your game can be controlled by one of three different AI storytellers, who will gladly make or break your game by giving you disasters aplenty, but can also send help when all is lost.

The main endgame encourages working your way through an expansive research list in order to build your own spaceship to escape, but there are many ways to play, especially with the new scenario system allowing you to completely customize your game. The modding community is healthy and flourishing, so there are plenty of ways to spice up your colony if the scenario system isn’t enough.

Rimworld does come with a warning for rather gruesome deaths, and even organ harvesting and a prisoner system that allows you to sell captured attackers, as not everyone on the planet is friendly. The game is also still in Alpha, but plays like a full release and is constantly releasing new tons of content, so don’t let that stop you.

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