Indie

Facepalm Games is a small developer that's had some buzz surrounding them ever since they debuted The Swapper a couple of years ago. Since then, the game has received plenty of accolades and awards in the indie scene, and those that have heard of the game have been anticipating its full release.

How can God be omnipotent and benevolent yet the world be filled with constant war and unending suffering? Perhaps there is a greater god out there who wants nothing more than to sit back and watch as humanity wages meaningless conflict just for the amusement of a callous divine being! That's basically the premise behind Skyward Collapse, a new turn-based strategy game from Arcen Games in which players control both sides in a battle where the hapless combatants waste their lives in perpetual war.

The original Coconut Dodge, released as a PlayStation Mini in 2010, is one of only a small handful of games that I've rewarded with a 10/10. At a time before FuturLab became the Sony darlings they so deservedly are today, they were just another developer vying for attention on the Minis platform and in Coconut Dodge they made a game that was not only so much better than almost anything else on the platform, but that was so much better than it needed to be. They'd gone above and beyond, taking a simple idea and creating perfection.

Fez was a long time coming, and even longer if you didn't own an PC. Although it was discussed, at length for many years, legal and personal problems constantly delayed the original 360 version and Fish's outspoken relationship with gamers and with the industry at large kept him in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Despite that, Fez was released to high praise and has sold incredibly well.

The Curse of Nordic Cove is an unabashed indie game. The graphics are primitive, the controls are frustrating, it is filled with “What the hell am I supposed to do NOW?” moments, and much of the time the damned game engine just plain doesn't work. The list of things wrong with this game is nigh-endless, but it still deserves a closer look because the development team was clearly dedicated to creating something new and different.

Another day, another indie side-scrolling shooter. They seem to be a dime a dozen currently, but that's OK since they serve a purpose – fast entertainment on the cheap. Point 5 Projects' Bad Bots is another 2D shooter that recently hit the scene. Like many games of its ilk, it tries to recapture old-school aesthetics by providing gamers with challenging arcade action. Bad Bots accomplishes this, but in a way that feels incomplete.

Penguin Party is a new PlayStation Mobile title available on PlayStation certified devices and Vita, and although a lot of core gamers will dismiss it based on its design and content, the child-friendly visuals and anthropomorphic penguins hide what's actually quite a challenging puzzle game, and a title in the same vein as old favourites like Chu Chu Rocket.

When Sony opened their doors and welcomed indie games to be sold on their PSN Store, it was like a flash flood. Games like Braid, Limbo, Knytt and many more could now be enjoyed by a much wider audience. Console gamers got a break from their action-packed retail games and got to experience games they normally would never have had the pleasure to try, and developers were enjoying a bigger success riding on the back of the PSN. For the price of a sandwich and a cup of coffee you can now download these smaller games which in all honesty are often better and last ...

Nearly five years since the release of the smash-hit arcade game Castle Crashers, indie developer The Behemoth has finally released their long-awaited third title, BattleBlock Theather. The game, which has been perpetually delayed since its initial reveal in 2010, was launched on Xbox LIVE Arcade in April 2013.

Papo & Yo is a puzzler platformer, but only on the most superficial level. Players do push blocks around and jump over things, but Papo & Yo will also force players to wrestle with emotional issues like childhood abuse, alcoholism, and poverty in the Third World.