The Inaugural Indie Celebration
With the amount of remarkable indie games released throughout the year, it's impossible to play everything and choose a singular Game of The Year for our collective. In place of a traditional discussion and selection process, the team decided to put our own twist on the annual Game of The Year festivities.
Introducing Six One Indie’s Inaugural Indie Celebration
Each member of Six One Indie has selected five indie titles that have spoken to them throughout the year. Below, you’ll find a short blurb from each individual highlighting their personal pick for their Game of The Year. On our final Six One Indiecast of 2020, we remotely gather around the mics for an in depth discussion on our five selections, as well as recognizing indies we have missed and picks chosen by you, the community. You can listen to our nearly four hour long Indie Celebration episode right now on all major podcast services.
Without further adieu, let’s celebrate a fantastic year of indie gaming.
Kyle Stephenson
The Last Campfire
from Hello Games
My personal indie game of the year is going to The Last Campfire from Hello Games. You play as Ember, a cloaked being in search of fellow lost embers with the goal of reigniting their spirits through simple, yet eloquently designed puzzles. Ember’s journey reigniting the passions, hopes, and motivations of the lost embers has truly helped pull me from the doldrums.
In its five hour runtime, you will come across several characters who are battling themes of depression, anxiety, imposter syndrome, loneliness, fear of change, hopelessness, feeling lost, and more. When mishandled, these themes can easily feel forced and heavy handed. Hello Games not only handles each scenario with care, but the resolutions feel natural. At a time when these battles feel all too familiar, it is the perfect game to help anyone like myself through this pandemic. While it may be difficult to come face to face with your internal struggles, The Last Campfire shows you exactly why you should keep going, why your life is valuable, and why fighting is worth it even when everything around you fights back.
The Last Campfire receives my highest of recommendations.
Celebrated Selections
Mike Towndrow
Teenage Blob
from Team Lazerbeam and The Superweaks
Teenage Blob is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. On the surface to most gaming enthusiasts and players, it’s a collection of mini games set to a pop punk soundtrack. But what Team Lazerbeam and The Superweaks have accomplished with this title is truly outstanding. Teenage Blob is groundbreaking experience; the birth of a new medium. It is one that transcends both gaming and music, melding the two forms of entertainment into an inherently fresh experience; Game-Punk.
Team Lazerbeam takes the roaring six-track collection of anthems from The Superweaks to not only create six totally unique and brilliant mini games, but ones that utilize breakthroughs in gameplay editing to react to the music in ways that feel natural and satisfying to all senses. While Teenage Blob is the future of interactive music, its also an experience that is true to the culture in which it’s celebrating. Behind its Adult Swim-like aesthetic, Teenage Blob is an authentic concert attending simulator that perfectly replicates the emotional rollercoaster that is the day of a show while celebrating and paying homage the punk scene in Philadelphia. In each of it’s six tracks, Team Lazerbeam and The Superweaks provided me with the one thing I desperately miss and feel empty without since the start of this pandemic; live music. Live music is a personal remedy for my mental health. Something I rely heavily on for stability. At a time where I felt my weakest, Teenage Blob kept me breathing.
I fell in love with a Blob at the rock show, and I guarantee you will as well.
Celebrated Selections
Jake Palmer
Hades
from Supergiant Games
Having enjoyed rogue-likes in the past but never finding one that have I loved, Hades came as a pleasant surprise to me. This was a game I heard everyone talk about on its initial release, but waited to jump in. Previous tiles from developer Supergiant Games have never spoken to me, so I hesitated assuming the past would repeat itself once again. But little did I know I would find myself sucked into the Underworld, countlessly attempting to escape my home in favor of a new beginning over and over again.
I would have never thought the Underworld could be so beautiful. The amazing level design and art style in Hades is the best I’ve ever seen from Supergiant Games, and it doesn’t stop there! Every character is beautiful in their own way. Did I feel something awaken inside of me when I saw Ares for the first time? You bet I did. I was getting hungover with Dionysus, feeling weak from Aphrodite, and feeling the electricity with Zeus. Not only are the visuals designed brilliantly, but combat system is remarkable. With the unique builds you come across thanks to the variety of Olympian Gods who assist you in your escapes and an array of legendary weapons to choose from (except the bow, I’m never touching that), every run feels fresh. And in between the action, Hades has a wonderful story for all rich with living, breathing characters you rapidly fall in love with.
This is the one game that should not be dismissed.
Celebrated Selections
Kelsey Lynn Towndrow
Bugsnax
from Young Horses
Bugsnax is a game that should not have been as impactful as it turned out to be. Upon its initial reveal, it was quickly morphed into a meme that was accompanied by the years biggest bop thanks to Kero Kero Bonito. We all sang the song and shared images of these goofy food-creatures, but save from teases of outside influences from Young Horses, no one knew what this game actually was. I expected a moderate Pokemon clone with no real substance, but what I experienced was so much more.
Yes, Bugsnax is a Pokemon clone in its core mechanics, but its gameplay brilliance lies in the physics puzzle-like catching mechanics. If you think something should would, it probably will work. Each time it does work, the sensation of success is unmatched. It is a delight to fill your journal with these creatures, but the games heart lies in its cast of characters. Never would I have thought these round, colorful puppets would be brought to life in the same vane Jim Henson has brought Kermit The Frog to life. Each Grumpus feels alive, and each have their own unique journey I was completely invested in until the very end.
Bugsnax, its characters, and its story will stick with me for years to come.
Celebrated Selections
Matthew Wright
Half Life: Alyx
from Valve
Editorial Note: First and foremost, let’s address the elephant in the room; it’s Valve. Though Valve is technically an independently run publisher, their pockets run astronomically deep and they are a major player in the gaming industry as a whole. We looked at two things; innovation and the studio behind the game. After discussion, we decided to back Matthew’s choice to include Half Life: Alyx on this list. What Campo Santo achieved in the relatively new space that is virtual reality is unmatched, and in 2020 that’s what spoke to Matthew. Coming fresh off of 2016’s Firewatch and shifting gears from the now stalled In The Valley of Gods, Half Life: Alyx is quite the accomplishment. The folks at Campo Santo deserve much love and recognition for their work.
How do you follow up the much beloved series of Half Life after a huge cliffhanger and no sequel for 13 whopping years? If you’re Valve, it’s with a revolutionary VR title set before the events of Half Life 2. Half Life: Alyx places players literally in protagonist Alyx Vance’s shoes through the latest and arguably greatest achievement in gaming developed solely for virtual reality. While that latter fact is a big wall of entry many aren’t willing to scale to experience, especially with Valve’s own Index VR set costing $1000, I can honestly say that even with the $300 Oculus Quest 2 hooked into my PC, you’re still getting a revolutionary experience unlike any other.
As with any VR title it’s hard to sing its praises to the masses as it requires the use of a VR headset, which even at the lower tier isn’t cheap by any means. But brushing off VR and Half Life: Alyx as the latest gimmick in video games in a long decade of gimmicks (Waggle, 3D, etc) is a mistake. I’m not just throwing buzz words when I say “the game is revolutionary.” I mean this is the next logical step in video games and for virtual reality as a whole as well.
This is a title that needs to be experienced for yourself if given the opportunity.
Celebrated Selections
Thank you to our community for not only sharing unfamiliar games with us, but your passion for the indie scene and your stories of how independently created experiences have impacted you personally as well.
Thank you to our PR partners for your tireless work in sharing our passion of amplifying voices of independent creators of all shapes, colors, backgrounds, and sizes. Without you, we wouldn’t have the chance to experience a number of our now favorite games.
Thank you to ReedPop, Playcrafting, and the hundreds of individuals who once again made PAX East a phenomenal event this year. On the cusp of being isolated from one another, having the opportunity to see friends both new and old in the flesh and experience the future of the indie scene is something we’ve held onto all year long. And of course, thank you for giving us a virtual stage for the very first (and hopefully only) PAX Online.
And finally, thank you to the folks behind the games. We cannot properly express our love and gratitude to all of the exceptional independent developers and publishers for providing us and the gaming community as a whole with countless remarkable and magical escapes in a year they were needed the most. It may sound hyperbolic, but speaking on a personal level, you have saved lives this year.
This is only a taste of our Indie Celebration. As mentioned above, episode 35 of the Six One Indiecast: The 2020 Indie Celebration is live on all major podcast services. It is a chaotic and emotional four hours of gushing over our favorite releases, thoughts on games we may have missed, and even discover new titles while recording.
Thank you starting this new journey with us. We’re excited to experience what the indie scene has to offer in 2021 together with you.
We love you. Stay safe.
- Mike, Kelsey, Kyle, Jake, and Matthew | Six One Indie
Written by the Six One Indie staff | Edited by Mike Towndrow