Indie

Mind Games is a DLC that adds a slew of new content to Sword of the Stars: The Pit. It includes new levels, new weapons, new items, and new enemies. But, the most exciting addition is the psionic powers, along with 2 new classes: the ranger and the psion.

Ethan Meteor Hunter is a puzzle platform game by Seaven Studio. You play as Ethan, a mouse given the power to stop time because he was hit by a meteor. The reason for this isn't explained in the alpha, but perhaps it will be revealed in the full game. Ethan's mission is to collect bits of meteorites as he makes his way through 50 levels. There is a counter at the top of the screen to let you know how many meteorites are in a given level and how many you have collected. It's definitely an original idea, at least from what I’ve seen.

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is perhaps Sierra's most notorious adventure game. While it's not as crafted as their later work, creator Al Lowe managed to make it and its sequels cult classics in the eyes of the many that played the series of adventure titles released in the late 1980s and throughout the '90s.

Knights of Pen and Paper is a game designed to take you back to a time when a group of likely slightly smelly individuals would sit around a table, getting engrossed in a story of their own creation. By lovingly combining table top RPG with the gameplay devices of late eighties/early nineties, Behold Studios have created a game that is both nostalgic and fresh, seriously fun and, at times, frustratingly true to its source.

Since releasing Title Bout Championship Boxing 2.5 back in 2008, the boxing simulation series has laid dormant, as Out of the Park Developments shifted their focus full-time to their baseball management sim, finally selling it to frequent collaborator studio P.I.S.D. Ltd. back in May. Hand in hand with that news came word that the long-awaited Title Bout Championship Boxing 2013 would be released - and it arrived this week on PC and Mac, a (somewhat) successful for the oft-forgotten franchise.

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.