Top 3 Indie Games 2018

The Climb as a Metaphor

The game follows a young woman named Madeline as she resolves to climb the formidable Celeste Mountain. Her motivations are initially unclear, but as she ascends, she is forced to confront her inner demons, personified as “Part of Me” (or Badeline), a physical manifestation of her anxiety and depression. This is where Celeste transcends its genre. The gameplay is not an obstacle to the story; it is the story. Each screen is a self-contained platforming puzzle that requires precision, timing, and problem-solving. Overcoming a particularly tough screen provides a palpable sense of relief and accomplishment that mirrors Madeline’s own small victories against her internal struggles.

This design philosophy is brilliant. The core mechanics—a jump, a mid-air dash, and a wall climb—are simple to understand but offer immense depth. The game teaches you its language through expertly designed levels, never once feeling unfair. Much like a system administrator learning the intricacies of the Linux Terminal, players gradually build a vocabulary of movements and techniques. What seems impossible at first becomes second nature through practice and perseverance. The game respects the player’s effort, and its central theme is that the struggle itself is what makes you stronger.

Accessibility and Technical Artistry

One of Celeste‘s most celebrated features is its “Assist Mode.” Rather than a simple “easy mode,” it allows players to granularly tweak the game’s difficulty, offering options like game speed adjustments, infinite stamina, or even invincibility. The developers’ message is clear: the story and experience of Celeste are for everyone, regardless of skill level. This inclusive approach was revolutionary and has been widely praised as a new standard for accessibility in gaming.

Artistically, the game is a triumph. The pixel art is expressive and beautiful, conveying a wide range of emotions and environments, from serene forests to haunted hotels. This is complemented by Lena Raine’s breathtaking soundtrack, which is a character in itself, dynamically shifting to match the emotional tone of Madeline’s journey. For those interested in Linux Development, it’s inspiring to see how such a polished and emotionally resonant experience was built by a tiny team, showcasing that powerful tools and a clear vision are the most critical assets.

Return of the Obra Dinn: A Scholarly Maritime Mystery

If Celeste is a game of the heart, then Return of the Obra Dinn is a game of the mind. Created by a single developer, Lucas Pope (of Papers, Please fame), this title is a unique, first-person mystery puzzle game that defies easy categorization. It is a slow, methodical, and immensely rewarding exercise in logic and deduction that trusts the player completely to unravel its complex narrative.

The Memento Mortem and the Book of Fates

Players assume the role of an insurance investigator for the East India Company in 1807, tasked with boarding the ghost ship “Obra Dinn,” which has mysteriously reappeared after being lost at sea for five years. Armed with the “Memento Mortem,” a magical pocket watch, you can revisit the exact moment of a person’s death. Your goal is to identify all 60 crew members and passengers and determine their fates—how they died and, if applicable, who killed them.

The entire game revolves around filling out a logbook. By exploring the ship and finding corpses, you trigger audio-visual dioramas of death. You might see a man get crushed by falling cargo, but who is he? You’ll need to cross-reference his face with the crew manifest, look at sketches, listen to his accent, observe who he was with, and analyze his clothing. The game provides no hand-holding. It is a pure, unadulterated logic puzzle. The feeling of making a correct deduction—locking in three fates correctly—is one of the most satisfying “aha!” moments in modern gaming. It feels less like playing a game and more like being a true detective, a process akin to debugging a complex system in Linux Administration by piecing together fragmented logs and monitoring data from tools like htop or the top command.

A Bold and Unforgettable Aesthetic

What immediately sets Obra Dinn apart is its striking 1-bit monochromatic art style, rendered in a technique called dithering. Inspired by the look of early Macintosh computer games, this aesthetic is not just a gimmick; it is essential to the gameplay. The limited visual information forces you to focus on key details—silhouettes, uniforms, and actions—rather than getting lost in high-fidelity graphics. It’s a masterclass in minimalism, proving that artistic constraint can foster creativity. Managing to create a fully navigable 3D world that is both atmospheric and readable with this style is a staggering technical achievement for a solo developer. It’s an exercise in efficiency, much like writing a clean, effective script for Python Automation or Shell Scripting.

Into the Breach: A Chess Match Against Armageddon

From Subset Games, the creators of the legendary roguelike FTL: Faster Than Light, comes Into the Breach, a turn-based strategy game of such elegance and depth that it feels instantly timeless. It strips the genre down to its bare essentials and, in doing so, creates one of the most intellectually stimulating and replayable tactical experiences ever made.

The Purity of Perfect Information

Into the Breach pits you in control of a squad of three giant mechs against an alien insectoid race known as the Vek. The goal is not to eradicate the enemy, but to protect civilian buildings, which power your grid. Each battle takes place on a small 8×8 grid, and the game’s core genius lies in its concept of “perfect information.” At the start of your turn, the game tells you exactly what every Vek will do and who they will target. There is no randomness, no dice rolls, no chance to miss. It is not a game of luck; it is a deterministic puzzle.

Your turn is spent reacting to the Vek’s telegraphed attacks. Can you push an enemy into the water? Can you block an attack with your own mech? Can you position a Vek so it attacks another Vek instead of a building? The game becomes a high-stakes chess match where you are constantly trying to find the optimal solution to an seemingly impossible problem. The satisfaction of navigating a turn with zero damage to the power grid is immense. This level of clarity and consequence is a dream for anyone who appreciates precise systems, whether in game design or in managing a Linux Server, where understanding the exact outcome of Linux Commands is paramount for effective System Administration.

Minimalism and Endless Replayability

Like its predecessor FTL, Into the Breach features a roguelike structure. A failed run means starting over, but you can carry one pilot over to your next timeline, providing a sense of progression. The true replayability comes from the vast array of different mech squads, each with unique abilities that completely change your strategic approach. One squad might focus on pushing enemies around, while another uses smoke to disable them. This variety ensures that no two runs are the same.

The game’s presentation is clean and efficient. The pixel art is simple but clear, conveying all the necessary information at a glance. The sound design is punchy and satisfying, and Ben Prunty’s score is subtly brilliant. For Linux Users, the game is a delight, offering a native client that runs perfectly on a wide range of systems, from high-end Red Hat Linux workstations to lightweight laptops running Debian Linux. This focus on performance and accessibility is a hallmark of Subset Games’ design philosophy.

Example: A Simple Launch Script

For enthusiasts looking to optimize their gaming experience on Linux, a little Bash Scripting can go a long way. This is a common practice in the Linux DevOps world but can be applied to gaming. For instance, a simple script could temporarily switch your CPU to performance mode.

#!/bin/bash
# A simple script to launch 'Into the Breach' with performance settings
echo "Configuring system for optimal performance..."
# Check for root permissions before changing CPU governor
if [ "$(id -u)" != "0" ]; then
   echo "This script must be run as root to change CPU governor" 1>&2
   exit 1
fi
# Set CPU governor to performance mode for all cores
for CPUFREQ in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do [ -f "$CPUFREQ" ] || continue; echo -n performance > "$CPUFREQ"; done
echo "Launching Into the Breach..."
# Replace with your actual game path from Steam or GOG
/home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Into\ the\ Breach/run.sh
echo "Game closed. Resetting CPU governor to ondemand..."
# Reset CPU governor to a power-saving mode
for CPUFREQ in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do [ -f "$CPUFREQ" ] || continue; echo -n ondemand > "$CPUFREQ"; done
echo "System restored."

This example of Linux Automation showcases how users can leverage the power of the command line to tailor their system’s behavior, a flexibility that is a core strength of the Linux ecosystem.

Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of 2018’s Indie Titans

The year 2018 was more than just a great year for indie games; it was a powerful statement about the medium’s potential. Celeste taught us that mechanics can be a vehicle for profound storytelling and empathy. Return of the Obra Dinn demonstrated an unwavering faith in the player’s intelligence, crafting a mystery for the ages. And Into the Breach delivered a strategy game so perfectly honed and balanced that it will likely be studied by designers for decades to come.

These three titles, different as they are, share a common DNA of passion, focus, and innovation. They are a testament to the fact that a small team with a singular vision can create experiences that rival, and often surpass, the output of the industry’s largest players. They stand as enduring classics, continuing to inspire both gamers and developers alike, and serve as a brilliant reminder of a truly special year in gaming history.