Descent is a first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay Productions in 1995 for MS-DOS, and later for Macintosh, PlayStation, and RISC OS. It popularized a subgenre of FPS games employing six degrees of freedom and was the first FPS to feature entirely true-3D graphics. The player is cast as a mercenary hired to eliminate the threat of a mysterious extraterrestrial computer virus infecting off-world mining robots. In a series of mines throughout the Solar System, the protagonist pilots a spaceship and must locate and destroy the mine's power reactor and escape before being caught in the mine's self-destruction, defeating opposing robots along the way. Players can play online and compete in either deathmatches or cooperate to take on the robots.
FreeCol is a 4X video game, a clone of Sid Meier's Colonization. FreeCol is free and open source software released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. In 2023, the FreeCol project reached its 1.0 release, after twenty years of development.
Dead State is a turn-based survival horror role-playing video game developed by DoubleBear Productions and Iron Tower Studio set in a zombie apocalypse scenario. Players are tasked with leading a group of survivors living in a shelter in the fictional town of Splendid, Texas. Dead State was released in December 2014 after having been in Early Access since spring of that year. DoubleBear Productions continued to work on the title and in May 2015 released an "enhanced edition" which changed the name to Dead State: Reanimated.
Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead is a fan-made, 8-bit-styled demake of Valve's 2008 first-person shooter game Left 4 Dead. It was developed by indie developer Eric Ruth Games and released as freeware on January 4, 2010. It was designer Eric Ruth's first attempt at an 8-bit demake, with the most difficult part for Ruth being the music composition due to Left 4 Dead's soundtrack depth and the limited audio that Ruth could work with. Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead allows players to control one or more of four survivors. It is an overhead shooter, similar to NES games Ikari Warriors and Fester's Quest. It was the first of the Pixel Force series, followed by Pixel Force: Halo and Pixel Force: DJ Hero.
Atom Zombie Smasher is a real-time strategy game developed by independent developer Blendo Games. In it, the player attempts to rescue as many citizens as possible from an oncoming zombie horde using helicopter rescue units and an array of military units to protect the citizens and defeat the zombies.
Desktop Dungeons is a single-player roguelike-like puzzle video game developed and published by QCF Design. Released in November 2013, the game underwent a lengthy public beta phase, during which it was available to customers who pre-ordered the game. In the game, players navigate a dungeon filled with monsters before battling a final dungeon boss. The game has qualities of a puzzle as players must find the best methods to use items, spells, and upgrades to reach the final boss without losing too much of their character's health. Desktop Dungeons has been compared to a roguelike but with condensed gameplay. Desktop Dungeons received an award for Excellence in Design at the 2011 Independent Games Festival. The game is available for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, iOS and Android. A video game remake titled Desktop Dungeons: Rewind was announced in 2022 and released April 18th, 2023.
Blendo Games is an American independent video game development company based in Culver City, California. It was founded by Brendon Chung in 2010 and is primarily a one-person effort. Blendo Games gained more widespread exposure with the short form stand alone title Gravity Bone; the following games Flotilla and Atom Zombie Smasher were met with critical praise. The studio has also released several other games in several genres.
Droid Assault is a top-down scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Puppy Games and released on May 2, 2008 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
GROW is a series of Flash or HTML5-based puzzle games created by On Nakayama, a Japanese indie game developer, and posted to his website, eyezmaze.com. The series, which was launched on February 7, 2002, comprises 12 full games, 7 minigames, and 1 canceled game. The most recently released title was published in June 2018. The games all feature a simple click-button interface requiring the player to determine the correct combination of buttons to click to maximize visual reward and ultimately to achieve the good ending. Graphically spare and minimalist, GROW games employ a cute aesthetic and often include creatures and characters taken from On's other games like those in the Tontie Series.
Mini Metro is a puzzle strategy video game developed by New Zealand indie development team Dinosaur Polo Club. Players are tasked with constructing an efficient rail transit network for a rapidly growing city. The game's visual style makes use of bold colours and simple geometry to replicate the appearance of modern transit maps. The game uses a procedural audio system to generate sounds based on the player actions and transit network, with inspiration from works of minimal music.
Unturned is a free-to-play survival game by Smartly Dressed Games, a studio consisting solely of Canadian game designer Nelson Sexton. It was released for Windows, macOS, and Linux in July 2014. Unturned allows players to create custom maps using an in-game editor. Cosmetics and mods can also be created using the game's Unity engine, which allows them to publish creations on the Steam Workshop. A retail version of the game was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by 505 Games in November 2020.
Mushroom 11 is an puzzle-platform game created by Untame. The game is a 2D side-scroller where players control a green mushroom by deleting parts of cells while it simultaneously regrows. The mushroom can be split and shaped to solve puzzles.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope is a 2017 first-person shooter game for virtual reality (VR) developed by Croteam VR and published by Devolver Digital. One or two players fight waves of enemies, including bosses, across five thematic planets. The enemies approach from a 180° field and the player can use dual-wielded weapons while moving across a limited space. To develop The Last Hope and experiment with other VR implementations, Croteam VR was established as a specialised division of Croteam. Devolver Digital announced the game at E3 in June 2016 and launched it in early access that October. After several updates, it was released in September 2017 for Windows with compatibility for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift VR headsets. The Last Hope received mostly positive reviews, with post-release reception lauding the game's gameplay and visuals while criticising difficulty spikes and issues with the online multiplayer mode.
Skyshine's Bedlam is a turn-based tactical roguelike and simulation game developed by Skyshine Games and published by Versus Evil. It was released on September 16, 2015, for Windows and Mac OS X.
Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building video game developed by American studio Mega Crit and published by Humble Bundle. The game was first released in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019. It was released for PlayStation 4 in May 2019, for Nintendo Switch in June 2019 and for Xbox One in August 2019. An iOS version was released in June 2020, with an Android version released in February 2021.
Distrust is a survival game developed by Cheerdealers and published by Alawar. The player controls a team who, after surviving a helicopter crash at an arctic base, must scrounge for supplies. It is available for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS, and Nintendo Switch.
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 is a simulation video game developed by Polish studio Red Dot Games depicting the work of an automotive mechanic. It was released on July 28, 2017, for Microsoft Windows; in 2019 on February 15 for Nintendo Switch and June 25 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A simplified version for mobile platforms was released in June 2018. The game is the third in the Car Mechanic Simulator series, following Car Mechanic Simulator 2014 and Car Mechanic Simulator 2015, the game is the predecessor of Car Mechanic Simulator 2021, which was released on August 11, 2021.
Space Tyrant is a strategy video game developed by Blue Wizard Digital. It uses a streamlined version of 4X gameplay in which players conquer the galaxy as an evil tyrant.
Murder Dog IV: Trial of the Murder Dog is a 2011 video game by Irish independent developer Stephen Gillmurphy, under the name thecatamites. Murder Dog is an adventure game which involves the player in a courtroom defense of the titular Murder Dog, a canine with a comically obvious penchant for murder. Whilst Murder Dog was satirical in nature, the game received recognition from many critics for its subversive commentary on the justice system.
