Garry's Mod is a 2006 sandbox game developed by Facepunch Studios and published by Valve. The base game mode of Garry's Mod has no set objectives and provides the player with a world in which to freely manipulate objects. Other game modes, notably Trouble in Terrorist Town and Prop Hunt, are created by other developers as mods and are installed separately, by means such as the Steam Workshop. Garry's Mod was created by Garry Newman as a mod for Valve's Source game engine and released in December 2004, before being expanded into a standalone release that was published by Valve in November 2006. Ports of the original Windows version for Mac OS X and Linux followed in September 2010 and June 2013, respectively. As of September 2021, Garry's Mod has sold more than 20 million copies. A successor, Sandbox, has been in development since 2015.
Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. Set in the Middle Ages, the game was released on February 14, 2012, as a sequel to 2004's Crusader Kings. On October 18, 2019, the video game became free to play. A sequel, Crusader Kings III, was released on September 1, 2020. Crusader Kings II stood out from earlier Paradox games in that it attracted a more widespread audience, contributing to the growth of the company.
Avernum: Escape from the Pit is a role-playing video game developed by Spiderweb Software. It is the first game in the remade Avernum First Trilogy and the second ground-up rewrite of Exile: Escape from the Pit, released in 1995. The game was re-released as a graphics and game engine update, and it addressed Avernum incompatibilities with newer versions of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and newer.
Planet Coaster is a construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Frontier Developments for Windows. It was released worldwide on 17 November 2016. Frontier had previously worked in the amusement park construction and management genre with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Thrillville, Thrillville: Off the Rails, and Zoo Tycoon. A version for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, known as Planet Coaster: Console Edition, was released worldwide on 10 November 2020. The PlayStation 5 version was released in North America and Australia on 12 November 2020 and in Europe on 19 November 2020. A macOS version, developed by Aspyr, was later released on 17 November 2020 on both Steam and Mac App Store.
Divinity: Original Sin II is a role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. The sequel to 2014's Divinity: Original Sin and the fifth main entry in the Divinity series, the game was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2017. The player controls a "Godwoken", a Sourcerer who can harness and use a powerful magic known as Source, and becomes a pivotal figure in the fight against the Voidwoken, monstrous creatures who wreak havoc in the medieval fantasy world of Rivellon.
OpenMW is a free and open-source game engine recreation that reimplements the one powering Bethesda Softworks' 2002 open-world role-playing game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
Gavin Dunne, better known by the name of his music project "Miracle of Sound", is an Irish indie musician known for his music inspired by video games, films, and TV shows. While not widely known in his home country of Ireland, his music is very popular with the online gaming community, and he has been described as Ireland's most successful indie musician. Miracle of Sound is generally a one-man-band, though Dunne occasionally collaborates with other musicians and singers. His songs vary widely in genre, typically using a genre that best fits the song's subject; these have included rock, pop, electronic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, alternative rock, tribal music, dubstep, jazz, and even doo-wop.
Underworld Ascendant is a first-person action role-playing game developed by Otherside Entertainment and published by 505 Games. It is the sequel to Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds. Players assume the role of the Avatar, as they return to the Stygian Abyss. As in the original games, there is an emphasis on non-linear progression, simulated systems, and emergent gameplay. It was released on Microsoft Windows on November 15, 2018.
Devil Daggers is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by indie development team Sorath. Players are tasked with surviving for as long as possible against swarms of demonic enemies on an arena shrouded in darkness. The player character can fire daggers from their fingers to eliminate foes and move about to avoid contact with them. The player dies upon touching an enemy, and as time passes, more threatening creatures begin to appear. Survival times are recorded on a global leaderboard where replays of playthroughs can be accessed and viewed. The deliberate use of unfiltered textures and effects like polygon jitter and texture warping make its visual style reminiscent of early 3D games released in the 1990s.
Kitty Horrorshow is the pseudonym of an independent video game developer. Releasing her games on the distribution platform itch.io, she specializes in the psychological horror genre, with her games focusing on surreal and atmospheric horror in the aesthetic style of early 3D videogames.
Sokobond is a puzzle video game created by Alan Hazelden and Harry Lee. Gameplay involves moving atoms around 2D grids to form chemical compounds. The game was released on Linux, OS X, and Windows in August 2013. It was later released for Nintendo Switch in September 2021, and iOS and Android in May 2022. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Antihero is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Tim Conkling and published by Versus Evil.
West of Loathing is a comedy adventure role-playing video game developed and released by Asymmetric Publications on August 10, 2017.
Knights and Bikes is a cooperative action-adventure game inspired by The Goonies and Secret of Mana. It is created by Foam Sword, a British indie game development company made up of former Media Molecule staff.
Tunic is a 2022 action-adventure game developed by Isometricorp Games and published by Finji. It is set in a ruined fantasy world, where the player controls an anthropomorphic fox on a journey to free a fox spirit trapped in a crystal. The player discovers the gameplay and setting by exploring and finding in-game pages of a manual that offers clues, drawings, and notes. The backstory is obscured; most text is given in a constructed writing system that the player is not expected to decipher. Tunic's isometric perspective hides numerous pathways and secrets.
The Waylanders is a role-playing video game developed by Spanish team Gato Studio. It was released in early access for Microsoft Windows on June 16, 2020, with the full version of the game released on February 2, 2022. The game is played from a third-person perspective that can be shifted to a top-down perspective.
Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG, is an isometric turn-based RPG developed by Dark Crystal Games and inspired by games like Fallout and Wasteland as well as Soviet-era sci-fi novel Roadside Picnic. The game was released in early access on Microsoft Windows on September 26, 2019, and its full release was on September 7, 2021.
Lost Ark is a online MMORPG action role-playing game developed by Smilegate RPG, a South Korean video game company. It was released in South Korea on November 12, 2014 by Smilegate. On the first day of launch, the number of concurrent users was 250,000, and within the next week, the number of concurrent users exceeded 350,000. The game can be played in environments that support DirectX 9 or higher. It was first released on November 12, 2014. The Focus Group Test (FGT) was conducted behind closed doors in August 2015, the first CBT was held on August 24, 2016, the second CBT was held on September 15, 2017, and the final CBT was held on May 23, 2018, and the open beta test was conducted on November 7, 2018, and the official release was conducted on December 4, 2019.
Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Ctrl Alt Ninja for Windows on May 15, 2019.
The Norwood Suite is a 2017 adventure game developed by Cosmo D and published by Alliance. Players explore a surreal hotel that was once owned by a famous musician. It is the sequel to Off-Peak and is followed by Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1, all of which are set in the same world.
