The worst INDIE game you have played

[BrotherRool]

Okay I'm going to change your title to "most overrated Indie game" because 'worst game' lists are absolutely ridiculous. No Bastion is no the worst indie game, the worst indie crashes your computer and fills it full of viruses and the gameplay consits of ear splitting screeches. The worst indie games are made by a poor 12 year old kid messing around with flash buttons for his first time.

It's why Amy was the first indie game Yahtzee put in his top 5 worst, not because 99% of indie games aren't absolutely abysmal, but no-one cares about the bad indie games because they're not very good. A big budget triple A game being bad is a big deal because 100s of people work on them for years and its still bad. A bad indie game is some guy working at home in front of a computer and not producing something verying interesting or functional. Amy just had PR and the only reason he'd heard about it at all was because it was a bad game.

Even the played descriptor doesn't really help because we're being overly negative by small pool of comparison and we've actually all probably played a bad flash browser game at some point. Most flash browser games are probably not as good as Bastion (although I agree that bastion controls were terrible on a computer. Small diagonal paths with meagre WASD controls?)

So my most overrated indie game is also Braid

Braid is the worst indie game I've ever played. It's not a bad or broken game, but I found it completely dull. I don't mind games with something philosophical to say, but I prefer not to be bored while they say it, and variations on rewind mechanics fail to keep the platforming interesting for me. It's just not my thing.

See I refuse to believe it had something philosophical to say. Contrary to popular belief random and nonsensical doesn#t equal philosophical and nonsense typically has no-sense in it. (Surprise!)

Apart from anything else, if you've found a philosophical idea, being unable to translate it clearly to someone else is a mindblowing flaw.


So Braid was one very good level. But a story that has one level and makes you play for hours to get to that level is a bad story. And considering I never had interest in the princess, didn't really get the feeling of wanting/seeking her and the story about her was told in 5 nonsensical bubbles before each set of levels that didn't turn out to make any sort of cohesive sense. why should it then have meaning to have a twist? I didn't have any meaning to subvert, I had no expectations. Oh we were chasing a princess? Well we weren't really trying to rescue her very clearly in the narrative i the first place so that doesn't make sense.

I mean this isn't hard to screw up. All you had to do was actually make it seem like you were trying to save the princess for the first half of the story instead of babbling about wine and rings being heavy.

Ultimately the twist didn't reveal anything more than it's existence. It impacted nothing else. If anyone can tell you one thing that it changed the perception of other 'you weren't saving the princess after all' I will take this back. If for example that stuff about rings can be looked at in a new light, or it shines new meaning onto the links between the story bites... but it doesn't. Because Braid actually deserves the term pretentious. It was pretending to be clever by just being confusing

 

[NightmareExpress]

Three way tie between SuperBrothers: Sword and Sorcery, SPAZ and NightSky.

The latter was too simple and didn't have a badass soundtrack to keep me enthralled, SPAZ was far too repetitious/boring and I couldn't be arsed to continue on in S&S because the controls and methods of interaction just felt too weird (the constant reminders of Twitter didn't help, either).

Oh, and FEZ gets a special mention because I was so offput by Phil Fish being a douche.
Somewhere along the line I decided that someone so disagreeable wasn't deserving of my money.
Game itself doesn't look to horrid, but at the same time nothing too special in my books.

 

[Grape_Bullion]

Really disliked Flower. Sixaxis ruins a lot of things.

 

[Mikejames]

I haven't explored too many indie games outside the popular ones. Honestly loved Bastion; combat, music, and moderately sexy narration, all blended seamlessly. Really liked Limbo, but the beginning forest was easily the best part of it. Braid had a lovely art design and a few really clever puzzles, but I can see how the exposition dumps and sudden shift of theme in the epilogue could come across as a bit pretentious.

But, compared to the genuine worst?
There are titles that were never meant to be played.

 

[kyogen]

See I refuse to believe it had something philosophical to say. Contrary to popular belief random and nonsensical doesn#t equal philosophical and nonsense typically has no-sense in it. (Surprise!)

Apart from anything else, if you've found a philosophical idea, being unable to translate it clearly to someone else is a mindblowing flaw...

Wow, did Braid offend you on a personal level? Didn't mean to set you off like that. Sorry.

The in-game texts aren't literally random and nonsensical, though; they're just cryptic and sparse because working out what they mean is part of the game. That still leaves plenty of room for them to be trite, and I certainly found them to be that. Braid subverts standard "rescue the princess" tropes and basic "run right" 2-D platforming, which has philosophical merit, but it doesn't go much beyond basic irony.

Plus, I just didn't have any fun at all playing it, so it's the worst indie game I've ever bothered to try. I prefer Legend of Grimrock and Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

 

[Vegosiux]

Braid, really. Just...it tries too damn hard, and falls flat.

Bastion tho? That thing is awesome if you ask me. Tastes and all, but it points out how the narrative and the atmosphere can make for a good game. It has its flaws, yes, of course, but you can't say the gameplay is worse than most AAA titles...

 

[veloper]

How edgy.
Most you guys merely appear to have the knack for avoiding the worst indie titles out there. You don't have the experience.
We used to have most-overated something threads. Those atleast had a point.

 

[Alhazred]

Good lord, people here can't have played many indie games if they're naming games like Bastion, Limbo, Braid and Fez as the worst.

 

[Vegosiux]

Good lord, people here can't have played many indie games if they're naming games like Bastion, Limbo, Braid and Fez as the worst.

To clarify, I don't find Braid "bad" because it'd be unplayable or something, but more because it came across as if it doesn't even know what it wants to do or be. I suppose we weigh different flaws differently. I for one, am willing to excuse a few game breaking bugs if I generally still had fun with a game, but with a game that leaves me wondering "What the hell did I just play?" when I finish it, there's no excuse.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I haven't explored too many indie games outside the popular ones. Honestly loved Bastion; combat, music, and moderately sexy narration, all blended seamlessly. Really liked Limbo, but the beginning forest was easily the best part of it. Braid had a lovely art design and a few really clever puzzles, but I can see how the exposition dumps and sudden shift of theme in the epilogue could come across as a bit pretentious.

But, compared to the genuine worst?
There are titles that were never meant to be played.

Eurgh, yeah, I always cruise on over to the Xbox Live Indie section for a cheerful guffaw, just...bleh, who's proud of this shit?

That being said, someone's basically emulated Jet Set Willy (and Manic Miner, I think) and is selling it on the XBLA, which is nice.

 

[cambamuniverse]

Braid.

The last level in braid was pure art. I'd describe it as poetry in motion.

Everything else in that game: meh...

Now I have to agree that braid is the worst indie game I've played as well. While other indie games have kept me entertained from start to finish this one only entertained me at the very end, with everything building up to that point as busy work.

I'd agree with you about the ending, it was very cool.

Everything up to that point was pretty basic stuff though, with no thematic consistency with the message it was trying to tell.

I do not agree with you. And I'm not trying to start an argument on here either, because it seems like everyone with a differing opinion seems to get shot down a lot on the internet.

The theme in Braid was all about mistakes and how we recognize and remedy them. All of the books between levels referenced some great falling out between the princess and Tim. The levels are all about reversing time (and the levels where Tim has a ring obviously symbolize marriage and/or union). Even the puzzle pieces come together to reveal some disturbing pictures: reliance on alcohol. Tim clearly messed up, but was on a quest to remedy his situation. At the end though, he realizes that the princess was running from him and does not want him anymore, so, the whole "reverse time" used throughout the game kind of does fit, atleast, I see it that way.

As for the atomic bomb thing, the whole game is not 100% about the bomb, but it's about mistakes, and the ending views that event as a large mistake.

Again, not trying to argue, but maybe give you some added info? I don't know. If you hate the game, that's cool, it's totally your opinion, and I'm not trying to ride Jon Blow's dick here, but I thought it was thematically consistent.

EDIT:I should also point out that the time mechanic is very specific. Jon said in a talk that the game is supposed to intrigue you based on how time just happens to work out in certain ways. This was present throughout all of the levels, but even at the end, Tim realizes that he cannot change the fact that the princess fears him, and thus, like all of the levels, he's restricted into operating a certain way.

Or maybe this is all wrong. Heyooooooooo /edit

Anywho, this isn't a freakin' Braid thread, so I apologize...

OT: World of Goo. I find it to be so boring. The music is good though, the guy does some good stuff. He also made music for Little Inferno too, and I liked that soundtrack.

 

[Silvanus]

I loved Braid, I must say. Stylistically beautiful, makes good use of its time-travel schtick, amazing soundtrack and everything.


Limbo, on the other hand, I disliked greatly. The boy's just so damn frail. I understand that death is meant to be part of the experience (getit! He's in LIMBO! He'll replay his past mistakesnevermind), but I can't say I ended that game feeling as if i'd had a good time. I was just frustrated as hell.