The Indie RPGs of 2014, Part 2
Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 8, 2015
Here’s the rest of the list of indie RPGs released for the PC in 2014. If you missed part 1, you can read it here: The Indie RPGs of 2014, Part 1.
Do I have a favorite indie RPG of 2014? Honestly, I haven’t been able to play these games enough to really make an informed decision, but Divinity: Original Sin and Wasteland 2 are definitely on my short list. I feel a little bad about this, because I worry about these big-budget indie titles crowding out the smaller, lower-budget titles. But the people behind these games have clearly had as much passion and personal investment in their titles as any other indie, and I have to give credit where credit is due. Do the higher production values give these titles the edge over someone’s earnest 8-bit-style roguelike? Yeah, but (for me) it’s not that tremendous of an advantage. Maybe I’m just too much of a jaded retrogamer.
Let’s get to it, shall we? Here are 30 more indie titles rounding out the PC indie RPG releases of 2014:
Legend of Grimrock II (Almost Human) – the sequel to the hit first-person dungeon-crawler in the vein of the Dungeon Keeper and Eye of the Beholder series, Legend of Grimrock 2 lets the players adventure outdoors as well as in the dungeon, with more puzzles and combat heavily dependent on timing, precision, clever solutions and careful exploration.
Legends of Persia (Sourena Game Studio) – Action / RPG / Adventure game (Diablo-like) involving Persian mythology
Legionwood 2: Rise of the Eternal Realm (Dark Gaia Studios) – An RPG Maker title geared for hard-core, experienced RPG players.
Lisa the Painful RPG (Dingaling Productions) – Side-scrolling post-apocalyptic (and pretty much gonzo) RPG made in RPG Maker “about survival, sacrifice, and perverts.”
Lords of Xulima (Numinatian Games) – Epic indie RPG with turn-based combat, isometric world, and a classic old-school feel on a lost continent.
Madam Extravaganza (John Wizard Games) – an RPG Maker title from the very talented John Wizard Games, makers of the Dawn’s Light and Lilly & Sasha series. Bring your life savings to the inn in the Monsterville, defeat the monsters, and you may return home with more wealth than you can imagine. What could possibly go wrong?
Neo Scavenger (Blue Bottle Games) – Post-Apocalyptic survival RPG. Major emphasis on survival.
Pier Solar and the Great Architects HD (WaterMelon Co.) – Quite a story for this one, originally a homebrew release for long-obsolete Sega consoles, it has now come to the PC (and many other platforms) after many years of development.
Prologue: A Guardian Story (Senshi Labs) – An RPG Maker title that parodies jRPG cliches.
Quest of Dungeons (David Amador) – Turn-based graphical roguelike.
Reflection of a Fallen Feather (Forepawsoft) – An “adventure-RPG” hybrid in the 16-bit jRPG style.
The Secret of Qwerty (Gryphon) – A simple 8-bit style RPG combined with a typing tutor. Edu-rpging!
Sacred Tears True (AlphaNuts) – A card-battle jRPG using the RPG Maker engine.
Smugglers V: Secession (Niels Bauer Games) – Man, I haven’t even been able to play Smugglers IV yet! While more on the periphery of RPG-ness, this is a long-running turn-based game of space trading.
Smugglers V: Invasion (Niels Bauer Games) – Stand-alone expansion to Smugglers V: Secession
Sproggiwood (Freehold Games) – A story-driven, turn-based roguelike set in a humorous world inspired by Finnish mythology.
Star Nomad (Halfgeek Studios) – A real-time combat, 2D, space trading sim / RPG. Yeah, there’s a lot in that mix.
Steam Marines (Worthless Bums) – Squad-based tactical roguelike aboard a steampunk spaceship. There is just too much awesomeness in that description.
Steel & Steam: Episode 1 (Red Meat Games) – Steampunk fantasy in a 16-bit jRPG style.
Subterra (Warfare Studios) – In a vicious underground world, a young man must brave danger to unseal the portal to long-forgotten Earth to save his sister from a deadly disease.
Sweet Lily Dreams (Rose Portal Games) – An RPG Maker title. Save the world of dreams and fairytales from being consumed by a terrible nightmare.
The Tale of a Common Man (Aldorlea Games) – The latest RPG Maker game from Aldorlea Games, this is the story of a common farmer who becomes embroiled in extraordinary circumstances.
Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf (Winter Wolves Games) – Taking place in the same world as the previously released Loren: Amazon Princess, this title includes a number of improvements, including an isometric map and a larger world to explore.
TinyKeep (Digital Tribe Game) – An action-roguelike with cartoony graphics. The big twist with this one is an emphasis on using the environment, traps, and enemy rivalries to defeat enemies indirectly, rather than always opting for a head-on confrontation.
Transistor (Supergiant Games) – A stylish, artistic sci-fi themed action-RPG by the makers of Bastion.
Undefeated (Aldorlea Games) – Another RPG Maker title by the prolific developer Aldorlea games, you play three soldiers who must solve the mystery of an encroaching wasteland.
Unrest (Pyrodactyl Games) – An RPG set in ancient India played from the perspective of an ordinary person, almost exclusively through nonviolent interaction.
Valiant: Resurrection (Amaranth / Lone Wolf) – Previously entitled “Asteria,” and probably had its name change due to another game by the same name released earlier this year (which a friend of mine worked on). This is an RPG Maker title. The game’s plot centers around a hero named Argos who is seeking to bring his lost love back from death.
Wasteland 2 (inXile Entertainment) – The sequel (of sorts) to a classic RPG released twenty-five years ago. Wasteland 2 is set in a somewhat less-than-serious post-apocalyptic world. If it sounds like the Fallout series, you’d not be incorrect – Fallout was actually something of a spiritual sequel to the first Wasteland. Wasteland 2 stays true to its old-school roots with challenging turn-based, tactical combat but with deep, interesting decisions and more modern production values.
Wind Child (Warfare Studios) – An RPG Maker title. A quest to save a young girl from an ancient sorceress brings together four great heroes who may have a greater connection with each other than they had imagined.
There you go! That’s a grand total of 56 indie RPGs of 2014 – more than one a week of what I’d consider reasonable quality! Did you miss some of these? Most of these? All of these? Well, now you can hunt ’em down and give some of ’em a try.
What did I miss? What was I in error in counting? Should something not really be considered “indie” or is it still not “released”? Let me know in the comments!
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The Indie RPGs of 2014 – Part 1 said,
[…] Because there were so many – and I wanted to include a few videos and pictures – I broke this into two articles. Part 2 can be found here: The Indie RPGs of 2014, Part 2. […]
Dave said,
List is missing “Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut” which happens to be my favorite game of 2014 (still haven’t played quite a few of the RPGs on this list, however).
Nyaap said,
I have to agree with Dave, Dragonfall DC was the best RPG of 2014. I guess you didn’t list it because it was a re-release of sorts? It’s still very much its own game.
I personally don’t get the love Divinity is getting. At least with Wasteland I understand the appeal of it, even though I don’t feel it myself – but Divinity’s world and story are cheesy generic fantasy stuff, the likes of which should make long-standing fans of the genre groan in pain rather than moan in delight. Of course, that a click-y, practically adventure game that is The Banner Saga was better than both really messed with expectations and is perhaps the best comment on derivativeness – even old-skool derivative is no magic bullet (too bad it was a bloody Flash game…).
Question – what’s with all the roguelikes and roguelites and Transistor (oh come on, if that thing counts, I demand you start discussing the RPGness of the newer CoD games)?
Rampant Coyote said,
If I didn’t have Transistor on the list, I would have had a lot of people asking, “Hey, what about Transistor?” They labeled it an RPG, so I counted it, but I think I’m with you on that one… it’s slightly more of an RPG than the Zelda games. Good enough to count, but yeah. Ditto for Bastion.
As to roguelikes and roguelites… that’s worthy of an article on its own. And then some. In fact, I think I wrote one once upon a time, but it’s probably time to revisit it. IMO, it really depends on the roguelike, but for the most part I consider them a subcategory of RPG and have a common origin.
Rampant Coyote said,
As to Dragonfall: Director’s Cut… I think I just fell asleep at the wheel there. I was still considering it DLC for the 2013 game, and didn’t realize that they’d turned it into a stand-alone release this year. Like I said, “indie” and “release” are a lot more complicated terms these days. I’ll update the list.
Lin said,
Silent long time reader here, but this made me sad: Doesn’t NEO Scavenger deserve an one liner too?
I’m having a hard time myself these days trying to identify what makes an RPG, but NEO straddles the line better than many other procedurally generated games in that list, featuring quite an elaborate, interesting story and tons of lore under all the survival mechanics. And because of the story not being linear (and being hard to uncover, the game is difficult), it is actually simultaneously a good example of emergent storytelling merging with an actual plot. And it has by far my favourite gameplay mechanics this year, it’s surprisingly deep. Quite impressive for an one man team really.
Then again, I may just be fangirling, I love that game. 😉
Rampant Coyote said,
I’m confused, Lin. It’s in the list above (with a video, even). I didn’t have a lot to say about it because I haven’t played it myself… it’s another one that’s On The List (which gets bigger faster than it gets smaller). But I’ve heard a lot of great things about it.
Lin said,
Huh. It didn’t show up for me at work, I can see it now. That’s odd. Was reading through RSS though and may not have double checked when I jumped over to comment, so that could have been it? Either way, sorry bout that, ignore me and keep up the good work. 🙂
Rampant Coyote said,
I edited it to add the video just a few minutes after I published it, but … ah, well. I dunno. I was working on that article for several days and had so many additions and deletions I can’t remember what I did. Sorry for the mix-up, Lin, but welcome! And I am glad you are a fan! From what I’ve read, I really like the concept, and it’s another one of those cool, off-beat RPGs that challenge the definition of the genre, but in a good way.
RPGWatch names the best 3 RPGs of 2014 said,
[…] dozens of indie releases (which I talked about last week in my 2014 Indie RPG Round-up Part 1 and Part 2). Between those and the mainstream releases, and some of my personal favorites like Dead State, and […]