The Rise of Indie Games

After the Playstation 4 announcement, indie games are starting to gain traction in the video game industry. The Playstation 4 is supporting a plethora of indie games independently designed and self-published by reputable companies such as SuperGiant Games.

I was never in to the indie game craze. It felt alien to the game industry and sometimes, piss-poor Xbox Live indie games gave me the wrong impression on the current indie craze. I hated indie games with a passion (except Bastion ahem). I took time off to mock indie games as the bane and “cancer” of the video game industry. Lacklustre, mediocre indie titles in the Xbox Live arcade reflected the state that the indie game industry was in concurrently. Many indie games are blatant copies with formulaic structures and ridiculously complex controls.

But when I saw the the bleak and dystopian future that is Transistor on the PS4, my opinion didn’t matter anymore. Supergiant Games has outdone themselves again. The vibrant, cyber punk totalitarian world in the Transistor trailer gave me a sense of euphoria. The soundtrack was dark and almost soothing, giving the vast world in Transistor a sense of style and substance. Character models like Red stood out, like the beacon of hope in a desolate and bleak future. The world was like a water-colored painting (similar to Bastion), giving the game a style no one has ever seen before. The colors pop out and is a metaphor for an ironic future, where a dystopian world could be full of vibrancy, with a spectrum a colors.

The trailer got me hyped up as I squealed like a little girl in my chair. In fact, it tempted me to purchase an Ouya and give indie games a chance to prove themselves. After seeing Transistor, I have utmost faith in indie developers to stay innovative and true to themselves in the pressure-filled pot which is the gaming industry.

What do you think?