Season 18, Episode 18

In-Game Chat

Thy cup runneth over…

This month has been a killer for Indie games. Just hit after hit after hit getting released. And that’s already on top of a pretty good year so far for indie titles. I mean, for me, it started with Balatro in February and there’s probably been one release per month that I’ve added to my wishlist on Steam. May has just added an insane amount of new, small, indie titles to that list.

And that’s fantastic! Look, the triple A games have their place. The big budget, massively advertised, franchise titles will always take center stage during their release and reveal, but for the price of JUST ONE of those you can probably get 3 to 4 indie titles (or even more).

It’s a trend that I hope continues. And, in fact, it might just have to. Given the state of our big publishers and studios draining money, closing shops, and preventing entire countries from buying your games, the indies are likely to keep gaming alive throughout all of this. And in a way that is, hopefully, noticed by those other studios and publishers. These indie titles are usually one-dev operations. Maybe a little more than that for some, but it’s small. However, they produce games that can easily rival anything from studios with massive teams and budgets.

My point is, don’t skip the indies. Don’t let the news of everything going on in the world of gaming distract you from everything going on in the smaller world of gaming. Because the games are there. There is fun in those smaller titles. There is inventiveness and creativity. There are some mind bending experiences and some major wholesome ones as well. There are things you never even thought of yet in those titles and even more surprise at the simplicity of what you find.

Don’t skip the indies.

Again, a topic that makes it difficult to segue into a triple A game. However, the gag must continue to run. So…Ubisoft, it’s been 3,907 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.