5 Best Indie Games You Missed in January 2024

Indie games often have considerably smaller budgets than AAA games. However, this does not set the genre below the par. Most Indie games have become an elite choice following their unique mechanics, stylized art, and engaging storylines, all of which can make for a fun and intriguing playing experience.

2023, going into 2024, has seen the release of several popular AAA games by the industry’s biggest developers. Understandably, the ‘Triple A' games stole the spotlight away from a few impressive Indie games that also deserve some recognition. Taking you back to the craze in Indie games, here is an overview of the five best and latest Indie games you may have missed in January 2024.

5. Humanity

Humanity comes from the brilliant minds behind Tetris Effect and Rez, and it reminds us of Lemmings. It is an ingenious and intriguing puzzle game that evolves brilliantly with each level, pushing the challenges and fun to higher limits after each level.

In Humanity, you play as an ethereal Shiba Inu who controls a huge crowd of people through various puzzles and challenges. The objective is to overcome the challenges and solve the puzzles to reach a glowing red square at the end of the level.

For example, one challenge involves commanding your human following to move and arrange blocks strategically to create pathways. Interestingly, you can reset maps at any point without resetting the existing commands, making experimenting via trial-and-error convenient and entertaining.

Overall, the puzzles at each level are intriguing, and they become more challenging and creative with each new level. Interestingly, Humanity also features some action towards the end, as your followers fight another group of human beings (simply dubbed “others”) using laser guns and glowing clubs.

4. Coral Island

With the never-ending selection of faming simulators, Coral Island has set itself apart with its captivating side stories and diverse activities. Coral Island is set on an island where you have inherited a large, run-down farm overgrown with weeds and trees and strewn with rocks and trash. It is your responsibility to fix the farm up, start growing crops, and rear animals to make a living. The farm also features a large, dilapidated house, which you can easily renovate and upgrade over time.

However, Coral Island goes beyond farming. Notably, the island is surrounded by a vast ocean with beautiful coral reefs. Unfortunately, an oil company is dumping toxic waste into the ocean, destroying the coral. To this end, it is your responsibility to stop the destruction by diving into the ocean to collect trash and restore damaged coral, which helps spread awareness of environmental conservation.

Besides farming and protecting the coral reefs, you can also interact with other characters in the game. For example, you can find someone to love, marry them, and start a family. Moreover, you can customize your appearance by customizing aspects such as body shape, skin color, hairstyle, outfits, accessories, and more. Overall, there is a whole life to live in this game, and the crystal-clear graphics and stylistic art make the experience immersive.

3. Viewfinder

Viewfinder is a game that is so intriguing and perplexing that it is comparable to Portal. Viewfinder has a mind-bending gameplay design that involves taking 2D photos of objects and superimposing them on the background surroundings, essentially bending and manipulating reality to solve puzzles and challenges.

For example, you can take a photo of a door and hold it up to a wall, creating an actual door for you to walk through the otherwise impassable wall. In a different scenario, you can tilt and superimpose a photo of a bridge between the ground and a rooftop to create a ramp. Interestingly, you can also use a photocopy machine to duplicate photos of objects, thereby creating clones of the actual objects.

Interestingly, many parts of the game also involve solving forced-perspective tricks to uncover hidden clues or paths. Overall, the possibilities are almost endless and become more perplexing as you progress through the levels. It is also worth noting that you can use a rewind function to undo your mistakes by hopping back through your moves.

2. Dave the Diver

Coral Island involves a bit of undersea diving. On the other hand, Dave the Diver kicks in and takes the underwater action to a whole new level. The game is a diving simulation that doubles as a restaurant management simulation. Here, you will run the stock of your restaurant using the fishing produce you garnered while diving. This ingenious blend won the hearts of several gamers in the franchise, leading to its nomination for The Best Independent Game at the Game Awards in 2023.

Dave and his friends set up a sushi bar near the Blue Hole, a mysterious and apparently stretch of water with an aquatic ecosystem and terrains that change every day. Dave, a diver, regularly dives into the Blue Hole in search of seafood, exploring ancient, majestic ruins and solving puzzles in the process. Notably, you get higher rewards if you catch fish using the least effort and causing the least damage. Interestingly, you must also fight off aggressive aquatic animals, such as sharks and giant crabs.

Catching seafood is essential to keeping your sushi restaurant running. Moreover, the restaurant management part of the game involves crafting recipes, cooking, dealing with picky clients, and hiring, training, and managing employees.

1. Sea of Stars

Sea of Stars takes the first spot on the list because of its engaging storyline and impressive gameplay design. It is about two teenage protagonists, Zale and Valere, on a mission to save the world using the magic powers of the sun and moon. They undertake a journey to an island inhabited by the Fleshmancer, an evil villain planning to take over the world by summoning and unleashing demons.

You can choose to play either of the characters. The game involves solving puzzles and fighting enemies along your journey, which takes many unexpected twists and turns before getting to the final objective. Notably, the puzzles are intriguing, including classic block and sequence puzzles, while the combat is smooth and entertaining.

So, what’s your take on our picks for the five best Indie games you missed in January 2024? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.