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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
Game - Factorio. Literally broke my 5 year gaming fast. I've spent over 1000 hours in it.
Film - Boondock Saints. Not a fan of the gore in it, but damn is the rest of it amazing. Willem Dafoe, excellent as usual.
Book - I honestly don't know if I've read any indy books. I don't know the production status of books.
Relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/657/ and the reason I watched Primer in the first place. After dozens of watches I think that perhaps it's possible the graph is relatively correct (maybe)
Disco Elysium
The whole setting is so grim and depressing I couldn’t get myself to finish it. Excellent game though.
Cuno hurt your feelings too, huh? I had to find health and recover after I spoke to him.
That fucking little rat, played this game so long ago but still remember his voice.
What Remains of Edith Finch. Is that a 'small' enough game? Affected me deeply, tho.
This was such a good interactive story. Took me less than a day to go through it, but there are some sections I will never forget. The bathtub and the fish plant created some crazy emotions, I was happy to piece together what was happening, but then I had to see it through without any way to avoid the inevitable.
(Trying to stay ambiguous for anyone who wants to check out it. You totally should!)
This game singlehandedly destroyed my negative perspective on walking simulators. Legit must-play for everyone. Lewis' scene still makes me tear up.
Hollow Knight! Got me into indie games.
Hollow Knight was just so much well-curated content for the price. I got it on sale for $7.50, and after I played through it, I had to go buy it again at the full $15 because I felt like I'd ripped Team Cherry off.
Silksong is likely getting announced at Gamescon this week!
Let's hope so!
Love the Cube series, knew it was low budget, but not ‘that’ low!
I'm sure the others had a bigger budget, but yeah, the first one was hardly anything.
Of course they only needed to build one room, part of another, and then just change the lighting over and over.
I disliked the second one specifically because they gave it a decent budget. The original is genius for how it does so much with so little.
The third is an oddball. Made-for-TV budget and quality. It's interesting for fans of the series, but nothing special.
Disco Elysium
Some movies... There are just too many!!!
For great cinema, Brazil is an amazing parody of modern society by Terry Gillian. Stalker is simply a masterpiece but you need to be in that mood to watch it. The Lobster is just... weird and lovely. White Cat, Black Cat is pure chaotic fun.
For a good laugh Swiss Army Man was an unexpected little gem.
If you are into horrors Braindead is absolutely disgusting and hilarious, while The Devil's Rejects is a more disturbing one.
For sci-fi Cube is a nice and original one, and Dark City is a classic that inspired The Matrix.
About thriller, for sure The Machinist or Memento.
I'll second Swiss Army Man. Very weird, very enjoyable.
Indeed. Let me add some more to the list:
Black Bear (2020) slow burn twisted story, Aubrey Plaza knocks it out of the park with her performance.
The Neon Demon (2016) even more twisted and not for the faint of heart. Visually stunning.
The Substance (2024) calling this one twisted would be an understatement. I feel like this is pushing the definition of an indie movie because it’s got blockbuster production values.
The Zero Theorem (2013) and Pi (1998) kind of hitting the same notes of crazy. The former especially worth watching because of Christoph Walz.
Titane (2021) it’s been a while that I watched it but it definitely left an impression. Also not an easy watch.
Swallow (2020) is about a girl developing a disturbingly unhealthy coping mechanism.
The Outrun (2024) hit way too close to home for me. Beautiful and sad movie. Shoutout to Saoirse Ronan.
Splice (2009) this one gets WEIRD oh boy lol
Adam’s Apples (2005) classic danish dark humor also Mads Mikkelsen!
Garden State (2004) awkward Zach Braff humor that feels very personal.
And if you feel like permanently traumatizing yourself then I can recommend Irréversible (2002) and any other Gaspar Noé movie.
Somehow you made me think about a few more titles:
Weird stuff: Tetsuo: The Iron Man, a japanese sci-fi/horror movie that is difficult to place anywhere. Delicatessen is still weird, but more conventional. Cemetery Man is technically an horror, but with a unique twist and style. Plan 9 from Outer Space is considered one of worst films ever and it's so bad that Tim Burton made a film about its author (which is instead great cinema).
Animation: A Scanner Darkly from the terrific Dick's novel. For the fans of Van Gogh: Loving Vincent. Fritz the Cat, a cartoon for adults from way before it was a thing.
Comedies: Clerks made me laugh quite a lot and it's not even just a silly shallow movie, Juno which is more for teenagers maybe, This is the End if you are into Seth Roger's type of hirony,
With a mood: The Great Beauty is indeed beautiful, All About My Mother or anything by Almodóvar if you want to cry a bit, Lost in Translation recreates well the feeling of being out of place, A Love Song for Bobby Long an underestimated gem, or Broken Flowers.
Musical: Pink Floyd: The Wall is simply amazing. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was (still is?) a cultural phenomenon for decades.
Journey!
The game that somehow managed to make random online co-op not toxic
Also you just got me to realise that Sword of the Sea is actually out literally today
Games:
Movies (this list I had to think about for a while...):
Books:
Edit: spelling
Most indie games will end up better than pretty much every AAA title. The best games I've played in the last decade were either indie or AA.
Roboquest, Pathfinder WotR, Dyson Sphere Program, Outer Wilds, Balatro, Helldivers 2, Deep Rock Galactic, Rogue Trader, Darktide, Abiotic Factor, Rimworld, Stellaris, DV Rings of Saturn, Hardspace Shipbreaker, Voices of the Void, Expedition 33, Blue Prince, Tiny Glade, Witchfire, Instruments of Destruction, Heart of the Machine, Tainted Grail Fall of Avalon, A Webbing Journey, Planet Crafter, Kenshi, X4, Ultrakill, Schedule 1, the list goes on.
All amazing games, none of them AAA.
TUNIC
It's a good game in general, but
spoiler
If you, as a kid, had to decipher an older sibling's notes in game manual, it hits that nostalgia right on the nose. And then turns it on its head.
Thomas was alone. Never have I had such strong feelings for a bunch squares and rectangles
Man from Earth.
Coherence.
Unpacking (game)
Small indie film? Dear Zachary is a documentary produced on a shoestring budget, and it is an absolutely devastating piece of art. Just thinking about the film puts a lump in my throat.
17776, especially the start and end (you do not need to care about American football at all to enjoy this story)
Before Your Eyes. I was going through some major stuff at the time and I'll associate the game with that summer forever. It has a very unique mechanic and it ties into the game really well without feeling like a gimmick. Takes about 3 hours to complete, so not a huge investment either.
SIGNALIS (indie horror game). Very good, scary, I cried. Strongly recommend.
I thought a game like To The Moon would have been high up, but everyone has their own tastes.
Though, I will say, the sequel, Finding Paradise, is definitely worth it and is my choice. Even with the little bits of comedy and things that take away from the seriousness of the story, it's still an amazing story. Just as good as To The Moon, if you ask me.
Chappie might be borderline, but it goes so hard emotionally for a movie that basically had no critical reception.
This post kinda implies that OP thinks the default is that blockbusters have more soul and hits people harder than indie and passion projects, which is the opposite of the truth. Art made by fewer people generally has more soul and a stronger personality which translates to feelings by the person experiencing the art. They aren't put through a grinder of corporate bullshit to not be offensive or say anything of actual value.
M137 to Ask Lemmy • Which “small” indie game/film/book hit you harder than most blockbusters? 4· 1 day ago This post kinda implies that OP thinks the default is that blockbusters have more soul and hits people harder than indie and passion projects, which is the opposite of the truth. Art made by fewer people generally has more soul and a stronger personality which translates to feelings by the person experiencing the art. They aren’t put through a grinder of corporate bullshit to not be offensive or say anything of actual value.
I think you misread me 🙂 I wasn’t implying blockbusters have more soul by default. I’m genuinely curious which indie projects hit people as strongly (or even harder) than blockbusters. Just a straightforward question.
Games: INSIDE, We Happy Few
Applying the term "Indie" to a book feels interesting to me, because almost all books, even ones that are part of intensely popular franchises, are written by a single author - so in a sense, all books are Indy.
Of course team size is only one aspect. There's also budget and commercial involvement. But budget doesn't have to be a constraining factor for books the way it is for movies. And if you're the only person pushing the keyboard keys then you are the one with ultimate creative control.
If you are a penniless author and publish a hit and get rich, does your next book then stop being indie, even though it's still just you? Or maybe it's no longer indie because your circumstances have changed.
John Langan's "The Fisherman". Its a cosmic/folk horror novel but also a powerful meditation on loss and grief.
DELTARUNE. toby's been changing my brain chemistry for 10+ years now
I remember feeling the feels when I first saw Garden State. I don’t know what it is about that film, but this quote:
Andrew: “You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone.
Sam: “I still feel at home in my house.”
Andrew: You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I don't know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.”
This hits hard.
Honestly, all of them.
Mine is music and the answer is essentially literally any Indy band that I like, I like WAY more than any mainstream artist.
but like I have several Indy bands that do different styles, so I don't know what my actual taste is.
here's my recent plays if anyone wants to tell me :)
