The worst INDIE game you have played

[triggrhappy94]

its so funny that people think that games are bad.

you all should try
hard time
its so bad and glitchy it becomes comedy gold. and its free:
http://www.mdickie.com/prev_hardtime.htm

Looks pretty much exactly like that crappy Prison Break game, so you know it is quality.

How great would it be if Matt and Pat did Hard Time.

 

[Legion]

I found Splosion Man pretty boring. I got it ridiculously cheap on offer and still haven't completed it as I just don't find it fun. I liked the art style, and it was amusing, but the puzzles didn't interest me.

That said, I haven't played many indie games.

My point was more that if you want to look at games "objectively" (as if there is such a thing), none of those particular titles are explicitly bad. They all function, they've all sold tons of copies and spanned multiple titles, they all have very tight, well-developed controls, they've all garnered quite substantial fan-bases, and they all still look fairly decent when played today. Which is more than can be said for the likes of E.T., Bubsy 3D, Daikatana, Superman 64, or Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, which were completely terrible/flat out broken on release and have aged even worse.

People are completely entitled to their opinions, I don't deny that. In fact, I prefer it when someone makes it explicitly known that they're stating their opinion instead of trying to pass it off as fact (unless they use 'opinion' as an excuse for why they shouldn't have to discuss why Big Rigs is a bad game). If you've only ever played big budget, highly reviewed AAA games, then I don't doubt that Half-Life might be the worst game you've ever played. If you were never a fan of RPGs but someone convinced you to try out Dragon Age, I would be surprised if you did like it. But technically speaking, they're not bad games. Likewise, if you've only ever played the indie games that get a lot of exposure and publicity, I'm not surprised if something like Bastion or Super Meat Boy would be the worst one you've played. But it still doesn't make them bad games.

I agree, this is why normally in hate threads I just write off peoples opinions as hating things to be edgy or because they are popular. I will grant that people won't always like something, and are obviously entitled not to, but to say that any AAA is the worst game ever in any capacity is just ridiculous.

 

[Vivi22]

Minecraft isn't indie anymore.

Last I checked they didn't sell it out to a publisher to fund development, so yeah, Minecraft is indie. Indie does not mean that the development team is small or that they can't afford to eat.

As to the question, off the top of my head I'd say Limbo. I didn't play much, but what I did was pretty terrible. The art style was cool mind you, and I liked what they were trying to do with that and the story and everything, but the gameplay wasn't enjoyable at all. I honestly don't see why it gets the praise it does from fans.

 

[mental_looney]

That extreme baby shooting one on xbla indie games, not shooting babies out of guns but extreme firing them out lady bits to represent birth, horrible horrible thing.

 

[Dcy]

There was one on xbox called "Walk," I think. A completely black screen. The premise: You're in a pitch black cave, and you can only move forward, back, left or right one step at a time. The goal: get out alive. Every time you step in the wrong direction, you die in some unforeseen way. So ultimately it's a trial and error up/down/left/right memory game with no visual feedback. I played for 30 seconds before being forever done with the game.

 

[CellShaded]

Well, I haven't played many indie games, so the one I think is the worst I've played, isn't necessarily a bad game.

Braid.

It's just... bleh.

Pretentious pseudo-intellectual nonsense

Exposition dumps via text? Great ¬_¬

This video sums up my opinion of the game.

I second this one. Braid was truly terrible, and deserves the title of "Worst Indie game I've played" from me aswell.

 

[Anthony Wells]

worst game i have played? Trauma... but i hesitate to call it a game...so...Frozen synapse... not because its bad. hell its a damn good game. i just dont think its as good as the other indie games i have played. Its by far from the worst EVAR. but since i haven't played the games that are worse i catn comment on them.

 

[aguspal]

There was one on xbox called "Walk," I think. A completely black screen. The premise: You're in a pitch black cave, and you can only move forward, back, left or right one step at a time. The goal: get out alive. Every time you step in the wrong direction, you die in some unforeseen way. So ultimately it's a trial and error up/down/left/right memory game with no visual feedback. I played for 30 seconds before being forever done with the game.

Wow...

That actually sounds like a cool game to do a LETS PLAY off.

I wonder how it would be...

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Hack slash loot. x_x

I understand why people like Roguelikes. I really do. People like the challenge of knowing that one mistake or unlucky move can permakill you. It's a test of skill, patience and luck.

However, hack slash loot involves no skill. Only luck.

If you don't get a stat booster weapon almost immediately, it's impossible to win. There's no reliable way to heal, there's no way to evade, there's no clever mechanics to exploit to assist you in battle, and fleeing from enemies is impossible because as soon as you open a door all the enemies inside the room become homing missiles. Oh, and you don't level up and get better stats unless you have one of those stat booster weapons.

It's literally: Open door. Hide in doorway. Try to kill everything one at a time and pray they all miss and you kill them before the monsters behind the ones you're fighitng loop around and come get you from behind. If you fail, start over. If you succeed, pray room has a chest. Pray chest has a holy item to boost stats and heal you after each kill. If not, repeat for next door.

...It's like playing russian roulette with a gun that someone hands you, with a random amount of bullets in it in random places, and you have to pull the trigger 100 times. It's not a matter of IF you'll lose. It's a matter of WHEN. And it's usually on the first to third floor.

IF you ever see that game, DO NOT GET IT. IT SUCKS.

Oh, and OP, I'm sad you didn't like Bastion. I, for one, loved the gameplay. Action RPG heaven. Then again, I played with a controller plugged in, so maybe that's why...

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I actually REALLY enjoyed Braid, and I STILL found that video hilarious.

"Does THIS look like a Goomba to you?!"
*beat*
"....Yes! *nods*"

Thanks for sharing. That's going in my Favourites.

 

[Racecarlock]

Both of my worst indie games could barely be considered games at all.

Dear Esther, now I played the original mod, so if they actually added FUN and INTERACTION into the paid release you can disregard this haha. I'm all for stories in video games, but never at the expense of what makes a game... well... a game.

My other one is this little flash game from a couple of years ago that somebody told me would "change my life", called 'Every Day The Same Dream'... I can't get too annoyed at a game made in less than a week, but it was just boring as hell. A lot of people seemed to like it, but I was just left scratching me head thinking.. 'thats it? Really?...'

I don't play a lot of indie games so there are most likely games out there far worse than these across the board, but these two I really hated.

Oh my god yes. Every day the same dream. It's a 2d sidescroller version of the first half of office space with mostly monochrome colors and a bunch of symbolism thrown in as "Steps" so people would gush over it as being deep.

It did change me a bit though, because now I finally know where I stand on realism, on what I like in games, and what being pretentious really is. All the game says is "Having an office job sucks". That's it. Throw in all the symbolism you want and make that statement much more airy and vague, but in the end that's exactly what it says. Nothing more. I don't get why people like it.

 

[aguspal]

Both of my worst indie games could barely be considered games at all.

Dear Esther, now I played the original mod, so if they actually added FUN and INTERACTION into the paid release you can disregard this haha. I'm all for stories in video games, but never at the expense of what makes a game... well... a game.

My other one is this little flash game from a couple of years ago that somebody told me would "change my life", called 'Every Day The Same Dream'... I can't get too annoyed at a game made in less than a week, but it was just boring as hell. A lot of people seemed to like it, but I was just left scratching me head thinking.. 'thats it? Really?...'

I don't play a lot of indie games so there are most likely games out there far worse than these across the board, but these two I really hated.

Oh my god yes. Every day the same dream. It's a 2d sidescroller version of the first half of office space with mostly monochrome colors and a bunch of symbolism thrown in as "Steps" so people would gush over it as being deep.

It did change me a bit though, because now I finally know where I stand on realism, on what I like in games, and what being pretentious really is. All the game says is "Having an office job sucks". That's it. Throw in all the symbolism you want and make that statement much more airy and vague, but in the end that's exactly what it says. Nothing more. I don't get why people like it.

Thats kinda cool thougt. learning even from the worst indie game... Althougt in a weird way.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Two games, both made by the same person.

Lefr 4 Dead NES de-make and Team Fortress Arcade. Both made by Eric Ruth. Free games mind you so I'm not out any cash but fuck those two were virtually unplayable due to the guy having the brain haemorrhage necessary to code these things in fucking Game Maker so the collision detection is completely wack and it makes the games exceptionally difficult to play.

And neither can be finished due to game breaking bugs occuring part way through the game, stellar job you massive twat. And what annoys me is that both of these games made by this incompetent assclown got news coverage on this very website? Why? Why direction attention to simple Game Maker games? Much less incredibly shitty ones.

Anyway, worst paid indie? Probably Revelations 2012 but I bought that because of how bad it was so next game.

Uhh...probably Bit.Trip Runner or however the fuck this one is even spelled. Just felt like Impossible Game with a more confusing visual aesthetic to me. What's the appeal?

 

[aguspal]

Two games, both made by the same person.

Lefr 4 Dead NES de-make and Team Fortress Arcade. Both made by Eric Ruth. Free games mind you so I'm not out any cash but fuck those two were virtually unplayable due to the guy having the brain haemorrhage necessary to code these things in fucking Game Maker so the collision detection is completely wack and it makes the games exceptionally difficult to play.

And neither can be finished due to game breaking bugs occuring part way through the game, stellar job you massive twat. And what annoys me is that both of these games made by this incompetent assclown got news coverage on this very website? Why? Why direction attention to simple Game Maker games? Much less incredibly shitty ones.

Anyway, worst paid indie? Probably Revelations 2012 but I bought that because of how bad it was so next game.

Uhh...probably Bit.Trip Runner or however the fuck this one is even spelled. Just felt like Impossible Game with a more confusing visual aesthetic to me. What's the appeal?

Bit Trip runner?


Its like the Impossible Game... I am kinda interested now... but somehow, I get the feeling I rather ignore it.

 

[DiZtAnT]

Gotta say Limbo.
I'm usually into all the dark and repressive stuff. I also LOVE games with good atmosphere and pacing. However I found the environments and puzzles in Limbo to be outright boring. Maybe monotony was the point, but I was increadibly dissapointed by the purchase.

 

[Full]

OMG like I hate Minecraft it's so pointless, and only little kids can like something that doesn't have objectives. I also can't stand Limbo, because the extra 3 seconds it takes to load from a checkpoint and then move to the side a little bit to prevent dying makes it a complete pile of shit. Can you tell I'm trying to make fun of the answers in this thread?

Anyway, just go on Xbox Live Indie Games and take a pick. I've played an unfortunate amount of them, and they will most likely be bad, with a few standouts, Techno Kitten Adventure and Super Amazing Wagon Adventure being some of those standouts. Play those right now.

 

[kyogen]

Braid is the worst indie game I've ever played. It's not a bad or broken game, but I found it completely dull. I don't mind games with something philosophical to say, but I prefer not to be bored while they say it, and variations on rewind mechanics fail to keep the platforming interesting for me. It's just not my thing.