Some of the best pixel art indie games that I have curated or ones that just hit you right in the nostalgia with their retro feel.
An exploration adventure game set in a creepy and dirty city full of tentacles. Help Kaf Kafkaryan, an octoblood addict, solve the problems of the creatures he meets in his dreams, in order to unravel the mysteries in his waking life.
Fun fact, pickled sea cat (me) means pickled octopus. =)
[Vote on Greenlight] | [Play the Demo] | [Follow on Tumblr]
developed by Halfbus Studio.
A drug dealing strategy game. Normally this wouldn’t really be my thing but it seems to have a solid gameplay foundation, with nice pixel art, and also reminds me of Breaking Bad. Though, Mr. White would be pretty appalled at selling where you cook.
Build your empire underground, creating and selling various types of illegal substances. Even if you plan everything perfectly, various random events can happen that will send everything sideways.
Scheduled to be on Steam Early Access in April.
[Add on Steam] | [Follow on Tumblr]
by the Heroes Never Lose team.
An action puzzle game where you string blocks together and build up combos like Dr. Mario, but with special characters. The heroes and villains have unique moves that you can execute which can greatly affect the gameplay and swamp your opponent’s board.
Coming to Steam and Wii U.
by IMakeGames.
A 2D pixel art platformer with a focus on exploration. Help Nub’s rebuild his house with the help of his friends, a wisp and a giant worm with teeth (who as far as I’ve seen doesn’t look that friendly). It’s in development for PC and mobile, and you can already play an early access version on Android.
The wisp reminds me a bit of Navi from Zelda, but hopefully won’t be as annoying. Speaking of…
HEY! If you like pixel art, I’ve collected all the pixel posts in one place.
developed by Maschinen-Mensch
19th century roguelike exploration. Select a group of unstable travellers…I mean intrepid explorers, and attempt to complete an expedition to find a golden pyramid before everyone goes insane, kills each other, or is killed by everything else.
It’s an HTML 5 game that you can play in your browser, but is also coming to Steam. You can pay to get access to the alpha, and get the full game on release (similar to Steam early access). It was actually free to play over the weekend, which I discovered on Monday. Boo. :(
You can check out a nice let’s play by Brendan McLeod which gives a good look at how the game plays.
[Visit the Website] | [Follow on Tumblr]
Happy treasure hunting.
by Contingent 99.
A rogue-like 2D action adventure. Enter the Annual Great Wizard Tournament and defeat all challengers with a variety of skills and classes to choose from. Still in early development, and shopping for a pixel artist. :)
Painters Guild by AD1337.
Run an academy for artists during the Italian Renaissance. You take commissions for various types of art that must be completed in a certain time frame. Try to manage your artists and level up their skills in order to keep expanding your guild.
Currently, in the alpha version, you welcome an unknown young painter called Leanordo da Vinci into your guild.
Cavern Kings by Vine – “An endless and explosive game about digging your own grave.” This eye popping action platformer is on Steam Early Access, with a lot of positive reviews. :)
The GIFs are from an older build, while the still images have new lighting and shadows, as well as other improvements.
Seaworthy by Mildly Competent Games.
A pirate themed roguelike adventure. Take control of the captain of a pirate ship and sail the procedurally generated seas containing random encounters for your brave drunk men to die horribly in. Sad that I haven’t seen any pixel parrots. :(
