3 Awesome Indie Games On Kickstarter

This is a guest post from Contributor Vaughn Hyde.

We currently live in the age of the internet where everything is available with just the click of a button.

• Merchandise for your wildly niche fandom? ✓
• “Free” music that may or may not be legal?✓
• Illicit images and or videos? ✓✓✓

But there are only a few places where dreams can come true. For many an indie developer, Kickstarter is such a place. You might not know this, but many of your favorite indie games have had success and at times astronomical success with Kickstarter campaigns. These campaigns have allowed them to fund their games. Games like Toby Fox’s Undertale, Greg Lobanov’s Wandersong, and Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight were all funded through Kickstarter.

So this sparks the question… what’ll be the next hit game to come from a successful stint on Kickstarter? In an effort to answer my own question, today I would like to talk about three great indie games that we think are worth looking at on Kickstarter.

Chained Echoes

Harking back to the 16-bit era of games, Chained Echoes is a fantasy RPG set in a world of magic, wonder, and awesome mechs. In this intriguing SNES throwback, you’ll follow a group of adventures from all different walks of life on their journey to restore peace to a war-torn continent. If I’m being honest, the story seems a little cookie cutter at first blush. For what Chained Echoes lacks in story, it sure makes up in gameplay mechanics. Unlike many of its predecessors, Chained Echoes doesn’t have a battle screen or random encounters. To put it plainly, when you approach an enemy on the map you know exactly what you’re fighting and where which allows the player to strategize according to their surroundings. If you see a chandelier or large rock hanging overhead, you’ll have to opportunity to knock it on your enemies, along with a plethora of other environmental effects.

Speaking of the environments in Chained Echoes, traversing them is also a big plus in our book. You’re able to not only run, climb, and swim, but also fly around in your own customizable mech or airship.

Chained Echoes didn’t actually catch our eye on Kickstarter but, instead, on Twitter – of all platforms. I was instantly captivated by its beautiful art style and it also didn’t hurt that I’m a massive mecha fan to boot. Because of these things, this seems exactly like my kind of weird – cool physical items a mech whore like myself could enjoy. Everything from your standard stickers and postcard all the way to an awesome hardcover art book featuring at least fifty pages of content from the game.

Don’t Give Up

Don’t Give Up is a cynical, narrative driven RPG that follows a game developer struggling with mental illness. You’ll take control of Tris on his quest for romance and self-discovery. All the while you’ll be combating his inner demons. For such a somber seeming game, what I’ve seen of Don’t Give Up is remarkably upbeat and hilarious. Tris’ antisocial nature makes for some amazing interactions with other characters. Whether he’s asking a cute girl if she thinks anime is sexy, or insulting an enemy about his not so complicated bloodline, each line of dialogue seems quite cynical and comedic.

Something I’ve left out is actually one of the coolest parts of the game, which is the inclusion of a second playable character Subris, Tris’ subconscious. With this second playable character comes an entire second world of areas to explore and characters to meet.

Another stand out feature is smack talk. Before each battle, you’ll be given the chance dunk on your opponent, which can either harm them or, if you’re looking for an even greater challenge, you can actually empower enemies.

Had I not decided to write this article I might have never come across this wonderful retro RPG. Not only is Don’t Give Up a pretty and funny game, it also seems to tackle the issues of mental illness and depression, which only recently games have begun to wade into. I don’t often contribute to Kickstarter pages, but Don’t Give Up seems like a sure-fire hit, I can’t wait for its full release this summer.

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands is an RPG wherein you use music as a weapon in a cursed battle of the bands contest. Deathbulge (the band) is formed by three unique and interesting characters.

• Faye on guitar
• Ian on bass
• Briff on the drums

Each of the above characters are able to spec into six musically themed classes. Each class has its own specific role, similar to other RPGs of its ilk.

There’s the Tuner which takes a more support role using beats to buff and heal bandmates.

We also see Show Off which is similar to a berserker class and allows you to perform awesome moves, but comes with a high risk of failure

And that’s only the start of the parodies.

My favorite part about these classes and the way they affect your band is the fact that you can mix and match, unlike many RPGs where classes are specific to each character (Cough, Cough, Dragon Age). Fans of the Deathbulge comic series are sure to find a home in this video game adaptation. However, if you didn’t have a clue that this was based on a comic (like I didn’t), one of the backer tiers offers a collection the creator Dan Martin’s earlier works.

There’s so much to love about Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands. Everything from its cartoony art style, to its hilarious approach to the world and character designs are attractive. The highest praise that I can give this game is that it really makes me want to read Dan’s work and even support the campaign at the higher tiers to receive an awesome Deathbulge T-shirt.

I personally think that each of these games are amazing and deserve a buck or two. I know that I’ll be tossing them some money for their physical goodies, if not just because they’re great games. I sincerely hope that you’ll consider it as well, even if they’ve already received their goals, mainly because of the awesome stretch goals that often include console ports of the games.