The Modern Indie RPG Canon

Making this list of Indie RPG's that I think are excellent. Hope to do full writeups for each of them in the near future. I have played a bunch of these types of games over the years and I wanted to make a short list of the ones that I would recommend to anyone.

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After playing Sea of Stars earlier this year, I realized that there had been enough high quality Indie RPGs of late to start to establish a modern canon for the genre. The games listed below are my attempt at building that list. Each of the games below is a complete, polished, and well-rounded experience that brings new and interesting ideas to the table while also being clearly inspired by the classics.

These are all games that <Why this collection of games? What general criteria?>

For each of the games below, I will give a quick summary of what the game is. Then, I will dive into an aspect of the game's system/mechanic design that make it stand out, followed by highlighting an asthetic or more intangible design aspect that the game excels at.

The Undertale Disclaimer:

Undertale is not on this list because I feel it does not have the amount of focus on gameplay and RPG systems that I am looking for with this list. This is not meant as a slight to Undertale at all. Undertale is amazing and everyone should play it. It is just something different.

List items

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  Ikenfell

  <How well the game combines tactics/paper mario commands/traditional turn based, how cleanly everything works together, very well designed>

  <How expressive and vibrant the characters are while still feeling human, the music/vocal tracks>

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  Chained Echoes

  <The character progression system via grimoire shards and the side quest board>

  <Story that feels like it holds up to the classics while being its own thing, just that touch of cosmic horror>

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  Cosmic Star Heroine

  Most skills can only be used once until a character takes a turn off to defend and recharge all of their available skills. The 'Hyper' system introduces a ebb and flow to battles where turns are spent preparing for a charater's powered up turn where skill damage or healing is greatly increased. On top of that, both party members and enemies build up a style meter that improves overall stats as it increases, but can also be spent on ultimate abilities.

  All of this comes together generate a demanding battle system that requires you to plan 3 to 4 turns ahead at all times in order to maximize damage or prepare a heal or defensive skill to counter incoming damage.

  <How this game is a culmination of this developers games>

• 

  CrossCode

  <Movement and world exploration, how big the game world feels>

  <How big the game feels (more in terms of story/sidequests/extra content/character progression>

• 

  Sea of Stars

  <Lock system in battle is very smart (bit of a riff on Octopath System)>

  <How confident and polished all the non-battle/character progression design is (world traversal/sidequests/minigames), This game is closest to being a classic like Chrono Trigger, it is simpler in its systems overall, but it is done with such quality and confidence that it still works.>