PC Gamer presents: The Ultimate Guide to Indie Games

News
By published

Cute, distinctive characters? A penchant for invention? The drive to push gaming in to new, weird and wonderful directions? It must be indie games bumper special, then. We've created a 146-page celebration of everything indie, covering it all from the best, most obscure hidden gems, to the multi-million selling success stories. We'll show you the best things to come out of 2013, and the most exciting games still to come. We'll even save you some money, by rounding up our favourite free indie games of all time.

Here's what you'll find inside:

  • Alex Wiltshire explores how the mainstream has failed us.

  • Indie developers share their predictions for the next 20 years of gaming.

  • Graham Smith looks into Prison Architect's breakout success.

  • Marsh Davies digs into the making of Minecraft.

  • Steve Hogarty and Tim Denee bring you the story of PCG's Dwarf Fortress adventure.

  • Quintin Smith attempts to survive in Wurm Online.

  • Tom Senior explores Roll20, the best D&D game on PC.

  • Robert Yang rounds-up fifteen games that will shape the future of the FPS.

  • Tom "Gunpoint" Francis brings us the indies' guide to making a game.

  • Phil Savage collects the top 100 free games and mods of the last year.

  • We preview the best looking indies of 2014, including Maia, Starbound, Transistor and Volume.

  • We review the greatest indie games of last year, including The Stanley Parable, Card Hunter, Fez, Gone Home, Papers Please, and Spelunky.

  • The PCG team reveal their 50 favourite free games of all time.

The Ultimate Guide to Indie Games is out now. For £9.99 you can order a physical copy through My Favourite Magazines , download it to your iPad/iPhone through the PC Gamer App , or grab a physical copy in your local magazine stockist.

PCGamer
PCGamer

PC Gamer is the global authority on PC games—starting in 1993 with the magazine, and then in 2010 with this website you're currently reading. We have writers across the US, Canada, UK and Australia, who you can read about here.

Latest in Gaming Industry
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
Typing on internet search toolbar: What am I doing?
How a Microsoft exec managed to pitch Microsoft Word through the genius tactic of being able to actually use it in a 'type-off' demanded by clients: 'I was the only one who'd actually been a secretary'
Half-Life wallpaper - Gordon Freeman
Former Valve exec says the company struggled to sell Half-Life until coming up with the ultimate 'one simple trick' of marketing manoeuvres: slapping a 'Game of the Year' sticker on the box
Gabe Newell looks into the camera, behind him is a prop of a turret from Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell's cult of personality is intense, but a Valve exec who worked with him says his superpower is how he 'delighted in people on the team just being really good at what they did'
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
More about gaming industry
Lara Croft Unified Art

Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest

As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
A mech awakens.

Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
See more latest
Most Popular
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion