It’s true that some games don’t need the production scale of big-shot companies to become well-known among players. Behind many beloved titles, there is the hard work and dedication of an indie company.
We’re going through an indie games boom right now, so picking the best of the best is a hard and inevitably controversial task. Each of the following games has made a splash in the gaming community, but there surely is a ton of great titles that didn’t make it to our list. We also decided to skip some top-of-mind and ‘former’ indies like Among Us and Minecraft to focus on some true hidden gems.
With these caveats in mind, let’s have a look at some of the best indie video games of recent history.
It’s not often that an actor of Giancarlo Esposito’s caliber toe-dips into the world of video games, but TheMandalorian and Breaking Badstar is doing just that in Far Cry 6.
Esposito plays Far Cry 6’s central antagonist Antón Castillo, a ruthless dictator of the fictional country of Yara. So he’s who you’ll be facing off against and (hopefully) dethroning before Far Cry 6’s curtain call. Before all that, though, Esposito took some time to address fan questions — some as himself and others in-character as Castillo. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Far Cry, Star Wars, or Breaking Bad fan; this is a treat to see.
Check out Castillo’s, ahem, Esposito’s interview for yourself below.
Several of these Far Cry 6 promotional videos came out this week, and Esposito seems to be having a ball with the bit. I mean, how can you not have fun watching him deconstruct guerilla weaponry? Or where he explains why you are his most challenging foe yet, Walter White be damned.
I know a thing or two about villains, and I think you’re REALLY going to like this one. Antón and I look forward to facing you all in @FarCryGame October 7th!! Are you ready? #FarCry6. pic.twitter.com/LGs1J528hp
Esposito is known for playing villains, so there’s no doubt that Castillo will likely be another memorable baddie in the actor’s repertoire. We will find out for sure when Far Cry 6 comes out on Oct. 7.
Who needs a savings account when there are plain white Fortnite hoodies?
So, developer Epic Games and luxury fashion house Balenciaga have come together for a $725 hoodie Fortnite hoodie. Yup, a hoodie. Well, there are $395 baseball caps and $495 t-shirts, too, if you’re on a tight budget. Plus a denim jacket for the ultra-low price of $1290!
This collaboration between Balenciaga and Fortnite features real-world clothing items and digital fits. The former is available via Balenciaga’s store, while the latter is on Fortnite’s in-game item shop. So if you desperately want a white hoodie with the game’s logo on it for your characters, a few V-Bucks won’t dig into your life savings quite as bad as the physical counterpart.
Check out the Balenciaga x Fortnite collaboration event trailer for yourself below.
The Balenciaga x Fortnite character skins include:
Game Knight Outfit
Unchained Ramirez Outfit
Fashion Banshee Outfit
Shady Doggo Outfit
There’s also a pickaxe, back bling, gliders, wraps, pickaxes, sprays, and emotes from Balenciaga for the in-game event, which runs from now until Sept. 28.
Epic Games also encourage players to strut their stuff in the Strange Times Square, a virtual Balenciaga store created for the event.
Ready to express yourself? To celebrate @balenciaga coming to Fortnite, we want to see how YOU express yourself in unexpected ways with a live lookbook campaign.
“The Strange Times Featured Hub constructs a virtual Balenciaga store in line with real ones — but set in an unexpectedly strange city,” Epic Games said on Fortnite’s official website. “You can hang out with other fashionable friends, change your look with Changing Booths, and even pick up Balenciaga Fit Outfits straight from the Hub itself!”
Apparently, the best-dressed characters might get featured on billboards around Strange Times Square. It’s all a bit weird, but Fortnite is always bizarre these days.
Call of Duty: Vanguard isn’t out until Nov. 5, but cheaters are already gearing up to ruin everyone’s fun in it. Not only are cheating platforms are offering lifetime access to cheats well ahead of Call of Duty:Vanguard’s release date, but players are already running into cheaters during the open beta, Waypoint reported Tuesday.
Reports of cheating during the open beta began pouring in almost immediately. Most commonly, wall-hacks and aim-bots, among others that give cheaters massive advantages over people playing legitimately. How can this start happening before Call of Duty: Vanguard is even out, you ask? Well, it’s because Call of Duty’s back-end software has been the same for years.
“The core of the [Call of Duty] engine hasn’t changed much during the life of the franchise, so porting a cheat from one game to another has always been very easy,” an anonymous source said via Waypoint. “Cheat developers have extra incentives to get that working during beta: it’s good publicity for them to be the first, and that allows them to capture screenshots and videos for marketing. Most usually give the cheat free to their existing customers. Some even go free for everyone.”
Check out a clip of aim-bot cheats in Call of Duty: Vanguard’s open beta for yourself below.
None of this should come as a surprise to anyone that plays Call of Duty: Warzone, as that game is rife with cheating. However, Activision is rolling out a new anti-cheat system for Warzone and Vanguard to alleviate the cheating problem. Here’s to hoping that’s the case, anyway.
Freddie Dredd’s new single Shut Up came out a month ago, but it’s now drawing attention in the Apex Legendscommunity after an eagle-eyed fan spotted weapons from the game on the single cover.
Over on r/apexlegends, user have_you_ever_did took the time to point out two guns from Apex Legends appear on the single art. More specifically, the VK-47 Flatline rifle and the Wingman pistol. Several other random weapons are scattered all over the cover, but given that Apex Legends is set in the future and uses its own fictional guns, it’s hard to mistake them for a real firearm.
Check out the cover art with circled highlights for yourself below.
The VK-47 Flatline is on the left, while the Wingman is on the right. Also, yes, Titanfall fans — I know these guns came from that series. It’s a shared universe, ok! It’s not a big deal, you nerds.
Dredd has yet to comment on the observation, but it’s likely just a clever wink at a popular game. Perhaps either he or the artist that did the album cover artwork are fans? Hard to say, but it’s a neat find nonetheless.
The YouTube Gaming star continues to make big moves.
Complexity Gaming has brought on several high-profile influencers and esports stars as of late, but Tim “TheTatman” John Betar is its biggest signing yet. The organization announced Betar would be joining Complexity along with GameSquare Esports on Monday.
“Joining the Complexity team has been an amazing journey,” Betar said in a press release. “I’ve followed Complexity’s success and I am impressed with their commitment to winning in top-tier esports and the loyalty of their fans.”
Betar continued: “The connection with the Dallas Cowboys and the support of Jerry Jones is outstanding. I’m a lifelong Cowboys fan so this is a special opportunity within esports. My tour of the Complexity headquarters at the Star in Frisco was world-class; no esports facility comes close. When Complexity and GameSquare invited me to join the team, it was an easy yes.”
Happy to announce that I have joined and I am officially part owner of @Complexity
Unlike Complexity’s recent signing of GX3, though, Betar’s involvement seems to be more related to branding and merchandising. Apparently, Complexity and GameSquare Esports will work closely with Betar on new exclusive merchandise.
“TimTheTatman is an iconic streamer and will be an invaluable addition to the Complexity family as we look to expand our footprint in content creation,” Jason Lake, founder and CEO of Complexity Gaming and global head of esports at GameSquare, said. “As traditional sports, gaming, and entertainment continue to converge, our partnership with Tim will encompass the best of these worlds for fans to enjoy.”
Splitgate has taken the esports world by storm, and developer 1047 Games is just getting started. Co-founder and CEO Ian Proulx claims the goal is to become the next Riot Games, Techcrunch reported Tuesday.
“The scope of what we can do is now through the roof,” Proulx said via Techcrunch. “There’s so much we couldn’t think about because we were a tiny team with a tiny budget, but now everything is on the table. We’re focusing on the long term — I look at the game as being 25% done. We don’t need to be Fortnite tomorrow, but now it really is about building the next Riot Games, the next big games business.”
Splitgate is a free-to-play arena shooter that harkens back to Halo’s glory days while injecting some topsy turvy Portal-like physics elements. In that sense, it’s not exactly rife with new ideas, but being a throwback is part of its appeal.
“People grew up playing these games, and the reason [the market] is dead is not because they stopped loving them,” Proulx said via Techcrunch. “No one has moved the needle because there hasn’t been a lot of innovation, and there hasn’t been something that’s accessible to the masses.”
Here’s to hoping Splitgate’s success keeps trucking along.
Competition is always best when the teams are evenly stacked, right? Well, many Destiny 2 wouldn’t agree, especially now that skill-based matchmaking is part of the Trials of Osiris PvP mode, Kotaku reported Friday.
If you’re not in the know, Trials of Osiris is a 3v3 competitive mode in Destiny 2 that yields loads of great loot for whichever team wins. Developer Bungie wants to make this mode a bit more accessible so that more people can get rewards, as for a while now, getting annihilated by the best players is all too common.
“We are also not happy with the experience of players who have a bad streak of getting repeatedly thrashed 5-0,” Cozmo, community manager at Bungie, said on Bungie’s blog.
“So we are enabling some matchmaking help if someone runs into several blowout matches. This temporary help mechanic clears up once they start winning again, so don’t think someone will cheese a flawless by tanking for a few games and then have a weekend of smooth sailing.”
Basically, if someone is losing, they’ll get matched up against people who are also struggling, while people with seven wins in a row will move up into a ‘flawless’ rank to face others that win more often.
It might not sound like a big deal, but Destiny 2’s PvP community thinks this matchmaking assistance will lead to many issues. Some of the suggested outcomes are folks throwing matches to give their buddies an easy reward to people dropping the mode entirely after attaining the flawless rank.
The tweets below represent both valid concerns and plenty of over-the-top meme goodness.
Some might be in for the returns, while others are sinking dollars into their hobby.
NFL stars are not just players, but are also business people and some of them instantly recognize the fierce competition in esports and all the opportunities that come with it.
The days of small neighborhood gaming tournaments are long gone. Esports is a global billion-dollar industry now and investors from all walks of life see the potential that comes with grand tournaments broadcasted to millions of viewers.
Many want a share of the revenue generated by the top esports orgs, but only a few truly understand what they are investing their money in. It takes someone that is deeply engrossed in sports competition to grasp the true potential of competitive video gaming. NFL players definitely do and they are getting more and more involved in esports.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 NFL stars that invested in esports.
PGL Esports will require proof of vaccination for guests to attend live events.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, esports events have been hurting, and PGL’s president believes massive tournaments can only return if all attendees provide proof of vaccination. Insisting that future events put on by PGL Esports will indeed require everyone attending will need to be vaccinated.
PGL Esports is responsible for organizing and producing some of the biggest competitive gaming events in the world. From Counter-Strike: Global Offensiveand Apex Legends majors to DOTA 2’s The International, the organization has loads of experience and know-how on what is required to make these things a success. Silviu Stroie, CEO at PGL, wants those grandiose events to return, and the organization is being proactive about it.
“I firmly believe the only way to bring back massive LAN events is to require complete vaccination of attending players, talent, spectators,” Stroie said on Twitter. “This will be a requirement for all upcoming PGL 2022 events.”
PGL Esports is helping organize DOTA 2’s 2021 The International tournament, of course, and a ticket sales post on DOTA 2’s blog confirms vaccination is required to get into the event.
