Old favorites, unreleased prototypes and chiptune Erasure
I’ve been tooling and retooling a list of the most influential indie games of the past ten years, and I don’t think it’s ever going to be done. It started with a list of 10 games (Super Meat Boy, Shovel Knight, Undertale, PUBG, etc) but that perspective seemed both too small and too obvious. Then the total count jumped to 20, including games like Dys4ia and The Stanley Parable. Still too small. Right now it’s up to 33 games, including the likes of QWOP, Flappy Bird, and Hatoful Boyfriend, and it’s still not enough.
One thing I can say for sure though is Pixeljam is among the most under-appreciated game developers of the past ten years. Their work carries the authenticity and originality that one might associate with the likes of Devolver Digital, while maintaining the accessibility of more mainstream-friendly names like Chucklefish or Nicalis. And every game they make is scandal free! Yet, they aren’t half as famous as they should be.
Maybe this mega bundle will change that. For a pay-what-you-want price (going as low as $15) you can get every game they’ve ever made, including a bunch of unfinished, previously unreleased titles. This includes all their contract games for Adult Swim Games, which the publisher has allowed them to re-release for free. Collaborations with Messof (Nidhogg), actress Sarah Silverman (!), and James Kochalka (Super F*ckers) are also on the set list.
At over 20 games, each costs as little as $0.99 a piece! As Sally Struthers once said, that’s less than the price of a cup of coffee. She also once said “…gun repair, art…” and I think that’s one of the only times those three words have been said next to each other by a person on television.