About

Indie games are a somewhat new trend when we consider the big picture. Before the digital age of gaming, there wasn’t a platform for these smaller studios to thrive, and without the budget to compete with the big names, it meant that their big ideas had to be put on ice. However, with platforms like Steam, their popular Greenlight initiative, Itch.Io and various other digital entities, Indie Games began to thrive and as for the present day, indie games when done right, can challenge the AAA games out there, and sometimes, even shine brighter.

We are all about the good things that come in small packages here at Indie Game Culture and we want to shine a spotlight on the small but mighty games out there. The pixelated platformers, the mellow walking simulators, the quirky roguelikes. We love them all, and we aim to showcase them in all their glory. We are the home of Indie Game Culture.

Our dedicated team collectively spent hundreds of hours perusing digital storefronts in search of hidden gems, spent thousands of hours reading and absorbing indie game content, and have spent well over 10,000+ hours each playing indie titles, making them verified experts and masters of their craft!

Our Goal

Our goal is a simple one. We aim to fill a gap in the market. We noticed that while indie games are finally being given the respect that they deserve within the gaming industry, there are very few outlets that focus solely on indie games. Sure, there are plenty of indie marketplaces to buy these super games, but we want to fill the content void out there and provide a narrative for all the best Indie titles of the moment.

Our goal is to act as a lighthouse for indie games out there navigating the treacherous seas of game development and marketing! With AAA titles dominating the market, we want to serve as a spotlight for these hidden gems, and ensure that we can guide them to shore, and more importantly, guide you to their storepage. Support indie devs, people!

We also aim to be an all-encompassing indie game outlet. So we will cover the games that have made it to the big time, we will retrospectively cover the best games of their era and we will also cover up and coming games that you have perhaps not quite heard of yet. No matter how invested you are in Indie Game Culture, we will have something that suits your tastes.

What We Offer

We offer a wealth of Indie Gaming content here at Indie Game Culture. We aim to offer content that reviews the newest and most interesting indie projects in the pipeline, allowing you to make an informed decision before you buy. We will also offer a wealth of guide content for new and existing games within the indie space, meaning that no puzzle, boss, or secret will ever stay unsolved, unharmed, or hidden for long. Then we will also work tirelessly to secure interviews with some of the biggest developers within the space and talk to them about their processes, their achievements and hopefully uncover some hidden secrets within the Indie gaming world.

We offer coverage unlike the general gaming publication. We are not at the mercy of trends or the daily news cycle. We curate our content based on what indie projects we feel need to be highlighted! We pick and choose the best indie titles out there and all you have to do is buy ’em, and play ’em!

Then, of course, we will also offer lots of opinion-based content. For example, we will look at the best indie game sub-genres, we will try to rank the best indie games of all time, we will shine a spotlight on top developers and give you our opinions on their catalog of work. Plus, we will also keep our ear to the ground for the latest breakout titles.

How We Operate 

We keep things simple here at Indie Game Culture. Everything that we do is fueled by passion. We believe that with the right team, everything else will fall into place and thankfully, we have a dream team here. Our writers are certified indie game buffs who know their way around a controller and know what makes an indie game a success. These guys are always on the hunt for a lesser-known diamond in the rough and that is why we love having them here.

We don’t exist to offer cold, clinical, SEO driven content. We take a new approach where our writers are our brand equity. Through their years of experinece, their countless hours with a controller in hand, and a genuine passion for indie games, we ensure that our content always rises to the top.

Then we also have a dedicated team of editors who make sure that the work produced is authentic, factually correct, engaging, and aesthetically pleasing before you send it out into the world wide web for your viewing pleasure.

Then we also rely on you guys too. Without your feedback, suggestions, and support, we would be at a loss. So if you know a way that we could make our platform better, or you just want to discuss why Undertale is a work of art with our experts, be sure to reach out.

Our Core Values: 

These are the core values that we uphold at Indie Game Culture:

• Authenticity
• Consistency
• Journalistic integrity
• Passion
• Thoroughness

Our Team 

We think that you should meet our team of esteemed indie game experts. Our team is always on the lookout for the next pixellated masterclass from an unknown developer and they want to use their years of writing and gaming experience to keep you up to date as well. We love them and we think you will too. Meet our team below:

Callum Marshall – Managing Editor

Callum is the gaming managing editor and a gamer who will always try to shine a spotlight on indie games before giving AAA titles the time of day. He loves nothing more than finding an unearthed early-access title and seeing what they have to offer. Plus, he’s even got a tattoo of The Traveller from Journey, so you know that love for indies is legit! While overseeing the day-to-day running of the site, you’ll commonly see Callum carve out some time to produce some content on one of his favorite games of all time, and lead from the front. Callum has been around the block within the gaming industry, working as an Editor-in-chief for a number of well-respected gaming outlets, he has worked as a games tester, he has gaming podcast experience, has worked in gaming PR. Basically, you name it, and Callum was probably there or somewhere on the periphery. Outside of gaming, Callum loves skateboarding despite his immediate family telling him to grow up and he is also known to watch the British sitcom Peep Show on repeat and will go toe-to-toe with anyone on Peep Show trivia.

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Journey
• Favorite Indie Developer: Concerned Ape
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Pathologic II
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: The moment in Journey where you are sliding rapidly down the sandy decline against the sunkissed backdrop lives rent-free in my head
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2022): Toem
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: Every single great idea you see in the AAA space has been done on a shoestring budget by an indie game months or even years before.

Melika Jeddi

Hi! I’m Melika Jeddi, an experienced content writer, an avid fan of all things media, and founder of Screen Hype! Gaming has been one of my core interests ever since I was a little girl excitedly playing my way through classics like Croc, Crash, and Spyro. Over the years my taste in genres has spread out, but that love of the escapism that gaming brings has always remained. I also get way too invested in the shows and movies that I watch, and when I’m not glued to some manner of screen, I have my head buried in a graphic novel. It’s such a joy to be able to write about the topics that I’m passionate about!

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: It’s so tough to choose! But I think Spiritfarer.
• Favorite Indie Developer: Team 17
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Omno.
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: It took me 8 hours to defeat Sentinel Hornet when I played Hollow Knight, so I think that feeling of relief and excitement is my best moment.
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2022): Mushroom Wars 2.
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: If a developer is making a game with only money in mind, and isn’t passionate about the project, then it’s never going to be as good as a game that comes from the heart.

Bryan Hughes

Bryan is a writer and a gamer that loves to seek out the most emotional tales throughout the video game world. Discovering hidden gems, unique gameplay concepts and new takes on traditional genres are his reasons for constantly trying out indie titles. He’s had a membership to Newgrounds since 2004 where he has seen titles like Monster Sanctuary go from online passion projects into full-fledged indie games. Seeing the hard work people and lesser-known titles put into these games reminds him why it’s worth doing what he can to seek out and bring any attention possible to their work. He has two science fiction novels, Rain and Mortal Gods.

He has worked as a screenwriter for films in China and the US for the last 15 years, including two currently in pre-production television series, Blood Lungs and The Girl From the Gate. His passion for storytelling is only rivaled by his passion for gaming. With 1000’s of hours logged onto his Steam account on games like Terraria, Bastion, Moonlighter, and Shovel Knight. There is almost no genre he doesn’t give a chance to. When not gaming you can find him as a Stuntman in films like Iron Mask alongside Jackie Chan on Hulu or acting in Indie Films like Hunter’s Bounty as an alien with sunglasses and an attitude.

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Undertale
• Favorite Indie Developer: 11-Bit studios
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Bastion
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: In This War of Mine when I finally had a playthrough where I could manage to give medicine to those kids knocking on the door, I don’t know if another game has made me feel the way that game does or if I ever want one to again.
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2022): Rain World
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: Indie games are often passion projects, and the passion can constantly be felt in every detail of those games ensuring the indie scene will never die.

Tamara Hrnjacki

Tamara is a writer and a lover of all arts who was always drawn to pieces built with evident emotion. Sharing those feelings and evoking the desire in other people to lean towards understanding the deeper meaning beyond the surface became her passion. The thing that she found combined all of her favorite art components into one were video games. Games made by people passionate about their work; games that stir emotion with small details and push you to develop a love for the characters, feel for them, and feel what they feel. She considered herself an old-school gamer before playing Super Meat Boy, The Stanley Parable, and Don’t Starve.

She thought that the age of video games was ending with almost no original content, but a revolution had already started. Going from knowing that a team of six people made the first Tomb Raider and watching the voice acting content in Legacy of Kain to hearing about a game that bested Cuphead in her eyes as she played through it; she realized that there were still many creative and talented individuals that cared about the impact of their content. That game was Hollow Knight, and the connection between the nostalgia of the team that made Tomb Raider and Team Cherry that made Hollow Knight was a call to dive deeper into indie games. That love grew from watching the process of creating games and playing the same to her wanting to create something that people will one day enjoy, share, and use as inspiration. When she isn’t playing video games, she draws traditionally and digitally, writes, and creates music. She is just an IT student with creative tendencies.

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Hollow Knight
• Favorite Indie Developer: William Pellen
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Jetpac (1983)
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: The opening cutscene of Agony. I haven’t slept since, and I don’t know if my heart is beating
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2022): The insanely replayable Enter the Gungeon
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: The intention of indie game creators isn’t vacuuming clean your wallets out with DLCs. It is to make your weekend better by providing unique experiences pulled out of years of hard work that started with just a vision of something divine.

Lawrence Serafico

Lawrence is a writer who will go out of his way to find the best indie gems out there. Due to his background in political science and literature, he loves when games aren’t afraid of discussing their beliefs and philosophies, something you barely see with AAA titles. He primarily enjoys games with cryptic lore and an overwhelming amount of in-game text. When Lawrence isn’t writing about games you can find him listening to a podcast, reading a book, or attempting to cook a foreign recipe he saw online. He’s also involved with local theatre productions and is willing to stay up all night writing meticulous feedback on your manuscript.

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Disco Elysium
• Favorite Game Developer: Supergiant Games
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Devotion
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: Failing the Drama check to sing karaoke in Disco Elysium.
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2022): Inscryption
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: The narratives in indie games are always much more personal because they don’t have to conform to mass-market appeal.

Paul Werkema

Paul is a writer who loves retro and retro-style video games. He has a background in history and languages. This is why he likes to focus on the stories and lore of any particular video game. When Paul isn’t playing games, he is hiking, reading, filming stock footage, or pretending he can draw. Paul also reviews books on his YouTube channel.

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Monster Sanctuary
• Favorite Game Developer: Moi Rai Games
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Ender Lilies: The Quietus of the Knights
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: When the Insulindian Phasmid showed up at the end of Disco Elysium. It was so weird, and I loved it!
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2022): Infernax
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: Pixel graphics look better than 3D graphics.

Monica Phillips

Monica is a writer, artist, YouTuber, modder, musician, and general doer of all things related to video games. She’s a trans woman with a bit of experience and love for every game genre. From her first experience with Cave Story to loving Celeste and going through the life-changing Outer Wilds, indie games have become the core thing she’s grown to love and care about when it comes to video games. They’re all about finding new games to fall in love with, new genres to dive into thoroughly, and new experiences to attach to forever. She’s usually drawing characters from games, making videos about playing them, or writing about every little detail within them. She’s also interested in cooking and music outside of gaming and enjoys making the most out of every art form she can get her hands on. Basically, she’s always making different things that will pay tribute to the games that made her who she is, and trying new and exciting things is never a challenge and always an opportunity.

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Outer Wilds, which also happens to be my favorite game in general.
• Favorite Indie Developer/Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Ynglet
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: The final screen of Celeste Chapter 9 is infuriating and thrilling, and nothing has ever compared to actually doing it all in one go.
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (March 2023): Rytmos

Indie Gaming Hot Take: I’m honestly just so incredibly tired of every game trying to look like Breath of the Wild. More indie games should try to be creative with their art style, not only to stand out but also to look better.

Victor Espinosa

Victor Espinosa is a highly opinionated and deeply misanthropic writer who knows the greatest stories in video games come from indie studios. He usually spends his time wondering what AAA studios are doing with all that money. When not writing about video games, he writes about nature, space, and the profundity of NPC life.

Favorite Indie Game: Katana Zero

Favorite Indie Developer: Heart Machine

An Indie Gem That Feels Like Only They Have Played: Moonlighter

Best Indie Gaming Moment: My first perfect level in Katana Zero.

Most Recent Indie Game Played: Project Zomboid

Indie Gaming Hot Take: Indie games lack the bloated corporate oversight that comes with AAA games and the expectations that come with millions of dollars in investments. Indies are free to explore controversial narratives, push gameplay boundaries, and experiment with new mechanics and UIs. In this way, Indies are at the progressive forefront of the games industry and carry the weight of AAA studios that piggyback off their inventiveness and ingenuity.

Tallis Spalding

• Favorite Indie Game Ever: Hades
• Favorite Indie Developer: Supergiant Games
• An Indie Gem That Feels like only they have played: Missed Messages
• Best Indie Gaming Moment: Having a breakdown while trying to beat the Path of Pain in Hollow Knight and charging the Knight off the edge over and over again until I was back at the beginning.
• Most Recent Indie Game They’ve Played (January 2023): Vampire Survivors
• Indie Gaming Hot Take: Indie horror games are often at their best when they don’t take several hours to complete.

We hope that your time at Indie Game Culture has been a fun and informative one. Be sure to return regularly for a constant stream of great content and tell your friends!