For the most part, video games require a staff of multiple people in order to pull off the vision of what the game should play, sound, and look like by the time it is released. In some rare cases, however, one person manages to create an entire game all by themselves, from coding and sound development down to animation and art direction, usually taking many years to get the product finished.
One such game is The Falconeer, a recent PC and Xbox Series X/S exclusive developed by Tomas Sala, a particularly impressive feat considering the quality and art direction of the game compared to most other titles made by a single developer, which are usually some form of pixel art or other easier to work with art style.
10 The Falconeer
While Tomas Sala’s first attempt at a video game, Oberon’s Court, was released to fairly little fanfare despite its good reviews, their second attempt at a full title, The Falconeer, has received a much larger following. Taking aspects of games like Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon into an open-world setting, The Falconeer has players control a titular Falconeer, who flies around the world on a giant bird while fighting back against forces that threaten to destabilize the world leadership. Compared to most other games that are made by one developer, this title is far and away one of the best looking and sets a quality standard that many other indie games will have to try and follow in the future.
9 Undertale
There have been many popular indie games in recent years, though none have had such an impact on the gaming world as Undertale. Created by Toby Fox, who is most well known for music composition in video games rather than creating them, Undertale went on to be one of the most beloved games to come out in 2015 and was even labeled as Game of the Year by many publications. Since the release of Undertale, Toby Fox has gone on to work on many big-budget titles as a composer, the most notable being for Game Freak in both Little Town Hero and Pokemon Sword & Shield.
8 Minecraft
Before Minecraft became a global phenomenon that is still one of the most popular video games in recent years, it was a small project developed by Mojang and its one-man crew: Markus Persson. Naturally, Microsoft saw the huge potential this license had and sparred no time in gobbling up the company for a cool few million dollars, though not bringing Markus along for the ride as well.
While Minecraft may be a well-loved game by many, it’s hard to ignore certain viewpoints that Markus made public in the last few years regarding race and gender issues, which Microsoft also couldn’t ignore and dissociated from him shortly after he made several comments on his Twitter account in 2019.
7 Axiom Verge
Although several Metroidvania games in the past have tried to capture the essence of the games the genre is named after, none have come quite so close as Axiom Verge, developed by Thomas Happ Games, and its lone developer, Thomas Happ. It’s impossible to look at Axiom Verge and not see the comparisons to Super Metroid, with even certain parts of the map being replicated in a new and exciting way for this story. Thankfully, Axiom Verge is able to stand on its own merits, despite the oversaturation of the indie Metroidvanias and even has a sequel in the works for release sometime in the near future.
6 Cave Story
Before the resurgence of the Metroidvania genre marked the release of games like Axiom Verge, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and Hollow Knight, there was Cave Story. Developed by indie developer Daisuke Amaya in his free time, Cave Story is the entire reason for the resurgence in the Metroidvania genre, as he was able to capture the best elements of Metroid and Castlevania while also presenting it in an entirely unique way. While the game has been released on modern consoles such as the 3DS and Switch, it was also, bizarrely, released on the Wii, PSP, and Sega Genesis.
5 Braid
Time-turning games have been around for quite some time, with the likes of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time popularizing it in modern gaming, though Braid arguably took what made Prince of Persia great and made it even better. With the ability to turn back time, players control Tim, a man trying desperately to save a princess from a monster, which would normally be a very cliche plot that is turned on its head in the final level of the game. While Braid put developer Johnathan Blow on the map, their follow up title, The Witness, made sure they stayed in that position in the years after Braid’s release.
4 Dust: An Elysian Tail
Although the world design of Dust: An Elysian Tail would make most gamers immediately think that it was a simple indie Metroidvania to stick in the pile of dozens of other similar games, Dust stands out from the crowd not only for its combat and art style but also due to the fact that it was made by only one person: Dean Dodrill.
While several aspects needed to be outsourced, such as voice work and the soundtrack, the rest of the game was programmed solely by Dodrill. The gameplay and progression of Dust is a standard Metroidvania style, with the world opening up to the player when they gain new abilities, the cartoon art direction and action RPG combat helps it find footing in an otherwise saturated genre.
3 RollerCoaster Tycoon
The RollerCoaster Tycoon series has gone on to become one of the biggest construction and management game series in the world, alongside other juggernauts like Sim City and its spin-offs. When the series first started out, however, it began as a simple one-man project developed by Scottish developer Chris Sawyer, before being taken over by Atari and causing some pay disputes when he claimed to not receive payment for his role as a consultant on the third entry in the series.
2 Iconoclasts
Yet another indie Metroidvania, Iconoclasts was developed by Swedish developer Joakim Sandberg over a period of eight years, releasing in 2018 to near-unanimous praise. While gameplay is nothing that hasn’t been seen in just about every other Metroidvania title, Iconoclasts stands out due to its focus on a deep story, the characters, and its world-building to produce a game that is able to stand on its own merits.
1 Tetris
Back long ago, when video games were made by those with passion and a love of the medium and a budget of whatever loose change they had in their back pocket, Tetris became a global sensation and put gaming on the map in more ways than one. What many people don’t know, however, is that the iconic title was made by one man, Alexey Pajitnov, who has not only stuck by his original creation but has gone on to develop several similar titles, including Wordtris and Hexic.
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