AAA games are amazing. But many high-budget projects don’t look particularly spectacular and look like games from 2010, only with improved lighting and shadows and 4K resolution. Because of this, more and more people are starting to play BlackJack online and look at indie projects that, despite their modest budgets and small development staff, can make studios like EA and Ubisoft sweat. So why do gamers choose such projects over cinematic AAA masterpieces?
Plot and Atmosphere
Almost always the developers of indie games have a budget consisting of a hamburger and a supply of energy drinks. Sometimes independent studios manage to attract funding, but it’s usually small and doesn’t compare to AAA projects at all. That’s why these studios have to go back to the roots and give all the time to the story and atmosphere.
Because of this, indie games, even with pixel graphics, can sometimes surprise experienced gamers and their plot moves. In this case, the developers can make this primitive graphics so atmospheric that you forget about everything in the world and sink into it. Examples include Minecraft and Rimworld, which, despite the completely non-modern graphics, have won the attention of millions of players.
You Can Influence the Addition of Characteristics
This feature just blows the minds of gamers because they can personally participate in the development, even without any programming or design skills. You simply post your suggestions to the developers on Discord, leave a request on their website, or participate in the voting. Would you like the game to add more complex patches? Write to the developers, and if they find the idea interesting or if other gamers vote for it, the programmers add new features to the game. Now compare it to EA and the rest of the corporations that are asked to add something to the games, but they don’t listen to the players at all.
Developers Are More Respectful to Players
It’s not about gamer feedback, it’s about the concept of games themselves. Most of the new games that the big companies release are dull plots in a pretty package. And literally everything feels disrespectful to the gamer. Buy the loot boxes. Buy more of them. Don’t want to? Then you’ll be a loser and get screwed by the most loyal players.
EA, Ubisoft, and other corporations have almost no reaction to tons of bug reports from angry players and requests to at least slightly lessen the impact of donation on gameplay. But no one hears their moaning, because many players eat what they are given and become more and more addicted to donations.
Decent Duration
When was the last time you played a AAA project with over ten hours of gameplay? There are rare exceptions, like Death Stranding, but here the genius of Kojima, or the Resident Evil reboot. As for the rest, the gameplay rarely reaches eight hours. And what a shame, it becomes more and more monotonous. The perceived variability comes with it. What do indie games have? Tons of gameplay that allows you to hang out in a game for literally months without boring the player.