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Welcome to the Editors Choice award for Indie of the Year 2013. Here the editors of IndieDB have their say on the most prolific indie games both released and unreleased to grace our eyes over the past year.

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Welcome to the Awards for 2013 Indie of the year, we are also announcing the winners of
MOTY 2013 Editors Choice & AOTY 2013 Editors Choice.


Indie of the Year

Editors Choice 2013


Gunpoint

Interaction Award

Gunpoint is all about creative solutions. One of the most important aspects of any game is how the player interacts with the world around them and how that interaction rewards the player. In gunpoint you play as a freelance spy taking jobs from clients that need you to break into high security buildings and steal sensitive data. To make it past security you have an interesting gadget called a crosslink, that allows you to wire together all manor of security devices opening up a world of mind bending possibilities. Wire a light switch to a trap door, distract a guard and toss him out a window. Creative emergent gameplay is what makes gunpoint special and thats why it wins this years Interaction award.

Sub Rosa

Creativity Award

Sub Rosa is a high stakes nerve racking game about mobsters trying to make a deal. You have two mission types, Acquisition where all teams try to intercept an AI controlled car and take a data disk, and transaction where two teams try to broker a deal while the other team attempts to eliminate the competition. What the game turns into is a cluster of gunfights and high speed chases in this deliciously immersive little title that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Desktop Dungeons

Musicality Award

In a game about roaming creepy dungeons the first music you might think of would slow drowning orchestral melodies of an ery nature. Not Desktop Dungeons. From the music masterminds Danny Baranowsky and Grant Kirkhope Desktop Dungeons has a driving epic sound track that makes you want to move quickly to slay your next goblin or explore around that next corner. Desktop Dungeons music gives you that feeling of epicness that goes oh so well for some fast paced combat and exploration. Its musical uniqueness definitely stands out.

Fist Puncher

Worldy Award

Fist Puncher holds nothing back in this action packed old school beat’em up with RPG elements it will take you back to the glory days of 80’s games and action flicks. With 15 playable characters, 100 collectibles is impressive its the 50 levels of insane mayhem the like’s of which we have ever seen. Toss cows at a meat factory to defeat your enemies, or fight ruffians at a nude beach, bust out your baseball bat in this strange world of prison shivs and sledge hammers as you jump into a world of absurdity.

Ballpoint Universe

Visuality Award

The debate on if games are art seems like a silly question when you look at an indie title such as Ballpoint Universe. Every bit of the game has been drawn with a ballpoint pen to build immaculate environments. Ballpoint Universe is a side-scrolling shooter / platform adventure game about a doodle named Doodle. Explore doodle realms, meet intriguing, eccentric characters, get hints and items to aid your quest. Fight for the future of creativity itself in one of the most beautiful indie titles this year.

Surgeon Simulator 2013

The Ressie 2013

Simulator games are normally serious complicated affairs that can sometimes have more in common with on the job training than your average game. Surgeon’s have a deadly serious job filled with complex tasks and years of study. Surgeon Simulator 2013 mixes the two in a darkly humorous and often over the top bloody fashion. Armed with only an arsenal of clumsy and inappropriate tools and a hand thats semi-controllable you try to save lives! Mostly. The original prototype was developed in just 48 hours, but over time its become an odd but fun joy for gamers.

Chasm

Best Upcoming

Chasm is a 2D Platformer Action-RPG that takes the hack’nslash roguelike gameplay and marries it to a Metroidvania-style platformer. Its aim is to immerse you in its 2D fantasy world full of exciting treasure, deadly enemies and abundant secrets. You take on the roll of a soldier passing through a remote mining town on a journey home from a long war, the town’s miners have recently disappeared after breaching a long-forgotten temple far below the own. Can you defeat the reawakened ancient slumbering evil lurking in the dark? We here at IndieDB are so excited to explore Chasm, enough so to give it this award!

Pixel Piracy

Best Alpha Funded Indie

Every so often a game will come around that instantly captures thousands of players attention. Pixel Piracy excels at offering the sense of grand adventure on the high sea’s that would be pirates yearn for. Your captain of a mighty sailing vessel tasked with roaming the procedurally generated world facing off against other pirates, hostile forces while recruiting and managing a crew of cut throats. Yar

Monaco

Best Multiplayer

Everyone has at one point or another wanted to pull of the ultimate heist. To come up with a plan, recruit your group of thieves each with his or her own speciality then set out to make the big score. If this sounds fun you’ll love monaco. It truly is coop at its best, players rely on each others diverse skill set to deal with guards, steal phat loot and generally be sneaky crafty thieves. Don’t get caught missing out on an incredible title like Monaco.

Rogue Legacy

Best Singleplayer

Rouge legacy is one of those games you just can’t put down. It sucks hours and hours of playtime out of you, each one more enjoyable than the last. With addictive yet satisfying gameplay and a unique progression system not seen in past titles Rouge Legacy is a joy to be had. Upgrading your keep acquiring new gear and abilities. Its a game that will be played on for generations.

Editors Choice Best Overall

Final 3 Countdown


3rd Place - Desktop Dungeons

A quick-play roguelike puzzle game that gives you roughly 10 minutes of dungeon-crawling action per serving. It straddles the casual and hardcore boundary in that, while you might die frequently because the game is tricky and unforgiving, it’s so approachable and quick to get into that you keep wanting just one more round.

2nd Place - Monaco

Monaco is a heist game, like the movie Ocean’s 11. Play by yourself or with up to 4 people on the same screen or online. Each player must take advantage of their own unique character class – the Hacker can shut down the security systems while the Muscle blows a hole through the wall. Monaco does not yet have a release date. It will be on the PC and at least one console. If you want to follow development, check out the facebook and twitter pages. I update them constantly!

1st Place - Rogue Legacy

Rouge Legacy checks every box for a fun fast paced indie experience like no other. Not only is it a game you would never see coming out of a mainstream developer. A title where death isn’t the end and a meta game that surprised us with its fun unique way of progression it had our staff playing for months after release and fully deserves the title of Number one indie title for 2013.

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DrRhubarb
DrRhubarb

Wow, still haven't played most of these games, oh well, Winter is coming so I will have plenty of time catching up.

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Guest
Guest

Rogue Legacy definitely deserve the 1st place and a huge update just came through ! I can't count my death and how much fun I have with this title ! If anybody (is there anybody?) didn't try this yet, well, this is a must have! Go get it people !!!!

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JanDadan
JanDadan

Rogue Legacy and perhaps "Monaco" are the only 2 games I can fully support to appear on this list here.

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TheUnbeholden
TheUnbeholden

holy smokes! Congrats to all.

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INtense! Staff
INtense!

congratulations to all of the winners. much deserved!

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Guest
Guest

No Into the Dark?
No Into the Ice?

Both games are highly entertaining, although pretty offensive.
When it comes to the storyline, dialogues and easter eggs, those Austrian lunatics have gone where no publisher would dare to go. They deserve at least mentions here!

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JanDadan
JanDadan

You are right. If you nail it down on the entertainment value, Into the Dark and Into the Ice are the best games here.
But not for everyone.
They are adult-themed, and they need quite some knowledge / education on the players side to be fully enjoyable. In addition to that, it seems to be a tradition here to (s)elect games with "Indie" visuals - 2D, 8bit or 16bit appearance, lush and colorful visuals e.t.c.
This is something no "Into" game has had yet.

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Skraut
Skraut

I agree. However, as Bubba Ho-Tep didn´t run for the Academy Awards, I also doubt that Into the Dark will get an Editor award here ;)

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Rus[T]
Rus[T]

Deam, I desperately need to find time to play these, been tracking them long time and hearing nothing but good things.

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Dragonlord
Dragonlord

Like I said, players choice is crap and broken but editors choice is where it gets interesting. Nice picks up there from stuff you usually don't hear that much. Congrats to all titles involved.

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Rus[T]
Rus[T]

Indeed, editors choice makes at least some sence to people. Congratz to all.

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IvanErtlov
IvanErtlov

Congratulations to all winners here!

Rogue Legacy has definately earned a sweet spot of glory!

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Snuffeldjuret
Snuffeldjuret

I guess I am more of a player's choice person as I haven't played any of these and won't try any of them out :P.

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JanDadan
JanDadan

Well, some of them are actually good - but imho not "the best". All of the Top 3 games have decent graphics, and seem to have quite solid gameplay. Rogue Legacy is actually really good.
However, all of them are also "harmless" and "unagitated".
No deeper meanings, no critical decisions, no philosophical views, no agenda, no political messages...

...Games don´t need that to be good, but sometimes a good game gets great by implementing such agendas.

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Manio31
Manio31

Wow, glad to see Rogue Legacy take the award home!

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Mkilbride
Mkilbride

Seen like maybe, two, on this list, and both of those don't even impressive me.

Christ, Moddb / Indiedb. Have some INTEGRITY.

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Henley
Henley

Every year you say these things, it wouldn't be the MOTY/IOTY/AOTY without you.

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OnyeNacho
OnyeNacho

Isn't there anything that impresses you?

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Tatsur0
Tatsur0

Great list IMHO :D

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OnyeNacho
OnyeNacho

For the first time in my life, I am quite disappointed in this years awards. Especially seeing how even games/mods like Black Mesa of which already won 1st place in the awards still get to clutter the positions the Top 100. Sure, maybe I can understand the IndieDB profile side a little, but even the ModDB version still managed to clutter the MOTY awards.

Way to pull the Double Jeopardy stunt...

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AngryRob
AngryRob

The list is not that bad. Surgeon Simulator is wonderful parody on all the crap "simulator" games swapping over from Germany. Pixel Piracy deals in fun - and is making a great job there. And, yes, Rogue Legacy has some unique gameplay.

But I understand why so many people complain about missing "Into the Dark" here. As B-movie trash game, it has establised its own genre. It comes with a full Romero masterpiece. It´s better and more authentic trash than any other similar approach (Blood Dragon). It shouldn´t be listed "as best game", but it deserves a special award.

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Gn0meSlice

Pretty good list, I agree with most everything on here. Shame Valdis Story and Teslagrad didn't make an appearance, though.

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