Much like most expressions of art, video games are subject to a wide variety of viewpoints from people who come from all walks of life, and from all around the world. And that’s what helps make the world of video games great, is that with so many examples of great games out there, what makes video games truly special is that, for the most part, no two video games are entirely the same. Whether that means that their gameplay helps them stand out from the rest, or their story and writing, or the creativity of the world the game is presented with. 

In the case of this Top 15 list, we’ll be specifically narrowing it down to the one thing that makes all these games unique from the rest, but still similar to each other: the pixel art style graphics that these games are made with. This list of games takes a look at gaming’s past, back to the days of the original Super Mario and other greats from that era, and brings those back with a modern twist by weaving intricately crafted visuals using only a retro pixelated style.

And though these games are similar in the fact they each use pixelated graphics, they still all use the art style in their own special ways to make each game on this list stand out from one another. And of course, the actual gameplay of these games isn’t anything to scoff at either! 

Now that’s enough of the introductions don’t you think? So I’ll quit rambling here, and we can move to talking about just some of the best pixel graphic games that you can buy today.

#15: Do Not Feed the Monkeys (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)

"Do Not Feed the Monkeys" - Trailer

In the game opening up our list, you are the most recent member of a shadowy organization known as “The Primate Observation Club”, a faceless group of individuals specializing in one specific pastime: spying on random human beings through hidden cameras. As a new member, you are granted access to the computer program that allows you to watch “the monkeys” as they go about their lives and daily activities inside of their “cages”, writing down notes of their behaviors and reporting back to The Club when you learn something of specific interest to them. But as the newest member, you must always remember the club's #1 and most important rule: Do NOT feed the monkeys.

Do Not Feed the Monkeys is a “digital voyeur simulator” where you invade the privacy of strangers from all over the world and witness their most intimate, private moments through a series of hidden cameras set up by “The Club”, for who knows what reason. You're Not the hero or even the villain of this story, but simply a mere witness to the stories of other individuals while you sit in the privacy of your own home, just like any other Club member. But even though the #1 rule is not to interact with the people on the cameras in any way whatsoever, almost everyone in the club ignores this rule in one way or another, which leaves you with your own choice to make. Will you choose to help those poor souls that you’re spying on like some watchful guardian angel, will you sabotage their dreams, or will you follow the rules and simply watch in silence as the world burns?

In order to remain a participant of The Primate Observation Club, you will have to purchase additional cages for you to watch over on your computer, which means you will have to find time to pry away from your computer screen to go out and earn money through a series of temp jobs. And while you do have to spend money on buying new cages, you will also need money to buy yourself food so you don’t keel over from starvation, and on top of that, you’ll also need to let yourself sleep now and then as well, otherwise you might just drop dead in front of your computer screen! And with certain cameras only performing certain events at certain times, certainly, you’ll have to use a bit of strategy when it comes to choosing when you’ll go to work or go to bed.

When it comes to the monkeys themselves, there’s a wide variety of different people you can end up watching through over 40 interactable and non-interactable cameras. Among the strangers whose privacy you invade, you can watch over an accountant with a double life, a paparazzi taking photos of a celebrity from their attic, a retirement home resident who looks suspiciously like a certain dictator, and dozens more strange stories for you to uncover. Sometimes The Club will ask for certain details about the cages, so you have to look out for certain visual or audio clues to write down in a notebook, which gives you one-word terms to look up on your internet browser to try and learn anything and everything you can. And whether or not you use what you learn to “feed the monkeys” or not, well… that’s up to you.

Do Not Feed the Monkeys is one of my favorite indie games that I’ve played in the past few years. Even though the gameplay itself is just point-and-click, you’ll find yourself becoming just as addicted as the voyeur you’re playing as while you continue to unravel the mysteries of the monkeys in your cages and The Club controlling it all, and before you know it you’ll have spent hours glued to the game trying to pick up every little detail of the monkeys’ lives. Between this game and its 2023 sequel, Do Not Feed the Monkeys 2099, there are plenty of personal little stories for you to watch, and maybe even help unravel yourself as you continue to buy new cages and climb up The Club’s ranks. Whether you buy it at full price or wait for a Steam sale to get it for under $5.00, Do Not Feed the Monkeys is a story that will keep you coming back for more time and again.

Invade the privacy of dozens of strangers as the newest member of The Primate Observation Club, where you can follow the rules and simply watch, or use what you learn to “feed the monkeys” and interfere with their lives, for better or worse.

#14: Dave the Diver (PC/Mac/Nintendo Switch)

Dave the Diver - Official Release Month and Accolades Trailer

Players join the titular protagonist Dave, a professional deep-sea diver whose vacation is interrupted when his friend Cobra lures him into a new business opportunity with the promise of sushi. Little did Dave know that instead of eating, he’d be using his diver skillset to gather fish and other sushi ingredients himself for Cobra’s new sushi restaurant, built on the shores near a cavern called the Blue Hole, a vast sinkhole with mysterious properties that causes the geography and fauna inside to change every day, and along with everything else that changes inside the Blue Hole, the types of fish that can be found within change as well. Thus, Cobra’s genius plan is revealed, and Dave is ultimately recruited to dive into the Blue Hole for a vast array of fresh fish to be served every night by head chef Bancho.

Dave the Diver rolls up adventure, RPG, and management gameplay elements into one surprisingly ambitious and brilliantly fun package. During the morning and afternoon sections of the game, you’ll dive into the Blue Hole to collect fish to serve and complete various favors for the game’s eccentric and quirky cast of characters, ranging from finding certain fish or objects and exploring deeper into the Blue Hole. Then when nightfall rolls around, you’ll help chef Bancho in the restaurant, named Bancho Sushi after the chef’s excellent skills, by serving customers their plates and keeping them satisfied while they wait by serving tea. You’ll be able to unlock upgrades to both your diving gear and the restaurant using the money you’ll earn through numerous tasks, and while you’re at it you can help manage your “Cooksta” page, a social media app for restaurants that will help you bring in new customers, unlike new dishes and upgrades, and even land you glowing VIP customer reviews! So long as the VIP has a good experience, that is.

There’s more to the Blue Hole than just finding fish, though, as there are several varying areas to be discovered depending on how far down you can manage to swim, ranging from the gentle and calming Swallows just below the water’s surface to the dark regions of the Depths that you’ll need to acquire a headlamp just so you’re able to see down there. Each area presents both new kinds of fish to find and new quests to complete, along with dangerous ocean predators that you’ll have to fight off with either your harpoon gun or the array of other findable/unlockable weapons in the game, which also can be upgraded with the help of Weaponsmith and anime enthusiast Duff. Chances are you’re going to need those weapons more than you think, as along with regular predator fish like sharks or eels, there are also monstrously sized deep-sea monsters to face off against in thrilling boss fight sections!

Dave the Diver is one of the most recent releases on this list with its June 28th, 2023 release, but even in such a relatively short time, the game has already gained critically acclaimed status with reviewers and users alike. The game is praised for both its gameplay and story, with reviews like Eurogamer saying it was "wholesome, harmonious, and completely unwilling to settle", GamesRadar calling it “a smash-hit success story”, and many of the other big-name game review sites that you can think of giving it all around glowing praise for its unique gameplay and endearing story. The story remains the same with the fans as well, as Dave the Diver became the fifth best-selling game on Steam just two days after its release, then managing to sell over one million copies after ten. And with over 54,000 user reviews, the game currently sits with an Overwhelmingly Positive score on Steam.

Dave the Diver is one of the big underdog success stories of 2023 after an already steadily successful Steam Early Access period throughout 2022. Developers Mintrocket took time and care to ensure that no part of the gameplay loop would feel more repetitive than the rest, and because of that effort it made the game one of the most enjoyable indie releases of this year. With its enjoyable gameplay and a lighthearted, endearing story backed up by a humorous ensemble of characters, all wrapped up together with its lovely blend of pixel and 3D art styles, you might end up surprising yourself with just how much you’ll fall head over heels for Dave the Diver.

Dive for fresh fish in the mysterious, geographically-shifting Blue Hole by day, and help run your friends’ new sushi restaurant hotspot by night in Dave the Diver! And maybe discover an ancient underwater civilization while you’re at it.

#13: Broforce (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)

Broforce Forever | Out Now

Fight for liberty and justice for all against the endless army of Satanic terrorist aliens that threaten to destroy freedom in Broforce, a side-scrolling run-and-gun platformer developed by Free Lives and fully released from Early Access on Steam in 2015. When evil threatens the world, the world calls in Broforce, an under-funded, overpowered paramilitary group of Bros who exclusively use excessive force to eviscerate any and all terrorist forces who threaten our very way of life. You and up to three friends must brace your loins and unleash a wave of devastation across the forces of evil threatening our world, using a wide range of unique weapons to set off chain reactions of fire, napalm, and limbs, all in the name of freedom.

In Broforce, you’ll set out across multiple campaigns consisting of differing unique themes and a wide range of highly destructible levels that will inevitably be blown apart and soaked in terrorist blood during gameplay. In a level, you will play as one of 41 “Bros”, a hyper-masculine action hero-style commando, who are all inspired by/parodies of the greatest action heroes from the past 40 years. You can take control of Rambro, The Brominator, Indiana Brones, Ellen Ripbro, and many more Bros who all come with their own unique weapons and abilities when battling terroristic forces across the games’ campaigns. There is also a free standalone game called The Expendabros that features seven additional Bros, all based around the 2014 film The Expendables 3. Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that if I didn’t tell you.

Even though the Bros have an overwhelming arsenal of weapons at their disposal, in-game the player only has one hit-point before dying. This weakness encourages players to either play carefully to keep their Bro alive or to play recklessly, as each death in a mission gives you a new Bro to play as, so long as you have enough extra lives. With your group of Bros assembled, you will fight against a wide range of terrorist enemy types and even some unexpected foes, slaughtering evil across each level until you reach the end, where you will have to kill the Devil leader hiding at the end of each level, raise the American flag high over your head and fly off on a helicopter as the terrorist base below explodes in dramatic, masculine fashion.

Broforce is notable on this list as having just recently received a large, free, and final update to the game titled “Broforce Forever”, eleven years after the development of Broforce first began. Broforce Forever adds six new Bros to the roster(totaling up to 41 total Bros), which include Seth Brondle, Xebro, and Demolition Bro, among others. Along with the Bros, the updated added in new enemy types, new level types, updates to old urban levels that include new sandbag and barbed wire emplacements, and a new series of mini-campaigns called “Muscle Temples”, where Indiana Brones will have to traverse deadly temples that feature a new Threat Level and specific enemy encounters. And as a final cherry on top, you can even unlock new muscle-bulging flexes that you can perform whenever you want!

Broforce is a modern classic in the pixel game genre, among others. It’s a high-intensity, blood-pumping adventure that grabs you by the chest hairs and doesn’t let go for the entire ride. A game like this doesn’t really need a complex sales pitch to get you on board, since the question is honestly quite simple. Do you like guns, explosions, muscle-bound Bros, killing terrorists, and fighting for the freedom, liberty, and justice of every man, woman, and child? Then Broforce is your kind of game.

An evil army of demonic terrorists threatens our very way of life, so it’s up to you and your squad of Bros to kick their asses for freedom and justice for all!

#12: Noita (PC)

Noita 1.0 Launch Trailer

The world of Noita is filled almost exclusively with two things: near-unsolvable mysteries, and things that will try to brutally murder you. But there’s also a third thing that the world is exclusively made out of, and that thing is pixels. In Noita, the entire world is made up of a procedurally generated world that’s entirely made up of pixels, and each individual pixel is completely malleable in one way or another. Rocks can fall around you, the ground can be blown up, pools of water can be electrified, a vat of oil can catch a spark and light on fire, acid can eat through almost any material, lava can turn to rock when water is applied, and many, many more examples of ways that Noita’s world can be manipulated, usually into killing you, that would just get ridiculous if I listed them all out individually.

Noita, which perhaps might be the most difficult game on this list, is a magical action roguelike in a world where every pixel you see is physically simulated in one way or another. Players take control of a faceless figure obscured in a purple robe, typically referred to as “the Noita” themselves, who begins every run of a game by entering the mouth of a cave that descends into a cave system, equipped with two magical wands that are used to defend themselves from the myriad of hostile creatures that lurk below. The further down into the caves you go, the more enemies you fight, and the more potential you have to find more wands or other magical items that will offer new spells and new ways to defend yourself against the creatures lurking in the cave until eventually, you reach a magical portal at the bottom of the level that takes you to a safe resting point inside of the “Holy Mountain”. Which will eventually spit you back out into an even more dangerous cave than the last.

There are multiple cave levels to reach in your descent, each with its own unique biome and matching slew of new enemy types along with them. This is why players must take advantage of the Holy Mountain’s ability to let you customize your wands and the spells they cast, along with giving you new spells to buy and a unique perk for each Mountain. Your main weapon in Noita, the magic wands you can find, all have unique properties that can make them either greatly useful or useless depending on which combination of spells are slotted inside of them, meaning that players are encouraged to learn the somewhat difficult to understand the process of customizing their wands to be the most efficient weapons they can be. It is possible to customize your wands outside of the Holy Mountains, but be careful, learning this knowledge might end up angering the Gods…

Death is permanent in Noita, meaning that one wrong move will force you to start an all-new run in the blink of an eye if you aren’t careful, as Noita is full of deceptively dangerous creatures big and small and sometimes enormous, meaning that new players can expect plenty of trial and error when first starting out. But like many roguelikes, this fact is what helps make this game as addicting as it is, with the potential to grow stronger than what killed you last run driving you to get better, and perhaps to hope for a bit more luck, when pursuing your next run. In a world full of dangerous creatures and magic spells that could end up blowing you up just as well as your enemies, you might get too caught up in the action at times to realize that there are many, many vast mysteries in this world to uncover. Mysteries like what lies at the bottom of this cave, what’s beyond the skyscraper-sized tree on the world’s surface, how many extra bosses can you find in one run, and plenty more questions that will likely kill you before you discover their answers.

Noita is another game on this list that I’m especially fond of, a statement that I’m only now realizing I can say for almost all of these games actually, as I’ve been a big fan of pixel graphic games for years now. But Noita specifically has a charm to it that I really enjoy, even if that charm also includes hair-pulling difficulty that I’m frankly just not practiced enough to overcome at times, as it’s been a minute since I’ve sunk my teeth into this game. But for those of you who do take up the many challenges presented in Noita, and those of you who commit to learning how to master everything they can discover in this deceptively beautiful game, you might just find yourself becoming as addicted as many others have before you. From the twisted minds of the Finnish three-man studio Nolla Games, Noita is a roguelike that will keep you coming back, dying, and coming back for more again and again in the pursuit of knowledge and power.

Gain knowledge and magical abilities that will turn you from a humble sorcerer into an all-powerful force of destruction. Then get killed due to a string of bad luck, start a new run, and do it all over again and again in Noita.

#11: Papers, Please (PC/Mac/Linux/PS Vita/iOS/Android)

Papers, Please - Trailer

The year is 1982 in the fictional eastern European communist country of Arstotzka, which just ended a six-year-long war with neighboring country Kolechia, though relations between the countries are still somewhat volatile, with a particularly heated subject being the border town of Grestin that’s split between the two countries. Your name was drawn during Arstotzka’s 1982 October Labor Lottery, leading you and your family to be reassigned to East Grestin for your new job as the immigration inspection officer at the Grestin border checkpoint between Arstotzka and Kolechia. If you want to make enough money to feed your family and keep the heat on during the winter, you’ll have to take meticulous care when inspecting the documents of those trying to cross the border, or else you could lose pay, get fired, or worse.

Papers, Please is a deceptively difficult puzzle game that puts you in the shoes of an immigration officer in early 1980s communist Eastern Europe. Every day you’ll walk to work, sit down at your checkpoint booth, and ensure that only those with the proper identification papers can cross the border wall into your country. You’ll have to keep your eyes and ears peeled as you inspect each document for any number of discrepancies, whether it’s an expired document date, a mismatched name, a government seal forgery, and many more potential discrepancies that can slip past your notice if you aren’t giving the papers placed in front of you your utmost attention.

The game slowly ramps up the difficulty with each passing day, beginning on your first day with only allowing Arstotzkan natives across the border, then allowing foreigners so long as they have a valid entry ticket, then a transit document, then a work pass, and many more examples of the numerous types of documents that you will be forced to become deeply familiar with if you want to perform your job to the best of your ability. But sometimes you’ll be faced with decisions that will test your humanity instead of just your work ethic, decisions like whether or not you’ll allow a woman who claims she’ll be killed if she returns to her country to join her husband on your side of the border, despite her not having the proper papers. During the day-to-day of your job, you’ll encounter certain strange individuals among the masses trying to cross your border, certain individuals whose influences could lead you to remain a loyal bureaucrat to your country, an anti-government agent hiding right under their noses, to flee Arstotzka and not look back, or even to die if you aren’t careful enough.

Papers, Please recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary this past August 8th, and in celebration, the sole developer of the game, Lucas Pope, released a handful of new merchandise items including shirts, stickers, posters and coffee mugs, a Game & Watch styled mini-game titled LCD, Please on Itch.io, and even gave a donation of $100,000 to the International Rescue Committee. Papers, Please is probably one of the most well-known indie games to come out of the 2010s, and over the years the game has received numerous awards, sold over 5 million copies as of its 10-year anniversary, and was even popular enough for two Russian filmmakers to create an eleven-minute short film based on the game back in 2018, which received an Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam alongside the game itself. And as a bonus fun fact, the game is even referenced in the previously listed game Broforce with Arstotzka being the name of a level!

If you’re a fan of pixel graphic games, you’ve definitely heard of Papers, Please at least once. And if you somehow haven’t, then let the ten years’ worth of praise be the one to tell you that this game is absolutely worth your time, as the game’s bleak setting and narrative will keep you invested in its story while the deceptively challenging checkpoint guard gameplay will keep you just as hooked as it will paranoid that you might have missed a tiny detail or two without realizing it in time. For just $9.99, Papers, Please will certainly give you more than your money’s worth once you sit down and start playing. 

After your name is pulled in the October Labor Lottery, you are sent to work as a border officer at the East Grestin checkpoint. Diligently inspect documents and ensure only those with the proper identification are allowed to pass. Glory to Arstotzka.

#10: Hotline Miami (PC/Mac/Linux/PS3/PS4/PS Vita/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/Android)

Hotline Miami - Official Trailer

Do you like hurting other people? If the answer is yes, then this high-octane top-down action game overflowing with raw brutality is the game for you. Developed by Dennaton Games, Published by Devolver Digital, and released in 2012, Hotline Miami takes place in an alternate 1989 Miami and revolves around the story of silent protagonist Jacket, nicknamed that because of his distinctive letterman jacket, as he receives a series of cryptic coded messages on his answering machine instructing him to commit a series of violent massacres against the local Russian mafia. After arriving at the specified location, Jacket will don one of many selectable rubber animal masks, then proceed to slaughter every Russian mob member inside the building using a number of different melee, ranged, and throwable weapons, and will do so over and over again across a series of challenging levels set across multiple chapters.

The goal of each level in Hotline Miami is to successfully kill every enemy located on the floor of the building you’re currently on, then move on to the next floor until the entire building is cleared, using several different weapons or just your bare fists if need be to beat, bludgeon, cut, explode, and carve your way through the enemies ahead. The challenge in the game comes from the fact that you only have one hit-point, meaning that you can only take one punch or one bullet(except with two specific masks) before dying, meaning that players will have to actually stop and think about the best way to go about committing their rampage instead of just hoping for the best. 

Killing enemies also gives you points that tally up at the end of the level into one final score, and you can increase your point gain by stringing together kill combos, performing execution animations on downed enemies, being “Bold” by playing recklessly, completing the level as fast as possible, and a few other methods. If you gain enough points to reach a level’s high score, you’ll unlock new in-game masks and achievements, among other things. The purpose of the rubber masks that Jacket wears, beyond narrative purposes, is that each mask gives you a different ability when equipped, such as the “Don Juan” horse mask that makes slamming doors into enemies lethal and the “Carl” grasshopper mask that gives you a power drill at the start of the level. Some masks also make things more challenging, like the “Nigel” bat mask that inverts your controls, and even a carp mask named “Phil” that badly translates all dialog into French.

Hotline Miami left its mark on the gaming world when it was released in 2012, becoming what many consider to be one of the greatest games of all time. It’s considered to be Devolver Digital’s breakout title that helped secure future success for the publisher, leaving a legacy of being one of the most influential games ever made, having won a handful of awards along with dozens of nominations, inspiring dozens of other indie games over the years, and being featured in other video games either as cameos like in The Last of Us Part II or with the protagonist Jacket crossing over into other games like Payday 2. 

Due to its difficult yet addictingly enjoyable gameplay, beautiful atmosphere and art direction, and a soundtrack that many have partially attributed to the popularization of synthwave music, Hotline Miami lives on even eleven years later as a gold standard for indie games, with a cult following that persists even today. Whether it’s the vibrant and at times pretty pixelated art style, the skull-crushingly brutal gameplay, the memorable soundtrack, or all of the above that draws your interest to the game, the 2012 cult classic Hotline Miami is a game that pulls you in and doesn’t let go in all the best ways you can think of.

Unleash a wave of terror upon the Russian mafia at the behest of mysterious messages left on your answering machine, and slowly unravel a grander mystery while also questioning what’s real and what isn’t.

#9: Undertale (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS Vita/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)

UNDERTALE Release Trailer

Brace yourselves for a pretty drastic change of styles between our last game and our next, as while Hotline Miami is about slaughtering waves of mobsters, game #9 on this list is touted as “the friendly RPG where nobody has to die”. And that game is, as you can probably tell due to the title above, Undertale! When it was released in 2015, Undertale quickly gained critical acclaim and a cult fandom following for its humorous writing, charming art style, memorable characters, and most notably, its unique RPG battle system that allows you either to fight and kill your enemies like most other RPGs or to dodge every attack and win over your enemies with kindness, meaning that you don’t actually need to kill anybody. But like all good RPGs, the choice is ultimately yours in the end.

In the year 201X, a young human child falls into a hole in a location called Mount Ebott and finds themselves stuck in an underground space, then once the child gets up to look for a way out, they encounter a sentient, talking flower named Flowey, of course. Flowey acts briefly as a tutorial for the player, showing them how the mechanics of the combat system work and, shockingly, traps the child in that very combat system in an attempt to kill the child! But thankfully for them, Flowey is thwarted and driven off by a motherly goat-like monster named Toriel, who takes in the player to both heal them and show them how to solve puzzles and resolve conflicts without violence in “the Underground”, the name of the place you now find yourself in.

Long ago in the past, humanity ruled Earth alongside Monsters, but one day a war broke out between the two races that humanity ultimately won, and afterward, seven of humanity’s greatest magicians created a magic barrier that sealed all of Monster-kind in the Underground. This barrier is imperfect, however, as there is supposedly one specific spot in the barrier that you can use to escape the Underground. Thus, the child begins a quest across the expansive Underground, where they will meet a wide range of monstrous folk whom they can fight or befriend, ranging from the motherly Toriel, two brothers who happen to be skeletons, a merciless human-slaughtering knight who happens to be a fish, a reptilian woman who’s secretly a huge fan of human anime and video games, and at least five… or maybe seven dogs. Hard to keep track.

Undertale features three major endings that are achieved depending on how you play the game, those being the Neutral Route, the True Pacifist Route, and the Genocide Route. The Neutral Route is achieved by killing some enemies but not others, while the True Pacifist Route is achieved by sparing every enemy that you encounter, and the Genocide Route is achieved by doing the exact opposite. Each mode of play will affect how the overall story plays out in both little and large ways, from both changes in the dialog to changes to what boss battle you might encounter. Like most RPGs, the choice is up to you, but unlike most RPGs, whatever route you end up choosing might not be wiped away so easily just by deleting a save file…

Eight years after its release, Undertale lives on with a legacy of universal acclaim, a handful of awards and plenty of additional nominations, and a continued cult following that in part helped series creator Toby Fox release spiritual sequel/Undertale’s parallel story Deltarune, the first two chapters of which are currently available entirely for free. Undertale is considered by many to be one of the greatest games of all time due to its story elements, gameplay, memorable characters, and generally everything else about the game as a whole, making it one of the most notable pixel graphic games released during the 2010s. If you’re a fan of RPGs and you haven’t played it yet, Undertale will surprise you with both its wholesome charm and its deceptively cutesy dark side.

After falling into an underground world populated by monstrous people, a young child must go on an adventure in order to escape. In “the friendly RPG where nobody has to die”, how you choose to escape the Underground is entirely up to you.

#8: Celeste (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)

Celeste Launch Trailer

In Celeste, players will take control of a girl named Madeline who aspires to climb to the summit of a fictionalized version of Mount Celeste (located in real life on Vancouver Island, British Columbia) to regain self-confidence and battle her inner demons, some of which are made manifest by the seemingly haunted nature of certain parts of the mountain. On her journey to the top of the mountain, Madeline will meet an assortment of friendly faces as she ventures across hundreds of hand-crafted levels filled with dangers, secrets, and even dangerous secrets if you look hard enough!

Celeste is a single-player, narratively driven platforming game about climbing both the mountain of self-doubt inside Madeline and also the very physical mountain where the game takes place. Though the controls of the game are simple enough on paper, as all you need to do is jump, air-dash, and climb, the game features over 700+ screens worth of challenging platforming levels for you to master. Every death is a lesson in Celeste, forcing you to learn and slowly master the deceptively simple controls to pull off stunning platforming feats to not only beat a level but to master it by discovering all the bonuses and secrets hiding within each level.

From jumping past dangerous spike traps to outrunning hostile ghostly reflections of yourself, Celeste tells a narrative tale about overcoming the path ahead both inside and out. Along with receiving critical acclaim for the tight controls of its gameplay and the beautifully crafted art style of the game, it should also be said that Celeste also received specific praise from members of the LGBT community, as the themes of Madeline’s journey across the game, with her struggling with self-doubt and eventually learning to overcome her inner demons as she grows as a character, can be very relatable for individuals who struggled with ‘coming out of the closet’ regarding their gender identity or sexuality. Celeste’s creator and protagonist namesake Maddie Thorson came to terms with her own gender identity during the game’s development, as she realized during development that the game’s story inadvertently had queer undertones to it just as it did a message about being accepting of yourself in general, which led to the game being delayed to “do the story justice” and incorporate these themes fully and intentionally. This ultimately culminates during the game’s ending, when Madeline is shown with a rainbow and transgender flag in her room, reflecting the real-life experiences of the game’s creator.

In the end, though, what makes Celeste a great game is both the story elements and the engaging, perhaps even addictive platforming gameplay that it brings to the table. With stunning pixel graphic visuals and a great original soundtrack to tie it all together, the award-winning platformer Celeste is another well-made example of the wide range of genres that both pixel art games and indie games as a whole can span across.

Use precise platforming controls to scale your way to the mountain’s peak across hundreds of levels, uncovering the mystery of the mountain and overcoming your inner demons in the process in Celeste.

#7: Dead Cells (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)

Dead Cells - Accolade Trailer

Located on a nameless island inside the ruins of a mysterious castle, you play as an amorphous creature called the Prisoner that has the ability to possess and control dead bodies. The Prisoner awakes with amnesia in the prison cells of the castle, where they meet a soldier who informs them that they can no longer die, but the bodies that they inhabit can still “die” if they aren’t careful. After attempting to escape the island and “dying” multiple times, forcing the Prisoner to return to the cells to find a new body to inhabit each time, the Prisoner decides to set out on a quest to kill the reclusive King ruling over this island, feeling that his death will cause a “change” to the island that could ultimately result in his freedom. He just has to stay alive long enough to get to King first.

Dead Cells combines the procedurally generated replayability elements of Roguelike games with the action-packed exploration-based elements of Metroidvania games into its own unique blend, leading the game to refer to itself as a “RogueVania”. In Dead Cells, players can explore seventeen inter-connected levels that each have a unique atmosphere, secrets to discover, and enemies to fight in tough but fair “souls-lite” combat with over one hundred and fifty different weapons and skills to find and unlock. The game’s nonlinear progression style allows players to travel to and from certain levels however they prefer, so long as they have the skills required to survive and the patience to discover the secrets to be found in each level. You’re given the choice to go for the path that suits your current build, your play style, or just your mood when it comes to exploring this surprisingly expansive ruined kingdom.

Dead Cells openly states on its Steam page that a few rage quits might be in store for you when playing this game, meaning that players will have to overcome the multiple trials by fire that await them across the game by learning, dying, reviving, and then learning again. Using any number of weapons, unlockable skills, and even some special powers to be found along the way, players will put their skills to the test time and again when engaging in not just the common enemies located across the levels, but also the sadistically difficult boss fights that are lying in wait across the world. It’s up to you, and maybe a few friends that you’ll meet along the way, to endure the challenges that await you across the many difficult, yet beautifully designed levels waiting to be discovered in your quest for freedom.

Dead Cells won the Best Indie Game award at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards and the Best Action Game award at The Game Awards 2018, among other awards and nominations after its full release in August 2018. After its full release from its prior Steam Early Access period, developers Motion Twin continued to release both free updates and a handful of paid DLCs that added new levels and story elements. The most recent DLC for the game came out in March of this year, that being the Return to Castlevania DLC, which added a crossover storyline involving classic Castlevania characters like Richter Belmont and Dracula himself, while also adding new levels, weapons, costumes, and more. This isn’t the first crossover the game has seen though, as not only is it scattered with references in the form of background paintings, but also in the form of outfits specifically from other games, such as the Shovel Knight and Risk of Rain outfits, and even outfits from Hotline Miami and a couple more games that are still to come on this list.

With its wonderful visuals, tight and responsive controls, and plenty of replayability to boot, Dead Cells is a game that both Roguelike and Metroidvania fans can enjoy all at once. If you’re looking for a well-made 2D action platformer that still sees regular updates from a passionate dev team, then Dead Cells is certainly a game worth checking out sooner rather than later.

When your body finally falls in the heat of battle, simply return to the beginning and find a new body to possess in Dead Cells, a “RougeVania” hybrid that puts your skills to the test if you want to earn your freedom from this mysterious island.

#6: Pizza Tower (PC)

Pizza Tower Steam Trailer

Inspired by cartoons from the 90s and the Wario Land series, Pizza Tower is a game where players take on the role of Peppino Spaghetti, a surprisingly agile and powerful fat balding middle-aged Italian, who must destroy the titular Pizza Tower in order to prevent the Tower from destroying his pizzeria. In this heavily stylized pixel art 2D platformer, you will have to utilize ludicrously fast movement speed to complete levels and destroy everything standing in your way to save your precious pizza restaurant, all while having adrenaline pumped directly into your soul by an insanely energetic soundtrack!

Pizza Tower is a fast-paced 2D platformer about making pizza. After the intro cinematic where Peppino is threatened by a sentient floating pizza named Pizzaface that he is going to destroy Peppino’s pizzeria, players will control Peppino as he charges through the tower’s five floors, each filled with plenty of unique levels to complete or even speedrun and saucy secrets to discover throughout. Peppino can run, jump, roll, and slide to maneuver throughout the levels, as well as use a bodyslam to attack enemies, a grab-and-throw attack, and even a parry to counter enemies. You will have to use your speed and attacks to swiftly charge through levels, defeating enemies and discovering items and secrets to accumulate points that will determine your end score.

Pizza Tower doesn’t have any traditional difficulty options, but rather the difficulty is determined by what tasks the player sets out to achieve throughout the levels, with completing the level at their own pace being the “standard” difficulty and performing bonus tasks like collecting the sentient pizza “Toppin” creatures that unlock boss fight rooms or speedrunning an optional second lap around the entire level again for bonus points adding additional challenge. Each level in the game comes with its own gimmick that features a unique setting along with abilities or transformations that affect gameplay, with abilities including Peppino being strapped to a rocket and speeding across the stage at high velocity or being turned into a ghost that grants the ability to float around the air, and unique level gimmicks including a wild west setting, a circus tent where Peppino becomes an extremely sad clown, and even a level titled “Don’t Make A Sound” where Peppino must avoid getting jump scared by animatronic pizza topping monsters, in a nod to the Five Nights at Freddy’s series.

Pizza Tower launched on Steam on January 26th, 2023, and quickly gained an Overwhelmingly Positive score on its Steam page, with critical praise being directed towards its satisfying controls, a sense of speed that was favorably compared to the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and its unique art style that was also favorably compared to 1990s Nicktoons television shows. The game is heavily praised among fans for its gameplay and visuals, as well as its sense of humor told through its unique style of pixel graphics that help this game stand out from other 2D platformers.

Pizza Tower, in my opinion, is one of the biggest breakout stars among games that have been released in 2023, as not only is the gameplay incredibly well designed and enjoyable to play, but the genuinely funny writing and visuals told through hundreds of individually crafted character sprites and other images seen throughout the game. Whether you’re a casual kind of gamer or an intense speedrunner looking for the next game to blaze through, Pizza Tower should definitely be put on your radar if you’re looking for that next big game for you to obsess over for a few months. Plus, I mean, come on, who doesn’t love pizza, right? Just writing about this game is making me hungry…

Supersonic Middle-aged Italian Pappino Spaghetti must brave the danger-filled floors of the dreaded Pizza Tower in order to stop Pizzaface from destroying his somewhat struggling pizzeria in Pizza Tower!

#5: Katana Zero (PC/Mac/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)

Katana Zero - Launch Trailer

In a neo-noir story with psychological horror and black comedy elements and set in a post-war dystopian metropolis, you play as a man known as Subject Zero, an amnesiac veteran who assassinates drug dealers for his psychiatrist/handler, using not just his sword but his precognitive and time slowing abilities to dispatch entire buildings full of enemies. Players will have to use careful consideration about the best routes to take during their missions, as well as deciding what kind of man Subject wants to be when conversing with characters outside of combat. Throughout the game Zero will have to combat nightmares of his clouded past as well as floor after floor of hostile targets, unraveling the mysteries of his past one step at a time, for better, or perhaps, for worse…

Katana Zero is a 2D platformer hack-and-slash game that you could vaguely compare to games like Hotline Miami, which might be why Devolver Digital also helped produce this game just as they did Miami, where you play as a katana-wielding assassin that can slow time and see the future. Each level in the game is carefully handcrafted and uniquely designed specifically for countless methods of completion, encouraging each individual player to use creative spontaneous approaches to defeating the enemies ahead of them however they see fit. And as Zero can only take one hit before dying, players will have to skillfully use various means of defense and offense to survive, such as deflecting incoming gunfire back at the enemy, dodging to avoid attacks, and manipulating the world around you using traps and explosives.

Outside of combat itself, Subject Zero will encounter many strange faces for the player to interact with however they want, ranging from Zero’s psychiatrist with mysterious motives, a Russian psychopath who admires Zero’s lethal fighting style, and even a young girl living in the same apartment complex as Zero whom he can befriend. Justin Stander, the game’s creator, wanted to ensure that players were not forced to sit through dialog screens if they didn’t want to, so he implemented a real-time dialog tree system that allows players to choose Zero’s responses in a conversation, including the ability to repeatedly interrupt whoever you’re talking with if you so please. While interrupting dialog will make other characters see Zero as rude, of course, choosing whether to interrupt dialog or not determines how much exposition regarding the game’s story is presented to you. Listening or not listening to dialog doesn’t change the overall plot of the game, but your choices when conversing with other characters will determine whether or not certain events come to pass.

Katan Zero became Devolver’s most-preordered game on the Nintendo Switch prior to its release, and sold over 100,000 copies in a week after release, making it the second-fastest-selling game that Devolver has published for the Switch behind Enter the Gungeon, and overall the second-best-selling game on the entire Nintendo eShop for the following month behind the Switch version of Cuphead, which released on the same day. It then went on to sell over 500,000 copies across the board in under a year, making $5 million in revenue, and overall becoming a smash hit that saw most of its success from the Switch and Steam versions of the game.

With praise given to its fresh take on the one-hit-kill formula, along with its creative dialog system and its 16-bit retro VHS aesthetic and visual effects, on top of its acclaimed original soundtrack, Katana Zero is viewed by many to have been worth the wait from its delayed original late 2016 release window to its April 2019 release. Whether it’s the satisfying combat, the bleak-yet-beautiful story, or its visually appealing pixel graphics, Katana Zero has a little bit of something for everyone who’s a fan of the genre, and indie games as a whole.

Complete dangerous assassinations using your precognitive and time manipulation abilities while trying to recover fragments of your clouded past from the war in Katana Zero.

#4: Vampire Survivors (PC/Mac/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)

Launch Trailer - Vampire Survivors

Hell is empty, the devils are here, and there’s no place to run or hide. In Vampire Survivors, you will face down endless waves of hundreds, maybe even thousands of demons, monsters, milk elementals, and all sorts of other evil beings who are out to snuff out your life. The game is nominally set in rural Italy during 2021, where hordes of monsters have been summoned by an evil being known as Bisconte Draculó to ravage the world, so members of the Belpaese family and other surviving heroes take up arms to fight against these forces of evil when no one else can. It’s up to these heroes to fight in vain against the endless forces of evil, and it’s up to the players to ensure that they can survive this endeavor. At least for a while.

Vampire Survivors is a roguelike shoot ‘em up where players “become the bullet hell” as they fend off surrounding enemy swarms of increasing size and intensity for as long as they can before eventually dying and then doing it all again in the next run. It’s a relatively simple game on paper, yes, but when you actually sit down and play Vampire Survivors you’ll find yourself engrossed by its highly addictive gameplay of slaughtering hundreds of enemies at once, dying, checking to see which new items and skills you’ve unlocked out of the hundreds available, and then doing it all again in run after run until you look at the clock and realize you’ve been playing since four in the morning.

A typical run in Vampire Survivors starts with you choosing one of fifty-seven selectable characters and entering a stage, where you will be tasked with surviving wave after wave of monstrous onslaughts for up to thirty minutes if you can manage to make it that far. You’ll start out with one to three default weapons, and throughout the run, you’ll gain Experience Points for killing enemies which will upgrade your character and your weapon’s strength, along with gold to purchase new characters along with an assortment of other items. There are also passive items, powerups, relics, new weapons, and other items that can be picked up throughout the stage, which don’t ever despawn to encourage taking your time, all of which can be used to further your chances of survival against the surrounding horde of monsters. But even with all that, you still might require a bit of luck as well.

Vampire Survivors was pretty obscure when it first released, but sometime around late January 2022 the game picked up steam, on Steam no less, and became a hit that managed to achieve over 30,000 concurrent players at once, then reached an all-time peak of 77,061 concurrent players the following month. The game is praised for its depth and deceptively addicting gameplay style, with both Ian Walker of Kotaku and Graham Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun separately comparing the game to dopamine when describing its gameplay. After its subtle full release in 2022, the game went on to be nominated for and even win a handful of awards, including the Breakthrough Award at the 2022 Golden Joystick Awards and the Action Game of the Year at the 2023 D.I.C.E. Awards.

It’s a simple formula for success: give the player thousands of enemies to decimate and give them the means to do it, and more often than not they’ll have a blast and keep coming back for more. And if cutting down hundreds of monsters at once across numerous stages and game modes, using a surprisingly deep well of unique characters, weapons, and skills to do so sounds like your cup of tea, then you should check out Vampire Survivors as soon as you can, and join the 199,900+ Steam users who have given this game an Overwhelmingly Positive status. And as a final kicker? It’s only $4.99! Talk about a steal, right?

Overcome overwhelming swords of monsters using supremely powerful weapons and magic in Vampire Survivors, the game that gives players the power to BE the bullet hell!

#3: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/PS Vita/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS)

The Binding of Isaac Rebirth Teaser Trailer

Isaac was an ordinary boy living with his mother in their house atop a hill, he enjoyed drawing and playing with toys while his mother enjoyed watching Christian-centric television programs, and both happily kept to themselves. But one day Isaac’s mother hears “a voice from above” who warns her that Isaac is corrupted with sin and needs to be saved, leading her to remove all of Isaacs's toys and clothes, believing them to be corrupting agents, and she even locked him in his room to keep him safe from the evils outside. When Isaac’s mother receives instructions to sacrifice her son to prove her devotion to God, similar to the biblical story of Abraham and his son Isaac from which the game gets its name, Isaac flees through a secret trap door in the floor of his room and descends to “the unknown depths below”...

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, an HD and engine overhaul remake of the original Binding of Isaac which was made with Adobe Flash, is a roguelike game where players control the titular Isaac, a young boy who shoots his tears like projectiles to fight off against the numerous spiders, monsters, mutants and other unholy beings that lie in wait for him across the many rooms and floors of the depths below his house. Each floor and its layout is completely randomized for each run through the game, with each floor you progress through increasing in difficulty through new enemy types and new boss rooms to complete. Isaac will have to collect an assortment of bizarre power-ups and treasures across the many floors that will give him superhuman powers, and ultimately, if you’re lucky, make him strong enough to fight off his monstrous mother in the final boss room.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth features over 450+ items to discover and unlock throughout the game with 160 new items from the first game, 100+ unique enemies to fight throughout the game, over 50 bosses to encounter including new and rare bonus bosses, and over 10 additional playable characters can be unlocked through gameplay and by discovering certain secrets. The game states that there’s over 500 hours worth of gameplay to be had, and that’s not even including the additional DLC content that’s been released over the years either. With over 20 challenge run modes to complete, many achievements to unlock and over 16 different endings to be discovered, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth lives up to its claim of being the ultimate roguelike, both in terms of the content you have available, and how difficult it’s going to be for you to discover it all.

In the end, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a game about a young boy trying to survive against his murderously disillusioned mother and a series of terrifying and disgusting monsters of all shapes and sizes along the way, with plenty of biblical overtones big and small sprinkled throughout the game. If you’re a fan of difficult roguelike experiences, then The Binding of Isaac is certainly a game you’ve heard about already. And if it’s not and you’re looking for your next challenge, then by all means, you should go out and get it. As a bonus incentive, developer Edmund McMillen just recently announced that the long-awaited online co-op feature would be entering beta sometime near the end of this year! Talk about convenient timing!

Fight off abominations from Hell itself using your tears as projectiles and prevent your insane mother from sacrificing you as “proof of her faith” in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

#2: Terraria (PC/Mac/Linux/PS3/PS4/PS5/PS Vita/Xbox 360/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)

Terraria – Update 1.4.3 Official Trailer

Dig, fight, explore, build, and do anything else that you put your mind to in Terraria, a sandbox game set in a procedurally generated world with a 2D sprite tile-based pixel graphical style reminiscent of the SNES’ 16-bit sprite style graphics. Terraria’s gameplay is vaguely similar to games like Minecraft and Metroid, due to its combination of open-world survival-crafting mechanics and its exploration-based gameplay that encourages you to get out of your comfort zone to find new secrets and treasures. But while things remain peachy in the light of day, once the darkness of night falls you’ll be forced to fend off monsters of all shapes and sizes if you want to survive until morning.

Terraria offers players a multitude of ways to play the game, as you can expect to enjoy yourself whether you choose to explore the vast surface world or the surprisingly large depths of the underground, or if you wish to seek out foes of ever-growing strength and size to test your combat ability against, or even if you just want to build a sprawling city for the game’s many strange and delightful NPCs that you can meet along your journey. Whatever you choose to do, the game always starts the same with you entering a randomly generated world as your custom character, where you’ll spawn alongside an NPC called the Guide who helps get you started and teaches you about aspects of the game and its progression, if you’ll listen to him. From there, whatever you choose to do next, the “main goal” of Terraria is simply to just craft and find certain items that increase your health and mana pools, and items like armor and weapons that will allow you to fight and survive against bigger and badder threats over the course of the game.

After generating a new world of small, medium, or large size, you and up to seven other players at once can venture across the vast randomly generated world you’ve been dropped in, with dozens of biomes and mini-biomes to be discovered underground, on the surface and even beyond, over five-thousand total items to find and craft with, and over 400 varieties of enemies and boss fights to face off against, ranging from zombies and skeletons to sentient walls of flesh and giant flying eyeballs with teeth for pupils. Since Terraria was released all the way back in 2011, the game has seen hundreds of free content updates both big and small, and even still sees continued developer support in 2023. And to show just how many people can attest to the quality of this game, by May 2022 the game had sold over 44.5 million copies across all consoles, making it one of the best-selling games of all time on top of all its other accolades.

Terraria has a little bit of something for every fan of open-world exploration games, save maybe for those who are put off by its unique 2D take on the idea. For those who don’t mind or even enjoy the 2D side-scrolling nature of the game, however, Terraria has dozens if not hundreds of hours worth of content for players to experience across however many worlds and characters they see fit to create. So if you’re looking to flex your creativity muscles, engage in the exploration of deep and wide worlds, fight off giant space-demon-monster things, or all of the above all at once, Terraria might be the game for you.

Dig, fight, explore, build, and more in the ever-expanding open-world survival sandbox that is Terraria.

You know, looking back on it now, I should have written this post with 16 games instead of just 15 so I could do a painfully unfunny “16-bits!” joke during this sentence. But since I already missed the boat on cementing myself in the halls of peak comedy forever, we’ll just forget it and instead bring our focus to the #1 game on today’s list…

#1: Stardew Valley (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS Vita/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)

Stardew Valley Trailer

You’ve inherited your grandfather’s old farm plot in a small oceanside town named Stardew Valley, and after finally becoming fed up with your life and your 9-to-5 corporate job, you decide to drop everything and move to Stardew Valley to begin your life anew as a farmer. At first, you’re armed only with a small set of hand-me-down tools and an overgrown patch of land, but over time you’ll grow your skills and learn how to properly live off the land as you transform your field of overgrown grass, piles of rocks and old trees into a thriving stretch of farmland. From growing crops to raising farm animals, and even getting integrated with the local community, Stardew Valley is teeming with opportunities for those willing to go out and seize it.

Though plenty of the games we’ve talked about so far have been about killing, surviving, exploring unknown worlds, and so on, Stardew Valley is a farming country life simulation game about making a living for yourself as a farmer in a small town, which probably makes this the most relaxing game on this list so far. In Stardew Valley, you create a custom character and choose the name of your new farm, and even if you want to have a dog or a cat if you like, and set out to craft your overgrown plot of land into an agricultural marvel where you grow crops, start an orchard, build a barn to house new farm animals, and plenty of other additions to discover through gameplay. When you aren’t farming there are still plenty of other things to do, like meeting and befriending the other residents in town, exploring the nature of the world around you, going fishing in streams or the ocean, exploring an underground cave, and even more beyond that.

Among other activities, you can go into the abandoned community center and make attempts to repair it, delve into the levels of an old mine system in the mountains that are filled with rare resources and monsters to fight, and even encounter a man who claims to be a wizard living in a tower in the forest. Across the four seasons of the year, there are over 40 unique crops for you to plant at different times of year on your farm, as well as numerous seasonal events that you can choose to participate in along with other residents of the town, who themselves you can further befriend by giving them gifts they might enjoy, especially on their birthdays. Over the years spent in Stardew Valley, you might even grow close enough to one of the residents to fall in love with them, settle down with them, and even have children with them. And even with all that, there’s still plenty more for players to discover throughout the game.

After it was first released back in 2016, Stardew Valley managed to sell over 400,000 copies in just two weeks, and later on in May 2022, it was reported that the game had sold over 20 million copies across all versions, with 13 million of them being for the PC alone. Stardew Valley received high praise from many reviewers for numerous qualities of the game, such as praise given towards the variety of activities the game gives you without feeling too repetitive, the well-crafted gameplay and all-around enjoyable atmosphere of the game, and the game’s ability to let you enter romantic relationships with any of the twelve romance options regardless of your gender. After the game won the Breakthrough Award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, and combined with its high praise and exceptional sales, Stardew Valley is considered by many to be up there among the greatest games of all-time.

Overall, Stardew Valley just barely inched its way past Terraria to end up being #1 on this list due to a 0.01% higher praise rating than the previous game on Steam, according to Steam stat tracking sites. But it’s certainly not an undeserved placement, as Stardew Valley is an excellent game all around due to its relaxing atmosphere, highly enjoyable art style told through pixel graphics, and overall surprisingly fun and addictive gameplay about being a virtual farmer in a virtual small-town by the virtual coast. I’ve put dozens of hours into the game on my Switch, and writing this post now is making me want to go and plug in some more just from thinking about it! Even if you’re a fan of the usual violence-filled action games like most people are, sometimes you want to pick up a game that has a more calm and slow-paced vibe to it, right? So if you are looking for a game along those lines, then Stardew Valley is certainly a title you should check out.

Grow your own crops, plunder abandoned mines, become friends with the local townspeople, and even discover a race of magical little critters living in secret when you move to Stardew Valley to pursue a more fulfilling life.

Conclusion

And with that, dear readers, we have our list. If you’ve made it all the way to the end, then you have fifteen great games with stunning pixelated graphics to consider purchasing and playing as soon as you can.

But if you got to the end and thought there were a few games left out that should have been included, then please feel free to talk about them in the comments! I would love to hear about your gaming suggestions just as you have read mine, so feel free to speak your mind! Otherwise, hopefully, you’ll be around again for the next blog post.