Summary
- Minimalist games can convey a lot without saying much, using straightforward gameplay and vibrant visuals.
- Minimalist games like Solar Ash and Hollow Knight offer incredibly engaging gameplay without overwhelming the player with information.
- Indie gems like Journey can provide unique and immersive experiences through simplicity and innovative storytelling.
Games today continue to push the envelope when it comes to visuals and graphics. With each new release, the characters, environments, and textures get more and more lifelike, almost like playing a movie with control over the actors. It's an impressive goal to strive for, but sometimes the old maxim of less is more works just a little bit better.
Not all games need , some just 🌌need a few well-placed pixels or polygons, a riveting story, or addictive gameplay to be an absolute hit. By feeding into those appetites, these minimal games keep players coming back again and again.
Updated September 7, 2023 by Gary Kay: The popularity of minimalist games has not decreased but has instead been picking up steam over the last couple of years with plenty more games gaining success with a more minimal style. While enjoying the most technically impressive games can be entertaining, having a more relaxed experience with your games can be just as rewarding. So, if you want a game that won't bombard you with information, and lets you enjoy yourself at your own pace, we have some more entries that fit the description!
14 Abzu
One of the most impressive aspects of more minimal games is how much a game can convey to the audience without saying too much, and that is perfectly displayed in Abzu. The premise of Abzu of simple with you playing as a diver exploring a colorful and vibrant ocean with simple cꦇontrols and gam🐼eplay that is easy to understand, but still offering a little challenge.
The feel of control🌞ling Abzu is unbeatably satisfying, and the simple visuals are gorgeous. The game also💫 manages to tell a narrative without any lengthy exposition or extended dialogue, a refreshing change of pace from other narrative driven games.
13 Solar Ash
A common trait with some minimalist games are how satisfying they can be to control, and one of the best examples of this is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Solar Ash. Skating and dashing through the color blocked environments of Solar Ash is an engaging but relaxing experience, and while there is somꦏe combat as well, 🃏it is not too punishing to kill the momentum.
Solar Ash manages to tell an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:impactful story with well-paced sporadic dialogue scenes that convey the themes of Solar Ash effectively. You can choose to absorb or ignore as much of the story content as possible while zipping through the stu🍌nning landscapes.
12 🅘 Hollow Knight
A misconception with minimalist games is that they lack depth, and while this can be true for some, it is not an all-encompassing statement. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hollow Knight, while offering plenty of options for exploration and gameplay, never chooses to waste any time, with the environmental storytelling ▨and short dialogue moments carrying the brunt of the narrative.
This lets the focus of the game remain ♏on the challenging but rewarding gameplay, all held up with a simplistic art style that is effective at creating an ambiance and a richly detailed world that is a joy for players to explore at their pace.
11 Thumper
When thinking of mi🌼nimalist games, most people think ꦛof open-world exploration, or a relaxing life simulator, and something like a psychedelic rhythm game tends to avoid consideration, but that is exactly what Thumper is.
Thumper is an intense and pretty puniꦗshing rhyth༺m game, but with its simple gameplay and simple narrative told entirely through the gameplay, it would be hard to avoid calling it minimalist. If you are a fan of rhythm games, or love to be entranced and engaged in abstract gaming environments, then Thumper will be an unforgettable experience.
10 Tunic
The Legend of Zelda set the standard for adventure games back in the 80s and has been dominating the genre since, but very few of the games in the series can really be considered minimalist. So, if you want something similar to Zelda, but with a minimalist twist, but still with a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:surprising amount of depth, then Tunic is an amazing option.
The gameplay is reminis✤cent of a classic 2D Zelda game, but sets itself apart with unique storytelling that uses a fourth-wall-breaking instruction manual that you collect throughout the game to tell the story.
9 Hypಌer-Light Drifter 🐈
It could be said with very little exaggeration that Hyper Light Drifter is probably the most visually complex on the list. 16-bit graphics will always win favor from the retro gamers, but it's the very minimalist story that wins it a spot.
In this strange hybrid of Dark Souls, A Link to the Past, and Metroid, the story is left for the gamer to 🍌figure out themselves. There is no one exact answer, only theory after theory inferred 💫and concluded by the player. A bold move for such a simple style.
8 Ashen
It's not an easy job to make a Soulslike game with such a minimalist style, but it can be done. Ashen bears all the makings of168澳洲幸运5开奖网: a Dark-Souls-inspired title, but with very simple polygonal artwork.
It has the dark and mysterious atmosphere, the crunchy combat, the difficulty, and everything that made its inspiration iconic, but there's something else at play as well. Something organic and strange that makes it stand out from others of its kind.
7 Journey
Journey is magnificent. That's a fact gamers in and out of the Indie Circle can all agree on. There is a definite adventure at play, if not a story of sorts. But there's no grand or majestic narrative, the art style is simple yet clear and definitive, and there's a certain emotional element to the entire experience few games can replicate.
It's about exploration, visual storytelling through environments and music, and a strange spiritual quest in finding one's own kind. There's more to the game than just getting from A to B.
6 VVVVVV
From looking at it, one wouldn't know that this game is actually about the captain of a spaceship trying to save his crew from a malfunctioning transporter device. Who knew stick figures lived such interesting lives? Deceptively simple would be putting it lightly.
In the game, the player controls the flow of gravity to🤪 explore a multitude of rooms in the spaceship, rescuing crewmates and avoiding traps. Its naturally engrossing nature and simplistic gameplay are what keeps its fan base alive and well.
5 Thomas Was Alone 🦄
Platforming games generally don't require much complexity to begin with, but when the game's graphics are literally rectangles of different colors and the title comes with an award-winning narrative, people take notice.
The rectangles in question represent AI programs set in a dark, geometric mainframe world, 🐻and the story is narrated phenomenally by Danny Wallace, giving i⛦t massive creative props. Suggestion is a powerful tool, but the amount of imagination that has to go into making this game happen is pretty impressive.