The Indian indie games you should be playing

Indus Battle RoyaleIndus Battle Royale is our homegrown version of a battle royale game complete with impressive graphics great character selection and superb gameplay The premise is that the game is happening sometime in the future and the developers Super Gaming have expertly blended its futuristic premise with Indian elements The game is currently in closed beta and if you want to play it you will have to preregister for the game on Google Play and join the gamersquos Discord server for key drops The studio also has another game called Battle Stars which is an arcadestyle battle royale and team deathmatch game That is available to play immediately no preregistration is requiredThe Bonfire Forsaken LandsBonfire is a survival game where you build a settlement Then manage the various aspects of it making sure your settlement can withstand harsh weather and attacks from various monsters The game has a very minimalist approach to design but there are a lot of deep game mechanics happening inside the gamePrice Rs 299Raji An Ancient EpicRaji is an actionadventure game that pits a young girl against mythological demons The story of the game is very intriguing and has elements of Indian culture sprinkled in The progression and combat in the game are fairly straightforward but what stands out in the game are the art style and music Every frame of Raji is a sight to behold Raji also managed to win several awards in the few years that it has been around If you havenrsquot played the game yet you should definitely pick it up The game is available on Steam along with the soundtrack for under Rs 300Price Rs 200Minerrsquos MettleMinerrsquos Mettle is a realtime strategy game where you use armoured trains to take control of mining operations on a distant planet You have to use the artillery on these trains to protect yourself and attack opponents as you try to do the best job at mining It is an interesting concept and it is pretty polished for a game from a small company The game has wellthoughtout mechanics and it is wellbalanced for an RTS titlePrice Rs 449RainsweptMade by Goabased game developers Frostwood Interactive Rainswept tells the story of detective Stone who is trying to solve a murder mystery The game is storydriven much like retro adventure games like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle It even throws in a bit of humour to liven things up The art style is very simple but effective Frostwood has some other interesting games as well including Unwording and Forgotten FieldsPrice Rs 399Ludo KingGametion is a tiny little game studio located in a suburb of Mumbai but they are also the makers of Ludo King a game that at one point was ubiquitous with travelling in the Mumbai locals The digitisation of Ludo a game we all grew up playing and making it multiplayer on the phone was a stroke of sheer genius Even today the game has many players and is still going strong The game is available for free on your phoneLovely Planet 2It may look like a Japanese game but Lovely Planet was developed in India by developer Quicktequila The game is a firstperson shooter but unlike most FPS this one has no blood or gore Itrsquos just cuteness overload and rough shapes It looks a lot like a game you would see on a Nintendo system like Wii or even the Switch It is also wellpolished considering the company is just one person Considering the price this game should definitely be in your Steam LibraryPrice Rs 96VenbaVenba wasnrsquot made in India but it celebrates Indian food and immigrant life in the 1980s You can cook several dishes in the course of the game While cooking feels like the central theme of the game there is a lovely story about family life as an immigrant in a different country The game is fairly short just 12 hours long but it has been painstakingly created The game is fairly new Itrsquos available on Steam for a reasonable price or if you happen to have Xbox Game Pass you can play the game for freePrice Rs 690Mystic PillarsMystic Pillars is a storybased puzzle game where you must help a kingdom solve its drought problem by clearing puzzles and destroying magical pillars that block the water The game is fairly easy initially with the difficulty ramping up considerably towards the end The storyline is set in ancient India so you will run into a lot of Indian charactersPrice Rs 259Asura Vengeance EditionAsura is another great game from an indie Indian studio This has a very similar feel to Diablo with the hackandslash gameplay isometric view and lots of enemies The game has a nice story and great artwork and it has a unique procedurally generated skill tree that changes every time you play You will end up playing multiple times because this game also has permadeath If you die you have to start over from scratchPrice Rs 250