It’s been a great summer for indie games — here are some of the best

Outside of some notable exceptions, there haven’t been many blockbuster games this summer — but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been much to play. In fact, at times, it has felt like a never-ending flood of fascinating indie releases, thanks to games like Arranger, Animal Well, Crow Country, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

It’s been nearly impossible to keep up, but we’ve been playing through most of these games and settled on a handful of recommendations that offer a range of experiences. There’s everything from shadow-hopping puzzles to comedic platformers to a game that might help fill the Silksong-shaped hole in your heart.

Here are some of our favorites.

The Crush House is one of the rare games that capitalize on the tomfoolery potential of running a reality TV show. Part of the game is a kind of resource management sim. Ads make my bosses happy but make my audience tune out. The other part is like a first-person shooter requiring me to sprint around the house with a camera trying to capture the juiciest moments. But I’ve always hated the manufactured drama of reality TV, so I’m having the most fun making the most boring show possible. I haven’t been fired yet, but I feel it’s coming. —AP

It’s the creature-collecting of Pokémon but without all of the battles. Also, you can fly. Flock is all about, well, gathering a flock of cute little creatures. You do that by soaring around an idyllic landscape on the back of a giant bird and searching out every animal you can (all of which can similarly fly). Each time you find something new, you’ll have to help figure out exactly what it is, and while the game gives you some light goals, you’re mostly free to explore on your own. Even better: while it’s very serene to fly solo, you can also go exploring with friends. —AW

Minishoot’ Adventures mixes a twin-stick bullet hell shooter with top-down Legend of Zelda-style adventuring. Seriously: as a cute spaceship, you’ll explore dungeons and collect small keys and pieces of heart. It sounds strange, but it’s a genre mashup that totally works. —JP

Nine Sols will feel familiar to Hollow Knight fans: it’s a beautifully styled Metroidvania with tough combat. Nine Sols’ action rewards patience and parrying, which is a fun challenge; it’s incredibly satisfying to expertly parry an attack and follow up with a finishing move. The game’s copious amount of text, while interesting, can get in the way of the excellent action, but if you’ve still got your clown makeup on for Silksong, Nine Sols will probably scratch the itch. —JP

Schim is essentially “The Floor is Lava” translated into a video game. But instead of your mother’s loveseat, you hop between the shadows of people and objects to navigate the world. It’s a clever game that makes use of simple things like perspective to create complicated platforming puzzles that are satisfying to solve. Once while stuck, I had a great “aha!” moment when I realized I could create the shadows I needed by possessing a traffic light and changing the signal to free up a gaggle of patient bikers. Schim has the kind of strategic thinking I live for. —AP

It’s been a decade since the original SteamWorld Heist expanded the robotic franchise with some delicious turn-based pirate action. In the original, you’d recruit a team of robots and go on missions gathering loot and battling all kinds of enemies. Whereas the first game took place in space, the sequel goes nautical, with a huge sea to explore and lots of machines to battle and shipwrecks to plunder. The action is similar — which means you’ll be carefully plotting every move and attack as you strategically explore levels — but feels more polished this time around, buoyed by beautiful 2D visuals and a surprisingly deep storyline.—AW

This might be the strangest game I have ever played. You play as a little fella with a big head who only has two actions: jump and slap. It’s a little like Untitled Goose Game, but also much weirder. You’re tasked with helping folks in a quaint English village (who all exclaim “Thank goodness you’re here!” when you arrive), but things almost always devolve into some odd mess. You’ll be collecting bird soldiers, exploring a tiny grocery store for rats, and navigating everything from underground pipes to a premium cut of ham. Along the way, you’ll slap a lot of bums and be charmed by the dulcet tones of Matt Berry. —AW