Being a connoisseur of indie games, my friends usually hit me up for some suggestions.  Since my memory’s pretty shite, I figured I’d start posting the ones I liked as I ran across them.  This here’s your basic list of the first five that popped into my head when I sat down to write.  I know I’m leaving out some awesome games, but I’ll be posting more of these lists in the future.

1. World of Goo

World of Goo (video) was developed by the fabulous 2D Boy.  If anyone remembers the game Bridge Builder, you’re halfway there.  Throw in an ominous corporation and that your structures are built out of cute little living creatures called Goo and you’re all the way there.  The levels span several worlds that each have their own style and charm.  The variety of the puzzles is just staggering.  With several different types of Goo available, I think 2D Boy really did a fantastic job of exploring the design space in interesting, humorous, and unexpected ways.  Bottom line: you should own this game already.

2. Toribash

Toribash (video) is the bastard child of a fighting game and 3d animation software.  On a turn by turn basis you adjust the tension in your character’s joints.  Arms swing, legs kick and so on.  As the round goes on and frames pass, your goal is to beat the snot out of your opponent.  Does this sound at all boring to you?  Let me paint you a picture.  In one match, I grabbed the opponent’s wrists, kicked him up into the air, flipped up underneath him, and then, twelve feet above the arena floor delivered a double-footed kick that tore him in half.  I then spiked his upper torso and head into the ground for the win.  This game has a steep learning curve, but the payoff is fantastic carnage like I described.  Tons of different game types and variations make this game ridiculously deep and a veritable black-hole time sink.  Be sure to check out the replays folder to see some fantastic examples of what is possible.

3. Mount & Blade

Mount & Blade (video) is like no other game I can think of.  It crosses an RPG with a medieval combat sim with realistic physics.  There’s an overworld map and you can trade with the folks in the town and do various missions and tasks for lords of various stripes.  That’s great, but the meat is in the battles.  You drop onto a randomly generated battleground with your troops and then fight to the death with another army.  There is jousting, all kinds of weapons both missile and melee, not to mention the castle sieges and defenses.  There is nothing quite like leading your troops up a ridge to see the enemy hordes boiling over the lip.  I’ve been following this game since its early days and I’ve got to say, it’s a completely fresh and original take on the medieval battlefield.

4. Gymnast

I clearly have a weak spot for physics games.  If they’re done well, there’s no limit on the player to impose his own style on the proceedings.  In Gymnast, (video) you flip from trapeze to bar to flexible bamboo pole using only the flexing of your body and arms to influence your center of gravity and rotational velocity.  Some of the levels are really hard, some of them are hilarious.  Like most other physics games there is a steep learning curve, but once you get it, you’ll be soaring with the greatest of ease through all kinds of wonderful stunts.  While you’re at Walaber’s site, be sure to check out some of his other games.  There are a couple of gems over there.

5. Spewer

Spewer (video) is a liquid physics based platformer created by Edmund McMillen and Eli Piilonen with a really twisted take on Nintendo’s Kirby.  Instead of sucking up your opponents to launch them at enemies or consume their powers, you are launching and eating your own…spew.  Gross, right?  Sure, but after a while you forget about the context of what you’re doing because the levels are just so well designed.  There are different pills you can swallow that will change your properties and the properties of your spew.  Plus, you can use the spew as a jet pack.  We already know how much I like jet packs.  The game can run a bit slow, but I’ve found setting the quality to low and turning off the backgrounds and sound effects helps.  It’s a shame that such a wonderful game has such crippling slow down, but if you persevere through some of the ridiculously hard levels (Harvesting, Holy Tears, and Dive, I’m looking at you) the rest are all really clever and interesting.  Plus, there’s a twist ending!  M. Night’s got nothing on Edmund.

That’s it for now

As usual, feel free to talk it up in the comments.  This recommendation thing goes both ways.  If you’ve got a favorite indie game that I didn’t list here, feel free to tell me about it.  I guarantee I’ll give it some sweet, sweet gamer love.