The PAX Indie Megabooth is like a block party in a hallway. Bodies flowing through arteries made of thin orange tape. Deposits of smartphone users and looky-loos congesting the aisles. So. Many. Booths. In that environment I discovered myself as a gamer.

Proportionally represented in a shitty bar graph, my requirements for a good game are
[—Appealing Art———————————-]
[—Intuitive Play Control—–]
[—Puzzle Element—]

That’s a 50, 30, 20 breakdown for you numbers people.

When casting through the myriad of Indies I’m usually drawn in by a particular combination of realism and whimsy.  Everything from Bastion to Skyrim.  Play Control hasn’t been an issue for a long while, though there are some console-exclusive games (Uncharted) that fails this category.  One day, it will be played.

Puzzle Elements are just that.  Whether it’s a quest or a lock, I need to feel like I’m progressing through it in a measurable way.  Half Life 2 is a great example.  The other side of that spectrum is Infinifactory.  I’ve only started and I can already tell I love it.  It’s almost like they’ve added a plot to SpaceChem, another puzzle favorite made by Zachtronics.

Priced a little high for my standard game ($25) but for $10 on a Steam sale, grab it.