Top 25 BEST Indie Game Hidden Gems of the Year 2023 (GOTY 2023)

I'm sorry but I have to say this. With all due respect, I can't imagine what he sounds like when he has a cold.

Platformer was not dead, it is just "Game Journos" didn't made em justice and always rated lower as much as possible and just calling em Bad games instead of saying they hated Platformer games.

Weird to see Indivisible cited for anything. It had a lot of promise, but didn't really deliver on any particular aspect.

Wordless is all aesthetic but everything else is garbage. It's just not a fun game to play and explore
9 Years of Shadow MV aspect isnt good and combat is very basic and meh. Aesthetic is really nice with saint seiya style. The games still fun tho
American Arcadia is REALLY good. Like extended Truman Show. Great story, platforming, characters.
Affogato is really nice with unique gameplay and fine chqracters. The only negative is it's kinda janky and some signs of cut content snce its low budget made by <10 people
Fading Afternoon still waiting for Switch version

American Arcadia is the best overall out of the list
Then Affogato > 9 yrs of shadow > Wordless (not worth playing)

My personal hidden gem thats not in the video is A PERFECT DAY. amazing time loop ADV game about end of year 1999 China. If you like A Space for the Unbound, you MUST play this one. EXTREMELY underrated game

THE YEAR OF VOID STRANGER WOOOOOOOOOO

Glad you're enjoying puzzle games more, can't wait to keep seeing the genre in your videos!
Aliensrock did a great job on Bunburrows, some of those sokoban games are crazy!

Love Koa! Little Goody Two Shoes was such a surprise. The shouty old man from DotAge is the best.

Some of these I'm honestly surprised are flying under the radar. In Stars and Time has been in my wishlist since it came out. It looks so good. I'm going to have to help them out. Good list thou. Hopefully it will shine some light on some of these and they'll find a good home.

I'm also surprised Worldless hasn't taken off more. That game looks like an absolute labor of love.

This channel never fails to deliver at least one interesting game I never heard about. Good job, keep it up 👍

void stranger gang represent!!!!!🤩

I have a completely ALTERNATE Hidden Gem list with at least 25 different games. lol Just goes to show you how many games get overlooked each year! Some absolute bangers last year.

how is this possible that i never heard of them, anyway, thank you so much

How Afterimage didn't make this list? Or was it ruled out for something?

I love kill the crows, its sooo satisfying!!

Worldless is a great looking game! I thoroughly enjoyed the demo! I would love to do a playthrough for the devs!

damn bro you sound like speaking german

Void Stranger seems like one of those games you play for 40 hours, finish and realize you only unlocked 23% of the game lol, still I'm sold, thanks Clemm!

Good list with a lot of great games. For me Wordless is criminally overlooked and many more. You probably could make a second part with games like: Bzzzt, LUNARK, Bilkins' Folly, Torn Away, GYLT, Gunbrella, Nocturnal, Decarnation, Full Void, Pan'orama, EMPTY SHELL, Vlad Circus, Erra Exordium, ...

You did have a treat for me. The first game - and lowest on the list - is worth the video alone... and yet almost all of them went on my wishlist. Many thanks!

God, I should just wishlist 80% of this video. I'm amazed that so many of these are falling into the "hidden gems" category. I thought for sure Koa, 9YoS and Poly Bridge 3 would have found audiences. A lot of these others were very talked about by critics, like Venba, American Arcadia, and El Paso Elsewhere. Maybe it's just testament to how much came out in '23 that we just can't find time for it all, but I'm still stunned that so many of these fell through the cracks.

lone fungus blew me away actually really good game if you like things like hollow knight

Worldless is incredibly underrated. That game is fire and some of its later boss fights are quite challenging, not to mention that theres some kinda flexibility/variety in its combat.

It good to see some hidden games that not easy shine with many other games on the market.

My biggest gripe was the narrative. It really gets away from why it's even called Knuckle Sandwich and attaches the story to multiple small nuggets.

Combat is top notch, which save it for me.

Cobalt Core, low-key banger

But my indie GOTY of 2023 is Astral Ascent, I still haven't been able to stop playing because of so much content and how good the gameplay is

Thanks for the last year of coverage, Clemmy. Made a few purchases from discoveries here 👍🏻

Wait, is #1 a ZeroRanger sequel? I loved that

Pocket Bravery was quite a surprise, a game with absurd quality and passion from the DEVS

white snow was pretty cool too. thanks for the list. trying ghostlore again

Pocket Bravery is my pick of indie games. It's only on PC atm so here's hoping with console releases it can grow an active community. There's plenty of awesome duals/fights on YT to watch if you click search so there's a dedicated player groups and some of the quality of skill on display using various characters is phenomenal. Notice how with fighting games the barrier to entry is exceedingly high! But also notice if you do enjoy and master the skills, then how much quality you can fill into 90s count-downs each match! That's why those who love these games really dig them! But they are punishing to learn for sure.

Fading Afternoon - My other favourite game of 2023! I hope good word of mouth builds: If anyone likes those extreme violence East Asia movies albeit it's more about the deep and heavy emotions behind the action... then this game is a gem creating some of the vibe and ideas mowing down hordes of goons and wondering philosophically what it all means?!

Void Stranger - Wow did not see this one before: It looks quirky but containing hidden depths! Thanks for the hot tip.

Shinobi non Grata is a good platformer.

"Paquerette Down the Bunburrows" is an outstanding GOTY-candidate.

There are three games in particular I played this year that I would absolutely call hidden gems: 24 Killers, a surreal and stylish adventure game inspired by games like Moon Remix RPG; Vividlope, a puzzle platformer about lighting up tiles on giant three-dimensional levels with a lovely Y2K/Sega Dreamcast aesthetic; and Repella Fella, a comedic adventure game with multiple endings set in a post-apocalyptic Australia, made by a solo flash game alumnus.

koa and the five pirates of mara, venba, that's all
all else skip

Kill the Crows looks cool and fun. Hope it gets more traction and maybe comes to console.

Fighting game player here, Pocket Bravery is a solid entry into the genre. While it still has a few weird bugs from time to time you can compare it to KoF.

Kill the Crows definitely my goty.