Games today continue to push the envelope when it comes to visuals and graphics. With each new release, the characters, environments, and textures get more and more lifelike, almost like playing a movie with control over the actors. It’s an impressive goal to strive for, but sometimes the old maxim of less is more works just a little bit better.
Not all games need the 4K visual enhancements, some just need a few well-placed pixels or polygons, a riveting story, or addictive gameplay to be an absolute hit. By feeding into those appetites, these minimal games keep players coming back again and again.
9 Hyper-Light Drifter
It could be said with very little exaggeration that Hyper Light Drifter is probably the most visually complex on the list. 16-bit graphics will always win favor from the retro gamers, but it’s the very minimalist story that wins it a spot.
In this strange hybrid of Dark Souls, A Link to the Past, and Metroid, the story is left for the gamer to figure out themselves. There is no one exact answer, only theory after theory inferred and concluded by the player. A bold move for such a simple style.
8 Ashen
It’s not an easy job to make a Soulslike game with such a minimalist style, but it can be done. Ashen bears all the makings of a Dark-Souls-inspired title, but with very simple polygonal artwork.
It has the dark and mysterious atmosphere, the crunchy combat, the difficulty, and everything that made its inspiration iconic, but there’s something else at play as well. Something organic and strange that makes it stand out from others of its kind.
7 Journey
Journey is magnificent. That’s a fact gamers in and out of the Indie Circle can all agree on. There is a definite adventure at play, if not a story of sorts. But there’s no grand or majestic narrative, the art style is simple yet clear and definitive, and there’s a certain emotional element to the entire experience few games can replicate.
It’s about exploration, visual storytelling through environments and music, and a strange spiritual quest in finding one’s own kind. There’s more to the game than just getting from A to B.
6 VVVVVV
From looking at it, one wouldn’t know that this game is actually about the captain of a spaceship trying to save his crew from a malfunctioning transporter device. Who knew stick figures lived such interesting lives? Deceptively simple would be putting it lightly.
In the game, the player controls the flow of gravity to explore a multitude of rooms in the spaceship, rescuing crewmates and avoiding traps. Its addictive nature and simplistic gameplay are what keeps its fanbase alive and well.
5 Thomas Was Alone
Platforming games generally don’t require much complexity to begin with, but when the game’s graphics are literally rectangles of different colors and the title comes with an award-winning narrative, people take notice.
The rectangles in question represent AI programs set in a dark, geometric mainframe world, and the story is narrated phenomenally by Danny Wallace, giving it massive creative props. Suggestion is a powerful tool, but the amount of imagination that has to go into making this game happen is pretty impressive.
4 Limbo
Sometimes the simple approach is all one needs to create a truly eerie horror game, and no title captures that concept better than Limbo. This shadowy puzzle-platformer gets its scares and intensity without a single drop of gore or even a single saturated color.
Death is frequent and brutal in this game, and it will take more than an understanding of physics to escape the clutches of the darkness that surrounds the player. At this point, the shadows and limited visuals work incredibly in the game’s favor.
3 Superhot
A first-person-shooter seems like the last game that would work with a minimalist aesthetic, but Superhot manages to make the player feel like they’re in a scene from The Matrix with chunky graphics and faceless enemies.
The time-manipulation paired with the shooting element of the game makes for a rather interesting and unusual puzzle experience. Plus, it’s practically impossible not to feel like a hot-shot action hero while taking down the red, shattering enemies with a variety of weapons.
2 Geometry Wars Series
One of the biggest stars of the Xbox arcade is the Geometry Wars series. The basis of the series is literally shapes shooting shapes at other shapes. Easy to grasp, easy to animate, and easy to render. All with a touch of Atari-level simplicity and style.
This series was a modern-retro title before the genre was even really a thing. Some serious Arkanoid and Asteroid vibes are going on with these games, and with three beloved titles still being played, the fanbase is strong with this one.
1 Tetris
There’s not a gamer on the planet that hasn’t been exposed to Tetris, or at least some sort of clone or spinoff. Although its formula has had some form of variation since its existence, the core game has remained steadfast and simple.
Different colors and layouts have come and gone, but the falling of various blocks of different shapes has remained the same since 1984. At the end of the day, it’s a simple case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
NEXT: 10 Puzzle Games That Are Good For Your Brain
