I love small, chill indie games.

  • They’re cheap, and the money goes to small developers who needs the support.
  • Many have short gameplay loops, that make them easy to fit into my schedule.
  • And many of the ones I like have non-realtime gameplay,
  • and that, coupled with low hardware demands, makes them well suited for playing on my laptop.

My MacBook isn’t a slouch - but it’s no gaming rig. So I love that I don’t have to worry about performance with these games - and those who don’t have native Mac ports, run perfectly fine through Parallells.

Realtime, but still chilltime

Thronefall

While I mostly play non-realtime games, some realtime titles are still chill, and the minimalistic (kinda) tower defense game, Thronefall (2023) (from the developers of Islanders) is pretty chill.

Platforms:

Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors (2022)  is a weird game, that has no rights being as fun and satisfying as it is. so buy it where you prefer!

You walk (slowly) around a big field, while your character auto-attacks. You then pick up experience, new items and upgrades. It shouldn’t work, but it does - and this good video essay by Adam Mallard explains why:

Vampire Survivors Only Works Because We’re Stupid

Platforms:

Brotato

Vampire Survivors has spawned tons of knock-offs — not all of them are good. But Brotato (2023) is! I actually prefer it over the OG.

Brotato splash art. It’s a cartoon potato with two uzis, a rambo like bandana and a scar, surrounded by aliens.

Platforms:

  • Windows
  • Playstation, Switch, Xbox
  • Android, iOS

The slower stuff

Dot age

I love board games, and Dot Age (2023) feels like one. It’s a turn based city builder with roguelike progression, built around worker-placement.

GIF of some Dot Age gameplay.

Platforms:

Balatro

Balatro (2024) is the thousandth in the line of games that «take something familiar, and turn it into a roguelike where you do runs where you try to break the game with combos». This time: Poker!

While perhaps not «beautiful», it drips with style with its CRT filter and screenshake (both possible to turn off). Very chill - but I hope it comes to iPad at some point!

GIF of a bonus card called Ouja turning 8 cards into aces. GIF of more Balatro gameplay, where the player plays 5-of-a-kind aces, and gets a bunch of points.

Platforms:

Backpack Battles

With the worst art direction since the amazing Slay The Spire, Backpack Battles (2024) is my last recommendation for the day.

In a combination of Backpack Hero and Super Auto Pets, you arrange items in your backpack to (hopefully) win against other players in some asynchronous chibi on chibi action. It also has a demo playable in a browser!

Platforms:

Norwegian games that looks promising (but I haven’t tried)

Seablip (Q2 2024) looks very promising, has a free demo, and is out very soon!

Also, Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (2024)is out, for macOS, Windows and Switch - more aimed at a younger audience. I think it could be something nice for an adult to play together with someone younger - or just for an adult wanting to have a beautiful and chill experiene!

Are you like me, and like chill games with little twitch and «physical» skills needed? I’m thinking, leaned back on the couch, with a tablet or laptop, clicking buttons, making numbers go up… Any other tips? Hit me up!