Thomas was the Lone Survivor in Miami

All of the trophies!

With the fairly big drought in video games I am interested in at the moment I decided to go through some of the PlayStation Plus games I had downloaded but never played. The three I tried out were Thomas Was Alone, Lone Survivor, and Hotline Miami. I knew pretty much nothing about any of these games going into them so I had no preconceived notions as to what these games were. I played all three of them on Vita. I also beat them all to 100% completion which means that what I have to say about each of these games is an indisputable fact and if you disagree with me then you are wrong (not really, I am actually curious to hear what you guys think of these games).

Thomas Was Alone

Behold the wonderful atmosphere (or lack thereof)

I want to get this one out of the way first even though it was the last of the three that I played. I honestly did not like this game very much at all. Thomas Was Alone is a perfect example of why some people simply dismiss all indie games in general. The platforming and puzzles are all fairly basic and none will take you more than a few minutes to complete. I plowed through all the 100 levels in a little over 3 hours. Even in that short amount of time I grew to be sick of the bland soundtrack.The platforming controls are fine but switching between characters with the shoulder buttons can be a pain the ass. You also have the option of using the touch screen to switch characters but most of the time the blocks are so small and they are so close together is is an equally big pain in the ass. These complaints would be forgivable if there was some incredible story that kept you moving forward. Unfortunately there isn't. That's not to say the story is terrible, it did make me smile a few times. The overarching plot just wasn't very interesting to me and there is no real payoff at the end. The whole game is just aggressively mediocre.

If for whatever reason you were thinking about picking this up but haven't yet I recommend you pick up a copy of LittleBigPlanet instead. There are literally thousands of platforming levels that people have created that are significantly better in just about every single way.

Lone Survivor

Light will also attract these monster/zombie/creature things.

As a huge fan of Twin Peaks, I am ashamed I did not play this game sooner. Lone Survivor is a survival horror game that is a combination of David Lynch and Silent Hill with Jasper Byrne also throwing in some of himself to give the game its own identity. When you first start the game, it recommends being in a quiet area with headphones on and the lights off in order to better build the atmosphere. I did all of these things which allowed me to become better immersed in the world that is incredibly unsettling and scary without ever utilizing cheap jump scares. The giant pixel art looks great and gives everything a blurry look that had me saying "is that what I think it is?" multiple times. The shooting mechanic is stiff but this appears to be by design and actually adds to the atmosphere. Combat is completely optional and I had just as much fun on my pacifist playthough as I did on my aggressive one. There are several other mechanics such as sleep, hunger, and pills that are never properly explained and caused me to not fully understand their point of until after my first playthrough. My first playthrough took about five hours with each subsequent playthrough taking less time as I knew the areas. The soundtrack is amazing and all over the place much like the story.

I'm a wizard, and that looks fucked up.

The story is completely insane and the first time I played it it made no sense. It wasn't until after the credits that I had the "aha" moment that made me immediately want to play through it again. I unlocked all five endings and I still am not entirely sure what the hell happened. Their lies the one complaint I have with this otherwise spectacular game. Not enough is explained. Don't get me wrong, I actually prefer it when stories are open to interpretation but Lone Survivor just doesn't flesh out enough of the world. After getting the platinum trophy I scoured the internet to try and get more info on the story and found this fantastic interview Rock, Paper, Shotgun did with Jasper Byrne (part 1 and part 2). I get why he left some stuff up to mystery, once again I love Twin Peaks and really liked how much of the crazy stuff is never explained and is instead left to the imagination. However, there is a line and I feel Lone Survivor is on the other side of it. I still don't really see the theme of nature vs nurture that he talks about in the interview.

That said it is still a really amazing game and what pieces of the story I could parse out were incredible. I highly recommend you all check this game out. Also check out that interview! They talk about some really interesting stuff.

Hotline Miami

First thing you see upon booting up the game.

I am pretty late to the party on this one. Several people in the forums here and the staff have talked this game up but for whatever reason I hadn't gotten around to it until now. The soundtrack in the game was the first thing that jumped out at me (some of the songs were by the creator of Lone Survivor). The music along with the visuals give this game a unique feel that I immediately feel in love with. Even the first image that you see when you start the game up on the Vita lets you know you are in for an amazing time. Much like with Lone Survivor, I was not really sure what the hell was going on for the first half of the game. One thing I really liked about the story here though was that, unlike with Lone Survivor, you are given enough information to get the basic gist of what is happening but the details are left up to the player to fill in. It is also amazing how much violence they are able to convey with their art style. Some of those melee finishers, like pouring boiling water on an enemies face, are absolutely gruesome.

The "Charlie" mask is my favorite.

The gameplay took me a while to get used to which led to me dying a lot of times as I got the hang of everything. Once I did though I ended up having a ton of fun with the combat. I really loved being able to move the camera and lock on to enemies using the touch screen and I honestly can't imagine having played it any other way. I played very conservatively on my first playthrough killing every enemy one at a time always careful not to alert everyone to my presence. This was fun but it led to me getting a shit score on all the levels. When I replayed everything to get an "A+" score I went running through the levels killing everyone in one big combo chain. This led to a lot of deaths but, much like with Super Meat Boy, it restarts you so quickly that through trial and error I was able to get a perfect score on all the levels. Another thing I really liked was how although the enemies will usually follow the same path every once in a while they go somewhere different making it necessary to always be aware of where the enemies are.

The aesthetic alone makes this game worth checking out. Couple that with some solid gameplay and you have a game that I have enjoyed more than anything else in the first half of 2014.

tl;dr

Hotline Miami and Lone Survivor are both really fantastic games that highlight the unique experiences some indie games can provide and are more fun than most AAA games. Thomas Was Alone on the other hand is a prime example of why a lot of people go "bleh" when they hear the word indie game.

So what do you duders think about these indie games? Did you actually like Thomas Was Alone? And are there any other similar games out there that you would recommend I check out?