The Itch.io self-publishing video game marketplace is unique for its vast array of user-created video games, spanning all styles and prices. There is little moderation or editorialization of lists, unlike Steam or Epic Games, so users can post whatever they want (except illegal or similar content) and have full control over the monetization of their. job.
Developers can even choose to do their Itch.io games free or offer a payment system if you wish. While this can be used to release free versions of paid games, like a trial version, many developers choose to release full projects for nothing at all. This makes it one of the most popular games on Itch.io, but only a few are really worth playing.
Updated September 28, 2021 by Erik Petrovich: The Itch.io platform is a brilliant innovation in the indie gaming industry. It’s an easy way for developers from all walks of life to market their work (and get it noticed), and its offerings are much more elaborate than many free-to-play platforms. While all of the following games are free, most have a suggested price tag to help the developers. If you’ve got the extra cash, it’s worth supporting these developers to strive to create completely unique experiences that Triple-A developers can’t emulate. Games like Friday Night Funkin, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Faith are all prime examples of games that made it “big” while still being based on this platform.
13 Get in the car, loser!
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Suggested price: $ 10.00
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Gameplay / Genre: RPG
Get in the car, loser! is a fixed price game with a particularly colorful (and modern) twist. Its active-time RPG mechanics seem refined compared to the turn-based RPGs it was inspired by, and its LGBT-centric story, characters, and aesthetic are just as modern. It is one of those good Itch.io games which gives its own twist to a classic genre.
It’s a grand road trip through a fusion of modern and fantasy settings as players move from gas station refueling the eponymous car to battling the Machine Devil with the sword of fate. . The game’s creator describes it as a game about “self-discovery, whatever f ** k that means”.
12 Right click to the necromance
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Suggested price: $ 2.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Hack N ‘Slash
Right click for Necromance is a simple game with a simple concept – left click to control your skeletal army and right click to use your necromancer powers to resurrect your fallen enemies. It was created for the Indie Speed Run jam in 2015, and was surprisingly developed in less than 48 hours. It is one of the best Itch.io games done in such a short period of time.
While the game itself was created by one person, two others worked on the music for the game. It’s amazing what such a small team can accomplish in such a short amount of time, and it’s worth it. to check out for its totally unique gameplay.
11 FAITH
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Suggested price: $ 2.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Horror
FAITH is a lo-fi horror game that draws heavily on the era of MS-DOS and Atari video games, although it is something quite different from the innocent offerings of that era. Despite its graphic style, this is one of the scariest games on the Itch.io platform, and it is sure to be the one that will stay with horror game fans.
It currently has three chapters, although the third chapter is still in its demonstration phase. The game is technically free to play, but by paying the developer just a dollar, players get access to a deluxe version of the game, a number of cosmetics, the game’s weird soundtrack, and access to updates earlier than others.
ten Friday night funkin
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Suggested price: $ 5.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Rhythm / Music
Friday night funkin is one of the most popular indie rhythm games ever to be released, and for good reason. It has a huge amount of customization, the controls are perfectly intuitive and responsive, and the variety of mods and custom tracks in the game make it almost endlessly replayable.
If gamers haven’t seen this game in action yet, it’s worth checking out just the art style and music. It is regularly updated and has a huge success, although it is carried out by a small team, and it is regularly featured in the Top 10 Itch.io games on the home page of the site.
9 Galaxy Juice
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Suggested price: $ 5.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Open world RPG
Galaxy Juice is a stunning exploration sandbox with an art style reminiscent of PlayStation One and smooth physics-based animations and models. It’s a really wacky game that it might take a while to get used to, but it’s worth it.
The game contains RPG elements and a world large and varied enough to keep the player engaged for a few hours. It always receives regular updates and, as one of the best free games on Itch.io, well worth the detour, even if its psychedelic and abstract style makes entry difficult at first.
8 Doki Doki Literature Club
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Suggested price: $ 10.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Visual Novel ….. Among others
Doki Doki Literature Club is an innovative game, although it looks like a normal Japanese visual novel. Without going too deep into spoilers for the game, it’s very different from what most people would expect and worth going blindly.
If the visual novel’s gameplay bores players, just give it half an hour to an hour to really get started. It’s worth the detour, and the popularity of the game on YouTube and streaming platforms is proof of that.
7 We become what we see
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Suggested price: $ 2.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Simulator
We become what we see is an open source satirical game that sets its sights on the endless news cycles we experience all around us. It’s an extremely short game, but a great 5 minute experience for its commentary on how the media influences the behavior of the masses.
Taking pictures of people performing different actions affects the mini-society and even subtly touches on some difficult topics. It’s hard to explain, but it’s as intuitive as it is ingenious.
6 Baldi’s Basics in Education and Learning
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Suggested price: $ 10.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Horror
Baldi’s Basics in Education and Learning is one of best games on Itch.io for horror fans. He creates his scares through the incredibly off-putting main character, Baldi, and the nightmarish, bizarre world the game takes place in.
It advertises itself as a simple and poorly designed educational kid game, but after just a few minutes of playing it the player finds it to be a much, much more sinister experience.
5 PC Gacha Life
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Suggested price: $ 2.00 Gameplay / Genre: Social
Gacha life is a very popular mobile game on Android and iOS that works as a mixture of virtual dollhouse and social experience. Players can customize up to eight chibi-like characters with a variety of accessories and participate in online chat forums with NPCs and others.
The PC version of this game is however much more limited than its mobile counterparts and works more like a demo than a full-fledged game. It is still regularly updated to this day, and is constantly getting closer to the mobile version.
4 Terra Nil – Reclaiming the Wasteland
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Suggested price: $ 5.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Simulator / Strategy
Terra Nil is one of the most innovative and unique simulation games on the Itch.io platform, and incredibly it’s a fixed price game. Terra Nil does not charge the player with building a city, managing a house, or leading a normal life like other simulation games do. Instead, the player must reconstruct nature in a classic pixel art world from the early 2000s.
The player takes control of an ecosystem under reconstruction with the aim of transforming a barren wasteland into a paradise. It was one of the best games on Itch.io for a while, but Free Lives, the development team behind the game, officially announced that a more robust version of the game would be launching on Steam with help from publisher Devolver Digital.
3 Stick it to the Stickman
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Suggested price: $ 2.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Fighter / Roguelike
Stick it to the Stickman is a hectic single player brawler with smooth stickman animations set in a physics-based world. The game is a self-proclaimed rogue-lite where progression is reset after death, but some permanent improvements remain between deaths.
This is another game created by Free Lives, the makers of Terra Nil, and like all of their games, Stick it to the Stickman is surprisingly deep to be a free indie game.
2 A firm handshake
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Suggested price: $ 2.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Art game / Indie
A firm handshake is a short but open-ended game with no real purpose. The game requires the player to shake hands with various people in a non-brown world, and things get a bit weirder as the game progresses.
It’s hilarious, it has a good art style that exemplifies its simplicity, and it’s one of the few surreal games that really makes sense.
1 2014 release simulator
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Suggested price: $ 2.00
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Gameplay / Genre: Simulator / Social
There have been a few games on itch.io that use the topic of Coming Out as an LGBT individual. The game 2014 release simulator by Nicky Case, however, sets himself apart from the rest for his blunt honesty about “half-truths.”
The game allows the player to control the creator of the game the night they come out to their parents. The player can choose what to say and how to react to experience what it is like in such a nerve-racking time, and he goes through those feelings of foreboding and judgment perfectly.
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