Most Anticipated Indie Games of 2011

Writing the indie section for our 2010 Game of the Year awards got Jay Barnson to thinking, and he realized that 2011 is looking like a really strong year for indie RPGs, with Age of Decadence, Avadon: The Black Fortress, Din’s Curse: Demon War, Telepath RPG: Servants of God and his own Frayed Knights, amongst others.

Age of Decadence

This one is late, but while no release date has been made official, I think it’s a probable release for 2011. This is an extremely ambitious title taking place in a world resembling ancient Europe during the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire a little different from the typical Dark-Age / Medieval period. If there’s a foundational element to this game, it’s the idea of meaningful choices and consequences. From the design comments made during the development process, a huge effort has been made to leave all quests open to a variety of approaches including double-crossing the quest giver. It also features some pretty kick-butt tactical turn-based combat, which makes it a double win.

Avadon: The Black Fortress

The first in Spiderweb Software’s new planned series, this should prove to be a departure from the game systems we grew familiar with through the Avernum and Geneforge series, as well as a step up in production values. Most importantly, it’s a refinement of Vogel’s 17 years or so of indie RPG development experience.