Filled to the brim with weird and wacky games and developers, this years Rezzed at London’s Eurogamer Expo provided a welcome diversion from the event’s triple A offerings. Here are five of my favourite indie games from the show that you should definitely check out when you’re feeling a bit “alternative”.

The Sun and Moon

Platform: Windows, Web Developer: Managore Website

What’s even more incredible than The Sun and Moon’s incredibly unique and intriguing gameplay is that it was made in less than 24 hours. Receiving critical acclaim at April’s Ludum Dare competition, it’s a game that proves how a simple change to an existing formula can make all the difference, even when it comes to the already indie-heavy 2d platforming scene.

Using the ability to warp through platforms, your goal is to reach a number of checkpoints and hit the exit wormhole as quickly as possible. The catch is that while warping gravity physics are reversed, meaning you often have to carry out tricky manoeuvres to build up enough speed to jump gaps, or circumvent one-hit-kill spikes that send you all the way back to the beginning of the level.

Not since Portal has a game used momentum as intuively as this, and that game had a whole development team working on it rather than just one guy over the course of a day. Best of all, you can play it for free here.

Tap Happy Sabotage

Platform: PC Developer: Alistair Aitcheson Website

Making for a more accessible experience than other showings at this years Leftfield Collection was Tap Happy Sabotage, a “Giant Touchscreen Party Game” where several players face off in a series of brilliantly frustrating mini-games.

Each player is assigned a card to find from a randomised pack before anyone else can find theirs, with some modes inverting the rules so that receiving the least taps from other players on your designated card wins you the round. The result was a tense battle of wits, reflexes and a lot of arm-flailing sabotage, most of it coming from the game’s incredibly enthusiastic development team (for whom no tactic was off limits).

It’s a real crowd-pleaser, one that you can just imagine transforming an awkward dinner party into a frantic, fun-filled success in a way Monopoly will never, ever be able to achieve.

Penarium 

Platform: PC, Mac Release Date: 2014  Developer: Self Made Miracle, Team 17 Website

Penarium channels the multiplayer madness of Towerfall: Ascension in a setup that’s reminiscent of the original Mario Bros. It tells the tale of a boy called Willy (oh grow up, please) who’s forced to spend his days running, jumping and hiding from a series of terrifying hazards in the world’s most messed up circus. There are plenty of narrow escapes from Penarium’s eclectic collection of death-traps, with the game throwing everything from missiles to icicles to rapidly rising water at Willy in the hopes of reducing him to a big, bloody blob.

Tag in a friend to join and the game becomes a hectic race to stand on randomised platforms while somehow avoiding the aforementioned traps, which is by far and away the best (and most addictive) way to waste an afternoon at an expensive games expo.

Lumino City

Platforms: PC/Mac Release Date: TBA  Developer: State of Play Website

While Xbox One and PS4 battled to show off their grandiose graphics at EGX, Lumino City was quietly charming audiences upstairs with the incredible visuals of a game entirely made from paper, card and wood.

Following in the footsteps of acclaimed adventure game Lume, everything you see in Lumino City is made from real materials, which lends the story of a little girl trying to save her grandfather a kind of dollhouse whimsy that will wow parents and children alike. The game’s puzzles in particular are a joy to play through. Objects you interact with have a fantastic attention to detail and an authentically real look that almost makes you want to reach out and grab them from the screen.

It’s often hard to tell how much effort has gone into the making of a game, but in Lumino City the legwork is evident from every beautifully modelled light fitting, roof tile, and doorframe. It’s a true work of art, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the game’s unique design is further explored in its final version.

No Time To Explain

Platforms: PC Developer: tiny Build Games Website

No Time To Explain riffs on the age-old action movie catchphrase that serves as its title in a remarkably silly fashion, but, considering how morbid indie games can get, sometimes silly is exactly what you need. At the start of each level, a future version of the game’s protagonist bursts through the door and looks just about ready to speak before they are brutally snatched up by a monster. It’s up to you to save them by traversing a series of deadly obstacles and puzzles with the help of a fairly awesome laser launcher.

The game doesn’t explain why your character has a laser beam that can propel them across chasms filled with death spikes, or where all these strange wobbly time portals are coming from, but something tells me that that might not be the point. Brilliantly wacky platforming, colourful animation and good sense of humour. Need I explain more? [divider]

If you’re interested in immersing yourself in a veritable deluge of indie innovation, be sure to find out about next year’s EGX Rezzed here. [divider_top]

Got an indie game addiction? Tell us your favourites at @BoarGames.