Indie games vs. mainstream games: What’s preferred?

There are many forms of entertainment that people at Windsor High partake in but for some, video games are the way to go. When it comes to video games, there are two overall groups they can be sorted into: indie and mainstream.

Indie games are created by one person or a small group without the help of a big publisher and the games might not be well known, such as “OMORI” and “Undertale.” Mainstream games however, are the opposite. They are games that thrive with the help of big publishers and are known by a vast majority, like “Call of Duty” and “Fortnite.”

The newspaper staff polled 18 students and two teachers, and the results showed that 25% play indie games over mainstream games and 15% play mainstream games over indie games. The survey showed that 25% enjoy both. This is the case for Avis Skinner (12).

“I like a little bit of both, I definitely think I own more indie games cause I like to buy games that aren’t super expensive,” Skinner said. “… and mainstream games tend to always be 60 dollars and never go on sale. It’s like, I wanna buy ‘Animal Crossing,’ but it’s never gonna be less than 60 dollars.”

Skinner enjoys one game in particular called ‘Don’t Starve,’ which is a survival sandbox game created by Klei Entertainment in which the player must survive through the seasons and monsters while maintaining their hunger, their sanity and their health. “The night is very bad and it decreases your sanity,” Skinner said.

Sometimes, there are certain aspects about games that make them enjoyable, whether it be the storyline or the characters. For Evan Buck (12), their favorite game has some gameplay mechanics that intrigued them.

“So, I would have to say ‘The Blackout Club,'” Buck said. ‘The Blackout Club’ is an indie horror game created by Question. It is a first person co-op game about a group of friends investigating the secrets of their little town that has to do a lot with gods and pantheons.

 “There’s a lot of different mechanics that I had never seen before,” Buck stated. “This mechanic is sort of like mainstream now, but where you can actually lean to the sides. There’s another (game mechanic), it was called ‘enhanced horror,’ which you could basically turn on your mic and you could speak to the gods themselves in a real-time conversation and they would speak to you and you would speak to them”

Even with the abundant love for indie games, mainstream games are still happily enjoyed by students as well. This is true for Preston Fowler (10).

“I hate to say it but right now, since like 2020, ‘Fortnite.’ It’s a horrible game. Don’t play it but it’s also just, like, been there for me,” Fowler said. “My friends have started getting it and we’ve just been playing together.”

While Fowler likes to play the popular third-person battle royale, he still loves the indie genre, with his favorite being a platformer created by Team Cherry called “Hollow Knight.”

“It’s such a cute little game with such fun physics,” Fowler said. “It’s incredible that three people made it.”

Video games are so popular in this day and age that sometimes the game isn’t enough. That’s when the merchandise comes into play. Looking at people in the hallways, it’s clear some students play the game and wear it too. 

Kimberlin Cohen (12) has played video games since they were young. One of Cohen’s favorite games is “Night in the Woods.”

“You’re just a cat and all your animal friends solve murders,” Cohen said, who has a couple of items that feature the game. Cohen isn’t the only one though, as Fowler also sports video game merchandise from time to time.

Some may prefer lesser-known indie or well-known mainstream over the other, and others might not even know the difference between the two. But even so, video games are a fun hobby that is shared by many students and teachers alike.