Cave Story 1.0.3

Metroid was one of two games that completely kickstarted a genre of games, titled appropriately as Metroidvania. This genre of games was focused on exploration and the world constantly opened up as you got more and more upgrades that are focused on traversing the environment. The sense of constant discovery and finding secrets can't be matched by many other genres. One of the most famous indie games in this genre is Cave Story.

To install Cave Story, simply unzip the archive into a folder of your choosing and run the executable.

The story of the game is what it's known for. You play as an amnesiac robot who wakes up in a land filled with strange creatures, such as monsters, talking rabbits and magic. As you explore the area, you'll quickly find yourself becoming a major part of an ongoing struggle between a people and a scientist who wants to take over the world. Along the way, you'll meet an incredibly varied cast of characters that form the game's emotional core.

Outside of that, it plays like a normal Metroidvania. You will explore some environments that feel massive and have a sense of magic and discovery that area all dripping with history. You'll, of course, not be able to explore the entire area until you return after obtaining an item of some kind.

All in all, however, Cave Story is easily one of the best indie games, if not just games in general. It is an incredibly engaging experience and inspired a ton of other indie games today.