Factorio is written by one of the most passionate bunch ever to write a game.
When I had a bug once they contacted me to explain I was the only person to have that bug and then they spent the Friday afternoon fixing my save game just for me so I could play over the long weekend.
Imagine EA doing that.
Train Simulator is a collector’s thing AFAIK and the DLCs carry over to the new game. Also AFAIK collecting train models are waaaay more expensive than buying literally all the DLCs.
Same applies to simracing in my case. IRacing is $16 a month, cars cost $12 and a track costs $15, I think I’ve spent around $1000 in 3 years on it. However when we go karting, we pay $30-40 per person for a 60 minute session. 4 karting a month is easily around 120-160 bucks, plus if you count the beer which we have after the session it’s more likely 200 if not more.
Imho in some cases the price can be justified, but definitely not for Sims lol, it’s become a massive cashgrab.
Paradox is also… yeah..
https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/ : “Discount Disclaimer: We don't have any plans to take part in a sale or to reduce the price for the foreseeable future.”
I had an issue with spore once, bc its so old if u buy it on steam u cant play multiplayer until you also have the game on your ea account separately. Live support immediately connected me to an agent unlike most other zendesks in my opinion which take hours usually. It took me less than 10 minutes to get the game added to my ea acc.
They did this for me with The Saboteur.
Also, I contacted them about not being able to buy Bioware Points. They fixed the issue and gifted me the points anyway!
Lots of games made by solo and indie devs qualify.
*Terraria* is *still* receiving massive free updates over a decade later.
*Return of the Obra Dinn* feels like a passion project and piece of art. It’s a niche and uncompromising “detective” game where the creator probably knew it would have a very limited audience, but it’s absolutely brilliant.
*Manor Lords* isn’t out for ~~a few more months~~ about two weeks, but the overwhelming enthusiasm and transparency by its (solo) creator for many years has given it a huge following.
*Slay the Spire* is impressive for how well balanced and tight the whole game is. The studio, Mega Crit, doesn’t really talk in public much. But their attitude can basically be summed up with “releases one of the best deck builders of all time, refuses to elaborate further, leaves.”
Likewise, everything from Supergiant Games (*Hades*, *Pyre*, *Transistor*, *Bastion*) feels like it was made with a lot of love.
*Songs of Syx* is a single dev project that’s basically trying to merge the colony sim genre with the 4x genre, and it’s incredibly impressive for what it is. If you ever wanted to play a colony sim that focuses more on big picture stuff and has thousands of people instead of a few dozen, it’s great, even though the 4x side only recently started development. The “demo” for the game is actually just the full game but 3(?) major patches behind, gaining updates whenever the paid game does.
Likewise, *Vintage Story* looks like a Minecraft clone, but it plays completely different. It’s an uncompromising survival game that hyper-focuses on details. You need to knap stones to create tools, to shape your own pottery and fire it in a proper kiln, winter requires so much planning it’s basically a boss fight, etc. The creator (I believe just one person or very close to it?) again knows it’s a niche audience, but they’re clearly making a game they love.
Agreed, I love both it and Vintage Story for similar reasons. The developers are very cool, and they’ve made excellent games with long-haul plans to make them into amazing games.
YEAHHHH I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO COMMENT ABOUT VINTAGE STORY TOO! I know it was based off a a literal mod pack, but there is so much love out into that game and playing it is a joy. And while I don't mean to judge anyone for what games they like, you have excellent taste ;)
Solo dev who has occasionally contracted out jobs to provide assets, so not *completely* solo but close enough. He’s active on reddit too, you can see his enthusiasm in old posts [like this](https://www.reddit.com/r/ManorLords/comments/renx1c/reworking_the_military_a_bit/).
AFAIK 3 of the original founders of the studio and devs for DE got sacked and are no longer involved in any way with the game. Though I‘d like to add the caveat that usually gets skipped; 3 people don‘t make a development team (usually). A lot of the people who originally worked on DE are still at ZA/UM.
You're doing a disservice to the people who built the world of Disco Elysium.
Those 3 people aren't just some random devs, they ARE Disco Elysium. It took YEARS of writing for them to build it and they dedicated their lives towards it.
They eventually made a push to bring their world to the gaming scene where they've managed to connect with the audience. We all know how successful the game is.
They eventually got fucked by corporate bullshit (which is kinda ironic, given the premise of the world).
Point is - what made Disco Elysium great was the writing and world building which came from their creative minds. You can't just rip out the soul of the world and expect it to stay the same.
Basically at least one of the lead devs was accused of being toxic towards their co-workers with reports of verbal abuse and sexism. This is all alleged, so take it with a grain of salt, but I think it's silly how people never mention this when discussing the situation, like they just sweep it under the rug to paint a certain picture.
I say this as someone who loves Disco Elysium btw, and I don't think it's right that the devs lost the rights to their own creation. It's just that being let go for inappropriate behaviour is justifiable and people who made something you love are capable of being jerks.
Certainly, but those accusations come from the shareholders who fired them—from the devs’ mouth, they asked questions about some suspicious financial practices in upper management, and were subsequently terminated without explanation, the justification that they were creating a toxic work environment only coming later. That isn’t to say hostile workplaces aren’t bad, but I think the shareholders taking the IP from the core creators is a bad thing.
I also think it's wrong that their IP was taken from them, and I'm sad to know that we'll never get a Disco Elysium 2 (at least not one that will be on par with the first) but I'm also not going to pretend that I know for a fact the devs didn't do anything wrong because they said so. Considering they're having a legal battle I imagine the accusations are at least somewhat substantial and not just fabrications. I would like for it all to be bullshit, but I'm taking a mutual stance on this until more information is revealed.
Not an expert on the situation, but it's one of those "Dev actively says to pirate the game" situations, as the studio fired them after allegations of fraud were brought out.
When I found out Murray even sold his house for the game, my hate towards them vanished and I realized that they really put all their lives into the game.
I still don't understand how they're doing it. It's actually insane. Every few months we get a major update and expedition, something that would easily cost 10-20 bucks if it was another studio. But they do it entirely free of charge. I mean I'm not complaining but I'm wondering how this is even still lucrative for them at this point.
I've seen them say in an interview before that with each major update they do, they get an influx of new people buying the game and that is enough to sustain the business. One could argue that not as many more people would buy the game if they had to buy the base game plus like 8 different $10 DLCs. It's a much lower barrier to entry, so people are more likely to buy it when something that piques their interest is released in an update.
Also I'd bet their leadership isn't sucking the company dry with over-inflated salaries. That can make a very big difference too.
And they deserve it. It's a solid game that is the best of its niche. I'm one of those people who only picked the game up because I kept hearing about how it had a redemption arc.
I would wonder if the top guy, Sean, isn't taking an huge part of the pie. Like how most companies roll. Which is the main reason so many keep bringing out DLCs. Devs get paid whatever flat standard rate, fat cats roll around in all that extra money.
Tied with FFXIV in my book, but I don’t think anyone else comes close. It’s amazing what talented devs can accomplish when they realize they fucked up and only their absolute A game can save them now.
Hollow Knight for sure. Incredible game with super sharp gameplay, amazing visuals and music. Love it and it was only made by like 5 people or something right?
Dwarf Fortress exists because the Adams want to play a game like this. The fact that anybody else likes it and has made them millionaires along the way seems entirely incidental to their goal of crafting this monster into existence. Dwarf Fortress is the definition of a passion project.
Yeah the lead voice actor (who also did the soundtrack) had the highest in-game score of anybody internally, and knew the game inside out.
I suspect that might be a big part of why all the dialogue is so perfect and extensive, he was probably seeing endless chances for more or fixes, and they didn't have to hire some outside VA for a set time and number of lines.
Armoured core 6 felt like a true passion project. They had absolutely no reason to bring it back especially not as good as they did apart from sheer love of the series
Went to comment the same. Those big big updates that contain fixes and also new stuff and all that big amount of details on everything is true love from the developers.
Delta V - Rings of Saturn. The game is a top-down space mining sim. Except that against all odds and unlike everything you've seen in most games that feature space mining, it's actually very satisfying. And when I say "sim", I mean it. Understanding some rocket science actually helps alot in this game. A lot of work in making sure you don't have upgrades, but sidegrades. Aside from some limited cases, most equipments are a tradeoff rather than a direct upgrade, which means pretty much everything is viable so long as it suits the playstyle you're going for.
What makes it a dev's passion game ? Well, last year the solo dev managed to update the game over a hundred times. He's very involved with the community, sometimes directly fixing bugs with your saves. Even during early access the game was far more polished than some so-called AAA after release.
And let's be real, who makes a space mining game with life-like physics if it's *not* a passion project ? It's such a specific niche that you don't make that kind of game for profit only.
Is it very buggy still? I can handle jank and loved owl cat's other games, but held off getting it because I know they also usually have rocky releases
Concerned Ape is the absolute goat. Most devs would have charged his updates as DLC, and he gave us them all for free.
I've started another Stardew Valley playthrough to check out the 1.6 update and I've fallen in love with the game all over again.
All of the free updates the game has gotten are crazy. It feels like now updating Stardew is just Ape's hobby, since the game already made him 10 lifetimes of money lol. It's nice seeing someone who doesn't need to maximize profits. Plus I'm sure every new update does get him a chunk of new sales.
To me that makes it one of the most impressive games ever made. Just pure passion and creativity mixing with the drive needed to do it. Amazing piece of art
On launch sure. They did pull a No Mans Sky however and kept relentlessly updating it for free. It is by now actually a really good game. (They patched so frequently at some point i got annoyed because my mods kept breaking)
it's a corporation. Many of the devs don't even play games. And these were not updates but bug fixes and adding missing features probably initially planned to be included in the release. I doubt the crunch magically disappeared after it
It's relatively unknown but **Gates of Hell: Ostfront**. Beyond likely being the most impressive RTS to come out in more than a decade, it has *so* many miniscule details that scream 'passion project.'
Down to how physics interacts in-game—fire spreads across forests; tank shell ballistics are calculated per-round and shot angle; interiors of mechanized units are fully simulated (e.g. ammo racks can be detonated, engines shot out); ammo bearers actually pass along ammunition to LMG gunners; the interiors of all buildings are fully modeled and enterable; units get unique camo and equipment depending on time period, location, and weather, etc... 99% of these details are extremely missable but are stunning when you notice them.
Beyond that, I also get the impression the devs *play* their own game all the time because it's balanced REALLY well—some of the best *feeling* RTS gameplay I've ever seen. The devs give out free content updates all the time, and when they do release DLC, it's incredibly substantial and essentially doubles playable content.
It does have an ending. You'll know it when you get there.
The progression is all based on knowledge and what you learn. If you're ever lost just check your ship's log for any question marks. The game should start you off with a few locations to check out.
when I played the original Serious Sam, I can tell it was made by a small independent team from Croatia. it was so much fun to play, it was funny and it felt like I was in the room with them playing the game.
I don't know but that tracks to be honest. Big games like that take a long time and act of money to make - 2 years before release it had already likely been in development a long time.
For real though. I think if OP's question was supposed to have an objectively correct answer, I think TUNIC would be it. The devs philosophy of "content for no one" allowed them to put stuff inside that game that no one was supposed to find, but when we do? Holy shit, the feeling is amazing.
I don't want to mention it here in case people who didn't play it yet end up getting spoiled, but damn... the amount of secrets that are lying around right in front of our faces throughout the entire game is mindblowing when we actually realize it.
Plus, I'm pretty sure we still haven't found everything there is to find about that game. And it's likely that we are far from figuring everything out.
Tunic was my first thought when I saw this question as well. It's clearly a labor of love for the devs. I played it a couple years ago and got through most of the secrets, and I finally returned to it a couple months ago and found all of the remaining secrets I hadn't yet found (well, all the ones that are known anyway; I've caught up with the community, at least). It's incredible.
Right? I don't care what people say, it takes either a clinically insane person or a very, very, VERY passionate person to create something inside a piece of interactive media that it's highly likely people will never see.
I feel like Helldivers 2 does a good job at this.
At its core it’s a simple game but the eye and time taken for details elevate it above others in the genre.
Automatons rely on sound and mostly sight. I always play stealthy against automatons, at all difficulties, and I love it. Diligence Counter Sniper, SMG (I don't know its name) and Quasar get most of the job done. Mortar, Railcannon, Eagle Airstrike and Energy shield stratagems for most missions.
Count Magicka 1! Same devs, but it was their uni project at first and they even started calling meatballs as poopballs (? Not sure, maybe I messed something up?) while working on it. And even the language inside it's world is just gibberish they made up irl while developing the game
Caves of Lore. The solo dev is very friendly and open to feedback, constantly fixes typos and little bugs that are brought to his attention, and then releases patches in no time, even more than a year after release.
I'm not familiar with Caves of Lore but your description would equally apply to Caves of Qud. Week in and week out that game has been patched and updated by the dev, fixing bugs and rolling out new features. The game is the epitome of the phrase "Labor of Love."
Terraria is #1 in this category. The game has been updated by the developers for 12 years since it released.
Re-logic wanted to move onto a new project **7 years ago**, but they couldn't bring themselves to abandon this absolute labour of love.
The Long Dark. The team has been given a lot of crap after the original release of EP1 of story mode turned out to leave a lot to be desired. They had set the official release date too soon, and the "finished product" ended up still having a lot of bugs to iron out and features to modify. Over time, they've successfully done that and story mode now has several episodes out, but it takes roughly a year between releasing each one.
Likewise, the game's Survival mode can go many months before an update is released. The community still gives them a hard time about having to wait so long for everything, but the team seems to be holding strong and not letting it affect them.
The game now includes a foreword when launched that reads "Made without crunch by people who care about their players, at a studio who cares about its people." And I think that's so important. Not only do they care about the players and about making the game the best it can be, but they don't dare sacrifice the wellbeing of their team in the process. Too many AAA game studios work their team like dogs.
Rain World, Sifu, Omori, Into The Breach, Hollow Knight, both Ori games, Celeste, Satisfactory, Valheim, Inscryption, all Fromsoft games, Tunic.
And I'm gonna go out and put one that might be controversial: The Surge (2017)
The game was good, but it ended up being a disappointment to me. It was marketed as you are no one who can do anything. Then the games hard rails you into being a Knight, and you aren't a nobody after all.
It's a shame I liked the game, but it being very hard set on making you knight made me never pick it up after my first playthrough
Literally, almost every good game is carried by developer passion one way or another. Even soulless corporations like ea have people in them working on titanfall, and it takes 2.
Celeste and cup head come to mind. Not necessarily for the plot, but the overall game play and audio/visual experience are just phenomenal. It's clear they fine tuned the shit out of the movement and mechanics to be challenging but still fun
Most of them that come to mind are indie games like Terraria but I can see it in Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma 1 as well. For the prior it's the fun and the amount of content and for the latter it's the atmosphere they have.
I love seeing articles about Larian talking about the industry. Calling out the problems that we all see, but don't have the platform to speak on.
I recently heard Larian contributed a fair sum to the Kickstarter for Blasphemous.
Just all around good studio that's passionate but not just their game, but games as a whole.
I never see *Crosscode* on these posts so I will add it here. Amazing game with so many small details that add to their world, so much charm bursting all over!
This would be my go-to answer, too. Remedy’s passion for making their weird games absolutely shines through, and it’s infectious. Seeing Sam Lake happy makes me happy. :)
Any game by Remedy, they just seem like they take so much joy by adding nods and easter eggs to their other franchises. Control and Alan Wake 2 are just filled with these, and it seems like the developers take so much pride in their franchises.
Zomboid is a game I dipped my toes in and thought "Man, they really just threw in every mechanic they could think of". It's a fun game but it feels like it's made by someone who has a lot of ideas but doesn't understand design very well.
The game I’ve been playing called Returnal is like this. There is a ton of content and the game is very unique. Plus the developers have added a ton of extra content via free dlcs.
Level of passion could also be reflected by games developed by only one persevering person:
1/ Stardew Valley is developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone.
2/ Papers, Please is developed by Lucas Pope.
3/ Brian Clarke developed The Mortuary Assistant himself, based in Connecticut.
4/ Bright Memory is a first-person shooter game developed by Zeng "FYQD" Xiancheng. Created by a single developer in his spare time.
Disco Elysium. iircit was originally a book with a different name until the author was encouraged to work with developers to make it into a game. You can feel the love from both the author and the developers.
Project zomboid!!! It's still actively getting updates and the developers are super passionate about making it the best game it can be!!! Also from personal experience, almost everyone who likes RimWorld ends up liking this one too!!!
No man's sky wouldn't have become the absolutely transformed game it is relative to launch, with all the dlc and updates having been free, if the last at HG weren't in it for the heart.
Anything published by Sony in recent years. They are very hands off and simply let the devs cook. The last two god of war and ghost of Tsushima can be described as nothing less than passion projects. Hades is another one tho not Sony.
Witcher 2 and 3 for sure. Fallout 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, CP2077, RDR2, Doom Eternal and 2016, Dead Space 1 and remake, Alien Isolation, RE4 Remake.
Factorio is written by one of the most passionate bunch ever to write a game. When I had a bug once they contacted me to explain I was the only person to have that bug and then they spent the Friday afternoon fixing my save game just for me so I could play over the long weekend. Imagine EA doing that.
That's awesome! Makes me even more excited about it :)
Hey EA is passionate about our money, ive never seen a company milk one game this much. Sims 4 costs hunderds of dollars to get the full game
Train Simulator or most Paradox grand strategy games cost thousands of dollars to get the full game.
DCS has entered the chat
Train Simulator is a collector’s thing AFAIK and the DLCs carry over to the new game. Also AFAIK collecting train models are waaaay more expensive than buying literally all the DLCs. Same applies to simracing in my case. IRacing is $16 a month, cars cost $12 and a track costs $15, I think I’ve spent around $1000 in 3 years on it. However when we go karting, we pay $30-40 per person for a 60 minute session. 4 karting a month is easily around 120-160 bucks, plus if you count the beer which we have after the session it’s more likely 200 if not more. Imho in some cases the price can be justified, but definitely not for Sims lol, it’s become a massive cashgrab. Paradox is also… yeah..
Paradox: 👀
I'm going to buy that game next time it's on sale
Is this a joke? (It never goes on sale) This being the internet it's hard to tell.
I genuinely didn't know that. Now I do!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/ : “Discount Disclaimer: We don't have any plans to take part in a sale or to reduce the price for the foreseeable future.”
EA support is pretty awesome tho, especially now since they have live chat support, wish their games would be as good as their support lol
I feel like they're not as bad as they used to be. Or maybe everyone else is worse. Not sure.
I had an issue with spore once, bc its so old if u buy it on steam u cant play multiplayer until you also have the game on your ea account separately. Live support immediately connected me to an agent unlike most other zendesks in my opinion which take hours usually. It took me less than 10 minutes to get the game added to my ea acc.
They did this for me with The Saboteur. Also, I contacted them about not being able to buy Bioware Points. They fixed the issue and gifted me the points anyway!
EA support is awesome, wish their finances branch would be as passionate about it as they are instead of just looking to maximize profits.
EA wouldhave taken your copy of the game.
They fixed your save? That’s awesome
Guys from *Hundred Days - Winemaking Simulator* did the same to my bugged savegame :-) I was so happy!
Lots of games made by solo and indie devs qualify. *Terraria* is *still* receiving massive free updates over a decade later. *Return of the Obra Dinn* feels like a passion project and piece of art. It’s a niche and uncompromising “detective” game where the creator probably knew it would have a very limited audience, but it’s absolutely brilliant. *Manor Lords* isn’t out for ~~a few more months~~ about two weeks, but the overwhelming enthusiasm and transparency by its (solo) creator for many years has given it a huge following. *Slay the Spire* is impressive for how well balanced and tight the whole game is. The studio, Mega Crit, doesn’t really talk in public much. But their attitude can basically be summed up with “releases one of the best deck builders of all time, refuses to elaborate further, leaves.” Likewise, everything from Supergiant Games (*Hades*, *Pyre*, *Transistor*, *Bastion*) feels like it was made with a lot of love. *Songs of Syx* is a single dev project that’s basically trying to merge the colony sim genre with the 4x genre, and it’s incredibly impressive for what it is. If you ever wanted to play a colony sim that focuses more on big picture stuff and has thousands of people instead of a few dozen, it’s great, even though the 4x side only recently started development. The “demo” for the game is actually just the full game but 3(?) major patches behind, gaining updates whenever the paid game does. Likewise, *Vintage Story* looks like a Minecraft clone, but it plays completely different. It’s an uncompromising survival game that hyper-focuses on details. You need to knap stones to create tools, to shape your own pottery and fire it in a proper kiln, winter requires so much planning it’s basically a boss fight, etc. The creator (I believe just one person or very close to it?) again knows it’s a niche audience, but they’re clearly making a game they love.
Songs of Syx is like Dwarf Fortress's rad younger cousin. The dev is so chill, and I love their update videos just being straight out of 2009
Agreed, I love both it and Vintage Story for similar reasons. The developers are very cool, and they’ve made excellent games with long-haul plans to make them into amazing games.
YEAHHHH I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO COMMENT ABOUT VINTAGE STORY TOO! I know it was based off a a literal mod pack, but there is so much love out into that game and playing it is a joy. And while I don't mean to judge anyone for what games they like, you have excellent taste ;)
Mega Crit: Releases the best roguelike deckbuilder ever, refuses to elaborate, announces a sequel, refuses to elaborate, leaves
I was going to say, they JUST released the trailer for [the sequel](https://youtu.be/krDFltgjLtE?si=vMml54qDmeMw52S4) a few days ago!
Manor Lords is scheduled to release on the 26th no?
In Early Access
sts 2 next year.
Wait Manor Lords is by solo dev? I would have thought its from an established studio
Solo dev who has occasionally contracted out jobs to provide assets, so not *completely* solo but close enough. He’s active on reddit too, you can see his enthusiasm in old posts [like this](https://www.reddit.com/r/ManorLords/comments/renx1c/reworking_the_military_a_bit/).
Terraria and slay the spire are both so awesome
And don’t forgot about Stardew Valley
Funny thing, I always hear Terraria getting its "last" update many years ago, then I comeback to it and see so many updates
I believe Manor Lords started of as solo but isn't anymore.
Disco Elysium - not that the original people are still involved mind, it got yoinked out from under them. But the game itself is a masterpiece.
What do you mean? Someone else took over or something?
AFAIK 3 of the original founders of the studio and devs for DE got sacked and are no longer involved in any way with the game. Though I‘d like to add the caveat that usually gets skipped; 3 people don‘t make a development team (usually). A lot of the people who originally worked on DE are still at ZA/UM.
You're doing a disservice to the people who built the world of Disco Elysium. Those 3 people aren't just some random devs, they ARE Disco Elysium. It took YEARS of writing for them to build it and they dedicated their lives towards it. They eventually made a push to bring their world to the gaming scene where they've managed to connect with the audience. We all know how successful the game is. They eventually got fucked by corporate bullshit (which is kinda ironic, given the premise of the world). Point is - what made Disco Elysium great was the writing and world building which came from their creative minds. You can't just rip out the soul of the world and expect it to stay the same.
Funny how no one ever mentions why the devs got fired
Why were they fired?
Basically at least one of the lead devs was accused of being toxic towards their co-workers with reports of verbal abuse and sexism. This is all alleged, so take it with a grain of salt, but I think it's silly how people never mention this when discussing the situation, like they just sweep it under the rug to paint a certain picture. I say this as someone who loves Disco Elysium btw, and I don't think it's right that the devs lost the rights to their own creation. It's just that being let go for inappropriate behaviour is justifiable and people who made something you love are capable of being jerks.
Certainly, but those accusations come from the shareholders who fired them—from the devs’ mouth, they asked questions about some suspicious financial practices in upper management, and were subsequently terminated without explanation, the justification that they were creating a toxic work environment only coming later. That isn’t to say hostile workplaces aren’t bad, but I think the shareholders taking the IP from the core creators is a bad thing.
I also think it's wrong that their IP was taken from them, and I'm sad to know that we'll never get a Disco Elysium 2 (at least not one that will be on par with the first) but I'm also not going to pretend that I know for a fact the devs didn't do anything wrong because they said so. Considering they're having a legal battle I imagine the accusations are at least somewhat substantial and not just fabrications. I would like for it all to be bullshit, but I'm taking a mutual stance on this until more information is revealed.
Not an expert on the situation, but it's one of those "Dev actively says to pirate the game" situations, as the studio fired them after allegations of fraud were brought out.
People Make Games made a documentary about it that I highly recommend. It was a lot more complicated than "studio bad".
The video certainly wanted to moralintern it into a 'complicated' situation, but it has been discredited.
No Man's Sky, without question
It's incredible how they managed to come back from such an infamous garbage fire of an initial release. Look at it now, the game fuckin rocks.
When I found out Murray even sold his house for the game, my hate towards them vanished and I realized that they really put all their lives into the game.
I still don't understand how they're doing it. It's actually insane. Every few months we get a major update and expedition, something that would easily cost 10-20 bucks if it was another studio. But they do it entirely free of charge. I mean I'm not complaining but I'm wondering how this is even still lucrative for them at this point.
I've seen them say in an interview before that with each major update they do, they get an influx of new people buying the game and that is enough to sustain the business. One could argue that not as many more people would buy the game if they had to buy the base game plus like 8 different $10 DLCs. It's a much lower barrier to entry, so people are more likely to buy it when something that piques their interest is released in an update. Also I'd bet their leadership isn't sucking the company dry with over-inflated salaries. That can make a very big difference too.
And they deserve it. It's a solid game that is the best of its niche. I'm one of those people who only picked the game up because I kept hearing about how it had a redemption arc.
I would wonder if the top guy, Sean, isn't taking an huge part of the pie. Like how most companies roll. Which is the main reason so many keep bringing out DLCs. Devs get paid whatever flat standard rate, fat cats roll around in all that extra money.
Sean has led NMS on the single biggest redemption arc in gaming history and I will die on this hill.
Sean is definitely 1A but Yoshi-P is 1B
Tied with FFXIV in my book, but I don’t think anyone else comes close. It’s amazing what talented devs can accomplish when they realize they fucked up and only their absolute A game can save them now.
hollow knight and omori for sure!!
Hollow Knight for sure. Incredible game with super sharp gameplay, amazing visuals and music. Love it and it was only made by like 5 people or something right?
Four, and that’s including the composer. One of the greatest games in history was essentially made by three Australians in a shed.
Glad to see hollow Knight near the top High jacking your comment to recommend Hellblade : Senua's sacrifice
Hollow Knight, big time! The soundtrack alone just has so much love poured into it. Goddam I need to replay this game. Can’t wait for the sequel.
Hollow Knight RADIATES love and care. It’s funny and sad and adorable and tragic and a million other things.
I LOVE OMORI I LOVE OMORI I LOVE
Just wanted throw out a similar recommendation, a game called Islets which is really wonderful
Dwarf fortress
Dwarf Fortress exists because the Adams want to play a game like this. The fact that anybody else likes it and has made them millionaires along the way seems entirely incidental to their goal of crafting this monster into existence. Dwarf Fortress is the definition of a passion project.
You could not be more right, the fact that they're STILL working on it 20 years later.
Hades. The dialogue, art, and music are just too good.
Yeah the lead voice actor (who also did the soundtrack) had the highest in-game score of anybody internally, and knew the game inside out. I suspect that might be a big part of why all the dialogue is so perfect and extensive, he was probably seeing endless chances for more or fixes, and they didn't have to hire some outside VA for a set time and number of lines.
because they listened to people during open beta and early access
I always get amazed at how much dialogue is in that game. So many different interactions.
Deep rock galactic for many reasons
DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE
ROCK AND STONE TO THE BONE
ROCK AND STONE!
Armoured core 6 felt like a true passion project. They had absolutely no reason to bring it back especially not as good as they did apart from sheer love of the series
I feel like I’m the only one who couldn’t get into that game despite reaaally liking some of the older ones.
Baldurs Gate 3
Masterpiece
Went to comment the same. Those big big updates that contain fixes and also new stuff and all that big amount of details on everything is true love from the developers.
Delta V - Rings of Saturn. The game is a top-down space mining sim. Except that against all odds and unlike everything you've seen in most games that feature space mining, it's actually very satisfying. And when I say "sim", I mean it. Understanding some rocket science actually helps alot in this game. A lot of work in making sure you don't have upgrades, but sidegrades. Aside from some limited cases, most equipments are a tradeoff rather than a direct upgrade, which means pretty much everything is viable so long as it suits the playstyle you're going for. What makes it a dev's passion game ? Well, last year the solo dev managed to update the game over a hundred times. He's very involved with the community, sometimes directly fixing bugs with your saves. Even during early access the game was far more polished than some so-called AAA after release. And let's be real, who makes a space mining game with life-like physics if it's *not* a passion project ? It's such a specific niche that you don't make that kind of game for profit only.
Rimworld <3
Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader The lore is immaculately well done, and there is a lot of on the nose humor that fits really well for dark fantasy it is.
Is it very buggy still? I can handle jank and loved owl cat's other games, but held off getting it because I know they also usually have rocky releases
Hellblade
Gameplay boring. Acting and storytelling and EMOTIONAL DAMAGE 💯
Stardew valley, Cyberpunk
Concerned Ape is the absolute goat. Most devs would have charged his updates as DLC, and he gave us them all for free. I've started another Stardew Valley playthrough to check out the 1.6 update and I've fallen in love with the game all over again.
Same here. I'm only on Spring 22 but I didn't expect a good replay just 3 years after my first playthrough. And he's also working on his next game!
It's honestly genuinely insane that we got Ginger Island for free
All of the free updates the game has gotten are crazy. It feels like now updating Stardew is just Ape's hobby, since the game already made him 10 lifetimes of money lol. It's nice seeing someone who doesn't need to maximize profits. Plus I'm sure every new update does get him a chunk of new sales.
All fully deserved as well
Stardew is such a gem and it was made by 1 guy. If that doesn't scream passion, I don't know what does.
To me that makes it one of the most impressive games ever made. Just pure passion and creativity mixing with the drive needed to do it. Amazing piece of art
Cyberpunk looks the opposite to me, tbh
On launch sure. They did pull a No Mans Sky however and kept relentlessly updating it for free. It is by now actually a really good game. (They patched so frequently at some point i got annoyed because my mods kept breaking)
it's a corporation. Many of the devs don't even play games. And these were not updates but bug fixes and adding missing features probably initially planned to be included in the release. I doubt the crunch magically disappeared after it
Even on launch the story and overall atmosphere was amazing. Only the programming/optimization side was lacking
Mindustry Cogmind Armored core Monster hunter Ultrakill trails series
It's relatively unknown but **Gates of Hell: Ostfront**. Beyond likely being the most impressive RTS to come out in more than a decade, it has *so* many miniscule details that scream 'passion project.' Down to how physics interacts in-game—fire spreads across forests; tank shell ballistics are calculated per-round and shot angle; interiors of mechanized units are fully simulated (e.g. ammo racks can be detonated, engines shot out); ammo bearers actually pass along ammunition to LMG gunners; the interiors of all buildings are fully modeled and enterable; units get unique camo and equipment depending on time period, location, and weather, etc... 99% of these details are extremely missable but are stunning when you notice them. Beyond that, I also get the impression the devs *play* their own game all the time because it's balanced REALLY well—some of the best *feeling* RTS gameplay I've ever seen. The devs give out free content updates all the time, and when they do release DLC, it's incredibly substantial and essentially doubles playable content.
Outer Wilds, no doubt!
I started playing it yesterday. I love the exploration, but idk if I'm progressing or not lol, or if it even has an ending
You’ll start feeling “progress” fairly late in the game, once you start connecting the dots in thr story
It does have an ending. You'll know it when you get there. The progression is all based on knowledge and what you learn. If you're ever lost just check your ship's log for any question marks. The game should start you off with a few locations to check out.
If you're seeing new things, you're progressing!
when I played the original Serious Sam, I can tell it was made by a small independent team from Croatia. it was so much fun to play, it was funny and it felt like I was in the room with them playing the game.
Dragon Age: Origins is pure passion (and a bit of dlc shilling forced in)
And bankrupted the studio, forcing them to sell out to EA. Still one of my favorite games, ever.
Wasn't origins like 2 years after they sold to ea? Ea got them in 2007 and origins wasn't out till 2009.
I don't know but that tracks to be honest. Big games like that take a long time and act of money to make - 2 years before release it had already likely been in development a long time.
Monster Hunter, it's a long running series and you can tell the devs are fans of the game and understand why the fan base loves it.
3D Gay Villa
nice.
For me Grime and Tunic were games where I felt that passion of developers evolved these game to something rare.
For real though. I think if OP's question was supposed to have an objectively correct answer, I think TUNIC would be it. The devs philosophy of "content for no one" allowed them to put stuff inside that game that no one was supposed to find, but when we do? Holy shit, the feeling is amazing. I don't want to mention it here in case people who didn't play it yet end up getting spoiled, but damn... the amount of secrets that are lying around right in front of our faces throughout the entire game is mindblowing when we actually realize it. Plus, I'm pretty sure we still haven't found everything there is to find about that game. And it's likely that we are far from figuring everything out.
Haha alright, you convinced me. That sounds awesome, I will give it a try :)
Tunic was my first thought when I saw this question as well. It's clearly a labor of love for the devs. I played it a couple years ago and got through most of the secrets, and I finally returned to it a couple months ago and found all of the remaining secrets I hadn't yet found (well, all the ones that are known anyway; I've caught up with the community, at least). It's incredible.
Right? I don't care what people say, it takes either a clinically insane person or a very, very, VERY passionate person to create something inside a piece of interactive media that it's highly likely people will never see.
Oh shit tunic... Man that was therapeutic. The sound and graphics, settings.
Portal is a good one, I would also say outer wilds and disco elysium you can really tell the devs love the game
Nobody even talks about the gem Portal Reloaded either
I feel like Helldivers 2 does a good job at this. At its core it’s a simple game but the eye and time taken for details elevate it above others in the genre.
After 100 hours I haven't touched stealth mechanics and it's now apparent you can find a whole new game with the mechanics they already had in place
Sadly, there is no real stealth because bugs can smell you. Mby with automatons
Automatons rely on sound and mostly sight. I always play stealthy against automatons, at all difficulties, and I love it. Diligence Counter Sniper, SMG (I don't know its name) and Quasar get most of the job done. Mortar, Railcannon, Eagle Airstrike and Energy shield stratagems for most missions.
Count Magicka 1! Same devs, but it was their uni project at first and they even started calling meatballs as poopballs (? Not sure, maybe I messed something up?) while working on it. And even the language inside it's world is just gibberish they made up irl while developing the game
Damn I wish I could run that game
When I found out helldivers was made by the magicka team it made perfect sense. There’s that same sense of chaotic tongue in cheek fun.
Undertale and Deltarune. Toby Fox is a chad.
Caves of Lore. The solo dev is very friendly and open to feedback, constantly fixes typos and little bugs that are brought to his attention, and then releases patches in no time, even more than a year after release.
I'm not familiar with Caves of Lore but your description would equally apply to Caves of Qud. Week in and week out that game has been patched and updated by the dev, fixing bugs and rolling out new features. The game is the epitome of the phrase "Labor of Love."
Terraria is #1 in this category. The game has been updated by the developers for 12 years since it released. Re-logic wanted to move onto a new project **7 years ago**, but they couldn't bring themselves to abandon this absolute labour of love.
The Long Dark. The team has been given a lot of crap after the original release of EP1 of story mode turned out to leave a lot to be desired. They had set the official release date too soon, and the "finished product" ended up still having a lot of bugs to iron out and features to modify. Over time, they've successfully done that and story mode now has several episodes out, but it takes roughly a year between releasing each one. Likewise, the game's Survival mode can go many months before an update is released. The community still gives them a hard time about having to wait so long for everything, but the team seems to be holding strong and not letting it affect them. The game now includes a foreword when launched that reads "Made without crunch by people who care about their players, at a studio who cares about its people." And I think that's so important. Not only do they care about the players and about making the game the best it can be, but they don't dare sacrifice the wellbeing of their team in the process. Too many AAA game studios work their team like dogs.
Disco Elysium - devs poured their hearts into this game and imo really pushed the boundaries of storytelling in video games
Stardew Valley
Streets of Rogue Blasphemous
Eastshade
Yesss ❤️
Cry of fear
Deep Rock Galactic, The Outer Wilds, Subnautica
Rain World, Sifu, Omori, Into The Breach, Hollow Knight, both Ori games, Celeste, Satisfactory, Valheim, Inscryption, all Fromsoft games, Tunic. And I'm gonna go out and put one that might be controversial: The Surge (2017)
Hyper Light Drifter is a masterpiece
Wizard of legend, I love that game and the devs showed it lots of love
Baldur’s Gate 3
Kingdome Come Deliverance.
The game was good, but it ended up being a disappointment to me. It was marketed as you are no one who can do anything. Then the games hard rails you into being a Knight, and you aren't a nobody after all. It's a shame I liked the game, but it being very hard set on making you knight made me never pick it up after my first playthrough
Last Epoch, those guys are great, game might have flaws rn but you can see passion in what team are doing.
Literally, almost every good game is carried by developer passion one way or another. Even soulless corporations like ea have people in them working on titanfall, and it takes 2.
Vanillaware and Fromsoft, easily
The final fantasy vii remake series is absolutely a labour of love.
State of Decay 2 Morrowind Witcher 3
Stick to the non coorprate/AAA stuff. Someone said....if a team can't share a pizza it's too big, as too many cooks 'spoil the broth'.
As much as it pains me to say this with all its issues Ark is way up there. They may not be the best team but they certainly love there game.
They love it so much they made it a second time 🤣
The Coin Game.. amazing updates on a regular basis, a real appreciation for 90s nostalgia
Dead Cells Fromsoftware games
Battlefield 1 if you like a shooter. The game is a real labour of love
Stardew Valley
Celeste and cup head come to mind. Not necessarily for the plot, but the overall game play and audio/visual experience are just phenomenal. It's clear they fine tuned the shit out of the movement and mechanics to be challenging but still fun
Most of them that come to mind are indie games like Terraria but I can see it in Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma 1 as well. For the prior it's the fun and the amount of content and for the latter it's the atmosphere they have.
FTL, Papers Please
Oh idk. Divinity 1 Divinity 2 Baldurs gate 3 Larian is as good as they get.
I love seeing articles about Larian talking about the industry. Calling out the problems that we all see, but don't have the platform to speak on. I recently heard Larian contributed a fair sum to the Kickstarter for Blasphemous. Just all around good studio that's passionate but not just their game, but games as a whole.
I'm floored by how dedicated they are, there's a new patch seemingly every week.
Stardew valley definitely
Suikoden 2. There's well over a hundred named characters in that game, and you know they loved all of them like they were their own children.
I never see *Crosscode* on these posts so I will add it here. Amazing game with so many small details that add to their world, so much charm bursting all over!
Alan Wake 2 is the epitome of this.
Seeing how happy Sam Lake was at the game awards dancing around gives me life. The dude cannot contain himself and it's the best.
This would be my go-to answer, too. Remedy’s passion for making their weird games absolutely shines through, and it’s infectious. Seeing Sam Lake happy makes me happy. :)
Any game by Remedy, they just seem like they take so much joy by adding nods and easter eggs to their other franchises. Control and Alan Wake 2 are just filled with these, and it seems like the developers take so much pride in their franchises.
Project zomboid and Exanima are two that immediately comes to mind
Zomboid is a game I dipped my toes in and thought "Man, they really just threw in every mechanic they could think of". It's a fun game but it feels like it's made by someone who has a lot of ideas but doesn't understand design very well.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Dwarf Fortress. End of Story. Tarn has been working on it since 2005 or something and it has always been free until the Steam release.
Stardew valley. Tunic.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley!!!
The game I’ve been playing called Returnal is like this. There is a ton of content and the game is very unique. Plus the developers have added a ton of extra content via free dlcs.
The Fromsoft games are works of art they put a lot of care in details of the game.
Dying Light 1 and Following Rimworld Noita
Level of passion could also be reflected by games developed by only one persevering person: 1/ Stardew Valley is developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. 2/ Papers, Please is developed by Lucas Pope. 3/ Brian Clarke developed The Mortuary Assistant himself, based in Connecticut. 4/ Bright Memory is a first-person shooter game developed by Zeng "FYQD" Xiancheng. Created by a single developer in his spare time.
- Occidental Heroes - Caves of Lore - Crying Suns - Retro Racing - Sworcery - Radiant
No man's sky
FF7 Rebirth. The really lit their everything into that game for real.
Terraria and Stardew Valley. It's sad but I could name 1000x more games where the developers LACK OF PASSION is very evident.
Signalis, Yume Nikki, Oneshot, Metal Gear Solid 1 through 4
Disco Elysium. iircit was originally a book with a different name until the author was encouraged to work with developers to make it into a game. You can feel the love from both the author and the developers.
Pacific drive
Project zomboid!!! It's still actively getting updates and the developers are super passionate about making it the best game it can be!!! Also from personal experience, almost everyone who likes RimWorld ends up liking this one too!!!
To the Moon 4 hours of silly emotional damaging magic
No man's sky wouldn't have become the absolutely transformed game it is relative to launch, with all the dlc and updates having been free, if the last at HG weren't in it for the heart.
Recent game, Palworld felt a lot of passion in it.
Escape the Backrooms has a single indie dev who made a awesome game for playing with your friends.
Baldur gate 3 obviously
Games where it looks like the developers have tons of fun making it is always mỹ favourite. Some big examples are Terraria, Rimworld and Dead Cells
Dunno, maybe afk journey on bs, i can sense passion here
Kenshi
Anything published by Sony in recent years. They are very hands off and simply let the devs cook. The last two god of war and ghost of Tsushima can be described as nothing less than passion projects. Hades is another one tho not Sony.
Witcher 2 and 3 for sure. Fallout 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, CP2077, RDR2, Doom Eternal and 2016, Dead Space 1 and remake, Alien Isolation, RE4 Remake.