While experiencing apixel art gamethat puts a massive amount of detail into every sprite can be an enchanting experience, sometimes you want things to stay simple and go a bit minimal.
Minimalist games typically go with a color palette only containing a handful of options and usually limit their sprites to something like 8x8, all in the service of making you focus entirely on the gameplay.
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If I ever need to fish in Terraria ever again, I’m going to lose it.
That isn’t to say the art is bad, though, I think the best minimalist styles use their simplicity to their advantage, directing your focus to one thing without the distractions something more cluttered would have.
I believe these eight games do a lovely job at stripping everything unnecessary for a more cohesive and concise experience, while also looking nice if you only want a color or two in your games.
8(the) Gnorp Apologue
Go, My Scarab
In my opinion, (the) Gnorp Apologue is one of the best idle games ever, because it isn’t even slightly interested in wasting your time, only runs around 10–20 hours, and is enjoyable the entire way through.
The style is a very simplistic white on black, and the sprites are all tiny little dudes that work together to break a big rock, letting you buy upgrades and prestige to help them out, whenever you want.
This is one of the only idle games thatfeels like an actual game, instead of something you throw on your second monitor and forget about. It’s incredibly charming, and I just like Gnorpmaxxing where I can.
It’s especially fun when you get enough zybellium to purchase timeshift impact for your bombers which causes your archers to shoot more zybe arrows, then look back on all those words and realize this game is ridiculous.
Shortened Story
I’m a bigfan of time loop games, andMinitdoes a great job at throwing you into a loop without making it ever feel super frustrating, as you’re constantly progressing through the Zelda-esque world.
The entire game is monochrome, and it uses white on a black background almost exclusively throughout the entire experience. White is usually reserved for important items or walls, which leads to a very easy-to-read game.
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All the wholesome charm of an indie game, but with bigger teams and bigger budgets.
It’s a bit of constant time pressure, but in a very fun way, as the decisions you make in the time loop can occasionally carry over to the next, but you’re still expected to make the most of your time when you can.
The story is rather silly, and the music is banging, and the final few loops are some great sections of gameplay that test your navigation under a tight time limit. Suffice to say, it’s worth your time.
6Baba is You
Simplicity is Key
Baba Is You
If you haven’t already heard of it from themountains of praise it got on release,Baba is Youis a puzzle game that plays with the idea of game logic, letting you make statements like You is Key to change the rules.
Every element in this game is monochrome, with all the blocks taking on a single color, the backgrounds usually being one solid color, and the main level color being the same across an entire world.
This simplicity is very nice for helping you solve the puzzles, as they’re alllogic-based and test your reasoning, whether that means figuring out how to get a flag with floating rocks, or how to make robots move in your favor.
I absolutely adore the somewhat scraggly, yet very intentional art style that manages to make cute critters like Baba with the use of one color and very few pixels. It’s effective and it’s iconic.
5Your Only Move Is HUSTLE
Sticking to Your Guns
One of the sickest games of all time, Your Only Move Is HUSTLE takes a fighting game and turns it turn-based, essentially making you plan your inputs in advance, which makes every fight look like a TAS.
The style is incredibly simplistic, only featuring stick figures on a black-and-white background. That’s due to the fact you need to be told exactly what you and your opponent are doing.
Because of the nature of how this game functions, incredible precision is needed to make sure your combos are optimal, and while the buttons at the bottom can get a little cluttered, you’ll still always see exactly what’s going on.
That said, the animations and flow of the fights are immaculate, with smooth combos, fast-paced hits, and very hefty impacts. Watching a full-speed playback feels like you’re seeing a Dragon Ball fight.
4Master Key
Cozy Cavern Walls
While the originalLink’s Awakeningwas great with a simplistic art-style due to the Game Boy’s limitations, that game got four colors to make a Zelda game with, whereas Master Key only uses two for a similar experience.
While the purely black and white visuals might seem unnecessarily restrictive, this game uses them to its best ability, designing detailed towns, dungeons, battleships, and mountain scapes with its limitations.
This isn’t just aZelda-like with no additional flarelike those indie games that seem to all be made with a distinct hatred towards Breath of the Wild. Master Key takes the formula and twists it into more of a Metroidvania.
Bouncing around from dungeon to mountainside while fending off enemies with the admittedly frustrating-as-hell combat still feels great, and it has a ton of Picross Puzzles, which means it’s the best game ever made.
3Gato Roboto
More Metroidvanias!
For a far more traditional black and white Metroidvania,Gato Robotois very heavily inspired byMetroid. It features a cat in a big robot suit with a gun, which is the best main character in any indie game.
It is really damn difficult, though, which will be the theme for these last few entries. The bosses are pretty rough, asking you to dodge things while doing miniscule damage, especially annoying early on.
It makes up for that in its design, though. The lack of color makes everything really clear, whether it’s a tunnel you need to go kitty mode to slide through, or something you can jump through in your mech.
One of my mainfrustrations with Metroidvaniasis occasionally having the important objects blend in too well with the environment, but when your style is as simplistic as this one, it’s never an issue.
Gravitational Rotational
An incredible classic that well and truly stands on its own despite its age,VVVVVVis a platformer where you flip gravity to your will, usually making you weave through massive walls of spikes to get anywhere.
Not only does it have a sick soundtrack reminiscient of early 2000s Newgrounds music, the style is only around four colors per level. With the vibrant patterns employed, you’d hardly notice how simplistic it is.
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It’s one of the best at designing for a straightforward style that highlights the gameplay. You stand out from the environment all the time, spikes are the highest contrast color, and you can instantly tell when something is a platform.
These are all super-necessary additions, as this game asks incredible precision of you at times, and you’ll often have to react within a second whenever you go to another screen or explode instantly.
All Downhill
Easily one of the best arcadey games ever made,Downwelllooks simple on the surface but its mechanics are so in-depth that you can easily find yourself getting sucked in and playing for a few too many hours.
The visuals are composed entirely of black, white, and red, with the red making the entire game look way more detailed than it actually is, on top of the super-smooth animations done within the limitations.
This leads to every impact feeling satisfying as you hurdle down a well at mach 10, bouncing on enemy heads to keep up a combo and doing your best to never touch the ground by any means necessary.
Everything is so well-detailed yet simple enough that you may recognize a jellyfish even when you’re going too fast for your brain to process much else, and trying to keep up a combo through the entire game is an incredible feeling.
