Video games: a way to pass time, have fun, and connect to people of all backgrounds, also known as consumers with similar tastes. Depending on who you are and what you like, there is sure to be something for you to enjoy. Video games have been around for ages, and when you think about it, anyone can make one. No matter the team size, the budget, or who you’re working with, you can bet that many people make games all the time. Most of the time, when a game is produced with a low budget and a smaller team or company, it’s considered an indie game, indie games are basically independent productions in anything like film, movies, or in this case, video games.

Some of you might not know what games are considered indie, so here’s a list of games made by indie corporations: Cuphead by Studio MDHR, Undertale and DELTARUNE By Toby Fox and Temmi Chan, Hollow Knight by Team Cherry, Stardew Valley by ConcernedApe, and Celeste by Maddy Thorson, to name a few. When playing an indie game you may notice a few things that make an indie game, well, an indie game. The art style is unique most of the time pixel art or hand drawn. The cost of the game is much less compared to something like Mario Kart, which sits at $59.99 for just the game itself, while a game like Undertale, only costs $10 to $15. Not to mention time, secrets, and various other endings you can get, which would take over 30+ hours if you’re going for more than one ending.

Now on the other end of the scale sit AAA games, games that are made by larger companies that have more money, time, resources, and people to make their games. These games usually are much more expensive, costing up to $60 to $70 for just one game, not including downloadable content (DLC’s). Headstuff, a website dedicated to culture, art, and games, claims, “The core feature of a AAA game is simple: money. AAA developers have access to massive amounts of cash for research, development, testing, and marketing.” Some AAA games include: The Legend of Zelda by Nintendo, God of War by Santa Monica Studios, Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games, and Fortnite by Epic Games. While some AAA games are free, which is rare, these games contain many purchasable items, locked abilities behind paywalls, as well as being stuck with boring-looking characters unless you purchase skins or cosmetics. However, there is usually more content to explore in the game inside of a AAA game which may be easier to find compared to an indie game.

This is where the wall between the two is built. Indie games, while they don’t have much of a budget, have heart and soul put into them; they’re made for a specific group of people in mind, while also not having to worry about people being mad about things they add, like people of color, those with queer identities, disabilities, and issues like racism and homophobia.

While some AAA games involve this type of diversity, it’s not their main goal, as it might stop people from buying their games. The main goal of AAA games is to make as much money as possible from games they seem to recycle over and over again, notice the amount of sequels and redos games have, with seemingly no new content. why would you have to put any effort into a game when you know people will buy it anyway? Like an Iphone, change a few things and people will swarm to buy it.

This is a major difference, style. “Indie game developers usually demonstrate creative and unconventional art styles in their games,” as claimed by Pixune in an article written by Nazanin Shahbazi. While most AAA games have a more realistic art style, indie games have a more unique, game-specific art style that makes it easy to tell what game a character or a background comes from. While there’s no doubt that both games have their own pros andcons, it’s easy to tell that indie games have more soul.

From the art, to the music, to the time and love poured into it, you can notice that indie games seem so much more real and full of heart than AAA games. Oftentimes, most people find themselves listening to music they didn’t know came from a game like Undertale.

So while both games have their own perks, without a doubt, indie games seem so much better, so much more real. These games are something someone took the time to make; it wasn’t their job, it was a creative project! Something they didn’t have to do but did anyway. After reading this article, maybe you could find some of your favorite games and see if they’re indie or not, and if you want to find an indie game, there are millions of ones to choose from, so go support these small creators, and find a game made for you.