Jason Rohrer is no stranger to the realm of innovation. His work is often cited as one of the most innovative in the independent community, especially his game Passage. A game of longing and belonging, it provoked all sorts of discussion despite an extremely simple gameplay system. It's a game based around conveying emotions more than gameplay, and it accomplishes this spectacularly. This method of sharing emotion with the audience garnered Rohrer mainstream attention in the December 2008 issue of Esquire, and it is with this article that he released Between, his IGF entry.

Between is hard to describe as it speaks directly to the player on so many levels. It's a story of interaction, cooperation and discovery. The most interesting part is that the game is multiplayer only. You have to connect to another play in order to play, and you interact with each other to continue with the game. With some nostalgic, surreal imagery and thoughtful gameplay, it really deserves a spot in the most innovative category for being emotionally resonant while being entirely multiplayer. It's not many games that can do that.


Edmund McMillen is one of the best artists working in the independent games scene. He's the artist behind the excellent game Gish, and his work on Meat Boy is being ported from the web to consoles. It's no surprise that his work helps define Coil as a haunting and fairly depressing piece. With a juxtaposition of biological forms mixed with serene landscapes and excellent writing, it tugs at the heartstrings in all the best ways. Ways that we didn't even know existed.

Starting off as a simple sperm, Coil follows you through the processes of the development of a fetus. However, in merging together some bizarre symbolism with this incredibly simple concept, Coil manages to entrance and sadden at the same time. The use of emotional concepts in a game about fetuses is frankly unusual, especially in the deep way that Coil does. This is a game that may confuse you, but will depress you whether or not you understand it. And really, whatever you understand the game to be about may as well be what the game is about.


Tale of Tales is known for their emotionally complex narratives that blur the line between story and game. Endless Forest is an especially notable example, as it's a multiplayer social game with no goals. Their entire roster of games is much like this, comprising of strong emotional resonance and a freedom to explore it in an interesting way. The Graveyard is no exception to this, and the mixture of elements doesn't disappoint.

The Graveyard follows an old lady as she explores a graveyard. It's fairly freeform, allowing you to move and interact with objects how you want. Sit on a bench and attract the birds? Sure thing! The music and art style all fit this as well. The graphics are monochrome and stylized, and the sound is appropriately subdued. It all creates an air of loneliness and resolution that is almost palpable.


Unlike the previous games on this list, mightier is not innovative in an emotional and complex way. Rather, its innovation is entirely straightforward and doesn't mess around. Put simply, you play an Engineer working for Mightier who solves problems using high-powered laser beams fired from space (as all problems should be solved). This manifests in the game as lasers that mold the landscape to solve puzzles that you them platform around as the Actionnaut.

The puzzles are relatively simple, but they all have many different solutions. After all, it's a game about drawing! You simply draw the solution on a piece of paper and scan it. The game then spplies your solution to the game world. On top of this, you can also create a custom Actionnaut in the same way, and the game will animate it accurately! There's not many games that offer this sort of freedom, and it's a refreshing innovation direly needed by the done-to-death platforming genre.


You Have to Burn The Rope is quite simply the easiest game ever created. There's no escaping this fact. The game tells you exactly what you have to do in the title, intro sequence, and song. In case you can't figure it out, there's even a text walkthrough! Here's the paraphrased version: kill the Grinning Colossus by dropping a chandelier on his head. Do this by grabbing a torch and burning the rope that holds the chandelier. Congratulations! Cue credits.

You Have To Burn The Rope isn't really innovative in gameplay, but rather the message it spreads. It's a denouncement (or, alternatively, an embracing) of the lack of challenge and the incredible linearity in modern games. The game tells you exactly what to do, and then pseudo-mocks you with the incredibly catchy end song. The boss can't be killed by any other means than what the developer tells you at least twice, possibly more if you look below. Your response is entirely scripted. It's verifiably meta in its criticisms of gaming. Now that's innovative.