Experience a pixel art game with a huge amount of detail in every sprite can be a fascinating experience.
Minimalist games usually use a color palette that contains only a handful of options, and usually limit the sprite to something like 8×8. All of this is a complete focus on gameplay.
It’s not to say that art is bad, but I think the best minimalist styles use their simplicity to their advantage, turning your focus towards one thing without making your focus more cluttered.
I think these eight games do a nice job of removing everything unnecessary for a more cohesive experience, but if you only want one or two in the game it will look great.
8 () Gnorp apology
Go, my scarab
In my opinion, the (The)Gnorrp Apology is one of the best idol games ever. Because you’re a little uninterested in wasting your time, you can only run for 10-20 hours and are so much more fun.
The style is black and very simple white, and the Sprites are all little guys who work together, and you can buy upgrades and fame to break the big rocks and help them whenever you want.
This is not something you’ll forget to throw it on the second monitor, it’s one of the only idle games. It’s incredibly charming and I like gnorrpmaxxing as much as I can.
It’s especially fun to get enough Zybellium to buy the timeshift impact of the bomb, and shoot more Zybe arrows, look back at all those words and realize that this game is ridiculous.
7 Min
Shortening of the story
I’m big and Minute is constantly advancing the Zelda-esque world, so I do the perfect job of throwing it into the loop without being extremely frustrated.
The entire game is black and white, with almost exclusively using white on a black background throughout the entire experience. White is usually reserved for important items and walls, leading to a game that is very easy to read.
It’s a bit of a constant amount of time pressure, but in a very enjoyable way, the decisions you make in the time loop can sometimes be carried over to the next one, but you are still expected to make the most of your time when you can.
The storyline is pretty ridiculous, the music is banged, and the last few loops are a great section of gameplay that tests navigation under narrow time constraints. It’s enough to say, it’s worth your time.
6 Baba is you
Simplicity is important
If you haven’t heard of it yet from the mountain of praise, then from the mountain of praise that it was released, Baba is a puzzle game that plays with game logic ideas.
All the elements of this game are monochrome. All blocks are staked in a single color, the background is usually one solid color, and the main level colors are the same throughout the world.
Whether this simplicity means coming up with a floating lock or understanding how to get the robot to move with your favour, it’s super great to help you solve puzzles.
I absolutely adore the art style, secretly and extremely intentional. It is effective and symbolic.
5 Your only move is fuss
I’m particular about your gun
One of the most sick games of all time, your only move is for hustle to take a fighting game, turn-based it, essentially planning the input in advance.
This style is very simplified and features stick figures on a black and white background. It is due to the fact that you and your partner need to tell you exactly what you are doing.
The nature of how this game works requires incredible accuracy to ensure that the combo is optimal. The buttons at the bottom are a bit messy, but you can always see exactly what’s going on.
That said, the battle animation and flow are pure white, with smooth combos, fast-paced hits and extremely large impacts. Watching full speed playback makes it feel like you’re watching Dragon Ball battle.
4 Master Key
Cozy cave walls
The original Link’s Awakening was great in a simple art style due to the Game Boy’s limitations, but the game got four colors to make a Zelda game, while the Master Key only uses two for a similar experience.
While purely black and white visuals may seem unnecessarily restrictive, the game uses them for its best abilities and designs detailed towns, dungeons, battleships, and mountain scapes with their limitations.
This isn’t just like an indie game that appears to be made with a clear hatred of Breath of the Wild. The master key takes the formula and twists it into more Metroidvania.
Bouncing off the dungeon to the mountainside while dodging enemies in clearly frustrating battles still feels great, and it has plenty of picloss puzzles.
3 robot
More Metroidvanias!
For the much more traditional black and white Metroidvania, Gatroboto is very heavily inspired by Metroid. It features a cat wearing a large robot suit with a gun. This is the best main character in any indie game.
But that’s really difficult. This will be the theme for these last few entries. The bosses are pretty rough so they ask them to dodge things, especially early on, while dealing annoying damage.
But it makes up for it with its design. The lack of colour makes everything very clear whether it’s a tunnel that requires you to go to Kitty mode to slide or something that you can jump into the mech.
One of my main points is that important objects are sometimes mixed with the environment too well, but if your style is just as simple as this, that’s never a problem.
2 VVVVV
Gravity rotation
Despite its age, an incredible classic that truly stands in itself, VVVVVV is a platformer where you flip gravity over your will, and you can weave a huge wall of spikes to go anywhere.
Not only does it have an illness soundtrack that reminds me of the newground music of the early 2000s, but this style only comes in around four colors per level. With a lively pattern, you’ll hardly notice how simple it is.
It’s one of the best things to design simple styles that emphasize gameplay. You always stand out from the environment, the spikes are the best contrast colours and you’ll quickly see when something is a platform.
All of these are very meaningless additions, as this game sometimes wants you incredible accuracy. And you often need to respond within a second each time you go to another screen or explode instantly.
1 Downwell
Everything is downhill
One of the best Arcadey games ever made, Downwell looks simple on the surface, but its mechanics are so detailed that it’s easy to see that you’re over-sucked and playing for a few hours.
The visuals are completely black, white and red, and the red actually makes the entire game look much more detailed than it actually is.
This leads to all the shocks that are satisfying, hurdle down the wells in Mach 10, bounce off enemy heads, maintain combos, and do your best to avoid touching the ground in any necessary means.
Everything is very well expressed, but so simple, it’s an incredible feeling that your brain is trying to keep a combo too fast for many other processing.
