Best Indie Games of 2017 – #2: Cogmind
Sci-fi epic roguelike Cogmind buids its way up to second place.
Cogmind is such a massive game that it’s hard to know where to begin describing it. You control a robot – basic to begin with, but soon becoming an engine of destruction. In typical roguelike style, you pick up equipment to modify and build your character in order to survive as long as you can before the nigh inevitable death.
In Cogmind, however, you literally tear pieces of equipment from other robots and attach it to yourself. Pretty brutal. You’ll need to source new weaponry, propulsion systems, power sources and more to survive. There’s a massive amount of weaponry with which to arm yourself, from missile launchers to lightning guns to maces. Each play through encourages a different approach, depending on what gear you find.
If you do manage survive through to the ending of Cogmind, you’re rewarded with one of seven different animated endings, offering even more incentive to play through the game again. There are also several difficulty options to choose from. I’ve played this game a lot – yet Cogmind still reveals more of itself to me each time.
Cogmind embraces the ASCII graphical approach of it’s roguelike ancestors, and builds on it further with a wonderful evolved ASCII interface that is certainly the most advanced for any roguelike. It’s one of those games where even with the briefest of glances it’s instantly recognisable.
Developer Grid Sage Games has not only produced a brilliant roguelike that easily sets itself above other offerings of the genre, but also a passionate community, with regular updates based upon player feedback. While Cogmind is still in early access, the obvious passion from the developer ensures that development will continue, and the game will only continue to build into something bigger and better, not unlike your playable character.
It is this depth of customisation, near endless combinations of builds, endless replayability and fantastic and unique artwork that launches Cogmind to the lofty heights of our second favourite game of 2017. Check out our Cogmind review if you want to learn more. You can purchase Cogmind on Steam, currently with 25% off, for £11.61 / $15.60.
Our third place game, in case you missed it, was the beautiful Rakuen. If you’ve never cried over a game, that may be about to change. Tomorrow, we’ll reveal our winner of the best indie games of 2017. We know you’re as excited as we are!