These days, to only play video games have to come from corporate publishers is missing basically half of the gaming experiences available to you. In fact, the most inspired games often stem from small studios pushing unique ideas unfettered by the oversight of head honchos sporting swanky suits and ties.

Indie games are constrained in terms of budget and scale, but certainly not in terms of spirit. They also tend to be sold digitally. And, more often than blockbusters, these games are up for sale early into their development, letting players dictate the final result while they play.

What’s more, an indie game normally won’t require a fancy rig to play at the highest settings, if there is more than a single graphics setting at all. By leveraging standout art styles, indie games can strike visual appeal without putting too much strain on your PC or console. This, in turn, makes indie games more accessible than their GPU-intensive cousins.

On this list, we’ve carefully sorted through our favorite indie games of the past few years while also supplying one anticipated game on our radar. With so many great games currently after our hearts, narrowing down the best indie games down to a slender handful isn’t easy. Since we’re sure to miss a few, let us know in the comments below if we’ve overlooked one of your favorites.

• Need a new PC that can handle the latest indies? This is the best computer

Joe Osborne, Kane Fulton and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article