{"id":8056,"date":"2021-12-31T17:27:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T08:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=8056"},"modified":"2023-04-17T15:35:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T06:35:37","slug":"20211231-8056","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/","title":{"rendered":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Publication date of the original Japanese article<\/a>: 2021-12-30 18:00 (JST)
Translated by. Ryuki Ishii<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Each year, the contributing members of the Japanese edition of AUTOMATON select their personal favorite games of the year. Here are some of the short indie games they picked: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*This is a heavily summarized version of the original Japanese article.
<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unpacking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


No one shows up on the screen, but you can definitely feel the resident\u2019s back story through their possessions. Astonishingly detailed sound effects and a surprisingly high degree of freedom over the placement of their belongings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by. Taijiro Yamanaka


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yugo Puzzle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Qrostar\u2019s previous games were like carnivorous plants that entangle you with its devilishly difficult and sophisticated puzzle designs. Yugo Puzzle<\/em> fully retains the developer’s identity while being more varied and slightly easier. It\u2019s no exaggeration to say this is one of the pinnacles of puzzle games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by. Mizuki Kashiwagi


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Magic to Destroy the World (\u4e16\u754c\u3092\u7834\u58ca\u3059\u308b\u9b54\u6cd5)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Adorable yet cruel yuri juvenile novel game about girls who want to destroy the world. While the game sugarcoats its sensitive topics such as bullying and sex with cute visuals, the text itself is raw and graphic. What awaits at the end of its bitter and painful story, is a strangely satisfying and invigorating feeling, like seeing a lotus in the mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by. Keiichi Yokoyama


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minute of Islands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


A girl on a mission embarks on a journey to save the world. This is as classic as storytelling can be. But there\u2019s a catch; the protagonist is extremely stubborn and only cares about accomplishing her goal. She doesn\u2019t even seem to appreciate the time she gets to spend with her family. She must save the world no matter the cost, for she is the chosen one. But then, who is she saving the world for? This bitter tale about a worn-out hero feels very relevant to our daily lives. Sometimes, we forget the reasons for our actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by. Yuki Kurosawa


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ElecHead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Simple, minimal, 100 % pure entertainment with no fillers. The rules are easy to understand yet sophisticated and varied. Rather than giving you instant satisfaction in solving a cleverly designed puzzle, it gives you a lasting illusion and pleasure of getting smarter the further you progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by. Takayuki Sawahata


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily is Away <3<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


A bitter love story told through a nostalgic social media interface. This is the third installment in Kyle Seeley\u2019s Emily is Away<\/em> series and easily my favorite out of the three. The core themes of love, friendship, and trust have been deepened and matured while also utilizing the act of \u201creplaying the game\u201d itself to deliver a message about forming a relationship.


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here Comes Niko!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Short indie games tend to have innovative mechanics, a memorable story, or a cinematic experience. Here Comes Niko! <\/em>has none of them. The story is confusing, and the gameplay is basic. What it does provide is an amusement park-like experience full of joy and kindness. Characters are loveable and the stages are filled with charming gimmicks. This is a world that makes you want to come back to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by. Ayuo Kawase<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021: Unpacking, Yugo Puzzle, The Magic to Destroy the World , Minute of Islands, ElecHead, Emily is Away <3, and Here Comes Niko!.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nOur personal favorite short indie games of 2021 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021: Unpacking, Yugo Puzzle, The Magic to Destroy the World , Minute of Islands, ElecHead, Emily is Away <3, and Here Comes Niko!.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021: Unpacking, Yugo Puzzle, The Magic to Destroy the World , Minute of Islands, ElecHead, Emily is Away <3, and Here Comes Niko!.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-31T08:27:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-17T06:35:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211228-187418-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021: Unpacking, Yugo Puzzle, The Magic to Destroy the World , Minute of Islands, ElecHead, Emily is Away <3, and Here Comes Niko!.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021: Unpacking, Yugo Puzzle, The Magic to Destroy the World , Minute of Islands, ElecHead, Emily is Away <3, and Here Comes Niko!.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2021-12-31T08:27:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-17T06:35:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211228-187418-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"AUTOMATON WEST","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AUTOMATON WEST","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/"},"author":{"name":"AUTOMATON WEST","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a55a3d979fa6362722fb27892d9614e4"},"headline":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021","datePublished":"2021-12-31T08:27:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-17T06:35:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/"},"wordCount":522,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211228-187418-header.jpg","articleSection":["Column"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/","name":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211228-187418-header.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-31T08:27:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-17T06:35:37+00:00","description":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021: Unpacking, Yugo Puzzle, The Magic to Destroy the World , Minute of Islands, ElecHead, Emily is Away <3, and Here Comes Niko!.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211228-187418-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211228-187418-header.jpg","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20211231-8056\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our personal favorite short indie games of 2021"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a55a3d979fa6362722fb27892d9614e4","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/automaton-forum-moderator-100x100.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/automaton-forum-moderator-100x100.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/automaton-forum-moderator-100x100.jpeg","caption":"AUTOMATON WEST"},"description":"Delivering gaming news from Tokyo\/Osaka Japan.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG"],"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/automaton_en\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8056"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18478,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056\/revisions\/18478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}