Hades

Hades is a critical darling from the devs over at Supergiant Games that blends interesting genre twists with super-tight action to create an indie hit.

You play as Zagreus, prince of the underworld, and you've pretty much had it with your dad Hades. The game is a rogue-like that makes your many (many) deaths a feature rather than a bug. Each time you set off to adventure through the many shifting chambers of the underworld you'll engage in fast, brutal, kinetic combat and pick up new weapons and abilities. Then you will, inevitably, die.

But where most rogue-likes more or less ignore the fact you're in a constant loop of death and rebirth, Hades makes a feature of it. Some of the modifiers you've picked up will stay with you and, more importantly, the game's rich cast of fully-voiced gods and monsters will remember you from your last incarnation. It makes for some fascinating interactions that make each run through Hades' procedurally-generated dungeons feel like a progression rather than a repeat. In fact, the complexities of your dealings with NPCs give it the feel of a dating sim at times, giving the genre an interesting and unexpected twist.

The colourful, manic art style straight out of a Don Bluth animated film doesn't hurt things, either.

The sum total of all these factors is a game that's wonderfully varied. Character interactions are constantly fresh and you'll probably never play with the same character build twice, making for a fast, dynamic and fresh action experience.