I find that as someone with more niche tastes in video games, I can only really find games that scratch my particular itch in the indie game scene.

The games I like are hardcore, unforgiving, with lots of depth and mechanical skill requirements, and that sort of game isnt often made in the AAA market as it generally doesnt appeal to the average gamer (and therefore wont get enough sales).

So the only place to find games that really tick all my boxes is the indie game market. Games like Reflex and Warsow have crazy high skill caps and tons of depth. As 1v1 games they are also daunting to get into.

I'd love a game like that to be made by a AAA dev, but I can see why they wouldnt given how unapproachable it is. Even the upcoming Quake Champions is moving towards team games and class based gameplay to make it a little more forgiving and rewarding for new players

I've rambled on a bit here but I suppose my point is that if you want to find a starting point in the indie game scene, identify what you want from a game and then delve into that particular scene. I like Arena FPS games and the AAA scene has contributed nothing worthwhile to that space in over a decade. The indie scene however has lots of great arena fps games made by passionate indie devs with the same tastes as me

Indie games often are much more able to satisfy your needs as they dont have to appeal to a broad market. They can be more niche and specific and are often passion projects As a fan wi