Brewelist Advent Calendar Day 1: Indiebox and Freedom Planet

Welcome to Brewelist’s first-annual Advent Calendar. From now until December 25th, we’ll be bringing you beers, video games and other glad tidings each day. Nothing is sponsored and our reviews are our opinions solely. Unless otherwise noted, these were also purchased with our own funds.

Want to get into the subscription box craze but beauty products or razors aren’t your cup of tea?

Do you like the convenience of digital indie games but lament the lack of a physical box?

Is there a gamer in your life that you want to give the gift of gaming but need something more personal?

Indiebox may be the answer.

the-box

The subscription service sends you an indie video game and assorted extras every month. Games must meet these criteria (from their website):

  • The game must support Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux platforms
  • The game must have a score of 75 or better on Steam and/or a rating of 8.0 or better on IndieDB.
  • The game must have been released no more than 6 months from the time that we initially contact them. We do this because we have to find the best time to feature a specific game and/or have enough time to work with busy developers.

This guarantees you’ll get a game that’s good, recent and able to be played on your non-console platform. The boxes are $19.99 on a month-to-month subscription not inclusive of shipping. Gift subscriptions are available if you want to give the gift of indie games or want to try it out without it auto-renewing. Boxes are discounted if you are looking to order multiple months up front.

The November 2015 box featured Freedom Planet, a game that is stylistically very similar to the classic Sonic games of the SEGA Genesis era. Make no mistake, it is no clone of the speedy hedgehog and Freedom Planet has been lauded by players for the gameplay, as well as the soundtrack, which is included.

The box itself comes with a sealed package. If you’re a collector and hoarding mint-condition packaging is your thing, they do put the Steam key in the back of the box so you can leave your precious loot intact but still be able to play the game.

My Freedom Planet package included the USB stick, CDs of the Soundtrack, a Collectible Coin, several stickers, a wallet and a curious stone in a leather pouch. All of these items were well packaged and seem to be of very good quality.

The game retails on Steam for $14.99 when not on sale and the value of the items well exceed the cost of the box.

Previous boxes have included custom controllers, accessories and other tidbits. While supplies last, previous boxes are available for sale on their site as well, so if you missed Freedom Planet, you may still be able to get your hands on it.