Games are art. No one is debating that anymore. The few stragglers attempting to claim otherwise were finally silenced when flOwer came out last year and won Best Indie Game from Playboy. But it’s important to look at where the movement began. Obviously, it began with the indies, but let’s be specific:

Games became art two and a half years ago during Glorious Trainwrecks’ Emergency 100-in-1 Klik & Play Pirate Kart Meltdown.

Lucky for us artgame dilettantes, the powers that be have chosen to engage the public in a second Pirate Kart competition, resulting in five hundred and twenty nine new games. We have played all of them. Here, for your convenience, are the eight titles of the greatest artistic merit.

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CollisionFighter – A fascinatingly self-reflective piece on the use of death in games, CollisionFighter borrows heavily (philosophically, of course) from the treatment of death in roguelikes like NetHack and takes the concept to its furthest conclusion. This one is definitely designed to make you think, and beneath its almost-too-polished action game exterior is a game that will do exactly that.

Profound, yet subtle.

Zongor VS Crazy Axe Man – Zongor is by far one of the darkest submissions to the competition this year. To say much more about it would risk tarnishing the emotional impact of one of the most intense games we’ve experienced in a while, but in short, Zongor focuses on one man’s attempts (and ultimate failure) to quell his deeply-suppressed violent tendencies. While the game strives to lighten the tone in spots with xdonthave1xx’s characteristic black humor, this one is truly not for the faint of heart.

You Have to Put the George Washington in the American Flag – Call it this year’s indie Bioshock, but this text-based thriller from Healy is not only remarkably exciting and well-paced, it also packs a strong philosophical punch. In essence, you control an everyman placed without explanation in our nation’s capital, and, over the arc of the game’s progression, you are confronted by some of the most powerful and direct political metaphors we’ve seen in indie games to date. Washington provides an interesting and unique twist on contemporary libertarian theory, and absolutely should not be missed.

Disjointed, yet coherent.

Create Balls – Wouldn’t run.

Eat a Baby or a Burglar – This game takes inspiration from the complex moral decision-making required from contemporary console games like inFamous and goes on to prove that you don’t need a huge studio or giant budget to create sophisticated ethical quandaries. Burglar is one that definitely requires multiple playthroughs to get everything out of.

Bleak, yet heartfelt.

Pac-Man Without a Cause – Another existential masterpiece by Sergio Cornaga (author of the absolutely chilling my shadow is a killing thing), this piece uses the angst of a lonely 80s arcade character as an illustrative tool for the greater issue of the artificial personalities that disguised the quarter-greedy, soulless arcade games of yore. Perhaps minimalist to a fault, but nonetheless a valuable piece.

An artgame about the horrors of war. – Devastating.

Suicide Is NOT The Answer – Shit.

Readers! Do you have a favorite game from the 529 submissions? Let us know in the comments!