Crowdfunding has helped thousands of projects find financial backing. Whether you're raising as much as Critical Role's record-breaking $11.3 million to create an entire animated series, or just looking for $100 for an art project, people will fund you if they think you're going to deliver something worth their money.
And of course, with game development being so expensive, it makes sense that indie developers would try to crowdfund their games. But it's not just indie developers, even developers like CD Projekt Red are using crowdfunding to get projects off the ground (whether you want them to or not). But in amongst all these projects, some crowdfunded games are true gems.
10 Monster Prom
Monster Prom raised a little over $35,000, which might seem like a lot but isn't very much compared to many of the other entries on this list. But that relatively slim budget didn't stop developer Beautiful Glitch from creating a hilarious competitive dating sim.
With just three weeks to find a date to the Monster Prom, you and up to three friends get to take part in more than 100 bizarre activities as you try to impress your potential dates. It's also about as inclusive as it gets with everyone being too busy trying to look cool to worry about such trivial matters as gender.
9 FTL: Faster Than Light
Subset Games listed FTL: Faster Than Light with a modest goal of $10,000 dollars on Kickstarter but by the time the campaign came to an end they had received just over $200,000 of backing. This funding allowed them to create a wonderful mix of spaceship simulation and roguelike gameplay.
Anyone who likes strategy games and having to carefully balance their resources will adore FTL and its mix of text-based and combat events designed to challenge your abilities as a captain. Not to mention the added challenge of permadeath, meaning you either reach your goal in one run or die trying.
8 Superhot
Superhot is one of the most unique games on this list. Having raised a quarter of a million dollars through crowdfunding, the developers were able to create a unique FPS game where time is frozen unless you are moving. With this mechanic at its heart, Superhot takes the player through action-packed levels that present challenges of skill and logic.
And even though the most challenging levels can take many attempts to complete, the combination of slow-motion action and gorgeous visual effects will leave any player feeling like the coolest person in the world.
7 Hyper Light Drifter
Despite having a target of just $27,000, Hyper Light Drifter's crowdfunding campaign pulled in more than $640,000 by the time it ended and the resulting game did not disappoint. With 16-bit inspired graphics but a world on the grand scale players have to expect from modern adventure games, Hyper Light Drifter got so much right.
With gameplay that is described as "easy to pick up, difficult to master", Hyper Light Drifter has a way of making every player feel capable without the game ever feeling too easy. So if it's a retro adventure with souls-like gameplay you're after, this crowdfunded gem might be for you.
6 Kingdom Come: Deliverance
With a stunning $1.5 million raised via crowdfunding, Kingdom Come: Deliverance had all the funding it needed to become a stunning medieval open-world adventure, and that is exactly what it became. Playing as Henry, the son of a blacksmith, players will venture out to learn how to fight before joining the service of Lord Radzig Kobyla to fight for his homeland.
With in-depth combat mechanics that allowed you to master a variety of weapons, Kingdom Come: Deliverance presents an exciting blend of realistic combat and dramatic storytelling inside a historically accurate representation of Bohemia.
5 Elite Dangerous
One of two games to raise over $2 million on this list, Elite Dangerous's crowdfunding success allowed one of the longest-running game series around to become the go-to space simulator of the gaming world. With simulation so advanced that it takes hours just to learn all the controls, Elite Dangerous is as close to spaceflight as most of us will ever get to experience.
If the simulation aspect isn't enough to convince you, then maybe the prospect of exploring all 400 billion star systems in the Milky Way is enough to hook you. After Scarab Surface Recon Vehicle was added in an update, players can even land on the planets they arrive at, expanding the potential for exploration an unimaginable amount.
4 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Both installments of the Divinity: Original Sin series were crowdfunded, but the second game's success in raising $2 million and the amazing game that followed means it beat its predecessor and made it onto this list.
Players of Dungeons and Dragons will feel right at home in Divinity, along with any fans of other turn-based RPGs. The blend of custom characters, a sprawling open world, and an intricate system of classes and skills make Divinity an RPG experience you can't afford to miss and a testament to the power of what crowdfunding can create.
3 Shovel Knight
Shovel Knight could easily be credited with the revival of the retro platformer genre and the fact it was a crowdfunded success can't be ignored in that. With over $300,000 raised, it showed the gaming world that players still wanted platformers, before going on to show everyone exactly how to make a good one.
This old-school action-adventure platformer features the titular character Shovel Knight fighting the world in order to rescue his beloved. It's far from an original plotline but that was never Shovel Knights goal. Shovel Knight was just aiming to become the perfect classic platformer, and that's exactly what it did.
2 Undertale
There aren't many people who haven't heard of Undertale, but it might surprise many to know that it only raised $50,000 during its crowdfunding campaign, an amount that pales in comparison to its sales post-release. It's hard to pin down exactly what makes Undertale so good as it does so much right but its characters certainly played a strong role, why else would they have spawned so much fanwork?
With characters that every player could get invested in, Undertale's infamous Genocide Route hit so much harder than every other game where you just fight all your enemies to the death. It made players feel guilty about the lives they took and made them work especially hard for it with bosses like Sans. While the alternative Pacifist Route was just as challenging, meaning every player had an unforgettable experience.
1 Hollow Knight
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Hollow Knight takes the top spot on this list for several reasons: its beautiful hand-drawn visuals, its perfectly balanced difficulty, and a world that feels truly alive. In reality, it's a game that could be praised near endlessly, which makes it even more surprising that it only raised $40,000 during its crowdfunding campaign.
Every penny of that was well-spent in the creation of a game that is considered by many to be a work of art and the pinnacle of the Metroidvania genre. There are endless secrets to be discovered along with more than 30 bosses to fight using a variety of unlockable abilities and the skills you have learned throughout the game. It's an unmissable gaming experience, even if you aren't usually a fan of souls-like gameplay.