So back in the 7th gen era of gaming, Xbox did this thing called the Summer of Arcade where, for 4-5 weeks, release a new game on Xbox Live Arcade every week. Not just new to Xbox 360, all of these games had their first release on XBLA (with the exception of the MvC2 re-release), and didn't come out on other platforms for months or even years. A lot of them ended up being some of the most well known and praised indie games of their decade (whether or not that mostly has to do with the fact that they were part of this promotion is up to you to decide). This list of games is so especially evocative of such a specific time for video games, discussion of games online, the understanding at the time of what digital games could/should be, and the trends of the time. Done in release order.

Also, remember being on youtube in 2013 and all of a sudden every other gaming channel you follow released a video on like, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons? Microsoft had some sort of deal worked out with one of the big gaming channel networks, but I didn't know what Summer of Arcade was at the time so I was just freaked out.