Black Chicken Studios are my favourite VN Indie studio even though they've only released two games (sorry to all the good people working on the Winterwolves titles
). Academagia is a stat based game based in a Harry Potter type world, and has often been called a cross between Princess Maker and HP. The writing is brilliant, but unfortunately the game is all about stats so if you don't like pouring over spreadsheets, give this one a miss.
Scheherazade is hands down my favourite Indie VN. It has their typical brilliant writing, but they combine it with a hilarious, adventurous protagonist and solid sim elements. It's massive and an utter joy to play. It's given me months of entertainment.
Hanako make some really good VNs, unfortunately I'm rarely in the mood for pure VNs, and their sim games are 'light' in various ways. Their games have quality storytelling, though.
Upcoming Indie RPGs:
Age of Decadence, an RPG for people who like plenty of choice in how they play their character. This upcoming game is all about freedom in how the player resolves problems, with the path of 'fightyness' arguably the harder path to take (which is unusual.) Beta is available and is massive in length, replayability and size (280mb.) It will be released in the 2nd quarter of next year, and our 7 years of patience had better have be worth it Vaultdweller!
http://www.irontowerstudio.com/
Underrail is an isometric RPG set in a post-apocalyptic future. Progress has been slow but the alpha is up
. Which you can download
only if you hand over money
http://www.underrail.com/
Dead State, an upcoming zombie rpg with few zombies. Looks otherwise great.
http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/
Expeditions Conquistador is for lovers of strategy/RPG/adventure hybrid, for fans of strategy and RPG goodness.
It's also been released, so I shouldn't have included it in the list of upcoming RPGs. But meh, what you gonna do
http://www.indiegamemag.com/expeditions ... adventure/
Wasteland 2 by InXile (they've shunned the publisher route and are funding games using kickstarter, so technically Indie). This game needs no introduction. It's one of the 3 games isometric RPG fans are patiently waiting for. If you liked RPGs like Baldur's Gate, Fallout or Torment, then this game NEEDS to be on your radar. Will be released Q2 next year.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08 ... steland-2/
Torment - Tides of Numenera by InXile. This game needs less of an introduction than the one above. Spin off to arguably the greatest RPG of all time and featuring writing talent like Pat Rothfuss, this is THE RPG isometric fans are waiting for. Will be developed after Wasteland 2, and released in 2015(ish).
Project Eternity (can technically be called Indie) - While Obsidian usually go the big publisher route, Project Eternity was funded using kickstarter and is being developed by a small team. The last of the 'big 3' RPGs fans have been waiting for that are being developed without publisher support.
http://eternity.obsidian.net/
Spiderweb and Eschalon games are probably a little TOO niche for people's tastes. You'd have to be REALLY old-school to enjoy these games, Eschalon because it's punishing and they both don't have good graphics. Good games, with spiderweb containing some EXCELLENT writing, but most people will find them tedious.