I appreciate low-fi art styles as a way for devs of limited time/budget/artistic talent (presumably compensated for in other areas) to get their work out there. What I will say is
abstract and simple =/= big pixels. Using a limited palette like
NightSky, or block colours like the
Another World remaster, can save just as much time, and while it doesn't look any "better" or "worse", it's sure as fuck less overexposed. This actually applies to 3D, too, in
Kairo,
FRACT and their ilk - flat textures, low complexity models.
And if anyone thinks "I'd get sick of silhouettes and paper cutout styles pretty fast too", remember that the point isn't to find some "perfect" aesthetic for every penniless indie dev to use, it's just to have enough variety that none of them start taking flak individually for being too popular. Because ultimately, that's the only sin that the sterotypical Retro Indie Platformer ever really committed.
You guys are all behind the times, anyway. First-Person Jumpscare Horrors are the hot thing to hate right now.