How come retro-inspired indie games can't replicate the soul of real retro games?

They try to copy soul, but you have to be born with it.

a lot of the soul is working within the limitations of the time

if they exceed the limitations by using too many colors at once, sound that is too high quality, etc then it loses retro appeal

Because they are generally derivative slop that simply rip off their inspiration rather than making something truly new from it. See UFO 50 for examples.

>>715474917 (OP)
they lack the passion, limitations and struggle of the past.
sometimes they have the passion and they end up making something good. but without the other two it will never be the same

they do. play more games.

>>715475534
shit that actually looks really cool

>>715475761
Many such cases

>>715474917 (OP)
Thoughts on La Mulana?

Because they're just copycats, they're trying to imitate soul instead of having one of their own.

>>715474917 (OP)
RayForce stands out though, it's a shooter that doesn't run on toaster tier hardware which was commonplace for the genre. Hence the superscaler effects and high production value feel to the game.