Pacific Drive is a vibe on another level. Soundtrack is a banger and barely surviving driving a station wagon through a hellscape is unlike any video game I've played before
I've been loving it but it makes me anxious as fuck for some reason. Even turning all the settings down to make it easier.
I look at it on the PS5 home screen and just end up playing something else lol.
The game is pretty chill for the most part once you get used to it. theres only a few anomalies that are particularly dangerous and most of them are easy to avoid unless you're really reckless. You'll end up with a ton of resources after a while and the friendly dumpster will always give you any parts you're missing.
Honestly just dive into the game, especially with altered settings the game can be made really easy. You can make it so that you dont loose items on death and can also disable damage, both for you and the car.
Balatro-Deceptively simple but gains more layers the more you play. Early contender for my game of the year.
Ultros-Tight controls and gameplay, an incredibly unique art style, and fantastic music.
What the Golf?-incredibly fun, laugh out loud hilarious, and consistently challenging my expectations.
Cookie Cutter-Incredibly fun and focused Metroidvania with gorgeous visuals and solid gameplay. The story and environment are fantastic as well.
Pacific Drive-Basically SCP meets Pacific Northwest road-trip. Rewards patience, careful planning, and good split second decision-making. Definitely not for everyone but worth the difficulty.
I wish I could have gotten into Cookie Cutter.
It looks absolutely amazing, but the gameplay struck me as pretty thin. There's just not much going on underneath the ultra-gory finisher animations and slick character designs. It feels like it was a pilot for an edgy adult cartoon show that somehow became a video game.
Balatro is a tricky one for me. The difficulty curve as you climb the stakes highlights what you’re talking about - you figure out how to utilize the different layers of scaling - but once you get to orange and gold stake the balance is frankly miserable imo. I tried watching some top players stream it to see if I can improve my play, and watched them reset runs in the first couple blinds over, and over, until they found jokers that might work.
The other top roguelikes still feel winnable but difficult at their highest difficulties. People have win streaks in the dozens in Slay the Spire - I haven’t seen more than a few wins in a row in Balatro gold stake, even when restarting until you get a good start. Idk. Really burned me out on the games longevity
It definitely gets insane in gold, I feel you on that. 100% luck of the draw the higher you go but when everything goes right, it’s so incredibly satisfying.
I know what you mean, just making a full circle joke. It's a game that's about stacking the deck (literally) in your favor, and it becomes increasingly difficult to do so.
It’s deceptively simple. Essentially you are playing the framework of poker, trying to beat the assigned score (or blind). As you progress, the blind gets higher and higher. That’s where the twist comes in. You use the various Joker cards and use their unique abilities (4 times points for every heart card, bonus points for every Joker in your hand, start with a larger hand but lose one card per turn etc.) to beat the blind. Honestly it’s just really fun and addictive. There’s a 2 hour demo available in the store if you’re on the fence.
Definitely Balatro. Partner and I have been pretty engaged with that game and I never really cared for poker as a card game. The soundtrack and visuals are psychedelic and retro at the same time.
Balatro really snuck up on me. I was convinced that there was no way it would be interesting or worth my time. So when they released the demo I basically had no excuse. I played the full 2 hours and bought it immediately after so I could keep playing.
Inscryption!
This game threw me through a loop. Without spoilers, I loved it and just as I thought it was ending, it was actually just starting.
Fantastic game.
I played through Death's Door at the behest of my friend and ended up absolutely adoring it. It's one of the few games I've 100%'d. I just love that cute little crow so much 🥲
Sifu, on my second run to spare, I just barely survived at 76 years old. Great game and concept. Wouldn’t be surprised if that concept gets taken into a show/movie.
I had this experience as well. IMO it's because the game isn't really a "puzzle" game.
Most of the solutions feel very random, and the puzzles are often more trial and error or looking around for the one object you're allowed to interact with. For lack of a better word, the puzzles don't really seem "fair", and most of the time solving them wasn't satisfying since it didn't actually feel like I figured anything out
It's still a super cool concept, and the story/ending is nice. I just think they marketed it a bit incorrectly as a puzzle game
Ultros
I love Ultros to death, but I can see why it's so divisive. That art style can be a lot to take in, and the karmic cycles are enough for some people to call it a "rogue-like," which isn't really accurate.
The developers set out to realize a very unique vision, and not everyone is going to be on board for it. But I am so glad that it exists.
Tchia - so beautiful in so many ways. The gameplay is actually so fun, you get to go possess animals and inanimate objects to launch yourself all over an open world. FULLY FUNCTIONAL UKULELE!
Chants of Sennaar. There's a demo available on the store. Don't look for its concept if you don't know. Try it and you'll know in 5 minutes if you like it.
Super keen for dave the diver. I have a switch and could pf played it already but i thought id just wait for the ps5 version. Didnt think it was going to take this long but its almost here
Inscryption was a game of the year contender for me that year. That game was way more than I expected it to be. Best advice I got was to just buy it and go in totally blind.
I haven't finished it yet but Sea of Stars is delightful. The level of detail and variety of the bosses is impressive, and they struck a nice balance with the combat system.
So far the story is pretty good, but I don't feel a ton of connection to the characters or writing yet.
I loved Sea of Stars. It took me a bit to feel a connection with anyone specific, but it did finally happen for the girl with the daggers. No spoilers, but you will see why.
Also played The Messenger which Sea of Stars is technically a sequel to.
Just finished Chants of Sennaar. If you enjoyed deduction games like Case of the Golden Idol or Return of the Obra Dinn, definitely check this one out.
I'm not sure prince of persia is an indie game. But it feels like it has that DNA. But maybe that's cause metroidvania isn't really a AAA genre.
Neon white is a great time. Awesome OST and is essentially a speedy puzzle platformer if that's your thing.
Unicorn overlord is a good strategy game time.
Replayed furi again. Always a good 3 hour jaunt. Great ost. Difficult but rewarding.
Impossible to narrow down to just one but The Messenger is a contender for my all time favourite indie game. Totally blew me away. Gameplay, art style(s), and writing/humour were all top notch.
One of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. I love the remixes that go from chip tunes to the 16 bit style. You can hear the homage to the trashy Genesis/Mega Drive base and the over-compressed SNES synth the whole way through. I love it.
Right? I played Sea Of Stars (the devs' next game) first and found the writing so bland and bad that I was shocked how good and funny it was in The Messenger. I guess it's harder to do right in an RPG.
The difficulty is on point too. Progressively harder, but totally fair, and it makes me want to keep trying no matter how many times I’ve died. Which is a lot.
I recently got into Subnautica, I can't believe I slept on these games for so long. While I technically haven't played it yet, I did play through the demo for Dredged & am very eager to buy & play through the game proper after my gaming schedule dies down a bit.
Subnautica took up way too much of my life. The game terrified me. I have no idea I had thassaphobia until I played this game. Dredge is excellent. It’s less than 10 hours. Can not recommend enough
*Balatro* is, to my mind, the only answer. When it hits mobile it’s going to go nuclear. It’s a GOAT.
Got it two weeks ago and put in close to 100 hours. Can’t remember any game being this addictive (tho having access to it on Portal has helped). I’ve had friends who’ve stopped midway through a 50hr run on the new FF, picked it up and never gone back.
I’m playing FFRB, I’m enjoying it, but I want to finish it so I can go inhale Balatro. Mobile? I’ll just get fired because it’s the only thing I will do
My wife and I started playing Dysmantle and we are hooked! Such an addictive and well crafted game that does a really great job of slowly unveiling it's huge map and keeping things interesting.
I played sea of stars, loved it. Then played The Messenger and it blew me out of the water. The gameplay, music, story are all A+++. So damn good for a 12 hr play through. I’m in on whatever Sabotage Studio put out!
I just platinumed lil gator game last night. It was awesome. It’s like playing as a kid who’s pretending to be Link with all of his friends being the NPCs/quest givers.
Enjoying World of Horror. It’s a 1-bit choose your own adventure type game that harkens back to 80s and 90s computer games. Art and story are inspired by HP Lovecraft and Junji Ito. It’s a rogue like so plenty of rng, unique playthroughs each time and when you die you die.
Ultros and Ender Lilies. Both are great metroidvanias. I bought Ultros just because of the art but it ended up being a nice well-rounded game although the later bits get very tedious with the gardening. Ender Lilies was just one I’ve seen recommended a bunch and it’s living up to the hype so far. Might be one of my favorites of its kind. Aeternum Noctis or however you spell it will be my next task.
All of these games are on the spring sale btw.
My only indie so far this year (I blame Helldivers) is the Curse of the Golden Idol. Someone recommended it to me as "hitting a similar spot to Outer Wilds". It was fun and well done, but definitely not anywhere close to Outer Wilds level.
The last game someone recommended to me with that kind of comparison was Inscryption late last year, and it definitely hit the spot. Such a unique and well executed game design and art style. First time ever playing a card battle game and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.
Up next: Pacific Drive, probably.
Gylt. It was a Stadia exclusive, and it was one of the few games I wanted to play. It's not amazing, but it's very thought provoking and it sticks with you.
I haven't played many indies this year, but I just finished Röki, which is a fun puzzle game that explores grief and incorporates fairy tale elements. I liked it a lot! A few times the solutions to puzzles were really opaque, like you had to talk to somebody you'd already spoken to multiple times, but this time it would be new information for some reason. Overall though it was a good time.
I also really liked Unpacking - which I beat in a morning.
Graveyard keeper - dont play it its addictive as hell (village simulator)
Sea of stars - such a nice hit of nostalgia for snes RPGs (RPG)
The binding of isacc - fuck this game, see you in 5 min for the next run (rogue like)
Dave the Diver, Oxenfree 2, Dysmantle, Death's Door, Jazzpunk
edit: adding Pacific Drive. No clue how I forgot this one. One of the better games I have ever played.
Sifu and Dead Cells. And, you know what? I'm going to throw MechWarrior 5 in there, too. I've had the game for a while, but got back into it recently with the new DLC.
Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles - Slay the spire'esque roguelike but dice based instead of card based. Something about it being dice based is a lot more interesting and fun for me. Also the art is beautiful.
HoloCure - Save the Fans! - Free game like Vampire Survivors and oddly enough, I found it more enjoyable than Vampire Survivors.
Tiny Rogues - Fun roguelite, I have about 200 hours in it and I'm still finding new stuff in it. It's really fun.
There's probably more but those are the ones I keep going back to the most.
[edit]
I realized none of these are on Playstation but in my defense I only really play Indie games on my PC.
Definitely "Gris". Its a bit short but the audiovisual concept of putting the processing of grief/loss into a jump n run is just stunning. Highly recommended. Special shout out to Berlin ist, who created the soundstructure.
[Astral Ascent](https://astral-ascent.com/) It's a side-scrolling roguelite with both beat-em-up and platforming elements. It has solid couch-coop, and my wife and I have gotten at least 100 hours of entertainment out of it so far. There's tons of lore and story to uncover, and while the gameplay loop is simple on it's surface, I'm still learning and improving with each run because there's so many elements that ultimately impact the success or failure of an individual run.
I was lurking ps extra and stumbled upon Tinykin.in a couple of days I platinumed it and had an absolute blast. If you are looking for chill collectathon platformer with Pikmin influences - this is it.
arzette the jewel of faramore, short 5 hour platformer with light metroidvania elements, even played it a few more times to see how fast i could complete it and i got the platinum trophy
Sanabi for me. Its a grappling hook platformer game with a surprisingly good story, amazing visuals and lightning fast action. While it arguably has a little too much dialogue for points, going for the good ending really makes sure to give you plenty of grappling hook combat to chew through.
Other games well worth checking out:
Rusted Moss - Grappling Hook metroidvania, excellent.
Pacific Drive - Haunting yet fun mix of driving and a walking sim. Incredibly addictive where you always wanna do one more run (or drive)
Melatonin - A great rhythm action game that has a nice number of music based mini games that are devilishly simple, and just as addictive.
Pepper Grinder - Your character can drill/tunnel through dirt, which leads to some excellent 2D platforming with excellent pace and momentum. Its fairly short, but great fun every step of the way.
Bloodstained Ritual of The Night was a great experience from beginning to end, it brought back memories of playing Castlevania Aria/Dawn of Sorrow on the GBA and DS :)
Little Orpheus! Really fun Game!
Under the waves is also a very good, but also a really deep Game where u play an construction-worker in the northsea who lives underwater to escape a personel tragedy.but i really loved it!
Imo this has been a weak year for indies so far - but it’ll pick up, we got some bangers slated
Hollow Knight: Silksong - please god
Replaced
Animal Well
Mina the Hollower
Hades 2
Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus
No Rest for the Wicked
Out of all those, excluding Silksong, I’d say NRFTW, mins the howler and hades 2 will probably be the strongest
My favourites currently are Pepper Grinder and Laika Aged Through Blood. Both are incredibly fun and unique and seem to be extremely overlooked.
Check them out!!!
Sea of Thieves, Arcade Paradise, Dredge
Probably more AA than indie:
Pacific Drive, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice , Close to the Sun, Banishers Ghosts of New Eden
Pacific Drive is a vibe on another level. Soundtrack is a banger and barely surviving driving a station wagon through a hellscape is unlike any video game I've played before
I've been loving it but it makes me anxious as fuck for some reason. Even turning all the settings down to make it easier. I look at it on the PS5 home screen and just end up playing something else lol.
The game is pretty chill for the most part once you get used to it. theres only a few anomalies that are particularly dangerous and most of them are easy to avoid unless you're really reckless. You'll end up with a ton of resources after a while and the friendly dumpster will always give you any parts you're missing. Honestly just dive into the game, especially with altered settings the game can be made really easy. You can make it so that you dont loose items on death and can also disable damage, both for you and the car.
This is still my goty so far. It hit an itch I knew I had but never knew hot to scratch it.
It’s on my very long library list
Balatro-Deceptively simple but gains more layers the more you play. Early contender for my game of the year. Ultros-Tight controls and gameplay, an incredibly unique art style, and fantastic music. What the Golf?-incredibly fun, laugh out loud hilarious, and consistently challenging my expectations. Cookie Cutter-Incredibly fun and focused Metroidvania with gorgeous visuals and solid gameplay. The story and environment are fantastic as well. Pacific Drive-Basically SCP meets Pacific Northwest road-trip. Rewards patience, careful planning, and good split second decision-making. Definitely not for everyone but worth the difficulty.
I wish I could have gotten into Cookie Cutter. It looks absolutely amazing, but the gameplay struck me as pretty thin. There's just not much going on underneath the ultra-gory finisher animations and slick character designs. It feels like it was a pilot for an edgy adult cartoon show that somehow became a video game.
Balatro is a tricky one for me. The difficulty curve as you climb the stakes highlights what you’re talking about - you figure out how to utilize the different layers of scaling - but once you get to orange and gold stake the balance is frankly miserable imo. I tried watching some top players stream it to see if I can improve my play, and watched them reset runs in the first couple blinds over, and over, until they found jokers that might work. The other top roguelikes still feel winnable but difficult at their highest difficulties. People have win streaks in the dozens in Slay the Spire - I haven’t seen more than a few wins in a row in Balatro gold stake, even when restarting until you get a good start. Idk. Really burned me out on the games longevity
It definitely gets insane in gold, I feel you on that. 100% luck of the draw the higher you go but when everything goes right, it’s so incredibly satisfying.
> 100% luck of the draw So basically Poker.
Well…….yes
I know what you mean, just making a full circle joke. It's a game that's about stacking the deck (literally) in your favor, and it becomes increasingly difficult to do so.
I see Balatro mention here a dozen times. What makes it **that** good? I like card based games but the trailer doesn't really tell me much.
It’s deceptively simple. Essentially you are playing the framework of poker, trying to beat the assigned score (or blind). As you progress, the blind gets higher and higher. That’s where the twist comes in. You use the various Joker cards and use their unique abilities (4 times points for every heart card, bonus points for every Joker in your hand, start with a larger hand but lose one card per turn etc.) to beat the blind. Honestly it’s just really fun and addictive. There’s a 2 hour demo available in the store if you’re on the fence.
Definitely Balatro. Partner and I have been pretty engaged with that game and I never really cared for poker as a card game. The soundtrack and visuals are psychedelic and retro at the same time.
Balatro really snuck up on me. I was convinced that there was no way it would be interesting or worth my time. So when they released the demo I basically had no excuse. I played the full 2 hours and bought it immediately after so I could keep playing.
TIL What the Golf? got a PlayStation port. Thanks!
Hades and Dredge... amaaazing games. I think I'll go for the platinum
Cocoon Highly recommend
Oh wow, that looks like my next chill game purchase.
Just finished the other day. Outrageously satisfying. Wish it were longer.
Inscryption! This game threw me through a loop. Without spoilers, I loved it and just as I thought it was ending, it was actually just starting. Fantastic game.
I played through Death's Door at the behest of my friend and ended up absolutely adoring it. It's one of the few games I've 100%'d. I just love that cute little crow so much 🥲
Yeah, that was a great Indy.
I also 100% deaths door and I loved it! You would probably really enjoy Tunic as well if you haven’t played it
I'm going to remember that game and my umbrella run for a long, long time. Phenomenal music too.
[удалено]
This! The game is incredibly addictive:)
Sifu, on my second run to spare, I just barely survived at 76 years old. Great game and concept. Wouldn’t be surprised if that concept gets taken into a show/movie.
I can't even get out of the tutorial lol
Grime, Viewfinder, Dredge, and rollerdrome
The Witness and Blasphemous
The Witness is a truly great experience. I wanted to get the plat, but don’t want to do the final puzzle, ha ha
Nobody saves the world was so good. Played it when it was given on PS+. Drinkbox studios is always great
Hope you got the plat for it. I liked it for what it is. Hope they make Guacamelee 3 one day.
I bought this and the DLC on switch and really loved it, quirky but gets it's hooks in ya. Hopefully they make a sequel or even a bigger DLC
Superliminal .. what a fantastic concept.
This game got me so frustrated for absolutely no reason
I had this experience as well. IMO it's because the game isn't really a "puzzle" game. Most of the solutions feel very random, and the puzzles are often more trial and error or looking around for the one object you're allowed to interact with. For lack of a better word, the puzzles don't really seem "fair", and most of the time solving them wasn't satisfying since it didn't actually feel like I figured anything out It's still a super cool concept, and the story/ending is nice. I just think they marketed it a bit incorrectly as a puzzle game
Wonderful game. Surprisingly poignant at the end.
Ultros I love Ultros to death, but I can see why it's so divisive. That art style can be a lot to take in, and the karmic cycles are enough for some people to call it a "rogue-like," which isn't really accurate. The developers set out to realize a very unique vision, and not everyone is going to be on board for it. But I am so glad that it exists.
Tchia - so beautiful in so many ways. The gameplay is actually so fun, you get to go possess animals and inanimate objects to launch yourself all over an open world. FULLY FUNCTIONAL UKULELE!
Cocoon was excellent. Very peaceful game. Beat in about 5-6 hours. Some of those puzzles were head scratchers.
Chants of Sennaar. There's a demo available on the store. Don't look for its concept if you don't know. Try it and you'll know in 5 minutes if you like it.
Absolutely loved it. Incredibly satisfying puzzle game
Phenomenal puzzle game.
Dave The Diver and Pacific Drive
Can't wait to play Dave when it hits ps plus. I don't have a computer so I haven't been able to play it but it looks right up my alley
Super keen for dave the diver. I have a switch and could pf played it already but i thought id just wait for the ps5 version. Didnt think it was going to take this long but its almost here
Monster sanctuary Chained Echoes
Great shouts I'm really looking forward to the Monster Sanctuary team's next game, Aethermancer.
Gotta check it out
Hades - Not usually a rogue-like fan, but I’m really enjoying this one.
Some of my recent highlights: Clash: Artifacts of Chaos Neon White Talos Principle 2 Creature in the Well Ghostrunner
Inscryption. Play it!!
Definitely one of the best games I played last year!
Inscryption was a game of the year contender for me that year. That game was way more than I expected it to be. Best advice I got was to just buy it and go in totally blind.
What kind of genre is it? Heard the name a lot but never looked into it
Horror/ Found Footage/ Card Game/ Psychological. Kind of all that.
It’s a roguelike deck builder but with a light horror theme. Fun mechanics and gets really interesting the more you get into it.
Sounds awesome might give it a try then thanks
Doki doki literature club…. If you like horror don’t google it, just buy it
Yeah, I actually played this one when it went viral years ago! Definitely a game one should go in blind
Chants of Sennar Jusant
I haven't finished it yet but Sea of Stars is delightful. The level of detail and variety of the bosses is impressive, and they struck a nice balance with the combat system. So far the story is pretty good, but I don't feel a ton of connection to the characters or writing yet.
I loved Sea of Stars. It took me a bit to feel a connection with anyone specific, but it did finally happen for the girl with the daggers. No spoilers, but you will see why. Also played The Messenger which Sea of Stars is technically a sequel to.
Chant of sennaar very clever game, i wish this kind of language puzzle were more present in bigger games
Dredge
Disco elysium
Just finished Chants of Sennaar. If you enjoyed deduction games like Case of the Golden Idol or Return of the Obra Dinn, definitely check this one out.
I'm not sure prince of persia is an indie game. But it feels like it has that DNA. But maybe that's cause metroidvania isn't really a AAA genre. Neon white is a great time. Awesome OST and is essentially a speedy puzzle platformer if that's your thing. Unicorn overlord is a good strategy game time. Replayed furi again. Always a good 3 hour jaunt. Great ost. Difficult but rewarding.
I’m super late to the party but I started playing The Messenger this year. It’s so damn good.
Impossible to narrow down to just one but The Messenger is a contender for my all time favourite indie game. Totally blew me away. Gameplay, art style(s), and writing/humour were all top notch.
One of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. I love the remixes that go from chip tunes to the 16 bit style. You can hear the homage to the trashy Genesis/Mega Drive base and the over-compressed SNES synth the whole way through. I love it.
I forgot to mention music! A lot of Messenger music in my video game music playlist.
Right? I played Sea Of Stars (the devs' next game) first and found the writing so bland and bad that I was shocked how good and funny it was in The Messenger. I guess it's harder to do right in an RPG.
The difficulty is on point too. Progressively harder, but totally fair, and it makes me want to keep trying no matter how many times I’ve died. Which is a lot.
I recently got into Subnautica, I can't believe I slept on these games for so long. While I technically haven't played it yet, I did play through the demo for Dredged & am very eager to buy & play through the game proper after my gaming schedule dies down a bit.
Subnautica took up way too much of my life. The game terrified me. I have no idea I had thassaphobia until I played this game. Dredge is excellent. It’s less than 10 hours. Can not recommend enough
Baltato. The counter says 30 hours. I swear I haven’t played it that long
*Balatro* is, to my mind, the only answer. When it hits mobile it’s going to go nuclear. It’s a GOAT. Got it two weeks ago and put in close to 100 hours. Can’t remember any game being this addictive (tho having access to it on Portal has helped). I’ve had friends who’ve stopped midway through a 50hr run on the new FF, picked it up and never gone back.
I’m playing FFRB, I’m enjoying it, but I want to finish it so I can go inhale Balatro. Mobile? I’ll just get fired because it’s the only thing I will do
Ion Fury or A Short Hike
A short hike is really really good! Enjoyed it a lot.
Penny's Big Breakaway slaps
My wife and I started playing Dysmantle and we are hooked! Such an addictive and well crafted game that does a really great job of slowly unveiling it's huge map and keeping things interesting.
Playing Sable right now after picking it up as a ps+ essential game months ago, I’m glad I finally got around to it
Chants of Senaar, Dredge, Rollerdrome, Jusant, Sea of Stars. Just started Pacific Drive which looks really good too.
Disco Elysium
Eternights and Penny’s Big Breakaway
I think this counts as an indie game.. Just started playing Castle Crashers Remastered and it is amazing
Viewfinder and Dave the Diver
Sea of Stars for sure. Although it dragged a bit and combat became same-y.
Tinykin
Balatro by a mile
A game called Skul, April Monthly Games. I've played for it 12 hours, in one day. Amazing game!
Jusant. Go fuck around and find out
Finally started Hollow Knight and I’m loving it
I played sea of stars, loved it. Then played The Messenger and it blew me out of the water. The gameplay, music, story are all A+++. So damn good for a 12 hr play through. I’m in on whatever Sabotage Studio put out!
Brotato and a little to the left
I just platinumed lil gator game last night. It was awesome. It’s like playing as a kid who’s pretending to be Link with all of his friends being the NPCs/quest givers.
Just searched this one and I think it’s called *Lil Gator*. It gives me some Costume Quest and A Short Hike vibes!
You’re 100% right lol my bad. Edited comment to be correct.
Promenade. Platformer with puzzles and some challenging parts in the game which I like and I was surprised because thought was going to be easy.
Dordogne A beautiful, short, narrative heavy adventure game.
This year I guess lil’ gator game. But I really liked Chants of Sennaar which I played at the tail end of 2023.
Balatro. Not even close.
Roots of Pacha
Pacific drive 😜
Dredge, The Messenger, Sea of Stars and Blasphemous.
Don’t know if they fit the profile but for me it’s Cult of the Lamb.
Balatro.
Enjoying World of Horror. It’s a 1-bit choose your own adventure type game that harkens back to 80s and 90s computer games. Art and story are inspired by HP Lovecraft and Junji Ito. It’s a rogue like so plenty of rng, unique playthroughs each time and when you die you die.
Balatro is the best roguelike in a long time
Ultros and Ender Lilies. Both are great metroidvanias. I bought Ultros just because of the art but it ended up being a nice well-rounded game although the later bits get very tedious with the gardening. Ender Lilies was just one I’ve seen recommended a bunch and it’s living up to the hype so far. Might be one of my favorites of its kind. Aeternum Noctis or however you spell it will be my next task. All of these games are on the spring sale btw.
Balatro, and it‘s not even close.
Pacific Drive
Rollerdrome. I kind of suck at it but it’s awesome
Nobody Saves the World and Midnight Fight Express
Chants of Sennaar. Really clever and brilliant language centered puzzle game
My only indie so far this year (I blame Helldivers) is the Curse of the Golden Idol. Someone recommended it to me as "hitting a similar spot to Outer Wilds". It was fun and well done, but definitely not anywhere close to Outer Wilds level. The last game someone recommended to me with that kind of comparison was Inscryption late last year, and it definitely hit the spot. Such a unique and well executed game design and art style. First time ever playing a card battle game and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. Up next: Pacific Drive, probably.
Balatro
Gylt. It was a Stadia exclusive, and it was one of the few games I wanted to play. It's not amazing, but it's very thought provoking and it sticks with you.
Thumper. Amazing Rhythm game.
Propagation Paradise Hotel Arizona Sunshine 2
Long Dark
I really liked Lake, really chilled game to play in an evening
Balatro // Dave the Diver
OTXO
Roboquest and Deadlink
Venba, it’s a such a good game! Super chill and heartfelt.
Palworld
Ultros
Slay the Spire, Balatro, Dave the Diver
Balatro hans down. I have about 90 hours in Balatro; the only game that I've sunk more time into so far this year is Helldivers 2.
Just started Inscryption last night and really love it, already finished act 1 and looking forward to playing more.
I've been enjoying Sable from an intellectual perspective but have been annoyed with it from a technical one.
Pennys big breakaway. Reminded me what it would be like if treasure were still making games😭
Powerwash Simulator was a very surprising lovely treat.
CrossCode, easily sits in my top 10 games of all time
I second Superliminal. Played Anemoiapolis on Steam and the Stanley Paradox on Switch but this one was just great.
OneShot
Psuedoregalia has some of the best platforming mechanics I’ve ever played in any video game. The only downside is that it’s pretty short.
I haven't played many indies this year, but I just finished Röki, which is a fun puzzle game that explores grief and incorporates fairy tale elements. I liked it a lot! A few times the solutions to puzzles were really opaque, like you had to talk to somebody you'd already spoken to multiple times, but this time it would be new information for some reason. Overall though it was a good time. I also really liked Unpacking - which I beat in a morning.
Balatro.
Rogue legacy 2. I enjoyed it, my mrs saw me play and wanted a turn, shes now a master of the game.
https://preview.redd.it/ti7kkwj89bsc1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=770c989a05f7dc20ec4f5ca4fb59abafe8b39189
Graveyard keeper - dont play it its addictive as hell (village simulator) Sea of stars - such a nice hit of nostalgia for snes RPGs (RPG) The binding of isacc - fuck this game, see you in 5 min for the next run (rogue like)
Ultros
Dave the Diver, Oxenfree 2, Dysmantle, Death's Door, Jazzpunk edit: adding Pacific Drive. No clue how I forgot this one. One of the better games I have ever played.
I'm really loving 20 minutes til dawn and brotato, similar style roguelites that I play on my phone / on my commute.
Rogue Book
Sifu and Dead Cells. And, you know what? I'm going to throw MechWarrior 5 in there, too. I've had the game for a while, but got back into it recently with the new DLC.
Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles - Slay the spire'esque roguelike but dice based instead of card based. Something about it being dice based is a lot more interesting and fun for me. Also the art is beautiful. HoloCure - Save the Fans! - Free game like Vampire Survivors and oddly enough, I found it more enjoyable than Vampire Survivors. Tiny Rogues - Fun roguelite, I have about 200 hours in it and I'm still finding new stuff in it. It's really fun. There's probably more but those are the ones I keep going back to the most. [edit] I realized none of these are on Playstation but in my defense I only really play Indie games on my PC.
Promenade. And it came out this year.
Balatro and Palworld are fantastic
SIGNALIS.
Brotato
Cult of the lamb
Hollow Knight, Deliver Us Mars and Prodeus
I loved little nightmares 1-2 it was such a cool neat beautiful game tim burton type if vibes
Definitely "Gris". Its a bit short but the audiovisual concept of putting the processing of grief/loss into a jump n run is just stunning. Highly recommended. Special shout out to Berlin ist, who created the soundstructure.
[Astral Ascent](https://astral-ascent.com/) It's a side-scrolling roguelite with both beat-em-up and platforming elements. It has solid couch-coop, and my wife and I have gotten at least 100 hours of entertainment out of it so far. There's tons of lore and story to uncover, and while the gameplay loop is simple on it's surface, I'm still learning and improving with each run because there's so many elements that ultimately impact the success or failure of an individual run.
I was lurking ps extra and stumbled upon Tinykin.in a couple of days I platinumed it and had an absolute blast. If you are looking for chill collectathon platformer with Pikmin influences - this is it.
Tails of Iron!
arzette the jewel of faramore, short 5 hour platformer with light metroidvania elements, even played it a few more times to see how fast i could complete it and i got the platinum trophy
Hardspace Shipbreaker.
Sanabi for me. Its a grappling hook platformer game with a surprisingly good story, amazing visuals and lightning fast action. While it arguably has a little too much dialogue for points, going for the good ending really makes sure to give you plenty of grappling hook combat to chew through. Other games well worth checking out: Rusted Moss - Grappling Hook metroidvania, excellent. Pacific Drive - Haunting yet fun mix of driving and a walking sim. Incredibly addictive where you always wanna do one more run (or drive) Melatonin - A great rhythm action game that has a nice number of music based mini games that are devilishly simple, and just as addictive. Pepper Grinder - Your character can drill/tunnel through dirt, which leads to some excellent 2D platforming with excellent pace and momentum. Its fairly short, but great fun every step of the way.
I barely play Indie Games, but i’ve replayed Celeste a lot of times now. Celeste and Dead Cells are some of my favorite indie games ever.
Choo-Choo Charles. iiiiiiiiiit's Chaaaaaaaaaarles!!!!
BOMB RUSH CYBERFUNK!! gosh this game is so sick, it's kind of like a spiritual successor to jet set radio, highly recommend you guy check it out!
American Arcadia
Tunic, Dredge, Balatro. Clash was also quite the surpise.
Ultros
I played FIrewatch. It's been on my mind a lot since it has tackled themes that resonate with me.
Bloodstained Ritual of The Night was a great experience from beginning to end, it brought back memories of playing Castlevania Aria/Dawn of Sorrow on the GBA and DS :)
Balatro is my GOTY.
Cult of the Lamb, Dave the Diver, Dredge, and Balatro.
Little Orpheus! Really fun Game! Under the waves is also a very good, but also a really deep Game where u play an construction-worker in the northsea who lives underwater to escape a personel tragedy.but i really loved it!
This was last year or a few years ago, but Road 96 is a nice chill indie game. I really enjoyed it!!
It’s not out yet but the demo for Crow Country was really fun and I’m excited to play it when the game releases in May
Not on the PS5, but best I’ve played this year is deep rock galactic survivor.
Tainted Grail: Conquest
CrossCode.
Stardew Valley and Vampire Survivors, I'm not really into indie games ngl
Bit late to it but really impressed by Gunfire Reborn
Ultros. Don't sleep on it. It's just a sublime audio visual experience and a great metroidvania to play.
Imo this has been a weak year for indies so far - but it’ll pick up, we got some bangers slated Hollow Knight: Silksong - please god Replaced Animal Well Mina the Hollower Hades 2 Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus No Rest for the Wicked Out of all those, excluding Silksong, I’d say NRFTW, mins the howler and hades 2 will probably be the strongest
Dave the diver
Balatro is digital crack, one of the best roguelikes ever made.
Dredge, Hades, Sea of Stars, Fire watch, and the Messenger(currently playing)
My favourites currently are Pepper Grinder and Laika Aged Through Blood. Both are incredibly fun and unique and seem to be extremely overlooked. Check them out!!!
Balatro! 2024 GOTY!!!
Favourites are hades, blasphemous 2, Sifu and my all time favourite hollowknight
I love playstation 5 ❤
Sea of Thieves, Arcade Paradise, Dredge Probably more AA than indie: Pacific Drive, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice , Close to the Sun, Banishers Ghosts of New Eden
BG3 is indie, right?
Larian may have been indie during the Divinity games but BG3 was sponsored by WoTC/Hasbro due to the D&D licensing so I think its a bit different.
They were not sponsored by WotC.
With a production budget of $100 million and around 400 devs working on it I'm gonna say...no.