We’re only halfway through 2024, and it’s already been a banner year for indie games. These games from small developers are big fun, demonstrating new and unique approaches to gameplay, visuals and storytelling. This year’s indie rewards offer a variety of great experiences, from old favorites to bold new experimental designs. Whether you want to immerse yourself in a foreboding wild world on the big screen or play poker on the PlayStation Portal before bed, something here is sure to please.
When you wake up in the depths of a ship floating in space, a stunning neon landscape stretches before your eyes, filled with bizarre life forms and untold mysteries. What happened here and what turned this ship into a cesspool of cosmic horror? Battle fierce enemies with a powerful arsenal of combat skills, then nurture the strange seeds you discover on your journey to sprout secrets. Strengthen yourself and discover all you can before the time loop engulfs everything and starts again. Can you escape the cycle of birth and death?
Publishing company: Kepler Interactive | Developers: Hadoque | PS5, PS4
A fun 3D action adventure for all ages, Penny’s Big Breakaway sees the female protagonist get up to comedic shenanigans in a bright, colorful wonderland. Small-time performance artist Penny thinks she has found the path to success thanks to a special string that brings her yo-yo to life, but when her new sentient accessory performs a humiliating stunt on Emperor Eddie, her freedom hangs in the balance. Use Penny’s yo-yo to attack, spin and overcome a variety of skill-testing stages in this engaging speed-focused platformer.
Publishing company: Private Division | Developers: Evening Star | PS5
Take it from a resident – the Pacific Northwest is a very strange place. There is constantly changing weather, strange terrain and lots of trees. As beautiful as nature and wilderness are, it’s easy to isolate and destroy you, so how can you survive when it’s just you, your trusty scooter, and a handful of others stationed in a Abandoned garage before strange phenomena transforms hundreds of miles from wilderness into life-sucking hell? Each ride is unique, exciting, scary, and perhaps the last place you’ll ever escape.
Publishing company: Kepler Interactive | Developers: Ironwood Studios | PS5
The distinct look of stop-motion animation combines with Harold Halibut’s narrative-driven gameplay. Set in an alternate history, where a space colonization expedition was launched in the 1970s, things went disastrously wrong and now the ship is trapped at the bottom of the sea of a hostile planet. enemy. Playing as Harold, a completely normal worker, you meet and befriend many different personalities on the ship while on your mission, learning about the different ideas everyone has to escape. This path has lasted for decades. When it’s time to act, what role will Harold play?
Publishing company: Slow brothers | Developers: Slo Bros. | PS5, PS4
So you think you’re a real card player, right? You may think you have an unbeatable poker hand, but we all know the house always has the advantage, or does it? The first (and only) roguelike poker game that helps you build decks with special Joker, Voucher, Tarot and Planet cards. Play your cards well, score big, beat Blinds (or even strategically ignore them) and take on Bosses that have some trump cards of their own – then earn new decks to open Expand your strategic possibilities even further.
Publishing company: PlayStack Limited | Developers: LocalThunk | PS5, PS4
Journey through a beautiful world inspired by African tribal art, music and culture. Abubakar Salim, the voice behind Beyek in Assassin’s Creed Origins, weaves a story of loss and self-discovery inspired by his experiences. As the stubborn young wizard Zau, you must overcome an arduous trial, offering the souls of three beasts to the God of Death to revive your fallen father. Seamlessly switch between Sun and Moon masks with different navigation and combat skills as you accumulate the power needed for your goals.
Publishing company: Electronic Arts | Developers: Surgical film studio | PS5
Do you enjoy the gameplay and exploration of games like Demon’s Souls and Elden Ring, but are feeling a bit tired of the dark fantasies? Another Crab’s Treasure is an undersea adventure with colorful animation and all the skill-testing challenges you love. Taking over the claws of the hermit crab Kril, the underwater paradise is being ravaged by pollution. Use the trash you find as weapons and armor to take on the worst underwater villains this side of Amity Bay. Find the legendary treasure and get your precious shell back!
Publishing company: Crab Aggro | Developers: Crab Aggro | PS5
The debut game from new publisher Bigmode takes players on a wild, dark adventure of exploration. Here, in the maze, there was very little light—but there were a lot of creatures, let’s just say some of them were not very docile. You control something strange and are here to explore the mysteries of the maze, assuming you can survive. Beautiful, atmospheric pixel art combines with refined exploration and an atmosphere that’s both beautiful and terrifying to create a game filled with secrets, exploration, and replayability.
Publishing company: Bigmode | Developers: Billy Basso| PS5
Edward Crow’s famous amusement park, Crow Country, closed years ago and its founder is missing, but something remains in this magical wasteland. Travel back to the ’90s in this survival horror adventure inspired by the ’90s PlayStation classic. As agent Mara Forest, you’ll traverse the abandoned park to explore why it suddenly closed, enjoy the creepy atmosphere filled with difficult questions, environmental storytelling, dangerous encounters and horrifying surprises.
Publishing company: SFB Games | Developers: SFB Games | PS5, PS4
