Hello everyone! PS5 has arrived and with it, an amazing slate of launch titles. I’ve been hopping back and forth between games like Demon’s Souls, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and of course wonderful indie titles like The Pathless and Bugsnax. It’s an embarrassment of riches, an overwhelming feeling that there are way more great games that I can play now on my PS5 than I have time.
I’ve been meeting the delicious denizens of Snaktooth Island in Bugsnax — from Young Horses, the creators of Octodad: Dadliest Catch — and getting lost in the mesmerizing world of Giant Squid’s The Pathless. This month also saw the release of Haven, an exploration of relationships while you discover a mysterious world, playable in co-op. These games are all distinct from one another, but they all carry so much heart. And the PlayStation Indies team has been working with many more brilliant creators to bring a variety of new experiences to PS5.
There are more great indie games coming to PlayStation soon that I’m excited about — let me introduce you to a few of them.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Exploration, action-packed combat, a beautiful world to explore – Kena has it all. But if you’re like me, it’s the Rot that will capture your heart. Collect these adorable, tiny spirits and they will help you manipulate the environment and take down corrupted spirits as you uncover the secrets of the forest.
Kena, the Spirit Guide players control, wields a staff which can magically work as a bow — and it feels fantastic with the DualSense controller’s haptics and adaptive triggers. As you wear down enemies, the Rot will join you, enhancing your abilities and helping you bring life back to your village.
Nour: Play With Your Food
What’s your favorite food? In Nour, you can finally indulge in playing with your pancakes, boba, ramen, and more. Go ahead — make a huge mess and don’t worry about cleaning up.
Developer Terrifying Jellyfish wanted to make players hungry with this bright, interactive experiment of a game… and it’s working on me!
This open-ended experience lets you explore the aesthetics of food while a reactive soundtrack sets the mood.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach
No one will judge you for playing this one with the lights on. If you’ve played any of the other Five Nights at Freddy’s games, you’re familiar with the creeping tension that builds up as you explore a pizza restaurant filled with toys, rides, and terrifying animatronic creatures.
Ray tracing technology makes Security Breach shine, drawing you further and further into this restaurant of monstrous robots waiting to jump out at you from the shadows.
Oddworld: Soulstorm
Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey launched on PlayStation in 1997 with groundbreaking high-end pre-rendered CG, and it was a pioneer in mixing a mature narrative with comedy in video games. With its foundation as a 2D action platformer, the “game speak” mechanic introduced an innovative way to communicate with AI characters in nonviolent ways.
Soulstorm continues the saga as the 2nd chapter of the Oddworld Quintology. Its “2.9D” level design allows players to explore beautiful, expansive 3D worlds in a linear fashion for tried and true 2D action gameplay. With up to 1,300 rescuable followers — more than 20 of which can follow Abe at a time — plus an engaging crafting system, you can approach the game’s puzzles in your own ways.
Temtem
This creature-collecting MMO launched in Early Access on PS5 this month! Explore islands while finding and collecting Temtems, train them to defeat the evil Clan Belsoto, and do it all while trekking across a world packed with other players. Team up to adventure together or battle each other to become the best Temtem tamer.
This vibrant adventure also provides plenty of ways to customize your character as you unlock new cosmetics to let your tamer’s personality shine. I’m excited to jump in and become the ultimate Temtem tamer, and I can’t wait to see how this one evolves on its way to a full release.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is an award-winning RPG with a morally questionable protagonist, a mysterious world, and a bizarrely intriguing progression system. I was thrilled when The Final Cut was announced for PlayStation at The Game Awards this month!
While solving a murder mystery as an amnesiac detective, developing your character’s skills in this RPG takes a strange twist as those same skills will try to influence the detective with internal dialogue. It is a dark, compelling journey and we can’t wait for you to play with full voice-acting and other enhancements in March.
