Yeah, I went there. Anywho, Sony announced a small mountain (that means 12) of new indies due for the PS3, PS4 and Vita – some of which you might have either played or seen – and perhaps some new surprises. If you’re an indie fan you might as well brace yourself and prepare for some quality time on your PlayStation platform of choice.
Starwhal: Just the Tip
Flop it out with 2-4 players in a retro, epic narwhal battle in space! Starwhal for PS4 offers heart-piercing action that is furious and unrelenting for all of your space whaling parties. Navigate your narwhal to tag your opponent’s heart and protect your own. Of course, the narwhals be a difficult lot to control, throwing themselves all over the place in spastic fits of salty marine protest, but therein lies at least half the fun.
Source
Source is a surreal adventure that unfolds in a strange alternate dimension. You control a creature similar to a dragonfly that must prevent the world of Source from falling into eternal darkness by gathering and distributing energy throughout the vast world. In order to achieve this, you must first learn how the world works by observing and coexisting with the various indigenous creatures that inhabit this bizarre world.
Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition
Washing up on the shores of the afterlife, players meet and join forces with vibrant ghost-samurai warriors, magical animal-monks, and mustachioed samurai generals on the way to capture Skulls of the Shogun. Players immerse themselves in battle with fun and unique game play features amidst lush, eerie environments. Also featuring 4-player local and networked multi-player and an original score inspired by old samurai films and dub, Skulls of the Shogun offers simple-yet-deep, refined and offbeat gameplay.
Ironclad Tactics
Ironclad Tactics is a real-time, card-based tactics game set in an alternate history Civil War – with steam-powered military robots! Follow the adventures of Maxwell Prosser and Joseph Ashdown as they are thrust into the war as engineers for the Bureau of Steam Engineering.
Spelunky
Spelunky is a cave exploration / treasure-hunting game inspired by classic platform games and roguelikes, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. Every time you play the cave’s layout will be different. Use your wits, your reflexes, and the items available to you to survive and go ever deeper! Perhaps at the end you may find what you’re looking for…
Nidhogg
Nidhogg is the award-winning fencing tug-of-war, full of graceful acrobatics and clumsy stabs. This is the ultimate two-player showdown of fast-paced fencing and melee attacks. Beware, advantages in Nidhogg are often fleeting, as new opponents continually spawn in your way. Use a variety of fencing maneuvers while armed — lunges, parries, and even dirty tricks like throwing your sword. If swordless, press forward with punches, sweep kicks, dive kicks, rolls, and wall jumps. The combat arena stretches in both directions, although besting an opponent only gains you ground. Matches aren’t won or lost with a single kill, but with a series of kills granting you right-of-way to run/fight/flee to your own goal-zone. Each arena holds different strategic formations and chokepoints to use to your advantage. Until you reach your goal-zone, anything is possible. Only one thing is certain in Nidhogg… the only way to win is to outwit your opponent. En Garde!
Jamestown Plus
Jamestown: Legend Of The Lost Colony is a neo-classical top-down shooter for up to 4 players, set on 17th-century British Colonial Mars. It features all the intensity, depth, and lovingly handcrafted pixels of a classic arcade shooter, with a modern twist: deeply-integrated cooperative gameplay. Unlike most top-down shooters, which give multiple players a shared pool of lives or continues, Jamestown does something different. So long as any player survives, the team can be brought back from death. By giving every player the power to rescue their team from the jaws of destruction, Jamestown creates an exhilarating cooperative experience where everyone’s contribution truly matters. Win or lose, your team will do it together. This Jamestown Plus version of the hit shooter contains the entire original experience as well as a lot of cool new content to celebrate the console release. Included are new ships (replete with innovative special attacks and customizable weapon systems) and new levels (taking players on a swashbuckling adventure to the mysterious Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos.) Also features is a brand new chapter of the Jamestown story that spans space and time, adds new dimension to established characters and locations, and finishes what the original game started.
Escape Goat 2
Escape Goat 2 is a puzzle platformer game where you use machinery, the environment, and a friendly mouse to progress through a dungeon.
Drifter
Drifter for PS4 is an open-world sandbox space trading game with a procedurally-generated galaxy 100,000 light years across made up of tens of thousands of star systems to explore. Take on the role of a spaceship captain attempting to eke out a living among the stars by trading goods between star systems, hunting pirates for bounties, mining asteroids for valuable ore, or even becoming a pirate yourself. The choice is yours!
Chasm
Chasm is a 2D fantasy ARPG platformer featuring procedurally generated dungeons and authentic pixel art. Taking equal inspiration from hack ‘n slash dungeon crawlers (procedurally generated dungeons, loot drops, etc) and Metroidvania-style platformers, the game aims to immerse you in its 2D fantasy world full of exciting treasure, deadly enemies, and abundant secrets. In Chasm, players take up the role of a soldier passing through a remote mining town on their journey home from a long war. The town’s miners have recently disappeared after breaching a long-forgotten temple far below the town, and reawakened an ancient slumbering evil. Now trapped in the town by supernatural forces, you’re left with no option but to explore the mines below, battle enemies and bosses, and increase your abilities in hopes of finally escaping and returning home.
Axiom Verge
Axiom Verge is a retro-styled 2D action game focused on unusual weaponry and exploration of an maze-like, infested world. You play as Trace, a relatively normal (if quirky) guy who suffers a near-fatal injury, after which he wakes up in a strange, unsettling new world that is both high-tech and incredibly ancient. Why is he here? Where are the world’s inhabitants? And what is the mysterious force that seems intent on ending his life?
Apotheon
Apotheon is a 2D platform action-RPG set on the rich stage of ancient Greek mythology. Hera, the queen of Olympus, has overthrown her husband Zeus, and taken his throne as ruler of the Gods. Bitter and scornful towards the race of mortals, she launches a murderous campaign to scour them from the earth. As humanity’s last champion, you must pass through the land of the dead, infiltrate Mount Olympus, and end the wrath of the Gods. With sword, spear, and shield in hand, you will sneak, conspire, loot, and battle your way through majestic palaces and chthonic depths as you climb towards godhood. Only by stripping the old gods of their powers, and taking control of the elements as your own, can humanity hope to survive the coming oblivion.
