Sony and PlayStation had a little indie reveal and me saying little is an understatement, because the Game of the Year 2020 is actually coming to PlayStation.
The event was a seven-day reveal-fest with a bunch of indie games coming to PS4 and PS5. We all know indies are no longer just free-to-play HTML browser-crap-games, but actually some of the best storytelling gaming has to offer, because they are so focused on what they want to be and not caught up in AAA-graphics competition or studio-censorship.
- If you don't like indies, read about this big studio game then: Rockstar Parent Company Working On a New Game: Announcement This Month!
Anyway... here's the lineup. I saved the best for last, so scroll on through if your time is money, and you can't waste a second (cause you broke, son):
Everything Announced at PlayStation & Sony Indie Reveal
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals
This one is a sequel (duh) and the original was already dope, which is why it got a sequel (duh). It's releasing in 2022 and is also coming to the Switch and the PC. If you're familiar with the original, the story picks up five years after the first game, and you navigate post-adolescence along with some electromagnetic phenomena. If you have enough post-adolescence or electromagnetic phenomena in your real life, I feel you. If not, do check out the trailer:
Axiom Verge
Metroidvania. If that means something to you, then this game means something to you, and you already played the prequel. Axiom Verge 1 was one of the best Metroidvania games in years. According to the solo (!) dev Tom Happ, the sequel will feature two worlds in on:
Behind the overworld map that I’ve been showing this entire time, there is another interconnected breach world in an alternate dimension. I’ve hinted about this in an early trailer, where the drone goes through some mysterious portal, but I’ve kept this secret for a while
Two worlds means more exploring, more unlocking and more metroidvanianing. Is that a verb? It should be. Anyway, this is all the non-linear Metroidvania-goodness we love. If you wanna read more from Tom Happ, do it here. If you want to watch the trailer, do it below:
Wytchwood
No, I didn't spell witch wrong – they did. Anyway, the game's about a witch, surprise. This witch has a cauldron on her head, because reasons, and here's what the artist had to say about the game: "[It's] fundamentally a chill game [about] exploration and collecting spell ingredients." Sounds like my everyday life. I love it.
The game is inspired by the Grimm fairy tales and thus features creatures like chicken-legged fish. Duh. Apparently the combinations of potions and spells you can craft are a gazillion, which I do believe to be an overstatement given for emphasis. Expect to raise the dead and make pumpkins fight for you. Seriously.
Sol Cresta
Once an April Fool's joke and now a real game. The chief game designer is Hideki Kamiya, who made Bayonetta. Yup, I bolded that for a reason. Expect flashy combat and crazy energy, only this time, it's a side-scrolling shooter. No need to ramble on here on something that is best watched:
A Short Hike
This one's about hiking.
Needless to say, it takes place on a mountain, but I'll say it anyway: It takes place on a mountain. You hike, explore, adventure, help people from a small town and just generally have a chill experience. The dev calls it "a love letter to those breezy summer days without anything to do and all the time in the world." I don't know about you, but my summer has been rainy and work was anything but chill, so I'll take it.
Carrion
No, no, carry on, I'll wait.
Get it?
Carrion. Carry on.
Riot is me. Anyway, Carrion is "reverse-horror" game, or so the devs say. Does that mean it's a rorroh game?
Get it?
Reverse horror. Rorroh.
Riot, thy name is still me.
You will play as a flesh monster that escapes, and basically are playing as the very thing you run from in normal horror games. Hence, the rorroh tag. Oh, also the dev calls the monster you play a tentacled mass of toothed anuses. Why are all these games reminding me of my daily life?
Hades
There it is. The game that needs no introduction but will still get one: From Supergiant Games who brought you Bastion and Transistor comes the indie game that won all the Game of the Year 2020 awards The Last of Us didn't win: Hades. Set to Greek mythology, it's a roguelike that's all about you dying over and over to get stronger and stronger. I know this doesn't sound like much, but the graphics, the story, the humor, the writing, the setting... it's all top-top-tier. Game of the year for a reason. PlayStation owners, get ready.
Folks, let’s be real here: Nobody likes ads, everybody likes raffles and we all wanna feel special. Right? Sign up for MyEarlyGame and you get just that: No ads, the content you wanna see & a chance to win free stuff. No brainer, really.