Since the end of the year is now only about a week away, many are being reflective about how the year has gone. In the case of certain gaming companies, they’re doing a “year in review” in many different ways. Some are allowing players to see what their year was like on the consoles or PC setups they have. Then, there’s the man behind the PlayStation Indies department over at Sony, Shuhei Yoshida, who decided to celebrate the indie games of 2024 by doing a special PlayStation Blog post where he broke down the 11 best indie games you can get on PS4/PS5 right now. So, what games made his cut, and why did he like them?
We’ll let him speak for himself on that latter front, but he did make some interesting picks in the blog post, such as starting out with Pacific Drive:
“Pacific Drive is a ‘road-lite’ survival game, where you navigate a stormy, mysterious forest with your car as your only companion. Each time you set off on an excursion, your car will slowly breakdown due to strange anomalies, and you must return safely back to your garage. Otherwise, you’re required to start over. You can restore and upgrade your car with resources gathered during your runs. Each trip into the wilderness is unique and randomized, which makes the gameplay all the more engrossing and addicting.”
He’s not wrong about the “unique and randomized” part, as every adventure will force players to work differently with their car and get out of the forest area in a new way. It’s not an easy trek.
Then, there was another indie darling of 2024, Animal Well:
“The pixel-art world of this beautiful game feels nostalgic yet somehow completely novel, with its surreal lighting that illuminates the map. Animal Well is a Metroidvania with a world filled with endless surprises. The sense of accomplishment you’ll feel after conquering its challenging platform sections and cryptic puzzles is truly unique and exhilarating.”
This game is definitively one of the best indie games of 2024, so to see one of the heads of PlayStation praise it is a big honor. Or, how about Balatro? You know, the card game that was one of the “Game of the Year” nominees at The Game Awards?
“A fusion of poker and roguelike? You might think, “What’s that?” But once you start, you won’t be able to stop. This worldwide hit game is the creation of a single developer. Incredible!”
Incredible, indeed. You can check out what else Yoshida picked on the blog.
