Summary
Thanks to their gargantuan marketing budgets andbleeding-edge graphics, AAA titles tend to enjoy the lion’s share of the limelight. However, every once in a while, an indie game comes out of nowhere and captivates its players in ways that their big-budget equivalents never could. The unbridled creativity that they bring is vital for the industry, particularly with so many of the larger studios having seemingly given up the ghost when it comes to innovation.
The best indie games on the PlayStation 5 find ways to make their budgets count, subsidizing any shortfalls with pure passion, endless determination, and sheer power of will. They may not boast quite as much polish asgames likeGod of WarandThe Last of Us, but they do have an abundance of character and charm, not to mention the freedom to try out new ideas and the boldness to go against the grain when it contradicts their creators' vision.
12Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition
OpenCritic Rating: 62
Spirit of the Northis a pretty unusual game. There’s no dialogue and very little in the way of narrative, yet the experience is still an incredibly enjoyable one, even with the sometimes frustrating controls. This is mostly down to the visuals and audio, which are at times able to envelop players in a genuine sense of wonder, providing a stunning and immersive experience that few other indie games could ever hope to match.
Players take control of a fox who is joined by the spirit of another fox following a rather nasty fall, and, together, they embark upon a journey to uncover the origin of a strange red cloud. It’s fairly linear and the chapters are pretty short, but the game more than makes up for this with its beautiful visuals and thought-provoking puzzles.It’s similar toStrayin a lot of ways, just with a more spiritual and introspective focus.
11Outer Wilds
OpenCritic Rating: 82
There have been plenty ofgreat games that revolve around time loopsover the years, but few make use of this concept quite as effectively asOuter Wilds. The BAFTA-winning title sees players exploring the 22 minutes leading up to a star going supernova over and over again in the hopes of uncovering the cause of this solar system-ending explosion.
Outer Wildsis a visually stunning game with some really cool ideas and mechanics and treats its players to an interesting and lore-rich narrative. It’s a fairly substantial one too, with most players needing around 27 hours to complete the main story and the Echoes of the Eye expansion. It’s easily one of the best PS5 indie games anda must-play for any serious sci-fi fan.
10Among Us
OpenCritic Rating: 80
For a while,Among Uspretty much took over Twitch. All the big names seemed to be playing it, as too did hundreds of thousands of regular people all over the world. Its premise is an incredibly simple one, yet this imposter game managed to captivate countless people and kept them playing for far longer than a game of this scope had any right to, largely due to its fantastic social aspect.
Trying to figure out whether somebody is telling the truth can be surprisingly enjoyable, as too can attempting to shift the blame onto somebody else whenplaying as an imposter. The game took a little longer than some would have liked to arrive on next-gen consoles, with a lot of people moving on to other titles before it finally arrived. There are still plenty of people playing it though, and just as many reasons to check it out.
9Sifu
OpenCritic Rating: 81
Sifucan take a little bit of getting used to, but once things finally start to click, the experience on offer really is top-notch. It’s a highly stylized beat ‘em up with roguelike mechanics: a combination that ends up working surprisingly well despite how challenging the game can be in certain places.
Every time they die, players come back just like they would in mostother beat ‘em-up games. However, upon doing so, they’ll find that the playable character has gotten a little older, granting access to stronger attacks but also decreasing their total health. If they grow too old, they’ll die for real and have to restart the level, making it important to master the game’s combat system rather than just diving in headfirst.
8Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Kena: Bridge of Spiritsis a beautiful game. It’s so visually impressive, in fact, that one might be forgiven for thinking that this came out of an experienced AA studio or maybe even one of the smaller AAAs. Ember Lab is neither of these things, though the team is arguably just as talented when it comes to creating a vibrant world and bringing it to life with a likable protagonist and a solid mix of platforming and puzzle-solving fun.
The game has players controlling the titular character Kena: a young spirit guide with the power to help the spirits of the dead pass over to the other side. As players get to know her better, they’ll experience both sad and uplifting moments, which are both beautifully presented and incredibly well thought out.Kena’s soundtrack deserves a special mention too, as it fits the setting perfectly in most places.
7Moss
OpenCritic Rating: 85
There’s something refreshing about Polyarc’sMossgames, as although they are technically first-person titles like most other VR games, the character that players will spend most of their time controlling is one who is observed from a third-person perspective. She’s also an incredibly cute one with wisdom and courage far greater than her small stature would suggest.
Guiding Quill through the many puzzles that stand in her way is an absolute joy and the games’ combat system is well-realized too. They’re not particularly challenging titles, but the quality of the storytelling more than makes up for this. It really can feel likeplaying through a fairytaleat times, which is why so many remain hopeful that there’ll one day be a third installment in the series.
6Cult of the Lamb
OpenCritic Rating: 84
AAA studios have a habit of playing it safe; whether that means remaking or remastering older games instead of trying to come up with new ones or releasing the same game every year with minor cosmetic tweaks. The likes of Activision and Ubisoft would almost certainly never develop something likeCult of the Lamb: a game in which players must set up their own cult and sacrifice their followers to appease an ominous deity.
It sounds a little bizarre on paper, but in execution, it’s certifiably insane. Yet, despite how strange the whole thing ends up being, it turns out that the video game industry had been crying out fora cult simulator likeCult of the Lamb. The game also incorporates roguelike elements, which is the main way that players obtain new followers, but it’sthe simulation aspects that are on offerthat will draw most players in.
5Stray
There are plenty of great indie games in which players control an animal, withSpirit of the NorthandEndling - Extinction is Foreverbeing two of the more notable examples. None captured the imagination of gamers quite likeStraydid though, with the feline-themed adventure breaking numerous records and going on to be crowned best indie game at the 2022 Video Game Awards.
The game sees players guide a cat through a futuristic version of Hong Kong in which all of humanity has mysteriously disappeared. Despite the depressing tone that lingers heavy in the air and the fact that many of the buildings have fallen into disrepair, the neon-soaked city is an absolute joy to explore. It’s one of severalgames set in or inspired by the walled city of Kowloonand a must for anyone looking for the very best PS5 indie games.
4Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
OpenCritic Rating: 92
Harrier Du Bois isn’t a very nice person, nor, on the surface, at least, does he come across as being a particularly competent detective. However, despite his many flaws, players will likely come away fromDisco Elysium: The Final Cutwith something of a soft spot for Harry, whose off-color sense of humor does a wonderful job of masking some of his less desirable qualities.
The care and attention that went into making this game is really quite astounding and is most evident through the writing. Not only is it all of a ridiculously high quality, but there’s also an astounding amount of it, with over a million words and around fifty-five thousand unique lines of dialog making up its mammoth script.It plays just like a digital tabletop RPG, which, for fans of the genre, really does make it a must-play game.
3Chicory: A Colorful Tale
OpenCritic Rating: 88
A lot of modern AAA video games seem to favor muted color palettes and desaturated visuals, which can often lead to a very dry and serious tone. As its name might suggest,Chicory: A Colorful Taleflips the script in this regard, allowing players to add their own splashes of color to a world that was once devoid of color. The vivid visuals that result from this can be stunning to behold and would feel no less at home in a coloring book or affixed to a fridge door.
The graphics are a little reminiscent ofEarthboundandUndertalein places, though the story is a lot more tame. This bodes well, asChicoryboasts local co-op support, and, thanks to how intuitive the controls are, is the perfect title for parents who are looking for something fun to play with their kids. That’s not to say that adults can’t enjoy the game too though, nor is it a game that requires more than one player to have fun.
