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[DeepEnigma]

Sony's Shuhei Yoshida has announced the PlayStation Indies initiative, which will spotlight new games from smaller developers. During the course of today, 9 new indie games for PS4 and PS5 will be revealed (you can see an evolving, full list at the end of this story).

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Yoshida writes, "With PlayStation Indies, we hope to spotlight and support the best of the best indie games being published on PlayStation and the entire indie community as a whole. Our goal is to make PlayStation the best place to develop, find, and play great indie games."

How exactly that will manifest itself is yet to be confirmed, but Yoshida confirms that a new indie game will be added to the PlayStation Now service every month, beginning with Hello Neighbor this month. Perhaps most importantly, Yoshida also confirms that he, like all of us, has not been able to stop singing the Bugsnax song (which you can listen to above, if you too want to succumb to the curse).

We will update this story with the games announced today, with Yoshida writing that they will be "nine imaginative and exciting titles coming to both PS4 and PS5." Some of these games will be coming to other platforms besides PlayStation.

Full List of PlayStation Indies Revealed

F.I.S.T: Forged In Shadow Torch (PS4) - This 2D action-platformer sees an anthropomorphic bunny with a giant metal fist fight his way across a dieselpunk-inspired Metroidvania map. It launches for PS4 "soon".




Maquette (PS5, PS4) - A first-person puzzle game from Graceful Decay (and published by Annapurna Interactive) bound to garner comparisons to The Witness, Maquette has you manipulating objects in simultaneously simulated, recursive worlds to create solutions to progress. It's hard to explain without seeing it in action, so here's a walkthrough trailer:




Where the Heart Is (PS4): A narrative adventure game coming this winter, the new game from Armature follows a family throughout their lives. Choices made by the main character, Whit, will affect family members across their lifetimes, seemingly radically changing the locations you visit along the way, which include realistic and surreal landcaspes.




Creaks (PS4): Coming in "a few weeks", Creaks is a hand-drawn adventure-puzzle game by Amanita Design (Chuchel, Machinarium). The game tasks you with discovering the secrets of a mansion, avoiding the eponymous Creaks, and collecting a series of crudely animated, bizarre paintings.




Heavenly Bodies (PS5, PS4): This 2D, physics-based action puzzler casts you as a cosmonaut trying to fix your space station in zero gravity, and can be played in co-op. Arriving in 2021, the game will uses the PS5's DualSense controller's features, using adaptive triggers to simulate the density of objects you're gripping, and haptic feedback to communicate the feel of the ship around you.




Recompile (PS5): Explore, fight and hack your way through a virtual landscape that'll react to your actions as you try to escape deletion in Recompile, the upcoming exploration-based hacking platformer. Recompile is headed to PlayStation 5.




Carto (PS4): Carto is an upcoming adventure game that utilizes a world-shifting puzzle mechanic. Use this power to explore mysterious lands, help a quirky cast of new friends, and guide Carto on her journey home. Carto is headed to PlayStation 4 in fall 2020.




Haven (PS4): Share the journey of two lovers, escaped to a lost planet in a desperate attempt to stay together. Play as Yu and Kay, gliding over the grassland of a shattered planet, unraveling its mysteries to find a way to settle for good.




Worms Rumble (PS4, PS5): The upcoming game introduces a real-time, arena-based, 32 player, cross-platform extravaganza that puts a new spin on your favourite warmongering invertebrates.

PlayStation Indies Initiative Revealed, 9 Games to Be Announced Today - IGN

New games for PS4 and PS5 revealed as Sony kicks off an Indies initiative to spotlight games from smaller developers.

www.ign.com

 

[DeepEnigma]

Nine titles debut alongside first details of our new PlayStation Indies initiative.

Shuhei Yoshida

Head of PlayStation Indies, SIE

Hi everyone! As some of you may have noticed, I have long been a big fan of indie games, and ever since I was appointed as Head of Indies Initiative for PlayStation in November the last year, I have been working closely with all departments at Sony Interactive Entertainment to elevate our efforts to help make indie developers’ lives easier and their titles shine in this super competitive videogame market.

I’m pleased to formally announce the PlayStation Indies initiative. With PlayStation Indies, we hope to spotlight and support the best of the best indie games being published on PlayStation and the entire indie community as a whole. Our goal is to make PlayStation the best place to develop, find, and play great indie games.

The indie community is increasingly important for the future of the video game industry, as AAA game development has grown so financially demanding that big companies are finding it harder to take risks to invest in new concepts that may or may not work. We trust indie developers with strong vision will continue to bring ideas that have never been tried before, creating whole new genres of games and advancing the art and meaning of video games. PlayStation has always embraced games with completely new concepts, like PaRappa the Rapper, Katamari Damacy, LittleBigPlanet, and Journey, and we look forward to seeing what surprising new ideas will come next!

I was so excited to see the strong reactions to the amazing indie titles featured in the PS5 Future of Gaming event a few weeks ago. Do they not look charming and interesting? I, for one, could not get the Bugsnax song out of my head for a few days since the show went live.

While details are still forthcoming, we are also happy to confirm a new indie title will join the PlayStation Now service every month, starting with Hello Neighbor in July. Please look out for our monthly PS Now posts for more information!

Today, alongside news of the PlayStation Indies initiative, we’re happy to debut nine imaginative and exciting titles coming to both PS4 and PS5. Stay tuned throughout the morning for these reveals, which we’ll gather up here once they’ve all concluded. Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Introducing PlayStation Indies and a day of captivating new games

Nine titles debut alongside first details of our new PlayStation Indies initiative.

blog.playstation.com

 

[chilichote]

Maquette (PS5, PS4) - A first-person puzzle game from Graceful Decay (and published by Annapurna Interactive) bound to garner comparisons to The Witness, Maquette has you manipulating objects in simultaneously simulated, recursive worlds to create solutions to progress. It's hard to explain without seeing it in action, so here's a walkthrough trailer:

This looks interesting, but what happens to the small key in the small world if I use the key of the normal world in the small world as a bridge?

 

[Oddvintagechap]

This looks interesting, but what happens to the small key in the small world if I use the key of the normal world in the small world as a bridge?

What if the big world is actually a small world, and the biggest world is the one inside our hearts? <3<3<3

btw totally didnt answer your question.

 

[chilichote]

btw totally didnt answer your question.

But I still like your answer^^

 

[Greeno]

Are the guys behind Maquette the same guys behind Superluminal? Both look really really similar in terms of concept.

 

[Stilton Disco]

So they're Pii games. Nice.

 

[JOEVIAL]

Oh hecks yeah... been looking forward to Creaks for a long time. I love Aminita design! That's awesome that it comes out so soon too! Day one for me. Coming to XBOX One and Switch too. Here's a different trailer on their channel:

 

[DeepEnigma]

Oh hecks yeah... been looking forward to Creaks for a long time. I love Aminita design! That's awesome that it comes out so soon too! Day one for me. Coming to XBOX One and Switch too. Here's a different trailer on their channel:

I liked Machinarium... so much so that I had to get the trophies for both Vita and PS4.

 

[SilentUser]

Nice to see this initiative, F.I.S.T. caught my attention for now.

 

[AV]

Where the Heart Is

Brits will never think of anything else when they hear that.

 

[Mister D]

Very interesting. I look forward to more of these smaller games with interesting concepts and art styles to go with the bigger AA "realistic" style games. F.I.S.T. me now.

 

[SilentUser]

New title announced: Heavenly Bodies (PS4 and PS5, with DualSense mentioned).

https://blog.playstation.com/2020/07/01/heavenly-bodies-is-coming-to-ps5-and-ps4/

 

[VALCON 82]

wasn't F.I.S.T already shown sometime earlier like a few months ago/last year?

 

[Shin]

I was gonna post the blog post itself, but videos are nice.
Shuhei now only responsible for indies, sounds like he got demoted by a lot.

 

[Shin]

Oh hecks yeah...

Not that much into indies, but that looks ace!

 

[The Hamburglar]

I was hoping for SSD: the game

 

[Geki-D]

Introducing Carto, a charming, innovative puzzle adventure coming to PS4

Connect missing pieces of a map to discover mysterious worlds and new friends.

blog.playstation.com

Hacking-themed platformer Recompile is coming to PS5

Explore, fight, and hack your way through a virtual landscape that reacts to your actions as you try to escape deletion.

blog.playstation.com

 

[ULTROS!]

I love Amanita so I’m definitely eyeing on Creaks.

 

[Fake]

F.I.S.T got my attention.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

Very interested in FIST but was hoping that there would be a PS5 version because my PS4 Pro will most likely be gone by the time the game releases.

 

[Geki-D]

Haven is a chill co-op adventure coming to PS4 and PS5

The Game Bakers make exploration and combat on a mysterious planet feel like a relaxing adventure.

blog.playstation.com

 

[Geki-D]

Last one, I think:

Worms Rumble brings real-time multiplayer action to PS4 and PS5

Tuck and roll through three explosive real-time games modes.

blog.playstation.com

 

[nowhat]

I liked Machinarium... so much so that I had to get the trophies for both Vita and PS4.

How's it on PS4? I got it on Android (was part of a Humble Bundle), but at least on a phone the controls are so imprecise/infuriating that I gave up.

 

[vkbest]

Last one, I think:

Worms Rumble brings real-time multiplayer action to PS4 and PS5

Tuck and roll through three explosive real-time games modes.

blog.playstation.com

worms is a indie?

 

[Kuranghi]

Can't watch yet, as currently applying for jobbo's, but thanks Geki-D and @GoodDoggo.

Super fucking excited to watch that Creaks trailer though, Samorost + Machinarium + Botanicula + Chuchel were acebeans.

 

[DeepEnigma]

How's it on PS4? I got it on Android (was part of a Humble Bundle), but at least on a phone the controls are so imprecise/infuriating that I gave up.

I personally had no issues with it on the DS4.

I forgot to try a mouse with it, sometimes I will plug one in for PnC games, but I am sure a mouse works as well.

 

[Geki-D]

worms is a indie?

Yes? Team17 isn't owned by another publisher. They are by definition an "independent" developer.

 

[Kuranghi]

How's it on PS4? I got it on Android (was part of a Humble Bundle), but at least on a phone the controls are so imprecise/infuriating that I gave up.

Best to get for an actual computer/laptop screen I'd say, the controls are more refined in the PC version. I have the physical version but it was put out my some pos publisher who never paid Amanita properly so I'm loathe to recommend it even though it has a nice physical guidebook. Grab it from a digital service imo.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

Recompile looks excellent.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Full List of PlayStation

And my Gravity rush 3????

 

[theHFIC]

As a life long Worms fan, I don't know how I feel about the move to real-time for Worms. I was hoping for standard 2-D worms with environments that destroy realistically or crumble similar to the physics of Noita.

 

[Grinchy]

Maquette is calling out to me.

 

[Geki-D]

And my Gravity rush 3????

That ain't indie.

I was hoping for standard 2-D worms with environments that destroy realistically or crumble similar to the physics of Noita.

It's quite surprising that there are no destructible environments. You'd think they would carry over what has pretty much always been Worm's trademark feature.

 

[RasAlGhoul]

The Shuhei effect.

 

[nowhat]

That ain't indie.

Also, not going to happen.

(not really serious, just seeing if I can get him triggered)

 

[FranXico]

Keep at it, Shu. More indies.

 

[JOEVIAL]

Best to get for an actual computer/laptop screen I'd say, the controls are more refined in the PC version. I have the physical version but it was put out my some pos publisher who never paid Amanita properly so I'm loathe to recommend it even though it has a nice physical guidebook. Grab it from a digital service imo.

Yes it's definitely more refined on PC. With that said, it's a slow paced environmental puzzle game... so the impreciseness of the controller/cursor works just fine. I haven't played it on Vita, but I imagine playing it on a small screen would be difficult as there are lots of small details and puzzle solutions hidden in the environment which would be hard to spot on a small display.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Haven is a chill co-op adventure coming to PS4 and PS5

The Game Bakers make exploration and combat on a mysterious planet feel like a relaxing adventure.

blog.playstation.com

Closest you’ll get to it.

And my Gravity rush 3????

Also, not going to happen.

(not really serious, just seeing if I can get him triggered)

Dont mess with anime avatar users, if you want to live to 60.

 

[Jubenhimer]

I was gonna post the blog post itself, but videos are nice.
Shuhei now only responsible for indies, sounds like he got demoted by a lot.

He probably wanted to work closer with indies.

 

[Knitted Knight]

Sony needs a new handheld companion for the Playstation 5 imo (Yes a Vita successor ala Switch). There is only so much disposable income for the 170 million or so gamers that the Xbox and PS brand target - and this demographic tends to skew older, and wiser. If these indies don't release on the Switch that's a dumb ass move on their part. Nintendo needs to do a lot more to market indies and showcase indie titles coming to Switch.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sounds about right. It's a Sony console launch year.

 

[shaddam]

Hi Kat

 

[MasterCornholio]

Hi Kat

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

That ain't indie.

It's quite surprising that there are no destructible environments. You'd think they would carry over what has pretty much always been Worm's trademark feature.

I know, but it's the game that interests me the most

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Hi Kat

is kay... not kat.

Kat is more pretty