Now that the PlayStation 5 is a thing, it’s a great time to start snapping up some of the best PS4 games, many of which are made by independent developers. Although there are still a few titles missing, pretty much all of the best indie games are on the PS4.
The lines of what is and isn’t an indie game seem to have blurred, but typically, we identify them as games that aren’t financially backed by a large publisher. These games are often smaller in scope but excel at having innovative ideas.
Because there are so many indie games, sifting through all of them can be tough. We’ve done the hard work for you, compiling a list of the best indie game on PS4. Keep in mind, all of these are playable as a PS5 game, thanks to backward compatibility. From top-down action games like Enter the Gungeon to terrifying puzzlers like Inside, there’s a little something for everyone, so let’s jump right in.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has the lavish look of a big-budget game, but Ninja Theory’s dark and stirring game about one woman’s descent into madness is, in fact, an indie game. Senua wades into the underbelly of a hellish landscape inspired by Norse mythology to retrieve the soul of her dead partner. The game uses an effective and disturbing whisper system to repeatedly mess with Senua’s head. Melina Juergens’ portrayal of Senua is superb throughout, as she accurately demonstrates what it’s like to lose control of one’s faculties. The understated but great swordplay keeps Hellblade in the action game genre, but ultimately it succeeds for its novel approach to storytelling. You can also look forward to its sequel, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, though that game will be exclusive to Xbox and PC.
Rocket League combines soccer and racing to achieve stupendously ridiculous levels of fun. Each player drives around a large soccer field in a vehicle chasing after a ball to knock into the opposing team’s net. It’s a surprisingly enthralling experience that continues to delight three years after its launch. If you haven’t tried Rocket League and are fans of sports and arcade racers, Rocket League is sure to entertain. And even if you don’t like soccer or car games, there’s still a good chance you’ll like Rocket League. That’s how dang fun it is to play. It has since become free-to-play, making it even easier to dive into.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.