As part of the Famitsu 2024 New Year Greetings column sharing messages from major members of the video game industry, Sony Head of PlayStation Indies Shuhei Yoshida cited five indie games people should pay attention to. He pointed to Baby Steps, Pacific Drive, The Plucky Squire, SCHiM, and Ultros. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
All five of the titles will appear on PlayStation platforms, with SCHiM being the only one not coming to the PlayStation 5. Also, both Baby Steps and The Plucky Squire are Devolver Digital games. Baby Stepsis a walking simulator with Bennett Foddy as one of its developers, in which someone must control both of a character’s legs to move. It is heading to the PS5 and PC. It has a 2024 release window.
The Plucky Squireinvolves traveling from 2D to 3D across different objects to go through an adventure as a squire. Former Pokemon art director James Turner is working on that. That will be on the PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2024.
Pacific Driveis a PC and PS5 game. Players need to deal with otherworldly creatures to get out of a strange Olympic Exclusion Zone, with a customizable car being the key to survival. You need to keep your car in working order by scavenging for parts, as well as by maintaining it when you can, without attracting attention. It will launch on February 22, 2024.
SCHiMis an upcoming PS4, Switch, and PC platformer where your character can only travel through shadows. So you need to go through static and moving shadows cast by other items and characters in order to reach a particular person. It doesn’t have a release window yet, but is expected in 2024.
Finally, Ultrosis an upcoming PS4, PS5, and PC Metroidvania with Hotline Miami from Niklas “El Huervo” Akerblad, who did art for Hotline Miami. After landing on a place called The Sarcophagus, you need to explore the alien place, build up your character to reach new areas, and find out what’s going on. It will be out in 2024.
This is the second time Shuhei Yoshida offered insight on recent indie games between the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024. He took to the PlayStation Blog at the end of December 2023 to share his favorite titles. Among them were A Space for the Unbound, Cocoon, Dredge, Evernights, Humanity, and Viewfinder.
