No console is truly complete without a burgeoning independent gaming scene – from the days of the Xbox 360 and PS3 onwards, these smaller games have provided huge amounts of fun for gamers, often through digital storefronts and with lower prices.
They’re often a bit more experimental than mainstream AAA studio efforts and might have funky art styles or direction that make them really unique, and we love experimenting with them. The PlayStation 5 has plenty to host, since all the same games from the PS4 will work on it too. Here are the very best on offer, after some links to our other game guides in case a different genre is in your crosshairs.
Disco Elysium
1. Best PS5 indie game overall
Brilliantly written
The best independent RPG we’ve played in years, Disco Elysium is a totally unique experience.
- So inventive
- Amazing writing
- Great sense of style
This role-playing game (RPG) really takes the genre to new places simply by virtue of how much it commits to the theme, letting you interact with not just a range of characters and places but also your own psyche in internal conversations.
No two playthroughs will be alike, as you take on the role of a depressed and self-defeating cop trying to solve a grisly murder, all set in a bleakly realistic dystopian future port city. There’s a lot going on, but all of it is brilliant.
Hollow Knight
2. Best PS5 indie game for exploration
Explore carefully
A brilliant sidescroller that has a wonderful tone and beautiful art.
- Huge map
- Great combat
- Loads to see
The template laid down by the likes of Metroid and Castlevania is perfected in the form of Hollow Knight, a 2D sidescroller that lets you explore a vast map piece by piece as you grow your power and vanquish a succession of challenging bosses.
It’s made by a tiny team with wonderful hand-drawn art and a sense of tone that’s completely irrepressible and we are huge fans of it. You’ll find loads of value, too, if you’re a hardcore fan since there’s plenty of tough postgame content.
Hades
3. Best PS5 indie game for replayability
Roguelike excellence
This is a truly great roguelike that succeeds partly because of its approach to storytelling.
- Great story
- Superbly-tuned combat
- Endless replayability
- Difficulty is a little unpredictable
The very definition of an indie darling, Hades has a huge fanbase for good reason, with an expert blend of roguelike action and heartfelt storytelling. You’ll try to escape the Underworld over and over, learning new tactics and using a new range of powers each time.
As you do so, you’ll be drip-fed a gorgeous story about family and grief, with the story beats ensuring that no failed escape attempt feels like a real defeat. It’s a brilliant mixture that is sure to suck you in.
The Forgotten City
4. Best PS5 indie game for mystery
Solve a puzzle
$36 $40 Save $4
A great mystery game that is rewarding to puzzle your way through.
- Great central story
- Fun characters
- Some good guesswork needed
Another game with classical themes, The Forgotten City drops you into a time-loop in an ancient Roman haven, where everyone dies if even a single person commits a sin of any sort. Your job is to figure out why and how this is happening and to see if you can escape.
It’s a brilliant mystery game that will see you meet a devilish cast and decide who you can trust over time, according to the evidence, and with multiple endings to discover you’re sure to blaze your own path through it.
Outer Wilds
5. Best PS5 indie game for lateral thinkers
Amazing mystery
A great mystery game that will keep you guessing throughout its stunning story.
- Incredible mystery
- True discovery
- Gorgeous galaxy
If you like the sounds of a mystery game, then another recent classic comes in the form of Outer Wilds, and its expansion DLC Echoes of the Eye. It’s a brilliant game that also revolves around a time loop, this time tasking you with figuring out why a small solar system is collapsing each time.
You’ll slowly piece things together as loops pass, deciphering ancient texts and working out exactly what happened to light the touchpaper and end this solar system’s life cycle. It’s a mesmerising experience and we recommend going in with as little knowledge as possible.
The Pathless
6. Best PS5 indie game for visuals
Super movement
A game that makes merely moving around its map endlessly fun and satisfying.
- Looks superb
- Really fun movement
- Simply story, well-told
A game all about the joy of movement, The Pathless is a sumptuous experience. You play a huntress dispatched by her people to stop the spread of a corruption across the land, and you’ll do so by taking down giant beasts occupying areas in turn.
The twist is that you move around by timing shots with your bow, hitting targets in sequence to build up speed, and it’s intensely satisfying just to move around its beautiful open world finding new secrets and upgrades.
Stray
7. Best PS5 indie game for cat-lovers
Cat’s world
$30 $40 Save $10
This amazing little game is the perfect way to fully inhabit the chaotic world of a cat’s mind for a few hours.
- So cute
- Great little story
- Looks amazing
This lovely little game puts you in the paws of an inquisitive cat that falls into a locked-down robotic city in a far-flung future and must find its way out with the help of some of that town’s friendly citizens. Stray is surprisingly gorgeous given the small team, and really charming.
With some gentle puzzles to solve and a pretty brisk run-time, this is a really great little distraction of a game that has plenty of heart and some real visual flair of its own. It’s also part of the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers’ catalogues, as a bonus.
Dredge
8. Best PS5 indie game for mood
Eerie sailing
If you’ve ever wanted to sail an Eldritch sea, Dredge is the perfect choice, with loads of sights to see.
- Pretty art style
- Chill to play
- Fun secrets to uncover
If you like eerie tales of nautical woe, Dredge is a wonderful little game to try out – it’s got buckets of style and only takes a few hours to play through. You play a fisherman in a harsh ocean trying to get by and figure out your amnesia.
Pretty soon you’ll be dredging up mysteries from the deep as you hunt down meaningful mementos, all the while avoiding hazards and trying to stay sane.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
9. Best PS5 indie game for artists
Cute painting
This adorable little painting game is a joy to play through, and unique to you.
- Lovely painting mechanic
- Fun story
- Loads of secrets
A game all about art and self-worth, Chicory sees you take on the power of a magic paintbrush, and the responsibility to keep a delightful little world colourful as its colours drain away. It’s about much more than that, though, touching gently on themes of mental health and imposter syndrome.
You’ll have freedom to paint and draw your way through cleverly-designed puzzles and gain powers as you go, all of it with a lovely soundtrack, great art and impressive writing. This is a treat for any art fans.
Solar Ash
10. Best PS5 indie game for movement
Amazing skating
This great space-skating game feels like nothing else out there, and has a visual style that’s consistently jaw-dropping.
- Fun movement mechanic
- Amazing visual style
- Climactic ending
Like The Pathless, this game is all about movement and the feeling that it gives you. It’s set at the end of days, as a civilisation collapses in ruin, and you set out to see if you set things right, again taking down giant monsters to clear their corruption from the land.
Solar Ash has an art style that we’ll remember for years and years, and the feeling of skating around its huge environments is just perfect – plus it’s not a hugely long game, so you shouldn’t feel overwhelmed by it all.
How to pick your next indie game on PS5
As we said in our intro, there are huge numbers of indie games on PS5 thanks to full backward compatibility with PS4 games, so you have countless to pick from. These questions might help narrow things down for you.
What genres do you love?
The joy of indie games is that they’re rarely constrained by genres, and you can find examples of basically every type of game. That said, if you particularly love RPGs or shooters, bear that in mind as a starting point and you might be able to stick to a narrower range of options as you browse.
What art styles are you into?
Another way that indie games are often more free to express themselves is on the visual side of things, where graphical fidelity and realism might not be as important to their success. So, if you like hand-drawn art or cel-shaded looks, you could search for indie games that use those techniques.
Do you like short games?
Finally, we love indie games because they’re often not huge behemoths that take weeks to finish – so it might be worth investigating how long it will take you to beat a game before you commit to it, since you can defintely find some great titles that will only take a few sessions to see all the way through.
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