We’re only halfway through 2024, and it’s already been a banner year for indie games. These games from small developers offer big-time fun, showcasing new and unique approaches to gameplay, visuals, and storytelling. This year’s bounty of indie goodness offers an amazing variety of experiences, from old-school throwbacks to bold new experimental designs. Whether you want to immerse yourself in the foreboding wilderness on your big screen monitor or make some poker hands on the PlayStation Portal before bed, something here is sure to please.

Ultros

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As you awaken in the depths of a ship floating in space, a stunning neon landscape spreads before you, teeming with bizarre lifeforms and untold mysteries. What happened here, and what has transformed this craft into a womb of cosmic horror? Combat vicious foes with an arsenal of hard-hitting combat skills, then nurture the strange seeds you discover on your travels to sprout secrets. Strengthen yourself and explore all you can before a time loop engulfs everything and begins anew. Will you be able to escape the cycle of birth and destruction?

Publisher: Kepler Interactive | Developer: Hadoque | PS5, PS4

Penny’s Big Breakaway

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Hello, I’m Shigeo Komori, the Game Director at Atlus and we are excited to bring Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance to PlayStation fans. In celebration of today’s new trailer, I want to share more details about the game ahead of its June 14 launch on PS5 and PS4.  

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Battle system　

SMT V: Vengeance introduces a multitude of new skills across 270 new and familiar demons, including powerful new Magatsuhi Skills. These unison skills are unlocked after receiving a new kind of talisman called a periapt, which states the skill and demons required to use it. Gather these demons as your allies to command the tactical advantage in battle: unleash fearsome attacks, improve your chances with support skills, or bestow life-saving healing effects on your team. 

More powerful skills mean more powerful foes – explore the apocalyptic netherworld known as Da’at and encounter glowing red enemies called Magatsuhi demons. These enemies are stronger than your typical demon and will hunt you down if you’re not careful! Emerge victorious and you will be rewarded with higher amounts of Macca, EXP, and even stat-boosting Incense. Be on your guard, as unlike normal enemy encounters these demons will wield fierce Magatsuhi Skills.  

As a reward for our devoted fans, when certain conditions have been met the level cap will be increased from 99 to 150. Additionally, upon completing specific tasks the game will unlock the punishing Godborn difficulty mode, with all enemy demons now level 150 – a challenge that will test the prowess of even the most hardened SMT veteran. 

The battle system has also received various updates and adjustments, such as being able to use magic skills during auto-battle. These system updates and new elements will be applied to Canon of Vengeance and Canon of Creation. 

New demon experiences 

Players can now take control of an individual demon during special side quests. During these quests the player will guide the actions of a demon, such as fan-favorites Alice and Pixie, as well as new characters like Nahobeeho, to complete a variety

Even back when they were herd-deep in undead, the creators behind The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners were dreaming up how – and where – else they could apply the immersive tactility of their VR combat. At the tail end of 2022 came the answer in the form of a cinematic teaser: sidearms would be exchanged for swords and dangerous encounters transposed from a Walker-infested New Orleans to a brutal, dark fantasy world.

And last week, a gameplay debut by way of the latest State of Play. At the initial announcement, the cornerstones promised for this Unreal 5-powered adventure – physics-based combat, a grappling hook to climb and grab, and boss battles with earth-shaking titans – all present in nearly two minutes of PS VR2 footage.

There’s plenty in that first-look sizzle that I experienced first-hand by way of a recent hands-on. Thirty minutes and change were spent going toe-to-toe with skilled fighters, repelling down mountainous ruins, and clambering up the torso of an angry, monstrous behemoth in a “vertical slice of a vertical slice” demoing the game’s key features.

Favoring dual-wield loadouts and two-handed broadswords throughout, I walked away feeling every inch an ancient warrior but equally glad to have donned a lightweight shirt that morning and had a few weeks of a gym return under my belt.

You don’t have to fear a forced workout. The studio intends to craft difficulty settings that cater to and scale for all players, be they story and lore lovers, power fantasy seekers, or survival enthusiasts. But even in this preview, the intricacy of combat is a gritty delight. The core of the physics-based melee system requires blades or shields to be angled correctly to strike limbs and block incoming blows, thrown daggers, arrows. There’s a tight parry window to stagger enemies and unblockable attacks that your dodge move will come in handy for.

The studio is still developing the game’s haptic feedback to make use of PS VR2’s headset and Sense controllers. The intent is for every weapon to have its weight and heft, and for the player to ‘feel’ the passing of Behemoths. One fun illustrative example: when you run out of stamina, the headset feedback will mimic throbbing temples until stamina automatically recharges. 

How to pierce a fighter’s defenses depends on their weapon – and yours. Daggers will only scratch wooden shields, small axes will puncture holes in them, and two-handed broadswords – with the right angle and force – will carve chunks off them. Headshot a faraway foe with an arrow shot, or toss a melee weapon, and then charge in to finish the job. Aim a strike or weapon throw correctly, and you can knock a helmet off an armored foe’s head.

Your grappling hook is an essential tool for fights. Grab distant weapons, and yank a combatant off balance. Rappel out of trouble, or reposition yourself on the battlefield. In one moment, I snag a tree trunk behind someone and with a quick pull it cannons into them.

The Land of Shadow is calling.

After a more-than-two-year wait, we’re weeks away from the launch of Shadow of the Erdtree, the enormous DLC for Elden Ring. FromSoftware hasn’t spent those years basking the accolades their first open-world adventure received; instead, they’ve been hard at work on this, their biggest and most ambitious expansion ever. 

When I recently got a chance to go hands-on with Shadow of the Erdtree, even the tiny slice I saw made it easy to remember why Elden Ring is so beloved. Rise, Tarnished, and hear of the things I saw.

We’re not in Limgrave anymore

Shadow of the Erdtree takes place in an entirely new region, known as the Land of Shadow, and is accessed by touching the mummified arm found in Mohgwyn Palace in the base game. It’s here that Miquella, the oft-mentioned but never-seen character from the main game, traveled to in the game’s lore.

The section I explored opened with a sprawling meadow filled with gravestones and shadowy spirits. In the distance, I could clearly see what lay ahead of me: a vast settlement, an expansive castle, and a dark woodland looming on the horizon. Above all, an enormous tree stood, charred and gnarled, in stark contrast to the golden tree seen across the main game’s landscape.

While regions in the original game often glowed with autumnal warmth, this region’s dried grass and dying shrubs felt ancient and blighted. The dungeon and fortress I explored—Belurat Tower Settlement and Castle Ensis—were claustrophobic and folded over on themselves. They were filled with winding paths and concealed shortcuts, opening to reveal routes back to Sites of Grace. I fought through flooded cellars, lava-filled chasms, and forests alive with an eerie blue glow.

Fresh yet familiar, The Land of Shadow feels like a natural extension to The Lands Between, and FromSoftware’s mastery of level design is displayed here in glorious form.

New opponents await

It wouldn’t be a FromSoftware update without fresh foes to face, and in that regard, Shadow of the Erdtree comes out swinging. The first enemy I faced dove down to attack me from atop a pillar and quickly sent me back to the Site of Grace. After that, I faced hatchet-wielding ghosts, death sorcery-breathing birds, and knights more lethal than anything I had encountered before. Gigantic, flaming brazier-like beasts flung brimstone in my direction mere moments after I started my journey, setting the scene for the rest of my time there.

And then there are bosses. Shadow of the Erdtee will feature 10+ full bosses and additional side bosses. Some are required to progress the story, and others can be challenged when you feel up to it.

I faced two of these. The first, the Devine Beast Dancing Lion, is found in Belurat Tower Settlement and felt like that classic FromSoftware early game skill check. The grotesque beast leaped across the arena to attack, using a mixture of elemental abilities to keep me on my toes before crushing my poor sorcerer between its teeth again and again.

The second was the magic-wielding Twin Moon Knight, one of the guardians of Castle Ensis, who used a distinctive double full moon attack that filled the entire arena with magic blasts. This devastating ability was challenging to avoid and threw me into the air before slamming me back down to earth, often with lethal force. And if the double moon doesn’t get you, their o

When PlayStation VR2 launched last year, we were thrilled to introduce PS5 players to a new generation of VR games with innovative gameplay and immersive sensory features. Inspired by our passion to bring gamers even more content options, we’ve been working to enable access to additional games on PC, complementing the diverse PS VR2 games lineup available on PS5. Today, we’re happy to share that we’ll be rolling out this support on August 7.

Players will have access to buy and play Steam’s expansive library of thousands of VR games, including fan favorites like Half-Life: Alyx, Fallout 4 VR, and War Thunder.

To start, players will need to purchase a PlayStation VR2 PC adapter, which will be available at Suggested Retail Price of of SGD 89.90 / MYR 279 / IDR 999,000 / THB 2,090 / PHP 3,290 / VND 1,599,000 at local retailers.  Players will also need a commercially available DisplayPort cable (sold separately) that is compatible with DisplayPort 1.4, as well as a Steam account and a PC that meets the minimum requirements below.*

Minimum PC requirements

Here are the minimum requirements for PS VR2 gameplay on PC:

Setup is easy: simply connect PlayStation VR2 to your PC using the PS VR2 PC adapter and the DisplayPort 1.4 cable. Then, download the PlayStation VR2 App and the SteamVR App from Steam. This will allow you to set up PS VR2 on your PC, customize your settings and play area, and start purchasing and playing games in SteamVR.

As with all PC gaming technology, performance may vary depending on your PC setup, including system compatibility and the quality of your DisplayPort 1.4 cable. Please ensure your setup meets the minimum requirements. SteamVR titles also have individual system requirements, so please refer to the game information on Steam.

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May saw a wide variety of games, from indie retro horror to mascot brawlers and fast-paced shooters. What did you enjoy most out of the diverse lineup of titles? 

How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. After the polls close we will tally your votes, and announce the winner on our social channels and PlayStation.Blog. 

What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? Note: re-released games don’t qualify, but remakes do. We define remakes as ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds such as Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

How are nominees decided? The PlayStation Blog editorial team will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll. 

When PlayStation VR2 launched last year, we were thrilled to introduce PS5 players to a new generation of VR games with innovative gameplay and immersive sensory features. Inspired by our passion to bring gamers even more content options, we’ve been working to enable access to additional games on PC, complementing the diverse PS VR2 games lineup available on PS5. Today, we’re happy to share that we’ll be rolling out this support on August 7.

Players will have access to buy and play Steam’s expansive library of thousands of VR games, including fan favorites like Half-Life: Alyx, Fallout 4 VR, and War Thunder.

To start, players will need to purchase a PlayStation VR2 PC adapter, which will be available for an estimated retail price of $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99 at select retailers and direct.playstation.com where available.  Players will also need a commercially available DisplayPort cable (sold separately) that is compatible with DisplayPort 1.4, as well as a Steam account and a PC that meets the minimum requirements below.*

Minimum PC requirements

Here are the minimum requirements for PS VR2 gameplay on PC:

Setup is easy: simply connect PlayStation VR2 to your PC using the PS VR2 PC adapter and the DisplayPort 1.4 cable. Then, download the PlayStation VR2 App and the SteamVR App from Steam. This will allow you to set up PS VR2 on your PC, customize your settings and play area, and start purchasing and playing games in SteamVR.

As with all PC gaming technology, performance may vary depending on your PC setup, including system compatibility and the quality of your DisplayPort 1.4 cable. Please ensure your setup meets the minimum requirements. SteamVR titles also have individual system requirements, so please refer to the game information on Steam.

Read more

In V Rising, you take the role of a Vampire freshly awoken from their dusty tomb, and your power has long since dried up. It’s time to get it back, and what else could that mean other than a blood-soaked adventure to drink your fill and find your footing once more as a nocturnal terror of the night.

Enter the V Blood. These people, monsters, beasts, and supernatural wonders are all descendants of powerful bloodlines. This magically enhanced blood proves a potent source of advancement for the Vampire, master hemomancer, to tap to absorb skills, knowledge, and even magical secrets to learn spells and abilities.

These boss-level encounters are numerous but notable. In this blog, we’ll give you a few examples of what you’ll have to face off against, and for those sinister strategists among you, we’ll offer a few tips to take advantage of.

Willfred The Village Elder

Willfred is the chief of a small, secluded village, its reclusive population hiding a terrible secret. Visiting this place during the day, you might notice strange details, such as scratched surfaces and empty cages. Only by returning at the right time will you uncover this place’s dark, twisted nature, and come face to face with a hunger for blood that might match even your own.

The Village Elder is the alpha of his pack, and the most vicious hunter you’ll encounter among his fellow werewolves. He’ll relentlessly chase you down with an onslaught of clawing and biting attacks. Bringing some defensive countermeasures in your spell kit will be of great help, and you should take special care to hold your dash ability to slip away during only the most critical moments. Toward the end of the fight, captive villagers will break free from their cages and try to escape. Willfred will switch his attention, going into a compulsive feeding frenzy. You should get to them before he does because you won’t like what happens after he feeds.

Ziva the Engineer

In the depths of Gloomrot, a gothic hellscape riddled with toxic waste and mutations born of the ambitions of mankind’s pursuit of higher evolution, you can find Ziva the Engineer. She’s the crazed head engineer of weapons development for the tech-savvy faction, the Trancendum. When facing off against her, it’s vital to learn the attack patterns of her three weapons, an experimental arsenal that demands respect if you don’t want to meet an early undead end.

She swaps regularly between her weapons during the fight, switching up her move set as she does. When she grabs her Electro Zapper, you’ll need to stay on your toes and keep moving. Her flamethrower is a deadly countermeasure to be feared like the sun, so you’ll want to keep your distance when she’s equipped with this one. Lastly, her Gatling gun will fill the battlefield with bullets, and you’ll need to find some cover to survive the onslaught.

Raziel t

Today is my lucky day because I get to talk about Tomba with legendary creator Tokuro Fujiwara. Before leaving Capcom to develop Tomba, Fujiwara worked on many games, including some you might have heard of, like Mega Man, Resident Evil, and Commando. 

Tomba is a colorful action platformer originally published by Sony Computer Entertainment and beloved by hardcore PlayStation fans. In an era where side-scrollers were being left behind for polygon-pushing 3D gameplay, Mr. Fujiwara decided to do something different: a beautiful blend of old and new, something truly unique.  

Now, after almost twenty years, Tomba returns to PlayStation on August 1 with new features as Tomba Special Edition

Alena Alambeigi: In 1997, when you made Tomba, most developers focused on making 3D games like Tomb Raider or Crash Bandicoot. You instead decided to mix 2D sprites with perspective-shifting 3D environments. Why?

Tokuro Fujiwara: Tomba runs on 3D technology, with gameplay designed around 2D principles. This is why it’s described as a 2.5D game. I think 2D games have a certain kind of charm that 3D doesn’t. I also wanted to push the limits of what could be done. To bring my vision to life, I needed to use 2D principles along with 3D CG visuals. This allowed me to create something that felt new on the PlayStation. 

There were times when I wondered if I should go 3D instead, 3D games have a very clear sense of space. In 2D, all the action takes place on a flat plane, and multiple layers provide a sense of depth. This means you have to design the game in creative ways so that the different layers don’t conflict. This results in something interesting that can only be achieved with 2D. 

Alambeigi: What do you hope new players will take away from Tomba Special Edition?

Fujiwara: Tomba has many side quests. These come in different varieties and are hidden throughout the game. I encourage players to seek them out. Various items allow players to learn new moves, expanding how levels can be beaten. I hope players search and seal away the Evil Pigs scattered throughout the world, which will unlock even more to see! There are many discoveries to be made. I hope players can relax and enjoy the world of Tomba.

Alambeigi: Speaking of genre-bending gameplay. Tomba feels like an open world despite being described as a side-scrolling platformer. This was largely due to how nonlinearly the levels could be played. Was this done intentionally, or was it something that just happened through development?

Fujiwara: I had envisioned this open-feel game from the very beginning. It was all a blur when things started, but as development progressed, it began taking shape. 

You could consider Tomba an open-world title, a term that was rarely used back then. There’s a wide area with a lot of different content in

Hello PlayStation Stars members. June is almost here. We’re excited to share this month’s updates, which include special Days of Play Campaigns, new Digital Collectibles you can purchase with your Points, and a few other surprises. Here’s what you need to know. 

Days of Play Display Case 

Now Available 

Change the scene on your Display Case to celebrate Days of Play and showcase your Digital Collectibles.  

Campaign: Dredge | Days of Play 2024 | Digital Collectible: DREDGE Boat 

Now Available

Don’t miss your opportunity to play Dredge, which is now in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Embark on your own journey to find fish and mysteries and earn the “Introductions” trophy to haul in the Dredge Boat Digital Collectible. 

Campaign: PlayStation Plus Game Catalog: Must-play this Month | Reward: 75 Points

Now Available 

To celebrate Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 joining the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, play any one of these games from the catalog to earn 75 Points. 

• Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 
• Gotham Knights  
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy  
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales 
• GigaBash 

Campaign: Your PlayStation Plus Monthly Games Await | Reward: 75 Points  

Available: June 4

Check out the new batch of PlayStation Plus Monthly Games. Play any one of these game titles to get some Points.

Campaign: Destiny 2: The Final Shape | Digital Collectible: A Light to Accompany the Darkness 

Available: June 4 

It’s time to save the universe from the Witness’s twisted designs. Journey into the Traveler, rally the Vanguard, and end the War of Light and Darkness. You are our last beacon of hope. Play Destiny 2: The Final Shape on PS4 or PS5 to earn a Digital Collectible. 

Get ready and pre-order Destiny 2: The Final Shape now: Destiny 2: The Final Shape + Annual Pass.

Campaign:  PlayStation VR2 Games | Days of Play 2024 | Digital Collectible: A Flip of the Virtual Coin  

Available: June 6

Check out this lineup of new PS VR2 games and step into a new reality with PlayStation Plus Premium. Play any one of the games noted below to get a celebratory Digital Collectible! 

• Ghostbusters Rise of the Ghost Lord 
• Walkabout Mini Golf 
• Before Your Eyes