From the embers of the Push Square Podcast rises Indie Bin – a brand new feature that draws attention to some of the smaller games in the PS4's busy release schedule. Once the Indie Bin is full, we'll put it out for collection in these consolidated articles featuring several pint-sized reviews. The metric here is simple: games we don't like stay Indie Bin, and games we do like rest Outdie Bin. Without further ado, let's crack on.
The Adventure Pals
This daft title from Massive Monster and Armor Games combines Saturday morning cartoon presentation with very light action platforming, and even some RPG elements. The result is a silly yet pleasant adventure game that's surprisingly large despite its postage stamp story and simplistic gameplay. There are bosses to fight, new abilities to equip, and a decent variety of cutesy locations with secret stickers and cupcakes to find. You can play in local co-op as well, and we'd suggest doing so. If beating up bandits and exploring basic levels with your pet rock and backpack-dwelling giraffe sounds fun, you can be sure it's even better with a pal. ST
Verdict: Outdie Bin
Death Road to Canada
Everything's randomly generated in Death Road to Canada, a game about the journey out of a zombified America. Your characters must scavenge various zombie-infested locations for supplies to take with them on the road, and you'll need to keep on top of food, fuel, medicine, ammunition, and more. There's a surprising depth to be found here, with random stats and traits to manage, scenarios that force you into difficult decisions, and permadeath forever looming. The menus are poorly laid out, but controls are otherwise very simple, and the mix of short supply runs and the more narrative focused driving segments is compelling, thanks to a snappy pace. A generous amount of modes and a character creator, along with the random generation, means there's also a fair amount of replayability to boot. ST
Verdict: Outdie Bin
Dusty Raging Fist
Not to be confused with the similarly named Streets of Rage rip-off Raging Justice, Dusty Raging Fist is a Streets of Rage rip-off for folks who fap over Amy Rose. A loose side-scrolling brawler, there’s some nice art and animation work here if you’re fond of the whole anthropomorphised thing. Hey, what you search for on Pornhub is your own business. No, the real problem with this game is that it just doesn’t feel tight enough; a fairly deep upgrade system does little to prevent the combat from whiffing, and the platforming is equally imprecise. There’s a neat system where you can call a sniper into battle, but this boils down to pointing a reticule at enemies on screen and slamming the square button like you’re on top of a Taylor Swift lookalike with prosthetic antlers. SB
Vedict: Indie Bin
Pic-a-Pix Color
Did you know picross puzzles are also known as nonograms or griddlers? The latter’s kinda left us longing for Burger King if we’re honest, but there are no flame-grilled delicacies in Pic-a-Pix Color, a cross-buy puzzler that has you solving cunning pixel art conundrums in the name of entertainment. Set against a MIDI rendition of Don’t Stop Believin’ which we’re 93 per cent certain isn’t licensed, there are over 150 boards to solve here, with completed images ranging from fried eggs to footballs. Larger grid-sizes offer a sturdier challenge, but the controls can be cumbersome even on the PS Vita, where you can choose between the face buttons or touch screen. It’s all inoffensive enough, but it’s not exactly going to leave you delirious like a Journey cover band at an over 50s club. SB
Verdict: Indie Bin
Rogue Aces
With roguelikes being the indie scene’s genre of choice, game titles that begin with ‘Rogue’ are becoming as common as the digits at the end of a Nintendo 64 release. Rogue Aces takes the arcade dogfighting of Luftrausers and adds a roguelite spin on it, with each run seeing you upgrade your World War II aircraft before you crash it and start all over again. The stiff upper lip gags have been done a thousand times before, but the gameplay loop – which sees you returning to an aircraft carrier in order to refuel between operations – is entertaining. A progressive upgrade system and plenty of supplementary modes help this likeable release stick its landing. SB
Verdict: Outdie Bin
Words: Sammy Barker, Stephen Tailby
Comments 17
Loved Adventure Pals, played it with my daughter and had a great time. Very minor quibble though, when things get busy it can hard to tell which character you are controlling when playing co op, very small niggle though as the game is so fun and utterly charming.
Death Road to Canada slipped right under my radar though, looks like one to add to my backlog.
Came for the clever title, stayed for the content.
This is a really cool feature. Will look to check a few of these out.
Great idea and article. Thanks for bringing some of the less publicised games to our attention 👍
Wait i thought PlayStation gamers hated indies xD
Love this new feature!
@Scrummer @roe @R1spam Thanks, glad you liked it. For absolutely ages now I've been trying to think of a way we can cover some of the games that slip through the cracks, and @BenTarrant's Indie Bin format from the Push Square Podcast felt like the right solution.
We'll be back with regular instalments.
@ShadowWarrior Remember when Xbox gamers said that indies weren't "games"? I'm starting to feel old after remembering that.
Speaking of indies, has there been any word on "The End is Nigh" on PS4? It came out on Switch a while ago, but I like to get games on PS4 if it's an option. The developer's site says coming soon, but it's said that for a while.
Im really glad youre doing this. Seemed like PS was starting to only focus on the "flavor of the month" games and AAA guide filler.
Feels like you use to cover a much broader range of games. Now when i go to other gaming sites i tend to find cool games that PS have simply never even mentioned.
Maybe im the only one who feels like this. Hopefully this is a return to form for PS, my fav gaming site.
Nice addition to PS
Finally, a bit of attention for smaller games. As Gmork__ said, you used to have more reviews. It's what brough me to your site in the first place.
@Vorlon @Gmork___ We actually still write around the same amount of reviews that we used to — nothing's really changed on that front. Maybe it's because we generally have more articles than before, so reviews appear more spread out?
Previously we did pride ourselves on trying to review everything that came out, but now it's simply an impossible task. The PS4 gets about 10 smaller games a week launching on it, and reviewing them all just isn't an option. Thus we have the return of Indie Bin.
@ShogunRok It's true that there are more games than before. Some games don't even get a review on any site.
@ShogunRok hey shogun. Hope i didnt come across as a trolly hater. PS is my fav gaming site and the ONLY one i visit daily or honestly at all practically. Once in a blue moon i might go peruse another site but i always come back to you!
From reading 95% of all the articles/comments you put out over the last couple years or so i just get the impression you ps folk just seem so genuine, compassionate and kind hearted. And im very down with that 😊
@get2sammyb this brought back some nice memories, I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is the first step in your plan to bring back @BenTarrant and the podcast.
@RevengeFan I've not heard anything about that. Hopefully soon!
@Gmork___ Not at all, constructive feedback from you lot is super important because we only see the site from the perspective of editors and writers.
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