It’s October, and you know what that means–freaks and frights are abounding! There’s no better time to dive deep into some wildly experimental and stylish survival horror than the Halloween spooky season, and this month’s PlayStation Indies delivers on that front. As for the “freaks”–well, we’ve got a gaggle of very strange creatures and some beastly brawlers straight outta the barnyard. Oh, and a geometric object so terrifying it makes alien apex predators tremble in fear. Let’s take a look at what you can look forward to on PS4 and PS5 this month.
The Eternal Cylinder
The imaginative minds at developer ACE Team (Rock of Ages, Zeno Clash, Abyss Odyssey) have returned with an otherworldly adventure. A majestic planet exists far away in the universe, teeming with strange lifeforms all struggling for survival. Yet even in this harsh environment, one threat looms above all others: the crushing, destructive might of the Cylinder.
You take control of a Trebhum, an odd pack-traveling creature blessed with the power to transform and adapt to environments by eating. Explore four beautiful alien biomes–savannah, tundra, desert, and a freaky mutated infected sector–all while metamorphosing your herd of Trebhums to react to the dangers posed by the environments and other creatures. Grow extra legs to build your stamina, extendable eyes to get a better view of your surroundings, and bloat up your body for extra inventory space. Explore, evolve, and discover the Cylinder’s secrets before it destroys everything.
Release Date: October 13 | Publisher: Good Shepherd | PS5
Them’s Fightin’ Herds
Small, cute animals bring big-time rompin’, stompin’ action in this unorthodox one-on-one fighting game from Mane6. Made by and for fans of the genre, Them’s Fightin’ Herds is a beautifully animated, humor-filled critter combat game featuring character designs from acclaimed animation producer Lauren Faust. These fuzzy, scaly fighters might run on four legs, but they’ve got just as many slick fighting skills as their human counterparts, bolstered by magic energy that can be used for movement and offense skills that are unique to each character. If beating down the barn doors with your local buddies isn’t enough, you can battle hoof-to-claw with friends both on and offline, thanks to smooth rollback netcode.
Release Date: October 18 | Publisher: Modus Games | PS4, PS5
Saturnalia
Some historians theorize that the customs of the Roman holiday Saturnalia were absorbed into the Christmas holidays. But in the case of Saturnalia, a game from the acclaimed Italian indie studio Santa Ragione, Halloween is a far more appropriate season because this survival-horror roguelite is anything but festive.
You’ll travel to Sardinia, an island off Italy’s coast and home to the village of Gravoi, where a strange ritual takes place every winter solstice. As you take control of four different characters, you’ll explore disconcerting corridors and terrifying, twisting passages as you struggle to keep the ever-encroaching darkness from consuming you.
Saturnalia’s stunning and unique graphics, which blend bright colors with high-contrast pencil shading, perfectly enhance the disjointed, otherworldly atmosphere. The winding, maze-like structure of Gravoi also changes completely with every playthrough, giving a fresh set of scares every time you play.
Release Date: October 27 | Publisher: Santa Ragione | PS5, PS4
Signalis
In the far-flung future at the edge of space, a ship crash-lands on a cold, barren planet. As the android technician Elster seeks out her missing crewmate, she discovers what appears to be an abandoned “reeducation” camp. As terrifying visions and unfamiliar memories flash through her mind, the answers to her many questions lie in strange radio transmissions. They point to something mysterious deep below the planet’s surface that Elster must journey to discover.
Signalis combines tense, terrifying survival horror combat and resource management with a blend of 3D polygons with 2D sprites that creates a unique, exceptionally detailed pixel-art look. Explore the planet’s moody, surreal environments in a top-down perspective as you piece together the twisting psychological thriller story. Can you overcome both seen and unseen malevolent forces long enough to reach the stunning conclusion?
Release Date: October 27 | Publisher: Humble Games | PS4