25 Best PSN Games #5 – #1

A lioness slinks through the empty streets of Tokyo. The humans are gone, and this cat doesn't particularly care where they went. What she does care about, however, is where her next meal is coming from, and judging by the rustling in a nearby alley, it's coming from about fifteen yards to the left of her. The alley is filled with bits of plywood, old newspapers, and a Pomeranian dog wearing a hardhat. The lioness moves in closer, but a twitch in her whisker and a pampered scent on the wind tell her something's wrong. She whirls around to find three more Pomeranians staring her down, all wearing hats, all with bloodlust in their eyes. Suddenly more come pouring out of every shadow she didn't check and every bag she thought was empty. The world has changed, and with it, so has the Lioness' place on the food chain. This is Tokyo Jungle, where you'll play as nearly a hundred different animals, all with different rules and abilities, trying to survive while working towards the mystery of humanity's disappearance.

I hope your brain is good and warmed up, because Braid's about to take it on a freaking triathlon. Our hero, Tim, is on a quest to find his girlfriend. However, the further you dig into the story, the more you'll find out that things are not as they seem. Much of the joy of Braid is in its discovery, so without spoiling too much, we'll just tell you that it's a fantastic indie puzzle platformer that requires precision fingerwork and clever use of the game's various temporal manipulation mechanics if you hope to get to the bottom of its many mysteries.

If you thought making decisions for Commander Shepard was tough, get ready to suffer. Few games are so gripping, so personal, and so emotionally draining as Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. It straddles a few genres, coming closer to a point-and-click adventure than anything, but it's the powerfully written characters and heart-wrenching scenarios that will stick with you long after the game is finished.

Don't let the childlike whimsy at play here fool you: Papa & Yo is about alcoholism and child abuse. Sounds fun, right? In it you play as Quico, a kid fleeing from his abusive home. Quico's young and innocent, so he often has to slip into a fantasy world to translate his harsh life into something he can understand. It's in this world that he meets Monster, a loving, but fickle, beast who will slip into a rage and hurt Quico if provoked. Papa & Yo's puzzle-platforming gameplay is solid, but it's these dark and often ignored themes of parental neglect and abuse that turn it into such a stirring work of art.

Since Journey manages to communicate such beautiful imagery to the player without relying on words, it only seems fitting that this review be written the same way. Unfortunately, that doesn't make any sense, so we'll have to rely on traditional verbiage to convey what a wonderful experience Journey is. You'll travel on your journey through the sands and ruins as a hooded, scarf-clad figure. Sometimes you'll be alone. Sometimes you'll be joined by another traveler. What's so amazing here is that this other traveler is actually another player, one whose name you can't see and who can't communicate with you outside of the character's non-verbal "shouts." Never has a game so truly managed to capture the wondrous feeling of exploration, or of humanity's smallness relative to the universe. Plus, Journey's soundtrack is exquisite. It rises and falls evocatively, and perfectly accents the player's experience. Journey managed to walk its way into the #1 spot of our 25 Best PSN Games.