30.
Still Wakes the Deep
[Best accents] [Best voice acting] [Best 60s] [Best what the fuck is that]
A very well crafted, excellently paced little horror romp through a perfectly normal oilrig. I don't really like the ending, but looks great, the voice acting is superb, and it's quite a trip.
7/10
29.
Alone in the Dark (2024)
[Best atmosphere] [Best music] [Best cosmic horror] [Best secret ending]
Alone in the Dark turned out to be one of those mythical "surprisingly good" video games. Great atmosphere, fun exploration and puzzles, so so combat that wasn't too much of a chore. Fantastic jazzy soundtrack. It was a solid 8/10 most of the way, the very ending kind of eats into the overal enjoyment, but the secret ending is quite fun. The team deserved better success, it would have been nice to see what they'd have done for a sequel.
7/10
28.
Crow Country
[Best visuals] [Best menus] [Best recreation of 90s FMV look]
Oh look, another great horror game with lots of atmosphere, fun exploration, puzzles and so so combat, and then toward the end it kind of lost me. Still worth playing, looks remarkable, sounds great.
7/10
27.
Sorry We're Closed
[Best visuals] [Best writing] [Best music] [Best mood] [Best characters] [Best demons] [Best save screen] [Best rat]
Oh look, another great horror (kind of) game with lots of atmosphere, fun exploration, puzzles and so so combat, and then towards the end it kind of lost me. Looks incredible, some of the other endings, are admittedly more satisfying. It's very worth playing and unique and just man what a look. Incredible work.
7/10
26.
Little Kitty, Big City
[Best cat] [Best animation] [Cutest game] [Best raccoon]
Cat. Very charming, very funny, very cute. One of the feel good games of 2024.
8/10
25.
Isles of Sea and Sky
[Best sokoban] [Best turtle] [Best puzzles]
Excellent box pushing puzzle/exploration adventure. Another game with an ending that doesn't QUITE deliver a satisfying conclusion after everything you've had to put into the game to get there, but overall a great game, well worth exploring and discovering secrets.
8/10
24.
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
[Best visuals] [Best animation] [Best sprites]
Oh look, another excellent game nearly undone by a bad ending. This is an excellent lightly metroidish 2D action platformer with absolutely gorgeous sprite art, beautiful animation, fun exploration, cool world building and an interesting plot. The very ending feels rushed and misjudged, but hopefully they can develop a sequel and undo some of that damage.
8/10
23.
Nine Sols
[Best parry] [Best atmosphere] [Best Yi]
Bleak and demanding metroid-like action platformer with very tough parry focused combat. Excellent, engaging, thoroughly offputting for me in parts, I wish this had resonated more strongly with me on the story side, but it is superb either way.
8/10
22.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
[Best visuals] [Best puzzles] [Best backgrounds]
One of the most overlooked games of the year, this is a very charming, cute, gorgeous looking puzzle exploration game with a neat movement style and a cute little story.
8/10
21.
Thank Goodness You're Here!
[Best seagulls] [Best comedy] [Best voice acting]
8/10
20.
Tactical Breach Wizards
[Best writing] [Best comedy] [Best tactics] [Best breaching] [Best wizards]
Superbly written, excellent tactical comedy game, it's so endearing, it's so well made, and it breaks my heart the story lost me towards the end. This is still a unique, very funny, incredibly charming and smart and replayable tactical slapstick game that everyone should experience. Tom Francis is a gift and I hope he keeps on giving.
8/10
19.
Bloodless
[Best visuals] [Best sound] [Best dithering] [Best parrying]
This game is just an absolute visual treat, the parrying based combat is fantastic, and it BREAKS my heart the story takes a turn at the last step that kind of soured the experience for me (personally), but this is an excellent, very overlooked gorgeous little experience that people should see.
8/10
18.
Caravan SandWitch
[Best open world] [Best cozy] [Best van] [Best visuals] [Best atmosphere] [Best exploration]
A genuinely cozy, comfy open world exploration mystery that I was completely in love with 95% of the way and then (it breaks my heart that) it lost me. It does the thing I was hoping and expecting it wouldn't do, but it did. Alas. Still, before that, thoroughly excellent, crafted with care and love and understanding. Wonderful stuff.
8/10
17.
Beyond Shadowgate
[Best visuals] [Best music] [Best puzzles]
Who would have thought we would get a genuine followup to Shadowgate and it would be this excellent? It's great! Play all the MacVenture NES games and then this one. It's great! It looks wonderful, GrahfMetal did incredible work. It's great!
8/10
16.
Awaria
[Best ghosts] [Best smooches] [Best music] [Best green]
Helltaker dev vanripper drops a new game out of nowhere, again for free, and it's great. Another banger Mittsies soundtrack! It's really tough! It's cute! It's weird! It's hot! It's great! Smooch all the ghosts!
8/10
15.
Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn
[Best visuals] [Best sprites] [Best animation] [Best sword hop] [Most ninja]
Tengo Project just doesn't miss, and while Pocky & Rocky Reshrined remains my personal favourite, this is an excellent and very tough action platformer with absolutely gorgeous spritework and animation. It's veterans of the trade flexing their craft and we are all better for it.
8/10
14.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
[Best VN] [Best writing] [Most cry] [Best Famicom Detective Club release of 2024]
I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, even if it's less of a detective game and more of the protagonist stumbling on a series of conversations and then at the end of the game being explained to what actually happened. It gets extremely sad and depressing, and I think it's one of those games where the more I think about it, the less I will begin to like it, but boy a what a trip, and I was really not prepared to get so emotionally invested on these characters and this tragedy. Heartbreaking stuff. I hope they make more new games in this series. I would like to see more Switch VNs with these kinds of insane production values and attention to detail.
8/10
13.
Pepper Grinder
[Best music] [Best drilling] [Best platforming] [Best gems]
XEECEE's soundtrack is the star of the show, but this is a really fun and slick and inventive action platformer with fun drilling and fun exploration for secret tokens and gems. The last final boss is a bit of a chore, but before that it's all superb. But that soundtrack, maaan.
8/10
12.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
[Best Zelda] [Best Link] [Cutest game] [Best music]
A new Zelda! It's great! It's cute! The copy ability is so fun! It's great!
8/10
11.
Phoenix Springs
[Best visuals] [Best sound] [Best writing] [Most haunting] [Best well what the hell was that all about]
Cryptic and surreal fever dream of a trip through memories and regret. Occasional "where the fuck am I supposed to interact next" wandering aside, it's excellent, compelling, atmospheric, haunting stuff.
8/10
10.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
[Best Indy] [Best music] [Most adventure] [Best punch sound FX] [Best voice acting] [Best rats]
Excellent first person adventure game, that forgoes most of the annoying video game action tropes and gives us a genuine, authentic, Indy adventure with flair, sense of wonder and lots of fun, cool exploration and moments.
Some of the puzzles can feel a bit too easy, especially if there's an NPC constantly telling you "I think there's something going on with this wall, Indy stop reading that letter you just picked up, we should pay attention to this wall here, with the big letters 'pay attention to this wall' written on it, just put that letter down I know you're in the middle of trying to read it, but I really think this wall is somehow important and you should come check it out and I will definitely keep talking through the whole time you're trying to read through the letter in your hand so you could come look at this wall-", and sometimes the platforming, especially the vaulting, will fail you and you plummet to your death when you shouldn't, but overall there's a great sense of discovery and adventure and peril without relying on stock video game shooty bang, and it's all the better for it.
Troy Baker also does a genuinely impressive Indy performance, channeling a younger Harrison Ford uncannily well at times, right down to the voice cracks and little GUH.. HUHs as he swings over a chasm in panic.
8/10
9.
Fear the Spotlight (2024)
[Best visuals] [Best sound] [Best puzzles] [Spookiest game] [Best Viv] [Best Amy] [Best ending]
Yeah, it came out in 2023, but then they took it down and worked on it more and re-released it again with a whole new second playable chapter that wonderfully compliments and completes this already wonderful, cozy, lovely little spooky adventure game. The ending is so satisfying and it was a delight replaying and playing the old and new content.
8/10
8.
The Plucky Squire
[Best visuals] [Best animation] [Best book] [Cutest game]
A very cute and charming adventure! Wonderful animation and attention to detail! Fun tricks with narrative and structure, hopping from page to page, rearranging words to create new things in the book. Clever mixing of gameplay and visual styles. It's great! It's cute! It's great!
8/10
7.
Neva
[Best visuals] [Best animation] [Best music] [Best wolf] [Most cry]
GRIS developers put out yet another absolute audiovisual feast, that is just a joy. I like it slightly less than GRIS, but it is an astonishing piece of interactive animated film essentially, well worth exploring and experiencing.
9/10
6.
Steamworld Heist II
[Best visuals] [Best music] [Best tactics] [Best headshots] [Best Daisy]
Another Steamworld, another incredibly charming and beautiful game that's just a joy to explore. Very fun tactical combat, super satisfying headshots, maybe gets a little repetitive as you're trying to replay missions to get enough XP to activate that ONE ability bonus you want for a character, and the actual story isn't particularly mindblowing, but this is Steamworld, so that's never been the case. It's fun, it's smart, it's extremely charming and heartfelt and god I hope they do a Dig 3 at some point. I would argue Heist 2 is the best game they've made so far and genuinely a treat.
9/10
5.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
[Best visuals] [Best music] [Best mansion] [Best dog] [Best puzzles] [Best ilo] [Best milo] [Best bug reports]
Cryptic and surreal fever dream of a trip through memories and regret and trauma. Occasional "where the fuck am I supposed to interact next" wandering aside, it's excellent, compelling, atmospheric, haunting stuff. Great puzzles, often exhausting, well worth going through and taking the time to figure things out. Simogo just doesn't miss.
9/10
4.
Dungeons of Hinterberg
[Best Alps] [Best dungeons] [Best leggings]
Lovely, lovely, lovely, charming, colourful, funny, comfy dungeon crawling and adventure and endearing characters and societal anxiety, and equippable, upgradeable leggings.
9/10
3.
Conscript
[Best atmosphere] [Best WW1] [Most horror]
Bleak, grim, relentless survival horror in the trenches of WW1. Tremendously powerful, moody, expertly designed trip through hell, it frustrates, exhausts and intrigues in equel measures. The multiple endings are all difficult and poignant. Superb work.
9/10
2.
1000xRESIST
[Best visuals] [Best music] [Best writing] [Best colours] [Best story] [Best voice acting] [Most cry] [Best Watcher] [Best Blue] [Best BBF] [Best Secretary] [Best ending]
I will just quote my steam review, I don't trust myself to pick my words any better:
It is extremely difficult to describe what I've gone through without selling it short or spoiling too much. 1000xRESIST is a narrative adventure that tackles grand, ambitious speculative fiction, surreal scifi, bleak, dark existential dread, political allegory, generational trauma, cycles of neglect and violence, the pains of simply connecting with other people. Learning to live with regret. With grief. With yourself.
It is both massive in scale and incredibly intimate and raw. The splintered narrative structure can be a bit bewildering at times, but if you get emotionally invested in stories, this is both encouragement but also severe warning. This game will absolutely wreck you. I tear up at engaging stories all the time, but this thing made me ugly cry several times. It will break your heart. It's bleak, it's cruel, it's poetic and beautiful and cuts you like a piece of glass.
Special mention must be given both to the gorgeous soundtrack and the absolutely stellar voice acting. The writing is impossibly strong already, but combined with some incredibly natural and heartfelt delivery, the dialogue just elevates the whole thing and really makes you feel for even the briefest exhale. I really recommend taking your time in exploring all the environments to catch all the incidental dialogue, the world building is incredibly restrained but strong.
Thoroughly devastating, the developer has created something so raw and sincere, I can't wait to see what they might do next.
9/10
1.
The Crimson Diamond
[Game of the Year] [Best adventure] [Best text parser] [Best fingerprints] [Best EGA] [Best backgrounds] [Best dithering] [Best ending]
Even though I'd been following the development of the game for years, playing this at the end of the year, after everything else, it kind of came out of nowhere how wonderful this adventure is, and how hard it hit me.
A lovingly crafted murder mystery, harkening back to late 80s Sierra adventure games (especially The Colonel's Bequest), with a wonderful text parser interface, beautiful backgrounds and plenty of atmosphere. I had a great time exploring, searching, eavesdropping and solving puzzles and mysteries. Julia Minamata has poured so much care and love into every screen, every line, every interaction.
As I happen to be very fond of old Sierra games and their particular brand of discovery, this probably resonated with me differently than people who can't stand those old games, but Julia's piece is kinder, wiser, much more slickly designed, while still allowing for genuine sense of discovery as you uncover the tiniest details and secrets behind each character and plot thread. The ending can go in so many different ways depending on what you've uncovered and decide to do, and "failing" to get the best ending first time through was so cool, as I got to see just how much variety there is as you go through the last two chapters again. It's genuinely impressive work and I can't wait to see what Julia will come up next.
It's a wonderful little mystery to go through, and it is just my favourite game this year. What a treat.
9/10
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