This article is part of a directory: TheGamer Game Of The Year Hub – 2024
Over the years, triple-A gaming has often had trouble producing provocative stories, resonant experiences, or stand-out blockbusters. As a response, it is indies time and time again that help propel the medium to monumental new heights.
2024 is that kind of year. While there are a number of bigger titles I’ve found creatively inspiring, it is the smaller games that are the best of the bunch.
10
Stalker 2
Stalker 2 is my kind of FPS – tactical, beautiful, relentless. It’s a brutal foray into the surrealist exclusion zone of Chornobyl that’s as punishing to exist in as it is sublime to observe. All while soaked in the gripping atmosphere of ecocritical melancholia.
Sure, it’s got its share of jank – thankfully being addressed post-launch – but I’ve found my time in the Zone more charming than grating. With a little time and polish, it’ll only make this game all the more worth coming back to.
9
Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing is cruel. A truly rotten horror game. The kind of game that makes you feel disgusting just by playing it. With a unique vileness slowly unearthing itself and latching on to your mind’s eye, it’s one of this year’s best games.
While its stealth sections may be rough around the edges, it’s the gripping character moments throughout that make Mouthwashing the unforgettable experience it is. By the end, you’ll be questioning the extent we can be forgiven for breaching moral lines.
8
I Am Your Beast
I Am Your Beast is pure adrenaline. A dopamine inducing shooter made for the gamer’s gamer. It’s the single best display of action stripped down to its bare necessities the likes you can only improve by tweaking the DPI settings of your mouse.
There is no other shooter this year that can compete with the tactile serotonin it is to land a headshot as you parkour through a hyper-stylized forest. The kind of locked in intensity the like of only Shadow of the Erdtree can rival. Straight up, it’s a good ass game.
7
Thank Goodness You’re Here
Finally, a proper comedy game. Thank Goodness You’re Here is a pure genre game devoted to one thing and one thing only: being funny. From slapstick gags, absurd characters, and relentless dry humor, there are jokes here for everyone – even if you aren’t from Northern England.
I still find myself giggling every time I pull up clips while video editing. Out of all the indies this year, it’s this one that is flying drastically under the radar.
6
Astro Bot
Astro Bot embodies so much of what I want from triple-A gaming: a mid- budget title with a relatively short development cycle made by an inspired team focused on delivering consistently engaging and creative mechanics. Level by level, Astro has this in spades.
While I agree with the criticism that it has an overreliance on the PlayStation IP, I also can’t help but admit Astro’s character levels were some of this year’s biggest surprises. When there’s this much earnest care in recreating games from PlayStation’s history, I just can’t help but smile.
5
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is more than just a successful multiplayer game from a smaller team, it is the embodiment of a niche philosophy that has finally broken through into the mainstream, made all the better for its unflinching dedication to its design. A game for everyone is a game for no one. Finally, a popular game that has me meet it on its own terms.
Beyond its frenetic action, its sublime visual design, and its accidental humor, Helldivers is emblematic of a nascent desire for games where friction is not just intentional but half the fun.
4
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a game about windows. A nearly 100 hour RPG that intentionally gives us space to peer into the secret interior gothic of each and every one of our party members. A game composed entirely of emotional character moments meant to linger. An elongated middle act where plot gets in the way of what truly matters: connections.
I went into Rebirth unsure if I actually cared about any of these iconic characters. Before even its ambitious climax, I found myself already crying.
3
1000xResist
1000xResist is bold. Monumental. Specific. Universal. A high-concept, sci-fi, philosophical meditation about identity, motherhood, femininity, dystopia, disintegration, apocalypse, hope, and restoration. To quote my own 43-minute video analysis, 1000xResist is “a cathartic cavalcade of color-coded dreams fighting for their place in the gilded garden of precarious utopia.”
It is everything we all need from the medium.
2
Balatro
Balatro is the all-encompassing, mathematical infatuation, deceptively simple indie that will go down as one of the biggest breakthroughs of the generation. A near-perfect Poker roguelite that lets you become God with carefully considered wildcard permutations. All its critical praise is deserved. Not just for its genius design, but for its sheer entertainment. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, that good.
I will never tire of attempting to get a better run in Balatro. Even after I put it down, I still see it in my mind. It is the endlessly fun video game I will carry with me for years across every single platform I can own it on.
Honorable Mentions
1
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a puzzle masterpiece. A walk into the shivering void of a compelling mystery soaked in the black and reds of a haunted past and paranoid espresso.
A surreal experience of the Lynchian macabre crystallized into the scratches of page after page of symbols, numbers, and dialogic patterns. It is a video game puzzle box that interpellates us beyond the edges of our screens – and which can only be opened once we start to see the game with our own laser eyes. It is the quintessential, beautiful, maddening, charming, unrelenting, gripping, sinister game of the year.
Even now, I still find myself yearning to go back to Hotel Leztes Jahr to decode and decode and decode.