My Top 10 Games of 2024
It's that time of year again! Here is my personal top 10 list of games that released in 2024. Just like previous years, I'm not considering games still in Early Access for this list.
These are in ascending order, with #1 being my Game of the Year for 2024.
Number 10: Will The Man Get Frog
A wonderful haiku-making game. I love any game that lets you be creative, and this one does a great job of that. Echoing what I said about Sticky Business last year, a good prompt can often be necessary to let ideas flow. The word options in Will The Man Get Frog do a great job of this. And hey, it's a PICO-8 game on Steam, that's awesome!
Number 9: POOOOL
It feels like Suika Game was everywhere late last year. POOOOL takes Suika Game and adds a physics twist. Being able to fire the balls instead of dropping them adds a good chunk of player agency to the experience. It's enough to have made me come back to POOOOL several times since picking it up. I'm still chasing that elusive 15k score achievement!
Number 8: Threes!
Threes! initially released on mobile in 2014, but it had a Steam release this year so it's allowed a spot on my list. Not only is Threes! one of the best minimal puzzle games I've ever played, its influence cannot be denied. I feel like my own game was indirectly influenced by the deceptively simple 4x4 grid in Threes! (and the games that came after it), whether I was conscious of it or not. I still suck at it, though.
Number 7: WEBFISHING
I've had a blast playing WEBFISHING with friends over the past month. The progression system is fun and I just feel like the developer really enjoyed adding features and content to the game. I've heard plenty of people theorize that multiplayer games are only fun because you're already hanging out with friends anyway. Whether this is true or not, I've still had fun playing WEBFISHING solo when my friends were unavailable. I think that's the mark of a great multiplayer game.
Number 6: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
RGG Studio does fantastic work and Ichiban is one of the most loveable characters I've played as in years. The game also vastly improves upon the turn-based combat of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which already had pretty enjoyable battles. I just hope RGG keeps making turn-based games since I enjoy them a lot more than the real-time brawlers they've historically made. I do think this is actually one of the worst Yakuza / Like a Dragon games to start with though (I recommend starting with Zero or maybe Kiwami), which makes the removal of the numbering in the western title a bit misleading.
Number 5: Buckshot Roulette
I've wanted to make a competitive russian roulette game for a while, but now I don't have to! Every new set of items feels like a fresh puzzle. A bit of a wrinkle is that I was playing on a low-spec laptop and the game ran at about 12 frames per second. I actually thought this was an intentional design choice, since it made the game feel somewhat creepier to me. It reminded me of weird visual glitches that would happen when I would try to get newer games running on my dad's outdated Windows 98 computer. I eventually played on my desktop at 60 FPS and I actually prefer the 12 FPS version. Not sure what that says about me. I really need to get around to trying the multiplayer mode, too.
Number 4: Balatro
It's somewhat my fault that time-sucker of a game exists (sorry). The game's solo-developer, LocalThunk, has stated in an interview that he saw videos of Luck be a Landlord and "[fell] in love with the concept of a 'non-fantasy themed score-attached roguelike a ton.'" He also says he "cut [himself] off from the genre at that point intentionally." I find this design strategy fascinating and it's something I'd love to explore myself some day. While LocalThunk said he mostly did it so he would have more fun with design process, I think the lack of knowledge and assumptions from having already played games in the genre can lead to making really unique games. It also helps that the game is extremely fun. I only play with the music off now since I would randomly get the theme stuck in my head while I was working and it would make me want to play more Balatro.
Number 3: No Case Should Remain Unsolved
One of the best detective games I've ever played. I feel like every detective game released since Return of the Obra Dinn has been compared to it. I'm going to be guilty of that as well, but there are multiple aspects of No Case Should Remain Unsolved that I feel are better than Return of the Obra Dinn. The biggest of which being the actual twists in No Case Should Remain Unsolved add to the overarching story. The twists in Return of the Obra Dinn are fun and can add to the puzzles sometimes, but don't really add to the story in any meaningful way. The story of No Case Should Remain Unsolved is a sad and powerful one, and coming to the realization of what happened with Seowon's disappearance was a very cool moment for me. Probably my favorite moment I've had with a game all year. Definitely the most memorable one. I can't say more without spoiling it, but seriously, just play it.
Number 2: Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers
I used to love Magic: the Gathering. Unfortunately, so many parts of that game have changed for the worse. Two of the best parts of Magic for me were the fun interactions between cards, and the feeling of competing against an opponent. Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers captures both of these elements without even having to play against another human! The mechanics in Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers are a lot to take in at first, but every card is intuitive enough that I had an easy time remembering how they all worked. I've beaten the game with every deck and had a blast doing so. Earlier in the year I thought for sure this would top my list...but...
Number 1: UFO 50
I, just, it has to be UFO 50, right? There's no way it's not. How does this thing even exist? How do you even make something like this? How is almost every game so good!? How do you not just make 50 games and release them individually!? How!? HOW!? At least 30 of the 50 games are fantastic and all of them are at least great or good. None of them are bad. The way UFO 50's main hub subtly encourages you to dive back into each game and get just a little bit further in it, or to improve your high score just ever so slightly, has kept me playing for many hours. I played through the games "chronologically" and that especially spoke to me as a game developer as well. Seeing the technology and mechanics become more advanced over time was a great touch. UFO 50 is a masterpiece and might be one of the greatest games of all time, if not the greatest game of all time. Seriously though, HOW!?