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hexmixthere's so little december left, thought i'd better get a "fave games from 2024" post in before it was no longer 2024 :p
don't feel like ranking them, and it'd be really hard anyway, so i'll just go alphabetical. decided to include any games i played in 2024, not just those that released this year. going to try to keep it to my top 10 too but uhhh i played SO MANY games this year, and there were so many good ones!
Chants of Sennaar (released 2023)
really loved this one. it's absolutely gorgeous and the gameplay is really unique. it's a retelling of the story of the Tower of Babel, and most of the gameplay revolves around decoding various languages to facilitate speech between the different denizens of the tower you are traversing ever upwards. there are some stealth elements too but the game is really forgiving if u heck up. incredible art design and soundtrack with solid gameplay: there's nothing not to like about Chants tbh. i remember i got so into decoding the languages that i was starting to actually learn them, grammar and characters. like genuinely it was such a cool concept.
The Crimson Diamond (released 2024)
had the unique experience of having the dev for this game show up in chat when i was streaming the demo lol. she's such a sweetheart tho and seemingly didn't mind us continually trying to get Nancy to kiss Jack lmao. (she also added in a reaction in the full version of the game for smelling the food in the kitchen bc we commented on it!! incredibly cool of her tbh.)
but that aside, this is such a fun game. if you ever played a text parser/Sierra adventure game when u were a kid this one will really hit right in the nostalgia, like it is PITCH PERFECT. the pixel art is gorgeous and the soundtrack is fantastic, plus the characters and mystery are so engaging; not just me andlightmod, but chat got really into this one too. The Crimson Diamond was genuinely such a delight and i would love to see more Nancy Maple mysteries in the future! c:
Cryptmaster (released 2024)
played the demo for this one last year i think?? it's in one of the NextFest posts i made here lol. anyway, it was one of the games i was most looking forward to this year and it didn't disappoint in the least! it's incredibly funny, stylistically stunning (LOVE the black & white and character designs), and has gameplay that is both innovative and fun: it's based around typing. all your attacks/abilities are words, and you also level up your characters by recalling memories (via figuring out words that represent those memories). there's a turn-based mode for anyone worried about their typing speed too. OH and also, lest i forget: absolutely fantastic voice acting. (Cryptmaster, my beloved <3 <3 <3) if u like word games (there are SO MANY riddles in this sucker, let me tell u), solid writing, or innovative gameplay this is the game for you!
Death Stranding (released 2019)
god where do i even start? this might be the most video game of all time, and i'm not even kidding. i need to do an entire post about it at some point, but for now: it is a goddamn experience. the story is what i, as someone who hasn't played another Kojima game, imagines to be Peak Kojima. it really Goes Places. the characters are all incredible, the gameplay is fun (tho driving the truck.......u get used to it, that's all i can say), and the soundtrack, GOOD LORD THE SOUNDTRACK. this really is just a game you have to play and experience for yourself. it is, genuinely, so, so good.
thank u for letting me play in ur beautiful world, kojima <3
Judero (released 2024)
there is no way to possibly express the extent of my love for this game. you can both feel and see the love and care that went into it. i remember reading an article about seeing Jack King-Spooner's fingerprints in the clay of the character models and yeah. yeah, that's what i fucking mean. two guys put their all into this game and you feel it and see it and hear it--because the soundtrack is so goddamn perfect too.
like the gameplay is pretty simple: you have a basic attack and then a few special attacks you can purchase with currency throughout the game. there are some challenging bosses but the boss fights themselves are part of the whole. like everything is so well incorporated into the artistic vision, and like...that's what Judero is: the best example i've ever seen of video games as art. i don't just mean the fact that King-Spooner handcrafted and stop-motion animated all the models, but that him and Talha Kaya had a cohesive story and message to convey and they succeeded beautifully. no one needs to know how many times i was fighting back tears on stream over a line an NPC said, but it kept happening.
beautifully written, designed, and scored. everyone needs to play this game.
Mouthwashing (released 2024)
another that i was really looking forward to after playing the demo. i remember i was like champing at the bit to play this bc it came out like right before Helene and we lost power for a week. i think it was a wednesday we got power back, and like an hour or so later i was OKAY WE'RE STREAMING MOUTHWASHING RIGHT TF NOW.
it's unfortunate that it's now mostly known for how fucking wretched the fandom is bc it's SUCH a good game. just a horrible meditation on the monstrousness of our capitalist hell realm superimposed over a sci-fi setting and some of the most well-written characters i've seen in a game. "i have to believe that our worst moments don't make us monsters" and "i hope this hurts" percolating there in the back of my head since i played it. plus there's just some great horror moments and haunting visuals. put this one down in the "games as art" category too tbh.
Manny's (released 2023)
i watched Sark play a bit of this last year i think. it looked just the right amount of weird that i thought chat would love it, and THEY DID but i loved it a lot too. another solo dev game, and he's working on the sequel now too, which is rad. hard to describe this one beyond: weird fast food horror. the fishing mini-game nearly drove us all insane but I DID IT I 100%'D IT!!! the ending was also so good; just fun on its own but it was extra fun to experience with everyone c: really nice balance between horror and humor, and the dev's continued by making lil yaoi vids of his own characters on youtube, which i find personally very endearing.
SOMA (released 2015)
eternally grateful to Rachel for forcing me to play this game lol. this was the one where i was around 85% done and was just like "it's really an indictment on the state of vibeo graems that i'm so surprised at how good the writing is" lmfao. it really is very good tho. also like SO INCREDIBLY right up my alley. gameplay is excellent, setting and ambiance are excellent, voice acting excellent, character writing excellent...i could keep going. it's one of the best horror games i've ever played, with one of the best narratives i've seen in a game as well. (there's also a mode u can play on that turns off enemies so if u just want to experience the story u can!) currently pondering how i can work this one into my dissertation lol.
Still Wakes the Deep (released 2024)
speaking of well-written narratives: pls see Still Wakes the Deep. another fantastic horror game that centers the story and characters. some genuinely upsetting body horror in this guy too w/some clear influences from Lovecraft and The Thing (also now that i've played it, probably also hugely influenced by SOMA). props to the devs for realizing how genuinely terrifying an oil rig would be for a setting for a horror game. the voice acting in this one is top notch and gameplay is solid (heavy focus on stealth, which i normally hate but didn't mind as much with this one bc the game is pretty forgiving when u fuck up). i read an interview with like...the art director i think?? anyway i remember them saying that they wanted the environment to be the monster/the source of fear, and they did a heckin fantastic job of accomplishing that tbh.
also i personally love that the writer just cooked up a whole brand new poem for the game. that's the kind of shit i am here for.
Stranded: Alien Dawn (released 2023)
played a lot of survival/crafting games this year but this might be my fave of all of them, if only bc there's that lil smidge of The Sims that u get with managing ur people. wish there was more variation with the planets, but i had SO MUCH fun with this game; it was such a nice surprise considering i'd heard absolutely nothing about it, so it was kinda a blind buy. really don't regret it tho, if ur a fan of the survival/crafting genre you really need to try Stranded.
Drill Core (released 2024)
lil tower defense game i played the demo for and was instantly hooked so bought it the moment the full version was released. devs continually adding to it so looks like we'll be seeing more variety, which was my main complaint. really fun to play tho (addictive af) with equally fun trailers c:
Funeralopolis (released 2024)
really cool setting/story that i very much enjoyed. (enjoyed so much i wished it was longer lol.) some creepy moments and some rad gameplay elements (very much enjoyed snooping on the Church Cops on the radio), but also just stylistically Very Nice. awesome music too!
Grunn (released 2024)
the game that taught me to speedrun lmao. nah, but it is a very cute lil puzzle/horror game. looks great and feels great to play!
Indika (released 2024)
i like to describe this one as an arthouse film in game form. wrote a lil more in depth about it in one of the NextFest writeups here, but the story is fantastic, if incredibly depressing. still blown away by the "Press X to Pray" gameplay aspect. unfortunately this game is forever a little tainted by the fact that i decided to stream it and we ended up getting raided during the fucking rape scene (that i hadn't known about), and that was deeply uncomfortable, to say the least. i still recommend it for anyone big on narrative-heavy games, but also: oof.
Planet Crafter (released 2024)
another survival/crafting game and what i'm playing currently. actually being able to terraform a planet and like watching ur first moss grow and shit is so satisfying actually. i've gotten up to animals now and some of them are horrible to look at but i love all of my terrible children that i grew in a lab lmao. also just want to say that the writing for this game surprised me, mostly in that i didn't think there'd be a story but there sure is! there's so much to explore and discover and the dev staggers it such that even 70 hrs in i'm still finding new things. really solid lil game and one of my faves of the genre.
True Fear: Forsaken Souls Pts. 1 & 2 (released 2016 & 18)
Holly!!! this one surprised the heck out of me. a lil wonky at times but overall i think it's the most fun i've had with a point & click game. i'm so incredibly invested in the story and hope the devs can get that last part published! i'm rooting for you Goblinz!!!!
and that's it! my fave 10 (plus change) games i played in 2024! incredible year for gaming, folks.
don't feel like ranking them, and it'd be really hard anyway, so i'll just go alphabetical. decided to include any games i played in 2024, not just those that released this year. going to try to keep it to my top 10 too but uhhh i played SO MANY games this year, and there were so many good ones!
Chants of Sennaar (released 2023)
really loved this one. it's absolutely gorgeous and the gameplay is really unique. it's a retelling of the story of the Tower of Babel, and most of the gameplay revolves around decoding various languages to facilitate speech between the different denizens of the tower you are traversing ever upwards. there are some stealth elements too but the game is really forgiving if u heck up. incredible art design and soundtrack with solid gameplay: there's nothing not to like about Chants tbh. i remember i got so into decoding the languages that i was starting to actually learn them, grammar and characters. like genuinely it was such a cool concept.
The Crimson Diamond (released 2024)
had the unique experience of having the dev for this game show up in chat when i was streaming the demo lol. she's such a sweetheart tho and seemingly didn't mind us continually trying to get Nancy to kiss Jack lmao. (she also added in a reaction in the full version of the game for smelling the food in the kitchen bc we commented on it!! incredibly cool of her tbh.)
but that aside, this is such a fun game. if you ever played a text parser/Sierra adventure game when u were a kid this one will really hit right in the nostalgia, like it is PITCH PERFECT. the pixel art is gorgeous and the soundtrack is fantastic, plus the characters and mystery are so engaging; not just me and
lightmod, but chat got really into this one too. The Crimson Diamond was genuinely such a delight and i would love to see more Nancy Maple mysteries in the future! c:Cryptmaster (released 2024)
played the demo for this one last year i think?? it's in one of the NextFest posts i made here lol. anyway, it was one of the games i was most looking forward to this year and it didn't disappoint in the least! it's incredibly funny, stylistically stunning (LOVE the black & white and character designs), and has gameplay that is both innovative and fun: it's based around typing. all your attacks/abilities are words, and you also level up your characters by recalling memories (via figuring out words that represent those memories). there's a turn-based mode for anyone worried about their typing speed too. OH and also, lest i forget: absolutely fantastic voice acting. (Cryptmaster, my beloved <3 <3 <3) if u like word games (there are SO MANY riddles in this sucker, let me tell u), solid writing, or innovative gameplay this is the game for you!
Death Stranding (released 2019)
god where do i even start? this might be the most video game of all time, and i'm not even kidding. i need to do an entire post about it at some point, but for now: it is a goddamn experience. the story is what i, as someone who hasn't played another Kojima game, imagines to be Peak Kojima. it really Goes Places. the characters are all incredible, the gameplay is fun (tho driving the truck.......u get used to it, that's all i can say), and the soundtrack, GOOD LORD THE SOUNDTRACK. this really is just a game you have to play and experience for yourself. it is, genuinely, so, so good.
thank u for letting me play in ur beautiful world, kojima <3
Judero (released 2024)
there is no way to possibly express the extent of my love for this game. you can both feel and see the love and care that went into it. i remember reading an article about seeing Jack King-Spooner's fingerprints in the clay of the character models and yeah. yeah, that's what i fucking mean. two guys put their all into this game and you feel it and see it and hear it--because the soundtrack is so goddamn perfect too.
like the gameplay is pretty simple: you have a basic attack and then a few special attacks you can purchase with currency throughout the game. there are some challenging bosses but the boss fights themselves are part of the whole. like everything is so well incorporated into the artistic vision, and like...that's what Judero is: the best example i've ever seen of video games as art. i don't just mean the fact that King-Spooner handcrafted and stop-motion animated all the models, but that him and Talha Kaya had a cohesive story and message to convey and they succeeded beautifully. no one needs to know how many times i was fighting back tears on stream over a line an NPC said, but it kept happening.
beautifully written, designed, and scored. everyone needs to play this game.
Mouthwashing (released 2024)
another that i was really looking forward to after playing the demo. i remember i was like champing at the bit to play this bc it came out like right before Helene and we lost power for a week. i think it was a wednesday we got power back, and like an hour or so later i was OKAY WE'RE STREAMING MOUTHWASHING RIGHT TF NOW.
it's unfortunate that it's now mostly known for how fucking wretched the fandom is bc it's SUCH a good game. just a horrible meditation on the monstrousness of our capitalist hell realm superimposed over a sci-fi setting and some of the most well-written characters i've seen in a game. "i have to believe that our worst moments don't make us monsters" and "i hope this hurts" percolating there in the back of my head since i played it. plus there's just some great horror moments and haunting visuals. put this one down in the "games as art" category too tbh.
Manny's (released 2023)
i watched Sark play a bit of this last year i think. it looked just the right amount of weird that i thought chat would love it, and THEY DID but i loved it a lot too. another solo dev game, and he's working on the sequel now too, which is rad. hard to describe this one beyond: weird fast food horror. the fishing mini-game nearly drove us all insane but I DID IT I 100%'D IT!!! the ending was also so good; just fun on its own but it was extra fun to experience with everyone c: really nice balance between horror and humor, and the dev's continued by making lil yaoi vids of his own characters on youtube, which i find personally very endearing.
SOMA (released 2015)
eternally grateful to Rachel for forcing me to play this game lol. this was the one where i was around 85% done and was just like "it's really an indictment on the state of vibeo graems that i'm so surprised at how good the writing is" lmfao. it really is very good tho. also like SO INCREDIBLY right up my alley. gameplay is excellent, setting and ambiance are excellent, voice acting excellent, character writing excellent...i could keep going. it's one of the best horror games i've ever played, with one of the best narratives i've seen in a game as well. (there's also a mode u can play on that turns off enemies so if u just want to experience the story u can!) currently pondering how i can work this one into my dissertation lol.
Still Wakes the Deep (released 2024)
speaking of well-written narratives: pls see Still Wakes the Deep. another fantastic horror game that centers the story and characters. some genuinely upsetting body horror in this guy too w/some clear influences from Lovecraft and The Thing (also now that i've played it, probably also hugely influenced by SOMA). props to the devs for realizing how genuinely terrifying an oil rig would be for a setting for a horror game. the voice acting in this one is top notch and gameplay is solid (heavy focus on stealth, which i normally hate but didn't mind as much with this one bc the game is pretty forgiving when u fuck up). i read an interview with like...the art director i think?? anyway i remember them saying that they wanted the environment to be the monster/the source of fear, and they did a heckin fantastic job of accomplishing that tbh.
also i personally love that the writer just cooked up a whole brand new poem for the game. that's the kind of shit i am here for.
Stranded: Alien Dawn (released 2023)
played a lot of survival/crafting games this year but this might be my fave of all of them, if only bc there's that lil smidge of The Sims that u get with managing ur people. wish there was more variation with the planets, but i had SO MUCH fun with this game; it was such a nice surprise considering i'd heard absolutely nothing about it, so it was kinda a blind buy. really don't regret it tho, if ur a fan of the survival/crafting genre you really need to try Stranded.
Drill Core (released 2024)
lil tower defense game i played the demo for and was instantly hooked so bought it the moment the full version was released. devs continually adding to it so looks like we'll be seeing more variety, which was my main complaint. really fun to play tho (addictive af) with equally fun trailers c:
Funeralopolis (released 2024)
really cool setting/story that i very much enjoyed. (enjoyed so much i wished it was longer lol.) some creepy moments and some rad gameplay elements (very much enjoyed snooping on the Church Cops on the radio), but also just stylistically Very Nice. awesome music too!
Grunn (released 2024)
the game that taught me to speedrun lmao. nah, but it is a very cute lil puzzle/horror game. looks great and feels great to play!
Indika (released 2024)
i like to describe this one as an arthouse film in game form. wrote a lil more in depth about it in one of the NextFest writeups here, but the story is fantastic, if incredibly depressing. still blown away by the "Press X to Pray" gameplay aspect. unfortunately this game is forever a little tainted by the fact that i decided to stream it and we ended up getting raided during the fucking rape scene (that i hadn't known about), and that was deeply uncomfortable, to say the least. i still recommend it for anyone big on narrative-heavy games, but also: oof.
Planet Crafter (released 2024)
another survival/crafting game and what i'm playing currently. actually being able to terraform a planet and like watching ur first moss grow and shit is so satisfying actually. i've gotten up to animals now and some of them are horrible to look at but i love all of my terrible children that i grew in a lab lmao. also just want to say that the writing for this game surprised me, mostly in that i didn't think there'd be a story but there sure is! there's so much to explore and discover and the dev staggers it such that even 70 hrs in i'm still finding new things. really solid lil game and one of my faves of the genre.
True Fear: Forsaken Souls Pts. 1 & 2 (released 2016 & 18)
Holly!!! this one surprised the heck out of me. a lil wonky at times but overall i think it's the most fun i've had with a point & click game. i'm so incredibly invested in the story and hope the devs can get that last part published! i'm rooting for you Goblinz!!!!
and that's it! my fave 10 (plus change) games i played in 2024! incredible year for gaming, folks.
