As I sat down to start out serious about my Recreation of the Yr checklist for 2024, I rapidly realized simply how packed this 12 months was with nice video games. Whereas there have been just a few huge AAA video games that caught my eye, this was principally a 12 months of wonderful smaller experiences grabbing my consideration.
Given the sheer quantity of video games that got here out, even highlighting ten on a better of the 12 months checklist goes to trigger some nice video games to fall via the cracks. With that in thoughts, right here’s a listing of a few of the extra under-the-radar video games of 2024 which are value searching for out.
However first, a handful of Honorable Mentions…
- Dread Delusion by Beautiful Hellplace (accessible on Steam)
- FLATHEAD by Tim Oxton (accessible on Steam)
- Mullet Madjack by HAMMER95 (accessible on Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Change, Xbox Sequence)
- Indika by Odd Meter (accessible on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence)
- Clickolding by Unusual Scaffold (accessible on Steam)
Lifeless Doves
Everybody will get caught up in GOTY hype on the finish of the 12 months, catching up on video games they’ve been which means to get round to, so it’s very simple to let December releases sneak by unnoticed. One December recreation you undoubtedly shouldn’t miss is 10 Lifeless Doves, the debut recreation from Duonix Studios. It could appear like simply one other old style low poly horror recreation, however it units itself aside with a powerful sense for cinematic surrealism and a grounded, naturalistic humorousness.
10 Lifeless Doves tells the story of two associates mountaineering in Appalachia looking for a mysterious city legend known as the Ant Farm. It undoubtedly leans into the extra narrative facet of the style, focusing totally on navigating densely packed areas from a set digicam perspective whereas performing some mild puzzle fixing. This recreation has one of many strongest low poly artwork kinds I’ve seen shortly, with facial ‘animations’ dealt with by swapping between totally different textures of digitized photographs, making a splendidly unusual and dreamlike impact. Whereas all of the ins and outs of the bizarre occurrences happening across the duo are sufficient to intrigue you, what drew me in most was the good rapport between the 2 leads, who’re written as two lifelong associates that you would simply see in your social group. It does take lots of influences from video games that got here earlier than it, however it has a singular persona that units it other than the pack.
10 Lifeless Doves is offered on Steam.
Youngsters of the Solar
What a singular imaginative and prescient of the sport that is. Youngsters of the Solar units you on a street journey from hell the place you’re taking out members of a cult utilizing a sniper rifle and a telekinetically managed bullet. Whereas it seems like a shooter, it performs like a puzzle recreation the place you’re attempting to information this bullet, which will be redirected each time it kills somebody, into each enemy on the map in a single go. It provides simply sufficient wrinkles all through to maintain issues attention-grabbing, creating an amazing mixture of mind teasing puzzles and precision reflexes.
Whereas the mechanics are rock strong, the type is what actually elevates the sport to a different degree. It’s a dreamy, neon drenched nightmare panorama with an aggressive UI that asserts your victories in probably the most bombastic manner potential. Sound results mix with excessive zoom and digicam angles that punctuate each kill, making for an expertise that overwhelms you with sights and sounds. The three to 4 hour runtime is the precise proper size for one thing like this, and if you happen to get pleasure from it, you possibly can all the time replay ranges to chase excessive scores on the leaderboards.
Youngsters of the Solar is offered on Steam.
Sniper Killer
From the builders behind Evening on the Gates of Hell and Bloodwash, Sniper Killer is a intelligent low poly crime thriller the place you soar between varied views as you piece collectively the thriller of the titular serial killer. You’ll play as investigator, sufferer, and even the killer himself because the our bodies pile up all through the three hour-ish runtime. It’s enjoyable to see views shift like this, leaving you to attempt to determine precisely what’s going to occur to your character by the top of the chapter. Will this character discover a key clue to the thriller or be simply one other corpse to be investigated later?
Many of the characters you play as have fairly linear gameplay, transferring you between story beats, however the sections the place you play because the sniper are extra complicated. You’re given a mission by somebody over a staticky radio, who claims you’re performing on behalf of the USA authorities, and this could play out so simple as “right here’s the outline of the goal” to “discover the goal and make it appear like an accident.” It’s by no means overly difficult, however it’s a pleasant mixture of a capturing vary of enemies and puzzle fixing. The story retains you in your toes, including some surreal parts whenever you least anticipate it. I bumped into just a few bugs whereas enjoying, so the expertise will be tough, however if you happen to’re in search of a sleazy detective story the place you play each cop and prison, Sniper Killer will hold you thrilled for its bite-sized runtime.
Sniper Killer is offered on Steam.
Flintlock: The Siege of Daybreak
As a lot as I like soulslike video games, one factor that may hold me from them is their size. Don’t get me improper, Elden Ring is a superb recreation, however the time dedication makes it arduous for me to need to revisit it. Flintlock: The Siege of Daybreak, goals to offer a “souls-lite” expertise, giving you a similar thrills as different titles within the style inside a 15 hour marketing campaign. You play as Nor, a girl who’s attempting to struggle again towards the gods which have unleashed armies of the undead upon her lands. Accompanying you in your journey is a mysterious fox-like creature named Enki, who provides you entry to magical talents.
Not solely is it neat to have a smaller scale model of a soulslike, there are some intelligent wrinkles added to the usual fight. There’s a push your luck mechanic that offers you multipliers for consecutive hits, however if you happen to’re hit that drops again to zero. This multiplier is cashed in with a press of a button, so determining when to take action will be essential to creating positive you’ve acquired sufficient forex for upgrades. Like Bloodborne, you utilize a gun alongside your melee weapon that may stun foes, breaking them out of their assault patterns. I used to be additionally very impressed by the motion on this recreation, which has extra verticality within the degree design than I’m used to the style. It doesn’t really feel as deep or expressive as Elden Ring, however a powerful give attention to animation makes positive the tight fight feels appropriately impactful.
Flintlock: The Siege of Daybreak is offered on Steam, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Sequence.
Grunn
I definitely didn’t have “creepy gardening simulator meets Outer Wilds” on my 2024 bingo card, however that’s the easiest way to explain Grunn, the most recent recreation from Tom van den Boogaart of the Sokpop Collective. The sport drops you off at an individual’s home who asks you to wash up the backyard, however whenever you go searching, all of the instruments are lacking. Your search leads you to some splendidly unusual locations, continuously retaining you guessing as to what’s going to occur subsequent.
Each time you die, you begin over from the start, however you’ll be taught little shortcuts as you go that help you repeat what you probably did faster and faster to be able to transfer you in direction of your objectives. The one factor that persists between runs is pictures that you just discover across the varied areas you discover, which offer you clues to the puzzles that you just’ll run into. It might probably get just a little repetitive to do a few of these steps again and again, however it’s such a delight each time you uncover one thing new. Whereas it’s by no means outright terrifying, there’s a really uncanny surrealness to every thing happening that’s delightfully unnerving. I’ve develop into actually enamored with such a open-ended puzzle recreation design, and Grunn was probably the most stunning entries in that style.
Grunn is offered on Steam.
Vampire Therapist
I’m not all the time into visible novels, however each from time to time one actually sinks its enamel into me (pun meant), and Vampire Therapist is a kind of fortunate visible novels. It takes typical vampire-related matters like immorality and ennui and focuses them via the lens of actual cognitive behavioral remedy ideas. You play as Sam, a Wild West gunslinger who’s attempting to assist out his fellow immortals as a therapist within the modern-day. All through the story, you’ll meet all kinds of vampires who’re all in search of assist coping with their existence.
Vampire Therapist performs like an ordinary visible novel the place you’re making dialog decisions as you work together with characters, however the bulk of the ‘gameplay’ a part of it includes listening to your shoppers and accurately figuring out the cognitive distortion they’re displaying. It’s a intelligent idea that truly feels prefer it’s educating you one thing whereas efficiently pulling off a narrative that’s effectively written and excellently voice acted. There’s lots of humor and coronary heart to be discovered right here, so if you happen to’re in search of a brand new visible novel, schedule an appointment with Vampire Therapist.
Vampire Therapist is offered on Steam.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Don’t Nod is a extremely attention-grabbing developer that does a greater variety of issues than you would possibly notice. The sport of theirs that caught with me probably the most was Vampyr, which discovered intelligent methods to hyperlink narrative and mechanical penalties all through. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden appears to be them going again to that effectively, telling the story of a person who makes a speciality of coping with ghosts as he contemplates methods to deal with the spirit of his not too long ago deceased associate.
Whereas there’s some strong fight mechanics concerned, permitting you to change between the primary protagonist and his ghostly lover in the course of fight, the primary draw of the sport would be the consequential narrative choices you make. As a titular banisher, you’ll be investigating ghosts which are sticking round within the 1695 colony group of New Eden and deciding what to do with their spirit. These decisions won’t solely matter for the facet characters concerned within the investigation, but additionally the primary narrative of the central pair, making every determination really feel weighty because of strong writing.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is offered on Steam, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Sequence.
Threshold
Very similar to Mouthwashing, Threshold, from solo developer Julien Eveillé, is a primary individual, low-fi horror recreation that takes a small surroundings and makes use of it to inform a psychological story concerning the horrors of mundane work. At first, you begin your job, which principally consists of blowing a whistle right into a horn to maintain a practice going on the optimum pace. In fact, air is restricted within the space, so you must hold grabbing tickets that may be redeemed for oxygen canisters that you just chew into to maintain you alive.
Because the recreation solely runs just a little over an hour, I don’t need to go into too many plot particulars, however it someway manages to get even weirder from there. Eveillé does an amazing job of constructing the world with distinctive little particulars, and the story finally ends up going to some actually stunning locations. It’s the kind of recreation that will provide you with simply sufficient particulars to really feel satisfying, however will nonetheless depart you with lots of thriller by the top, which is the proper steadiness for a brief story, in my e book.
Threshold is offered on Steam.
1000xResist
Attempting to summarize the expertise of 1000xResist is troublesome. At its most elementary core, it’s a sci fi narrative recreation with gameplay principally consisting of exploring areas and speaking to characters, making some dialog decisions to assist add your personal spin to the interactions. However what’s it about? It’s about generational trauma, reminiscence, forgiveness, group, faith, the immigrant expertise, revolution, and a lot extra. A whole lot of the enjoyable of the sport is slowly unpacking the complicated narrative because it’s doled out little by little, revealing layer after layer of world constructing and character growth.
Essentially the most fundamental pitch for the sport is that you’re dwelling in a future the place humanity is almost worn out by a illness. The one remaining individuals left are clones of a girl now often called ALLMOTHER. As Watcher, you dive into ALLMOTHER’s reminiscences and be taught the historical past of what occurred to the world and the way your complicated society got here to be. It feels prefer it shares so much tonally and thematically with works like Signalis, Nier: Automata, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, however by no means feels prefer it’s mimicking these works. Like one of the best sci-fi, 1000xResist grounds its difficult world in a deeply private story, telling a heartbreaking, and infrequently disturbing, story that can continuously shock you with profound revelations and breathtaking imagery. I do want there was a bit extra ‘gameplay’ to it, however it’s arduous to be mad when the narrative is as spectacular because the one offered right here.
1000xResist is offered on Steam.
[REDACTED]
Though it’s set within the recreation universe as the widely disappointing Callisto Protocol, [REDACTED] couldn’t be extra totally different than its predecessor. It abandons the dirty Lifeless House-like aesthetic for a colourful comedian book-esque presentation and switches the gameplay from the third-person melee horror of the unique to an motion roguelike harking back to Hades. This tough flip made me skeptical at first, however the Hades formulation is a powerful one so I made a decision to present it a shot regardless of my hesitancy. Whereas it does just about copy Hades in each its fight mechanics and energy up acquisition, it feels nice in play and provides some substantial wrinkles to the style.
You play a guard attempting to flee Black Iron Jail within the midst of the identical chaos of Callisto Protocol. You’ll battle your manner via rooms from an isometric perspective, choosing from upgrades or currencies every time you full a room. Should you die, you begin again over, retaining a few of the forex for upgrades that can be utilized every run. The selections you make between bettering your run’s construct or attempting for sources to purchase everlasting upgrades is all the time a compelling one, however it’s nothing we haven’t seen earlier than.
Except for the extraordinarily tight and responsive fight mechanics, the actual shining star of the sport is the rivals system. Different individuals are racing to the identical escape pod you might be, and also you’ll have to sabotage them or defeat them to be able to be the primary to get out. These rivals act as minibosses that add selection to the usual set of bosses that you just encounter every time in your runs. These rivals have nice personalities that go with the enjoyable type of the sport. This was simply one of many largest surprises for me this 12 months, and I all the time discover myself making time for another run.
[REDACTED] is offered on Steam.
