The Video Games that got me Through 2024
In 2020 and 2021, I published The Games That Got Me Through 2020 and The Games That Got Me Through 2021 in response to a New York Times article of a similar title. I enjoyed taking the time to reflect on and share the wonderful games I played in those years. Although I didn’t create a list for 2022 or 2023, I’m back this year with a brand-new set of titles that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed! As always, not all of these games were released in 2024, but they’re all ones I played for the first time this year. The list is organized in the order I played them — enjoy!
Balatro
This list starts off strong with Balatro, a nominee for Game of the Year and winner of Best Debut Indie Game, Best Independent Game, and Best Mobile Game. In the indie space, there’s arguably no more crowded genre than the Roguelike Deckbuilder, which often prompts the question, “What could a single developer possibly make that feels new and compelling?” Solo developer LocalThunk answered with a knockout of a video game.
You begin with a hand of traditional playing cards and play up to five of them to form familiar poker hands — pair, two pair, straight, flush, and so on — to earn chips and add to your multiplier. You must reach a minimum chip threshold within a limited number of hands per round. Winning rounds grants you money to spend in a shop, reminiscent of other roguelikes. Common items in the shop are:
- Tarot cards that power up individual cards
- Planet cards that level up hand types
- Vouchers that make permanent changes to rules of the run
- Jokers, which are central to Balatro
The game’s mascot, Jimbo, is a Joker, and each Joker has a unique ability — from adding multipliers to generating mysterious cards. You can hold up to five Jokers at once, allowing for “outrageous combos” (to quote the Steam description).
As an example, you might have the following jokers in your hand at once:
- The Scary Face which adds 30 chips every time a face card is scored
- The Business Card which gives a ½ chance to give you $2 every time you play a face card
- The Smiley Face which adds 4 to your score multiplier every time you play a face card
- The Sock and Buskin which retriggers every played face card (so whatever the effects of the face card are happen twice per play)
- And then Pareidolia which makes the game consider all cards face cards
In this example above, every single card in your deck when played will add 30 chips, then 30 more chips, then 50% chance for $2, then %50 for $2 again, then adds 4 to your multiplier, and finally adds 4 to your multiplier again. The sky truly is the limit once you start experimenting.
All of this is wrapped in a retro pixel-art aesthetic with a chill synthwave soundtrack, polished sound design, and a striking visual flair. Countless others have praised Balatro, but if you haven’t tried it, there’s no better time than right now.
Availability
Balatro is available on PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, iOS, and Android.
Animal Well
It was quite the year for solo-developed indie games with a retro pixel art vibe. Soon after Balatro’s release, another Game of the Year nominee emerged: Animal Well. This title is particularly notable for being the first release under VideoGameDunkey’s publishing house, BigMode. It offers a spooky, mysterious, and infinitely intriguing adventure that has captivated players everywhere.
Set in an abandoned zoo, you play as a small… ball(?) of a character with no explicit goal. As you explore, you collect items, acquire abilities, and unearth secrets. The mere possibility of what might be around the next corner compels you forward, ultimately leading you to the game’s credits — only to discover new areas, deeper mysteries, cryptic codes, and even real-world alternate reality games to solve alongside the community (or to google the solution to if they’ve already been solved).
Animal Well is a standout for fans of metroidvanias, mild horror, and puzzles. Its quiet darkness is unsettling yet strangely comforting. I was so invested that I achieved a “Perfect” status for this game on Steam (meaning I unlocked all of the game’s achievements). Solo developer Billy Basso reportedly spent seven years building the game and its engine, and it shows in every carefully crafted detail.
Availability
Animal Well is available on PC, Switch, Xbox, and Playstation.
Chants of Senaar
Katelyn and I are always on the lookout for games to play together. Often that means multiplayer titles, but occasionally we’ll play a single-player puzzle game cooperatively — one controller, two brains. Chants of Sennaar was my favorite in that category this year.
You arrive in a divided civilization composed of four groups who each speak different fictional languages with their own fictional alphabet. As you interact with people, you gradually decipher letters and words using contextual clues: you might learn that one symbol means “on” and another means “off.” Over time, you become fluent enough to engage with every person in an area to solve puzzles and progress to new regions.
While unraveling linguistic mysteries, you also uncover the civilization’s history and the reasons behind its divisions. Your role as the newcomer who can bridge the language gap is central to restoring unity. The puzzles are unique and well-conceived, the story is engaging without overwhelming you with cutscenes, and the art style is crisp and beautiful with its warm and deep flat colors. It’s a calm, fascinating exploration of language, culture, and society through meaningful gameplay.
Availability
Chants of Sennaar is available on PC, Switch, Xbox, and Playstation.
Arco
I discovered Arco when Balatro’s creator, LocalThunk, recommended it on social media. It turned out to be one of my favorite surprises of the year. Arco features a “simultaneous turn-based” combat system — likely the best way to describe its unique mechanics. You and your foes choose actions (such as moving, shooting, or using an ability), then watch about two seconds of combat unfold before freezing again for the next round of planning. It’s the most action-oriented turn-based system I’ve encountered.
While the combat system is innovative, it was Arco’s remarkable pixel art and storytelling that stuck with me. The visuals create rich character personalities and breathtaking landscapes, while the narrative forces you to make difficult choices that can literally haunt you in later battles. The game follows four protagonists over five parts, culminating in a final chapter where they unite to confront a common enemy. Each character has faced some form of loss — family, home, or way of life — and they must join forces to exact revenge.
As the separate storylines converge, the tension builds to an electrifying finale. Arco was moving, compelling, and fun — an all-around well-crafted experience. One small bonus: upon completing the game, you can send the studio a postage-paid envelope, and they’ll mail you something back. They sent me this patch — a lovely touch.
Availability
Arco is available on Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Mac App Store, and Nintendo Switch.
I Am Your Beast
The 2024 Game Developers Conference was when I had first heard of Strange Scaffold’s studio head, Xalavier Nelson Jr., when the IGDA awarded him the Gerald Lawson Award for Achievement in Game Development. He also won the Black in Gaming Indie Developer Award that same weekend and gave a speech he described as “very spicy,” which I found quite moving. Ever since, I’ve followed his work avidly. While I was less interested in Strange Scaffold’s comedy horror release, Clickholding, their subsequent title, I Am Your Beast, captivated me completely. In fact, I also achieved “Perfect” status on steam for 100%ing this game.
You play as Alphonse Harding, a former soldier who has turned on the military-industrial complex. Think Jason Bourne, but with the acrobatic, high-speed gameplay of a title like Neon White. Each level is a short, timed mission as you try to survive while an entire army hunts you down. A key twist: you earn time bonuses based on how stylishly you eliminate enemies. Shoot an enemy with a pistol? Save 0.3 seconds. Throw a whole *ss bear trap at their head? Save 2 seconds. The better you know each level, the more you chain together these stylish kills, and speed runners have even managed to optimize levels to a point of finishing with negative final time.
The art style is funky, dark, and electric. Flashes of an “X” icon for each elimination become iconic as you work toward that perfect “S Tier” run. The soundtrack is — wow. It mixes melodic R&B, rap, and dubstep for a pulsing high-intensity experience. I completed the base game shortly after release and recently returned for the free DLC, which was just as gratifying. I Am Your Beast makes you feel, as the title suggests, like a beast.
Availability
I Am Your Beast is available on Steam.
Astro Bot
Named the Game of the Year for 2024, Astro Bot likely needs no further praise than it has already received. If you have a PS5 or can borrow one, you owe it to yourself to try it. If you played Astro’s Playroom — the free game included with every PS5 — you know how it showcases the DualSense controller’s haptic capabilities and exhibits the magic of integrating them with gameplay. Astro Bot takes everything wonderful about Astro’s Playroom and turns it up to 11.
You haven’t truly felt immersive feedback until you feel raindrops materializing as tiny vibrations in the controller, paired with the drops’ sound effects emanating from the same device. Astro Bot is colorful, exhilarating, and a delightful modern entry in the world of 3D platformers, a space historically dominated by a certain red-hatted plumber.
Availability
Astro Bot is available exclusively on PlayStation 5.
UFO 50
Yet another awards nominee for Best Indie Game, UFO 50 is from the folks most famous for the Spelunky series (Mossmouth) and is an ode to the games of the 80s. Admittedly, I’ve only completed 26 of the 50 games included, but it’s such an impressive concept that it deserves acclaim.
UFO 50 is a collection of 50 retro games that, in the game’s fictional narrative, were developed by UFO Soft between 1982 and 1989 — then lost to time. You, the player, rediscover these cartridges and can play through them, each with its own backstory about the team at UFO Soft. In reality, UFO 50 was crafted by some of the most talented game designers in the industry, and it shows. Each game in the collection differs wildly in mechanics, pacing, difficulty, and atmosphere, yet they all feel unified under one collection.
I’ve been playing alongside Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games podcast’s “book club” approach, where they cover one game per week with different special guests. While not every title will resonate with every player, every game offers something genuinely interesting. Having access to 50 such experiences in one Steam purchase is remarkable. I recommend giving it a try, and if you’d like some community discussion, check out the Eggplant podcast and discord community— they’re still working through the collection.
Availability
UFO 50 is available on Steam.
Inscription
I missed the boat on Inscription created by revered game creator, Daniel Mullens, when it launched in 2021, but I finally tried it this October — just in time for spooky season — and discovered it on Game Pass. I’ve gradually been exploring more horror-tinged games like Dredge and Animal Well, and Inscription fits perfectly alongside them.
Initially, Inscription appears to be yet another roguelike deckbuilder. You’re trapped in a dark, eerie cabin, playing cards against a foreboding opponent. You can customize a “death card” at the end of each failed run, carrying over certain traits to your next attempt. Suddenly, you find you can stand up from the table and walk around — so it’s also an escape room?
The deeper you delve; the more Inscription subverts expectations and starts breaking the 4th wall. Solving cabin puzzles reveals that this game is far more complex than the marketing implies. I won’t spoil the major plot twists, but if you enjoy card-based mechanics, atmospheric storytelling, and unsettling themes, Inscription may leave you in awe — especially if you play during a dark and rainy October evening.
Availability
Inscription is available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
A year or so ago, Katelyn and I set out to play every single Mario Party. We started with the original Mario Party on the N64 through the Switch’s emulator and worked our way to the present day. Now fully hooked on the series, we highly anticipated Mario Party Jamboree, so much so that we invited the other rats of Tavern Rat Studios over to experience a four-player party on release day.
If you’ve played older Mario Party games, you’ll notice how many quality-of-life improvements have been introduced over time: built-in practice mode during minigame explanations, skipping watching computer players’ item minigames, new UI to tell you which directional path gets you to the star faster, and so on. Mario Party provides all the fun, colorful, and approachable gameplay we’ve come to expect from the series in a delightful package. I brought my Switch home for Thanksgiving, and even my sister, who rarely plays video games, caught on quickly and won her fair share of minigames. Jamboree features a massive roster of 22 playable characters, various modes (online, co-op for up to eight players, puzzle games, rhythm games), a new “jamboree buddy” system complete with its own set of personalized minigames for each character, and an abundance of unlockable stickers, reactions, and playable maps. Nintendo gave fans the Mario Party experience they’ve been asking for — an absolute Jamboree indeed!
Availability
Mario Party Jamboree is available on Nintendo Switch.
Mischief
Lastly, I have to mention Mischief, the local co-op action-adventure game about rats that our studio has been developing for soon to be two years. We released a free demo in March, which remains available for anyone who’d like to support us with a download and a Wishlist on steam.
I’ve spent significant time playing (and creating) Mischief this year. While at times it can feel mechanical to implement and iterate on gameplay systems, I had a mental turning point when I developed the opening and closing cutscenes a few months ago. For some time, we have had a fun cast of eccentric rat characters — Gunk the gutter-punk, Lasso the cowgirl, Beef the “Ratchelor,” and more — but they only had minimal personality showcases via short text dialog boxes.
Everything changed once our narrative took shape and I animated scenes depicting our villain, Plague, standing atop a dead tree in a rainstorm casting dark magic across the neighborhood. Meanwhile, our mischief of rats bands together in the darkness after the power gets knocked out. Something about seeing the rats as they speak and watching them show emotions and move their snouts while speaking change my perspective drastically. Suddenly, these characters were no longer just ideas or a 3D model, but living breathing rats, possessing depth and agency within the world we built. We created not only a game, but a universe — a heartfelt story about trust, friendship, and finding fun even in dire circumstances. The story of friends coming together to achieve something and enjoy the journey is not only the tale of these rats, but also what we hope you and your fellow co-op players experience.
I’m profoundly grateful for the chance to work on Mischief, and I hope you’ll come to love it as much as I do. The opening cutscenes aren’t yet in the demo at the time of this writing, but they’re coming soon — I can’t wait for you to see them.
Availability
Mischief has a free demo on Steam, with a full release planned for 2025.
Thank you for reading about my favorite games of 2024! Whether you’re into puzzle-solving adventures, frenetic roguelike deckbuilders, immersive platformers, or nostalgic party games, I hope you’ll find something in this list to enjoy. Here’s to another great year of gaming!
