Fun fact: While the Steam version of Animal Well is 33MB, the PS5 version is around 100MB. That extra 67MB is solely because of the PS5's home menu assets.
Tangentially related fun fact! There’s a PS4 theme called Corn Love Forever that shows a short video loop of some corn roasting over a fire. They did some video encoding wizardry to get a 4k video (with audio!) to fit in the 16MB size limit.
Balatro was EASILY the most fun I've had with a game in YEARS. The dev seems like SUCH a good guy too, having put in his will that the game can't EVER be adapted for gambling, and making it a single payment game because he knew it would be LIFE RUINING if it had microtransactions.
The fact that UFO 50 isn’t up here is criminal, I can’t figure out why the community hasn’t taken it in with open arms. For my money the most ambitious game of all time, and an easy top 10 game ever. Could have its own channel dedicated to videos on it and it wouldn’t be enough.
The same way people say "Souls-lite" or "Rogue-lite". A game that's tied into an existing genre, wearing it's inspirations on it's sleeve. But not following the formula strictly and shaving off some of the difficulty.
check out the Eggplant podcast if you haven't already! it's a rotating cast of game developers doing a deep dive episode on each UFO 50 game, every week for a year
I love seeing Tiny Terry get a spotlight. My favorite experience of the year. The moment where Terry first goes to the beach fries shop is one the best bits of video game comedy I've seen in a long time. Everyone should play Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip.
One of my favorites that hasn’t been mentioned is Crypt Custodian. It’s a top-down Metroidvania with supremely smooth combat, a secretly macabre sense of humor, and one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in years. (It reminds me of the best songs from the band Múm.)
My Game of the Year was definitely Psycutlery; a ten-year passion project that developer Luke Tarlow released for FREE, its level design, platforming and combat mechanics, and charming story really hit every single beat that I wanted it to hit. Since each level has two iterations, a forward and backward run, AND there's a time-attack mode where you play as a different character with her own story and perspective, I effectively ended up playing the game four times and NEVER got tired of it.
Sonic X Shadow Generations looks so good! I've put it on my wish list in the Nintendo eShop to buy once I finish Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Just haven't had a lot of energy to play because I've been sick the past several days.
@ there’s sections where you use it to either create new platforms, follow light trails to skip sections of the level, or use it to freeze enemies to chain attacks. Or you can use it to just stop time and try and save yourself some time to get a better score. So some sections are part of the level, but you have freedom to use it once you fill the gauge. You can fill it by defeating enemies or picking up capsules.
You probably saw me comment this last time, but if there's a game from this year that flew under the radar I wanna recommend it would have to be Nine Sols. Its unique "Tao-punk" aesthetic and compelling writing pushes it to be one of my favorite Metroidvanias I've played. It might not necessarily be your cup of tea, but I would recommend you give it a shot incase you end up liking it.
My year has been of few games, but all very special: Unicorn Overlord, Shadow of the Erdtree, Balatro, Metaphor and SMTVengeance. Pokémon TCG pocket was also a nice little surprise.
I can't say I've heard of Phantom Spark beforehand (or if I had, I saw it in passing and then forgot sbout it), but seeing it in action here, that looks pretty up my alley. Thanks for putting it on my radar! As for my own Game Of The Year, gotta go with AntonBlast. It's got its hiccups here and there, but it's one of the most excellently crafted 2D platformers I've ever played, with never a dull moment.
I love "hidden gem" lists like this. My personal taste is very different from the usual AAA scene so a lot of great "niche" games go by unnoticed. Thank you
Man, Backyard Baseball being back after 25 years is something literally no on expected. An absolute classic back and, surprisingly, as fun as its ever been. 2024 was an absolutely fantastic year for games.
Thank you for talking about Unicorn Overlord. I was SO HAPPY to see the Ogre Battle genre again, and with such polish, the beautiful "action/reaction" system, so customizable. I could spend hours in the planning menu. Everything was exquisite about it... except the story. I fear that one (admittedly major) flaw is enough to keep it unpopular, but I pray this isn't the last game we see with this setup. They could iterate on this forever and I'd play every one.
Really surprised UFO 50 didn't make this list after getting its own video. That was my personal GOTY. Edit: Whoops, the video I saw was indeed on another channel. My bad.
To stick to your rating style, UFO 50 is my "bang for your buck" game of the year. It's not just 50 minigames in one, it really is 50 games in one. There are a ton of cool ideas in there and I'm pretty surprised you didn't include it. Some of my favourites have been Mooncat, Mini & Max, Warp Tank and Night Manor but there are so many more. There's even a 16 hour long JRPG.
Surprisingly, I hadn't heard of Balatro until I saw it in your videos. I gave it a try, and it's awesome. The soundtrack is also my favourite part of the game
Currently playing Lorelei, and thanks for making me aware of Terry, Minishoot, and Phantom Spark. Also my GOTY that's not from this year was Outer Wilds, which I hope everyone plays.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble definitely deserves the praise! Best Monkey Ball game since SMB2. Heck, I think I like it better than SMB2. SMB1 is still the GOAT marble game, but dayum SMB:BR is awesome!
Nine Sols is EASILY my favorite game to come out this year! There's just SO much I love about it. It's a Metroidvania, but the real focus is its combat and story. It takes Hollow Knight's combat, throws in a combo system and pair, gives you the invincibility dash to start, and immediately expects perfection from you both against bosses and even average enemies. Which, while punishing, is well designed enough to not be frustrating. Everything is well telegraphed and parries are both satisfying, and surprisingly forgiving with its internal damage system for imperfectly timed parries, coupled with the parry window being pretty generous. Then there's the story- even if it's pretty linear, it does such a good job utilizing the Metroidvania half of the game to let you explore its world and learn about it and how it ties back to the story firsthand. Meanwhile the linearity of the major cutscenes helps create a more curated experience than what just the lore of other Metroidvanias can do, it suits it well. It's such an emotional story with such interesting philosophical theming, tying back to the game's country of origin Taiwan with how it focuses on Taoism. I actually knew very little about either Taiwan or Taoism going into the game- I'm sure many people in the west can relate- but I've never seen a game so rich in infusing its culture into itself as I have Nine Sols. It's fascinating. After beating the game, I even found people from Taiwan online who helped explain a lot of elements, both visual and story related, that went over my head. I could go on and on about how much good this game does, I probably didn't sum up everything the game does right the best here, but there's just a lot to say. Seriously, it's one of the best games to come out this year by far, and deserves to be more well known.
Phantom Spark is my favorite racing game of the last years. I sold very little copies unfortunately according to Steam Review counts. It feels so smooth, and the artstyle is fresh, Music lovely Drum'n'Bass. I think the ghost online Multiplayer is a great feature for smaller games, where a big concurrent player count is unlikely, especially long term.
the lack of UFO 50 on this list is tragic. Mini & Max alone should have earned it a spot (that said, it's a really good list otherwise! great to see Lorelei and Tactical Breach Wizards getting some love)
I really liked what I played of Astro Bot on PS5 and it’s a really good platformer from Sony. All the indie games look neat too especially the indie games with the PS1 graphical style. The only game on this list that I don’t really care to check out is Sonic Generations X Shadow because I’m not a Sonic fan and I never really cared about that game series but thankfully a SEGA series I do like did get a incredible sequel this year with Yakuza: Infinite Wealth which is great game with a great story though the RPG gameplay is mixed bag to me.
That Tiny Terry something something game looks great. Would love to play it. But only on PC. Wish this video would mention what platforms these games are on.
My Speedrunner pick would probably be I Am Your Beast. I think I would have picked Botany Manor over Lorelei as a "manor puzzle game" primarily because I think the pacing is better as opposed to throwing dozens of puzzles at once. Lorelei did have better vibes though. Can't disagree with the Monkey Ball pick, but a runner-up worth mentioning would be 4D Golf and it's marble mode. I was genuinely very surprised that Mouthwashing blew up so much from someone following Wrong Organ for a bit. While they won't surpass, I'll mention Miside and The Ten Bells as runner-up horror vibe games. Animals Well will not be beat. It did the layered metroid[br]ainia thing way better than Shipwrecked 64. Maybe not at direct runner-up, but instead notable contender would be Grunn. It's a short, stylized, surreal/liminal, and dark metroid[br]ainia that surprised me. By coincidence a lot of similar style games have been in the works (THRESHOLD, Blue Prince, Trip, Pager).
16:58 So if you're interested in another game kinda like OgreBattle or Unicorn Overlord, I've had a pretty fun 77 hours in Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga. It's kind of a mash-up of Ogrebattle's squad building and combat system with Fire Emblem's turn-based tactics. My only complaint is that I wish it leaned more into the fantasy setting and gave us more outlandish units: with only a tiny handful of exceptions, the units are pretty standard swords, pikes, archers, guns, wizards and cavalry.
Pacific Drive was one on my favourites this year. Survival boiled down to the essentials in a fun and engaging gameplay loop. Story and writing is okay, not great, and the hazards could have gotten more creative. But it was such a fun time and I can't believe it to me so long to get around to playing it. And Clown Meat would have 1000% be on that list if it released this year, but it will be in my top 5 next year~
My favorite games this year? Well, I certainly played the most Marvel Snap. What an addictive gameplay loop. But my hidden gem has got to be A Highland Song. A little platforming, a little rhythm, a little story, a little roguelite, and a whole lot of heart. The game just feels good. Plus, I love the music. Had me looking up the bands afterwards.
My fav of the year is "SomnaBuster" by PD_CGT the game has inspirations from "Sonic" & "Ristar" with a lovely squiggly art style, some of the tightest controls, and a twangy genesis OST!
1000xRESIST is my game of the year - a fascinatingly dynamic visual novel with impeccable pacing. Every single chapter completely upends what you thought this game was about, and it gives you plenty of philosophical themes, lore, and character drama to chew on.
While the game is all narrative, I wouldn't call it a visual novel because it really doesn't give an accurate picture of what the game looks like; it's a 3D game with occasional exploration segments Also yeah It's my game of the year too, in fact, probably my game of the last 5 years
My game of the year is Pokemon Legends Arceus. It came out in 2022 but i got it only late june. I’m not sure many agree with me, but i like it quite a lot. It’s not the most challenging (except for the volo battle and the eternal battle reverie) but i like an easygoing game if it has really nice visuals. The animations for attacks, particularly signature moves and special attacks are super awesome looking and i really love it. The legendary roster is super cool as well. I also enjoy how you can throw out your pokemon in the overworld just to talk to them or let them talk to each other
13:27 to answer the question, ulala is a Playstation character because of the game space channel 5 VR kinda funky news cast, which was released for the PlayStation 4 psvr.
Anthology of the Killer flew low below a lot of radars this year, but it's obsession-worthy! It's a brilliant cartoon horror blend of Courage the Cowardly Dog and Uzumaki centered on the death of western civilization. It's from the person who made Space Funeral - if you know your RPG Maker esoterica - and their unique creative voice is in peak form here. Worth a glance if any of that appeals to you! It's only a few dollars and a few hours.
UFO 50 - 50 different games all wrapped up in one package, and each game is a high quality tribute to much older generation games Chained Together - One of the only climbing rage games that looks like it actually took effort and is fun to play, both alone and with friends. So long as you're prepared to fail, this is a blast with friends Nine Souls - A Metroidvania style game with Souls like difficulty and Sekiro like parrying. This is up there with Hollow Knight. Momodora 4 - Another fantastic installment in the momodora franchise. Fun writing, interesting world, great combat, and secrets galore Not necessarily my favorite games, but I do think that each of these is pretty stand out and deserve people's attention.
For me, this year was all about going back and trying out some older games I missed, and replaying games I hadn't touched in a long time, with a healthy amount of new releases as well. Thanks to the power of emulation, I was able to experience gems like SMT Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2, Ghost Trick, Layton vs Phoenix Wright, a bunch of classic Pokemon games, and some wonderful rom hacks like Fire Emblem Cerulean Crescent. I also played some phenomenal games on Steam, including the Portal games, all of the new Atlus releases, and my personal favorite this year, the first two Zero Escape games. Seriously, 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors and Virtue's Last Reward absolutely blew me away and I couldn't be happier about it. I haven't played Zero Time Dilemma yet, but I plan to get to that very soon. All in all, this was an insanely good year of gaming for me, and I cannot wait to see what happens next.
Great games on here! But it's good to see so many people in the comments vouching for UFO 50. Hands down one of the best and most insanely creative games put out this year!
I've been pretty checked out of new games for the past few years (yayyyyy being poor!) so I hadn't even heard of most of these. I definitely gotta look into Backpack Battles, Minishoot Adventures, and Animal Well!
I absolutely loved 2 games: Prince of Persia the Lost Crown, and Sheepy: A Short Adventure. Neither one I expected to enjoy, but both had me pleasantly surprised. The first is one of the best melee-based platform Metroidvanias I've seen since Hollow Knight, and the other is an amazing bite-size platformer that feels like a Metroidvania without actually being one...oh and it takes about an hour to beat, has crazy good music and just drips atmospheric storytelling like a Metroid game. And it's free.
It came out last year, but if you like Isles of Sea and Sky, you should pick up Void Stranger. It's a sokoban game with Outer Wilds-esque meta-progression.
I haven't played Breach Wizards but it makes me recall a game called Invisible Inc. made by Klei a while back (not this year). I think it's an underrated stealth game more folks should try.
This is such a great idea for a game of the year show, I hope this is something your team does on a yearly basis. Also, that backpack game looked so fun. I laughed out loud in front of everyone because I was so impressed by the cleverness of the idea
As long as this video doesn't crater (which it doesn't seem to be doing so far), yeah we'd like to do this once a year. It was WAY easier to produce than a standard video, so that helps.
One of the weirder games I came across this year was a game on Steam called Churn Vector. It's a stealth fetish NSFW game about sneaking through an environment to CV guards and eventually a target. Don't know what CV is? Good. You're more blessed than me. Aside from the... "unique" premise, the thing that impressed me is had an answer to one of my biggest critiques of stealth games: that stealth takedowns make stealth trivial as there's no reason to not use them exclusively and typically have no cost beyond the brief vulnerability while performing the takedown. Some games have an economic cost like The Last of Us' shivs but what Churn Vector does is add a practical cost to every stealth takedown. Each time you do one you get slower, can't jump as high and struggle to fit through small spaces, eventually not being able to fit through doors. This forces players to consider who is worth taking out and creates diminishing returns to the usual strategies to taking everyone out. This kinda thing is why I like NSFW games. Sometimes they, intentionally or not, come up with design solutions that you wouldn't get in most other games.
I prefer the hidden gems video of the year instead of the top 10 games of the year. The big name games get flooded with praise and publicity so its hard not to miss what is the best games. But these hidden gems are more exciting. Especially when they do something new and different. Even if its not perfect that novelty can make it more fun than many mainstream games. Not to mention often cheaper or require less hardware to run it. Another topic idea I want to recommend is "Create a Character" options in video games and how games are built (or not built) around it.
Nine Sols was great! I guess I'd describe it as a more combat-oriented metroidvania than Hollow Knight but it's just as strong in terms of narrative, music, aesthetic, and bosses for me. Made by Red Candle Games, the devs of Detention, which is also great!
Marvel rivals is well designed, same with tcg, rivals 2 I tried and it was overly greedy trash. The main problem is that they are infinite games, and they are made solely for money.
The first 500 people to use my link will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare! Get started today! skl.sh/designdoc11241
Fun fact: While the Steam version of Animal Well is 33MB, the PS5 version is around 100MB.
That extra 67MB is solely because of the PS5's home menu assets.
Tangentially related fun fact! There’s a PS4 theme called Corn Love Forever that shows a short video loop of some corn roasting over a fire. They did some video encoding wizardry to get a 4k video (with audio!) to fit in the 16MB size limit.
Balatro was EASILY the most fun I've had with a game in YEARS. The dev seems like SUCH a good guy too, having put in his will that the game can't EVER be adapted for gambling, and making it a single payment game because he knew it would be LIFE RUINING if it had microtransactions.
The fact that UFO 50 isn’t up here is criminal, I can’t figure out why the community hasn’t taken it in with open arms. For my money the most ambitious game of all time, and an easy top 10 game ever. Could have its own channel dedicated to videos on it and it wouldn’t be enough.
Exactly, most people haven’t even heard of it, so we can hope for a slow but steady climb!
I hadn’t heard about this game before. It looks awesome! Thanks for the recommendation :)
UFO50 is amazing, but being presented with 50ish games at once does scare people away a bit. 😅
@@GurenSan Being presented with 50 games at once also attracts some people 😄
“It’s short but sweet” oh baby, you don’t seem to realize how deep the well truly goes
I still haven't found everything
I dropped Lorelai and the laser eyes pretty quick. I don't know who thought not having a back/exit button in a menu heavy game was a good idea.
Glad to see Arzette the Jewel of Faramore win Every Single Category, well deserved
YTP lives on
mah Boi, this Dinner is what all true warriors strive for
@@zGoldenHawkDuke Onkled, you will please all the plumbers in Hyrule!
Yall have to try out narrative game of the year 1000xResist! criminal how underrated it is and it deserves much more recognition.
I did grab it on Steam while making this video, I'll check it out.
1000xResist lives up to its reputation. The game is transfixing and it is emotional roller coaster after emotional roller coaster.
@DesignDoc it was so well done! I loved the story but I'm sure you guys will truly appreciate the design elements.
I loved. A very necessary and timely story these day.
I disagree with every game and rank
the video isnt even old enough for you to be able to see all the games and their ranks 😭😭😭😭😭
@Zipmyster that's the joke because they are ranked haha
Incoming dweeb that can’t understand sarcasm or jokes
Bro woke up and chose violence.
SAME, WHERE'S SUPER MARIOS BROS 2?!
Petition to officially make "bullet heck" a genre name
Isn't that just Tohou?
how would that be different to bullet hell
The same way people say "Souls-lite" or "Rogue-lite".
A game that's tied into an existing genre, wearing it's inspirations on it's sleeve. But not following the formula strictly and shaving off some of the difficulty.
@@coolioman9073 not as difficult. Minishoot’ Adventures is what happens when bullet hell and cozy games collide.
Thanks for the shout out of Backyard Baseball. I had not thought of that game in twenty years. Will definitely check out the remaster.
Thanks for your honest appreciation of Shadow Generations right at the beginning!
You have been fantastic competition, sir.
Right back at ya...
however you ARE currently making me consider learning how to do Tree Skip in Kingdom Valley so screw you lmao.
UFO 50 is my hidden gems of the year. Nobody talking about it and there’s definitely at least 20 “wow” moments I haven’t found in it yet
check out the Eggplant podcast if you haven't already! it's a rotating cast of game developers doing a deep dive episode on each UFO 50 game, every week for a year
I hadn’t heard about this game before. It looks awesome! Thanks for the recommendation :)
I love seeing Tiny Terry get a spotlight. My favorite experience of the year. The moment where Terry first goes to the beach fries shop is one the best bits of video game comedy I've seen in a long time. Everyone should play Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip.
My GOTY was Another Crabs Treasure!!! Its writing, combat, and music are all amazing!!!
literally the actual game of the year and it's slept on just like their last game smh
One of my favorites that hasn’t been mentioned is Crypt Custodian. It’s a top-down Metroidvania with supremely smooth combat, a secretly macabre sense of humor, and one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in years. (It reminds me of the best songs from the band Múm.)
My Game of the Year was definitely Psycutlery; a ten-year passion project that developer Luke Tarlow released for FREE, its level design, platforming and combat mechanics, and charming story really hit every single beat that I wanted it to hit. Since each level has two iterations, a forward and backward run, AND there's a time-attack mode where you play as a different character with her own story and perspective, I effectively ended up playing the game four times and NEVER got tired of it.
Sonic X Shadow Generations looks so good! I've put it on my wish list in the Nintendo eShop to buy once I finish Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Just haven't had a lot of energy to play because I've been sick the past several days.
If you are a Sonic fan it's absolutely a must play. Easily one of the best 3D Sonic games out there. Shadow Gens has such good gameplay flow.
Admittedly I am very curious how his chaos control alters gameplay.
@ there’s sections where you use it to either create new platforms, follow light trails to skip sections of the level, or use it to freeze enemies to chain attacks. Or you can use it to just stop time and try and save yourself some time to get a better score.
So some sections are part of the level, but you have freedom to use it once you fill the gauge. You can fill it by defeating enemies or picking up capsules.
I have been hooked on Balatro and it is such a mood.
You probably saw me comment this last time, but if there's a game from this year that flew under the radar I wanna recommend it would have to be Nine Sols. Its unique "Tao-punk" aesthetic and compelling writing pushes it to be one of my favorite Metroidvanias I've played. It might not necessarily be your cup of tea, but I would recommend you give it a shot incase you end up liking it.
Giving the platformers the space and recognition they deserve. Love it.
My year has been of few games, but all very special: Unicorn Overlord, Shadow of the Erdtree, Balatro, Metaphor and SMTVengeance. Pokémon TCG pocket was also a nice little surprise.
Great tastes!
@NA-jd6wy Thanks!! I see you're of culture as well.
I can't say I've heard of Phantom Spark beforehand (or if I had, I saw it in passing and then forgot sbout it), but seeing it in action here, that looks pretty up my alley. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
As for my own Game Of The Year, gotta go with AntonBlast. It's got its hiccups here and there, but it's one of the most excellently crafted 2D platformers I've ever played, with never a dull moment.
Minishoot' Adventures is a ton of fun. If you like any of the three types of games, you'll enjoy it.
It was a good year for top-down action adventure games. See also Crypt Custodian.
Glad to hear that Pablo Sanchez is still extremely broken in every game he appears in
I love "hidden gem" lists like this. My personal taste is very different from the usual AAA scene so a lot of great "niche" games go by unnoticed. Thank you
Man, Backyard Baseball being back after 25 years is something literally no on expected. An absolute classic back and, surprisingly, as fun as its ever been.
2024 was an absolutely fantastic year for games.
Thank you for talking about Unicorn Overlord. I was SO HAPPY to see the Ogre Battle genre again, and with such polish, the beautiful "action/reaction" system, so customizable. I could spend hours in the planning menu. Everything was exquisite about it... except the story. I fear that one (admittedly major) flaw is enough to keep it unpopular, but I pray this isn't the last game we see with this setup. They could iterate on this forever and I'd play every one.
backpack battles looks cool as hell tbh
It's not great. Pure rng except for all the obvious cheaters lol.
Backpack hero is similar, but turn based dungeon crawler instead of auto battler
Really surprised UFO 50 didn't make this list after getting its own video. That was my personal GOTY.
Edit: Whoops, the video I saw was indeed on another channel. My bad.
We've never made a video on UFO 50.
@@DesignDoc but it has had many of it's own videos on other channels 😭
@DesignDoc Well, you better get to it, then! Lazy bum!
Nah, just messing with you. You work hard, and we're all proud of you.
Antonblast, 4D Golf. BOOM. done it. two games that need more attention.
To stick to your rating style, UFO 50 is my "bang for your buck" game of the year. It's not just 50 minigames in one, it really is 50 games in one. There are a ton of cool ideas in there and I'm pretty surprised you didn't include it. Some of my favourites have been Mooncat, Mini & Max, Warp Tank and Night Manor but there are so many more. There's even a 16 hour long JRPG.
Gosh, so many amazing looking games here. Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom looks so extremely up my alley, I can't believe I haven't heard of it until now.
Surprisingly, I hadn't heard of Balatro until I saw it in your videos. I gave it a try, and it's awesome. The soundtrack is also my favourite part of the game
Didn't think I'd see the Delta music video here, was listening to it at work just today!
I like seeing a few more niches games on the list. Added a few games to my wishlist that I didn't know about before like Phantom Spark
Personally, my GOTY is Nine Sols. Challenging metroidvania, deep narrative and sekiro combat ❤
Penny's Big Breakaway was so fantastic, I adored that one!
im always on the lookout for new games i havent heard of, so videos like these are great, thanks for the videos doc!
13:25 Well the reason Space Channel 5 is referenced is because they got PSVR versions a bit ago, so not just throwing sega a bone.
Backpack battles looks interesting!
Currently playing Lorelei, and thanks for making me aware of Terry, Minishoot, and Phantom Spark. Also my GOTY that's not from this year was Outer Wilds, which I hope everyone plays.
Hell yeah, Backyard Baseball!
Thanks for a great year!
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble definitely deserves the praise! Best Monkey Ball game since SMB2. Heck, I think I like it better than SMB2. SMB1 is still the GOAT marble game, but dayum SMB:BR is awesome!
I really liked Miside, especially the attention to detail that you can only find with Photo Mode and second playthroughs of the game.
Yeaaaah, video games! Thanks for the recommendations!
Nine Sols is EASILY my favorite game to come out this year! There's just SO much I love about it. It's a Metroidvania, but the real focus is its combat and story. It takes Hollow Knight's combat, throws in a combo system and pair, gives you the invincibility dash to start, and immediately expects perfection from you both against bosses and even average enemies. Which, while punishing, is well designed enough to not be frustrating. Everything is well telegraphed and parries are both satisfying, and surprisingly forgiving with its internal damage system for imperfectly timed parries, coupled with the parry window being pretty generous.
Then there's the story- even if it's pretty linear, it does such a good job utilizing the Metroidvania half of the game to let you explore its world and learn about it and how it ties back to the story firsthand. Meanwhile the linearity of the major cutscenes helps create a more curated experience than what just the lore of other Metroidvanias can do, it suits it well. It's such an emotional story with such interesting philosophical theming, tying back to the game's country of origin Taiwan with how it focuses on Taoism.
I actually knew very little about either Taiwan or Taoism going into the game- I'm sure many people in the west can relate- but I've never seen a game so rich in infusing its culture into itself as I have Nine Sols. It's fascinating. After beating the game, I even found people from Taiwan online who helped explain a lot of elements, both visual and story related, that went over my head.
I could go on and on about how much good this game does, I probably didn't sum up everything the game does right the best here, but there's just a lot to say. Seriously, it's one of the best games to come out this year by far, and deserves to be more well known.
I was looking for this comment. Love Nine Sols
Phantom Spark is my favorite racing game of the last years. I sold very little copies unfortunately according to Steam Review counts. It feels so smooth, and the artstyle is fresh, Music lovely Drum'n'Bass. I think the ghost online Multiplayer is a great feature for smaller games, where a big concurrent player count is unlikely, especially long term.
the lack of UFO 50 on this list is tragic. Mini & Max alone should have earned it a spot
(that said, it's a really good list otherwise! great to see Lorelei and Tactical Breach Wizards getting some love)
I really liked what I played of Astro Bot on PS5 and it’s a really good platformer from Sony.
All the indie games look neat too especially the indie games with the PS1 graphical style.
The only game on this list that I don’t really care to check out is Sonic Generations X Shadow because I’m not a Sonic fan and I never really cared about that game series but thankfully a SEGA series I do like did get a incredible sequel this year with Yakuza: Infinite Wealth which is great game with a great story though the RPG gameplay is mixed bag to me.
That Tiny Terry something something game looks great. Would love to play it. But only on PC. Wish this video would mention what platforms these games are on.
My Speedrunner pick would probably be I Am Your Beast.
I think I would have picked Botany Manor over Lorelei as a "manor puzzle game" primarily because I think the pacing is better as opposed to throwing dozens of puzzles at once. Lorelei did have better vibes though.
Can't disagree with the Monkey Ball pick, but a runner-up worth mentioning would be 4D Golf and it's marble mode.
I was genuinely very surprised that Mouthwashing blew up so much from someone following Wrong Organ for a bit. While they won't surpass, I'll mention Miside and The Ten Bells as runner-up horror vibe games.
Animals Well will not be beat. It did the layered metroid[br]ainia thing way better than Shipwrecked 64. Maybe not at direct runner-up, but instead notable contender would be Grunn. It's a short, stylized, surreal/liminal, and dark metroid[br]ainia that surprised me. By coincidence a lot of similar style games have been in the works (THRESHOLD, Blue Prince, Trip, Pager).
16:58 So if you're interested in another game kinda like OgreBattle or Unicorn Overlord, I've had a pretty fun 77 hours in Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga. It's kind of a mash-up of Ogrebattle's squad building and combat system with Fire Emblem's turn-based tactics. My only complaint is that I wish it leaned more into the fantasy setting and gave us more outlandish units: with only a tiny handful of exceptions, the units are pretty standard swords, pikes, archers, guns, wizards and cavalry.
I couldn’t play those other games, i was busy playing balatro
Fair
Fountains- a wonderful isometric soulslike that came out around Christmas. It's a little rough, but really good.
Pacific Drive was one on my favourites this year.
Survival boiled down to the essentials in a fun and engaging gameplay loop. Story and writing is okay, not great, and the hazards could have gotten more creative. But it was such a fun time and I can't believe it to me so long to get around to playing it.
And Clown Meat would have 1000% be on that list if it released this year, but it will be in my top 5 next year~
thank you so much for all your videos! Happy new years ^^
I'm surprised you didn't mention Epic Mickey Rebrushed, the game was so good man.
My favorite games this year? Well, I certainly played the most Marvel Snap. What an addictive gameplay loop. But my hidden gem has got to be A Highland Song. A little platforming, a little rhythm, a little story, a little roguelite, and a whole lot of heart. The game just feels good. Plus, I love the music. Had me looking up the bands afterwards.
The taxi game's font looks like that of Crash Bandicoot and I'm all for it
My fav of the year is "SomnaBuster" by PD_CGT the game has inspirations from "Sonic" & "Ristar" with a lovely squiggly art style, some of the tightest controls, and a twangy genesis OST!
1000xRESIST is my game of the year - a fascinatingly dynamic visual novel with impeccable pacing. Every single chapter completely upends what you thought this game was about, and it gives you plenty of philosophical themes, lore, and character drama to chew on.
While the game is all narrative, I wouldn't call it a visual novel because it really doesn't give an accurate picture of what the game looks like; it's a 3D game with occasional exploration segments
Also yeah It's my game of the year too, in fact, probably my game of the last 5 years
I couldn't accept the gameplay, too boring for me. For me the best visual novel this year is No case should remain unsolved.
@@SaltyIsaac Definitely feels reductive to call it a VN haha but mechanically I feel that's what it's closest to
@@chipwiseman2 Walking simulator is closer imo -- though it has more dialogue than most of that genre.
1.19 of Battle for wesnoth was also released this year and It's awesome
Never thought I'd see Battle for Wesnoth mentioned in 2024
@Rayhaku808 the more you know
My top five were
Anton Blast (I can't wait for you to do a vid on that)
Astro Bot
Yellow Taxi Goes VROOM
Penny's Big Breakaway
Animal Well
My game of the year is Pokemon Legends Arceus. It came out in 2022 but i got it only late june. I’m not sure many agree with me, but i like it quite a lot. It’s not the most challenging (except for the volo battle and the eternal battle reverie) but i like an easygoing game if it has really nice visuals. The animations for attacks, particularly signature moves and special attacks are super awesome looking and i really love it. The legendary roster is super cool as well. I also enjoy how you can throw out your pokemon in the overworld just to talk to them or let them talk to each other
13:27 to answer the question, ulala is a Playstation character because of the game space channel 5 VR kinda funky news cast, which was released for the PlayStation 4 psvr.
Anthology of the Killer flew low below a lot of radars this year, but it's obsession-worthy! It's a brilliant cartoon horror blend of Courage the Cowardly Dog and Uzumaki centered on the death of western civilization. It's from the person who made Space Funeral - if you know your RPG Maker esoterica - and their unique creative voice is in peak form here. Worth a glance if any of that appeals to you! It's only a few dollars and a few hours.
UFO 50 - 50 different games all wrapped up in one package, and each game is a high quality tribute to much older generation games
Chained Together - One of the only climbing rage games that looks like it actually took effort and is fun to play, both alone and with friends. So long as you're prepared to fail, this is a blast with friends
Nine Souls - A Metroidvania style game with Souls like difficulty and Sekiro like parrying. This is up there with Hollow Knight.
Momodora 4 - Another fantastic installment in the momodora franchise. Fun writing, interesting world, great combat, and secrets galore
Not necessarily my favorite games, but I do think that each of these is pretty stand out and deserve people's attention.
For me, this year was all about going back and trying out some older games I missed, and replaying games I hadn't touched in a long time, with a healthy amount of new releases as well. Thanks to the power of emulation, I was able to experience gems like SMT Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2, Ghost Trick, Layton vs Phoenix Wright, a bunch of classic Pokemon games, and some wonderful rom hacks like Fire Emblem Cerulean Crescent. I also played some phenomenal games on Steam, including the Portal games, all of the new Atlus releases, and my personal favorite this year, the first two Zero Escape games. Seriously, 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors and Virtue's Last Reward absolutely blew me away and I couldn't be happier about it. I haven't played Zero Time Dilemma yet, but I plan to get to that very soon. All in all, this was an insanely good year of gaming for me, and I cannot wait to see what happens next.
momodora: moonlit farewell should be up here too!
Great games on here! But it's good to see so many people in the comments vouching for UFO 50. Hands down one of the best and most insanely creative games put out this year!
Great list! My personal GoTY is definitely 1000xRESIST though. One of the best narratives easily.
this video has an unfortunate lack of Nine Sols
After having played astro bot, yall should do an episode on hint system and/or completion tools. I think astro bot handles it really well
I've been pretty checked out of new games for the past few years (yayyyyy being poor!) so I hadn't even heard of most of these. I definitely gotta look into Backpack Battles, Minishoot Adventures, and Animal Well!
So.many new games to add to the list to try. Iles of Sea and Sky looks amazing.
You always provide such excellent coverage in the gaming industry. Thank you.
I absolutely loved 2 games: Prince of Persia the Lost Crown, and Sheepy: A Short Adventure. Neither one I expected to enjoy, but both had me pleasantly surprised. The first is one of the best melee-based platform Metroidvanias I've seen since Hollow Knight, and the other is an amazing bite-size platformer that feels like a Metroidvania without actually being one...oh and it takes about an hour to beat, has crazy good music and just drips atmospheric storytelling like a Metroid game. And it's free.
A little over 4 straight minutes of a bunch of smart alecs. Well played.
It came out last year, but if you like Isles of Sea and Sky, you should pick up Void Stranger.
It's a sokoban game with Outer Wilds-esque meta-progression.
I haven't played Breach Wizards but it makes me recall a game called Invisible Inc. made by Klei a while back (not this year). I think it's an underrated stealth game more folks should try.
Yeah, that would've definitely made the list in like 2015.
I'd really, really, REALLY love to play Unicorn Overlord...but it ain't on PC, so I really can't.
Well, now i have to fill up my wishlist again, but i won't be doing this alone cuz i dragging down a friend on this Indie rabbit hole! hehe
Good year for 3D Platformers maybe, but mostly an amazing year for speedrunners.
Happy new year! ♥
Great way to start my day
This is such a great idea for a game of the year show, I hope this is something your team does on a yearly basis. Also, that backpack game looked so fun. I laughed out loud in front of everyone because I was so impressed by the cleverness of the idea
As long as this video doesn't crater (which it doesn't seem to be doing so far), yeah we'd like to do this once a year. It was WAY easier to produce than a standard video, so that helps.
One of the weirder games I came across this year was a game on Steam called Churn Vector.
It's a stealth fetish NSFW game about sneaking through an environment to CV guards and eventually a target. Don't know what CV is? Good. You're more blessed than me.
Aside from the... "unique" premise, the thing that impressed me is had an answer to one of my biggest critiques of stealth games: that stealth takedowns make stealth trivial as there's no reason to not use them exclusively and typically have no cost beyond the brief vulnerability while performing the takedown. Some games have an economic cost like The Last of Us' shivs but what Churn Vector does is add a practical cost to every stealth takedown. Each time you do one you get slower, can't jump as high and struggle to fit through small spaces, eventually not being able to fit through doors. This forces players to consider who is worth taking out and creates diminishing returns to the usual strategies to taking everyone out.
This kinda thing is why I like NSFW games. Sometimes they, intentionally or not, come up with design solutions that you wouldn't get in most other games.
Secret base did an amazing video with dev interviews on the Pablo series. Should check out out!
I really enjoyed Kitten Burst this year. Hope more people check it out!
I prefer the hidden gems video of the year instead of the top 10 games of the year. The big name games get flooded with praise and publicity so its hard not to miss what is the best games. But these hidden gems are more exciting. Especially when they do something new and different. Even if its not perfect that novelty can make it more fun than many mainstream games. Not to mention often cheaper or require less hardware to run it.
Another topic idea I want to recommend is "Create a Character" options in video games and how games are built (or not built) around it.
good opportunity to insert the meme about "find the custom character in the crowd"
Yesss thank u for the game recs!
nine sols is probably my favorite game from this year
Balatro is the cognitohazard of the year
Nine Sols was great! I guess I'd describe it as a more combat-oriented metroidvania than Hollow Knight but it's just as strong in terms of narrative, music, aesthetic, and bosses for me. Made by Red Candle Games, the devs of Detention, which is also great!
RIVALS OF AETHER 2 AND MARVEL RIVALS!!! How were they not mentioned?!
and Pokémon TCG: Pocket…
We got a new gen everyone… feed this man some indie masterpieces. Go play some nine sols
Marvel rivals is well designed, same with tcg, rivals 2 I tried and it was overly greedy trash. The main problem is that they are infinite games, and they are made solely for money.
@ How is Rivals 2 trash? I thought it was on par with Smash Ultimate. (I may be biased, Rivals of Aether is my favorite game of all time)
@Yummerizer and what do you mean “new gen?”
Metaphor is just so god damn good it didn't need explanation. Just play it.
UFO 50 is the best game of the year because it is 50 games in one. That's 49 more games than most games.
I bet you liked the 101 in 1 games back in the day?