Best Games of 2024
2024 was a fantastic year filled with some great games. I played all sorts of titles, from Simulation to puzzle games, Rogue-lites to horror titles. While there were a lot of bangers over the last 12 months, I’ve done my best to narrow down my favourites. Most were actually released in 2024, but some date from earlier: I just didn’t get around to playing them sooner!
Fruitbus
Genre: Simulation, Adventure, Indie
Platforms: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Krillbite Studio
Release Date: October 28th, 2024
Fruitbus is an indie title with a big heart. You have inherited a food truck from your grandmother, who recently passed away. You take her Fruitbus back to her old stomping grounds to collect her friends and invite them to her celebration of life event. You get to meet all her old friends and customers, feed the public, and make your own new stories with the people of the Banamas.
Tavern Manager Simulator
Genre: Simulation
System: Steam (Windows) and Epic Games Store
Developers | Publishers: One More Time
Release Date: August 13th, 2024
Tavern Manager Simulator is exactly what it sounds like. You get to run a medieval tavern, upgrading it, serving food, gathering money, and serving customers. If you like these kinds of sim games, you should check this one out.
Loco Sort
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Martins 14 Games
Release Date: Nov 14th, 2023
Loco Sort is not for everyone, but it certainly was for me. This puzzle game pits you against a bunch of cars that need to be put onto a train in the right order, and you need to make sure you get everything ready to leave in record time. It’s challenging, it’s fun, and it’s a unique, train-themed experience that any train-lover would probably love. It’s themed around the golden age of trains, the world around you, your outfits, and everything, all looking like the 1800s.
Riven Remake
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows and macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Cyan Worlds
Release Date: June 10, 2024
The Riven Remake is the first time in 30 years that the original dream team at Cyan were all back together to remake one of my favorite games of all time. Robyn Miller, Rand Miller, and Richard Vander Wende, the original three creators of Myst, worked together on not only remaking Riven but also adding new puzzles, new music, and just making it 1000 times more beautiful. And Cyan did a great job of bringing the Myst magic back to life.
Myst Remake
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows and macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Cyan Worlds
Release Date: Aug 26, 2021
The Myst remake came out in 2020, but I didn’t get to play it until this year. As a huge fan of the original 1993 Myst, I wanted to see how much had changed after playing the remake of Riven. The new Myst is the same game but just made more beautiful, more fun, and more accessible than ever.
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami
Genre: Puzzle
System: Switch and Steam (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Developers | Publishers: Happy Broccoli Games
Release Date: May 23, 2024
I love Duck Detective so much that I will be very upset if they don’t make more of them. This one is a noir-style detective story where you play as the hardboiled Duck Detective. You need to solve the mystery of the Secret Salami before it’s too late!
Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: That’s Nice Games
Release Date: Dec 1, 2021
I have played a lot of Jigsaw games, and I haven’t really loved any of them. They were all pretty okay. But then I played Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams this year, and it blew all the other jigsaw games out of the water. Not to mention it’s multiplayer and it’s free. 10/10, cannot recommend this one enough.
Quilts and Cats of Calico
Genre: Puzzle
System: Switch and Steam (Windows and macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Monster Couch, Flatout Games
Release Date: Mar 5, 2024
If you like board-game-like puzzle games that are wholesome and inclusive, Quilts and Cats of Calico is for you. It’s adorable, and the puzzles are pretty challenging. You have to make a quilt while following specific patterns and putting certain colors in the correct places to make sure you can get enough points. But beware, your opponents might just steal that fabric square you’ve been eyeing!
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank
Genre: Roguelite
System: Xbox, Switch, and Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Snoozy Kazoo | Graffiti Games
Release Date: Jan 18, 2024
I’m a huge fan of Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, so I was stoked when I found out that there would be a sequel. Turnip Boy Robs a Bank did not disappoint me. While the first Turnip Boy was a story-driven fetch-quest-a-thon, this one is an action rogue-lite where you have to delve deeper and deeper into the bank, stealing money and weapons along the way. It was so silly and so weird that it outdid its predecessor, and I love it so much.
Neva
Genre: Puzzle Platformer
System: PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, PC
Developers | Publishers: Nomada Studio | Devolver Digital
Release Date: October 15, 2024
The puzzle platformer Neva is the only game that made me cry this year. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, and one of my favorites games this year. It’s challenging, gorgeous, and filled to the brim with real emotions and characters. And you can pet the dog!
Gridlink
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Kouzii
Release Date: Sep 12, 2024
Gridlink is a simple, smooth puzzle game. It’s relaxing, and you just need to connect the numbers in order while using all the boxes in the grid. The puzzles start very simple, but they quickly get a lot more challenging, and I had a lot of fun completing every single one of the story puzzles, along with a bunch of randomly generated ones.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Genre: Puzzle
System: PlayStation, Switch, and Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Simogo | Annapurna Interactive
Release Date: May 16, 2024
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a creepy indie puzzle game that brings back the feel of the old point-and-click games, and it has some of the best puzzles and vibe of any puzzle game I’ve ever played. It’s incredibly fun, challenging, and spooky without the normal gore or violence of horror games. There is something about the black-and-white-with-touches-of-red aesthetic that I cannot get enough of.
Content Warning
Genre: Multiplayer
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: thePetHen, Skog, Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip | Landfall
Release Date: Apr 1, 2024
Although Content Warning is a horror game, there is no blood, fighting, weapons, or violence. In order to play, you and your buddies need to head into the underground, a place infested with some of the goofiest monsters ever seen. You must try to film YouTube-style videos that will excite your fans by putting yourself in danger, then you have to upload these for social media clout. Clout turns right into money, and you can buy new flashlights and other objects to help you survive underground longer. When it came out on April 1st, it was free for 24 hours, which made it one of the most popular games in the world for a while.
Little Kitty, Big City
Genre: Sandbox
System: Xbox, Switch, and Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Double Dagger Studio
Release Date: May 9, 2024
The indie hit Little Kitty, Big City, was definitely top tier in my list this year. It’s cute, it’s full of cats, it has hilarious writing and good jokes, and it’s so fun to play. If you haven’t gotten around to climbing around a big city like this small kitty, stealing people’s phones and bagels, helping ducklings, making friends, and doing science experiments with raccoons, I suggest you get to as soon as possible.
Backpack Battles
Genre: Inventory Management
System: Steam (Window and Linux)
Developers | Publishers: PlayWithFurcifer, IndieArk
Release Date: January 3, 2024
Backpack Battles is an inventory management sim. The better you can manage your backpacks, the better you can battle your enemies. All the art has an anime kind of look to it, and you get to choose between several different types of characters that are all pretty neat looking. I had an awful lot of fun organizing and reorganizing my bags over and over again, competing against others for the best use of space.
Astro Bot
Genre: Platformer
System: PlayStation
Developers | Publishers: Sony
Release Date: September 6, 2024
The PlayStation-exclusive Astro Bot seemed like it would just be a corporate fluff piece where you go around collecting all the PS-exclusive characters from popular series, but it ended up being so much more than that. This game was so cute, so fun to play, and had such a great aesthetic that I instantly fell in love with it. If you have access to a PlayStation, I can’t recommend this cute little platformer enough.
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