WASHINGTON – It’s been a rough year in the world of video games, which reeled from some high-profile flops (sorry, Suicide Squad and Star Wars fans) and a relentless series of developer layoffs. Fortunately, indie designers stepped up to fill in the gaps. And toward the end of the year, a few AAA studios rallied with ambitious, big-budget adventures.
The top 10 games of 2024 recall a brighter age when it seemed like anything was possible in our virtual worlds. Here’s hoping the industry learns from their success.
1. Metaphor: ReFantazio
In a politically exhausting year, Japan’s Studio Zero pulled off the seemingly impossible: rendering the process of reforming a corrupt world with something resembling … hope? The corruption that has beset the quasi-medieval Euchronia is quite literal, embodied by hideous mutants known (rather unsubtly) as “humans.” The fight to restore sanity blends stirring battles with unusually thoughtful reflections on justice, all with the eye-popping visuals you’d expect from the creators of the Persona series.
2. Animal Well
The last few years have brought a surge in so-called “metroidvanias” — enormous two-dimensional mazes that blend arcade action with tricky puzzles. Solo designer Billy Basso’s Animal Well is the apex, presenting a vast underground network whose inhabitants range from mice to flamingos. Every challenge you solve opens a smorgasbord of new challenges, and it’s easy to get lost for hours in its eerie, hallucinatory world.
3. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
In this drama from Sweden’s Simigo, a young woman is invited to explore a hotel that’s been seemingly abandoned by its owner, an avant-garde filmmaker. Every room has a puzzle, and the more you solve the deeper you fall under its spell. It’s like being trapped in a David Lynch movie, where you’re always questioning the boundaries between dreams and reality.
4. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
BioWare, the studio behind landmark role-playing games like Mass Effect and the original Baldur’s Gate, finally returns to its strengths with this fantasy epic. It has all the hallmarks of the genre, with a motley crew of fighters, mages and rogues joining forces against a world-threatening evil. The combat is engaging, the stories are unpredictable and the characters are endearingly loopy.
5. Astro Bot
The most endearing character of the year has to be the adorable protagonist of this adventure from Sony’s Team Asobi. The spunky little robot is on a planet-hopping mission to rescue dozens of his fellow droids, with each stop presenting a fresh assortment of running, jumping and punching challenges. It’s the sort of game we used to see more of on the PlayStation, and it’s thoroughly delightful.
6. Dungeons of Hinterberg
Luisa is a burnt-out corporate drone who needs a break. So why not head to the Alps and cut loose by fighting some monsters? Compared to Metaphor and Dragon Age, the dungeons devised by Austria’s Microbird Games are more tightly focused, given that you can only take a few magic spells on each expedition. But the puzzles are clever, and this oddball tourist town has other intriguing mysteries worth investigating.
7. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
More dungeons, as Nintendo returns to Hyrule. At long last you get to play as Princess Zelda, who wields a scepter that allows her to duplicate the tools she needs to surmount obstacles — or summon creatures to fight her foes. Echoes combines the top-down action of 1987’s original-recipe Zelda with the improvisation of last year’s “Tears of the Kingdom,” and should satisfy fans of both.
8. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Bethesda Softworks delivers a rarity, a AAA action-adventure in which the protagonist spends more time quietly figuring out the enigmas of the Egyptian pyramids and Vatican City than mindlessly shooting enemies. Veteran voice actor Troy Baker does a fine job standing in for Harrison Ford, the dialog sparkles and the graphics are stunningly detailed. It’s one of 2024’s biggest surprises — and don’t worry, you do get to punch Nazis.
9. Balatro
This indie smash from solo developer LocalThunk looks simple: a solitaire version of poker in which you score points by racking up good hands. Throw in some jokers, though — say, a “Greedy Joker” that makes diamonds more valuable — and it gets complicated. The higher your score, the more jokers become available. It’s a classic “just one more hand” hook; don’t download Balatro if you expect to get anything else done today.
10. UFO 50
A team of indie developers led by Spelunky designer Derek Yu conjured up this tribute to the games of the 1980s. It’s insanely ambitious, with 50 complete games ranging across every imaginable genre, from shoot-’em-ups to strategy to racing to role-playing. There’s even a Pong variant. It’s a feast for anyone who remembers the dawn of video games — or is too young to have been there.
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