Remy's Top 24 of 2024 - Part 1 (#24 to #11)

It was always gonna be hard to top 2023, but damn if 2024 didn't get close.

Obviously, this only counts if we ignore all the job losses in the industry, the continued use of generative AI and (somehow!) NFTs, and whatever the heck was happening with always online, live service model games that came and went like a waft in the wind. But if we're talking about just the video games themselves, 2024 once again blew my expectations out of the water. And hey, no Hogwarts Legacy to stain the release calendar this time!

Looking back at the games I played that released in 2024, I think my journey through the year will look pretty different to a lot of others. Out of all the games I played, only one of them could be considered AAA, maybe two depending on your definition of the term. I didn't even buy Granblue Fantasy: Relink and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth until December, while other big hitters like Silent Hill 2, Indiana Jones and Metaphor: ReFantazio (I have to Google that game's name every time I type it) eluded me. On one hand, I was busy doing my usual autism thing of replaying games I've beaten countless times like Gran Turismo 4 (the GT4 Spec II mod is insanely good and Rock Band 3 (the RB3 Deluxe mod is also insanely good), while on the other hand, I wasn't particularly interested in what the bigger side of the industry had to offer. 

No, my time was spent largely with indie games, games that were delivering what AAA just couldn't seem to, from the racing games we've been pining for for maybe a decade to sharp, witty stories that know when to end without padding things out with side quests where you find out what the main character's mum's dog is up to. Even if I would want to know that. Who wouldn't? Point is, if you've come here to hear me tell you how good Black Myth: Wukong or Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is, turn tail. I'm about to list off a hell of a lot of rad little indie games, games that make our familiar feel fresh again, games with such monumental storytelling that they will no doubt leave their mark on the industry.

Since I'm not normal in the slightest, this isn't just a regular top ten - I'll be ranking every game I played that released in 2024. That's the good stuff (there's a lot!), the bad stuff (not much!) and the couple of games I refunded (I'm a bit of a tight ass sometimes). Although, we're barely into the fourth paragraph of my first post here and I'm already lying - there's one game I won't be ranking, and that's...

CAVES OF QUD

Developer: Freehold Games

Playtime: less than an hour | Platform: PC

A traditional turn-based roguelike where you can force a door into the realm of consciousness then swap bodies with the door for a massive HP boost sounds incredible. Unfortunately, I got the kind of autism that lets me imagine charts for Rock Band and Guitar Hero in my head as I listen to music, not the kind that lets me look at this interface with anything other than a headache and a decreasing sense of self-worth. I would be remiss to rank something I barely played beyond the tutorial and accidentally killing a man in the first town, but Caves of Qud has been getting almost nothing but positive attention, so if you like the look of it, you either have it already or have been living in a cave. A different one.

Alright, now for the list proper! Starting with the worst game I played last year:

24) RUGRATS: ADVENTURES IN GAMELAND

Developer: The MIX Games, WALLRIDE

Playtime: 1 hour | Platform: PC (also on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch)

There were certainly worse games last year, but I'm usually not going out of my way to play bad games during the year they launched in (and by the time I even think about playing Skull and Bones for the funny, it'll no doubt already be delisted). I only played Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland because I'm one of the few who plays some of the games they nab for free on the Epic Games Store.

While other retro-inspired platformers understand what made the best of them so memorable while adding modern sensibilities, Adventures in Gameland takes inspiration from retro platformers that pad themselves out with annoying difficulty spikes and enemy placement to mask the fact that they can be beaten in under an hour. The level design here is incredibly uninspired and while the 8-bit visuals are kinda cute, the HD visuals make an art style that's charming in its purposeful ugliness... just ugly. Also, am I the only one who thought this was some kinda Game Boy or NES remaster? This is an entirely new game, so why does it not play anything like one? I'm kinda glad I didn't pay any monies for this bibeo game.

23) TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED: SOLAR CROWN

Developer: KT Racing

Playtime: 2 hours | Platform: PC (also on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S)

This is one of the two games I refunded (the other being Caves of Qud), but I believe I played enough to get the gist. Though I've always thought the Test Drive Unlimited games have been okay at absolute best and believe they're mostly fondly remembered for their simulation aspects, since owning a home is a distant dream nowadays, I was hopeful Solar Crown might be the one to match the lofty image the series has held over the years, since KT Racing, the developers behind the recent and mostly excellent World Rally Championship games before their handoff to EA and Codemasters, were behind it.

I'm not super keen on a TDU game adapting a live service model and always-online requirements, even if the previous games had an online focus, but I can deal with it. The driving physics are a little stiff and the car roster is pretty dated, but what little I explored of the map had me convinced I could have fun with it. The issue is - and I'm not usually a graphics racc - visually speaking, the game's bordering on unacceptable. My PC isn't even that old and it had to be set to low, with DLSS set to high performance, and the best I could squeeze out of it was somewhere in the 50-60fps range if the planets are aligned and I tilt my PC at a 67 degree angle, all for visuals that woud barely make a PS3 sweat. Maybe I'll pick this up on console, but considering it's already seen a permanent price drop months after launch, I doubt we'll be seeing much more of Solar Crown, beyond those irresistible seasonal reward stickers. Mm. Forza Horizon who? 

22) TURBO SLIDERS UNLIMITED

Developer: Antti Mannisto

Playtime: 3 hours | Platform: PC

I never quite understood those top-down arcade racers from the PS1 era, like Micro Machines. How do you react to what's coming? How do you adjust to turning left and right on a fixed camera angle, where right can suddenly mean left and vice-versa? I'd rather die.

I was hoping I'd grown out of such opinions when I learned of Turbo Sliders Unlimited, a game with a really impressive looking track editor and the means to share them. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I still don't find this kind of arcade racer particularly engaging, even with options for more traditional chase cameras, and I still yearn for the day where we get a game with creation tools like this that plays more like Gran Turismo or Forza. Just to be clear: Turbo Sliders isn't at all a bad game, and the community surrounding it seems to love it. It's just not for me.

21) THE PLUCKY SQUIRE

Developer: All Possible Futures

Playtime: 10 hours | Platform: PS5 (also on Xbox Series X|S and Switch)

In a year filled with incredible releases, this was the one I was most forward looking to. Its place on the list should tell you how disappointed I was.

The Plucky Squire is an incredible concept - a young hero who gains the power to jump back and forth between the storybook he lives in and the real world - that's squandered nearly entirely, as if they got the visuals down, made a really sick game show trailer, and then couldn't come up with much beyond that. 2D gameplay is like classic The Legend of Zelda while 3D gameplay's more like the Link's Awakening remake with a jump button, but they're both functionally the same outside of a perspective change. Word puzzles, where you take words from passages and place them in others to move forward, are boneless Baba is You, and combat remains steady and simple throughout, especially since there are no boss encounters to test your skills - instead replaced by minigames riffing on other games like Pokemon, Resogun, Punch-Out! and Bust-a-Move. Of all things.

For a game about the power of imagination, it's shockingly reserved, and it doesn't help that its barebones story with one-dimensional characters and a fourth wall-breaking finale I found incredibly eye-roll worthy has to pull you to the side and force you through dry dialogue and weak humour nearly every page, like if the seventh generation Pokemon games picked up a Super Star. It's competent, it plays fine, it admittedly looks gorgeous, and it might even be a good one for the littlies in your life, but I'm genuinely surprised I rolled credits on this one. I'd love to see what the devs get up to next as they're clearly talented, but this has stuck in my mind ever since I played it, and for all the wrong reasons.

20) YELLOW TAXI GOES VROOM

Developer: Panik Arcade

Playtime: 4 hours | Platform: PC

A 3D platformer with tank controls? In 2024? It's more likely than you think!

Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is a 3D platformer where instead of controlling a cute critter with a double jump and a ground pound, you drive a toy taxi that can only accelerate, brake, turn and do a little boost dash move thing. No jumping - only you, some ramps, and some deviously placed collectibles.

Well, sorta. And by sorta, I mean that's my main issue with the game - it doesn't bank on the idea of being a car in a platformer enough. You actually can jump, it's just obfuscated behind dash cancelling and waiting to flip over on your roof to bounce and get some air. I would have loved to see a platformer where you rely solely on speed, momentum and whatever terrain the game throws at you, but instead I spent most of my time struggling with controls that sometimes didn't work the way I was led to believe they would.

I also do not care in the slightest for the Crazy Taxi-style levels where you spend a few minutes ferrying passengers around for extra time used to explore the level, only to run out of time during a difficult platforming segment. And the humour doesn't really land for me, either. I'm all for a good Elon Musk dunking but "Alien Mosk, CEO of Tosla" sounds like a first draft idea thought up on the dunny. However, it's worth mentioning Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom sits at Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam at the time of writing, so I'm probably completely wrong on this one and you probably should give it a gander.

19) HATCH TALES

Developer: Atooi

Playtime: 5 hours | Platform: Switch

I was actually a Kickstarter backer for Hatch Tales, but Hatch Tales was not the game I backed. The game I did back was Chicken Wiggle Workshop, a remaster of a really solid little 2D platformer released near the end of the 3DS' lifespan, due out in 2018. Fast forward six years later after long periods of radio silence and a rebranding that has kinda sapped the game of its original charm a bit and we have Hatch Tales, a game that's probably objectively better than the original, but one I can't help but to feel mixed about.

It still plays great. Using your hookshot to grapple from surface to surface still feels just as snappy and satisfying as it did years ago, and level design is largely on point. It is, by all means, a good game. But as a fan of the original, I still don't understand - why the need for the change? Why ditch the original bird and worm combo? Why this almost sterile visual style that reminds me of that one really bad filter people use on retro emulators? Why is the original Chicken Wiggle campaign hidden behind a code given only to backers, and the impressive little level editor not even mentioned on the game's eShop page? Are they embarrassed of Chicken Wiggle?

It's not the end of the world, and it certainly turned out better than other Kickstarter projects. But I might have been turned off the idea of contributing to crowdfunded games again if not for other games I backed - Billie Bust Up and OTHER: Her Loving Embrace - that have been plenty transparent and generous with updates and seem to be progressing well. I recommend Hatch Tales in the end, but Atooi are getting the side-eye from me for a while, I think.

18) GO MECHA BALL

Developer: Whale Peak Games

Playtime: 4 hours | Platform: PC (also on Xbox Series X|S and Switch)

I would love to rank this one a lot higher. Go Mecha Ball is an enthralling little roguelike with sort of a twin-stick shooter pinball vibe, where you hold L2 to pop into ball form, bounce off walls, fling yourself off ramps and cancel enemies' attacks with a boost move, before unfurling and popping a cap in said enemies with one of two weapons you've picked up. It has incredibly satisfying audio and visual design that had me in that coveted one-more-run mood more often than I'd like to admit, and makes me think "ohhhh I get why people get addicted to the pokies now."

I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked, though, due entirely to an issue that tanks performance the longer you play. Typically I'd see massive stuttering and frame rate drops after maybe half an hour of play, which is not what you want when you're on the cusp of beating a run. It's not an issue everyone has, but I encountered it frequently, and it made the game a little too hard to play. If this issue ever gets fixed, though, I'll be first in line to jump back in, because this is a really solid little game otherwise.

17) INDIGO PARK: CHAPTER 1

Developer: UniqueGeese

Playtime: 1 hour | Platform: PC

Oh Rambley, how I wish I could give you a little kiss.

Never in a billion years did I see myself playing a mascot horror game (Garten of BanBan looks too silly and you'd have to kill me before I give Scott Cawthon a cent) but the second that little digital raccoon popped up on my TikTok feed, I was smitten. And the game's free, so I had no excuse, really.

Granted, Indigo Park: Chapter 1 is only an hour long and barely skims the surface of the story UniqueGeese wants to tell, and gameplay is pretty basic - it's a lot of walking, doing insultingly easy gear puzzles and listening to Rambley, well, ramble. It's pretty much a walking simulator with one chase near the end, the only point where you can actually die. Still! Nothing wrong with walking simulators, anyway. The writing's pretty solid, the character design's appealing, and if I can be candid for a moment, Rambley is kind of a gender. His modulated voice, his round little body, his obsession with trains, the fact that he exists in a digital space - he's living the life, man.

16) COPYCAT

Code provided by Spoonful of Wonder

Playtime: 4 hours | Platform: PC (coming soon to PS4, PS5 and Switch)

Very glad the gaming industry saw Stray and said "yes, we need more cat games." Copycat does things a little differently though, eschewing the dystopian sci-fi setting for the kind of story you might expect of an animated Disney film from 20 or so years ago. You play as a cat adopted by a frail old woman looking for a companion as she deals with her illness, only to be replaced by an imposter, kicked out of the house, and left to fend for yourself on the streets. Yes, you may need tissues.

This one's a little janky, and I don't quite think the ending sticks the landing, but the story overall is very sweet and is definitely going to appeal to those of us who have our own little fur babies in our lives. It's more linear than the dialogue choices suggest, and you might groan when you find out it's impossible to fail quick-time events, but the gameplay is not the focus, and if you can live with that, I think you'll really enjoy this one.

I actually did a video review for this one! It was one of the only videos I released last year. Shame on me and all my kin.

15) LITTLE KITTY, BIG CITY

Developer: Double Dagger Studio

Playtime: 6 hours | Platform: PC (also on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch)

And that's not the only cat game, either! We were eating good last year, I tell ya hwat. (That's not a typo, you gotta say it like that.)

Little Kitty, Big City is pretty different to both Stray and Copycat, leaning towards the cozy exploration genre popularized by games like A Short Hike. The goal is to munch on some fish to get the energy to climb back up to the high-rise apartment you were whisked away from, which generally involves being a straight menace. That means pouncing on birds, knocking things off shelves, harassing people and stealing their bagels, and even making birds poop on a Supra. Blasphemous, but hilarious all the same.

Like Stray and Copycat, it's a little janky, though unlike Stray you can jump freely, which makes exploration feel more open and rewarding even if it looks a little odd at times. I also wish there was a bit more to it; you can beeline to the finish pretty easily while interactions with the game's cast are largely optional. Even so, this is undoubtedly a very chill, cozy little game that'll appeal to anyone who wants more of this kinda thing or just wants to play as a cat, slap on an axolotl hat and find strange places to nap.

14) FALLEN ACES (EARLY ACCESS)

Developer: Trey Powell, Jason Bond

Playtime: 3 hours | Platform: PC

Does New Blood ever miss? Everything they publish has been a banger and even in an early state, Fallen Aces is no exception.

This one's a bit more of an immersive sim, focusing on stealth and melee combat while requiring you to be constantly aware of your surroundings and making use of any unassuming objects you can find. Breaking a glass bottle over a goon's head then going in for the roundhouse kick is never not satisfying, and that's just one of many, many approaches to any situation - it’s extremely impressive how many options you have for any given encounter.

It's still in early access though, only having five levels, and stuff like enemy types and a planned level editor (!) are still missing alongside the other two thirds or so of the rest of the game. Yet, even in this unfinished state, Fallen Aces is already incredibly solid - frankly the only reason this doesn't rate any higher is because first person melee isn't a style of combat I'm unconditionally in love with. Maybe the full release will convert me.

Gianni Matragrano really knows how to shit himself for five minutes.

13) TINY TERRY'S TURBO TRIP

Developer: Snekflat

Playtime: 6 hours | Platform: PC

Terry, a blue amalgam of ambiguous descent, applies for a job as a taxi driver. He only applies for the job for the car however, pushing his new responsibilities to the side as he wishes to upgrade his new whip and launch himself into space with it. A normal premise, if ever I read one.

Another cozy exploration game, Turbo Trip's all about finding junk to upgrade your car with. This is done by exploring the world and searching every nook and cranny (and some of this junk is pretty well hidden), or harassing townsfolk until they tell you where to find some. This generally involves feeding your crush french fries, solving government debt, and watching a man die by Trial of Sunburn.

Turbo Trip's got a very charming sorta "lol random" sense of humour, with Terry himself being delightfully dry and deadpan, so hyperfixated on his goal that he doesn't realise how silly he sounds when he says things like “I have four types of insects in my pocket.” Exploring the world and finding all the funny stuff is worth the price of admission alone, even if I was hoping the driving part of the game was more prevalent, delegated only to A-to-B travel and a bumper car minigame. But you can run pedestrians down and they fall over and flail around like NPCs in The Simpsons: Hit & Run, which I need people to know is everything to me.

Shoutout to this fuckin' thing.

12) AMBER ISLE

Developer: Ambertail Games

Playtime: 10+ hours | Platform: PC (coming soon to Switch)

Do you ever play Animal Crossing, hand off your pillbugs to Flick and think "man. Why can't I play as the handsome chameleon twink? What the heck, Nintendo?" Thankfully, indie devs are on the ball. Amber Isle is an Animal Crossing-adjacent life sim where you run a shop on an island of paleofolk, but not as some stinky human - you get to be a dino guy, too! Was it that hard, Nintendo?

One of my favourite things about Amber Isle is its sense of structure. Animal Crossing loses me a bit as it goes on, but running my own shop is a really fun central gimmick as is the addition of restoring the island to its former glory and each island resident having their own set of personal quests to complete. And while capitalism can kiss my ass, I won't lie and say I didn't have fun making my dapper little triceratops overcharge a cranky boomer Iguanodon for a set of crayons.

For now I've shelved it though, for two reasons. One: this is a perfect Steam Deck game, so I'm waiting to get one for myself before I get too wrapped up in it. Two: it's pretty unpolished, with the fixed camera getting stuck on things on commonly used pathways, as well as cumbersome menus that are a pain to navigate with a controller. Considering this is releasing on Switch soon I hope they address these issues swiftly, but all the same I can't wait to jump back into my little dinosaur shopkeeper isekai fantasy. 

11) CARAVAN SANDWITCH

Developer: Studio Plane Toast

Playtime: 10 hours | Platform: PC (also on Switch)

Regrettably missing out on the top 10 is also the winner of Worst Game Name of the Year. Caravan SandWitch has nothing to do with sandwiches of any kind, nor does it actually feature a caravan.

It does have a van, though. This van is slowly upgraded with a satellite for hacking and scanning the area, as well as a towhook for pulling doors and objects and serving as a traversal line for a pulley, all of which help you on your quest to find your sister who's sent a distress signal from beyond the grave. True to other cozy adventure games, this one's about exploring at your own pace and helping people out, though it trades out the comfier settings usually seen in the genre for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi planet ravaged by the greedy hands of man, leaving scarce resources and an everlasting circular storm in its wake.

As someone wanting to write a webnovel in a similar setting, I obviously vibe with this pretty hard. Even with its limited movement options this is such a fun world to explore, and it sure helps that Caravan SandWitch is drop dead gorgeous, with some of the best uses of cel-shaded visuals I've yet seen. If I handed out awards, thid would win Best Visual Style for sure. I think if the characters were less one-dimensional and the story pushed itself a little further, it might've broken my top 10 pretty easily, but this is still a very eager recommend from me - heck, it's one of the few games I've nabbed all the achievements on.

Unrelated, but the main character's name is Sauge, and every time I read it, it makes me wish I lived closer to a Bunnings.

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That's #24 to #11 done - click here to check out my top 10 of 2024 :O