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.
@LolSumor I'm so mad about that lol. I don't even live in a PEGI country, I just think it sucks that this fun, innocent, and kindly designed game is harder for Europeans to access.
Honestly I’ve had no desire to try Balatro because it doesn’t seem like my thing, but that information makes me want to buy it anyway just to support that guy.
@@Nihzlet I wasn’t sure I would be into it either, since I’ve never played poker and it didn’t seem quite my thing. Oh My God It is SO good. You gotta try it. It is a time machine with how fast time passes while playing it.
and you did the right thing, because it's really boring no complex puzzles, found the code - entered, walking back and forth, reading notes, that's all
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Great video! I love a lot of the games on this list so I’ll have to check out the ones I don’t know. Also special shoutout to Shadow Generations, it really does fit Speedrunning so well.
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.
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
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.
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.)
@ I played Islets right after finishing Crypt Custodian. It was a little rough around the edges, but I enjoyed it. It was interesting to see how much the dev improved between games!
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.
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.
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.
Really dug this video format! Some of the design topics are so expansive that video feel like an all-you-can-buffet where we sample 10% of what’s on offer. And it can be really difficulty to come up with a cohesive thesis on ‘ice’, you know? This topic way more and approachable and invited subjectivity that felt right at place.
Yeah, we're trying to pare down the expansiveness of the topics for future videos - we've been aiming too broadly lately I think. It's made the production process a pain. The next one we're making is feeling better so far.
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
I played Shadow before going back to Sonic Generations, and it's like night and day with how smooth and responsive the gameplay is. It's a greay show of how much they've genuinly improved and refined their design over the decade gap.
9:30 I'd argue it takes itself VERY seriously, and the fact that they never turn to camera and say "boy, that was weird" helps to improve the inherent humor of, say, a warlock in a high-visibility robe. Not to mention that when you strip away the urban fantasy aspect it tells a fairly serious story. The comedy finds the perfect balance between keeping things lighthearted and not making the whole thing seem wildly tone-deaf.
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 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
Perennial Order and Nine Sols were two amazing games I've played this year Both were great in sound, music and especially art design, and had really good gameplay with many good bosses and Nine Sols also had a beautiful story And I must say Perennial Order was truly a unique game (atleast from the ones I know), its a plant-horror 2D top-down-perspective boss rush game with a peculiar art style where you die in one hit with a bit of exploration mixed in for finding upgrades, and all bosses feel different from another, one of my favorites being a giant chess board where you are the chess piece against actual giant chess pieces The game is rather unknown so I really recommend it to anyone who would enjoy such a game, it even has a coop mode, though the bosses get a lot of additional hp if you play coop
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.
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 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.
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!
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.
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.
I was a little sad to not see a shoutout to helskate. It’s a rougelike-character action-Tony hawk game. It has a great aesthetic, great soundtrack, the different systems all interact in a fun way. The skating is just right, admittedly the combat while skating can be really difficult to get used to but it’s a really fun and interesting take on all of the genres.
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~
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.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is such a good game with such a weird name. Recommend it to anyone that likes Mario 64. Imagine it being like 64 but Mario is in a Kart
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 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).
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.
I was mildly interested in Unicorn Overlord when it was first announced, but was too busy to end up buying it. I saw it pop up on another of these “best games of 2024” videos and took a closer look… and my first thought was “that kinda looks like Ogre Battle. I LOVE Ogre Battle”. Decided I should look even more closely. After hearing your thoughts in this video, I’m probably going to buy it when I get home. 😂
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)
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Here are some great indie games that I personally recommend looking into. Potionomics - A pretty cool game that got updated not too long ago. The game has three difficulties, so you can decide how tough it is. Lil' Guardsman - Got all of the Steam achievements for this one. This game is charming, fun and has a sense of humor. Back to the Dawn - As of writing this comment, the game is still in early access. That being said, I cannot recommend this one enough. It's really cool and I'm looking forward to when it's fully finished. Paperball- Looking for a ball rolling game? Well, Paperball should scratch that itch. The game has creative stages, surprisingly good music and super cheap DLC that gives you even more levels. I hope this comment convinces people to check out these suggestions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
I'd argue that Shadow generations making people not feel like playing the Sonic half of the game makes it a bad Sonic game because surely a good Sonic game would make you want to play as Sonic. I mean I wouldn't actually argue it, I'm just making a joke, but I can't be the only one who find it funny how people call it a good Sonic game when you don't even play as him.
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.
And yet, he got fricked by PEGI because of associations with gambling
@LolSumor I'm so mad about that lol. I don't even live in a PEGI country, I just think it sucks that this fun, innocent, and kindly designed game is harder for Europeans to access.
Honestly I’ve had no desire to try Balatro because it doesn’t seem like my thing, but that information makes me want to buy it anyway just to support that guy.
@@Nihzlet I wasn’t sure I would be into it either, since I’ve never played poker and it didn’t seem quite my thing.
Oh
My
God
It is SO good. You gotta try it. It is a time machine with how fast time passes while playing it.
“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.
and you did the right thing, because it's really boring
no complex puzzles, found the code - entered, walking back and forth, reading notes, that's all
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!
Thanks for the shout out of Backyard Baseball. I had not thought of that game in twenty years. Will definitely check out the remaster.
Please check out Kofie, the preeminent Backyard Sports creator analyst on the interent
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 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.
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.
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 Game of the Decade, for sure.
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?!
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.
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
Thanks for your honest appreciation of Shadow Generations right at the beginning!
Glad to hear that Pablo Sanchez is still extremely broken in every game he appears in
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.
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.
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.
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.
Great video! I love a lot of the games on this list so I’ll have to check out the ones I don’t know. Also special shoutout to Shadow Generations, it really does fit Speedrunning so well.
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.
Antonblast, 4D Golf. BOOM. done it. two games that need more attention.
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 :)
Giving the platformers the space and recognition they deserve. Love it.
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.
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.)
The other games by the same dev are also very good, try Islets if you get a chance
@ I played Islets right after finishing Crypt Custodian. It was a little rough around the edges, but I enjoyed it. It was interesting to see how much the dev improved between games!
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.
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
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 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.
Really dug this video format! Some of the design topics are so expansive that video feel like an all-you-can-buffet where we sample 10% of what’s on offer. And it can be really difficulty to come up with a cohesive thesis on ‘ice’, you know? This topic way more and approachable and invited subjectivity that felt right at place.
Yeah, we're trying to pare down the expansiveness of the topics for future videos - we've been aiming too broadly lately I think. It's made the production process a pain. The next one we're making is feeling better so far.
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
im always on the lookout for new games i havent heard of, so videos like these are great, thanks for the videos doc!
I played Shadow before going back to Sonic Generations, and it's like night and day with how smooth and responsive the gameplay is. It's a greay show of how much they've genuinly improved and refined their design over the decade gap.
9:30 I'd argue it takes itself VERY seriously, and the fact that they never turn to camera and say "boy, that was weird" helps to improve the inherent humor of, say, a warlock in a high-visibility robe.
Not to mention that when you strip away the urban fantasy aspect it tells a fairly serious story. The comedy finds the perfect balance between keeping things lighthearted and not making the whole thing seem wildly tone-deaf.
Didn't think I'd see the Delta music video here, was listening to it at work just today!
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
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
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
Personally, my GOTY is Nine Sols. Challenging metroidvania, deep narrative and sekiro combat ❤
Perennial Order and Nine Sols were two amazing games I've played this year
Both were great in sound, music and especially art design, and had really good gameplay with many good bosses and Nine Sols also had a beautiful story
And I must say Perennial Order was truly a unique game (atleast from the ones I know), its a plant-horror 2D top-down-perspective boss rush game with a peculiar art style where you die in one hit with a bit of exploration mixed in for finding upgrades, and all bosses feel different from another, one of my favorites being a giant chess board where you are the chess piece against actual giant chess pieces
The game is rather unknown so I really recommend it to anyone who would enjoy such a game, it even has a coop mode, though the bosses get a lot of additional hp if you play coop
Penny's Big Breakaway was so fantastic, I adored that one!
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.
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.
thank you so much for all your videos! Happy new years ^^
I have been hooked on Balatro and it is such a mood.
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.
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.
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!
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.
I'm surprised you didn't mention Epic Mickey Rebrushed, the game was so good man.
Thanks for a great year!
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.
Yeaaaah, video games! Thanks for the recommendations!
Backpack battles looks interesting!
Hell yeah, Backyard Baseball!
this video has an unfortunate lack of Nine Sols
Excited to see Blue Prince make this list next year when it releases (hopefully) in the spring!
I really liked Miside, especially the attention to detail that you can only find with Photo Mode and second playthroughs of the game.
I was a little sad to not see a shoutout to helskate. It’s a rougelike-character action-Tony hawk game. It has a great aesthetic, great soundtrack, the different systems all interact in a fun way. The skating is just right, admittedly the combat while skating can be really difficult to get used to but it’s a really fun and interesting take on all of the genres.
The taxi game's font looks like that of Crash Bandicoot and I'm all for it
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~
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
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.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is such a good game with such a weird name. Recommend it to anyone that likes Mario 64. Imagine it being like 64 but Mario is in a Kart
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 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).
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.
I was literally playing balatro as the final game came up. Amazing timing
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?
I was mildly interested in Unicorn Overlord when it was first announced, but was too busy to end up buying it. I saw it pop up on another of these “best games of 2024” videos and took a closer look… and my first thought was “that kinda looks like Ogre Battle. I LOVE Ogre Battle”. Decided I should look even more closely.
After hearing your thoughts in this video, I’m probably going to buy it when I get home. 😂
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)
momodora: moonlit farewell should be up here too!
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.
Eggs of Steel mentioned 🔥🙏
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
Balatro is the cognitohazard of the year
Thanks for these, I knew about Balatro, I spent over 700 hours on it, oops. But I never heard of Minishoot before! I installed the demo right away!
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!
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.
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!
A little over 4 straight minutes of a bunch of smart alecs. Well played.
this video released right after the year started for me
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
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.
Here are some great indie games that I personally recommend looking into.
Potionomics - A pretty cool game that got updated not too long ago. The game has three difficulties, so you can decide how tough it is.
Lil' Guardsman - Got all of the Steam achievements for this one. This game is charming, fun and has a sense of humor.
Back to the Dawn - As of writing this comment, the game is still in early access. That being said, I cannot recommend this one enough. It's really cool and I'm looking forward to when it's fully finished.
Paperball- Looking for a ball rolling game? Well, Paperball should scratch that itch. The game has creative stages, surprisingly good music and super cheap DLC that gives you even more levels.
I hope this comment convinces people to check out these suggestions.
You have an amazing vocabulary for describing games and i wish it was the standard
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.
Great list! My personal GoTY is definitely 1000xRESIST though. One of the best narratives easily.
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"
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.
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.
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
*Cries in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth
I loved it! So many new good recommendations for my Wishlist
I'd argue that Shadow generations making people not feel like playing the Sonic half of the game makes it a bad Sonic game because surely a good Sonic game would make you want to play as Sonic.
I mean I wouldn't actually argue it, I'm just making a joke, but I can't be the only one who find it funny how people call it a good Sonic game when you don't even play as him.
I'm kind of sick of the Blue Rat right now so yes, not playing as him is a boon to me. LET ME PLAY AS SILVER AND BLAZE AGAIN, SEGA!
I mean, no one really says "a Shadow game." He has only two games! lol
Oh, boy, let me introduce you to a whole franchise: Zelda games
@@DesignDoc This, oh my goodness, THIS! I'm glad to not be alone in thinking this! Where are our two super cool introverts, SEGA?