The Prompt
Anecdotally, I’ve seen a lot of people jaded with modern gaming. I understand why. If you only see the games that have the most marketing, which are the ones you’re most likely to see for obvious reasons, then you’re primarily seeing the likes of AAA games with second-job-esque battle pass FOMO tactics, loot box gambling, pay to win, and constant reminders that you’re missing out on the full experience of the game like coming across fan favorite characters in the DLC of an already-expensive Star Wars game. The plural of “anecdote” is not “data”, but it could be this fatigue with the games that the average person is aware of that has led to a drop in spending and the crash that the industry is currently facing (but let’s not sugar coat it; there are surely other factors, too). I sympathize with these people, but respectfully, there’s a whole wide world out there of great games that never ask for a dime after it’s in your possession, so let’s call out those games and spread the word.
The Rules
- One game per top level comment, with the game name behind a “#” symbol so that it forms a heading, and platforms it’s available on in parentheses. Leave a brief synopsis with no spoilers and a brief critique. I’ll be starting us off with a number of examples. Upvote the ones you agree with, and leave a comment on the top level one for discussion.
- The game should have no paid DLC, no announced paid DLC, and feel like a complete product as it stands right now. I actually don’t mind the most common types of DLC, like what you would find in the Paradox model, but I know there’s a large enough contingent of folks who really do mind, so any DLC whatsoever is a deal-breaker for this thread. I’m making an exception for soundtrack and artbook DLC since, as far as I know, the existence of this stuff doesn’t bother anyone and just allows for avenues for certain artists to get a better cut for their work from super fans. I’m not making an exception for cosmetic DLC like you’d find in V Rising, as innocuous as I personally find it to be.
- The game’s first release must have been in 2024. By this, I mean that if it came out on PS5 two years ago but launched on PC this year, it doesn’t count, so no God of War: Ragnarok. No collections of old games like Marvel vs. Capcom.
- No early access games, except for games that were in early access and hit v1.0 this year. So no Palworld, but Satisfactory is on the table if you’d like to recommend it. I personally didn’t care for it, but if you did, feel free to list it!
- Only games you’ve played thoroughly enough to be sure you’d recommend it. If you only started playing the early chapters or levels, maybe let someone else recommend it, just in case the quality nosedives later on. I’m personally only recommending games I’ve finished or beaten, though that definition admittedly becomes challenging with the likes of UFO 50.
Dread Delusion (Steam)
This a first person RPG in the style of the PS1 with Elder Scrolls influences worn on its sleeves. This isn’t so much about the RPG parts of the game as it is about the exploration aspect, which isn’t usually my jam, but it worked really well for me here. Despite having tons more draw distance than 5th gen consoles, it is of a similar scope and scale of games of that era, with a lot of the positives from back then that I tend to forget about. A lot of people complain about yellow paint in modern games, and this is the antithesis of that: everything worth exploring is visible from miles away, and there’s a lot of it, with no fluff to make it visually confusing.
Shadows of Doubt
An alternate universe corpo city filled with generated crimes to solve. You get a case board, scan for fingerprints/footprints, talk to witnesses, look up sales records, check out cctv cameras among loads of other stuff. All of it is happening live in the city - everyone has schedules, an apartment, a workplace, an inventory, an email account, a blood type, a shoe size… - so that murder/kidnapping/robbery literally happened in the game while you were crawling through vents looking for an envelope with sensitive documents that someone asked you to steal. Just yesterday I got to a crime scene super quickly and caught a murderer leaving the scene of the crime with the murder weapon on their person. There are deus ex style body augmentations too.
One of my favourite cases was a woman who got murdered. I had the husband pegged for it but couldn’t pin it on him. His fingerprints were all over the place and he was on the cctv but they lived together so that wasn’t really evidence. The case went cold. A couple of days later the HUSBAND is murdered and I’m stumped. Just go looking for anything related to the guy and hope I stumble across something useful by accident. So eventually I break into the husband’s boss’ apartment and find a bouquet of flowers with a note for the boss from the husband. It turns out the husband is having a secret gay affair with his boss. The boss kills the wife so he can be with the husband. Husband doesn’t want to be with a murderer I guess so the boss kills him too!
It’s occasionally a little buggy still. I was supposed to follow someone, take a photo of a briefcase handoff, follow the recipient and get the briefcase back and have done this type of case before. Yesterday though the handoff never happened and I waited with the original owner for a few in game hours. My guess is the recipient is dead or was someone I knocked out earlier while I was solving another case and I messed up their schedule.
The Thaumaturge (Steam, GOG, Epic)
I’ve played the Witcher games before, but this RPG is the most Polish game I’ve ever played, in a very good way. The RPG systems are fairly light, and the progression system is very atypical, but probably the best way to describe this is a narrative adventure game like Life is Strange but with a turn based combat system along the lines of what I understand Child of Light to be, where each action takes a certain amount of time, and it displays that order at the top. The combat is fun, and the RPG systems and branching paths offer some replayability, but I think the real star of the show here is that the story is just so different than basically any other game I can think of. It takes place in 1905 Warsaw, where national boundaries are constantly redrawn around an expanding Russian empire, what that means for the citizens and their politics, and how the superstitions of their day play into that.
Indika (Steam, GOG, Epic, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Indika is, at its core, a story-driven game about a woman and her troubled relationship with her religion. There are some light puzzles to be found here, but it is primarily about using interactivity in new ways to tell a story, and I think for those reasons, it’s very worth seeing. In the opening moments, it clearly conveys that it’s got some ideas. On top of that, it’s a looker. It’s using most of the benefit that Unreal Engine 5 offers, and someone on the development team really understands cinematic framing, at times resulting in some of the best real-time images my PC has ever rendered.
Peglin (Steam, iOS, Android, Switch)
Just released 1.0 a month ago. Simple enough gameplay loop. Throw orbs at pegs on board to fight enemies. Go down different paths on a map until you reach the boss fight at the bottom, upgrading and getting new orbs and relics along the way to help. Repeat 2 more times and you win. Has 20 levels of increasing difficulty after beating your first run, but locked behind standard progression.
Dungoens and Degenerate Gamblers (Steam)
Released beginning of last month. Play Blackjack against opponents, but you each have a life bar. Score higher than opponent to deal damage equal to the difference in your scores to them. Various non-playing cards and other nonsensical cards will appear as playable cards. Things like a get well soon card, SD card, a flat out 21 card, a birthday card, and many more can be found. Go until you either lose all your health or beat the final boss on one of two different routes to be taken.
Selaco (Steam)
It’s technically still in early access, but damn I haven’t had that much fun with a boomer-shooter in a while. The level design is top-notch, the music slaps, and the AI is actually good at cornering you.
They’re working on the next two chapters, which you’ll get when they come out at no additional cost. Also, the OST is on Bandcamp.
UFO 50 (Steam)
It’s a collection of 50 games, not mini games, from a fictional game developer called UFO Soft in the 1980s. Not every game is a winner, but a ton of them are. You see the advancement in technology and design techniques over the course of the 1980s, and there’s a bit of back story for each game that you can start to put together a throughline for the company and its fictional developers. About half of the games also have local multiplayer. I’d prefer that they also had manuals for each game, especially the more complicated ones, but that means that my favorites in this collection are the simpler games that speak for themselves more quickly.
Animal Well (Steam, PS5, Switch)
This is a puzzle-driven metroidvania with a simple retro-inspired aesthetic that aims to teach you how to interact with it wordlessly, and it usually succeeds at it. I’m honestly not sure how to fill out the rest of this blurb without ruining the intended experience, but while I wasn’t this game’s biggest fan and wasn’t interested in digging into its secrets post-credits, I did enjoy my time with it.
ZERO SIEVERT (Steam)
I’m bending rule 4, because the official 1.0 release is announced for less than 1 month from now.
ZERO Sievert is a tense top-down extraction shooter that challenges you to scavenge a procedurally-generated wasteland, loot gear, and explore what’s left of a devastated world. When the odds are stacked against you, you’ll need to do more than just survive.
I’ve played through it a 2nd time recently, it’s a fun solo experience, the difficulty is largely customizable, the different zones feel unique, lots to explore, even just a little morality testing on some quests. Decent enemy variety, the guns generally feel different, and different ammo types do matter. Skill will take you far, and carelessness, even in the easy areas, will be punished.
Astro Bot (PS5)
Since my personal GOTY is already taken (Animal Well), let’s just add a lot of peoples’ here — it’s also my second favorite game of the year.
Do you like 3D platforming? Why not try the best platformer since Mario Odyssey‽ Help save your friend bots with a dozen or so hours of the purest platforming fun in…a long time, honestly. People have really hyped this game, and they really aren’t wrong. It’s pure fun the entire time. Everything is beautiful and interesting. No notes, really. Good job Team Asobi.
Easily the best game I’ve played all year 💙
Balatro (Steam, iOS, Android, Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One/X/S)
A deck-builder card game where you make poker hands, but Jokers and other cards give you crazy power-ups. I probably didn’t explain that very well, but it’s absurdly addictive. It’s like the perfect Steam Deck game.
