I didn’t play many videogames this year. Not sure why; not for a paucity of options, nor even opportunity. But they generally didn’t seem as essential as usual and when I’ve tried to sit down with so many of them I’ve struggled to apply enough attention and energy.

Some transcended this sad state of affairs, though, and the following are my favourites from the year, in no particular order. I’m actually pretty happy with the range of genres and styles, heh.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

I’m not entirely comfortable with naming a game that came out mere days ago as a game of the year, but here we are. The Great Circle is confident in its adaptation of a cinematic treasure; clever in paring down stealth and firstperson action to the most fun essentials; generous in allowing freedom to explore and discover; expressive in the sense that there are many ways to approach most situations and it’s rarely punitive when you try things out; focused in always giving clear purpose and reward.

And it has cutscenes I want to watch because the characters are so well written and performed. Best Indiana Jones since Last Crusade? Yeah.

Dune Imperium

I got the boardgame last Christmas and love the way its deck-building plus worker placement conjures very fluid and flavourful Dune skulduggery, with secrets and intrigue liable to scupper any plan at any time, even in the last moments of a game. The digital version is very solid and pretty to look at, and I’ve been happily playing it with remote friends all year.

Tactical Breach Wizards

Very funny, because its lead developer, Tom, is very funny. Very clever, because its lead developer, Tom, is very clever. Turn-based tactics of the puzzle-solving kind, where with creativity and experimentation you can beat scenarios which initially look impossible and in doing so feel as clever as Tom is.

Then there’s the twisty-turny story and snappy dialogue, and the character designs and art… Tom and artist John are friends, but don’t let that get in the way of understanding that this is a stone-cold Good Game.

Balatro

This game burned bright, consuming me for a few weeks. I loved its wildness: the way a game can evolve in unexpected ways. For game after compulsive game, it exploded my understanding of what was possible and permissible, but once I started to learn more about how it worked, and thus about how to play well, my delight died back to an ember. Given just how compulsive I found it, it was probably for the best.

UFO 50

A self-contained collection of 50 individual and fully-formed games, made by the creators of Spelunky, Downwell and more, wrapped in the confection of them being made for a fictional 1980s console. What a wonder.

I haven’t tried many yet, because I’m playing along with Eggplant: The Secret Life of Games’ year in which they play a different UFO 50 game each week. But even in the first 10 or so, there’s so much variety and so much freshness. Inspiring.

Arco

Hopefully this smart realtime-with-pause turn-based tactics action-RPG gets more attention, because it deserves to. Great writing tells a story of revenge set in a mythic Mesoamerica, and it features nail-biting fights in which you desperately dodge gunfire and dynamite blasts and snatch bow-shots to take out all comers.

Indika

A short adventure about self-determination, faith and sin, seated in Eastern European Christian culture, dressed with surreality and sharply bleak Slavic humour, and set against a fantastically monumental backdrop of early 20th century industrialisation in deepest winter.

Intensely weird, too: I still haven’t unwrapped how it also invokes pixel games, a jolting discrepancy from the Unreal-Engine-reality of the rest of the world.

Thank Goodness You’re Here

A truly good comedy game, ridiculous, scurrilous, joyous, and stupid, and also very about the place its makers are from: small-town Yorkshire. I love how it always manages to give a payoff and a punchline to every interaction, and there are a lot of interactions.

Playlist

I do solemnly here make a heart-felt but tenuous commitment to play more of these 2024 games in 2025.

• Caves of Qud: Now it’s hit 1.0, it’s time to properly play this sweeping Rogue-like RPG.
• STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl: A sweep of the Zone’s bugs means it’s maybe ready to play in.
• Metaphor: Refantazio: A couple of hours in, I really like its feel. I just need a few tens of hours to devote to it.
• 1000xResist: Good people really rate this adventure game.
• Astro Bot: I loved the previous Astro Bot games, so should probably play this one, which tops a lotta GOTYs.