Willa's top 10 games of 2024
10. Misericorde Volume Two: White Wool & Snow
The sequel to one of my favorite games of 2023 takes up an honorary tenth spot on the list because it came out literally two days before 2024 ended. I’m six hours in at time of writing and Volume Two continues to deliver the impeccable dialogue and character work of the original.
9. NieR Re[in]carnation’s finale
Leave it to Yoko Taro and the rest of the Re[in]carnation team to turn the shutdown of a gacha game into a poignant meditation on art and preservation. Gone but never forgotten.
Further reading: my Start Menu eulogy
8. Between Horizons
A point-and-click murder mystery on a generation ship that is essentially an interactive version of the short-live Syfy series Ascension. What more could I want?
Further reading: Buried Treasure’s review
7. Unicorn Overlord
Vanillaware’s signature style mixed with one of the most complex and engrossing strategy systems in recent memory. The best Atlus RPG released in 2024 about gathering allies in your campaign to become the ruler of a fantasy nation.
Further reading: my review
6. Indika
The only game in 2024 with a dedicated praying button. Fantastic use of interactivity and gamified reward systems as commentary on the inherent house of cards that is organized religion.
Further reading: my impressions
5. Mouthwashing
Sometimes feeling like shit after playing a game is the point! An exceptionally composed experience about sexual violence and the rot of capitalism.
Further reading: my impressions, my blurb for Into The Spine
4. Times & Galaxy
Me before getting laid off this year: Haha this is a fun game that parodies the life of a journalist and some of the larger issues facing the media today.
Me after getting laid off this year: Damn... this hits too close to home. Still funny as hell though.
Further reading: my review
3. Dragon’s Dogma 2
The rare AAA game that dares to ask, “What if AAA games were good actually?”
Further reading: my long-winded analysis of the game’s approach to travel
2. Lorelei & The Laser Eyes
A fantastic puzzle box in both narrative and mechanics that blends both splendidly in order to make sure you pay attention to what the hell is actually going on.
Further reading: my review
1. 1000xRESIST
One of the privileges video games have, as a younger artistic medium, is the ability to rip off everything that has come before it. Too often, however, this means games emulate cinematic spectacles in a misguided attempt at becoming a more “serious” piece of art. That is not a problem for Sunset Visitor’s 1000xRESIST, which smartly pulls from dance, theater, literature, anime, other games, and yes even film to form something original that is more than the sum of its parts. It’s only apt for a story that itself is so concerned with copies, imitations, and the struggle to become something singular.
1000xRESIST is a game that at once feels so specific in its message while also speaking to a universal human experience. The story of Iris, of Watcher, of Youngest, of Blue, is one about generational trauma but also one of diaspora politics, revolution, pandemics, fascism, and identity. It’ll even make you ask some questions about the inherent eroticism of falling in love with your own clone. There is so much doubling over, so much recursive storytelling, that what may feel like too many disparate parts begin to fold into a looping cautionary tale about the ways in which everything is connected. It’s overwhelming because life is overwhelming.
When you reach that end you might find yourself as I did: sobbing, tired, and irreparably changed by what I witnessed. 1000xRESIST stands as a reminder that the indie space will always be home to the best games out there by a wide margin; games that will unveil new aspects of what the medium is capable of. You better pay attention to it.