It’s been another year where my gaming tastes fell out of sync with the critical consensus. While sprawling RPGs like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Black Myth: Wukong dominate end of year lists, their lengths don’t align with my lifestyle. Instead, my gaming focused on quirky indie titles with unique narratives and puzzle elements, alongside evergreen simulators perfect for pairing with a podcast. More so than past years, no individual game I list here has universal appeal, but for those passionate about the respective genre, they are well worth your time.
Balatro is the most addictive, ingenious variation on poker I’ve ever played. The gameplay is rock solid, with rounds short enough to complete in a single sitting. Deck and joker variations ensure a fun unpredictability across play sessions. The retro lo-fi aesthetic, jazzy looping song, and sound design (particularly the escalating pings as multipliers stack up) all punch well above the weight necessary for such a straightforward game.
A blend of dungeon crawling and Persona-style social sim could be a recipe for disaster, but Austrian studio Microbird Games make the unique combination charming and fun to play. Minor quality of life issues — repetitive dungeon battles, performance hitches — mar the experience, but are forgivable given the game’s indie roots. Memorable supporting characters provide equipment and stat upgrades that unlock a flexible, open ended approach to dungeon combat. I loved the game’s narrative, which emphasizes self care through nature and friends as an escape from type A hustle culture. It’s a refreshing, distinctly European storyline that feels a world away from the rote revenge storylines that typify modern RPGs.
Asobo Studios built a more evolutionary than revolutionary upgrade to the already stellar Microsoft Flight Simulator from four years ago. But the new additions — streamlined UI and menus, more detailed low level ground terrain, faster load times, new planes — make for a more gratifying, polished experience. The showcase addition is the new career mode, providing the biggest gameplay shakeup in the venerable series in over a decade. I no longer have to lean on Free Flight mode to make up hypothetical scenarios; MSFS 2024 auto generates fun encounters — from airline flights, to private VIP charters, to emergency rescue — all over the world. Progression to unlock new flight licenses, scenarios, and new planes is slow but fun.
Admittedly, it’s an amazing package, marred to date by bugs and server problems. A reliance on cloud streaming for ground data has led to some nasty pop-in, alongside broken AI-generated career missions and weird control issues. But I’m confident over time Asobo will work out these kinks.
A worthy sequel to one of the most distinctive mystery puzzlers I’ve played, The Rise of the Golden Idol delivers on its satisfying detective gameplay as you unravel scenarios of theft, murder, and intrigue. The primary tableau is a crime scene’s aftermath frozen in time; you gather evidence to deduce what happened by dragging and dropping keywords against various puzzle boards.
It’s not a flawless experience, and overall I prefer the original Case of the Golden Idol’s 18th century setting and more linear case work. Several of the puzzles in Rise are overly challenging and convoluted, which forced me to guess my way through the answer with brute force methods. Thankfully those rough patches are a rarity. Most puzzles provide just enough resistance to make you feel reasonably smart upon completion, without requiring an inordinate amount of time to complete (individual scenarios rarely take more than an hour.)
Hellblade II is a polarizing experience, a brutal, medieval set walking simulator with AAA polish. For many, the game’s unremarkable gameplay mechanics and linear progress overshadow any technical achievements. But so many moments in this game — the immersion, sound design, facial capture — are transportive and cinematic in a way I’ve never experienced before. One noteworthy moment had me traverse an injured Senua through a rain-blasted encampment, building to an epic sword battle. The mixture of audio and visual design was simply off the charts, creating a vivid memory still lodged in my head many months later.
Hellblade II also benefits from near perfect pacing and a wide variety of settings and biomes. The net effect makes the experience feel like a few epic movies stitched back-to-back, without overstaying its welcome.