8,694 indie games were released on Steam in 2024. A significant increase from 2023’s 6,102 indie games. Crafting any kind of objective best of list, as such, is a fool’s errand. What we can do is highlight 10 games that really stood out among that massive pack. There are terrific AAA games too. You know what they are and have heard of them. But what represents 2024? Which 10 games really show the present moment of the industry and all it has to offer? In a time of deep layoffs spelling a precarious future for big budget, we can instead focus on what’s good and sustainable for the industry. On with the show!

Animal Well

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who want cutting edge graphics and those who want cutting edge aesthetic art styles. Animal Well is a marvel. The fuzzy CRT scanlined dreamscape is unlike any other videogame world. The way organic matter is transplanted into this blown-out pixelated space is gorgeous — the vines, the astonishing water effects, the ghostly apparitions — it all contributes to a signature and singular feeling. The best time to play Animal Well was at release when everyone was discovering what it contained. The second best time is wherever you are right now. Animal Well is Metroidvania adjacent but uses concepts like that more as an avenue for expanding its map and moveset naturally than as a structural definitive. A charming, fantastic game.

Balatro

Moreish as games come, Balatro is built on compulsion. A hyper-modified variant on Poker, Balatro takes only the winning hands from Poker and then diverts in every other way mechanically. The feedback loop is pure dopamine. Balatro is well-oiled programming magic. The fantastic trick behind it is that there is no barrier of entry. You know playing cards? You have enough context to win, at first. The second fantastic trick is that there is no ceiling. Balatro is 2024’s most elegantly accessible and future-proof game.

Crow Country

You know, I have real mixed feelings about Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 Remake. A great remake enhances what’s already there and elevates what works. Bloober made a new game, which is pretty good, but isn’t Silent Hill 2. Crow Country, though, is more authentically akin to the Surival Horror of the 1990s and I love it to pieces. Every little bit of Crow Country was a retro-infused delight. The terrific visual concept keeps things squared-off and simple for SFB Games who understand why the old horror games were so good and have made one that sits right in their company quite proudly. Holistically, Crow Country is just such a wonderful homage that is also self-contained and worthy by its own merits.

I Am Your Beast

Again, again, and again. I Am Your Beast is a moreish flow-state shooter with arcade principles. Clear the level and accomplish the objectives. Now do it faster. Faster. Faster. The mechanical loop is fantastic, ultraviolent, and super fun to engage with. The game flows with vibrant color use, making targets clearly identifiable. The game is soaking in style, aesthetically bold and mechanically rich at the Reptilian level that ignites that pleasure center of your brain. A murder simulator, this military group are killing the birds and have to die. You’ll find out more as you go, as the game stylishly narrates in-action and between levels. Think Neon White but if it were cool and not embarrassingly anime.

Loco Motive

There’s always space on such a list for a great new Classic Adventure game. That’s what Loco Motive is, a stylishly pixelated and well-interfaced throwback to Adventure games of old that throws in a fun crime caper on a train. Sometimes the most clean and direct ideas are the most enjoyable concepts. Loco Motive is a great diversion and especially will be interesting to genre advocates.

Mechabellum

A Chess-like auto-battler with ever-emerging depth. The more you play the more nuance you may realize Mechabellum has. And it has a ton. You choose a Faction power, place your units, then decide the upgrade paths between battles, and in a war of attrition, one side will eventually overwhelm the other. Feels like prime invention for the strategy and autobattler sphere and is just so perfectly compelling. The longterm upside is huge here — you’re very much getting back exactly what you put into Mechabellum, and as deceptively simple as it seems, it doles out depth around every turn. A game that gets better the more you play it until you know just how fantastic it is.

Mouthwashing

Game of the Year. Mouthwashing is a narratively inventive Adventure Horror game with bold characters, a non-linear story, and a lot of pieces for the player to put back together. It also has great economy: it’s a short game but feels heavy and profound. The style is Dreamcast-era polygonal and the overall feeling is of sinking ever deeper into the muck of a crew who are truly lost in space. It’s such a thrilling ride because every time Mouthwashing arrives at the point, it reinvents itself narratively, and reshuffles the deck. Just a joyous creation that honors its own sense of horror and builds something incredibly deep and thoughtful out of efficient building blocks. Phenomenal.

Thank Goodness You’re Here

An irreverent, constantly funny “slapformer” where you’re just this little guy who goes around slapping things and it’s hilarious and everyone has a laugh. You explore the cute and very comically British town of Barnsworth, so full of life and its denizens so gorgeously hand-animated, that it punches, or even slaps, way above its weight. It’s so rare for a game to be consistently funny but Thank Goodness You’re Here is a wonderful excuse for laughter that also happens to be a videogame. Brilliant little design that stands on the shoulders of its great animation and sense of humor.

Thronefall

About as refined as minimalist tower defense games go, Thronefall combines the base-building flavor with the action of Vampire Survivors (the influx of 2,000 more new indie games this year is surely all Vampire Survivors clones). The upgrade progression system is so nicely rooted in the risk-reward of the game. You choose upgrades or defense or the economy, and each wave will be instructive for what you need to do next. It’s also just really nicely rendered in its isometric, easy on the eyes retro style. It’s good that it’s easy to take in, cause a marathon session is the right way to play. What a terrific and compulsive tower defense outing.

UFO 50

By sheer quantity, UFO 50 could make the list. It’s 50 games. Not microgames or little diversions. Fully realized thoughts about what old videogames were like. A completely playable and diverse catalogue that showcases the iteration of a fictional videogame company by brilliantly expanding mechanics, aesthetics, and themes game by game until it reaches this bulky collection of 50 fully conceived little experiences. A wondrous value proposition where every player is going to find what they love from strategy experiments to fully cooked JRPGs. Amazing that this exists as a singular product.

Extra Credits

Super Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake

We’ve entered a real renaissance era for remakes. Our old games are being preserved and wonderfully so. Vancouver, Washington based studio Nightdive have made remakes their bread and butter. This year alone they’ve released seven remasters and remakes, most notably the now-definitive versions of Doom & Doom II and the near-miss turned fully-realized game in The Thing Remastered. Likewise, Digital Eclipse has fashioned two very good museum-worthy collections that merge documentaries and videogames, with Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story & Tetris Forever. Speaking of definitive versions, Square Enix and ARTDINK created the gorgeously aesthetic Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and Capcom rescued some left-behind classics with the authoritative versions in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. Not only are games being taken seriously as products worthy of preservation but the general quality of those remasters and remakes has gone way up. One of the best games you can play released this year is the fine-tuned remake Nintendo’s 20 year old GameCube masterpiece Super Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Developers are beginning to crack open the games that need help, are hard to find, and are otherwise lost to time and it’s good for everyone. We are feasting.