2024 Games I missed
And the Nintendo Switch 2's long-awaited announcement!
Thursday: I woke up, saw the Nintendo Switch 2 trailer, wrestled with gremlins as I tried to file a short audio element on the announcement, went to the doctor’s, came home, and finally, successfully, got the audio up. You can hear the fruits of those labors by hitting the play button at this link — it’s my answer to the interviewer’s final question.
Despite having a few days off work, I’ve finished fewer games than I’d hoped to because my recent foot surgery utterly sapped my energy. Instead I’ve been catching up on passive media: YouTube video essays, TV like A Man on the Inside, and anime like Mob Pyscho 100, Zom 100 (no relation), Chainsaw Man and Dandadan. The latter two shows boast the most stylish openings I’ve ever seen, by the way.
I’ve still dented my 2024 gaming backlog, though, from the delectable Mouthwashing to the intriguing Still Wakes the Deep, which again proves that developer Chinese Room has a tight grasp on naturalistic writing and a loose grip on pacing and gameplay. I wrote about a few more 2024 games I missed for WBUR.org:
Arctic Eggs
Super Mario Party has an excruciating minigame where you jiggle the controller to evenly brown each side of a cube of meat. Arctic Eggs nestles that mechanic, which some freaks actually enjoy, in a lo-fi world of cryptic and wry dialogue. You’re this frozen compound’s resident egg sizzler — and you’ll have to satisfy some truly weird tastes.
You’ll use your pan and its invisible heat source to flip pizzas, fry stingrays, melt ice, burn cigarettes, explode bullets and more. Drop anything from your pan and you’ll have to restart. Challenges range from simple to maddening. It took me dozens of attempts to cook six perfect eggs at once — a nightmare even on the game’s easiest mode. But I’ll admit that these frustrations make Arctic Eggs more memorable. The game commits to an audacious bit that makes just as much sense as its mystifying setting and the arcane “Saint of Six Stomachs” who rules it.
Hellcard
The card-slinging Slay the Spire spawned numerous imitators, a (reportedly great) board game, and an upcoming early-access sequel, but Hellcard distinguishes itself with modular co-op. Each of up to three players pilot a deck and make independent decisions about which enemies to face and which rewards to swipe. But you’ll still feel like you’re working together as you stack buffs and carefully plot turns.
Hellcard lacks the intriguing story of Cobalt Core and the polish of Wildfrost, nor are its mechanics as deep as either Spire-esque roguelike. But though I nearly exhausted the game’s novelty in 10 hours, Hellcard dealt my wife, my bro-in-law, and me some of the snappiest team gameplay we’ve ever experienced.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
I was indifferent to this latest Indiana Jones spin-off until I realized that the geniuses behind the new Wolfenstein titles had made it. Like those first-person games, The Great Circle pits you against Nazis, but you’re more likely to dispatch them with stealthy tricks and improvised weapons than guns. Satisfying as it is to bludgeon fascists with broomsticks, cookware, or anything else handy, it’s the game’s vast, layered level design that really shines.
Only occasionally burdened by opaque puzzles, the game’s locales, from Vatican City to Gizeh, overflow with unique notes, mysteries, sidequests, banter and books. Complete with a stellar voice cast (including the iconic Troy Baker in the title role), few games have combined cinematic spectacle, pulpy action, and open exploration as seamlessly as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Misericorde Volume Two: White Wool & Snow
I love The Name of the Rose and murder mysteries set in monasteries. Surprisingly, that premise also describes two stand-out video games with radically diverging approaches to historical accuracy. Pentiment attempts to preserve much of 1500s Bavaria's art and attitudes, while Misericorde, which came out with a second volume at the very end of last year, is far more interested in character psychology than its medieval setting.
Volume Two also goes full frontal with the game’s queer subtext. Protagonist Hedwig begins to encounter a “doppelganger” that tempts her to increasingly riotous behavior with her fellow nuns. Just as the dark conspiracies and psycho-sexual plots start to boil over, the game also introduces a second timeline, set in the 1980s, that raises more questions than it answers and even once busts the fourth wall like the mind-bending FMV game Immortality.
Solo-developer xeecee will have a devil of a time knitting these loose threads together in the upcoming Volume Three, but if you’re looking for something that really puts the “novel” in “visual novel,” the salacious secrets and punk-edged aesthetic of Misericorde may tickle your particular fancy.
Ten Bells
Sharing a name with a pub made famous by the Jack the Ripper killings, Ten Bells is short, sweet and sinister. Your job is to investigate anomalies at the Victorian bar — if nothing’s amiss, proceed to the private room in the back. Soon you’ll find discrepancies ranging from innocuous (the wallpaper’s the wrong color) to perplexing (spigots facing the wrong way) to downright terrifying (the sudden appearance of pools of blood). Each time you discover an anomaly, you’ll need to sprint back to the start of the level, or you may just lose your life.
Over each run, you’ll slowly unlock more documents and artifacts that explain the pub’s dire history. Ham-fisted writing and a maudlin secret ending notwithstanding, the game brilliantly executes its core mechanic. At only a few dollars, Ten Bells is well worth the cover charge.
With all these additional games under my belt, I’ll propose a final, adjusted top 20 for 2024:
Honorable Mentions: Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Wildermyth: The Omenroad, Jackbox Survey Scramble, Hellcard, Misericorde Volume Two: White Wool & Snow
20 - Ten Bells
19 - Dragon Age: The Veilguard
18 - Unicorn Overlord
17 - The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
16 - Minishoot’ Adventures
15 - Mouthwashing
14 - Home Safety Hotline
13 - Neva
12 - Cryptmaster
11 - Silent Hill 2
10 - Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
9 - Thank Goodness You’re Here!
8 - Mars After Midnight
7 - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
6 - Another Crab’s Treasure
5 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
4 - Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
3 - Astro Bot
2 - 1000xResist
1 - Metaphor: ReFantazio
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