I love reading these lists especially from NPR because I think they always pick games that the general public missed. Wanderstop is one of my favorite games this year, I really wish it got more...
I love reading these lists especially from NPR because I think they always pick games that the general public missed.
Wanderstop is one of my favorite games this year, I really wish it got more recognition from other GOTY lists.
I played a couple of sessions of Sunderfolk with some friends and it's such a fun idea.
Drop Dutchy is really good!
I'm probably gonna have to try Diatoms and Molly House eventually.
You weren't kidding. That is a very comprehensive list! Lots of great games in there, and way more variety than you would see in typical GOTY lists. Good to see lots of smaller studios and...
You weren't kidding. That is a very comprehensive list!
Lots of great games in there, and way more variety than you would see in typical GOTY lists. Good to see lots of smaller studios and less-popular genres get recognition.
I'm very much within NPR's target demographic but I always find myself skeptical of their year-end game lists. Simply renaming it something other than "best" would probably go a long way to get me...
I'm very much within NPR's target demographic but I always find myself skeptical of their year-end game lists. Simply renaming it something other than "best" would probably go a long way to get me onboard, but it's also kinda hard to take an 80-odd long list seriously... where's the cutoff point? I know it's about trying to cater to everyone across platforms, genres, and whatnot, but a list that long surely comes with a compromise on quality. Having said that, they usually show some deserved love to indie titles that flew under the radar, so it's nice to see them get some recognition. I haven't paid as much attention to gaming releases this past year as I used to, but I am surprised (and pleased) to see Despelote listed - I'd have thought it much too niche to show up here.
I only know about a dozen of the other picks, most of which are big-name releases that have had the hype machine behind them pre-release. If I could have my own pick, though, it would be Road To Empress, a game totally outside my wheelhouse, yet I've been waiting for years for someone to get it into their head to make it! It's essentially a full-FMV visual novel/C-drama centered on Tang Dynasty court intrigue rather than strictly the typical romance polygons. IMO the trailers online don't really do it justice, as it has amazing production values, top-notch plot twists, and better translation than what's shown here. It's the kind of game I would have pointed to as the answer back when companies were first trying to figure out how they could diversify games and attract a console demographic beyond males aged 15-40: instead of simply reskinning male power fantasy games and risking backlash for wokebaiting, lean into the competitive social dynamics girls and women already engage in. The results speak for themselves! If you still decide you're not up for purchasing it, though, these highlights from Northernlion's playthrough make a fantastic substitute.
thank you for the recommendation for Road To Empress! I've been kinda afraid that I'm losing my Mandarin because I don't talk to anyone in Chinese anymore so this might be good practice for me lol.
thank you for the recommendation for Road To Empress! I've been kinda afraid that I'm losing my Mandarin because I don't talk to anyone in Chinese anymore so this might be good practice for me lol.
Being stuck addicted to music from the 90s, I find a longer list to be completely manageable. Granted, yeah that's from one year (and the last one, at that), but easily seeing that some games...
it's also kinda hard to take an 80-odd long list seriously...
Being stuck addicted to music from the 90s, I find a longer list to be completely manageable. Granted, yeah that's from one year (and the last one, at that), but easily seeing that some games aren't my thing while it puts others on my radar is great. At that number, I can be okay with the "misses"!
I'm also a music lover, but that's not really a fair comparison: The number of album releases is orders of magnitude larger than the number of games. The highest stat I can find for games is 18.5k...
I'm also a music lover, but that's not really a fair comparison:
Music is a much more mature medium than video games, with a much longer history and cultural significance, and with a lower technical barrier to entry. The range and diversity of releases to choose from would likely be greater than video games, ostensibly meaning a lot more stuff that is worthwhile.
They both have a massive range of genres though, and with games that difference is even more stark compared to other mediums since it directly impacts your consumption. You can look for themed...
They both have a massive range of genres though, and with games that difference is even more stark compared to other mediums since it directly impacts your consumption. You can look for themed lists ("best horror games", "best platformers", "best cozy games", etc.), but there are a lot of games that won't neatly fit into a specific label. And the more generic "Top 10/20" lists will typically just cover the biggest releases of the year, so they're not really helpful for discovering new games.
This list, by being so big and coming from a variety of people, manages to have something for everyone. All play styles, all genres, all platforms. There are games from more niche genres that wouldn't compete with the AAA releases, but are still beloved by their fanbases. Browsing it I kept seeing games that I hadn't heard of but sound really interesting based on the blurbs, like Sultan's Game and Skin Deep. I plan to re-read the list later and look up some of the games.
Quick heads up link to 2023 isn't working properly. That said, thanks for sharing! It's pretty interesting to see the evolution of the list. 2021 had only 20 games (I think, counted while...
Quick heads up link to 2023 isn't working properly. That said, thanks for sharing! It's pretty interesting to see the evolution of the list. 2021 had only 20 games (I think, counted while skimming), but 2022 had 60 games (and introduced tabletop games, though only had one), and 2023 had 97.
I'm personally glad they decided to avoid arbitrary after that first list. It makes this genuinely the most varied list, and gives them a lot more freedom to highlight games that just wouldn't come up otherwise.
I think these kinds of lists are way more interesting than a top 10 list because it's such a fuzzy metric to compare Dispatch to Silksong, I enjoyed both games for completely different reasons. I...
I think these kinds of lists are way more interesting than a top 10 list because it's such a fuzzy metric to compare Dispatch to Silksong, I enjoyed both games for completely different reasons.
I hope we'll get a "what's the best game you played this year" topic soon! (It's probably gonna be a @kfwyre topic and I'm here for it)
Thanks! It is a real dream house, I'd share it if I wasn't doxxing myself doing so. We've got a lovely patch of nature. We don't even have furniture to fill half of it though lol. But once we get...
Thanks! It is a real dream house, I'd share it if I wasn't doxxing myself doing so. We've got a lovely patch of nature.
We don't even have furniture to fill half of it though lol. But once we get a good shelf for the board games, it is gonna look awful bare...
But yeah it is great to see a list that has board games too, thanks for sharing!
Alternatively: buy hundreds of board games so you can stack the boxes to make furniture. Why buy a game shelf when you can make one out of board game boxes and wooden boards? :D
Alternatively: buy hundreds of board games so you can stack the boxes to make furniture. Why buy a game shelf when you can make one out of board game boxes and wooden boards? :D
Sultan's Game being on here is interesting; I have really conflicting feelings about that game. It was really intriguing and I kept wanting to play more to discover more, but a lot of the things...
Sultan's Game being on here is interesting; I have really conflicting feelings about that game. It was really intriguing and I kept wanting to play more to discover more, but a lot of the things you can do are immoral to the point of making me feel seriously uncomfortable playing it at all.
That's more or less the point of the narrative, I think - the Sultan is trying to force you to commit horrifying acts, and just carrying out said acts while you're trying to figure out your escape route is always the easiest path. So the challenge of the game really comes from the moral lines you refuse to cross, when you refuse to take the easy path. And the fact the game goes so far with what it tries to make you do is what makes that effective... but it also feels like the game itself crosses a line on certain topics.
Anyway, long ramble - I'm surprised to see it recommended in a list like this, although I think it's a good game. There are a lot of other games on this list I haven't heard of that look super interesting - thank you for sharing!
I think that's why it got recommended. I haven't played it or even heard of it before this article, but the concept seems like the type of game that makes people really introspective and examine...
I think that's why it got recommended. I haven't played it or even heard of it before this article, but the concept seems like the type of game that makes people really introspective and examine their morals. Not many forms of media, games or otherwise, can do that, but a game forcing you to choose only bad options as you struggle for an ultimately "good" ending? Yeah, that's going to leave a mark and may very well lead to some people having epiphanies about their own moral lines.
I love reading these lists especially from NPR because I think they always pick games that the general public missed.
Wanderstop is one of my favorite games this year, I really wish it got more recognition from other GOTY lists.
I played a couple of sessions of Sunderfolk with some friends and it's such a fun idea.
Drop Dutchy is really good!
I'm probably gonna have to try Diatoms and Molly House eventually.
You weren't kidding. That is a very comprehensive list!
Lots of great games in there, and way more variety than you would see in typical GOTY lists. Good to see lots of smaller studios and less-popular genres get recognition.
yeah, of all the lists i usually look at, this one is the most comprehensive Games list as a whole haha. I wish there were more board games in lists.
I'm very much within NPR's target demographic but I always find myself skeptical of their year-end game lists. Simply renaming it something other than "best" would probably go a long way to get me onboard, but it's also kinda hard to take an 80-odd long list seriously... where's the cutoff point? I know it's about trying to cater to everyone across platforms, genres, and whatnot, but a list that long surely comes with a compromise on quality. Having said that, they usually show some deserved love to indie titles that flew under the radar, so it's nice to see them get some recognition. I haven't paid as much attention to gaming releases this past year as I used to, but I am surprised (and pleased) to see Despelote listed - I'd have thought it much too niche to show up here.
I only know about a dozen of the other picks, most of which are big-name releases that have had the hype machine behind them pre-release. If I could have my own pick, though, it would be Road To Empress, a game totally outside my wheelhouse, yet I've been waiting for years for someone to get it into their head to make it! It's essentially a full-FMV visual novel/C-drama centered on Tang Dynasty court intrigue rather than strictly the typical romance polygons. IMO the trailers online don't really do it justice, as it has amazing production values, top-notch plot twists, and better translation than what's shown here. It's the kind of game I would have pointed to as the answer back when companies were first trying to figure out how they could diversify games and attract a console demographic beyond males aged 15-40: instead of simply reskinning male power fantasy games and risking backlash for wokebaiting, lean into the competitive social dynamics girls and women already engage in. The results speak for themselves! If you still decide you're not up for purchasing it, though, these highlights from Northernlion's playthrough make a fantastic substitute.
thank you for the recommendation for Road To Empress! I've been kinda afraid that I'm losing my Mandarin because I don't talk to anyone in Chinese anymore so this might be good practice for me lol.
Being stuck addicted to music from the 90s, I find a longer list to be completely manageable. Granted, yeah that's from one year (and the last one, at that), but easily seeing that some games aren't my thing while it puts others on my radar is great. At that number, I can be okay with the "misses"!
I'm also a music lover, but that's not really a fair comparison:
They both have a massive range of genres though, and with games that difference is even more stark compared to other mediums since it directly impacts your consumption. You can look for themed lists ("best horror games", "best platformers", "best cozy games", etc.), but there are a lot of games that won't neatly fit into a specific label. And the more generic "Top 10/20" lists will typically just cover the biggest releases of the year, so they're not really helpful for discovering new games.
This list, by being so big and coming from a variety of people, manages to have something for everyone. All play styles, all genres, all platforms. There are games from more niche genres that wouldn't compete with the AAA releases, but are still beloved by their fanbases. Browsing it I kept seeing games that I hadn't heard of but sound really interesting based on the blurbs, like Sultan's Game and Skin Deep. I plan to re-read the list later and look up some of the games.
Oh, it's nifty that The Drifter made the list! That's a pretty obscure (but very good) game made by a friend of my partner's.
oh nice!! small world haha i didn't add it to my wishlist initially because i'm not a point and click game fan but i just added it! did you play it?
In case anyone else wants to compare, here are their previous year-end lists:
Quick heads up link to 2023 isn't working properly. That said, thanks for sharing! It's pretty interesting to see the evolution of the list. 2021 had only 20 games (I think, counted while skimming), but 2022 had 60 games (and introduced tabletop games, though only had one), and 2023 had 97.
I'm personally glad they decided to avoid arbitrary after that first list. It makes this genuinely the most varied list, and gives them a lot more freedom to highlight games that just wouldn't come up otherwise.
I think these kinds of lists are way more interesting than a top 10 list because it's such a fuzzy metric to compare Dispatch to Silksong, I enjoyed both games for completely different reasons.
I hope we'll get a "what's the best game you played this year" topic soon! (It's probably gonna be a @kfwyre topic and I'm here for it)
I gotchu fam
You always do!! I gotta think about this now
Ahh, fixed it. Thanks!
I just bought a house, I can't afford a longer wishlist! And they have the gall to tempt me with tabletop games too.
Congrats on the new home! You need more tabletop games to utilize that new home just saying
Thanks! It is a real dream house, I'd share it if I wasn't doxxing myself doing so. We've got a lovely patch of nature.
We don't even have furniture to fill half of it though lol. But once we get a good shelf for the board games, it is gonna look awful bare...
But yeah it is great to see a list that has board games too, thanks for sharing!
Alternatively: buy hundreds of board games so you can stack the boxes to make furniture. Why buy a game shelf when you can make one out of board game boxes and wooden boards? :D
Sultan's Game being on here is interesting; I have really conflicting feelings about that game. It was really intriguing and I kept wanting to play more to discover more, but a lot of the things you can do are immoral to the point of making me feel seriously uncomfortable playing it at all.
That's more or less the point of the narrative, I think - the Sultan is trying to force you to commit horrifying acts, and just carrying out said acts while you're trying to figure out your escape route is always the easiest path. So the challenge of the game really comes from the moral lines you refuse to cross, when you refuse to take the easy path. And the fact the game goes so far with what it tries to make you do is what makes that effective... but it also feels like the game itself crosses a line on certain topics.
Anyway, long ramble - I'm surprised to see it recommended in a list like this, although I think it's a good game. There are a lot of other games on this list I haven't heard of that look super interesting - thank you for sharing!
I think that's why it got recommended. I haven't played it or even heard of it before this article, but the concept seems like the type of game that makes people really introspective and examine their morals. Not many forms of media, games or otherwise, can do that, but a game forcing you to choose only bad options as you struggle for an ultimately "good" ending? Yeah, that's going to leave a mark and may very well lead to some people having epiphanies about their own moral lines.
I have it on my list right now but i'm kinda afraid to play it, not gonna lie. I might have to try it when I'm more mentally stable haha.
Excellent list, the about 7 games I played from it were indeed good.