the best games i played in 2024: runner ups
2024's runner ups! Here's all the games I played in 2024 that left a lasting impression on me but didn't fit in the top ten.
Sylvie RPG: 7 Elf Apocalypse
Another Sylvie banger. Chock-full of secrets and clever one-off ideas, a game that’s playful with its player. You can play it here!
Dragon Quest II (GBC)
It’s really cool how this game builds on its predecessor, but it drops the tight scope in favor of a sprawl that feels more exhausting than exciting.
Planet Laika
Dog person sci-fi RPG where every character has a psychedelic mommy issue meltdown in the first twenty minutes. Great stuff.
Pseudoregalia
Put some damn pants on!! Movement playground game that’s a lot of fun to zip around in.
Dicey Dungeons
Terry Cavanagh doesn’t miss. Every idea in this feels like it could be its own game, and there's dozens of them.
Dark Seed
Kind of unplayable but man... there are some moments.
Rampart
My favorite game at my local arcade. Uniquely frantic game about using a big trackball to make a castle out of tetriminos, then pounding the shit out of your opponent’s with a bunch of cannons. Guaranteed good time with three friends.
Void Stranger
Calling it now - this game will be on 2025’s best of, probably near the top. A bold game.
School Days
Made me feel like I was going insane. Sort of nauseating. Unforgettable. Worth trying to play for fifteen minutes.
Robotron 2084
I can’t believe how FAST this game is!! Inspiring.
Germs: Nerawareta Machi
A strange game… you spend a lot of it trudging glacially through bleak, paranoid landscapes, nightmares in molasses. Early on you get roped into a terrorist plot by your weird friend and every person you kill has a bio saying how much they loved curry or whatever. I see the vision...
Magical Drop III
A versus puzzler that ditches the big-brain plays of Puyo Puyo for a scrappier lightning skirmish. Fun as fuck!!
...Iru!
Kind of a wine and cheese pairing with Germs as another first-person weirdo PS1 game that's mostly walking around. But whereas Germs is set in a surprisingly sprawling city, ...Iru! takes place in like, two hallways. Made me scream in delight a couple times.
That's it for the runner-ups! Tomorrow comes the real treat... the guest lists!