Huh, I played more 2024 releases this year than I thought. There’s only three I really want to talk about, starting from the bottom:
3. Balatro
I’m perhaps inevitably comparing this to Hades. Balatro doesn’t quite nail the fail-rewards that Hades does, but it does a good job, and it does nail the most important thing, which is making that first successful run make you want to succeed more. It doesn’t help/hurt that I’m already a big fan of poker. I’m far from completing it since I don’t feel strongly about full-clearing every stake or getting every Joker, but it’s nice to pick up and play now and again.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
I wrote about this one on my blog. In short, playing it reminded me of playing OOT randomizers and because the artistic direction of the game is modeled after a very linear game (Link’s Awakening, though it hides it well), it can make the player feel like they’re “breaking” the game or not doing things “the intended way” by just…walking on top of trees or letting a Spark move you toward a new location, to name a few things I did regularly.
1. Nine Sols
Just a fantastic package of gameplay and narrative. I’m gonna copy-paste something from the review I wrote for it. It’s a more direct comparison to Hollow Knight, but despite the two games sharing certain aspects…even if I would maybe put Hollow Knight over Nine Sols in “which do I like,” I would definitely put Nine Sols over in “which is better.”
not big spoilers, just HK and NS comparison
I am hesitant to compare this game to similar ones in the genre, as it’s so easy to fall into traps of calling something a “whatever”-like, but I think it’s apt to contrast Nine Sols with another action platformer, Hollow Knight, because I think there will likely be comparisons drawn. The key difference here is that Yi is not simply dropped into this world and forced to uncover its history. Yi is, literally, uncovering his own history, his own actions, and the bosses you encounter are actors within that world as well, in a way that the Knight, effectively a vessel only for the player, is not (for the most part). Characters, enemies, and environment are so tightly intertwined with the narrative here and feel alive–or, at the very least, attempting to survive. Hallownest is dead, but New Kunlun is asleep.
I am 100% going to buy this game again on Switch. Probably twice, if a physical release comes around. I am no stranger to buying indie games 3+ times.