For the first time in our history, TWO incredible games have been selected as Game of the Year
What a year it’s been! There were ups and downs, there were curveballs, there were fastballs, there were other analogies — but the games. THOSE GAMES! They were incredible. If you watched our videos over the last few days, you can see how varied our individual favorites were from the past 12 months. Huge RPGs and small, short stories. Psychological horror and playful joy. It was all there.
But we had to choose. And it was difficult. It was so difficult, in fact, that we could not make a decisions. It’s true! We deliberated and deliberated and deliberated, and realized that of the final two games we’d be happy and fine with either one winning, but also wouldn’t be fine with either one *not* winning. That somehow made the process even more challenging, but led us to the obvious conclusion: Why choose just one?
And so, we didn’t. We chose both!
SideQuesting’s 2024 Games of the Year are:
BALATRO & 1000xRESIST
BALATRO
LocalThunk’s Balatro kicked off the year with a surprise, providing a simple idea with tons of depth. Mashing solitaire with a roguelike and poker, it is endlessly replayable and enjoyable, becoming our newest “go to” game whenever we need a break or want to lose hours and hours of productivity. It’s elegantly designed, with classically-inspired visuals and interfaces that work across button and touch. Within days it inspired a shift in how we play many rogue-likes, expanding the genre to a massive new audience. And it’s available on everything, so there’s no way to avoid it.
1000xRESIST
Sunset Visitor’s 1000xRESIST is a true work of art. The game is more of an exhibition, telling a story that weaves through time and space, touching on issues that span from intrapersonal to interpersonal to humanity-wide. It challenges our notions of self, of our place in society, of our legacy. Through small school squabbles it layers in xenophobia, and through earth-shattering moments it dabbles with love and friendship. It is phenomenal, to say the least. Told through the story of a clone in a dystopian future, it soon becomes one of the most engaging stories of our modern times. Yes, it’s THAT good.
Congratulations to these two incredible works!
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