As 2024 drew itself to a close, an inevitable smorgasbord of top ten of the year lists will have flooded your preferred social media channels, video platforms, and websites to give you their rundown of the year's gaming treats… and here I’m going to be doing the exact same thing.
My list is going to be compiled of the usual “new to me” games that I first discovered this year. To be honest, this was a difficult one to rank. I played some really great games this year with at least 18 fighting for a top ten place. In fact, I’ll probably be rethinking this list until I finally press the send button and it’s out of my hands. One thing I will say is that my number one actually surprised me, but I’ll get into that when I talk about it.
Even though this is a top ten, it was genuinely difficult to rank these (apart from my number one for the year), so while these are numbered 10 - 1, I really consider these to be “in no particular order” because on any given day these games could rise and fall in the list.
So, without further ado, here are some honourable mentions.
All of these were hovering around the top ten at one point or another, and maybe in a different year with different games or maybe just more plays, then they would have made this list. But they're all worth checking out if you're interested in them.
10. Skyteam
I love when a game lives up to the hype, and this one had quite the buzz around it, though hopefully not the buzz of a broken engine. From the first play, it offered the sort of tension that I’d never experienced before while looking into the eyes of another man and deciding which plastic cube I’m going to place down. There’s that underlying feeling of trepidation as you slowly move your dice to a spot and hope beyond all hope that it’s the right decision and your whole game doesn’t come unstuck because of it. It’s also at that point that you're thankful you’re not actually in control of a plane. In a year of “Duel” iterations of games, this one stands out to prove that you don’t need an already popular IP to make a fun two-player game.
Sometimes you just see a game and hear a basic premise, and you're immediately in. So when I saw Feed the Kraken and it was essentially pitched as Secret Hitler but with pirates and cultists and more, it went straight onto my wish list. If you've played the former and the theme (justifiably) isn't for you, then Feed the Kraken not only takes that simple and fun core mechanism but also adds to it and elevates it into a much better game. The fun twist of there being only one cult leader who can potentially recruit more to their cause as the game progresses, the idea that one player could lose their tongue and not speak for the rest of the game, and just the look of the game (I really want to own this so I can paint that boat) make this one of my new favourite party/deduction games.
There's something about when a game has a ‘limited number of turns’ as a selling point that almost puts me off. However, if you couple that with combotastic turns, you almost instantly pull me back in. I love a game where you look at the rules, then your board, and all the while think, there’s no way I’m going to get any of these things completed. Then, before you know it, those satisfying combos kick in, and you're getting so much stuff done, but you still can't do everything. That’s exactly what The White Castle does, and for that, I love it.
I try not to buy into hype in games; too much expectation could lead to much harder disappointment. Plus, after I’d moved on from my copy of 7 Wonders Duel, I wondered if the changes in this would make enough of a difference to rope me back in. Skepticism abounded, and despite the rave reviews, much like Bilbo did with Gollum, I stayed my hand on it. That is, until I played a mate's copy and immediately went and got hold of a copy (that was annoyingly put away as a Christmas present). I like 7WD, but the changes made here just made it feel less fiddly and more tense. The area control board gives the game a more epic presence, the ring track is a fun thematic component, and the simplification of the resource exchange along with the theme just make this a mainstay on the shelf for me.
After being excited for a new edition of Fury of Dracula and then, after a while, selling it, I began to wonder if a hidden movement, one vs. many game would ever end up on my shelf again. That is, until Sniper Elite snuck up on me. It’s everything I want in one of these games; it’s incredibly tense, doesn't take up an entire evening, and whether you're the many or the one, every one of your turns and decisions means something and will have an immediate impact on the game. You don't need to know or have played the video game to get the full experience from Sniper Elite; you just need to know how to be very, very quiet.
5. Faraway
It’s small with great artwork and looks pretty unassuming. That is until you play it, and the scoring melts your brain, but in the best way possible. I’ve said everything in my review, but if you're looking for a small box with a big puzzle inside, then Faraway should be your new go-to game.
Yes, another stealth game. It certainly seems like 2024 was the year for sneaking. While Sniper Elite pits you against your fellow players, SAS Rogue Regiment has you cooperating to sneak through enemy lines and complete your missions before you set off too many alarms and have a full army after you. Whereas Sniper Elite is very contained, SAS Rogue Regiment lets you run around and play in your very own sandbox, allowing you to choose how to complete your missions and even build your own.
With so many fun and beautifully produced puzzle games in their catalogue, it should feel odd that a book is the standout for me, but the puzzles are so good, varied, and immersive that it was literally a page-turner that I reluctantly had to force myself to put down only because boring things like sleep and work were getting in the way. I can’t wait for the time when I’ve forgotten enough of the solutions that I can go for another run through.
2. Anachrony
A game about time travel is always going to get my attention, and knowing that this was a well-loved game within the hobby didn't hurt it either. It justified that reputation by being a solid, tight worker placement game that gives you just enough space to get things done but also makes the race for every space really nerve-wracking. It takes the idea of time travel and adds just enough to make it fun without being convoluted enough that you need Basil Exposition to tell you not to worry about it. I’m not going to delve too far into it here, as you can check out my full review here
1.The Gang
Told you it was a surprise. I was first introduced to the Gang at a games day hosted by Jim himself, and we got through a load of games that day (including Sky Team), but this one was our last play of the night, and man oh man did this one stick with me. So much so that I picked it up a mere few days later. This is basically cooperative poker crossed with the Mind.
In it, you'll be playing hands of poker while trying to indicate to your fellow players how good or bad your hand is by using numbered poker chips. So why this over behemoths like Anachrony or the White Castle? Especially when you consider that this may not make my top ten of all time, where the others could well be up there. They've got the potential to be evergreens in my eyes. But The Gang, even in my short time with it, is the game I've played the most. We've had a great laugh with it, and it's the one game over all the others that I’ve consistently always thrown in my game bag to take to game nights because it's the one I’ve been excited to play, and it's one I can easily teach even when I’m tired and not wanting to teach a big game.
It's also the game that I want to show to non-gamer family and friends because it's more universally accessible to them, plus any excuse to play games with different groups of people is a great one in my eyes.
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