VGChartz's Evan Norris: "With the AAA gaming space become more and more risk averse, the indie scene has become increasingly valuable, if only due to its eagerness to experiment. In 2024, there were plenty of interesting experiments, so many in fact that it was difficult for the voters to narrow it down to just five. They include Animal Well, a neon-soaked Metroidvania with secrets galore; Balatro, one of those come-out-of-nowhere indie darlings that captures everyone's attention; Little Kitty, Big City, a darling adventure with rewarding exploration and quirky characters; Nine Sols, a tough-as-nails side-scrolling Sekiro-esque action-platformer; and, finally, World of Goo 2, a worthy sequel to the beloved 2008 physics-based puzzler."
TNS: The game industry loves solo dev success stories, but the reality rarely mentions teams of artists, testers, and musicians.
Localthunk: "The honest reason I don't have microtransactions/season pass/ads/100 DLCs/etc in Balatro isn't just about the ethics of those practices but because when I play other games that have those things it makes me want to put my computer in the dishwasher and set it to pots & pans."
Little Kitty, Big City is a charming experience that is fun to play through as a cat, its just too short for its own good.
Physical of Nine Sols please.