Top Picks – Our 10 Favourite Indie Games from 2024!

“I want to take all our best moments, put them in a jar, and take them out like cookies and savor each one of them forever.” – Crystal Woods

Introduction

This year has been another great one for indie games and we’ve had the privilege of reviewing some truly great titles. Here are Indie Hive’s ten favourite games compiled into a top picks 2024 list, complete with mini reviews! There are so many more games that we reviewed this year that we could have easily included in this list but it would have been a very long article!

Rachael’s Top Picks 2024

Thank Goodness You’re Here

Thank Goodness You’re Here is a brilliant game that offers fun cartoon visuals, a nostalgic and evocative soundtrack, top-tier voice acting, well-written dialogue, and non-stop laughs. It has little to no difficulty and maintains a laid-back, casual feel throughout, prioritising humour and narrative above challenge, which is in no way to its detriment.

It was fun to see a couple of easter eggs, and nostalgic nods to the developers’ first game The Good Time Garden. This new title maintains the same level of surreal nature and rude comedy but has a much broader scope in terms of narrative, characters, and playable environment. Coal Supper are establishing themselves as absurd auteurs and their titles are instantly recognisable as their own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and can see it appealing to a wide range of players. It took around 3.5 hours to complete, is highly amusing and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a few hours’ worth of interactive comedy.

Full review available HERE.

Still Wakes the Deep

Still Wakes the Deep is a truly phenomenal experience. It offers polished, bug-free gaming that will take around six hours to complete. The aesthetics are outstanding with realistic imagery and animations, a beautifully emotive soundtrack, immersive scenery, and fantastic voice acting that brings each character to life and creates a real emotional investment in each of them. The gameplay is engaging, varied, and thoroughly entertaining and the horror elements are delivered flawlessly seamlessly tying into the narrative.

The sense of fear and anticipation that the gameplay, narrative, and styling instil in the player is impressive, especially as it does not rely on tired tropes or clichés but rather a subtle and original combination of techniques. This is easily one of my favourite games of 2024 so far and it offers all of the sincerity and passion one might expect from an experience crafted by The Chinese Room. Fans of multiple genres will easily enjoy this game and it was an easy choice to include this in my top picks 2024.

Full review available HERE.

Caravan SandWitch

Caravan SandWitch is a wonderfully gripping adventure game that effectively omits any pressure-inducing factors to create a relaxing experience that is enjoyable and satisfying. The gameplay is varied and fun, mixing driving, platforming, exploration, and adventure in a casual way. The sci-fi narrative is intriguing and delivered at an effective pace, keeping the player engaged and interested.

Aesthetically, the game has originality, mixing vibrant characters and elements with some more subdued scenery components such as storage crates and abandoned sites. The soundtrack is mesmerising and a real stand-out feature of the game, emphasising the more emotive moments and generally connecting the player to the experience as a whole.

Caravan SandWitch will take around 6-9 hours to complete, depending on how thorough the player is, and offers a great experience for its price. It offers something unique with its accessible and casual gameplay and has something to offer a variety of player types. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game and I’d happily recommend it to anyone looking for an immersive narrative adventure.

Full review available HERE.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions has a lot to offer, and truly deserves its place in this top picks 2024 list. It provides useful and practical productivity and wellbeing tools as well as fun customisations, XP, and spirit collection to add a sense of fun and progress. The art style is delightfully stylised, providing a serene setting for the player’s activity and the customisable sound design is a stand-out feature of the experience. The game does exactly what it sets out to and does so in a beautifully original way allowing the player to relax and enjoy themselves whilst simultaneously concentrating on personal objectives and tasks. Overall, it is a fantastic game and I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique tool to help them focus and achieve goals but at the same time have a bit of fun!

Full review available HERE.

Prim

PRIM is an excellent example of a point-and-click game, making the most out of the genre’s usual features and executing them with a unique flair. The aesthetics are suitably stylised and quite original, the assorted puzzles are highly engaging and satisfying, and the narrative is comprehensive, boasting both humorous and emotional moments, often combined to wonderful effect. The game will take anywhere from 7 – 11 hours to complete depending on how thoroughly the locations and characters are explored and how many achievements are earned. PRIM’s price tag is more than fair for the quality and duration of the game and I had a lot of fun playing, as such I would happily recommend it to fans of the point-and-click or puzzle genres, or simply anyone looking for a casually creepy narrative experience.

Full review available HERE.

Cozy Caravan

A very jolly inclusion to our top picks 2024 list! Cozy Caravan is a joy to play, with laid-back gameplay, wholesome themes, a delightful narrative, and adorable characters. Despite being in early access, there is a good amount of content so far and consistent and regular updates are always being added. The game is entirely family-friendly and will be enjoyable for a range of player types and age groups. The devs have created a game world that is delightful and adorable in all its facets, ensuring a charming and relaxing experience that is very engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and would recommend it to fans of wholesome games without hesitation.

Full review available HERE.

Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop)

Kind Words 2 is a wonderful experience that goes beyond the realms of what a typical game can offer. It provides a safe and wholesome world in which players can seek reassurance and tips for dealing with various types of problems, share positivity and immerse themselves in a cute, casual community setting. The interactions are, for the most part, incredibly uplifting and often quite emotive. There is a certain comfort to be obtained by knowing other people experience similar problems and a sense of well-being and kindness in offering a response to those in need.

This second iteration of the game has expanded the experience in thoughtful and engaging ways that stay true to the original and do not detract from its intentions or cheapen the experience. Every new element is relevant and appropriate and only serves to make Kind Words 2 more rounded and enjoyable. The more gamified parts, such as sticker collecting and customisations, do not overshadow the main purpose of the game and simply add a light-hearted and fun aspect to what is already a charming and beautiful experience. I would highly recommend this game to everyone, I can’t imagine anyone who would not benefit from some time positively interacting with wonderful people around the world in such a safe and nurturing digital environment!

Full review available HERE.

Tamaster’s Top Picks 2024

Colony Ship

Released in late 2023 Colony Ship is a bit of a cheeky inclusion in our top picks 2024 list. This excellent old-school CRPG doesn’t cut corners and doesn’t compromise in favour of accessibility. The journey to the promised land through the limitless fathoms of space is brutal and unforgiving, but also incredibly satisfying and rich in depth for those who dare brave it. You’ll die, a lot, and may reach a point of unfixable failure as a consequence of unwise choices — as it should be.

Full review available HERE.

Kvark

Clearly inspired by Half-Life, this dystopic, post-apocalyptic FPS set in a fictional Slavic country delivers an original setting and interesting gameplay variety, although even on the hardest settings, veterans of the genre will be left wanting for more challenge. It’s not perfect, but it’s a solid Indie entry in the ever-blooming resurgence of “boomer shooters” and the like.

Full review available HERE.

Zero Sievert

This single-player extraction shooter takes its main inspiration from the far more famous and complex Escape from Tarkov, widely regarded as one of the most hardcore and punishing games out there. This little cousin of his is not to be trifled with either, as Zero Sievert delivers a complex, satisfying and realistic experience aimed at a hardcore player base. Don’t be fooled by its simplistic 2D graphics: behind the pastel cover of this book there is much more than it seems

Full review available HERE.

Summary

An eclectic mix of games made it into our top picks 2024 list, from a host of different developers and spanning a range of genres. They were all an absolute joy to play but it was a tricky task to choose just ten from all the great games we’ve had the opportunity to review this year.

Thank you to all the developers and publishers who have worked with us in 2024, but also a huge thank you to everyone who reads our reviews and motivates us to keep writing. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Want to know what our top picks have been in previous years? Check out these lists:
2023 – 2022 – 2021 – 2020 – 2019