Mary Kish is the Director of Community Marketing & Production at Twitch and one third of the Fire Escape podcast with Dan Ryckert and Mike Mahardy. You may also remember her as the world's #1 Downwell player during her time at Gamespot.
10. Neva
The most gorgeous visual style I just can’t get enough of. Every second of Neva could be printed out and hung on a wall of a college art students dorm room wall. In most games winter looks like a desolate sea of white and grey, but the colors in Neva shine through every season, every biome. Also a fan of the developers previous game, Gris, I was delighted to see that Neva put a lot more energy into puzzle design this time around. Platforming puzzles, also known as my personal crack, are something I have always gravitated to in game design, and Neva hits the mark. The puzzles are sometimes hidden, and you don’t have to complete them all. If you do get through them, you’re usually rewarded with a small plant and tone that kind of feels like a pat on the head. It's rewarding to find them and complete them. But, the true value is in the relationship between the main character Alba and their wolf companion Neva. Neva starts smol and insecure, but over the course of the game grows strong and supports you in combat. It's a joy to watch the characters grow together, bond, go through hardship and ultimately look to each other in their darkest moments. It's a simple but sweet journey that I recommend to everyone.
9. Thank Goodness You’re Here
This game was made by perverts for perverts. It’s a wild ride that knew the type of game it wanted to be and never really deviated from that. You’re a lil weirdo, and you go around bopping things in the game and then you get reactions to your bops. The writing is cheeky, the animations are stressful, the story is nonsensical, and yet it all plays out in some kind of fever dream you wanna talk about afterwards. It's extremely difficult to land humor in a video game consistently. Hell, how many video games do we have that fall within the humor category at all? This is up there with the greats, the Grim Fandangos, the Portals, The Stanley Parables. This game was made to make you laugh, and I bet it does. At the very least you’ll be uncomfortable.
8. Core Keeper
This is the group project game of the season. One of you can be the fighter, taking on big monsters and keeping everyone safe. One of you can be the engineer, making machines to break rocks for precious minerals you’ll make armor with. One of you can be the cook that converts the veggies you grew in your garden and milk from the cows you raised into delicious soups that give your squad fighting and defensive perks. One of you can be useless and just ride the coattails of the rest of the team to success town. Everybody wins!
I played this on the reg this year with various friends that wanted to dungeon crawl and fight big ol monsters together. Kinda Minecraft, kinda Terraria, kinda Valheim, this game is all about digging for materials, building a base, and killin anything that gets in your way. But I love that you build stats from where you spend your time. If you're constantly digging, your digging improves, if you're always fishing, your fishing improves. Put your time where you want.
I played this with my co-workers for a day just to bond and we loved it. Working together to discover the space, build a base was super fun, and I learned a lot about which team members liked to boss others around to kill the first big monster. When that giant blob fell, we all cheered and looked for the next monster to slay. What a game.
7. Crow Country
A love letter to Silent Hill and a bit of Resident Evil, Crow Country is one of the most perfect classic horror games I’ve played in recent years. You play as a lady with purple hair and a missing person to find. They embark on an adventure to Crow Country, an outdated and dilapidated amusement park where something has gone awry. The story is deeper than you might think, and much like the games it's inspired by, it reveals the darker aspects of humanity and makes you question everything. Walking around an abandoned amusement park is on its own pretty freaky, but it's the various monsters that will really test you. Don’t be afraid! Unlike a lot of survival horror games, this game doesn’t let you completely run out of ammo. But you do have to save at specific spaces, which will keep you on your toes if you haven’t saved in a while.
I was able to give my Steam Deck to my niece during a family trip this year, and she poured the whole weekend into this game, asking me for advice, solving crimes, and kicking some major butt. I was so proud, but I was also impressed that this game lends itself to 13 year olds with an interest in the macabre and grotesque. A niece after my own heart, watching her pour bullets into creepy crawly monsters secured this game into my memory and forever in my heart.
6. Silent Hill 2
Raise your hand if you like torturing yourself! I see you. I am you. Since playing Silent Hill 2 original several years ago with bestie and game dev Nina Freeman, I consider myself a fan. This remake is a genuine love letter to the original, they just knew where to put updates and when to leave it alone. For example, the sound design team went off on this one. Sound effects are insanely terrifying, adding sighs and screams to the audio never lets the player feel safe. There are moments of tension at all times, even when you just completed a puzzle and should be finally calm. Not here! But they didn’t mess with the good good. They kept the awkward dialog of Maria and James Sunderland’s inability to make eye contact. Crucial. The story is intentionally obtuse, letting the player slowly question their own sanity as they watch a character eat melted strawberry ice cream with their bare hands. Its meant to fuck with you.
The remake also allows for a bit more violence, giving the player a more ammo and health items and putting you in more spaces where you just gotta shoot some nurses. Everyone has their own favorite enemy that they love to hate, for many it's the big guy, Pyramid Head, or others, it's those creepy crawlie guys that wriggle underneath the cars. For me, it's the double legs. I hate those legs so damn much, always hiding in a corner, jumping out, showing off their 20 toes. I hate them so much. Anyway it's one of the best games of the year.
5. Animal Well
This game truly broke me this year. As I traveled back and forth in an endless maze of puzzles I could not figure out, only to learn I had an item that could have solved them the whole time. THE WHOLE TIME. This game truly does not give a shit about how I feel. Confused? Don’t care. Lost? Not my problem. Dying to horrible beast monsters? Tough butts. Much like the jungle I’m struggling through, the environment of this game says get good or die trying. There’s no tutorial, no overview, no dialogue at all besides the occasional dog bark. It's cruel and unforgiving, and a game I would never give to a fresh gamer looking to try out their first Metroidvania. But….for the seasoned gamer, this has something I really crave. The ability to discover. The genuine ‘ah ha!’ moments will shock you.
The developer seems like he wanted to craft a world that made you curious. The items you get can be used in a multitude of ways, from distracting dogs to pulling levers to fast travel, items are just meant to be played with until you find a fun new use for them. I felt like a kid playing this again. A genuine curiosity of what I’m supposed to do next, followed by the joy of learning the design of a puzzle space that confused me just a few hours ago. I love games that bring out that inner child, and I think this is a special experience that I hope for more gamers to have.
4. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Prince of Persia came to me at a time where I needed to sink my teeth into a metroidvania, and it ticked all the boxes. The protag is fast and his upgrades are super fun in combat. The parry in particular is so sick, and you even get a unique animation if you do it just right, which feels awesome, especially when you’re in a boss fight.
I’m a big fan of platforming puzzles, and this game basically revolves around them. Especially as to add to your arsenal of movement options, Prince of Persia lets you slide effortlessly around giant spiked pillars and spiked pits and other spiked items that wanna spike you. Dip diving and dodging away, you’ll enjoy solving these physical spaces, and usually get rewarded with a simple way to get through next time, due to their fantastic level design.
I also just wanna say that this was a huge breath of fresh air from Ubisoft, which is predominantly known for open world games that you have to pour hours into. This game is pathed with a nice gameplay length, the story doesn’t overstay its welcome, and when the credits rolled I felt like I had a truly good experience from beginning to end. I don’t always need the most intricate story to feel fulfilled by a game. I’m looking for crisp controls, a nice way to remember where the hell I was when I couldn’t get up that triple jump space, and a time manipulation upgrade that broke my brain (in a good way).
3. Astro Bot
Shake your ass, show me what you’re working with. I believe Mystikal’s hit Shake Ya Ass was likely referring to Astro Bot. There’s no proof and the timeline doesn’t add up, but that robot can swing his thang around, there’s no doubt. The silly playfulness of Astro Bot is woven throughout the entire game, from character reactions when you save your robot buddies to the death animations to the faces of the bosses when you finally defeat them. This game is silly. It has an incredible sense of self. It's expertly constructed and technologically impressive, but that doesn’t stop the designers from having fun any moment they can. When you come across a picture area where theres a hole in a board you stick your characters head through and a bunch of yellow ducks get in on the fun. Or when you use the controllers Dual Sense to shake the ‘saved’ bots inside your controller and zoom in on their cute lil faces. Or when you see the robot ferrets, omg they’re so stinkin cute. ALL the animals are cute, its like a friggin zoo in this game. Astro Bot oozes its personality in every aspect of the game, cute, adorable, stupid fun.
2. Balatro
I remember the moment I learned I was gonna beat this game with two pair. How strong I felt, how smart, how lucky. You need a lot of things to actually beat Balatro, although a bit of dumb luck doesn’t hurt. After a few rounds you’ll start to piece together how to build your deck based on the jokers you draw. When to go for a money based run or when to delete ¾ of your deck so you are guaranteed a flush. One of the things I think Balatro does so well is push you to try new builds, because you never know what kind of final boss you may get. A boss that only lets you play one hand, or doesn’t let odd cards count can wreck your whole night. So staying frosty and moving with the punches is my best advice. Never get too comfy, but always go for the multiplier. Those sweet sweet multipliers are what will truly take your numbers to the next level.
On a personal note, I always give my father a game for his birthday, because he bought me my first computer and playing games together is a time honored tradition we share. He also likes to go to Vegas to play video poker. You can see where this is going. My father has 1,424 hrs of Bloons on record, so he's a gamer. He’s already put over 500 hours into Balatro, and I believe over time this will pass his beloved Bloons. It would be his Game of the Year. He loves how every play through is challenging, but if he thinks his strategy through, and gets a few good jokers, he revels in victory. It's awesome to be able to give my father a game that truly speaks to his needs and reflects him in a way. Stressful, stubborn, impossible, and just, the best.
1. Helldivers II
What can I say, I’m a patriot. Helldivers has invaded my life a second time, as I played the original Helldivers back in 2016. Back then, I was playing with a core group of buds I would often play Rocket League with. That game was all about team work, and we bonded off of the times we came back from the brink of defeat, or watched our team slowly get overwhelmed and be defeated. All those memories came flowing back with the new and improved Helldivers 2.
I'm here to do two things. Hang out with my fellow Helldivers, and kill bugs. And I'm all outta bugs. Just kidding there’s like a million of those fuckers. The bugs got crazy numbers, and I got a lot of guns and upgrades to take those bad bois down. My favorite gun is the Breaker Incendiary, which has a really fun kick back as my main weapon. But the true juice is in the Stratagems, which you unlock through gameplay and release through a series of button presses on the d-pad. Picking the right Stratagems for your current situation is essential, like the Orbital Laser for the big mama jamma bugs, or the Rocket Launcher to take out big ships. You gotta get the arrows just right, which is difficult to do when you’re stressed out! You can use them defensively as you’re running backwards from the horde, or to stay alive just along enough for your ship to come pick you up as you cling to an inch of your life. There hasn’t been a game that has put me on the bring of death so often like this, I constantly feel like I'm in a movie. Screaming while jet-packing over hoards of bugs and shooting into the masses to pick up my fallen brethren. It's so sick, and it's crafted in a way that allows us to have these timeless moments again and again and again. FOR DEMOCRACY.