My Top 5 Indie Games of 2024!

Hello again, fellow Aliens! And Happy Holidays to those that celebrate! I thought it could be fun to do something different here at the end of the year and instead of bringing gaming news and chatting about differing perspectives on this and that – I would share some of my personal highlights this year, but only those deemed “Indie"!

Yes, I played Wukong, Helldivers 2, ER: SotET, the Ghost of Tsushima PC port, finally finished Hogwarts Legacy (because my family and I dressed up as Ravenclaw Wizards for Halloween! - #clawsup), and a lot of others that the masses also enjoyed. But I want to shoutout the solo devs, the underdogs, the hidden gems that get dropped and shake up the gaming industry! Continuously showing us that these massive AAA studios are simply doing it wrong. Indie Devs are the lifeblood of our ecosystem and we must support them! 

So, these five indie games below, in no particular order, are ones that I personally had a great time with at one point or another this year! I picked titles that I genuinely can recall the experience because I was falling out of my chair laughing so hard while playing with my buddies!  

Hop aboard my space ship and let’s take a look!  

Fast Food Simulator 
 

Oh boy, Fast Food Simulator! There are tons of simulators on the market these days for pretty much any “job” in the world but Fast Food Sim brings a different sense to the simulator world. It somewhat feels like a first-person Overcooked where you really have to work with your friends to have a cohesive and efficient working kitchen.  

There are multiple stations to attend during “Open Hours” from burger flipping, making fries, putting drinks together, and lets not forget the daily prep! My friends and I switched up stations after each night, so we all had a chance to be the burger maker, the front counter attendant, the drive-thru person, etc., and created systems for ourselves that, in the end, all worked together. It was a TON of fun and I laughed my buttons off more times than I can remember – probably because we totally RP’d the whole time, like the NPCs could hear us. If you and some friends are looking for a new game on a Friday night, I highly recommend this one! 

Chained Together 

Rage game fans unite! If you haven’t played it, or saw one of your favorite streamers play it, we had a fantastic rage game this year with Chained Together. Similar to other rage games like Getting Over It, the objective is simple, make it to the top without falling. What makes this one unique compared to others is the multiplayer aspect and that you are literally chained together with your co-op partners – who would have thought!?  

You can play up to 4-players total and choose between a line chain or a “square?” chain where you have to move as a UNIT. Coordination and communication are absolute key with your fellow players as you ascend from the depths of Hell and try to make it to the top. There’s a hard mode where if you fall, you fall and start from the point of which you land. Or a casual mode where you can make it to checkpoints along the way and restart from there if you end up falling. Another great choice, with a low price point, for a spontaneous Friday night game night with friends! 

LOCKDOWN Protocol 

An absolute treasure! LOCKDOWN Protocol or as I call it, “New-Age Among Us”, was so much fun to play this year. Honestly a refreshing take on the social deduction genre that has cute and UwU characters, stressfully fun objectives to complete, and fantastic ways to absolutely wreck friendships (at least for the night). This gem was created by Mirage Creative Labs, a studio founded by 3 siblings that took the jump into game development and made a self-published hit!  

As far as gameplay goes in this one, you have 2 baddies known as Dissidents, who know that each other are the baddies working together to thwart the workers before they can complete the tasks needed for the round. Pretty simple. You can find multiple weapons like a knife, gun, and even C4 (which can be a recipe for hilarious interactions – but don’t forget to also find the C4 Detonator), to bring down the unsuspecting workers. And as a worker, there are multiple tasks to complete during a round like transferring computer files to certain parts of the map, replacing batteries, and my personal favorite, making pizza! Definitely worth a look if you and your friends are looking to try something new!  

Content Warning 

Where do I begin with this one? I suppose first, I know that I can’t actually be a video content creator! I am way too cringe in front of a camera. But Content Warning is another absolute treat if you have not played it yet – though, know that the game is technically a horror game so if you spook easily, it might not be your cup of tea!  

You and a group of friends have a camera and literally have to pretend to be content creators as you venture down into a scary building finding and filming interactions with different monsters! You gain points for intros, outros, funny quibs, filming a friend getting ripped away by this giant worm looking thing, and upload it all to “SpookTube” to become famous! It was fun to take turns being the camera man to see who has what it takes to get the most views! An absolutely hilarious time and definitely worth an evening or two’s time! 

Liar’s Bar 

Last, but certainly not least, on this list, I have to give a shoutout to Liar’s Bar! Definitely a bit more on the risqué side of things because of obvious Russian Roulette style RNG, Liar’s Bar brings a really fun take on what I would also consider social deduction. Shoutout my fellow 90s babies who played BS with cards growing up around a bench at a campsite, because that is what this is! 

Along with 3 other players, you have to try and weasel your way through saying how many queens you lay down, or how many 6’s you have with your dice. If the next person at the table calls you out, let the truth be known – are you a liar or are you not?! One of you has to take the RNG to the face and afterwards, there are either 4 players still there, or 3 players remaining, ending with the last player standing (or sitting) to win! 

The charm that Liar’s Bar brings to the table is honestly the movement of the characters and the in-game chatting around the table where the model’s mouths actually move. It is a recipe for some of the funniest interactions chatting and moving your characters head around that makes for an absolutely hilarious time – you gotta trust me on this one! Another one to add to the list if you haven’t tried it yet!
 

So, there you have it! My personal top 5 indie games of 2024. No shocker that I am a big fan of multiplayer games that I can play with family and friends and even make new friends with some of these titles! There are a TON of games that are released on Steam month-to-month and there’s no way I can play them all, or even list all the games that I did play this year - I would need another thousand words to make an honorable mentions list. 

In any case, I would love to see what is on each and everyone of your lists from 2024! What Indie games did you play that stood out this year, did you play any on my list? Any gems that you think other need to experience?! Let us know in the comments!