Indie Game Book Club '24: Year In Review
Another year, another banger year of IGBC
21 Dec 2024Another year, another Indie Game Book Club retrospective! If you’re unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, the short of it is that we’re a group who gets together to play a new game roughly once a month and then talk about it together. I thought it’d be good to look back on the year, talk about what we did differently and once again share my reviews for all the games we played.
How do you do an “Indie Game Book Club”?
I covered the concept and structure of Indie Game Book Club (IGBC) last year, so you can just read the post from back then.
Any format changes this year?
Yeah, a couple actually! We’ve moved back to online calls as our glorious founder Julian moved overseas. I don’t think it’s affected the quality of discussion or anything, although I do miss the in person chats because at least there’s no mic troubles or connection issues.
After the mixed results of RPG Month(s) last year, we decided to drop it this year. I think there’s still a way to make a longer game work in our format, I think we maybe just jumped in too deep with CrossCode. We did pick up a couple new themed months though - Indie Indie Game Month and Spooky Game Month! The former is all about playing a game with less than 500 reviews on Steam so we can shine a light on a less popular game. The latter is exactly what it sounds like, done during the Halloween season.
I talked about it last year, but this year we really moved on from the pre-written questions that we started with, I don’t even remember them being posted. I think more widely we’ve moved away from a set structure and now our sessions are purely conversational, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I wonder if it makes it easier for new people to join in since they don’t have to worry about coming up with questions or whatever and can just tag in when they’ve got something to say.
How indie were you this year?
Last year I wrote about how the definition of indie is a bit amorphous. I think it’s akin to the “indie movie”, which started off as describing genuinely independent movies made without larger studio backing but eventually became almost a genre descriptor instead.
IGBC’s definition of indie game has settled into something that is made by a smaller team without a big name publisher supporting or funding it. Well, that’s not like an agreed upon thing, it’s still more of a vibe check than anything else. Last year we played Journey, and Ori and the Blind Forest, and those were published by Sony and Microsoft.
So with all that in mind, how indie were we this year? Our most indie ever actually! A clear majority of our games were self published which is really cool to see. All the other publishers our games had were all first time ones for us too!. This wasn’t premeditated/the result of a focused effort to find self published games, so I wonder why this happened. Could be that as we’re getting further into IGBC, we’re broadening our horizons and we’re more comfortable with trying more niche games? Could also just be dumb luck to be honest.
As per last year, I’ll include the publisher (or lack thereof) with the games so you can be the judge of how indie we are.
Games we played plus my personal reviews
So now for the fun part, actually talking about the games we played! Same as last year: alongside the name of the game, I’ll include platform played on and year of release. I’ll make sure to highlight which were themed sessions as well!
Session 1 - Dredge
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2024 | Publisher: Team17
A very enjoyable fishing experience! The mechanics behind the fishing itself feels varied so that you don’t get bored and it’s hard to not want to fill out your Pokédex of fishies. The Lovecraftian elements help add to the vibes of the story, which unfortunately does stumble in the final act. 8.5/10
Session 2 - Shadows of Doubt
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 (Early Access) | Publisher: Fireshine Games
Review written before 1.0 release
It’s hard to give a score to this since it’s an early access game. The bones are here and it’s fun, but it’s also janky as fuck with some things just barely working. Will it get better? Who knows! Still, the emergent stories that come from gameplay like accidentally getting drunk in a suspect’s apartment and having to hide under their bed until they go to sleep so I can sneak out, is worth suffering through the jank for. 7.5/10
Session 3 - Indie Indie Game Month
As mentioned earlier, this is our first Indie Indie Game Month. At time of nomination, it had 117 reviews on Steam, which has now increased to 157! I like the premise of this month a lot, there’s always the thrill of being on something that majority of people aren’t aware of. It’s a lot of fun to go “crate digging” on Steam. I think we can probably do it twice a year due to how loose the theme is.
Videoverse
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 | Publisher: Self Published
A cute throwback that captures the bygone of early-mid 2000s forum culture. Really makes me miss AllThingsWeezer tbh. Some of the writing is a bit on the nose, the early chapters drag a little bit but nonetheless I found myself engaged with the core relationship between Emmett and Violet. 6.5/10
Session 4 - Balatro
Platform: PC, iOS | Release Year: 2024 | Publisher: Playstack
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before - this roguelike game is really fun and addictive at the start, especially as you’re unlocking new things and learning new strategies, but eventually falls victim to overplaying and a feeling of staleness. Balatro is a lot of fun but at the end of the day, it’s still a roguelike with all the same problems as the others.
That’s what I said when I first reviewed the game, but I gotta say, I’ve come back to it now that it’s on Apple Arcade and I’ve been back in harder than before. The ability to unlock everything from the start so I didn’t have to grind out certain jokers or stakes rocks, really helps with replayability. Playing on mobile also was the first time I tried the challenge runs which was a great way to push my understanding of the game. It’s still not my favourite roguelike but I’m fonder for it now than when I first played it. 8.5/10
Session 5 - Short Game Month ‘24
The return of the king, Short Game Month is back again! All of these games can be completed in less than 2 hours which allows for a lot of variety in what gets picked. In honour of the theme, I’ve decided to write short reviews for all of these games (as best as I can). They say brevity is the soul of wit and I’ll be damned if you call me witless.
The Exit 8
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 | Publisher: Self Published
A super solid and quick puzzle game. It really nails that unnerving feeling, creating a paranoia where you’re convinced something is wrong even when it’s not. 7/10
Dear Esther
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2017 (Landmark Edition) | Publisher: Secret Mode
I hated this so much. Words cannot describe how much I hate it. I could give the AM hate speech from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and it wouldn’t be harsh enough. I don’t mind walking simulators but this one was just so bad. This fails to use anything that video game medium provides, instead just has you walking around at a speed slower than a snail listening to what could be charitably described as the world’s worst podcast. There are some cool ideas but they’re so buried under metric tonnes of mediocrity that you can’t even be excited by them. At least the remake is pretty I guess. 2/10
Before Your Eyes
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2021 | Publisher: Skybound Games
Whenever it comes to story heavy games, I never know what to write as a review. I want you to play this game and I want you to experience it without any ideas of what it is or how the story goes. I just want you to know that I think this was absolutely great and a highlight of the year for me. 9.5/10
A Castle Full of Cats
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2022 | Publisher: Self Published
Short Game Month rules because what do you mean there’s a hidden object game that’s structured like a Metroidvania? There’s not a lot to this that I’d particularly go out of my way to recommend but I did enjoy the novelty of it all. 6.5/10
Psychopomp
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2024 | Publisher: Self Published
This evokes the very specific feeling of reading /x/ conspiracy posts by people who are clearly unwell. It made me feel uncomfortable while I played but in a way that I loved. 8/10
South Scrimshaw, Part One
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 | Publisher: Self Published
South Scrimshaw is a fictional documentary telling the story of an alien whale’s life, using a visual novel format to do so. It’s a complex game for me to review. On one hand, it’s bursting with creativity with immense thought put into the all the sci-fi world details and features some absolutely stunning handcrafted art of the alien whales.
On the other hand, it uses AI for the documentary voices. They’ve been generated using public domain recordings, which is as “ethical” as you’re probably going to get with this stuff but it still feels gross that something which could only be made with a human’s creativity has generative AI used. It really brings the whole game down for me, it’s such a bummer. 6/10
Dead Plate
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 | Publisher: Self Published
Dead Plate is really rough around the edges, I am not going to lie to you. The controls felt like they didn’t 100% work so the gameplay feels pretty janky. There’s multiple endings, none of which feel narratively satisfying but are fun to at least find. But it’s got heart damn it. This is a true indie developer, making do with what they’ve got and I have to respect it. 6/10
Session 6 - Mullet MadJack
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 | Publisher: Epopeia Games
This was my first nomination to win since I nominated Norco in 2022, what a brutal dry streak. Anyway this game rocks so hard I forgot to write notes for it. High energy arcade style FPS with an 80s anime coat of paint on it. Does it suffer from the aesthetic feeling a bit too stereotypical? Maybe but who cares, I’ve got an Uzi that’s firing infinite bullets and I’m killing robots by the dozens. That’s video games baby! 9/10
Session 7 - Party Game Night
Another returning theme from last year, we shifted the party to mid year to celebrate Julian visiting us. Just like last time, we didn’t have any deep critical discussion about the games and instead focused on yelling at each other having a good time together!
Crawl (Switch, 2014)
Platform: Switch | Release Year: 2014 | Publisher: Self Published
Crawl’s a decent dungeon crawler but it’s not really a good party game. Run time is quite long and there’s a lot going on that can be hard to pick up while you’re getting beaten up by your friends. But also it’s fun to be the one beating up your friend so the experience kinda balances out. 7/10
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2016 | Publisher: Self Published
I spent years watching Achievement Hunter playing this so I knew it was a good game before we played but man, actually playing it is even better. This feels like a perfect party game - easy to understand, hard to master, comeback mechanics and the ability to fuck over everyone including yourself out of spite. I wish it had more unlocked from the get go to give a bit more variety out of the gate. 9.5/10
Boomerang Fu!
Platform: Switch | Release Year: 2020 | Publisher: Self Published
There is pretty much no instance that I’d go to play Boomerang Fu over any other party game. It’s not bad or anything, it’s in fact pretty solid! I just think there are a bunch of other games that I enjoy more that do what it does in ways I enjoy more. 7/10
Retail Wars
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2023 (Early Access) | Publisher: Self Published
I don’t want to judge Retail Wars too much. It’s an early access game that I’m pretty sure was abandoned. It’s unfinished so of course it’s going to be pretty rough. But if I’m being honest, I don’t think even if this game was finished it would be good. It feels like the premise starts and ends with “fucking over your friends is funny”, which it is, but you gotta have interesting mechanics built around that as opposed to just being the focus. Otherwise it just gets boring real quick. 4.5/10
Save Your Nuts
Platform: Switch | Release Year: 2020 | Publisher: Self Published
I don’t claim to be an objective man when it comes to scoring things. I can tell you objective facts, like how Save Your Nuts looks like a low budget PS2 game or how most of the stages feel too small for 8 players even though they make 8 players a key selling point. But none of that matters. This ugly, poorly explained game was a blast to play with my friends. I loved customising my animal with a dumb outfit, I loved the frantic experience of trying to stop everyone from stealing my nuts while realising that the size of our squirrels actually matter and that’s why I’m getting blasted with tackles. What a great bad game. 7/10
Session 8 - Spiritfarer
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2020 | Publisher: Self Published
Spiritfarer, or to use its government name Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition, might be a case of the right place, wrong time for me. There’s a lot to enjoy but the actual gameplay side of things just did not land for me at all. The highs of the poignant character stories and witty writing just don’t outweigh the lows of a repetitive gameplay loop and shoddy platforming mechanics. 5/10
Session 9 - Spooky Game Month
Last year we actually played a spooky game during October after we all nominated horror games, so we decided to make it an official themed month this year. I always try to pick up a scary game in October so it’s perfect for me, and there’s definitely enough horror games out there to repeat it for as long as IGBC lasts.
FAITH: The Unholy Trinity
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2022 | Publisher: New Blood Interactive
The word that comes most to me when I think about FAITH is “effective”. It does so much with not a lot at all. It might even do too much considering how much story is packed in here. A consistently scary experience that can feel a bit lost in itself at times, FAITH is great spooky season game. 7.5/10
Session 10 - Tactical Breach Wizards
Platform: PC | Release Year: 2024 | Publisher: Self Published
I want to say this was my surprise hit of the year, but I don’t know why it’s such a surprise to me. It’s made by the same devs as Gunpoint, a personal favourite of mine, and it’s a turn based strategy game which is a genre I love. It took a bit for this to click for me, but by the mid to late game, I was in defenestration nirvana. Tactical Breach Wizards is a sublime turn based strategy experience with story and writing just as good as its gameplay. 9/10
IGBC continues to be a highlight of my year. The indie game space is so vast and varied, and being able to dive into it is a blast. Even playing something I hate (Dear Esther) gives me joy because I get to talk with my friends about it. My only hope for next year is that I get to win more like come on a 2 year dry streak is crazy, I’m throwing out bangers every month and I’m getting no play at all. It’s anti-Anton discrimination I tell ya.