Just as movies and animations can surprise with excellent photography or a unique visual style, games are no exception, surprising with incredible character designs, surreal animations and breathtaking scenarios. And most of these games are independent, made by small teams or even just one developer. Here is a top 5 of recent games that surprised aesthetically, with the oldest being from December 2023.
1. Cookie Cutter
Developer: Subcult Joint LTD
Location: Brighton, England
Style: Metroidvania (or as they call it, “techno-pop-punk” 2D hand-drawn Metroidvania)
Release: December 2023
Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox Series, Playstation 5 and Switch
I think the main highlight of Cookie Cutter’s visuals is the animation and character design. The main character herself, Cherry, is a spectacle in every way. The trailer makes it very clear that the work done by Italian illustrator Stefano Guglielman, owner of Subcult Joint and father of the Cookie Cutter project. Speaking a little about the game itself, it’s a Metroidvania with an outstanding level design and almost all of the game’s combat is done by hand-to-hand, which makes it stand out from other games of the same genre. To spice up the experience a little, it’s a game where parrying is necessary to survive and go far. It’s not an easy game, but it’s definitely a unique experience.
2. Neva
Developer: Nomada Studio
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Style: Side-scrolling Platform
Release: October 2024
Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox Series, Playstation 5 and Switch
After the success of Nomada Studio’s first game, Gris, released in 2018, the company decided to go a little further and make Neva, one of the most beautiful games and a lesson in color theory. Gris was already very beautiful, which ends up being a bonus suggestion for this list, but Neva is more. It’s about emotion expressed through colors, it’s about love, loss, victory and violence, it’s about the relationship between the main character Alba and her wolf Neva and how the bond between the two grows stronger during the journey. As a dog lover, I cried a lot with this game for several reasons. Speaking of the game itself, it’s a platform game that breaks the simplicity of the style with excellent puzzles and a fine game design.
3. Empire of the Ants
Developer: Tower Five
Location: La Rochelle, France
Style: Real-Time Strategy
Release: November 2024
Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox Series, Playstation 5
The third game here is something completely different from the other games on this list. There are no extremely well-developed characters or well-crafted animations here… here we have something with a visual aspect that is very close to reality, and how superbly done by the French at Tower Five. The game is an anthill simulator and the player controls the 103,683rd ant who has the objective of managing the entire group, preparing his brothers for battle, searching for resources, evolving and gaining ground, sometimes against enemies much more powerful than the ants, such as praying mantises and that’s where strategy comes into play. I was not prepared for what this game brought me in terms of visuals and gameplay itself, a huge surprise in 2024!
4- SCHiM
Developer: Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman
Location: Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Style: Platform, Exploration
Release: July 2024
Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox One and Series, Playstation 4 and 5
What I’m about to say may sound strange, but ever since I first turned on the game, I was sure it was a Dutch production. The story of the game is as follows: a human being is having a bad day and, in the midst of a flurry of events, he loses his shadow. The player then controls this schim, which means shadow in Dutch (and which looks a lot like a frog), and using the shadows of objects, people or even birds, he follows his human until they reunite at the end. The levels are set in Dutch urban settings and the color palettes are limited to just four tones, which vary from level to level and which express the time and the mood of the environment well. It’s a game without much stress and quite captivating.
5. Airhead
Developer: Octato
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Style: Metroidvania
Release: February 2024
Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox One and Series, Playstation 4 and 5
Here’s another unusual Metroidvania. The main character is a headless being who falls into a strange and hostile area. His goal is to get out of there and go back to where he came from, but along the way, he encounters another being who was attacked and had his body removed from his head. The body and the new head come together for mutual reasons and need oxygen to survive, so each section where the player goes through the game’s levels is in search of oxygen tubes. Sometimes they can be helium tubes, which make the character float and access new areas. The big difference in this Metroidvania is the constant puzzles to keep the characters alive due to the restriction of the cylinders. The visuals are very beautiful, with very well-chosen color palettes. The entire concept of the game itself is something quite unusual.
I hope you enjoyed this list, comments here are not open, but you can write to me so we can continue the conversation here.
