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The Best Video Games of 2024
Multiplatform titles like Balatro asserted themselves in thrillingly weird style.
The enjoyably pulpy premise is matched by appropriately furious on-screen violence: grab enemies’ weapons (knives, rifles, shotguns, etc), use them until they’re spent, and then fling them at nearby targets for one final flourish of damage. Every element of these horror-tinged walking simulators is intended to make you feel queasily uneasy: swirling sound design; the flickering, nearly migraine-inducing cartoon visuals; the dream logic of the maze-y environments; offbeat writing colored, at all times, by the threat of violence. Throw in the ambient multiplayer of the pawn system, one that lets you create a secondary character and download those of your friends’, and you have a clockwork set of mechanics that summon, with bravado, ingenuity, and no shortage of flair, the most highly coveted of interactive experiences: pure adventure.
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