ID@Xbox Celebrates Indie Selects’ Anniversary by choosing their top six picks from the last year

 ID@Xbox Celebrates Indie Selects’ Anniversary by choosing their top six picks from the last year: Balatro, Animal Well, The Plucky Squire, Neva, Crow Country, and HYPERCHARGE Unboxed. On February 11th, all six of these games will be featured in a special collection in the Indie Selects row on the Xbox Store Games home. You can learn more here or by reading below:

Indie Selects Anniversary Celebration – Our Top Picks from 2024, Plus a Huge Indie Sale

Summary

• Indie Selects has turned one year old, and we’re celebrating by crowning our top six picks for the last year.
• Check out quotes from the developers of our Anniversary Collection.
• We’re running a huge Indie Selects sale, with discounts on over 200 indie games from 2024.

Happy new year to all and happy first birthday to Indie Selects! A year ago, we set up the Indie Selects program with the goal of highlighting and recommending indie games found on the Xbox Store that aren’t necessarily part of the Xbox Game Pass service, so that great games and great teams never go uncelebrated. Think of Indie Selects as the “Staff Picks” shelf at a Blockbuster Video or Tower Records. And now you think I am 80 years old. Ah well.

Today, we’re celebrating the one-year anniversary of this program with a 2024 Anniversary Collection featuring our six top Indie Selects titles from 2024 that we believe you need to play – they will be enshrined for all time (or until the Xbox Store team tells us to stop). So, without further ado, here are the six titles we picked for our first Yearly Selects line-up: Balatro, Animal Well, The Plucky Squire, Neva, Crow Country, and Hypercharge: Unboxed.

Whether you come home from a rough day and need to unwind, or you’re just looking for the right adventure that can connect you with a family member, games like these six matter – and so do the teams that make them. These contributions to the industry deserve attention, celebration, and enjoyment.

The Anniversary Collection can be found in the Indie Selects row on Xbox Store Games home from January 29 to February 11. Here’s how to find it:

• From Xbox Home, select Store
• On Store go to the left nav bar and select Games Home.
• On Game Home scroll down until you see the collection!

Each of these titles are a great representation of what our industry strives to achieve. To celebrate and thank each of these developers for creating such beloved pieces of work, we asked each of them if they would be gracious enough to reflect and share their thoughts with us on the following question:

“Looking back at the entire development process, what does it mean to your game studio to launch this project and receive so much high praise from both the gaming audience and critics alike?“

Balatro – Developed by LocalThunk Inc.

“While the praise for the game is certainly nice, Balatro is and always has been a personal passion project more than anything else. I am lucky that the game performed well in this industry at all, and I’m really glad to use the attention from Balatro to shine a light on some of the other incredible indie games out there right now. I think it’s a great time to be a fan of indie games!” – LocalThunk, Developer of Balatro

Animal Well – Developed by Billy Basso

“Seven years ago, I started building a new game/engine from scratch, more as a learning experience than out of any ambition to create the new big indie hit. I drew a few animal sprites. Got a candle to glow the way I wanted. As the game and the engine organically fed off of one another, it took a shape I never would have predicted when I first started. And now that Animal Well is out in the world, players continue to color it with their own perspectives, their pet theories, their love for the game. I feel like I was able to make a small contribution to video game culture and my efforts have been rewarded a hundredfold.” – Billy Basso, Developer of Animal Well

The Plucky Squire – Developed by All Possible Futures

“Working on The Plucky Squire has been an amazing journey for all of us at All Possible Futures. From those first prototypes of Jot leaping from desk to book, to seeing players light up as they experience it – it’s been a joy to share with the world. We poured all of our heart into the game, and it’s been incredible to see players and critics connect with it in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Knowing that the game has brought smiles to so many faces is the most rewarding part of it all. That’s what it’s all about for us, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the love and support along the way.” – Jonathan Biddle, Co-director, All Possible Futures

Neva – Developed by Nomada Studio

“Launching Neva has been a journey of four years—more than double the time it took to develop [our last game] Gris. It has been a long and challenging process. 

“Our biggest fear was living up to the expectations of our fans and critics. After the huge and unexpected success of Gris, we felt the pressure of both external expectations and our own ambitions. Every element of Neva, from its storytelling to its art and gameplay, was crafted with the hope of creating a meaningful connection with players. This is the kind of game we aspire to create as a studio. 

“Seeing both critics and players enjoy and praise Neva has been incredibly fulfilling—a perfect final gift to its long development journey and a transformative milestone for our studio. It has proven that players are truly eager for games capable of evoking powerful emotions and telling unique, meaningful stories that resonate with them; and for us, this recognition has provided the strength and motivation to continue pursuing this goal for as long as we can.” – Conrad Roset, Creative Director, Nomada Studio

Crow Country – Developed by SFB Games

“We had hopes that people would get excited for Crow Country when even early, out-of-context teaser screenshots would get very positive attention. Nothing is certain in game development though, so to have had this many people write so many lovely things about the game, recommend it to their friends or audiences, and rate it so highly – it’s really reassuring that the kind of games we want to make are the kind that people want to play. It’s also been a morale-boosting liferaft in a very troubled time for the games industry, and will keep [studio co-founder] Adam and me going through the next game and beyond!” – Tom Vian, Co-founder, SFB Games

Hypercharge Unboxed – Developed by Digital Cybercherries Limited

“Power Your Dreams is more than just a slogan: it speaks to the heart of every dreamer, reminding us that with passion and determination, even childhood dreams can come true. We believed in that message and powered our dream of creating Hypercharge. With Xbox’s support, we were able to launch on this incredible platform and witness it not only change our lives as a small indie studio, but also bring families closer together through the magic of couch co-op.

“Seeing parents and children laughing and working together to overcome challenges in Hypercharge has been truly heart-warming. That shared experience, playing together in the same room, on their Xbox – that’s something really special, where memories will last a lifetime. We’re immensely grateful to Xbox for helping make our dream come true and for allowing players to join us on this journey! The overwhelmingly positive response to Hypercharge has been truly inspiring. To everyone who has played and supported our game, thank you!” – Joe Henson, Creative Gameplay & Marketing Director, Digital Cybercherries

On top of the Collection itself, we’re running an Indie Selects Anniversary Sale from January 28 to February 3, featuring over 200 indie titles that launched in 2024. This is the perfect opportunity to save on titles we recommended, including Balatro, Phasmophobia, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Rounds, and more.

Check out the full list here.

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