Summary
Annapurna Interactivehas established a reputation for publishing high-quality games that push the boundaries of video games as a medium. However, in late 2024,the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive walked out. Hopefully, this won’t mean the end of the incredible impact that the people who worked there had on the gaming landscape.
There were a whole host of issues cited, including a lack of transparency when it came to the publisher’s future trajectory. Annapurna Interactive is renowned for publishing some of the most captivating and uniquely innovative games on the market. While their future may be in limbo, this list will look atthe best games published by Annapurna Interactiveto this point, with more hopefully to come.
Donut Countyis an adorable puzzle adventure game featuring a wonderfully belligerent raccoon named BK and his friend, Mira. Their town has been gradually consumed by a moving hole that is being controlled by the player. Every time the hole consumes something, it expands, meaning that the mainpuzzle mechanicis consuming things in a vague order of size.
Underneath the surface, the townspeople tell stories of what happened to them when they encountered the hole. They hold BK the Raccoon responsible, and that certainly seems valid, because whoever is controlling the hole is doing it to acquire trash.
Sayonara Wild Heartsis a highly stylized rhythm action game that ends far too quickly. That is a testament to how satisfying and intuitive the rhythm action mechanics are. It combines classic rhythm action elements with combat and high-speed motorcycle chases.
The music inSayonara Wild Heartsis amazing, and the art style is a collision of surrealist vaporwave and 80s arcade game design. It also utilizes tarot cards as a visual motif as well as a framework for the characters and narrative. There is a touching underlying narrative of self-acceptance, but the genius of this game lies in the soundtrack and the aesthetic.
Gone Homewas a landmark video game in terms of environmental storytelling and creative gameplay. It is a brilliantly crafted narrative of love and finding self-acceptance in the face of intolerance. It subverts expectations, turning what is seemingly the set-up for a horror game and twisting it into something rich and wholesome.
The player character comes home to their eerily empty childhood home in the middle of a storm and uncovers a family mystery through her sisters' writing. The story it tells will resonate with a lot of players, and it is awalking simulatorthat gives the player lots of time to examine every minute detail at their own pace.
Neon Whiteis a demon-hunting, first-person shooterparkour game. Souls doomed to eternal damnation are given a bizarre reprieve: killing the demons that have made their way to the gates of heaven. The protagonist is known as Neon White, and he uses platforming and weapons, represented by playable cards, to parkour his way across the ethereal landscape.
The art style is straight out of an alt-punk graphic novel and the story is told in the style of a visual novel, with primarily static characters. However, those who loveNeon Whitedon’t come back to it time and time again for its story. It’s the gameplay itself that is truly captivating, playing out at absurd speeds as players battle to finish each level as quickly as possible.
Cocoonis an ingeniously designed puzzle game that has the player navigating a series of worlds that are carried in orbs on the player character’s back. The way the game manages movement between worlds is stunning. The art style and level design are unique and distinct, and the difficulty curve isjust right.
Elements can be moved between worlds and manipulated to solve puzzles. Like many of the developers Annapurna has worked with, environmental storytelling is a key source of narrative inCocoon, with strange remnants of an alien civilization forming part of the mystery of the world.
The unnamed cat fromStraymust make his way through a dystopian city populated by robots to attempt to get back to his family. Dead City really lives up to its name here, and there is very little in the way of care and comfort within the city walls. The robots who live there can be quite friendly, but all the humans are long gone.
The cat investigates the mysteries of the city and tries to avoid being attacked by security drones and supersized bacteria that have become enormous in the darkness of the Dead City. It uncovers the memories and stories of his companion, a drone named B12, who helps the cat through the city and beyond.
Journeyis a game with a delightful flow and an incredibly distinctive design. The player-character, known simply as The Hero, must make their way across the sweeping dunes that dominate the landscape. The soundtrack and sound design are a huge part of what makesJourneyso captivating. It is epic, orchestral, and dynamic, a perfect match for a game based onThe Hero’s Journey.
Journeywas a landmark game for unconventional and creative multiplayer game design. Players could unwittingly play alongside another player without ever knowing that they weren’t an NPC. They are just two players helping each other on their own adventures, chirping joyfully while completing the game’s wonderfully intuitive puzzles.
Kentucky Route Zerois a game six years in the making with installments released throughout that time. It is a surreal point-and-click journey that takes players through the strangest delivery trip in video games. The thing about this delivery address is that it doesn’t quite exist. It’s more of an idea leading the characters through a dreamlike landscape.
The atmosphere ofKentucky Route Zeroand its anthology structure set it apart from other road trip games. It is expertly written, and the divergent dialogue branches carry mysterious, unexplored possibilities.
What Remains of Edith Finchis as brutally tragic as it is beautiful. It’s a story about a young woman who returns to her labyrinthine family home to uncover the mystery of the family “curse.” Most of the Finch family have died under strange circumstances, many of them in ironic accidents.
The story of each member of the massive family is told through abstract vignettes. Some are fantastical, and all of them are told in a way that is unique to that individual family member. Each of these vignettes has a puzzle that tells the story of their unfortunate death, which the player must then piece together.
Outer Wildsis atime loop gamelike no other. The player has 22 minutes to discover as much about the world (and solar system) around them before the sun explodes and the loop resets. So far, so standard for time loop games. However,Outer Wildsopens up whole planets, black holes, and the void of space for exploration. It sounds overwhelming, but players are hardly ever at a loss for what to do. As soon as the player finishes following one thread of mystery, another appears, constantly egging on their curiosity.
Each time the player ventures out from their home base, they are risking life and limb to try to solve the mystery of the sun’s untimely demise. What the player encounters, and how they will inevitably die, varies considerably in each loop. The discoveries made in every loop can seem self-contained and unrelated at first, but they eventually form a broader narrative of a world—and universe—in crisis.
