Way back in January, I wrote a column about the Canadian video game industry deserving more recognition. After all, we’re one of the largest producers of games in the world, and yet, so many people don’t know about any of that. Upon publishing that piece, I had tons of developers respond to me on Twitter, LinkedIn and over email to express their gratitude with the sentiment, noting that it is indeed a problem.

I hope to revisit this topic in a larger feature in the coming weeks, but for now, I find myself returning to it as the year is about to come to a close. In a sense, it makes me feel like my annual ‘Canadian games round-up’ has a bit more purpose, as I hadn’t realized just how much me talking about that general lack of exposure had struck a chord with our national pool of developers. That, coupled with the overall poor treatment of developers (from the sickening continued mass layoffs to the rise in targeted harassment), and I find it all the more important to champion those behind the games we love.

And 2024, in particular, was quite a strong year for Canadian developers. While I’m always impressed by the sheer variety of the games that are made here, that variety felt even more pronounced this time around, be it through a riff on poker that truly took the world by storm, a narrative game that told one of the medium’s absolute best stories or an iconic Canadian team making its long-awaited return to its roots.

Here are just some of the Canadian games that stood out this year.

Balatro

Developer: LocalThunk (location unknown)
Publisher: Playstack
Genre: Roguelike, card game
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS (plus Apple Arcade), Android

Few games commanded gamers’ attention this year quite like Balatro, thanks to its addictive blend of poker-inspired card mechanics and roguelike elements. So compulsive is this simple yet innovative experience that it was the sole indie game up for Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Not bad for a game made by one anonymous Canadian guy!

The Crimson Diamond

Developer/publisher: Julia Minamata (Toronto, Ontario)
Genre: Adventure
Platform: PC

Solo developer Julia Minamata has created a wonderful love letter to old-school adventure games featuring a painstakingly handcrafted EGA colour palette and text parser system wherein you type instructions into the game. Throw in a compelling mystery set in a fictional Ontario town near Lake Superior and The Crimson Diamond is a truly standout Canadian game this year.

(As a side note, I’d also recommend checking out Minamata’s YouTube channel for some fascinating insight into The Crimson Diamond and indie game development in general.)

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Developer: BioWare (Edmonton, Alberta) 
Publisher: EA
Genre: Action-RPG
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

This year saw BioWare finally put out a brand-new single-player RPG, and by and large, it was a worthy follow-up to its 2014’s acclaimed Dragon Age: Inquisition. From the surprisingly tight action combat and stunning art direction to the depth of the companions and arguably BioWare’s greatest finale ever, The Veilguard was BioWare returning to its roots in a meaningful way.

Lil’ Guardsman

Developer: Hilltop Studios (Toronto, Ontario)
Publisher: Versus Evil, tinyBuild
Genre: Narrative adventure, puzzle
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC

The debut title from Toronto’s Hilltop is perhaps one of the most delightful games I’ve played all year. Mixing Papers, Please-style deduction mechanics with the winning humour of old-school LucasArts games and dozens upon dozens of colourful and quirky fantasy characters, Lil’ Guardsman will constantly bring a smile to your face.

Neo Harbor Rescue Squad

Developer/publisher: BancyCo
Genre: Action, simulation
Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC

It’s been almost 15 years since the last cult classic Trauma Center game, but thankfully, the Canadian team behind Worse Than Death has created something to scratch that itch. As a rookie paramedic, you’ll have to engage in all kinds of fun and wacky minigames to treat patients throughout the zany anime-inspired story. Perform well enough and you’ll finally earn some recognition from the city’s egotistical fire department.

1000xResist

Developer: Sunset Visitor (Vancouver, B.C.)
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
Genre: Adventure
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

No game encapsulates what Canadian developers are capable quite like 1000xResist. Here we have a team of former Asian-Canadian performance artists who pivoted during COVID to make their first game and ended up delivering one of the most well-written and profound stories I’ve ever seen in the medium. And yet, beneath the fantastic and larger-than-life sci-fi elements lies a deeply personal examination of the experience of being a child of immigrants, all told through an unparalleled sense of visual flair. Not only is this one of the best Canadian games of the year; it’s one of the best games, period.

Psychroma

Developer: Rocket Adrift (Toronto, Ontario)
Publisher: Gamma Space Collaborative Studio
Genre: Psychological horror, side-scrolling
Platform: PC

The small Toronto team of Rocket Adrift proved why it won the Ubisoft Indie Series last year with this deeply compelling psychological horror cyberpunk experience. That familiar framework is made far more intimate thanks to the developers’ focus on marginalization and the Toronto housing crisis

Spiral

Developer: Folklore Games (Montreal, Quebec)
Publisher: Folklore Games, SpaceJazz
Genre: Narrative adventure
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC

In this touching ode to the elderly, you play as Bernard, an old man living alone with cognitive degeneration. While Spiral doesn’t shy away from the inherent sadness of such a condition, it commendably focuses on celebrating the joyful moments of Bernard’s life, like an early fishing outing with his father or hide-and-seek with his mother. By putting you in his shoes, Spiral presents a lovely way to foster empathy for the older generation among younger players.

Star Wars Outlaws

Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Action-adventure, open-world
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

While Sweden’s Massive Entertainment (The Division) led development on Star Wars Outlaws, I’m giving it a special inclusion on this list because of the significant role Canadians played on the project. Specifically, the lead narrative team is based at Ubisoft Toronto, the game stars Venezuelan-Canadian Humberly González (Ginny & Georgia), and the cinematics were filmed at the Toronto and Montreal mo-cap studios.

The end result of these teams’ collaboration (as well as the involvement of other global Ubisoft studios) is a swashbuckling experience across the galaxy featuring a charming cast of characters, stunningly well-realized and authentic Star Wars planets and solid gameplay mechanics that have continued to be improved over the past few months. To quote a common marketing beat for Outlaws: “if you’re willing to take the risk, the galaxy is full of opportunity.”

Times & Galaxy

Developer: Copychaser Games (Edmonton, Alberta)
Publisher: Fellow Traveler
Genre: Visual novel, point-and-click, narrative adventure
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC

Vergeville, Alberta’s Ben Gelinas is a successful reporter-turned-games-writer thanks to his work on the likes of Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Control, and in Times & Galaxy, he draws on all of that prior experience to deliver a lovably lighthearted but nonetheless surprisingly thoughtful exploration of the impact of journalism. On top of that, Times & Galaxy features strong worldbuilding and an eclectic cast of dozens of robots, aliens and other outlandish characters, making for a game that excels in both style and substance.

Unleaving

Developer/publisher: orangutan matter (Toronto, Ontario)
Genre: Puzzle-platformer
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Unleaving is easily one of 2024’s most beautiful games. As you explore an abstract world as a young girl, you’ll come across breathtaking paintings by artist Sura Karnawi, resulting in some truly evocative imagery. Unleaving is as much a stunning multimedia art gallety as it is a Limbo-esque minimalist puzzle-platformer, and that makes it all the more unique.

Warframe

Developer/publisher: Digital Extremes (London, Ontario)
Genre: Action-RPG, third-person shooter, multiplayer
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS

I have to give a special shoutout to Warframe in general. 2024 was a particularly big year for the massively popular long-running game, from an iOS debut in February and massive TennoCon fan event in Digital Extremes’ home city to a Balatro collaboration and a killer Warframe 1999 expansion led by fan-favourite Final Fantasy actor Ben Starr and all kinds of Y2K goodness (just listen to this banger boy band theme). With 2025 set to feature even more Warframe updates, the 10th annual TennoCon and expanded public testing of Digital Extremes’ upcoming new fantasy IP, Soulframe, there’s even more for fans to look forward to in the coming months.

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With so many games being made in Canada, this naturally only covers a small fraction of what 2024 alone had to offer from our developers. Some other quick shoutouts include EA Vancouver’s top-selling EA Sports FC 25 and NHL 25, the early access release of Beastieball (a new turn-based volleyball RPG from Wishes Ultd., Vancouver-based creator of Chicory), Starship Troopers: Extinction (a co-op shooter from Vancouver’s Offworld), The Outlast Trials horror game from Montreal’s Red Barrels Noxia Somnia 2D horror game from Fredericton, N.B.’s Reframe Games and the Trauma Center-esque Neo Harbor Rescue Squad from Toronto’s BancyCo.

Looking ahead, some of the upcoming Canadian games we know about include Quebec City-based Yellow Brick’s action-adventure title Eternal Strands (January 28th, 2025), Lost Records: Bloom & Rage from Dontnod Montreal (Part 1 in February, Part 2 in March) and Earthblade (TBA), the next game from Vancouver-based Extremely OK Games (Celeste). Hopefully, we’ll learn of more games soon, especially whenever Nintendo finally reveals the so-called ‘Switch 2.’

In the meantime, what were your favourite Canadian games of 2024? Let us know in the comments. For other gaming discussions, check out our top 10 games of 2024 list.

Image credit: orangutan matter/Julia Minamata/Playstack/Fellow Traveller/Digital Extremes/Ubisoft/EA/BancyCo, Folklore Games/Inflexion Games/Hilltop Studios