With 2024 nearing its end, most of the year's highly-rated titles have already been released, but there's one highly-rated indie game that flew under most players' radars. Being caught up with award-winning AAA releases, it's not uncommon for some great and entirely original titles to fall by the wayside. Some of these more niche games can sometimes scratch the perfect itch for many players, with this title having a little something for everyone thanks to its sheer size.

Stacking up against games like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree or Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, there's not a lot of room on the top of the charts this year. It's common for most games that break the top of the charts to be sequels or remasters or beloved franchises, with only the highest quality of original titles hoping to compete alongside them. Despite having high levels of competition, one unexpected indie game received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both fans and critics alike.

Why Everyone Loves UFO 50

A Bundle Of Hand-Crafted Games Suited For Any Audience

UFO 50 brings back the classic plug-and-play games of the '90s into the modern era, bringing the nostalgic style up to modern standards. Releasing on September 18th after an eight-year-long development time, UFO 50 was quickly met with wide acclaim from players and critics alike over its unique gameplay concept and presentation. Each of the 50 included games is a fully fleshed-out experience, unlike the rest of the pack which offers entirely unique mechanics.

Having been made by the creative minds behind the hit Spelunky series, which is even receiving an animated special in Amazon Prime's Secret Level show, UFO 50 was a massive undertaking to pack into a single game. Currently, UFO 50 is sitting at the #5 spot for Metacritic's best games of the year, and it's easy to see why with the sheer amount of quality content included in this retro-style bundle.

One of the best aspects of UFO 50 is that half of the games included are playable in multiplayer modes as well, allowing fans to share the fun with their friends on the same system with both competitive and co-op experiences.

What's UFO 50 All About?

Reimagining The Nostalgic All-In-One Retro Console

Despite looking like minigames or even short flash titles at a simple glance, each of the 50 games included is an entirely complete experience from start to finish. Ranging from classic RPG and dungeon crawlers, all the way to side-scrolling platformers or metroidvania's, UFO 50 has a little something to offer for everyone. While the games themselves vary in length and complexity, each included title provides fun-filled experiences that can easily provide countless hours of enjoyment.

UFO 50 has a little something to offer for everyone.

UFO 50 takes clear inspiration from the plug-and-play consoles of the '90s and '80s but applies modern game design to enhance them far beyond their retro inspirations. Even for players who didn't grow up playing these games as a child, the retro art style is a great combination of nostalgic aesthetics and high-quality visuals, making it more accessible to a wider array of players.

UFO 50's unique take on classic genres like JRPGs and strategy games also makes them more engaging for players who normally wouldn't spend time playing these genres, helping fans fall in love with the idea of trying out a wider variety of games along the way. Dropping players straight into the gameplay, UFO 50 manages to perfectly emulate the sense of endless possibilities that a new and unknown game can offer, much like booting up a sandbox game like Minecraft for the very first time.

UFO 50 Deserves More Love

A Labor Of Love For An Unbelievable Price

Some of the games can take up to 20 hours to beat, with multiple included titles being completely worthy of an independent release in their own right. With the quality of UFO 50's game selection aside, the sheer amount of content offered at this price point makes it one of the best gaming deals on the market, clocking in less than 50 cents per game. While it has yet to the list of the best indie games on Game , the overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews and pricing method help UFO 50 sur many of its competitors.

Unfortunately, despite its fantastic quality and content offerings UFO 50 hasn't had much luck breaking into a larger audience, as shown in its low review numbers and online player counts. Thankfully, for fans hoping to see this newly released cult classic get the attention it deserves, UFO 50 has already been nominated for multiple awards in categories in the Golden Joystick Awards, as noted by the developers at mossmouth on X.

New players don't have to worry about grinding through each game either, as every one of UFO 50's titles is unlocked from the start, allowing players to pick and choose what they want to play at any time. Despite not making the social splash that it more than deserves, fans will likely continue to fall in love with the incredibly unique gameplay experiences offered by Mossmouth's UFO 50.

Source: X/mossmouth, Metacritic, Steam