The winners of the 2024 Thinky Game Awards have been announced! A big thank you to all our wonderful nominees! You can see the full list here.
We're delighted to announce the nominees for our inaugural Thinky Awards, shining a spotlight on many of the brilliant thinky games that were released over the past year.
Thank you so much to our everyone who submitted public nominations over the last few weeks. Our curation team have been crunching the numbers and taking a good look over all of your nominations in order to arrive at the nominees you see below. I don't know about you, but looking at all these amazing games just blows my mind.
Our goal with these awards is not just to highlight the best of the best (as if some kind of objective best even truly exists!), but to elevate as many great games as we can in the hopes that more wonderful people find this space and start exploring deeper.
We've brought together a team of more than 30 jurors to vote on these categories over the next few weeks, and we plan to announce the results later in February. Click "notify me" on the below stream to be notified when we go live with the awards show! The date of the show is still subject to change, so you may also want to join our newsletter to make sure you don't miss any updates.
And those of you who aren't in the selected jury — don't fret! We have opened three categories up for a community vote, so you can have your say say! Find out more below.
Have your say!
Of course, we don't want to leave all of the voting fun to our jurors — you can have your say too! We've opened up three of our categories for community voting. Just submit your vote via the following forms:
- Community Vote: Game of the Year
- Community Vote: Most Anticipated Game
- Community Vote: Best Journalist / Content Creator
Voting requires a Google account — apologies for any inconvenience this might cause!
These community vote forms will close at midnight UTC on Friday 2nd February. The winners will be announced alongside the rest of the categories later in February — to be notified about future announcements, please join our newsletter.
Full list of nominees
Game of the Year
The absolute best thinky games of the past year.
- Can of Wormholes by munted finger games
- Chants of Sennaar by Rundisc_, Focus Entertainment
- COCOON by Geometric Interactive, Annapurna Interactive
- Headlong Hunt by Toombler
- Magicube by Nebusoku
- Pâquerette Down the Bunburrows by Bunstack, Abiding Bridge
- Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew by Mimimi Games
- Shogun Showdown by Roboatino, Goblinz Publishing, Gamera Games
- Storyteller by Daniel Benmergui, Annapurna Interactive
- The Talos Principle 2 by Croteam, Devolver Digital
- Void Stranger by System Erasure
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors, but is also
.
Most Approachable Game
Games that go out of their way to make thinky experiences approachable to a wider audience and help to bring new audiences to the genre.
- Billy Bumbum: A Cheeky Puzzler by Frambosa Games, Bonus Stage Publishing
- Chants of Sennaar by Rundisc_, Focus Entertainment
- COCOON by Geometric Interactive, Annapurna Interactive
- Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective by CAPCOM
- Puzzmo by Zach Gage, Orta Therox
- Remote Planets by Zuza Games
- Station to Station by Galaxy Grove, Prismatika
- Storyteller by Daniel Benmergui, Annapurna Interactive
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Most Challenging Game
Games that offer a delightful challenge while still providing a great problem solving experience.
- Alephant by Le Slo
- Can of Wormholes by munted finger games
- Confusion Conveyed by Steven Miller
- Magicube by Nebusoku
- N Step Steve: Part 2 by EPICPIKAGUY
- Pâquerette Down the Bunburrows by Bunstack, Abiding Bridge
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Best "Aha" Moment
The thinky games with the best individual "aha" moment, that sudden moment of insight or discovery when everything clicks.
- Bonfire Peaks: Lost Memories by Corey Martin, Draknek & Friends
- Can of Wormholes by munted finger games
- Chants of Sennaar by Rundisc_, Focus Entertainment
- Headlong Hunt by Toombler
- Pâquerette Down the Bunburrows by Bunstack, Abiding Bridge
- The Talos Principle 2 by Croteam, Devolver Digital
- Viewfinder by Sad Owl Studios, Thunderful Games
- Void Stranger by System Erasure
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Most C̵̮̈͐̀̍̚ú̵͙̳̾͌ͅr̴̢͇͔̳͓͖̆͒̀̇̈̓s̶̤̮̜̝̖͉̈́ȩ̴̬̯͔͐̔͆́d̶̪̫̺͍̺̟̋̏̀̈͘͘ ̸͙͚̫́̈́͂̿̇͘Game
Games that... go places. Subverting expectations, breaking boundaries, twisting their mechanics to an absurd degree.
- Can of Wormholes by munted finger games
- Fractal Factory by bcat112a
- Pâquerette Down the Bunburrows by Bunstack, Abiding Bridge
- Void Stranger by System Erasure
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Most Innovative Game
Games that best explored fascinating new directions in thinky design.
- Can of Wormholes by munted finger games
- Chants of Sennaar by Rundisc_, Focus Entertainment
- COCOON by Geometric Interactive, Annapurna Interactive
- Pâquerette Down the Bunburrows by Bunstack, Abiding Bridge
- Storyteller by Daniel Benmergui, Annapurna Interactive
- Viewfinder by Sad Owl Studios, Thunderful Games
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Best Presentation
Thinky games that had the best overall presentation, including art, sound, music, narrative, writing, and just the overall package.
- Abdec by Letibus Design
- Chants of Sennaar by Rundisc_, Focus Entertainment
- COCOON by Geometric Interactive, Annapurna Interactive
- Jusant by DON'T NOD
- Station to Station by Galaxy Grove, Prismatika
- Storyteller by Daniel Benmergui, Annapurna Interactive
- The Talos Principle 2 by Croteam, Devolver Digital
- Viewfinder by Sad Owl Studios, Thunderful Games
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Best Free Game
The best thinky games from the past year that can be played entirely for free.
- 12 Word Searches by Playcebo
- Confusion Conveyed by Steven Miller
- Growmi by Carlos Pedroso
- Magpie by sunil.
- N Step Steve: Part 2 by EPICPIKAGUY
- NEUROCRACY 2.049 by Younès Rabii
- The Password Game by neal
- The Roottrees are Dead by jjohnstongames
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Best DLC
The best DLCs or expansions for thinky games — anything that requires a base game to play.
- A Little to the Left: Cupboards & Drawers by Max Inferno, Secret Mode
- Baba is Cool 2 by Crea Digital
- Bonfire Peaks: Lost Memories by Corey Martin, Draknek & Friends
- Golden Idol Mysteries: The Lemurian Vampire by Color Gray Games, Playstack
- Golden Idol Mysteries: The Spider of Lanka by Color Gray Games, Playstack
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Most Anticipated Game
The not-yet-released thinky games we're all so excited to play!
- ANIMAL WELL by Shared Memory, BIGMODE
- Isles of Sea & Sky by Cicada Games
- Lab Rat by Chump Squad, Klei Entertainment
- LOK Digital by Letibus Design, Icedrop Games
- Paper Trail by Newfangled Games
- The Rise of the Golden Idol by Color Gray Games, Playstack
- Tactical Breach Wizards by Suspicious Developments
- World of Goo 2 by 2DBOY, Tomorrow Corportation
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors, but is also
.
Best Strategy Game
The best thinky games within the strategy genre, encouraging players to strategize through challenges, making carefully-reasoned decisions in the face of unknowns.
- Backpack Hero by Jaspel
- Cobalt Core by Rocket Rat Games, Brace Yourself Games
- Let's! Revolution! by BUCK, Antfood
- Pikmin 4 by Nintendo
- Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew by Mimimi Games
- Shogun Showdown by Roboatino, Goblinz Publishing, Gamera Games
- Wildfrost by Gaziter, Deadpan Games, Chucklefish
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Best Pen and Paper Puzzle
The best stateless logic puzzles that you might play away from the screen!
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors.
Best Journalist / Content Creator
The wonderful journalists and content creators that have advocated for thinky games and introduced many more people to the genre.
- Alex Diener
- Aliensrock
- ambierona
- Cracking the Cryptic
- Dominic Tarason
- GothicLordUK
- Icely Puzzles
- Kuchiwo Tsugumi
- Víctor Martínez
This category will be voted on by our team of jurors, but is also
.
Meet the jury
To help us determine the winners for each category, we've brought together a jury of more than 30 wonderful people from across the thinky community — puzzle designers, journalists, content creators, fans of thinky games, and more! Huge thanks to all of these folks for supporting the awards process.
Oh and of course, the few who are also up for nomination won't be able to vote in the categories they're nominated for!
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Ambie Valdés |
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Andrea Gilbert Puzzle designer (logic mazes) |
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Andy Robertson Gaming Consultant, Family Gaming Database |
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authorblues Twitch Streamer |
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Bart Bonte |
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Caroline Clark |
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Chris Schilling Deputy Editor, EDGE |
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Daniel Bross Tech Lead |
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Deusovi |
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Glen Henry Project Director/Founder |
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GothicLordUK YouTuber |
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Harry Damm Audio & games freelancer |
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Hira Thinky Games Staff Writer |
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Isi Cano Elementary school teacher |
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Jason Marsh |
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Joel Fox Puzzle Enthusiast |
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Joseph Mansfield Thinky Games manager / developer / YouTuber |
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Jupiter Hadley |
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knexator Time travel webgames |
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Laura E. Hall |
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Ludipe |
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Matt Thinky Games Staff Writer |
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mauve Game developer |
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MLGityaJ^A |
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Notan Puzzle Designer |
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Patashu |
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Paula Moore Admin and writer for LadiesGamers.com |
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Rachel Heleva Business Development & Scouting Manager |
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Rachel Watts Freelance Journalist |
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Ryan Kubik Game Developer |
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Ryan T. Brown / @Toadsanime Marketing Director + Head of Games @ Lost In Cult |
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Syrenne McNulty Producer, Draknek and Friends |
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William David Game Designer, traveling aboard the Swing Swing Submarine |
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Yvonne van Geloven Owner and Admin at LadiesGamers.com |
Wowza — genuinely such an amazing list of games. If anyone you know is looking for a place to start with thinky games, they could do much worse than playing through a bunch of these games.
Can't wait to see those results!
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