The Best Games Released by Annapurna Interactive
The unending disaster that is the gaming industry has seemingly claimed another victim this week, as the exemplary publisher Annapurna Interactive has seen its entire staff resign. Part of a multimedia empire started up by billionaire heir Megan Ellison, Annapurna Interactive has excelled at publishing some of the smartest and most thoughtful games released since 2016. For most of that time it has been the preeminent prestige publisher in the games realm, a status that its film counterpart, despite releasing movies by Paul Thomas Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow, the Coen Brothers, and other acclaimed filmmakers, attained only fleetingly and early in its existence. According to a report by Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier, Annapurna Interactive had been in negotiations with Ellison about becoming its own independent company, and when those talks fell through Annapurna’s president Nathan Gary resigned, with the company’s entire staff following suit. An Annapurna spokesperson told Schreier than the company will retain “all existing games and projects,” but it’s unclear what this means going forward for Annapurna or any unreleased games it was working with.
We don’t want to be glib or make light of yet more turmoil and disquietude in a games industry beset by constant closures and layoffs, but in light of Annapurna’s difficulties we wanted to recognize what the great work by the people who made that name mean something. Gary’s team made a number of interesting and unique games available on a myriad of accessible platforms, and hopefully they’ll continue to do that wherever they go next. So let’s look at the best games they released at their old company, the one that apparently thinks it can continue to excel without the people who actually made that possible. In our typical super-arbitrary way, we did set a few rules before banging out this list. Annapurna has handled reissues and collections of a number of games that had already been released previously by other companies, and we didn’t consider any of those. That means a number of excellent games that easily would’ve made this list–Kentucky Route Zero, Flower, Journey, Gone Home–weren’t eligible. What was eligible, though, was a long list of excellent games designed by a variety of small studios from around the world. Here are the best of those games–the 10 best games published by Annapurna Interactive during its original heyday.
10. The Pathless
Games should have secrets. They should feel like worlds that exist outside of the game and your presence in it, like something you’ve surreptitiously trespassed upon, and that, at best, are ambivalent towards your existence. The Pathless creates that feeling as well as Breath of the Wild, Demon’s Souls, or any of Team Ico’s games. This mythic adventure is set in a land on the cusp of apocalypse, in a battle between a benevolent god and a self-proclaimed godslayer, and trusts you and your eagle companion to sift through the ashes of its civilization to find a way to save it. There’s no violence outside of boss battles, and no threat of death to worry about. It’s built on movement and exploration, with your character slicing through the countryside as quickly as possible, or gliding through the air as your eagle carries you, while searching through decaying temples and fortresses for the tools you need to beat back Armageddon. If there’s anything to criticize about The Pathless, it’s that it’s maybe a little too linear—a little too similar to an Ubisoft game, moving from tower to tower to unlock the next step in the story. That doesn’t lessen its impact, though, or its beauty. This is one of the best games of the last several years, and definitely one of Annapurna’s best games.—Garrett Martin
9. Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a magical girl, electronic-pop album come to life—and the fact that I can describe a game that way is absolutely incredible. A game’s style is dependent on various elements meshing together, and this concept-album-turned-game does it with gusto and probably some glitter. The colors are bold and exciting, and fit perfectly with the soundtrack’s bass heavy beats layered beneath bubblegum vocals. One of the most cathartic experiences is truly listening to an album—shutting everything else out and dedicating yourself to that experience. Due to the interactive nature of games, we’re required to do so with Sayonara Wild Hearts—and it’s well worth it.—Jessica Howard
8. Cocoon
Beyond its visual strengths, one of Cocoon’s most fascinating aspects is how its mechanics amplify the mind-expanding qualities evoked by its aesthetics. Just as you’re getting a read on certain repetitive, game-y patterns, such as when a monster encounter or additional power are likely to materialize, things veer off course as the puzzles become increasingly interesting. As its challenges become more complex, they also become increasingly based around cosmic proportions, causing us to feel the odd metaphysics of this space slide around in our gray matter as we undergo a miniature metamorphosis. It’s a genuinely cool effect that feels like the underlying purpose of this endeavor.—Elijah Gonzalez
7. Neon White
Neon White is pure motion. It might look like a first-person shooter—it’s in first person and you shoot a lot—but it’s all in service of the constant heedless rush at the game’s heart. Almost every time you shoot a demon it’ll be to acquire whatever kinetic ability it gives you, which you will almost immediately use to jump a little higher or rush forward a little faster or to literally grenade yourself dozens of feet into the sky to reach the next platform. You’re not here to shoot, per se, but to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, and the shooting merely facilitates that. When you fully tap into its flow Neon White is about as exhilarating as videogames get, becoming an extension of your own nervous system as you effortlessly string moves together while trying to shave microseconds off your best time. And on top of its mechanical excellence it also has a story and cast of characters so well-written that I’m able to overlook its unfortunate reliance on an aesthetic and character tropes right out of anime. Neon White combines arcade elegance and extreme replayability with a genuinely thoughtful and surprising story, making it almost the best game of 2022 so far. It’s the only game that finally, fully broke Elden Ring’s hold over me; I haven’t set foot in the Lands Between since my first time sprinting through Heaven.—Garrett Martin
6. Telling Lies
Telling Lies takes the database exploration of Her Story and doubles down on it by asking you to not only solve a mystery but also to disentangle what is the truth, what is a lie, and then to determine where each of these lies exists in a hierarchy of morality. The whole thing barrels toward a conclusion that I saw coming from miles away, but that didn’t make it any less sad or horrible or anger-inducing. It’s one of the first true videogame thrillers.—Cameron Kunzelman
5. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a game with vision. It wraps intriguing puzzles in a digital gothic framework. It makes the most of its chosen medium as it forces us to navigate the tenuous details of this backdrop. Just about every layer of the experience is creatively risky, from its fragmented narrative to its uncompromising barrage of challenges, but these gambles largely pay off to deliver something with purpose and direction. Crafting this kind of maze isn’t easy; it takes a combination of subtle guidance and faith in your audience. But despite these challenges, Simogo never loses sight of how to stoke curiosity about what’s lurking around the next corner, whether it’s a treasure you’ve been seeking or, conversely, something horrible lurking in the dark.—Elijah Gonzalez
4. If Found
If Found isn’t a happy story. It’s an honest one. There’s a good chance you will cry, perhaps more than once, but there are also moments of joy, love and triumph. Despite the artistry of its presentation, and despite a recurring sci-fi metaphor that adds a bit of depth to the story but never quite fully connects, this is a low-key, modest, human affair. Its observations about family and relationships are touching, grounded and real, avoiding melodrama or outsized pronouncements about human nature. Much of it is universal, sure, but the focus remains on its lead character Kasio and how her merely being who she is can disrupt her relationships with her family and the world around her. It’s a character study of a specific person in a specific time and place, but whose pains and struggle ring true throughout the ages.—Garrett Martin
3. Florence
Florence knows what it means to be human. We love, we lose, we learn, and move on. This story follows a relationship from its first flickering to its final ember, and although that’s as sad as it sounds the misery isn’t the point. The message is that this is normal—this is life. Most relationships won’t last, and what’s important is what we learn during them and how that impacts the people that we’ll be if—or when—they do end. Florence captures this entire journey in elegant fashion, using the touchscreen to turn us into active participants in Florence’s life. It’s a modest game that’s made a deep impression, and proof that videogames don’t have to serve as a power fantasy or wish fulfillment to resonate with an audience.—Garrett Martin
2. Thirsty Suitors
Thirsty Suitors is a rich narrative that carefully and truthfully deals with culture, family, LGBTQIA+ issues, relationships, and self-expression. You meet and interact with a diverse range of characters in terms of race, personality, and gender and sexual identity, and each are developed and dealt with in their own unique ways. The plot introduces a number of different stories for Jala Jayaratne to unearth and resolve. When you’re trying to repair familial relationships, save Timber Hills’s skateboarding scene, and reconcile with exes, it’s hard for each of those stories to develop in complex and evenly-paced ways, but Thirsty Suitors does its best by giving every story its own focused element that defines it and supports the other stories.—Maddie Agne Jala is the cool and alternative skater girl I dreamt up when I was younger and wondering what my type was. She’s a vision. She also eschews many of the tropes of romantic characters in games, who are sometimes flattened by the need to be appealing to players by being the multi-faceted protagonist of the story. Sometimes Jala is even unlikeable, lending her dimensions that make her feel like a real person. Rather than turn me away from her, it only solidifies the crush I’ve developed on this character who skirts the line between reality and fantasy wonderfully.—Moises Taveras
1. Outer Wilds
It’d be easy to make Outer Wilds sound like a mash-up of familiar influences. It’s built around a recurring time loop like Majora’s Mask; you’ll fly from planet to planet in real time in search of ancient secrets, as in No Man’s Sky; you’ll explore a variety of eldritch mysteries baked into this solar system, not unlike a new-fangled Myst. Those ideas are implemented in such a unique and seamless way, though, that the total package feels unlike anything I’ve ever played before. It focuses on a race of gentle spacefarers who build rockets out of wood in order to map the other planets that circle their sun and dig up answers on ancient settlers who left wisdom spread throughout the galaxy. The developers have clearly thought long and hard about the alien universe they’ve created, from the specific nature of its physical laws, to the culture of the creatures who populate it. The result is a game that feels appropriately alien, strengthening our desire to unlock its mysteries and explore its culture.—Garrett Martin