We are New Game Plus, a video game-related website and streaming channel from Argentina. You may have seen us on the couch at GB @ Nite, but we're best known for being Grubb's weed distributors. You can watch our daily streams at twitch.tv/newgameplus.
Being a variety streaming channel is no easy task in the current Twitch landscape. You're probably better off sticking to one type of video game or playing whatever's trending. Don't get us wrong, it's amazing not playing the same game every day until you end up hating it. But when you try so many things throughout the year not everything works. Sometimes good games turn into bad streaming experiences.
That's why this year we're not writing a list of the best games of 2024. Instead, we're bringing you a list of our best experiences to play while streaming with your community.
GOAT is back and Game Pass has truly changed the way our community engages with this new Call Of Duty. In previous years we would not play as much as in 2024 for many reasons. But this time not only is the game perfect, but also the low price of Game Pass Ultimate in our country has made our viewers constantly thirsty for a couple of Team Deathmatch matches every day. We know this sounds like a Game Pass announcement, but we'd be lying if we didn't acknowledge the effect it's had on our enjoyment of the game (some of our fans even play it via the cloud while they're at work). Creating private rooms with 32 players and creating stupid random rules is a recipe for pure chaos and fun. Black Ops 6 is simply one of the best online experiences of the year and it's a blast to play with a community like ours.
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Do you remember Wordle? Remember all those clones that emerged from their success? Well, this is by far the best and playing it streaming is the closest we've ever felt to being video game experts. Basically you choose a game and it tells you if you guessed the year, platform or genre with the same color scheme as Wordle. We've been playing it for all of 2024 and have an undefeated streak of almost 300 guesses and it's an awesome way to reminisce about old games. Our viewers have saved us several times with suggestions, so it's basically a team effort, which is a strange thing to say about a game like this.
What more can we say about one of the most interesting stories of 2024? When we first saw it at State Of Play, we couldn't have been less excited about Arrowhead's new title. The first Helldivers didn't grab us and we didn't have high expectations for the second, especially given how shady Sony's live service strategy was being handled. We couldn't have been more wrong. Helldivers 2 is one of the most unique multiplayer experiences that puts collaboration, not competition, at the forefront. It's an intense and fun co-op experience like no other and feels alive in a way that other live service games couldn't even dream of. Every time we needed a fourth member for the team, the community was ready to fight for democracy. We can't wait to see how the game evolves in the coming years.
Yes, we know. It's a DLC, not a full game. But it's hands down one of the best experiences of 2024, even if you have to do a lot of nonsense in the base game to access it. We played Erdtree almost entirely on stream and it was a way for some of our audience to experience tremendous content that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to enjoy or get through. Radahn was a pain in the ass and made us change our entire build, but that doesn't take away from every amazing sight, every awesome new encounter, every fantastic new weapon, and the unforgettable Igon during Bayle's boss fight. Erdtree is everything Elden Ring already was, but more complex, detailed and challenging. It's amazing.
Oh boy. Where do we start with this one? We've never been able to use the whole opening packets trick because it would be financially reckless on our part. However, when the Pokémon TCG Pocket came into our lives, the excitement of sharing with everyone which card you have in a booster pack was basically costless. Every day we open at least one or two streaming packages and we even have spreadsheets with all kinds of statistics and probabilities. The entire community is playing too, even those who didn't like Pokémon in the first place. We almost never play games on streaming, we just collect the cards and that is a much healthier relationship with this type of game.
This is an odd entry on the list due to the very nature of the game. Animal Well is a dark, mysterious, clever and fascinating platformer that, on paper, wouldn't be the easiest game to play on streaming. However, we played it to the end and our audience was grateful for it. Solving puzzles together was a blast and discovering the mysteries of the world created by Billy Basso was one of the most satisfying experiences of the year. Give Animal Well a chance, it really deserves all the praise it has received.
Frostpunk 2 is a pretty good game that on a more traditional games of the year list it wouldn't have appeared. However, on this particular list is a top contender with one of the best Twitch integrations we've seen in a long time. This second installment is just as harsh and punishing as the first, but when you joke around in the chat, even the cruelest decisions become easier to swallow. There is a whole system where the audience can alter what laws are passed in the campaign and that has a huge impact on how successful you can be. Even if they're trolling while voting and choosing what seems to be the worst decision for the game's survivors, you never really know what to expect in Frostpunk 2 and you're constantly improvising. It is a good game that is greatly improved by playing it with an audience and condemning children to work in the mines for the greater good.
There were a ton of amazing games in 2024, even if we didn't spend too much time streaming them. Balatro consumed our lives, Prince Of Persia is the best game anyone ever played, Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth cemented Ichiban as one of the most lovable guys in gaming, and Astro Bot melted our hearts (and our thumbs with speedrunning levels ). We are incredibly lucky to be able to make a living playing these games and we don't take it for granted. We'll see what we come up with in 2025.