A slick cyberpunk platformer is battling with Palworld for the title of the best Steam release of 2024 so far.
Anomaly Agent is a pixel art platformer that puts a notable 1970s twist on the traditional 'neon-soaked' Cyberpunk palette. It's a little more disco, but it reminds me of Katana Zero, 2019's similarly grungy, time-bendy, katana-swinging platforming effort. Combat seems fast-paced, with plenty of different ways to take on your foes or attempt to stay out of trouble.
If you don't want to take my word for it, however, there are 4,500 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Steam reviews to back my claim up. And if that's still not enough, perhaps take notice of the fact that Anomaly Agent is one of the highest-rated games on Steam right now, and it's vying with survival smash-hit Palworld as one of the best-recieved games of the year.
Steam250, a website dedicated to algorithmically tracking the best user-reviewed Steam games, offers Anomaly Agent a score of 8.37 out of ten, only a handful of points behind Palworld on 8.43. But over on SteamDB, a different algorithm puts Anomaly Agent above Palworld, at scores of 93.76% and 92.97%, respectively. Interestingly, the top three on both sites is rounded out by a Japanese-language game, My Little Shark, which seems to be a riff on Tamagotchi, but is also tagged with 'Psychological Horror' on Steam. That sits in third place on Steam250, but tops the rankings on SteamDB.
There's a part of me that wants to describe Anomaly Agent as 'underrated', but with this many glowing reviews, I don't really think that's accurate - I imagine it's simply escaped my notice beneath Palworld's juggernaut status. Regardless, it's definitely earned its spot on my radar - I'm genuinely intrigued by the worldbuilding, and I'm a big fan of the combined speed and heft of the combat in its trailers. We might only be one full month into 2024, but I'll be interested to see whether this gains some extra cult attention.
Keep track of this year's biggest releases with our guide to new games 2024.
