In a year packed with great games, one thing that stands out most about 2024 is its wealth of incredible indies. Even though this year, massive blockbuster RPGs kept us playing for dozens of hours and games like Astro Bot found nearly universal acclaim, indies like Balatro and UFO 50 still found their way onto game-of-the-year lists and were even honored at the Game Awards. Indies are getting more mainstream attention than ever before, and it’s about time.

But it’s also been a year full of excellent indie games that haven’t gotten their due, the so-called hidden gems. What defines a “hidden gem” is admittedly imprecise. A lack of critical attention, low sales, and getting snubbed for major awards certainly help make the case. However you slice it, this year we’re honoring a few of the best games that may have flown under your radar.

If there’s a single Dragon Age character that ever made their way to Super Smash Bros, it should be the lovable dwarf Varric Tethras – at least that’s what Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche thinks.

“Can you imagine, in a game like Smash Bros, seeing him whip around the battlefield,” Busche tells Inverse, “You could smash someone back off the ledge by giving Bianca a good old toss, and don’t worry, it’ll ricochet, he’ll catch it. It writes itself.”

“It’s not lost on me, and it’s not lost on the team, how important these games are in people’s lives,” Busche says, “Coming into this game, that’s a tremendous feeling of accountability and of needing to be true and authentic to what these games mean to people.”

When it comes to authenticity in games, plenty of directors and developers talk the talk, but Busche is the rare game maker who delivers. From her time with The Sims to Dragon Age, Busche has always brought a deep sense of humanity to the game, putting characters first and never shying away from nuance or complexity in identity, relationships, and existential crises. It’s what makes Busche a leader in the industry, and why BioWare tried so hard to carry on the Dragon Age series’ legacy with Veilguard. But Busche isn’t finished yet. She’s come a long way in the industry and has wisdom to impart — and more projects to come.