Hello! As 2024 comes to a close, we want to reflect on what happened in our studio, in our games and in our Charles Games community!

To celebrate, we have prepared a short look back at what 2024 meant for our studio. But first: Charles Games will celebrate its FIFTH BIRTHDAY next year, so thank you for being with us! It’s a privilege to be able to make the games we do and to have fans like you.

And now, without further ado, let’s start with how…

It was the Playing Kafka year

The biggest release of 2024, for sure, was Playing Kafka. Released on May 21st, it was played by more than 150,000 of you and we are still astounded by the reception our joint project with Goethe-Institut received. You can reply to this e-mail to let us know if you read either The Castle, The Trial or Letter to His Father after playing our game. And it seems like its journey won’t end soon: Turkish localization was released only in December!

We remembered the Velvet Revolution with Velvet 89

This one is still fresh, so I’ll keep it short: seeing our first hidden object game leave the nest was a great part of our autumn. A continuation of our collaboration with People in Need was fruitful, with 45,000 players looking for protesters in Czechoslovak squares. And Velvet 89 was noticed by Rock Paper Shotgun, one of our favorite outlets. With Velvet 89 we continue the Charles Games tradition of making games about history that are both educational and (we hope) interesting for everyone. We still want to make that game about the wild ’90s, though…

We announced We Grew Up in War (and started showing it!)

It’s been a while since we released a commercial game and, well, that clock is ticking with We Grew Up in War (wishlist now, if you will)! A story of kids from Ukraine, Bosnia and Syria should hit the (virtual) shelves in 2026 and this year, we gave it a name, traveled the world (Reboot Develop, Gamescom Cologne) with our first demo and kept tirelessly working to perfect what we perceive as a very important project – it is partly about a conflict that is still ongoing, after all. We can’t wait for you to meet Mak, Melissa, Zeina and Anna. And we can’t wait for the other games developed as a part of the same MEMENTOES project to see the light of day!

Beecarbonize had a birthday and got an artbook

Our game with the most players to date (380,000+) turned one and got a special anniversary artbook (get it on Itch.io)! Beecarbonize (which you still keep playing, to our great delight) also got nominated for Playing for the Planet award and a special award for eco-project by Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic. How will the game surprise us in 2025?

Tereza joined Charles Games

In June, we got a new colleague – programmer Tereza Kotěšovcová, the author of the (really) well-received Planetka and an avid fan of all things related to board games.

We accelerated with EVA

Charles Games was selected for European Videogame Accelerator (EVA) by SpielFabrique. Connecting with experts, discussing business during workshops and honing our pitching skills is something we’ll carry forward. And we got to see the beautiful Málaga! Applications for 2025 are still open until 15 January and we wholeheartedly recommend applying.

Our games traveled the world at Infinite Universes

Thanks to a great efforts by Czech Centres and Vision Game, we were a part of a moving exhibition Infinite Universes. Japan! Hongkong! Ljubljana! We were truly happy to send our titles on this trip around the world. Thank you!

We kept working on Hannah, a project about climate for Iraqi schools

Cooperating with People in Need, we are made significant progress towards finally releasing a follow-up to our project Ashti, focused on educating schoolkids in Iraqi Kurdistan about all the different aspects of nature conservation, eco-protection and agricultural impact on the land. Albeit not a public-facing project, we are still very proud that Hannah can assist in educating people to make more informed choices.

We hopped on the Bluesky butterfly train

Follow us there, on what seems to be a really exciting place for game developers and enthusiasts. Right now, it feels like Twitter (ehm, X) in its better days – energetic and fun.

Christmas game (last minute gift?) tips

We love games and we love other people’s games too. So here are some of our favorites that might become yours or your relatives’/friends’/significant others’ too. Hence, without any particular order:

Judero (Steam)

Scottish claymation folklore-infused fever dream action RPG imbued with artistic sensibility that is hard to come by – be assured they did not pay us to write this sentence, because Judero is truly something different. Made by a long-time studio favorite Jack King-Spooner and Talha Kaya, Judero is a good pick for anybody looking for artistic titles. It contains an enemy named Haggis.

Tiny Glade (Steam)

It scarcely gets cozier than this. If you like games like Townscaper, this charming diorama builder could be right up your alley. Zero stress, only relaxing gameplay with sone of the most remarkable procedurally generated graphics we’ve seen.

Planet of Lana (website)

Save your family with a cute cat-like companion Miu after robots come to wreak havoc on your planet. A beautiful, heartfelt platformer that can be played with kids, it’s a really nice debut from the Swedish Wishfully Studios.

Ritual (BoardGameGeek)

A small, approachable and cooperative board game that is played during timed rounds without talking. Players play as shamans and strive to complete both public and secret quests, adding to the thrill of each short game session. A nice addition to any family/friend table.

And now, you’ve reached the end of our last newsletter in 2024!

We wish you the most peaceful holidays and a happy New Year and be assured that we truly can’t wait to continue our gamedev ride with you in 2025. We have big things coming. Looking forward sharing them with you, our fans, to whom we are eternally grateful.

The very best wishes,
Ondřej
Charles Games