2024 Game of the Year

After last year, I thought there was no way in hell 2024 would be able to offer a comparable swath of such enjoyable vidya gamin as 2023.

And it didn't.

BUT, it sure got a lot closer than I was ever expecting it would. For a better part of the year I was struggling to even have a close to full list of 10 games I thought felt worthy of being on a list, but now I'm flirting with extending the list to accommodate all of the great stuff I was able to play and love. As I'm only one human man, some of the notable games that could've possibly made my list based on my own interests are Mouthwashing, Steamworld Heist 2, and Minishoot' Adventures among others. I usually update my lists as a play things so maybe they'll make it on there.

GAMES THAT I LOVED THAT DIDN'T COME OUT THIS YEAR THAT I PLAYED THIS YEAR

I play enough new stuff that I always have full lists of games for the current year that fill out my list, but as mentioned before, there's always stuff that slips out from previous years or time for stuff from long ago. Here's a few non-2024 games that I played this year that earned their due to be talked about.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission

Seems sensible this is an ultra low stakes spoiler for things to come, but after playing 2024's Astro Bot I was not ready to be done with Astro. Fortunately, I happen to have a PSVR lying around and I was ultimately so put off by the shortcomings of the hardware that I never saw Rescue Mission through and ended up playing through the first world. Well, better late than never I guess but I suddenly understood what some of the hardcore VR heads were talking about in threads feeling a little disappointed the new Astro would not be VR compatible. Rescue Mission is so fun and inventive that it is honestly tough for me to choose between this one and 2024 for which was more enjoyable. The level structure and execution is by and large identical which was a surprise to see how in tact this formula was a long 6 years ago and VR only adds to the fun of seeking out every single last hiding bot.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

This was my second time playing this but the first time around many years ago I made it to the ice dungeon, took a long break, and then was hopelessly lost and confused and never went back. I ended up returning to this while on vacation and got the majority of it done on 2 plane trips and that ended up being the ideal setting for it because there were at least 3 instances where I would've been reaching for a guide to point me in the right direction. However, my plane had some pretty awful in flight wifi and it just wasn't an option. I needed to raw dog the puzzles and exploration and while some of it definitely reflects a game released in 2005 (NA), it's still pretty brilliant how grand of an adventure Capcom was able to squeeze onto the GBA with this fantastic Zelda title.

MY TEN FAVORITE GAMES I PLAYED IN 2024

Ok here's the list! (one honorable mention first)

Honorable Mention: Rusty's Retirement

This little pseudo idle farming game that lives on the bottom of your desktop was open on mine for almost 200 hours this year. I made 5 different farms, got all the achievements, and simply had a blast working toward a more automated farm. As someone who works from home, having a little brain break every so often to make up for the lack of physical coworkers is pretty crucial. So having something to check in on every 30 minutes or so that's cute, fun, and satisfying has been such a welcome thing in my workflow. It's funny to think about how a game can benefit my workflow, but it honestly really did. It had its place, ready to be returned to when I was ready to have a little break for some reliable fun. It's not only its unusual "bottom of the desktop" gimmick that won me over, this is also a very, very good part idle game, part automation game, part farming sim that would've been extremely satisfying full screen as well, but the dev was smart enough to know that this would fill a very particular niche of desire I never even knew I had prior to playing this.

10. Animal Well

Animal Well would've soared up my list if I wasn't so stupid. I was able to get through the base game and solve many of its less obtuse optional puzzles on my own without any outside help, but once my completionist urge really kicked in after rolling the credits, the most interesting part of this game - finding the secrets - was experienced largely through a guide. Don't get me wrong, I think this game is very achievable and enjoyable without outside help as long as you're okay not finding EVERYTHING. It's just that some of the stuff that is really difficult to uncover is so cool! It's both admirable and personally frustrating that some of these secrets are so hidden and that is why it comes in at 10. This is the first game that evoked Fez for me since Fez, one of my all time favorite games. A game that completely speaks its own language is so rare that cherishing them when they come along is important to me. The mysteries in this are not only just cool revelations, but often game changing mechanics I've never seen in any other game. In the year of the solo developer, Billy Basso put his name on my and many others' map with Animal Well.

9. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

This was my personal dream scenario for revisiting NES games: small, short (generally), non-annoying challenges meant to be speed ran with grades, completion goals, and a great menu to indicate progress and accomplishments. As someone who is still WAAAAAY too into trophies and achievements and also is an older guy with plenty of NES nostalgia, this hit so perfectly. I put a ton of time into this and S ranked every challenge, got all the pins...did all the things pretty much. It definitely reaffirmed some negative biases toward some games like Ice Climber and Kid Icarus, but even in these cases, the challenges are so self contained that the greater annoyances of those games don't entirely permeate the experience with their challenges. When it comes to the great games in this collection like Mario 1 and 3 though, the format of this game amplifies how great they are as repeating the challenges to get higher grades is never not fun and is honestly the way I would prefer to return to those games rather than sitting down with the original product. The whole "classified information" thing (pictured above) for the final challenge of each game is so joyful

8. Crow Country

I really loved this experience. Slight as it may be, its 4-5 hour run time feels appropriately full. It never overstays its welcome, it has great variety in its areas, and it tells a full and satisfying horror story. The game is essentially one big puzzle box and its puzzles are very well tuned - neither too obtuse nor too easy, every time I came upon a solution I felt like I really solved it rather than lucking into a solution or needing to resort to looking up hints or solutions. The PS1 aesthetic fits really well and I appreciate the commitment to both the horror games of yesteryear while not abandoning modern conveniences and expectations. I have a pretty terrible memory, but despite playing this a couple months ago I think I could still completely blaze through this game as it's still cemented into brain.

7. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

I played a few metroidvanias this year and it's certainly one of my favorite game genres. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown represents one of the more shining examples of what is satisfying about a metroidvania and does so well to curb some of their more common annoyances. The innovations with the map design and the fluidity of combat and exploration are extremely notable here and it all adds up to being a very cohesive and polished end product that is a joy to play. The Lost Crown has plenty of intriguing secrets that are by and large worth going for in terms of reward, but more importantly, they are fun to find. The shining star of PoP though is its combat which is neither a pushover nor remotely insurmountable. I felt cool fighting in this game. It's one of those where the moves you're able to pull off look more difficult than they actually are and the visual feedback of your attacks is dazzling. Its art design can be a little hit or miss, but even at its worst, it doesn't do anything to detract from what this game does so well.

6. Stellar Blade

So, if everything in Stellar Blade was as immaculately designed as its boss encounters and its general combat design, it would be battling for the 1 spot. The boss fights are so fun in this. They present a modest amount of challenge (in my opinion, if you're able to play From Soft games this is no trouble at all), look amazing, and present enough unique mechanics without ever becoming gimmicky. You can get through MOST fights just dodging and swinging if you want, but there's a great level of depth to the combat that when strung altogether against literally ANY of the bosses, it feels spectacular every time. Unfortunately, Stellar Blade's exploration, world detail, and platforming fall a fair amount short compared to its amazing combat, music, and bosses. The elephant in the room with Stellar Blade for any normal human is going to its sexy costumes and the culture war surrounding it all but I'll be honest, if you just don't join the subreddit and ignore the online weirdos, it really doesn't get in the way of anything. Sure, you can dress up Eve (an absurdly hot humanoid android) in swimwear and lingerie if you want to and there's nothing wrong with the creators creating a sexy lady nor is there any issue looking at a sexy lady. It gets weird when losers start using this as an example of what modern gaming has gotten away from due to some woke culture war. With the amount of ass crack shots in the cutscenes, maybe the devs at Shift Up do align with the mission of these morons, but moreover, it just FEELS like an attempt to ape Nier and Bayonetta but they forgot to make Eve a remotely interesting character like 2b or Bayonetta. That's all to say that the weird stuff is here, it definitely exists, but I don't think it interferes with what are some truly fantastic moments and sequences unless you choose for it to.

5. Another Crab's Treasure

Delightful is the best word for Another Crab's Treasure. The game is a needs to be played to be believed combination of a mascot platformer and a souls-like that works on both levels without any real sacrifice. There's a very slight squishiness to the combat that isn't present in the best souls games, but considering what this is - the size, scope, and especially expectations - it earns more than enough forgiveness for its few non-perfections. When this was announced, it looked like it'd be a fun goof and never was I expecting this to be a great souls game with real combat depth and smartly designed enemy and boss encounters. Turns out we got one of the better non From Software developed souls-likes currently available second only to Lies of P for me. The under the sea setting is a ton of fun and the game does so much to make the most use out of it as possible as the ground is littered with...well...litter to be used as collectibles and shells for Kril (our brave hero). The shells are a real fun way to vary combat styles as each offers a different ability, shield durability, and overall playstyle. Overall, this is just a blast of a game that is everything it sets out to be - funny and cute while being a lighter but still tough souls-like underneath its visual and narrative shell.

4. Balatro

Not a whole lot can be said about Balatro that hasn't already been said. This game is currently receiving its flowers this "award season" and rightly so. This is a hopelessly addictive gameplay loop that is nearly at all times satisfying and rewarding. Building my collection of jokers and slowly but surely learning their nuances and use cases was such a fun wrinkle on top of an already fun card game. It's the synergies of your builds in Balatro that really get the dopamine train rolling. That feeling of getting some great early draws and lighting the score numbers on fire in one hand is so sickly enjoyable that it was impossible for me to not keep coming back for more. I didn't get AS hooked on this as I did on Monster Train for example, but all the same elements are there. Despite thinking this might be one of the most replayable deck building rogue likes I'm aware of, I did kind of fall off once the escalating difficulties become more and more dependent on excellent RNG in the first blind to succeed. It did eventually make me fall off of the game knowing I would just have to slog through the RNG or play on lower difficulties I had already completed. It's the game's one blemish in my opinion but it's nowhere near damning enough to keep it from my top 5.

3. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

What an awesome surprise. I really didn't know what to expect when I first learned Machine Games was making an Indiana Jones game but I do know I never expected them to hit it out of that park as well as they did. What is most special about the Great Circle is that while you could make a comparison to Dishonored, the real best way to describe it is that it's an Indiana Jones game, as if tons of them just like this exist (they don't). Not that this matters, but it feels so appropriately tuned into its source material that there doesn't feel like a logical place to place this in its own canon. This is everything the original trio is and frankly, I think the story in and of itself is the most compelling Indy story available. That doesn't even address the fact that you get to play this one and it's genuinely fantastic to do so. It is mostly a stealth game with light immersive sim elements ala Dishonored, but it's so light, forgiving, and dopey that it, again, feels so tuned into its source material. I should NOT be taking an Indiana Jones story super seriously, and it goes a long way to fully integrating that idea that I also don't have to take the gameplay too seriously. If I alert a whole camp of Nazis, no big deal, I'll just run 100 feet away and get back in there. It's funny and dumb without sacrificing the feeling of real adventure. There are some genuinely jaw dropping environments, moments, and reveals in this and the game sells it all near perfectly through its fantastic visuals, shockingly good voice acting, and immersive gameplay and exploration. On top of all of it, this game is a good old fashioned collect-athon and when done well, that's such a huge selling point for me.

2. Astro Bot

If you could put physically encase joy, it'd be a copy of Astro Bot. There simply isn't a moment in Astro Bot that isn't fun. From piloting your dual sense ship in space, to crash landing in the level you're taking on, to finding each and every last bot and collectible the game has to offer, there was always an overwhelming sense of how much fun I was having. The game does a great job of earning your interest too. Each planet and level has new gameplay gimmicks to enjoy that aren't overly repeated, if repeated at all. Some of the bots you find are great little moments of "oh my god, it's that guy!" *spoilers* Just being a fan of video games should be enough to put aside the cynicism of this essentially being one big Playstation circle jerk. What a circle jerk it is! The finale has you riding on and firing a PS5 controller at aliens as legacy Playstation hardware follows behind and next to you aiding your cause until you end up fighting the big bad on top of a Playstation 5. Writing that makes me giddy and I got to play it. The post launch additions of the speed running levels and the Holiday themed level have also been marvelous (the speed running levels aren't entirely created equal but whatever). It's just so rare that everything in a package makes me happy every moment I'm engaging with it and Astro Bot achieved that. The bright and squishy visuals, the music, the tightness of the gameplay, the nostalgia and fan service...it's lovingly and carefully created and maintained. It would be number 1 most years I think, but...

1. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring was my game of the year with a bullet in 2022 and yes, I did kind of struggle with justifying Shadow of the Erdtree's merits as my game of the year for 2024 as it is not stand alone content, requires not only the base game to function, but also requires dozens of hours in that base game to reach, and ultimately stands on the shoulders of its base game content to achieve the level of brilliance it does. However. What I did to experience SotE as much as I could was no small feat: I was worried about not getting the experience I wanted with the DLC with my base game character who was in the middle of NG+3, so I started a new game. I played the whole game again and had my character all ready. I had 3 more days until the DLC launched. So I played the game 1 more time to ensure I could replay the DLC when I finished it. I've never been the proud Elden Ring player who defeats everything summonless, but after completing the DLC once, I felt like "what the hell, let's give it a go." I replayed the base game again summonless and then took on the DLC summonless as well. It's not my preferred way to play, but I did it and it was a blast. This is all to say, I NEVER GOT SICK OF THIS GAME. I basically committed my game time for the summer to it. I only moved on because I felt like I should? It made sense to break the cycle of replaying Elden Ring because I would have to at some point and I had gotten what I wanted out of it by that point.

Specifically for Shadow of the Erdtree, the way the maps weaves and bends over the top of itself is something I don't think I've ever seen in a video game. The amount of times I could see where I wanted to go but had no idea how to get there was joyfully frustrating. The map can feel a little small in one sense as it is mostly 2 hub areas with branching paths coming off of them, but the layers to the map makes it more or less feel the same size as the base game's - it's just vertical rather than horizontal. Pretty crazy stuff. The boss designs are some of the best I've ever seen. Each one more intimidating and more beautiful than the last. No doubt, these boss fights are hard, some of them I would still argue could be tuned a bit lighter, but the difficulty is juxtaposed by how much of a spectacle they are to behold. The dungeons are bar none just better than they are in base Elden Ring. The first big one you get to with the Dancing Lion boss at the end is perhaps my favorite area in the entirety of ER.

I really love Elden Ring and I'd be lying to myself if I said this wasn't my favorite gaming experience of this year.