The 2024 Moosies Video Game Awards Part II!

Hey! If you missed Part I, here's a handy link! Okay, enough preamble, let's go!

5. Castletroid of the Year: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

It's funny to think about this game in the context of it being not just a Ubisoft game, but a modern Ubisoft game, because in so many ways it's the exact opposite of what they've become known for. Tightly focused, and polished to a sheen, it's what I wish more games were like. Maybe not all, for its issues, I have enjoyed the open world jankiness of Outlaws, at least when it's goofy. Less so when it makes me relaunch the game.

Thankfully, The Lost Crown is about as far away from that as can be. It's still not a linear game, so that more open exploration focus does make it at least a little similar to what Ubisoft is known for, but that's because it's a Castletroid game (or, you know Metroidvania if you want to use that term). Which is itself a genre that has, especially in the indie scene, been done to death over time too. What was once a rare sight is now ubiquitous in that realm, but still rare from the big publishers. We were incredibly lucky to get Metroid Dread a few years ago, and even luckier that it was an excellent game.

That's true here too! It'd been so long since the last Prince of Persia game (2010, though the last one I played was the 2008 reboot (a game I still have a strong fondness for)) that it really felt like it was never coming back. Aside from that Sands of Time remake, but given Ubisoft's current not so great state, I'm not even counting on that. But we actually got two Princes of Persia in 2024, with the Rogue Prince of Persia as well, though I've not tried that (it's a rogue-like, and they made him purple instead of brown, haha).

Anyway, Prince of Persia plus the classic “search-action” design seemed like it was a perfect match, one that left me super excited...except it had the misfortune of releasing right before an onslaught of games. I only have so much money, and I had to see what wacky adventures Ichiban and crew were getting up to, so it wasn't until the fall that I actually got around to playing The Lost Crown. Which, in a way ended up being a positive because I got to play after they added in a bunch of fun (and very hard!) challenge rooms, and the paid DLC. Which was also very good!

There's a lot of things that go into making one of these games good, and it's kind of a lot of different sort of game “disciplines.” The platforming not only needs to feel really good, but there's also got to be some cool powers on top of the basic running and jumping. But there's got to be combat too (well, at least usually), and ideally integrated well into the flow of the areas so it doesn't feel forced. And there's got to be secrets, reasons to go back to older areas, because otherwise why not just make it linear?

The Lost Crown nails all of it. Even from the get go, moving through the game feels great, and only gets better as more abilities are unlocked. There's basic stuff like a double jump and dash, but also way more imaginative stuff that leads to some pretty devious designs. Probably the coolest one (I guess ability spoiler) is leaving a “ghost” behind, and being able to warp back to that spot. There's some real mind bending puzzles, though mostly they're optional, but I had a blast scratching my head through them.

The combat is a lot of fun too, and importantly all the traversal abilities play into this too. Like using the aforementioned ability, whatever you were doing when you create that “ghost,” you continue doing again when you warp back. So, charge up an attack that sends an energy blast forward, create the “ghost,” let go of the button to shoot the shot, then rewind to the ghost and shoot another shot instantly. Or, just use it to get behind an enemy before it can turn around and block, as another quick example.

As far as secrets and hidden goodies go...well, you'll just have to play the game and find out. I will say, it has one of the most useful features I've ever seen in one of these games, which is the ability to take a screenshot in game, and connect that to its location on the map. Leaving a little icon as a reminder to go back somewhere is nice, but nicer is being able to directly look at the spot from the map itself. Rather than spending ten minutes navigating there, only to remember I don't even have the right ability yet. Funnily enough, there is a limit to how many screenshots you have, but expanding that is one of the collectibles!

It's not anything award winning, but the story is good too. Rather than actually playing as the titular “Prince of Persia,” the protagonist is Sargon. A street urchin turned mercenary, turned would be hero as he attempts to save the Prince of Persia, unravel a deeper mystery around him, and some time traveling/universe hopping shenanigans. Again, nothing amazing, but it's good!

But I can't stress enough how great this game just feels to play. Whether it's getting the perfect parry on the special attacks that leads into the cool finisher animations, or just narrowly avoiding countless death traps, it's just a great game. And importantly, one that feels like a Prince of Persia game should. When I say “platforming,” I don't mean just hopping and “wahooing” around like Mario. I mean timing wall jumps to avoid spikes, swinging off poles, and using special powers to get through some, at times almost malicious series of death traps. Again, the hardest stuff in the game is optional, the main path is fairly reasonable, but still not the easiest game around.

For the sickos though, it's the right kind of tough. And importantly, the game feels so good, that whenever I died (a lot!), it always felt like it was my fault. The more I practiced those tough bits, the better I got. What felt like insurmountable cliffs eventually became bits I sailed through as I got to the even tougher parts. Yes, they got frustrating at times, but every challenge I set myself to beat in this game, I did. I got to the top of that challenge mountain, in one continuous trek. It only took dozens of tries (maybe hundreds?), but I did it! The platforming and puzzle challenges were great, but I didn't do all the combat challenges, because they don't let you bring in all your upgrades. Which is fine, I did the stuff I wanted to, and had fun.

Definitely a bummer to see the team that made this incredible game got more or less disbanded, but at least (so far as I saw), they weren't fired, just moved to other parts of Ubisoft. Rumor is some of them are working on a Rayman remake, which is...better than just being on support for an Assassin's Creed, but also... If an absolutely incredible Prince of Persia game didn't meet the sales numbers they needed it to, I really don't see how a Rayman game will either. But hey, those last two Rayman platformers were also superb, so here's hoping that stays true here.

Anyway, if you slept on The Lost Crown (as I did for quite a while), don't. Play this game! It excels at everything it does, and I really wish the big publishers would make more medium sized games like this. Something of this scope, at this production level isn't going to come out of the indie scene, and more than ever I think we need more games of this size. They just really need to find a better time of year to release this stuff. I say, as Ubisoft prepares to launch the next Assassin's Creed weeks before it gets completely overshadowed by Monster Hunter.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown also wins:

• Search-action platforming of the year.
• "Video Game Black Guy Hair Style" of the year.
• Sliding of the year.
• Wall jumping of the year.
• Neatest map features of the year.
• Floor spikes of the year.
• Needlessly spinning metal blades of death of the year.
• Customizable difficulty of the year.
• Most challenging challenges of the year.
• Coolest moving stairs of the year.
• Sewer level of the year.
• Annihilation, 2018 of the year.
• Dimension shifting of the year.
• Mimic of the year.
• End credits rap of the year.

Deck-Like Rogue-Builder of the Year: Balatro.

I've never really been a fan of actual poker, which makes it fitting that the “poker” game I've enjoyed the most only bears a passing resemblance to its inspiration. Though, come to think of it, I don't know that I've ever played actual poker against other people, with real cards. Only ever minigames in other, non-card based games. A little bit in Red Dead, or that Luigi poker mode in Super Mario 64 DS, that sort of thing. Sabacc is close enough, so include Outlaws in that too.

Actual poker is more about reading opponents, and knowing when to push your luck than anything else, whereas Balatro is about building a deck and getting upgrades to make the biggest numbers possible. It's as much a math game as it is a card game, probably even more so. The luck of the draw can still play a big role in the outcome of any given hand, but smart enough deck building can overcome the odds, and all but guarantee comically large numbers.

The thing that makes writing about Balatro tricky is that while I could sit here and just describe all the different types of cards, upgrades, etc, none of that would convey the almost trance-like state really getting into this game can evoke. Not like a “Tetris effect” sort of trance, that's more like your brain turns off and you become one with the Tetris. Balatro needs more thinking than that, like I said, it's a math game at its core. But the mellow music, and the trippy backgrounds lull your other senses, so all you see are the cards, and the numbers, as you just keep going, one more, one more, one more...

Thing is, as great a game as it is, I'm also not obsessed with it like a lot of other people are. As of this writing, I've only played it once in the last few months, and that was mostly to refresh myself. It's why I keep scratching my head any time people act like it's the best game of the year. I'm not going to sit here and tell any person their favorite game of a year shouldn't be their personal game of the year (unless it's something objectively reprehensible, but in that case I probably wouldn't talk to them at all), but...eh...

Which is why, after a lot of deliberation, it didn't make my top ten. It did for quite a while! Then I decided to put Outlaws on there instead. Don't get me wrong, Balatro is a really fun game! It's definitely a game you can lose time to. I think the huge variety in the cards is fantastic. Even just the idea of incorporating different types of cards (like tarot) into a “poker” game is clever, let alone how much they can change up a run. And I almost forgot the Jokers! Truly, we live in a society...

Anyway, Balatro is a great game, and I couldn't be happier that it received the success it has. It's always amazing to see small games like this blow up, and I'm glad. I should spend a little more time with it. Just...one more...

Balatro also wins:

• Card Game of the Year.
• Jokers of the Year.
• Biggest (and most obscene) Numbers of the Year.

4. Co-op Game of the Year: Helldivers II.

What a journey Helldivers II had in 2024. Before launch it felt like the only people who cared, or even knew about it were weirdos like me that actually played the first game. But then, after it came out, and word spread about just how great it is, it blew up. So many more people than anyone, especially the devs at Arrowhead ever expected. Arguably too many given the strain on the servers, haha. But, eventually it stabilized, the game was consistently functional, and I managed to play a good amount of it with friends, and friends of friends.

Then there was all the stuff with the PSN account requirement on PC, which got removed, but I think that resulted in the game being removed from sale in countries that aren't officially PSN supported? I don't know that this ever got resolved? Anyway, I don't know enough about that to say, but I do know that between then and now things got a little rough for Helldivers II.

For my personal friend circles, interest in it kinda plummeted when The Final Shape released because the Destineers in my life focused on that. Which is fair, I played a lot of it too, but I kept wanting to get back to Helldivers II. For as much as I love Destiny 2 when it is at its best, it suffers from something that I think a lot of co-op games do, which is that it often feels less like you're actually cooperating, and more like you're just playing a mission alongside other players. Things like the raids, and dungeons require that level of cooperation and coordination, but sadly that's by far the minority of what there is to do in that game.

I wrote about it previously, but effective play in Helldivers II, especially at higher difficulties, really requires players cooperate and coordinate with each other. At least in my experience, I've shied away from trying to play with randos. But also that's because accidentally blowing up your friend can be funny, while accidentally blowing up another player I don't know would make me feel bad.

Anyway, for a good while there, it started to feel like Arrowhead was actively shooting their game in the foot with every update. They were putting out Warbonds (Helldivers II's battle pass equivalent, except they don't expire) at way too fast a clip. Worse, they were nerfing things left and right, also while putting out new stuff in the Warbonds that tended to seem really great early on, as if to make people want to buy in... Only for that stuff to get nerfed later.

Now, for me personally, the stuff I gravitated toward never really got hit with any bad nerfs. The Sickle energy weapon technically had its reserve batteries (or heat sinks, I forget) halved, but played effectively, you never need to actually use them. And that same update fixed the bug where it couldn't shoot through bushes, so I still think it was an overall buff.

My friends though, some of their favorite weapons got hit really hard with the nerfs, and didn't want to play any more. So...we didn't, for a good while there. Until finally, Arrowhead got the feedback, and alongside other reworks across the game, undid most of the nerfs, did a bunch of other buffs, and I think the game is currently in a great spot. Plus, they even buffed my trusty auto-cannon, giving it access to a second ammo type. Flak! It's cool! And you can just swap between the two types on the fly, you don't even need to reload!

The game is still absolutely just as capable of pushing you up against a wall, feeling like the odds are entirely against you, but still letting you fight your way out, and find that path to victory. Moments where it feels like all is lost, then a friend shows up and saves you, or you do the same for them. Or moments where the whole squad gets overwhelmed, split up, and we all scramble separately, just barely scraping by the skin of our collective teeth, until we regroup and turn the tide. It's tremendous fun, and frankly, I still want to play more!

As far as the ongoing war stuff goes, I haven't paid as close attention to it as I did in the early weeks, but something funny happened, to me specifically. When I write The Moosies, I spread it out across the whole of December, using an outline to guide me as I write it section by section. And, by sheer luck, I wrote about Helldivers II on...December 12. The morning of the day of The Game Awards, which for anyone who doesn't keep up with things, is when they stealth announced and dropped the third enemy faction, The Illuminate.

The same day I included a paragraph saying I was surprised they weren't in yet!

And The Illuminate...are intense. It's wild how we can go into this game, already having dozens of hours of experience fighting the other two factions, then come face to face with a new threat that makes us rethink our strategies. Yes, the bugs would often swarm up with larger numbers, but none of their units or “buildings” have energy shields. The heavier units (at least that are currently in, I can only assume the real nightmares of The Illuminate are still waiting), like the big War of the Worlds tripod, have a giant shield. You can actually walk through it, but they have a defensive electric turret that'll shock you if you aren't equipped right. But my friend Kevin came up with a loadout to combat that, with electric resistant armor, a handheld shield, and a big prod to hit it in the legs!

Anyway, my strat was to use my Sickle energy gun to whittle away the shield, then pound it with the auto-cannon. But that's the beauty of the game, there's usually no one specific way to defeat the more powerful enemies, but they're tough enough that you need at least a strategy to deal with them.

Oh, and another thing they added? A Halo Warthog-esque truck, with enough space for a full squad, and even a turret on the back. What really makes this an incredible addition, though? You need to shift it into reverse to back up. It also has neutral, and a first and second gear in addition to drive, just to really make you think, haha. I only got to try it inside the new urban area type, and the streets have enough broken down cars in the way that I didn't really get it up fast enough to tell what, if any difference there is between D, 1, and 2. But it was fun to tool around it, and try to run over the hoards of zombified Voteless.

Yes, the official term for The Illuminate's basic enemy type, which are just zombies, is Voteless. You know, because The Illuminate have stolen their freedom, and right to vote.

What a stupid game, I love it so much. Still, the goofy sense of humor aside, there's something special about Helldivers II. No other game quite feels like it. Even the first game does not have anything resembling the scale, or awe and wonder of this one. There's still nothing else out there that hits the same as launching an ICBM in Helldivers II. Just like there's nothing else quite like being chased down by a hoard of Voteless amidst a sprawling town, only to turn a corner and wind up in the shadow of a towering alien tripod, its blue death laser charging up to obliterate you.

I've played a good number of co-op games over the years. Some are all timers, and some are old faithfuls I keep coming back to, for better or worse. Plenty I just play a few times, and even if I wish I'd played more, they end up being forgotten in the long run. I would love if this one became an old faithful my friends and I keep coming back to for years to come, but even if I never played it again, I think it'll still stick with me. In the same way that I still, on a regular basis, wish I had played more Deep Rock Galactic than I had. Just something about these space bug fighting games with a comedic tone that speaks to me, I guess (though I'm glad Helldivers II has more than one enemy faction).

I'd be remiss, after this, the year of Wilbert Roget (he also scored a Gundam show and Star War Outlaws, among other things), if I didn't mention the incredible soundtrack at least one more time. Both Roget's music, and the way it's used across the game, building up alongside the action, dying down when things calm down. And of course the swelling main theme as the brave soldiers of Super Earth Helldive down to the planets, ready to dispense Managed Democracy to the vile forces of evil... Just tremendous. He even wrote some pretty good galaxy map music! It's just close enough to Mass Effect to satisfy me.

This game is so good part of me wants to rank it even higher than I have. If it hadn't been for those months where the balance drove my friends away, I probably would have. As is, I think in the top five is a solid place. Now, just to wait and see if it can properly get into a regular rotation with my friends again, instead of something we play once or twice a month.

Helldivers II also wins:

• Diving to prone of the year.
• Nameable ship of the year.
• Satirical fascism of the year.
• Managed Democracy of the year.
• Exploding bugs of the year.
• Socialist (singing) robots of the year.
• Blood splatter of the year.
• Cape physics of the year.
• Forklift lore of the year.
• Time of day changing of the year.
• Best jumping through the air whilst firing a gun.
• Liber-Tea of the year.
• Scope simulation of the year.
• ICBMs of the year.
• Friendly fire of the year.
• Explosions of the year.
• Co-op weapon reloading of the year.
• Loading screen tips of the year.
• Galaxy Map music of the year.
• Wilbert Roget soundtrack of the year.
• Best sound design.
• Destructibility of the year.
• Mech Game of the Year.
• Hellish Dive of the year: Malevelon Creek.
• War of the Worlds of the year.
• Vehicle shifting of the year.
• Best dumb enemy name of the year: Voteless.

Expansion of the year: Destiny 2: The Final Shape.

Now, normally when I write about Destiny 2 in The Moosies, it's just my usual Destiny 2 check in. And frankly, for as much as I like Destiny 2, the check ins usually come off feeling more negative than anything else. But, this year, The Final Shape was so good that I wanted to do it a little differently. The culmination of a decade of Destiny. A story that started out all but completely incomprehensible, but ended with a crescendo like little else I've played. One with probably more downs than ups, but the ups were so high that I always came back.

At Bungie's lowest point in years, they had everything to prove, yet they pulled it off. The story, the missions, the new zone, the new activities, the new subclass (at least for Warlock) they were all great. The raid (which I never got to do, sadly), by all accounts is really good too, though it sounds like the longest and most difficult one Bungie's ever made. They did everything right, even when faced with horrible problems, like the passing of Lance Reddick. I still miss him, I'm sure everyone else does out there too.

Of course, I wrote plenty about it before, so I don't need to go into all the nitty gritty details now. Suffice it to say, I liked The Final Shape so much that I wanted to have one more, entirely positive thing written about it. Good work deserves good praise, rather than...layoffs, but that's just the awful world we live in.

Now, of course Destiny 2 isn't the only “forever game” I find myself drawn to, and I have not entirely retired the “check in” segment. Perhaps I have more to say about other games, and some of the...less positive thoughts I have on the current state of Destiny 2, further along. Who can say! Keep reading to find out.

3. Most Delightful Game of the Year: Astro Bot.

I've written so much about nostalgia recently, that I feel like anyone reading this is probably getting sick of it. As much as saying this game inspired me to replay all five Uncharted games (the Vita one doesn't count) is a testament to Astro Bot's impact on me, I'll try not to focus on that. Instead, I'll write about what makes Astro so charming.

While in the midst of writing The Moosies, Astro Bot received another level as a bonus, free bit of DLC. “Holiday” (ie, basically just Christmas) themed, it's not a huge sprawling level, but a perfect distillation of all the care, and love that was poured into this game. It features all the power-ups, along with one or two things to do with each of them, and of course a handful of new cameos. Characters of...I'll saying varying levels of iconic. I'm not really sure if (SPOILERS) anyone out there genuinely loves Gex the Gecko, but I was happy to see Rayman and the two Spider-Men.

But just picking up the controller, feeling all the fun haptics and stuff the triggers do, seeing all the adorable robo-critters dancing around decorated trees and snowy doodads, it just warmed my cold heart up all over again. Never mind this finally being a second level to use the Mouse power-up, and that little hidey-hole is just adorable. I just adore how much went into making every little thing about this game burst with joy, and charm.

And it's fun to just hop and jump around, using the power-ups to solve puzzles. No, none of them are really that hard, if I was going to have any issue with the game, it's still that the main through line is a bit too easy, and all the actual challenge is hidden away in optional stuff. But you know, as much as the nostalgia is there for people my age and older, it's meant for all ages, especially kids, so I get it. I'm just saying, if they want to sell a pack of more challenging levels, I'd buy it! Assuming it was reasonably priced.

I already mentioned The Game Awards once (which frankly is already once more than I should have), but as much as other video game awards don't really matter to The Moosies, I am glad to see something like Astro Bot win there. As video games keep getting bigger, and more expensive to make, an already unstable industry is only going to get shakier and shakier. And let me be clear, I know Astro is not a “small” budget game, it's a “medium” budget game at the lowest.

But by PlayStation standards? It has to have been a lot cheaper than something like Spider-Man 2, which has sold around eleven million copies, yet somehow didn't make back its three hundred million dollar budget. Now, I'm not a mathematician, but there must have either been some other cost they needed this game to cover, or a lot of people bought it on sale, because at seventy bucks a pop, I don't know that this all adds up... (Hashtag follow the money, blame the execs).

Anyway, the point being is that both from the perspective of something like Astro Bot being, I hope, a more sustainable size of game to produce, but also just for what kind of game it is. Yes, I love big budget blockbuster extravaganzas too, Spider-Man 2 was one of my favorite games last year. Not every game needs to, or can be that, we need more games like Astro Bot. Games about the sheer joy of play. Games that are cute, and funny, and silly. Games that are creative.

We get those, but they're almost all small games no one has ever heard of. My point, is that when you have PlayStation putting out a game like Astro, to critical and public acclaim, my hope is that people pay attention, and decide it's worthwhile to try to make more things like Astro. That the industry doesn't need another looter shooter, or battle royale. That we can have games about a cute little mascot hopping and jumping around, and that we can get them at this scale from a company other than Nintendo.

Of course, if Astro Bot has any impact on games as a whole, it won't be felt for years, so it's going to be a while. For right now, in this moment, I'm just happy it exists, and I played it. I love games about embarking on a grand adventure across a huge world, and I love games with touching stories that leave me crying in the end. Enough that, my top two games of the year may or may not be one of each, haha.

But I also love games like Astro Bot. Games that know at the end of the day, sometimes you just need to put a little extra play in your PlayStation. Plus, they reference Tokyo Jungle, how was it not going to get into my top three? They brought back the Pomeranian!

Astro Bot also wins:

• 3D Platformer of the year.
• Most nostalgic game of the year.
• Included poster/comic of the year.
• PlayStation 5 of the year.
• Cameos of the year.
• Catchiest soundtrack of the year.
• Robot buddies of the year.
• Robot critters of the year.
• Haptics, triggers, and motion controls of the year.
• Gorilla.
• Cutest game of the year.
• Robot sounds of the year.
• Physics of the year.
• Frog boxing gloves/dog jetpack of the year.
• Magnetism of the year.
• Fluid dynamics of the year.
• Voxels of the year.
• Ape Escape of the year.
• Annihilation 2018 of the year.
• Rail grinding of the year.
• Hint bird of the year.
• Best game featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series of the year.
• Modes of the year.
• Honey I shrunk the kids of the year.
• Mouse mode of the year.
• Elephant...plant blaster of the year.
• Funkiest tree of the year.
• Kratos mode of the year.
• "Boy" remix of the year.
• Walking slowly through a narrow passage of the year.
• Chainsaw of the year.
• Slow motion of the year.
• Rubber ducks of the year.
• Sponge mode of the year.
• Super Mario Sunshine of the year.
• Chicken based jetpack of the year.
• Nathan Drake mode of the year.
• Bonus costumes of the year.
• Space Egypt of the year.
• Morphball of the year.
• Aurora Borealis localized entirely in this video game of the year.
• Loco Roco mode of the year.
• Iconic Traffic Cone of the year.
• Clapping bear mode of the year.
• Aloy mode of the year.
• Bow feel of the year.
• Lance Reddick of the year.
• Console assembly tools of the year.
• Credits fake out and actual credits sequence of the year.
• Festive holiday update of the year.

Forever Games Yearly Check-in.

So, Bungie did the impossible, and put out one of their best expansions ever. Something so good it made everyone happy, and what they had to say, and show about the upcoming year of Destiny 2 looked so promising! Surely nothing could go wrong, right? Surely they couldn't find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory...right? Right??

The layoffs I'm sure didn't help. For as good as The Final Shape was, exceeding the expectations of both myself, and everyone I know, it did not exceed sales expectations, or I guess even hit them, because it certainly didn't feel that way when people lost their jobs.

Anyway, Bungie went back to their old ways, and just about everything since The Final Shape has been a misstep in one way or another. The ongoing story stuff was fine enough, until it got to the point where advancing the story required replaying the exotic weapon mission...multiple times? Now, exotic missions are fun to do once, especially if you're playing with friends. They're not usually super difficult in terms of the combat, but they often feature platforming, and navigating some sort of labyrinthine level to reach the end. Again, the first time, pretty fun!

But they just get tedious. Now, for the non-Destiny players out there, you might be thinking, “isn't repeating content the point?” Yeah, kinda. But most of that stuff is fairly quick, and straightforward. Vanguard Ops don't require either memorizing what may as well be a maze, or keeping a guide open so you don't get lost. At a point they're brainless, but turning your brain off and just going through the same old same old while chatting with a friend can still be a good time. Dungeons and raids, on the other hand, are mechanically dense and varied enough so that aspect of them keeps them interesting even if you're doing them every week in hopes of getting a good drop.

Something about needing to do that exotic mission, I think it's like four times(??) to complete the story for that season... I just lost interest, and didn't do it. The first time, since I came back after my year long post-Shadowkeep break, that I didn't finish the story in a season. That season's specific activity wasn't bad or anything, it's not like it was terrible all around, they just made one really dumb blunder that tripped me up. I could still go back and do it, but... I dunno.

It didn't help that their new seasonal storytelling approach makes it harder to actually follow what's going on. In previous years, it was updated weekly. Go do a little something, and get spoon fed a bit of story, wait a week, rinse, repeat. Not great, but if you kept up with it every week, it was easy to follow. Now, instead they do three drops of story stuff a season (or Episode, Chapter? I forget what they rebranded to), which means going like a month between anything happening. And when there's not much that happens in these, it means going through a bit of, “oh, right, that's what was happening” when the new story stuff drops. It'd be fine if each of these story bits felt meaningful, or were telling a great story, but instead it feels like they wrote even less story than usual.

Never mind that the new season pass model is two hundred levels instead of the standard hundred. The speed you level in this game makes it so that, on paper, it isn't as ridiculous as it sounds, BUT they throttle it. I forget if it's fifty or a hundred, but you if leveled past that in the first chunk of the season, any more XP doesn't go anywhere, or do anything. You could accumulate the amount of XP equal to two hundred levels before that last chunk of the pass unlocks in the last month of the season, but you'd still need to do those last fifty (I think, I dunno) levels worth of XP AGAIN. It sucks! The most dedicated of diehards get punished for playing too much, and the more casual players are punished with something that makes it feel like they aren't playing enough.

Then this season, they made the worst blunder they have in years, which has basically killed interest in the game for myself, and all but the sickest of sickos I know. So, a few years back, they added weapon crafting. The gist is that you could unlock the ability to craft (Shape) specific weapons. Once Shaped, using it leveled it up, unlocking more perks and other features. Sufficiently leveled, you had access to all the possible options, and could Reshape it with whatever perks and parts you wanted. It was a pretty great feature, and one I didn't really appreciate until they took it away. Now, to be clear, previous weapons can still be Shaped, or unlocked for Shaping. It's the new weapons with the new season that can't be.

Meaning if you want the ideal roll on one of the new weapons, your only option is to just replay the content until you get it. First the random chance of getting the weapon you want, then the random chance of it having all the right stuff on it. Yes, this is what the game used to be (and has been all along, it's not like the random weapons acquired were ever useless), but it just feels bad to lose the option. Especially when there's no good replacement, and the only logic behind this decision is just to artificially inflate playtime.

Well, sorry Bungie, but it did the opposite, because now I've been playing a ton of Warframe instead. And you know what? Warframe is pretty great! Sure, there's still an occasionally frustrating amount of randomness here too, but at least for the time being, it's a lot more palatable than the current state of Destiny 2. Sure, there's randomness to getting the right blueprints, or the right materials needed to craft, but at least the thing you craft is the thing. When I make a new weapon in Warframe, I don't need to worry about it having the right perk, or keep recrafting it until it does. Now, do I need to worry about the chance of getting the right mods to make the weapons viable in end game (Steel Path) content? Yeah, but at least once I do get the mods, I can apply them to as many weapons as I want.

There's plenty of things Warframe doesn't do as well as Destiny, and probably never will. The shooting just doesn't feel as good, and even at its most focused, the storytelling is still a lot harder to follow, and not as engaging as Destiny at its best. But there is such an incredibly higher breadth in Warframe, from things to do, to the Warframes themselves, that it just has more variety than Bungie could ever dream of achieving.

It's been good to finally get into it in a way I never have before. It's always been stop and go before. I'd make a big chunk of progress while catching up on podcasts, then put it down for a year. But earlier this year, I dedicated myself to being caught up on the main story in time for Warframe 1999, and I did! Then, as my friends have been taking a break from Destiny, I just kept playing Warframe with them instead. And unlike Destiny, you can trade items between players, so they were able to basically just give me some stuff! I've accomplished so much more in a handful of months than I did over the previous six or seven years since I first got into the game.

I also achieved my years long goal of finally crafting Xaku, the game's first nonbinary Warframe. Yes, the Warframes have genders. Of course each and every one has their own backstory and lore, and no, I don't know what they are, haha. Anyway, it was a big accomplishment for me, and of course I managed to get the blueprints for Xaku Prime before original Xaku even finished cooking in my foundry. It's funny how things like this happen, huh? Anyway, they're neat. They can steal weapons from enemies and go into a skeleton mode, so I'm having fun with Xaku.

Honestly, I should probably do a write up about Warframe on its own. Maybe! Until then, for the time being, Warframe is really filling the Destiny hole in my heart. It's not the same, but it's pretty great. I can have a space dog, mech, and a motorcycle in Warframe. And they let you summon the motorcycle literally anywhere, and on any mission. I think it was originally an oversight, but unlike no-Fun-gie working on Destiny 2, Digital Extremes understands sometimes you just gotta let players do silly and ridiculous things, because it's fun.

And Fortnite...well, I don't have much to say about it, but here's some screenshots. I hope they're enjoyable. No, I will not provide context.

I apologize greatly if this many images ruined the formatting.

2. Strand Game of the Year: Dragon's Dogma II.

When I originally wrote about Dragon's Dogma II, I mentioned that I had already embarked upon new game plus, but hadn't yet completed it, or attained my goal: The Platinum Trophy. Well, as an update, I did indeed attain what I set out for, and got that Plat. A worthy prize for a valiant quest, I then laid down my weapons, and went on to play other video games.

In truth, I'm not entirely sure what else to say now, because my Dragon's Blogma was so thorough that I find myself almost at a loss for words, without repeating what I wrote then. Dragon's Dogma II is not perfect, nor is it without issues (largely technical), but with some time between it and now, I genuinely think it is kind of a masterpiece. It's a game that I absolutely devoured at the time, and would go back for more if I had good reason to.

I still long for a Dark Arisen style expansion. A new area to explore, new, tougher monsters balanced for end game characters. A new story to unfold, honestly even just a hard difficulty option would be welcome. I'm sure I didn't literally explore every single nook and cranny, but without anything new, I'd just be replaying the same stuff, with an overpowered character. Or if I chose to let go of them, starting fresh and doing it all again from the very start.

Some games just speak to me in ways that, no matter how much I write about them, there's something about them my words can't quite capture. And there is something about these games, placing you in a vast fantastical world to explore, that speaks to me. Something about the excitement of what might be over the next hill that I can't get enough of. Never mind how the mystery of these new places eventually turns into familiarity that's oddly comforting.

I could try to psycho-analyze myself, say that I live a life of stagnation, entirely rooted in place, so perhaps that's why the prospect of a grand adventure lights up my heart. But let's be real here, no one in real life lives a life like the Arisen in DDII. No one out there has had their heart stolen and needs to spend the rest of their life being harassed by griffins and yelled at by Pawns. Unless we want to get into metaphor here, and some of the creatives on these games led some really interesting lives. Their hearts broken by past loves, so they head to the wilderness of Japan to fight feral bears like it's Yakuza 5, or something.

I think it's fair to say that I'm running out of actual things to say about Dragon's Dogma II, haha. Suffice it to say, DDII does what I always wish the first game did. It expands the combat in meaningful ways, with a better overall balance that made all but one or two of the vocations fun, and effective. And even the ones I didn't care for, I'm sure others out there love them.

It makes the Pawns more helpful than ever before, while expanding their vocabularies and personalities greatly. My stalwart companion, Lisa, was by my side every step of the way, but many more pawns joined too. Some for great lengths of time, and others just for a short visit. But knowing that every one who joined my party, brought back a piece of something they learned from their time with me, and who knows how far out it spread from there, is just plain cool. What other games actually do things like this? It's easy to clown on Kojima for making up the term “strand type game,” but seriously, when games do this stuff well, it's rad. It's things like this that set video games apart from other art forms out there, and they don't get celebrated enough for it.

Dragon's Dogma II makes exploration not just feel more like you're exploring a world, but more importantly makes it fun. It plays with light and dark in the very literal sense of lighting and darkening the world in ways that almost no other games do. How many games have forest canopies so thick they all but shroud the midday sun and make it dark as night? How many games are willing to make their darkness so dark you need your lantern to see, and even then, not very far ahead? And that darkness is filled with so many horrors, which can be rewarding to fight, and conquer, but also devastating to lose against. A pawn you've grown attached to might perish in a battle against a particularly strong Dullahan, and return home head held low in defeat. Hopefully with at least a little knowledge to help them grow.

There are many games out there on the surface that feel, or look similar to Dragon's Dogma II, but none that quite capture what it does. Not even the original, and that just speaks to what a triumph it is. And yet, despite all that, it's still not quite my game of the year. That's not to say second place isn't a great achievement for these prestigious, long running awards. It is absolutely tremendous in its own right, and one of the best games I've played in years.

Now...if only they would actually make that expansion I'm longing for...

Dragon's Dogma II also wins:

• Character creator of the year.
• Pawns of the year.
• Live action footage of meat cooking of the year.
• Photo mode of the year.
• Carrying and throwing of the year.
• Olde Timey English of the year.
• High fiving of the year.
• Chattiest companions of the year.
• Monster climbing of the year.
• Oxen of the year.
• “I'm da giant rat who makes all of da rules” award for biggest rats.
• Game most likely made with male characters in mind which leads to lesbianism.
• Adventuring of the year.
• Destructible trees of the year.
• Darkest nights of the year.
• Forests of the year.
• Open world shenanigans of the year.
• Inventory increasing beetles of the year.
• Boulder rolling of the year.
• Ballistae of the year.
• Elven archer who doesn't understand the most basic tenet of archery of the year.
• Open world of the year.
• Dropkicks of the year.
• Traced rays of the year.
• Caves of the year.
• Blushingest NPCs of the year.
• Holdable animals of the year.
• Ultra Instinct of the year.
• Fully real time combat of the year.
• Oil lanterns of the year.
• Game that most made me lose track of time.
• Vocations of the year.
• Best game to watch the AI fight each other.
• Camping of the year.
• Fog and weather of the year.
• Best use of cyclopses as bridges.
• Shadow of the Colossus of the year.
• Late title card of the year.
• Sphinx of the year.
• Riddles of the year.

2024 Moosies Old Game of the Year: Hi-Fi Rush.

When I wrote about Hi-Fi Rush, amongst the mountain of praise I heaped upon it, like calling it “a perfect video game,” I also mentioned how I almost cried during the first level. Not because of anything in the game specifically, but because I bought the game out of frustration the very day it was announced Tango Gameworks was shutting down. I'd been wanting to play it for about a full year since its release, and intending to once it got on PS5.

Especially these days, there's almost never any positive news about jobs, or studios in the games industry. Despite games making more money than ever before, they also seem to cost way more than ever before. If they're not a forever game raking in the cash like there's no tomorrow, everything feels like it's on a knife's edge between just scraping by, or being cut. Not even first party games are safe these days, look at Concord getting delisted barely weeks after release, and now that studio is gone too. I only played the beta, but I liked it! But now we'll never know if they could have turned it around, and more importantly, all those people at Firewalk lost their jobs.

But, for Hi-Fi Rush, and Tango Gameworks, the impossible happened. Months after the announcement of the studio's closure, news broke. The studio, and Hi-Fi Rush itself, were bought from Microsoft, and given a second chance. I don't know how much of the original staff came along, but I did see Hi-Fi Rush's director John Johanas was excited about it. So, hopefully the majority of the team is back, and hopefully they don't receive any sort of decrease in salaries, a worse work environment, or anything like that.

Listen, part of me is just happy this means Hi-Fi Rush 2 is happening, but I can't let that excitement get ahead over the real people who made the first game a reality. Hi-Fi Rush is a special game, but only because of the people who made it. That's not to say this was the only group of people on the planet that could make Hi-Fi Rush work, but they were the group who did, and it genuinely hurt me to see them punished for making such a wonderful thing. Which is why I'm so excited they're back!

And yes, I'm disappointed The Evil Within didn't come along with this, but as much as I would love to see them give that series a third entry, between the two Hi-Fi Rush was the right one to take. Back when I played it, I said it was a perfect game, and I still feel that way now. No, not the greatest game ever made, but one that achieves everything it sets out to do as well as I can imagine. It excels at everything it sets out to do, and I can't think of anything I would change to make it better.

So, I guess in a way, Tango has their work cut out for them, trying to follow this up now. I wouldn't blame them at all if the sequel is simply a continuation of the same core, just with a new slew of levels and a new story. I'd play that! In a heartbeat, I'm not going to wait on the sequel once that's out (assuming it's a multiplatform launch this time).

Whatever it is, we'll see. I'm sure it's years out, but as I keep saying, I'm excited. It's good to get a piece of good news for once, and even better when it means we get what will hopefully be another amazing game. And, best of all, a bunch of talented people got to keep (or return to) their jobs.

With all this news around the studio, and it quickly capturing my heart, there was no question that Hi-Fi Rush was going to be my “old game of the year.” Which has as much or as little meaning as anything else in these awards, haha. But it means something to me!

Old Game of the Year Runner up: Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights.

I don't have a ton to say about Ender Lilies, except that it's pretty great. It's a Castletroid with a fair amount of Dark Souls-ish vibes going on, but in a way that feels like the devs understood what really makes Dark Souls' style of world-building work. Great art style, fun, and just the right type of challenging. I ended up getting the Platinum too! Great game, highly recommend it.

Old Game of the Year Honorable mentions:

Omno: Cute little game, with an even cuter little buddy that accompanies you along the way.

No More Heroes III: Still very much a “seven out of ten,” type of game, but one I enjoyed. It hit my nostalgia just well enough, while having the best feeling combat in the series.

Marvel: Midnight Suns: Really good game! The combat was more fun than I expected (unlike XCOM, I didn't need to turn it down to easy), and the story and characters were all really engaging. To the point where I bought the DLC for the extra characters, to get as much of it as I could! Too bad it ends on a cliffhanger, though, given we'll never get a sequel.

Tunic: Out of all the “we made our own indie Zelda” games out there, this one is probably my favorite. Incredible art style, incredible game design, and all around incredible game.

1. The 2024 Moosies Video Game Awards Video Game of the Year: Persona 3 Reload.

When I wrote about Persona 3 Reload, in the more spoiler focused of the two write-ups, I said a lot about how the game made me think about my lifelong struggles with depression, and other things that I put a better content warning up for in the post itself. I only bring this up again now, instead going for a flashier, more artful intro to my personal Game of the Year, because in that, I mentioned that I was actually doing pretty well with my mental health, and it'd been several years since the last time I felt severely depressed.

Then election night happened in the US, and my multiple year streak was broken over a long, sleepless night as the worst fears of both myself, all my friends, and many out there came true (again). Now, as I made sure to make clear when I wrote about it the first time, this still isn't a cry for help, because I've managed to get myself back to “normal.” Which isn't to say I'm happy about world events, just not feeling like I'm drowning under its crushing weight.

What does any of this have to do with a remake of an almost twenty year old PS2 game? Reload's story was already one of the most touching, and relevant to me personally stories I've ever experienced, let alone from a video game. When I played it, I was at some of the best mental health in my adult life, maybe the best since that one really good year I had at the end of high school. I was playing it, looking back on my life, thinking about how it used to be that bad for me, but I'm better now, both from my own hard work, and from my friends.

Then life came crashing back down, and I was almost swept down with it. Almost. But I knew, from dealing with this for so many years now, that I could get through it. Knew my friends were there for me, and that I'd need to be there for them when they needed me. Sometimes just getting through a day in one piece is a victory, and sometimes you need to take every victory you can, no matter how small they feel.

In 2023, amongst the novella's worth of words I wrote about Tears of the Kingdom, I mentioned that while playing it, I had the thought that I might be playing my new favorite game of all time. A thought I felt confident in by the end of the year, and still feel confident about now. I bring that up as a means of backing up how I feel about Persona 3 Reload, which isn't that it's now my new favorite game ever, but probably top five.

Genuinely, and sincerely, I don't think I have the words to convey the emotional impact this game had, and still has on me. I cried so much in the final hours of the game, teared up some more writing about it, and felt all that welling back up in me just reading over what I wrote back in the summer. I know things like depression, and even suicidal thoughts are all too common these days, so it's not like Reload is some ultra focused story targeted specifically at me, but if anything how universal its message is makes it the more impactful.

Nothing lasts forever, and we all need to deal with death...in one way or another, eventually. Reload is all about how we do that, what we do in the time we have. And, it thinks the best thing we can do is make the connections we can, because it's those bonds with the people we care about that get us through the worst in life. Whether it's giving a friend some money when they're broke, being there when they need someone to vent to, or just being a friend and hanging out. The little things add up.

I could write about my own friends (though I won't because the moment I start naming them, inevitably I'll leave someone out, and then I'll feel bad), or I could write about the cast of the game. Goofing around with the “perfecto” Junpei, or helping Yukari deal with her all too relatable problems with her mother. Somehow surviving Fuuka learning how to cook, and keeping myself from becoming the Joker at learning Mitsuru has never eaten a burger or gone to a movie. Accidentally getting into gang fights with Akihiko, and watching detective movies with Ken. Brushing Koromaru's fur on Christmas, or going to see a movie about animals with Shinjiro...

Never mind everyone outside SEES. Ryoji, with vibes so rotten I couldn't help but be compelled to spend time with him! Going to track practice with Kaz and Yoko, visiting the old couple in the bookstore, or going to that small park with little Maiko. Getting my own drunk monk uncle at the nightclub, lazing away Sunday afternoons playing an MMO with Maya, or even spending enough time with Tanaka to make him, at least a little better of a person. And those artsy boys part of me is still pining over. Bebe back in France, and... Kamiki...

Of course, before anyone dare consider that I forgot her, Aigis. Her journey to discover what it means to be human, and her own musings on how human she is or isn't, may be the most relatable thing in the game, in a way. Her impact on me was so great I teared up just by reading the description on her Astro Bot cameo. There until the very end... Now here I am, feeling like I need to cry all over again...

I know I left some S. Links out, never mind the other side characters, but at a point I'm just repeating myself. Yeah, I also know, on paper Reload is yet another corny “power of friendship” saves the world story. That's what Persona is, that's what a lot of stories are. Here's the thing, I know the power of friendship isn't going to save the real world.

But it did save me.

Just as I'm sure it's saved some of the people reading this, even if they don't consciously realize it themselves. Every time one of us is saved by our friends, and every time we save one of our friends, that is a beautiful, wonderful thing. Obviously I've always loved and cared about my friends, but Reload has given me the means to process and think about this stuff in a way I hadn't before. It has, even if in a small way, changed how I view and think about the world, the people I care about, and those same people who care about me.

I can't think of any higher praise I can give a piece of art. Persona 3 Reload is a truly remarkable thing. As I'm sure all the previous versions of the game were! This is just the first one I took the plunge on, and I'm glad I did. And happy I reached the end of that plunge with my head still above the water, helped along by my friends.

And yes, I know, I still need to play Episode Aigis. Eventually! I promise!

Persona 3 Reload also wins:

• JoJo's Game of the Year.
• Pokémon Game of the Year.
• Vibingest game of the year.
• Most Styyyylish game of the year.
• Animated intro of the year.
• Performance of the year: Zeno Robinson as Junpei.
• Goofball/bro of the year: Junpei.
• Burniest Insulter of the year: Yukari "Stupei Ace Defective" Takeba.
• Android of the year, as they say: Aigis.
• Most improved cook of the year: Fuuka.
• Best boy (dog) of the year: Koromaru.
• Tough guy with a heart of gold of the year: Shinjiro.
• Spoiled rich girl of the year: Mitsuru.
• Boxer of the year: Akihiko.
• Most relatable ten year old of the year: Ken.
• French boyfriend of the year.
• Sports rival boyfriend(s) of the year.
• Art boyfriend of the year.
• Deathbed boyfriend of the year.
• Toxic boyfriend of the year.
• Most characters who should be boyfriends but aren't because of homophobia.
• Dorm of the year.
• Execution Squad of the year.
• Evocation of the year.
• Burgers of the year.
• School clubs of the year.
• Social linking of the year.
• Dumb wordplay of the year.
• Springtime tree blossoms of the year.
• MMORPG of the year.
• PSP of the year.
• Shopping network of the year.
• Character loosest with their cell phone number (who gives their number to restaurants for promotional texts? In the year 2009?????).
• Shady guy who sells URLs of the year.
• Sewing club.
• Least fridge etiquette of the year.
• Cat feeding of the year.
• Remake of the year.
• Dog petting of the year.
• Dog walking of the year.
• Most heartwarming experience with a dog of the year.
• Only game of the year that actually made me do a spit take (during Fusion mishap).
• Longest ramblings of the year.
• Tarot of the year.
• Attacking and Dethroning God of the Year.
• Burned Bread of the year.
• POWER OF FRIENDSHIP OF THE YEAR.
• Game to cry over of the year.

Outro.

Maybe not the best crop of video games ever in a year, but there were some excellent ones in 2024. Certainly ones that left a big impact on me. Enough that despite my best efforts to write more across the year, and keep the length of The Moosies down...I once again wrote far, far too much! Maybe in 2025 I won't forget to keep writing about games once fall hits, unlike 2024! Still, for anyone who read it all the way, across both parts, to this very end, thank you.

And no matter what happens in the years to come, let's all just hang in there as best as we can, and help out our friends when we can. We gotta do what we gotta do to keep going, you know?

Take care, out there. <3