whee I have finally joined the “(post deleted by author)” club.
I don’t know how it happened, but while I was in the middle of typing I somehow hit some magic set of keystrokes that just posted my message mid-draft. blarg!
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Chants of Sennaar might take the pole position with just a few days remaining. I am a sucker for language puzzles, tense sequences (I recently had my first brushes with a monster. When it’s running toward the foreground, great stuff), and striking visuals.
Coming to this after Obra Dinn earlier this year feels like a satisfying unit in more recent deductive adventure games that hearken back to deep progenitors (in this case, a bit of Captain Blood in the emphasis on iconic language and a bit of Another World in some of the visuals).
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Now that it is both near the end of the year and for reasons beyond my control I am highly unlikely to play anything else new (to me) before the start of next year, I can start trying to collect my thoughts on the games I played this year.
I don’t know if I’ll manage a Top Ten (ed: I got to 8), I haven’t given this much prior consideration at all.
The main rule I’m working to for inclusion here are games that are new to me / I played for the first time this year. I agree that there is little value in just re-listing the same game every year with a “haha! I played my favourite game again and it is on the top of my list!”, but strongly disagree that I should not talk about older releases – especially things from last year I didn’t see until now – simply because the calendar ticked over.
The List
#1: No Man’s Sky (2016), PC, steam
While not technically entirely new to me – I played NMS briefly on its original launch on my PS4 – the years of updates and changes have resulted in something largely different from those unsubstantial few minutes I played back then. I can’t remember what the genesis of the thought was, but at some point earlier this year I found myself wondering if I should check this game out again: “…maybe it would be nice to just hang out and float about in space for a bit?”. Turns out, it was quite nice to just hang out and float about in space for a bit.
I started a “casual” mode save and played that for 50-ish hours, which let me see a whole bunch of what the game has on offer without much friction. Then the “Aquarius” expedition launched, and I had never seen nor done any of those before. I figured that was as good a time as any to give “normal” mode a shot, so I started a new save and embarked on the expedition. I’ve been hooked (fishing pun re: aquarius expedition only partially intended) ever since. Lately, they’ve been re-running all the expeditions from this year, so I’ve been able to see a bunch of the limited-time content that I missed before picking the game up.
I played this game so much – and it hit the right notes at the right time for me – that I simply can’t imagine giving anything else the nod this year.
The next few, undordered
Indika (2024), PC, steam
I’m not sure I have a great deal to say about Indika that hasn’t already been said on these forums. I’m glad it was made, and I’m glad I experienced it.
Persona 3 Reload (2024), PC, Gamepass
I’d never played P3, FES, nor P3P before, so this was my first time in the Persona 3 world. I liked it! It isn’t my favourite Persona, but that doesn’t matter. I think I have exactly zero interest in the DLC/expansion, I’m happy to leave the story wrapped up as it is at the end of P3.
I then went on to watch all four P3 films, and they for the most part sucked.
Xenosphere (2024), PC, itch (free)
Here’s my candidate for “absolutely wild game that nobody has heard of or played”. I recorded my entire playthrough of this game, and the file is 31 minutes and 8 seconds long.
This is the sort of game that is more of an experience than anything else, and also it is the sort of thing that could not have existed via any other medium nor at any earlier point in history until now. Absolutely wild. It is free on Itch. Go play it.
The next next few, also unordered but after those first few I guess
Balatro (2024), PC, steam
Yeah, Balatro was fun. It didn’t hit me with instant “holy shit this is the best game ever omg omg” feelings, but it is certainly good. I probably don’t need to ever play it again however, but that’s not a bad thing. I had a bunch of fun.
Jusant (2023), PC, Gamepass
I played Jusant early this year after seeing it recommended a bit on a few end-of-year lists last year. Overall it was “ok”, but there were a few strong moments that for me lift it up to properly “good”. I may not have bothered to check it out if it weren’t on gamepass, but I’m glad that I did.
The Exit 8 (2023), PC, steam
Took me only just over an hour to complete, which felt just right. A cool idea and implementation with just enough quirks and variations to keep me interested, but not so many that it overstays the proverbial welcome.
Picross S Namco Legendary Edition (2024), Switch
I’m a sucker for Picross. I’ll play them all.
Honourable mentions
1000xResist (2024), PC, steam
I have only barely started this. I like what I’ve seen thus far and will likely get around to it some time early next year.
Hades II, early access. PC, steam
I’ve had a lot of fun with this – but I think I’m at the point where I’ll check in briefly to see what gets added each “major update” and then go back to waiting for the full release.
Path of Exile II, early access. PC, steam
I think POE2 is both excellent and highly flawed. That’s fine though! Even though this release has been marketed as “early access”, it really is “early early access” or simply just “open beta” – where “beta” really means it, not “you paid 20% more for 3 days early play time before the game comes out, and of course we can’t do any meaningful testing in that time”. The developer has said that they expect the full game to be available “in 2025” but realistically I expect there to be more like 18 months worth of this EA/beta before it is ready.
Unlike with Hades II, I will be continually playing this through early access.
Dishonourable mentions
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (2024), PC, steam
I had such a good time for the first while playing through this, even though I continue to hate the way From Soft gate the DLC entry via game world state – I’d converted my save to NG+ after playing through the main campaign last year, and that meant I had to replay the whole fucking thing again up to the point I could unlock the DLC just to get access to it. I don’t care for any of the “its not that hard” or whatever arguments: if I’ve made it to NG+ it should just be a main menu option.
I hate the final boss encounter so much that thinking about this game now only results in bitter memories. That was not the fun sort of hard/challenge, it was just “haha we know you tragic fucks will just keep retrying for hours and hours so suck it”. (I am thoroughly uninterested in any “lul it is ez get good” commentary or links to videos of people one-shotting or no-hitting the boss (which exclude the context of the thousand hours worth of practice before the recorded encounter)).
Give me more of the first half-ish of this DLC. Never make the back half again.
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taking advantage of some winter downtime to comment in a non-game guessing thread. games are arranged in the order i played them this year. this is less “game of the year” and more “what i completed this year”
i don’t plan to say anything insightful or meaningful about these games, so feel free to skip!
Orbo’s Odyssey – this is high up on my shortlist for favorite games played in 2024. Light, breezy and some of the most joyous traversal of all time. More please?
Gunbrella – I know I’m spoiled with quality action platformers when I can say I like this game okay. If other games were worse, I might have loved it.
ZeroRanger – I don’t have a top pick this year, but ZeroRanger is not not my top pick. By the time I could complete it, I could 1cc it. I had a similar love affair with Void Stranger last year. System Erasure is building games that are fully impedance matched to my brain.
Frog Fractions – yeah, I needed to actually play it.
PARANORMASIGHT The Seven Mysteries of the Honjo – I like anime, I like VNs (w/in reason), I liked this game. great for travelling/playing on the Deck.
Dead Cells – this was fun in 2017, but did a long revisit this year and more fully explored the possibilities. As with many tight games with procedural generation and many, many ways to play: I got (real) good and eventually lost interest, changing my overall opinion. this is a me problem, good game.
Chants of Senaar – much like ZeroRanger, this is not not my favorite game. the variety of beautifully designed, somewhat unique puzzle/mystery games ala Obra Dinn, Senaar, and the Golden Idols are spoiling me.
Doki Doki Literature Club – finally finished it.
Balatro – if I don’t have something nice to say, I try not to say it.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – this was a game I 100%’d in 2024. I’ll say two things: Gongaga zone OST is better than metaphor battle theme, if we’re comparing things & chadley is singlehandedly ruining my experience with the remakes.
Animal Well – number three in the not not my favorite game list. went in with hipsterishly low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised.
Diablo IV – forced myself to see what the current devs/management view as a Diablo in 2024.
A Short Hike – met (high) expectations.
Crow Country – also met high expectations.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – more Armored Core, please.
The Curse of Monkey Island – replayed with family.
Baba is You – did a puzzle a day until I finished. probably should pick up a crossword book.
Nine Sols – i have read the opinions people here have of this game. this is not my GotY, but it was an important experience. boss fights were mostly excellent and a highlight of the experience. had visceral reactions to some aspects of the story and game/level design – this impressed me, even if it didn’t make it my fav.
Tactical Breach Wizards – this was fine. my local book store probably has crosswords, right?
Darkest Dungeon II – the first one was a quarantine blackhole of mine, so I put playing this off for a while. enjoyed it, but ultimately would revisit the OG if I want to live in a gravity well.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 – tyrannids are not my favorite adversary to fight, which detracted from this game. preferred original, though will always love traipsing around a spectacular 40K environment.
UFO 50 – too much to say, just about all positive. put in a couple hundred hours, finished just about every game. many standouts, but pingolf really hit the spot – even if it took me a while to do the same on some holes. shoutout Night Manor, too, since i’ve seen no one comment on it
The Crimson Diamond – this was great
Metaphor: ReFantazio – well. I sure did like the map, traveling to locations and hanging out on the gauntlet runner.
The Rise of the Golden Idol – I’ll play these all day long.
Parasite Eve – i play this from time to time in december, day for day. this was a more memorable year
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