2024 has been a really great year in gaming for me, accompanied by some big shifts in my play habits. 2024 marks the first year in roughly fourteen years that console gaming didn’t comprise the entirety, or at least the majority, of my play time. BG3 in 2023 started that trend, but that trend really took off in 2024. At present I’m still waiting on most of the year end lists from the console manufacturers, as well as from Steam, so the figures are still a bit foggy for me, but I do know that PC and Steam Deck will factor quite significantly. I’m curious to see how that trend continues to evolve over time.
2024 has also been interesting because I played and enjoyed quite a large number of games released this year. In many years, the majority of games I play were games from prior years, and I tend to find it easier to make a list of ten favourites of older games than it sometimes is to make one for the current year. However 2024 has been a font of fantastic games, and I’m never for want when it comes to new, great games.
I’m still workshopping my final thoughts about each game, so I will update that text between now and the end of the year, but I’ll link out to reviews or thoughts I posted on the main site where possible for now.
As with every year previous, I’ve organized two lists of my top ten favourite game experiences. My first list is my ten personal favourite games released in 2024, with honourable mentions (in reverse chronological order):
Now for my 10 favourite games that I played in 2024, released in any year (except 2024, as with last year I will leave out games last year to avoid crossover with my previous list). As usual, this is also in reverse chronological order:
2024 had more stuff that felt up my alley than even 2023. I played a lot more this year mainly due to a lot of the games being short. Will put in thoughts when I do my quarterly roundup of games I have played this past quarter once the winter solstice comes. For now, here’s my top 10 ranked.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
Echo Point Nova
1000XRESIST
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Balatro
Shadow of the Erdtree
Animal Well
Sonic X Shadow Generations
I Am Your Beast
Astro Bot
Honorable Mentions are Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and Mario and Luigi: Brothership. Playing UFO 50 and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes bit by bit, Mouthwashing, Marvel Rivals, Antonblast.
So the 2024 list is easy, because I literally played 0 games released this year
Then for 2024 my goal was to play all the Western releases of Fire Emblem, and loved all of them!
I am not really a big fan of strategy games, but the game mixes a good amount of anime troupes, medieval fantasy and strategy that just clicks with me.
So I think the only game I’ve played so far that was released in 2024 was Ultros, so i suppose that wins by default, Im just going to do favorites I’ve played this year.
Mafia Definitive Edition
Evil West
A Hat In Time
Inscryption
Dredge
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Silent Hill 1
Dead Island 2
Resident Evil HD
FIA WRC 4
Pistolwhip
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Might also join this list when I finish it. If I had to Pick a Top 3, I’d probably go with Dead Island 2, A Hat In Time and Inscryption
Games I played at least once this year, ranked by the amount of pleasure they gave me.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Everyone’s game of 2023. Well I played it in 2024. So there.
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew: A wonderfully done yet sad swansong from Mimimi
Skald: Against the Black Priory: I wish there were more fun, challenging, tactical RPGs that cared less about graphics and more about gameplay and story.
Islands of the Caliph: Ditto to the above.
Indika: Wonderful and wacky but also frustrating at times.
Out of the Park Baseball 24
Out of the Park Baseball 25
Franchise Hockey Manager 9
Super Mega Baseball 4
The Blackwell Convergence
Blackwell Epiphany
Blackwell Unbound
Blackwell Deception
Laika: Aged Through Blood: Actually beating this game gave me more pleasure than playing it did, I think.
Beat Saber
An English Haunting
The Blackwell Legacy
Franchise Hockey Manager 11
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
The Last Door: Season 2
The Last Door
Stardew Valley
Beloved Rapture: Decent little RPG but ultimately forgettable.
Cyberpunk 2077: Will no doubt rank much higher once I’m more than a couple of hours in.
Shadowrun Returns
Fallout 4
Football Manager 2018
Football Coach: College Dynasty
Pro Strategy Football 2023
Legend Bowl
Ghost of Tsushima: Was super excited to play this for years but ended up being bored with it more than I expected.
The Banished Vault
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Alpha Polaris
The Messenger: Does soul-crushing, controller destroying rage count as pleasure?
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Fast Break Pro Basketball 3
Fast Break College Basketball
Wandering Sword: Would rank higher but I had to abandon my playthrough when I discovered I had broken my playthrough. Will definitely pick back up but with a walkthrough.
Final Fantasy VI: Really enjoyed it for a while but also had to put it down when I got stuck in World in Ruin. Will probably return to it eventually.
Tactical Breach Wizards: Only just started.
Space Wreck
Vampires Dawn: Reign of Blood
Streets of Rage 4: It’s been fun to have a game I could couch co-op with my 12 year old son.
Inkulinati
The Cyclist: Tactics
Tape to Tape: Will definitely rank higher if and when they implement actual league play.
Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate
MLB The Show 22
Golden Lap
Australian Football Coach 2020
Low Magic Age
Minos Strategos
Rollerdrome
Dusk: Definitely enjoyed the cheats that let me advance.
Exiled Kingdoms
Celeste: Same as Dusk here.
Asgard’s Wrath 2: Look great. I only played 30 minutes or so.
Papers, Please
Football Manager 2020
Ultros: Only 15 minutes in so no time to judge.
Football Game
Pro Basketball Manager 2023
The Case of the Golden Idol: Not as much of a fan of this style of puzzle game over something Blackwell or An English Haunting.
Galaxy of Pen & Paper
Dune: Spice Wars
Electrician Simulator
The Darkside Detective: Too goofy to rank very high.
Commandos 2 - HD Remaster: Game breaking bug killed my playthrough. I wished I could have played more.
Gloomhaven
Ghostrunner
American Truck Simulator
Gods of Sand: Abandonware. Too bad because the game looks promising.
Imperator: Rome
Super Blood Hockey
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
Dragon Sinker: Descendants of Legend
NBA 2K23: Spent all their money on graphics and NBA realism and not enough on making it fun.
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms: I don’t quite get why this game exists.
FIFA 22: This series seems to have gotten worse over the years.
Madden NFL 22: Would love to play it if EA hadn’t broken Steam Deck access.
