The 50 games most worth your time this year!
It’s that time of year again, as we reflect on the year that’s been as we head into the year that will be. And of course, that means it’s time for my annual Top 50 Most Notable Games list! A lot of games get released each year, and during this laidback quiet period at the end of the year, it’s usually a good time to catch up on the games you might have missed.
However, with so many games out there, how do you narrow it down? That is where this list comes in. I assemble this using a bunch of different data, to determine what games were most talked about, highest rated and won all the awards. This gets whittled down to the 50 that most resonated with people.
The data I use is Metacritic scores, Google Trends data and end of year awards. Metacritic scores (both critic and user) determine which games were considered the best, Google Trends helps determine what people were talking about the most and end of year awards help determine how well games stuck around for the whole year. It’s not a perfect calculation, but I find it’s pretty useful at building this list each year.
Should also be noted that there are restrictions on what can make it here. It must be a game that launched for the first time this year in the UK, which means no remasters, ports, ongoing live service games (unless they launched this year, obviously!) or expansions. Remakes are a case-by-case basis – if it’s shot-for-shot, it’s counted as a “remaster” and left out, but if it’s a significant overhaul, it’s included. To help with the distinction, I included Silent Hill 2 due to new content and an entirely new combat system and camera perspective, while Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Switch was essentially the same game as the Gamecube release and was ineligible.
Early Access games are also left out, although they tend to be self-selecting since they don’t tend to get review scores. Games coming out of Early Access into full launch ARE eligible, however; in fact, there’s at least one game meeting that criteria this year. Also, all games must have a Metacritic average of at least 70 in order to make the list.
It is not a personal ranking of my favourite games of the year. If you want that, please consult my YouTube video on the subject. This list is meant to aggregate what the industry has been buzzing about the most. Although, admittedly, I did include my own ranking in the year-end figures – it’s my list and I can do what I want.
So with all the explanations out the way, it’s time to count down the Top 50 Most Notable Games of 2024!
50. Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Square Enix, Deck Nine | PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S | October | Metacritic Avg: 74
Original Coverage | Game of the Week? YES
The Life is Strange series is beloved, so excitement was high for the return of the first game’s awkward photographer protagonist Max Caulfield. Sadly, the game didn’t quite live up to the highs set by earlier entries, but there’s still plenty to love here.
Taking place across two realities, Max has new lessons to learn and new people to bond with. In fact, those people are the main reason for this game being worth your time. The series’ reputation for ripping your heart out and stomping on it for daring to bond with these people is also still here, which is excellent.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure shows there’s still life in this series, even if it is strange.
49. Tales of Kenzera: Zau
Electronic Arts, Surgent Studios | PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S | April | Metacritic Avg: 75
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Abubakar Salim, voice actor for Bayek in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, has always been a big fan of video games. Following the passing of his father, he knew he needed to process his grief by turning his stories into something for others to enjoy. He formed Surgent Studios specifically to make this game, a Metroidvania built around tales from his Kenyan father, wrapped in a story about processing grief.
The result is an impressive work, with a heartfelt, moving story that puts focus on a culture that doesn’t get much attention in video games. The story is beautiful, combining folklore with a framing story about a young man seeking to connect with his father through stories. But on top of that, this is also an incredibly fun platformer, with some speedy movement mechanics and an exciting combat system.
48. Rise of the Ronin
Sony Interactive Entertainment, Team Ninja | PS5 | March | Metacritic Avg: 76
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Rise of the Ronin is the third collaboration between Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja and Sony, following the two Nioh games. Instead of another Soulslike, however, this is a sprawling open world set during the Bakumatsu era of Japanese history. It’s a huge leap from the studio’s typical linear design, but reviews indicate they nailed it.
This is mainly because they leaned on their strengths, because if anything makes Rise of the Ronin stand above other open world games, it’s the incredibly fun combat system. Plus it gives you a glider early on, solving one major problem with open world games by giving you fun traversal almost straight out the gate. Good stuff.
47. Sonic X Shadow Generations
Sega, Sonic Team | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox | October | Metacritic Avg: 84
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
I don’t know who at Sega decided the Sonic series needed to return to the edgy days of 2005, but it seems to have paid off. This year they went all in on Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic’s moody counterpart. Aside from the success of the third movie, featuring a brooding Keanu-voiced Shadow, they also re-released 2011’s Sonic Generations. However, rather than leave it at that, they grafted an entire new game on it retelling Shadow’s story. And you know what? It’s actually pretty great.
Already built on the excellent Sonic Generations, Shadow Generations managed to improve on the last time The Ultimate Lifeform had the starring role. Critics fell over themselves to praise it, a rarity for Sonic games, and the fans went nuts for it. It truly was the Year of Shadow.
46. Batman: Arkham Shadow
Oculus Studios, Camouflaj | Meta Quest 3 | October | Metacritic Avg: 84
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Do you want to be Batman? Well unless you’re a billionaire playboy willing to punch some supervillains, a Meta Quest is the next best thing. Arkham Shadow is, to some people’s disappointment, a VR game. However, it is also, to other people’s excitement, a full-fledged Arkham game.
VR games don’t tend to get a huge amount of attention due to the niche nature of the tech, but Arkham Shadow has been a big deal simply because it’s another must-play game. Much life Half-Life: Alyx before it, the key to success is clearly taking a beloved game series and making an entry built for an immersive VR experience. All the elements of the Arkham games are present here, only now you’re doing them yourself. You are Batman!
45. Nine Sols
Red Candle Games | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox | May | Metacritic Avg: 85
(No original coverage, we missed this one originally)
It’s been a pretty solid year for Metroidvanias, but few have managed to calm the rabid demand for Hollow Knight: Silksong more than Nine Sols. Set in a world combining Taoist principles and cyberpunk, Nine Sols sees you playing a legendary hero overthrowing a tyrannical rule.
Nine Sols has been a bit of sleeper hit, bubbling just under the surface layer of the bigger indie titles. It’s the plucky upstart that’s been popping up here and there, but never quite dominating in the way some other indies higher on the list have managed to. And yet, for those who’ve played it, this is a superb game, filled with imagination and brutal challenges that’s kept people hooked. All with an absolutely gorgeous hand-drawn art style.
You know what’s impressive about this? It’s from the same team who made the less mechanically dense horror games Detention and Devotion. The fact they managed to swerve so dramatically into a game like this is a testament to the talent on show at Red Candle.
44. Granblue Fantasy Relink
Cygames | PC, PlayStation | February | Metacritic Avg: 81
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Starting life as a mobile gacha game, Granblue Fantasy has come a long way. After a successful pair of fighting games based in the universe, this year saw the original mobile game converted into a pure action RPG. And reviewers felt they managed to nail it expertly.
While the story is fairly rudimentary, the action gameplay is where it’s at, with solid mechanics that made the game an absolute blast to play. It’s a bit shorter than the average RPG, but that just means it’s not stretching that excellent combat to breaking point.
43. Indika
11 bit Studios, Odd-Meter | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | May | Metacritic Avg: 81
(Was going to be Game of the Week but I was unable to publish a roundup that week)
Indika is a baffling game. You play as a nun who may be possessed by the devil, and the game is a meandering exploration of the church, how religious beliefs affect relationships and…maybe…mental health? I don’t know?
Indika is one of the year’s weirdest and most experimental titles, made by a Russian studio who fled the country after the invasion of Ukraine due to their critical view of the situation. This political critique is present in the game itself, as so much of it questions the Russian Orthodox Church.
It’s dark, it’s satirical, it hops around genres and refuses to compromise. It’s likely not going to win everyone over, but for those it does, this is High Art.
42. Infinity Nikki
Infold Games, Papergames | PC, PS5, Mobile | December | Metacritic Avg: 76
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
What was once a simple series of mobile dress-up games has now expanded drastically into a sprawling open world game about using the power of dress-up to resurrect a god. No I am not joking, this is real, and I admire this level of absurdity.
Imagine Genshin Impact with more platforming and outfits to collect instead of anime waifus, and you have Infinity Nikki. And just like Genshin, this is a massive hit, already managing to grab a ton of attention even though it launched in the middle of the awards season noise.
Infinity Nikki is the year’s ultimate cosy game. So if you love dress-up, cute lil friends and surprisingly decent platforming mechanics, you need to be playing this.
41. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
505 Games, Rabbit and Bear Studios | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox | April | Metacritic Avg: 72
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
It’s been a long time since Konami cared much for the Suikoden series, so it was only a matter of time before the original director Yoshitaka Muriyama took to Kickstarter to fund a spiritual successor. Eiyuden Chronicle takes the original game’s conceit of a team of 100 party members and builds a whole new world around it.
Eiyuden Chronicle is a solid classic-style JRPG, one that acts a worthy successor to the Suikoden series. Reviewers praised it for its brilliant writing and party customisation. Its battle system was also considered highly creative, with up to 10 party members on the road at any given time.
Sadly, Muriyama didn’t get to see the release of the final game, as he passed away two months before its release.
40. Little Kitty, Big City
Double Dagger Studio | PC, Switch, Xbox | May | Metacritic Avg: 78
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
As great as Stray was, it did catch some criticism for not quite being the delightful cat game people were expecting. Anyone coming expecting to find it being Untitled Cat Game where you can go around causing chaos was instead smacked around the face with an emotional story about robots that happened to have a cat in it. Fortunately, this year has brought a game that should provide the pure cat fix players want.
Little Kitty, Big City is a cute cosy game about being a cat and trying to get back up to your owner’s warm apartment. Much of the game involves causing problems and generally being a cat, and helping the local crows before they bully you. It’s also wrapped up in a cutesy aesthetic that emphasises this gentle, adorable nature.
39. Zenless Zone Zero
HoYoverse | PC, PS5, Mobile | July | Metacritic Avg: 74
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Not content with dominating the gacha space with Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, MiHoYo went for the trifecta this year with Zenless Zone Zero. Set in an apocalyptic world full of urban cool, this game takes a different approach to the previous games by mainly being set around a single location.
Because of the lack of sprawling expanses to explore, there’s now a greater focus on character. The cast are often larger than life, bouncily animated and have much stronger motivations than the casts of previous HoYo games. There’s even a social link element to this. But there’s also a more colourful bunch of NPCs, with vibrant shopkeepers and even random people walking by are a huge step up from the usual copy-paste HoYo NPC models.
It’s also an incredibly fun action game, with a three-person party of your choosing going up against monsters of the Hollows in simple yet exciting stylish battles, where you can swap between characters as a counter. It just feels so good to play.
Zenless Zone Zero shows that even though the formula is getting obvious, there’s still a lot to love about what HoYo are up to.
38. Crow Country
SFB Games | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox X/S | May | Metacritic Avg: 82
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Retro horror is extremely big these days, with PS1 aesthetics being latched onto due to the low-poly models and poor draw distance offering a consistent surreal effect right out the gate. One of the best examples of the genre this year came from, surprisingly, the developers of Snipperclips.
Crow Country is old school horror in all the best ways. You have a spooky atmosphere driven by low-res textures, poor visibility and a grainy visual filter. You have puzzles that require navigating your way through horrors while preserving your ammo and health items. And you have a story full of dark twists and grim truths.
Crow Country is a treat for any fan of classic survival horror. I know it’s one of my personal favourites of the year.
37. Super Mario Party Jamboree
Nintendo | Switch | October | Metacritic Avg: 82
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
While many have tried to replicate the formula, only Nintendo have ever managed to make the virtual board game endlessly fun. Mario Party continues to be the best way to keep a group entertained (and potentially cause that group to never talk to one another afterwards).
Super Mario Party Jamboree is the latest of Nintendo’s party favourite, and it’s also considered one of the best ever released. It’s got a whopping 22 characters to choose from, more boards with unique gimmicks and a huge number of minigames to yell at your friends about. It also somehow managed to cram a huge 20-players mode in there somehow? Madness.
36. Still Wakes the Deep
Secret Mode, The Chinese Room | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | June | Metacritic Avg: 78
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Possibly the most Scottish horror game of the year, Still Wakes the Deep takes place in one of the most terrible places to be when the terrors arrive: an oil rig in the North Sea. After the crew has drilled into something unknown in the sea, a beast from below threatens the lives of everyone aboard.
Still Wakes the Deep is yet another brilliant horror game in a year already stacked with them. It makes full use of its cold, isolated setting and throws in some aggressively Scottish reactions to all of it. If you loved Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs this builds on what that game did in a huge way. A tense, atmospheric experience.
35. Marvel Rivals
NetEase Games | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | December | Metacritic Avg: 72
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Overwatch feels like it’s in a slow decline. The transition to Overwatch 2 was messy, players seem increasingly upset with its direction and the hype that once surrounded the game simply isn’t there. So, what if an upstart Chinese megacorp decided to make Overwatch but Marvel? What then?
The answer is a damn good time, based on the general reaction from the player base. Imagine if the Overwatch cast were replaced with superheroes flinging powers around, right down to some obscure choices like Squirrel Girl and Jeff the Land Shark (the only Marvel characters I care about). And it’s been hugely successful, even if it hasn’t been out long. I know my social media timelines are full of people saying they can’t stop playing, and that suggests it’s a real contender to Overwatch’s crown.
Also, hilariously, a one-off seasonal mode with the mechanics of Splatoon proved to be more popular than the full Splatoon knock-off that released earlier in the year.
34. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Capcom | PC, PlayStation, Xbox | July | Metacritic Avg: 83
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Capcom are just showing off at this point. After a successful run of their big franchises – Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter – they’re just doing whatever they feel like now, purely as a victory lap. They’re bringing back Onimusha and Okami, for god’s sake! And this year, that victory lap kicked off with the kind of mid-tier weirdo game that other companies say are impossible to make. But then Capcom just went and…made one.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a tower defence game where the tower is a lady. You have to protect a shrine maiden as she crosses a course. You do this with typical tower defence mechanics along with your own skills. Once she reaches the torii gate at the end, the demons are vanquished for good.
An utterly strange game but one that showed the big companies can still make games like this without compromise, if they’re willing to try. The fact it won over plenty of players in the process is the cherry on top.
33. Frostpunk 2
11 bit Studios | PC | September | Metacritic Avg: 85
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
The original Frostpunk was a game that turned the city builder into a stressful, harrowing experience and for that it’s one of the greatest city builders to ever exist. Your city of defiance against the encroaching deep freeze sees you making decisions about forcing children to work, using brutal dictatorial tactics to keep people in line and whether or not take in huddled masses. It’s a game that bluntly asks, sure, you might survive, but at what cost to your humanity?
The sequel, released this year, took that even further. Your primary goal is to keep the generators running, and ensure that you have the resources to survive through the harshest ice storms. Only now, you have factions to please and every single one of them has their own belief in how to survive. Keeping them happy is a tense balancing act which can fall apart at any time.
11 bit Studios continue to show they’re a studio who are brilliant at making the most relentlessly bleak yet compelling games in existence.
32. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
GSC Game World | PC, Xbox X/S | November | Metacritic Avg: 74
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
The reception to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is fascinating. On one hand, I’ve seen multiple reviewers declare it one of their favourite games of the year, while on the other hand, other reviewers have derided it for its unforgivable jank. And yet, regardless of where you stand, the fact that this game exists at all is a triumph in its own way. Developer GSC Game World is based in Ukraine so there were numerous difficulties in developing this which I’m sure I don’t need to explain.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is an impressive work by itself though. It’s an open world game that mostly lives up to its own promises, with meaningful choices and satisfying combat. It has technical issues, but with the game’s circumstances in mind, it’s easy to see why QA wasn’t a major priority. If you’re cool with some slight technical awkwardness, this is a game that offers a solid, tense shooter experience.
31. Neva
Devolver Digital, Nomada Studio | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox X/S | October | Metacritic Avg: 86
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Nomada Games made a big splash in 2018 with their first game, Gris, a harrowing yet beautiful examination of grief. Neva takes a similar path in exploring the nature of relationships and how we interact with nature. Taking heavy inspiration from Princess Mononoke, you play as a girl accompanied by her wolf companion as they seek to restore their forest home from the corruption that threatens it.
Neva is absolutely beautiful, with every frame looking like a painting. The journey is one wrought with heartbreak, terrifying monsters and tough platforming challenges, all of which comes together to make a beautiful, unforgettable experience.
30. Pacific Drive
Kepler Interactive, Ironwood Studios | PC, PS5 | February | Metacritic Avg: 78
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Pacific Drive is the perfect game for anyone who wishes survival crafting games were more about car maintenance than babysitting. You play as an unnamed delivery driver who gets sucked into the Olympic Exclusion Zone, a region of the Pacific Northwest United States that’s been cordoned off thanks to Science Gone Horribly Wrong. The environment shifts and warps, the ground attempts to punch you and the radiation will likely eat your skin off.
Your only protection from the horrors is a beaten up 1970s station wagon. Its wheels fall off twice in the introductory portions of the game and it’s missing half its doors, but it will become your best friend. You must attend to its every need, from fuel to maintaining its battery, while grafting on increasingly complex panelling until it becomes a Mad Max monstrosity.
Pacific Drive is a survival game so good that it managed to convince even me, one of the biggest critics of the genre. It’s also one of my personal favourites, to my great surprise.
29. Tactical Breach Wizards
Suspicious Developments | PC | August | Metacritic Avg: 88
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
The name of this game alone is probably a big part in why it turned out to be so successful. As the name implies, you control a squad of wizards who are infiltrating various locations to fight against a theocracy. These various shades of wizard all offer different methods to tackling the problems in front of you, and if any of those solutions don’t work, simply rewind time and try something else.
As such, Tactical Breach Wizards is less XCOM and more a tightly designed puzzle game where experimentation is key. It’s also very funny, in both its dialogue writing and in how the game’s various systems can cause some unintentional hilarity. One of the year’s big surprise indie successes.
28. Unicorn Overlord
Atlus, Vanillaware | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox X/S | March | Metacritic Avg: 87
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
The first of several appearances of Atlus on this list, although in this case they acted as publisher, with Vanillaware as developer. Unicorn Overlord is a tactics game in all the best old school ways, providing fans of the genre the fix they need.
It’s also an exercise in audacity, as you gradually build up an army of troops that can topple an empire, and the satisfaction this brings is a core appeal of the game. That and the gorgeous Vanillaware artwork, as is tradition.
27. Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga
Xbox Game Studios, Ninja Theory | PC, Xbox X/S | May | Metacritic Avg: 81
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Hellblade already wowed many with its brutal, unflinching depiction of psychosis, rendered in stunning realism. Hellblade II shows what Ninja Theory are capable of with a Microsoft-sized budget.
Hellblade II sees Senua on a larger, more expansive journey, one where she seeks to free her people from the Northmen. What follows is a confident technical display where every frame is meticulously crafted to meet the vision set up with the first game. Senua battle her way through grim environments, with the horror of psychosis laid bare at every turn.
It’s unsurprising that it managed to net both Best Performance and Best Audio Design at The Game Awards. Hellblade II is a technical masterpiece that few games could match this year.
26. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Bandai Namco Entertainment, Spike Chunsoft | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | October | Metacritic Avg: 82
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
The Dragon Ball Budokai games have always been a huge hit with fans of the series but this year’s release seems to have pulled out all the stops. How many Gokus does it take to fill out a fighting game lineup? About 20, apparently. With an additional 160 character to play with on top of that.
Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero seems to be the Budokai series going ham in every way it possibly can. It’s a grand celebration of the history of Dragon Ball, where every era of the series can beat up every other era. One can’t help but feel that the late great Akira Toriyama is looking down on the success of this game with pride. A perfect send-off.
25. Stellar Blade
Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shift Up | PS5 | April | Metacritic Avg: 81
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Nier Automata is generally considered one of the greatest games of all time, so it was only a matter of time before someone came along and tried to repeat its success. Stellar Blade wears its Nier influence on its sleeve, to the point where you could uncharitably call it a cheap knockoff of Yoko Taro’s work. It certainly isn’t as successful at executing its story but it does have more than enough to stand on its own two feet.
It’s mostly the monster designs and the extremely good combat. The enemies were designed by famed Korean monster man Hee-Cheol Jang of Snowpiercer and Okja fame, and they are some gruesome beasts. Fortunately, taking them down is a blast as Stellar Blade’s combat sits somewhere between the flashiness of Bayonetta and the methodical positioning of Dark Souls, and manages to walk the line incredibly well.
Of course, far too much of the discussion around this game has involved the physical attractiveness of the main character, but trust me, little of that matters in terms of the actual game.
And for the record, Yoko Taro is a fan.
24. Satisfactory
Coffee Stain | PC | September | Metacritic Avg: 91
(We missed this one on its release)
There’s a lot to be said for the humble sim. The kind of game that leads players to get sucked in as they build their city, nation or vast, sprawling alien resource gobbling factory. And that last one is exactly what players found themselves sucked into en masse this year, as Satisfactory emerged triumphantly out of Early Access.
You have been sent to a far-off planet with one goal – mine it for resources. In the process, you will build a massive factory that gradually automates the processes you used to build it, making everything more efficient and allowing you to stretch those resources even further. It’s a game about ever-escalating resource management which is determined to become your new job.
And based on its positive reviews and the fact that I kept seeing it mentioned on social media constantly since its release, it’s clear that it’s injected enough dopamine to keep everyone happy.
23. 1000xRESIST
Fellow Traveller, Sunset Visitor | PC, Switch | May | Metacritic Avg: 86
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
1000xRESIST is a strange game to try and explain but it’s one that every single player has fallen madly in love with. The game is set in a far future where alien visitors have destroyed humanity except for one teenage girl who is not only immune to their virus but also immortal. She lives in a world inhabited only by her clones, and you, as The Watcher, are tasked with piecing together the girl’s memories. Along the way you learn dark secrets about the world.
The game is heavily narrative-driven, based in a world that feels surreal and dream-like in its presentation. It’s been widely celebrated for its unique take on video game storytelling, bringing something new and exciting to the medium, especially as the dev team came from a theatrical background. It’s a game heavily concerned with identity, especially for those from immigrant families.
1000xRESIST is arguably the year’s most original game and needs to be explored by anyone with a love of video game narratives.
22. Mouthwashing
Critical Reflex, Wrong Organ | PC | September | Metacritic Avg: 85
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Mouthwashing is probably one of the year’s biggest surprises. A short horror experience from a team previously known for making a free experimental art game called How Fish Is Made was not on anyone’s bingo cards for this list, I imagine. And yet, Mouthwashing seemingly emerged from nowhere to dominate gaming discussion immediately upon its release.
Set on a dying spacecraft, the player travels through a non-linear narrative about what happened to lead to this unfortunate outcome. It becomes impossible to know who to trust and if what you’re seeing is even real. Hallways twist and warp, character motivations reshape as you learn more information and even you as the player character may not be all that trustworthy.
Mouthwashing has been the year’s surprise indie horror darling, and is likely to continue to pop up in discussions around video game narrative for a long time to come.
21. Persona 3 Reload
Sega, Atlus, P-Studio | PC, PlayStation, Xbox | February | Metacritic Avg: 87
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Atlus is having a great year, and seems determined to steal the JRPG crown from Square Enix. As well as Unicorn Overlord, they also had the audacity to bring back a fan favourite, smooth out the edges and add some modern polish missing from the original. In the process, they’ve created yet another one of the year’s best games.
Persona 3 was already a beloved RPG, with its moody themes and killer soundtrack. But now with improved social links and a UI more in line with what Atlus has been cooking up elsewhere. The end result was a game that was vastly improved in so many ways.
However, it’s not even the best JRPG Atlus released this year, as you’ll see further down the list. Which is honestly impressive.
20. Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Panic, Coal Supper | PC, PlayStation, Switch | August | Metacritic Avg: 86
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
It’s not normally a criteria I use to determine this list, but if “the most British game of the year” was a factor, then Thank Goodness You’re Here would win by a landslide. Set in the fictional town of Barnsworth, you play as a travelling salesman who communicates entirely by slapping people. And your job is to help this absurd collection of Yorkshirefolk with their British problems. And it’s glorious.
Thank Goodness You’re Here is an exercise is pure absurd comedy. The game is full of cheeky innuendos, surreal whimsy and some incredibly satisfying running gags, all wrapped in a Beano vibe. Gameplay is simple but it all leads to some bizarre interactions. This is a Pythonesque sketch show in video game form and is almost certainly incomprehensible to anyone outside the UK.
Also the game opens on a language option for Yorkshire or standard English, and I think that’s all you need to know.
19. Indiana Jones & The Great Circle
Xbox Game Studios, MachineGames | PC, Xbox X/S | December | Metacritic Avg: 87
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Excitement has been high for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle from the moment its existence was brought into public consciousness. Indiana Jones is already one of the great beloved fictional characters and MachineGames has built a pedigree of developing the Wolfenstein games. It’s a match made in heaven, especially due to the shared desire to hurt Nazis. A noble goal.
Thankfully, it lived up to the hype, with reviewers praising it from the heavens. In fact, there’s a high chance it could have been higher on this list if it hadn’t released in December and therefore missed its chance to feature heavily in awards considerations. You play as Indy, voiced by a Troy Baker you’d swear was somehow a young Harrison Ford, as he travels the globe searching for sites along the Great Circle, a centre of power that spans the world.
Gameplay is best described as Dishonored meets Hitman with a whip. And yet it also manages to be definitively an Indiana Jones game, one that gets who the man is and what his goals are. He’s not a killing machine, he’s an archaeology professor who can throw a punch if necessary, but smart solutions are required here. Anyone looking to play this has chosen wisely.
18. Warhammer 40k: Space Marine II
Focus Entertainment, Saber Interactive | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | September | Metacritic Avg: 82
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
My favourite Warhammer fact that I love to bring up at every opportunity is that Games Workshop contributes more to the British economy than the entire fishing industry. Now, part of that is almost certainly down to how much it costs to maintain a meticulous collection of figures, but some of it is down to excellent adaptations like this one.
The original Space Marine was already a beloved game, but Space Marine 2 feels like it’s drastically ramped that up this year. Space Marine 2 was a phenomenon on release, with gamers of all stripes praising its old school design and devotion to the Warhammer brand.
Basically, if you want a game where stomping monsters in big power armour is your jam, then you’ll have a blast with Space Marine 2.
17. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Activision, Treyarch, Raven Software | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox | October | Metacritic Avg: 83
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Another year and the Call of Duty franchise rolls inevitably on. But wait, could it be? After years of apparent stagnation, Black Ops 6 has been widely praised as a reinvigoration of the series, one that’s won critical acclaim and the greatest launch weekend in series history.
The latest in the Black Ops sub-series sees CIA operatives in the Cold War battle a paramilitary group during Operation Desert Storm. But most notably, the game introduced omnidirectional movement, enhancing the feel of the game in a way that’s broadly popular.
So there you go. Millions of people are still playing, but for once it seems like they’re justified.
16. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Annapurna Interactive, Simogo | PC, PlayStation, Switch | May | Metacritic Avg: 89
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one of the year’s weirder games. You play as a woman who has been invited to a mysterious hotel by an even more mysterious man. Inside the hotel are a series of puzzles and disjointed Lynchian events. It’s not entirely clear what the story is. But you better believe you’re solving a lot of maths problems.
This is a game for the big puzzle nerds. Imagine Resident Evil with all the usual key-finding and strange puzzle rooms, only now there are no zombies and more code-cracking. Every aspect of this game is a massive puzzle box, with riddles stacking on top of each other. You don’t even get access to the map without knowing how to calculate a surface area.
This is honestly one of my favourite games of the year simply because I’m a puzzle sicko who loves absolute nonsense weird shit, and if that’s also you I highly recommend Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.
15. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Nintendo, Grezzo | Switch | September | Metacritic Avg: 85
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
For an almost 40-year series named after a princess, it’s weird that there’s never been a game where that princess has taken the starring role until now. Okay, sure, there’s a CDi game but Nintendo would prefer you never mention that.
Combining the aesthetics of the Link’s Awakening remake with the freeform puzzle solving of the open world Switch Zelda games, Echoes of Wisdom has proven to be a small yet joyful experience. Zelda has to rescue Link, and to do this, she can use a magic wand to generate whatever items you need. Many players felt that a bed was the best solution to almost everything, and quite frankly that seems like a great plan.
It may have taken this long for the titular character to take centre stage, but it’s been worth the wait. More Zelda-based Zelda games, Nintendo!
14. Tekken 8
Bandai Namco Entertainment | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | January | Metacritic Avg: 90
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Tekken is one of the biggest fighting game franchises in the world alongside Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, so its latest refresh was highly anticipated at the start of this year. Fortunately, it was worth the wait, as the combat mechanics have been given a significant overhaul. The heat mechanics have added an extra layer of additional aggression to proceedings, while movement has been given a significant boost, making it one of the most enjoyable Tekkens to play.
The story mode is also a lot of fun, with the usual anime nonsense dialled up to 11. Jin Kazama drives a motorcycle up the side of the building within the first chapter, and it only escalates from there. This includes a fight with a literal god and a climactic battle on a flaming asteroid. It’s gloriously silly.
Tekken 8 is by far the best fighting game of this year, and future seasons only promise to get better. It’s certainly one of my personal favourites.
13. Black Myth: Wukong
Game Science | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | August | Metacritic Avg: 79
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
There’s a lot to be said about the size of the Chinese market. While normally Chinese games are focused on the mobile market, Black Myth: Wukong was a full-fledged AAA game from a Chinese studio based on Chinese mythology. It exploded.
Black Myth: Wukong is based on Journey to the West, where players take on the role of monkey man Sun Wukong as he battles his way through a series of tough boss fights. It’s not a soulslike despite first appearances, but it does offer big flashy boss battles. They just happen to be all back-to-back. The result is a grand spectacle that has taken the world by storm.
The game set records for sales and concurrent players on Steam, most likely down to the Chinese market rabidly jumping on board due to the heavy cultural connections. It helps that it’s also a pretty excellent game based on its reviews, so it has more than earned its slot here. Although I’m sure the game’s director is upset it’s not at the top based on his reaction to The Game Awards.
12. Silent Hill 2 Remake
Konami, Bloober Team | PC, PS5 | October | Metacritic Avg: 87
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
When the Silent Hill 2 remake was announced, many were sceptical. Silent Hill 2 is one of the greatest games ever made! You can’t improve on perfection! It didn’t help that Bloober Team were confirmed as the developers working on it, as they are a controversial developer in horror circles due to criticisms of both Layers of Fear and The Medium.
And yet, despite all odds, Bloober Team tossed aside all concerns as soon as the remake landed. This is a game that builds on what came before, improves what needs to be improved and leaves everything that made the original great intact. Not just that, but new elements that build on that are prominent, such as extra dialogue with Angela that enhances her backstory rather than ruins it.
Silent Hill 2 is a triumph of a remake that proved the haters wrong, providing an excellent new take on one of horror’s greatest darlings.
11. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Electronic Arts, BioWare | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | October | Metacritic Avg: 81
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
The years have not been kind to BioWare, have they? After the disaster of Mass Effect: Andromeda and the questionable existence of Anthem, they desperately needed something to claw themselves back to greatness. Dragon Age: The Veilguard appears to have achieved that.
Effectively a reboot of the Dragon Age series, Veilguard puts an emphasis on solid gameplay and a storyline that’s been left free to do whatever it feels like. Level design is more meticulous linear areas full of interesting things over Inquisition’s big bland open maps.
The result is a game that maybe isn’t quite on the level of BioWare’s classic best but is certainly a significant step back towards it.
10. UFO 50
Mossmouth | PC | September | Metacritic Avg: 91
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
There was a temptation to make the whole list this single game, since it would effectively meet the criteria of 50 notable games by itself. UFO 50 is a retro compilation of the works of Ufosoft, a fictional company whose work spanned the best part of a decade before they closed down. In reality, these are 50 unique games developer by Derek Yu of Spelunky fame and his friends, developed over multiple years.
This is the very definition of a labour of love, with the ambition on display here putting most other developers to shame. It would have been easy to make a collection of 50 simple games that lasted about 5 seconds, just to meet the premise. Instead, these are 50 fully-fledged games, meticulously crafted to resemble games of the 1980s. Any one of these could be a solid indie game in its own right, but instead you get 50 of them in a single package. Impressive work.
9. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Ubisoft | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox | January | Metacritic Avg: 87
Original Coverage | GOTW: No
There have been a lot of stories lately about the slow death of Ubisoft. It seems that players have been getting increasingly tired of the repetitive design choices that cross almost all their games, as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and the Tom Clancy franchise all began to blur together and become an exercise in tedious map-icon-ticking and tower-climbing. So it’s nice that this year saw Ubisoft finally break away and do something outside of their usual mould, while also bringing back a beloved franchise we haven’t seen in a while.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a Metroidvania where you play as Sargon, a member of an elite mercenary squad known as the Immortals, as they set out to rescue the titular Prince from the mysterious Mouth Qaf. As Sargon, you navigate the various areas of the mountain, from ancient cities to forests full of ruins. In typical Metroidvania fashion, you collect new abilities that allow you to traverse new areas and explore hidden secrets.
It’s all standard stuff but it’s all handled with a precision and care that elevates it to easily one of the best in the genre. Sargon’s movement is fluid and precise, the map is vast and full of surprises and the story, all betrayals and time-warping shenanigans, is surprisingly in-depth for a game like this.
Sadly, this game didn’t do as well financially as Ubisoft would have wanted, but I can see it gaining a steady fanbase through word of mouth over a longer period of time.
8. Animal Well
Bigmode, Shared Memory | PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S | May | Metacritic Avg: 90
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
We’ve seen a lot of heartbreak in the industry at large lately, and the traditional methods of publishing seem to be crumbling. Which is perhaps what spurred popular YouTuber videogamedunkey to form Bigmode, a place for him to raid his Scrooge McDunk money bin for good and fund more games. Many said he couldn’t do it. Animal Well proved them wrong.
Of course, dunkey was not the developer of the game, he merely helped get it out the door. Instead, Animal Well was made by a single developer, Billy Basso, and was a hobby project he was working on while an employee of NetherRealm and Phosphor Games. In 2022 he shifted to full development and now, here we are with one of the year’s more surprisingly complex games.
On first glance, this is a simple Metroidvania starring a lil blob guy. But as the game unfolds, it reveals additional layers hidden underneath puzzles and riddles that hide in plain sight. There’s one big puzzle that can only be solved with community discussion. And also one puzzle will just straight up send origami to your printer.
Animal Well is a mind-bending, surprising experience that took many by surprise. Hey, maybe there is something in getting YouTubers to fund games after all.
7. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Sega, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio | PC, PlayStation, Xbox | January | Metacritic Avg: 90
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise continues to be a huge hit, thanks to their persistent focus on making great games with great stories all while keeping costs to a reasonable level unlike every other major studio at the moment. Infinite Wealth is the continuation of Ichiban’s story from Yakuza: Like a Dragon, while simultaneously finally giving Kiryu the send-off he deserves. Maybe?
However, even outside the usual Serious Crime Drama at the heart of the series, Infinite Wealth hasn’t forgotten that half the appeal of the series is an utterly silly playfulness. There’s an entire Animal Crossing game in here, and it’s a side activity!
Like a Dragon continues to be an absolutely essential series for anyone who loves games.
6. Dragon’s Dogma II
Capcom | PC, PS5, Xbox X/S | March | Metacritic Avg: 87
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Dragon’s Dogma was an underappreciated action RPG from 2012 that many were hoping to see more of, and this year, those people got their wish. And in essence, they got more of what made the original great. To the point where, at first, it simply seemed like a basic rehash of a 12-year-old game.
Until its greater secrets began to unravel. A whole second map, revealed only through doing specific things in-game. A plague that could gradually sweep its way through your band of allies if you didn’t catch it soon enough. Plus more than enough emergent narrative moments to make anyone recounting their experiences in the game sound like a man in a pub trying to convince everyone he really saw a werewolf on the moors.
Dragon’s Dogma II is one of the best RPGs in a year already crammed full of them, and that’s high praise indeed.
5. Helldivers II
Sony Interactive Entertainment, Arrowhead Game Studios | PC, PS5 | February | Metacritic Avg: 83
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Live services are in a rough place right now. Just this year we saw the launch and subsequent closure of both Concord and XDefiant, both emblematic of the problems of chasing a desperate trend. However, one live service defied the odds and became one of the biggest games of the year. And what’s more, it’s a game that few expected to pull it off: Helldivers II.
It’s not every day that the sequel to a minor top-down shooter becomes a smash hit phenomenon that takes over most gaming discourse for the first half of a year. This blend of third-person shooter horde mode and Starship Troopers style satire won over millions of people this year, all eager to bring managed democracy to the stars. Of course, this didn’t last as Sony’s sudden PSN requirement caused huge amounts of controversy, but the game still persists, even if not quite in the same massive numbers as before.
Helldivers II was a massive game, and easily one of Sony’s big successes this year.
4. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Square Enix | PS5 | February | Metacritic Avg: 92
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was one of the most anticipated games to release this year. As the second part of Square Enix’s meta twist on one of the most beloved JRPGs in history, expectations were high. Luckily, Rebirth has exceeded most of them.
With the game leaving Midgar, the world has drastically opened up into a series of vast open maps, all filled with their own characters, quests and stories that expand the world beyond the empty green expanse that the PS1 original featured. The events of the story have been expanded, with almost every significant part of the plot given extra weight and nuance. And then there’s the ending, which takes one of the biggest moments of the original game and twists it into something bizarre and off-the-wall.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an astounding game, one that is much more than just a remake. It’s a wild ride that enthrals and surprises for over 100 hours. It just leaves us with one question: how are they going to follow this up with the final part?
3. Metaphor: ReFantazio
Sega, Atlus, Studio Zero | PC, PlayStation, Xbox X/S | October | Metacritic Avg: 93
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
Once upon a time, Square were considered the masters of the JRPG. The studio you would always turn to if you needed a grand epic about friendship, turn-based battles and ultimately killing a god and saving the world. But this year, as Square Enix seem to be slowly imploding, a new king has been crowned in Sega and their subsidiary, Atlus.
Of course, the entire Persona series already placed Atlus into a great position to take this title already, but a remake of Persona 3 helped strengthen that position, and Metaphor Re:Fantazio pushed them way into pole position. The critical success of this game cannot be overstated, with the game almost immediately being crowned Game of the Year by several reviewers who instantly fell in love with it.
Directed by Persona figurehead Katsura Hashino, Metaphor is set in a world where the king has died, his son and heir has been put into a coma and a competition has been triggered to decide the new ruler of the kingdom. You are part of a band who are fighting on the comatose prince’s behalf to take the kingdom back into its rightful hands before a shady group take it by force. If all this is starting to sound like commentary on the state of world politics right now, you wouldn’t be far off, as this game embraces its political messaging wholeheartedly. Almost like it’s a…metaphor?!?!
It helps that it’s also a fantastic RPG on top of that. It doesn’t stray far from the Persona formula but why would it when that’s already proven to be so much of a winner? In fact, all it’s missing is the school life, and for some people that’s something they’re more than happy to get rid of.
2. Balatro
Playstack, LocalThunk | PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, Mobile | February | Metacritic Avg: 91
Original Coverage | GOTW? No
Poker is a classic game that has no business cropping up on a Games of the Year list, simply because of its ubiquitousness. However, if you take poker hands, combine them with a constantly evolving set of ridiculous Joker cards and emphasis the concept of “number go up” it can become one of the most all-encompassing phenomena of 2024. Genuinely, if you’d told me it would be the second highest game on this list at the start of the year, I would have laughed in your face.
Balatro is an aggressively addictive card game that’s had people hooked from the moment it released. I don’t think gaming social media has stopped talking about the game since, and the mobile release has only made things worse.
Balatro is easily this year’s great indie success, as this game made by a single developer for fun went on to dominate the entire industry, right down to a Game of the Year nomination.
1. Astro Bot
Sony Interactive Entertainment, Team Asobi | PS5 | September | Metacritic Avg: 94
Original Coverage | GOTW? YES
In 2020, Sony released the PS5 and surprised everyone with a pre-installed tech demo for the DualSense controller that went far beyond what it needed to be and became one of the most joyful gaming experiences of the year. Astro’s Playroom not only showed off the cool features of the DualSense, but it was also a solid 3D platformer full of imagination and reverence for PlayStation history. Needless to say, people wanted more, and this year, more is what they got.
Astro Bot is a game entirely unlike most of Sony’s current catalogue. They’ve gone all in on serious, hyper realistic, story-driven experiences but here’s a game that feels exactly like a Nintendo game got lost and wandered onto the PS5. Astro Bot is Sony’s Super Mario Galaxy, as Astro ventures across multiple galaxies to levels brimming with imagination. From levels where Astro can grow and shrink to levels where he can turn into a sponge and fling water about the place, every single level in this game is pure joy.
It’s also a vast celebration of everything PlayStation, with the bots you’re tasked with rescuing resembling characters from across Sony’s 30-year history. This includes big hitters like Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us, third-party favourites like Crash Bandicoot and Solid Snake, and obscure surprises like a bot based on Kurushi. It’s a wonderful game, and it’s not often that my personal favourite aligns perfectly with this list, but this year it absolutely did.
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