Videogames of 2024 Discussion Thread

[billieeilishstyle]

Will this finally be the year of

[BleuPanda]

The new Prince of Persia is apparently helping the year start strong, and we also have the latest Yakuza at the end of the month. Meanwhile, I'm still catching up on the big hits from last year...

As for Silksong, perhaps the hope that it will someday release is too powerful to allow it to actually do so.

[Agelina24]

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the latest blockbuster of 2024 - "Chrono Nexus: Odyssey." Seriously, this game is an absolute masterpiece! The graphics are mind-blowing, and the attention to detail in the open-world setting is next level.

What's really got me hooked is the dynamic storyline – choices you make actually impact the game world, giving it a whole new level of replayability. The character development is top-notch, and the voice acting? Pure gold.

[FrankLotion]

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the latest blockbuster of 2024 - "Chrono Nexus: Odyssey." Seriously, this game is an absolute masterpiece! The graphics are mind-blowing, and the attention to detail in the open-world setting is next level.

What's really got me hooked is the dynamic storyline – choices you make actually impact the game world, giving it a whole new level of replayability. The character development is top-notch, and the voice acting? Pure gold.

Huh, I’d never heard of it! I just looked it up and it does seem very cool, I’m not sure I’m in the right part of my life to commit to an MMO but maybe I’ll try it in the future.

The only 2024 game I’ve been playing so far is Persona 3 Reload.

[Nassim]

My favorite games of the year :

1) Tactical Breach Wizards
2) Metaphor ReFantazio
3) Prince of Persia : The Lost Crown
4) Shadow of the Erdtree
5) Hades 2
6) Shogun Showdown
7) UFO 50
8) Arco
9) Minishoot' Adventure
10) Unicorn Overload
11) Balatro
12) Tekken 8
13) Animal Well
14) Ultros
15) Lysfanga
16) Thank Goodness You're Here

A few other games I hope I can play soonish : Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Kunistu-Gami, The Operator, maybe Dragon's Dogma ?
I really really really want to play AstroBot but I don't have a PS5

Also 7 older great games I played this year :
1) Super Mario Wonder
2) Sea of Stars
3) Promenade
4) A Little to the Left
5) Cobalt Core
6) The Case of the Golden Idol
7) Gone Home

[FrankLotion]

Here’s all of the games I played for the first time this year (with 2024 games marked). I’ve ranked them from most to least favorite.

As with last year, I’ve started what people seem to agree is the best game this year but I haven’t played enough of it to rank it here. So far I’ve played about 4 hours of Metaphor: ReFantazio but I’m really loving it so far.


Baldur’s Gate III

It’s very easy to be hyperbolic when talking about Baldur’s Gate III. As I was nearing the end of Act 3, I started wondering to myself if this was my favorite game of all time. Now that I’ve completed a couple luxurious playthroughs of this epic experience, I’ve concluded that it’s pretty damn close to being my ideal game.

Every side character in this world is oozing with charismatic personalities, and the dozen or so characters that make up the main cast are so fully realized and entertaining that it makes the writing in any other game seem lazy and incompetent in comparison.

But what really sold me was how interactive the world is, especially in combat. It’s essentially just a modified version of D&D gameplay but in practice it feels like the three-dimensional tactics of XCOM but blown out to its most dramatic and sophisticated form to accommodate very creative thinking in surprising ways.

I was hooked! I was hooked for hundreds of hours and still think about it all the time, I can’t recommend it highly enough. At this point the only game I’ve enjoyed more from the 2020’s is Elden Ring.

Speaking of which…

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (2024)

It makes sense that a game as amazing as Elden Ring would produce what’s probably the best DLC of all time in Shadow of the Erdtree. It feels like a substantial sequel in the same way that “expansions” used to do for PC games at the turn of the millennium. It easily gets my vote to be 2024’s game of the year.

With that said, it is “just” DLC. If you’re familiar with the base game then you know what to expect here since it doesn’t break the mold in any foundational way. I, however, find that particular Elden Mold to be endlessly compelling. SotE also happens to have the best art direction of any FromSoftware game so far, has some of the best boss fights in the medium, and overall it’s retained that magical sense of adventure that the base game was famous for. Best use of $40 I spent this year.

Persona 3 Reload (2024)

I already talked about Persona 3 before so I won’t rehash it. All you need to know is the original game (or at least the “Portable” edition I played) is pretty special, with some great combat that’s aged pretty well along with a potently bleak story that still manages to feel joyful in meaningful ways. I still wholeheartedly endorse that game but it came out in the mid-2000’s so it can be a little rough, which is why the spectacular current-gen remake is so welcome.

In addition to being a gorgeous game to look at, there’s been a lot of meaningful quality-of-life improvements that brings the gameplay into the modern era. The already excellent voice acting has also been replaced with even better performances and dialogue, making Reload the definitive way to experience this phenomenal game if you haven’t already.

Cyberpunk 2077

I’ll just say now that I did not play this game during it’s disastrous debut back in 2020, so I don’t really have much to say about all that even though that’s probably the most famous thing about this game.

It’s a real shame that all the discourse focuses on all that stuff because the actual game that everyone was so excited to play is pretty great. While all activities other than the missions and side missions are painfully boring and half-baked, I found just about everything else to be captivating to some extent.

Cyberpunk has a lot of the same thorny morality that made CD Projekt Red’s Witcher games so unique but transposed it out of that medieval hellhole into this nightmare future America that is an absolute blast to explore. It’s really a sight to behold, every inch of the city is lovingly crafted and filled with bizarre sideshows. This game cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and it sure looks like it.

Following a huge update, the game is also a lot more fun than it was when I first tried it. Movement feels really tactile and the combat is a chaotic whirlwind of overpowered guns and Matrixy slo-mo samurai swords. It’s incredibly satisfying, and even feels good when the action is more subdued during the surprisingly complex stealth puzzles.

With a game this huge and ambitious I inevitably can’t touch upon everything here, but the bottom line is this is one of the most fun and interesting open-world games in a long time and is well worth the buy and time investment in my opinion.

Tekken 8 (2024)

It’s amazing that 30 years into a franchise that already has several all-time classics they’ve released one of the best entries in the series just this year.

I adore the older Tekken games and still enjoyed all the later ones as well to some extent but this felt like a big upgrade in my opinion. The main campaign is more fun and crazier than ever and there’s been a big push to accelerate the gameplay while also adding new modes to make this a great solo experience when you don’t have any real people to play against. It also looks fantastic, great showcase for this new generation of consoles.

Fallout: New Vegas

It’s tough going back to games using this old clunky engine but I can now see why a lot of people were disappointed by Bethesda’s tenure as custodians of the Fallout series. I’m a fan of those Bethesda games as well but there’s a thoughtfulness to the actual role-playing implications of your decisions, and the world/characters of New Vegas are several orders of magnitude more surprising, troubling, and hilarious than those found in Fallout 3. Also despite the outdated clunkiness of the movement and combat, this game is still an extremely fun and wacky time so I’d still recommend it.

Alan Wake II

As unique as the original game was back in 2010, it was kind of a slog to get through and I absolutely could not stand Alan’s shitty personality. Alan still kinda sucks but Alan Wake II is a kickass game to play (most of the time).

This is much more of a horror game than its predecessor and it’s genuinely scary throughout. I also love the new open-ish layout of the levels which makes exploring the dark woods and finding its strange details on the margins to be deeply rewarding. I loved going through all of Saga’s chapters and Alan’s first chapter but unfortunately the conceit of solving puzzles by changing Alan’s environment quickly becomes tedious so I’d recommend saving Saga’s final chapters for last so it ends on a satisfying note.

Quake

Great game that still feels great to play in 2024! This must’ve been mind blowing when it came out.

Animal Well (2024)

Animal Well doesn’t feel all that new and novel compared to Metroidvanias of the past but it’s definitely one of my new favorites. This is an exceptionally designed game with a level of depth that consistently surprised me. I don’t necessarily want to spoil the experience for anyone but I will say that painstakingly (or accidentally) teasing out all the secrets on top of secrets made me feel like a goddamn genius.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations

I have a warm spot in my heart for the first two entries in this trilogy after playing them in High School but only just got around to Trials & Tribulations this year. I thought it was great!

This series has some very endearing characters and that’s still true here, and solving the mysteries of each case is just as outrageous and devoid of inference as ever. I still mean that as a compliment, it’s all intelligently written and has some juicy soap opera twists so I’m fine with the frequent leaps in logic. Bonus points for finally showing me where our fellow forumite prosecutorgodot gets his username.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024)

I haven’t enjoyed a game in this series since 2009’s MW2 (which feels like a lifetime ago) so color me surprised that Call of Duty might still have some gas in the tank after all. There’s nothing novel or groundbreaking about Black Ops 6 like there frequently was in the early entries but it’s so nice to feel that this series can actually be fun again.

They’ve abandoned any pretense of recreating any past glories of genuine shocks or attempts at political salience and is instead it’s a wholehearted embrace of the pure and stupid popcorn entertainment of the 80’s and 90’s. I’m not sure I’d pay $70 for it but since I got it for free I’m not complaining.

Persona 5 Tactica

I’m a little disappointed with this one. It’s not like anyone was saying it was amazing or anything but I love Persona and strategy games so much so I was hoping I’d like it.

Maybe if Atlus tries at this genre again it’ll be better but I found the gameplay to be way too simplistic and pretty boring, and the writing seemed to be a few steps down from the main series as well so this is the one game I dropped after playing a few hours because there wasn’t much compelling me to stick with it.

[acroamor]

not the biggest gamer in terms of new releases, but I loved Balatro and I also just loved seeing the whole story arc of the game from small demo to smash hit and GOTY nominee - Localthunk seems like such a likable person so I'm thrilled to see him succeed

[‘Faumeplder]

Can I ask a question, how do you guys view Black Myth: Wukong? as a Chinese, I see propaganda on social media every day about how great his overseas influence is, but what I saw on Backloggd、Glitchwave were completely different results, after Astro Bot has win the TGA, in China people even started to criticize Astro Bot crazily,although there are still many opponents of Black Myth: Wukong, but they are easily ignored, so I'm curious what you guys really think of Black Myth: Wukong

[FrankLotion]

Can I ask a question, how do you guys view Black Myth: Wukong? as a Chinese, I see propaganda on social media every day about how great his overseas influence is, but what I saw on Backloggd、Glitchwave were completely different results, after Astro Bot has win the TGA, in China people even started to criticize Astro Bot crazily,although there are still many opponents of Black Myth: Wukong, but they are easily ignored, so I'm curious what you guys really think of Black Myth: Wukong

Haven’t played Wukong or Astro Bot unfortunately and probably won’t for a while since I don’t have a PS5 or a decent computer, which is a shame since both games look awesome.

[Moeboid]

Can I ask a question, how do you guys view Black Myth: Wukong? as a Chinese, I see propaganda on social media every day about how great his overseas influence is, but what I saw on Backloggd、Glitchwave were completely different results, after Astro Bot has win the TGA, in China people even started to criticize Astro Bot crazily,although there are still many opponents of Black Myth: Wukong, but they are easily ignored, so I'm curious what you guys really think of Black Myth: Wukong

I haven't played it, but so far I've got it on lists from GamesRadar+, NME, The Guardian, and Time (as well as being nominated for The Game Awards). That puts it at around 20th of 2024, though that could change as more lists come in.

Speaking of that, if there are any reputable publications from China putting out best of 2024 lists then please point them out to me. It's very hard for me to find such things as someone who only speaks English.

[Nick]

The only two 2024 games I've played were Persona 3 Reload and Animal Well, both of which I wholeheartedly endorse.

[Tali]

As a CS2 fan, I'm really excited about how the game has evolved, especially with the new features in 2024.

I've been down this game for many years and recently I came across a blog about Best CS2 Pro Players. and there's a younger boy there, and I was thinking how they get to play so well? it's talent or what hah)

[Nassim]

The only two 2024 games I've played were Persona 3 Reload and Animal Well, both of which I wholeheartedly endorse.

I was a bit disappointed by Animal Well, I would have needed at least some kind of directions. I feel I have unlocked plenty things but don't know why I did it or where to go next.
As far as Metroidvania I enjoyed Prince of Persia - The Lost Crown way more (even if it's not innovating one bit)


My games of the year :

1) Tactical Breach Wizards
2) Metaphor ReFantazio
3) Prince of Persia : The Lost Crown
4) Shadow of the Erdtree
5) Hades 2
6) Minishoot' Adventure
7) Shogun Showdown
8) Promenade
9) UFO 50
10) Arco
11) The Operator
12) Nonogram 3D Mega Puzzle
13) Tekken 8
14) Balatro
15) Unicorn Overload

Tactical Breach Wizards is a delight, as much a puzzle game as a tactical RPG ; the story and characters are great, well written with both humor and depth.
Metaphor ReFantazio is "Persona but as a political campaign instead of high school" and it mostly works, the calendar feels a bit contrived at times but the improved combat system makes the dungeon more of a breeze.
Minishoot' is Zelda meets twin stick shooter and it works surprisingly well with a good balance of challenge and exploration
Shogun Showdown is a deck building rogue like game with a very simple, addictive and efficient combat system.
Promenade is a kid friendly platformer, cute and straightforward, though the endgame is actually pretty hard so kids will enjoy it but probably won't beat it.
Nonogram 3D is Picross 3D, nothing more nothing less but if you like those puzzles it is very well done.
The Operator is a pretty short game where you are at your computer desk answering calls from FBI agents and helping them through cases by looking through photos and videos, it's all fun and games until you have to help one of them defuse a bomb (spoiler : you can fail, I sure did !). Some X-Files and CSI vibes.

The rise of the Golden Idol should maybe be here but I only solved 2 cases for now (it is badly designed for steam deck) and I also started Caravan SandWitch which might end somewhere at the bottom of my list but is also kid friendly and charming