2024 was a AAA year for video games despite a lack of AAA titles

Despite less flash, focused games and mysteries stuck with me more than sprawling open-worlds

As I author these annual lists, I feel like the evolution of games that I have played over time are both indicative of my personal taste evolving, along with a general sense of the year’s quality of titles. By those metrics, 2024 served as an indicator that I’m asserting playing “what I want” more than ever before.

There are some blindspots, mainly around games that I felt like would not grab me. Some may be on sale later, when I can dive in, but for now, they’ll be hypotheticals. Black Myth Wukong looks intriguing, but as someone who did not fully jive with Elden Ring and other Soulslikes I have no desire to purchase it at full price. Helldivers 2, Mouthwashing, Marvel Rivals, Neva and Nine Sols are, quite simply, not my thing. I gave the demo of Unicorn Overlord a whirl and was not compelled to get the game: it felt overly complicated and arduous. It’s possible I purchase one of these games and review them next year, but for now they are not on my list.¹

Originally, I was going to have 20 games on this list including a couple that are still in my backlog, namely Crush House, Long Days Gone, and 1000xResist. All three of these games still may be completed at some point, but I don’t feel comfortable ranking them as of yet. 1000xResist, in particular, seems like a striking title that just isn’t hitting for me at the moment. I think I’ll like it, I just need some more time and space for that appreciation to set in.

For now, though, 17 games merited an opinion from me. As usual, some of these are games that came out before 2024 - I just got to them this year. I recommend any game in my top ten wholeheartedly.

Interesting Game I Did Not Finish

17. #BLUD - My lowest ranked game in 2024 is still pretty good and I may complete it at a later date. It stars the perfectly-pink field hockey player Becky Brewster as she has to use her latent demon-killing ability to save her town from an infestation of vampires. #BLUD looks like it was fully designed by Butch Hartman of Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom fame - the cartoon aesthetic is distinct and was the biggest selling point of the game for me. The combat is generally hack, slash, and dodge, with a ranged attack mixed in. I genuinely enjoyed my time with #BLUD; it’s a cute indie game. A combination of it dropping at a busy time for me and a little boredom kept me from finishing it fully. I still feel like it’s a worthy purchase for those who like hack-and-slash titles and indie games in general, and I look forward to what Exit 73 studios does next.

AAA, Did Not Finish, Too Long

16. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla - After finishing Vinland Saga², I felt compelled to continue my Viking journey with an on-sale Assassin’s Creed game, and I’m happy that I can start my thoughts with a positive; Valhalla was able to hold my attention longer than any other recent AC game. Eivor is a good main character with an interesting backstory (although he’s no Thorfinn), the world is fun to traverse, and there are elements of the infiltration and mystery missions that made me remember why I still have a soft spot for this series. This, to me, was a test run to see if I’d be compelled to buy the upcoming Shadows on Day 1 - and, unfortunately, I still forsee myself picking up the game either on sale instead of paying full price for it. I hit a point in the game when the sprawling open-world bloat and spongy enemies got a bit too much and the question of “what will happen next” wasn’t a compelling enough incentive to continue onwards.

This feeling of bloat and overstuffed worlds is a theme with a lot of games I played this year including, to my disappointment, the next one on my list.

15. Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth - My relationship with the first Like a Dragon is a little bit complicated. I enjoyed the game overall, playing it over a long break, but found myself a bit disengaged as I got toward the end. Then, the final scene took me aback more than any other conclusion to a game I can recall playing in the past five years. It is perfect, relevant to our society today, and if you want to spoil yourself, I wrote about it in the context of anti-LGBTQ violence in a different post.

That final scene turned me from a Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth sale-watcher into a Day One buyer. I could not wait to go to Hawaii and hang out with Ichiban Kasuga and all of his friends, solving a mystery and beating up thugs.

Unfortunately, this game has not hit for me the same as Like a Dragon. As of now I’m probably about 55-60% of the way through the main plot. I think this is an example, however, of a studio trying to unnecessarily overcomplicate a story.

In the first Like a Dragon, Kazuma Kiryu has a role to play as a mini-boss battle and eventual mentor to Ichiban. I think it’s fine to include him (and his merry band of fellow cameos) in Infinite Wealth. However, by trying to create a bifurcated story with two protagonists, it kills the pacing of the game for me. The gaps between Ichiban and Kiryu gameplay sections are too large. I found myself zoning out as the characters would not shut up, ever. My tolerance for the Yakuza sense of humor was stretched to its absolute limit. This game is set at such a massive scale (and we’ll talk about another game on this list which could have fallen into a similar trap, but didn’t) that I found myself constantly opting for fast travel and taking the taxi instead of actually exploring Honolulu or Ijincho. When that exploratory mechanism is eliminated, the game is just a genuinely novel and fun battling system paired with an overlarge story and one character I cared about (Ichiban, who is still a great protagonist.)

I think people loved this game for good reason - they are Yakuza series fans and this game is so densely packed with content and Easter eggs that I am sure they will play for ages and say this is their Game of the Year. That’s great - and who knows, maybe I will find a second wind and continue on with Infinite Wealth at a later time. I just wish it could hold my attention a bit more. There may be a twist ending here as good as in Like a Dragon, but as of yet, I have not seen it, and I don’t know if I ever will.

Completed, But Needed Some Editing

14. The Plucky Squire - The funny thing about The Plucky Squire is that despite the fanciful, storybook style marketing, what sold me on the game was the image above - 3D Jot trying to get back into his book, avoiding one-hit KO beetles in the process. It was genuinely unnerving, tense, and challenging to navigate the outside world. The Plucky Squire feels like a proof-of-concept, a fun and bright journey following four cute characters as they navigate colorful 2D and fanciful 3D worlds, aiming to defeat the evil Humgrump. The game is charming, smart, and has some legitimately fun mini-games including rhythm stealth, wordplay, and Match-3. My experience with The Plucky Squire was generally two hours of enjoying myself and then thirty minutes of remembering “Oh, right, this is probably something that’s aimed at middle schoolers.” For what it’s worth, I think a middle schooler would LOVE this game, and if that’s the artistic intent, that’s fine by me. I also believe that this could be a great television show if All Possible Futures sought to spin it off - or perhaps even an episodic game series with multiple mini-installments over time. I’m excited for what this studio does next, and I hope to see Jot, Violet, Pip, and Thrash again.³

13. Ace Attorney Investigations: Collection - This is assuredly the oldest game on this list, but I was quite excited for it as a diehard Shu Takumi fan (and, as you’ll see later on this list, someone who played a fair bit of mystery games this year.) I ended up pretty disappointed. This game was originally released a decade ago and it shows: there are better Takumi games. Three elements I will give AAI:C flowers for are one of the better “assistants” in the series (Kay Faraday), a genuinely surprising end-game twist, and the fact that it rarely took place in a courtroom, allowing for in-world investigations to serve as the main throughway for questioning. I enjoyed my time with it while still expecting a bit more.

12. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code - I’m surprised this beat AAI:C out, but this might be my favorite Spike Chunsoft game. Rain Code tends to fall into some of the typical anime over-the-top reactions that are markers for this genre, but the long-tail plot is genuinely intriguing and surprising twists make for a compelling story. I was hooked until the end and never felt myself wanting to take prolonged breaks, unlike AAI:C. I still feel like this type of game isn’t an instant-play for me, but I am definitely more inclined to give mysteries like Rain Code more of a chance moving forward.

Missed Opportunities

11. Dragon Age: The Veilguard - Whew. I could go on about my feelings regarding Veilguard for a long while, but overall coming away from the game I saw some brilliant opportunities and high stakes undercut by, yet again, a lack of editing. While playing this game, I posted this on Bluesky:

These are two of my biggest problems with Veilguard. I don’t mind the combat, but the enemy density is SO high and the enemies are very bullet-spongy. Also, there are too many side missions for your fellow heroes, and they all feel vestigial to the main plot. You feel like you must complete them all in order to unlock the “Hero of the Vanguard” perks, and for most of them I ended up just listlessly playing the game on mute while listening to podcasts.

I do think there are positives to Veilguard. I really enjoyed some of the set-piece boss battles, and storming fortresses as part of the main story feel impactful and strategic. I also love that the game forces you to split up your characters and make major choices that have wide-ranging impacts on the play experience - I do wish there were more of them, but the ones that are there do genuinely feel important. I chose to save Treviso over Minrathous and it was actually a difficult decision - in my head I wrote of the decision as trusting Neve and wanting to help Lucanis and his guerrilla forces hold the elven gods at bay. Lucanis was my favorite character in the game by far - I’m actually surprised the fandom has not embraced him as much as the other characters. Emmrich’s final decision, Harding’s last boss fight, and the serene end to Davrin’s arc were other highlights. Assan the griffon is a good boy, and so is Manfred the undead assistant.

I didn’t have as big of an issue with the dialogue between characters outside of Taash, who feels so disconnected with the rest of the group. That being said, I do feel that in a different era of gaming, that character would have been seen as a misanthropic annoyance a la Cait Sith instead of an indictment on an entire studio’s political motives and writing culture.

Overall, I enjoyed The Veilguard. Coming in as less of a series purist, my expectations were up in the air, and the game met them, although it dragged on for too long. Given how pricey the title is, I can’t recommend it for everyone, but I still think it would be worth playing once on sale.

Good, Old-Fashioned Sleuthing

10. Lil Guardsman - If you couldn’t tell, this was a banner year in terms of mystery games, and this one was way up there for me. Lil Guardsman is basically Papers, Please with a more cartoonish aesthetic. You play as Lil, who stands guard and ensures that entrants to the castle grounds are not secretly shapeshifting murderers. There are solid twists, fun puzzles to solve, and many achievements to unlock. It’s a quick game but is firmly on my “recommended” list, and I think you should grab it now.

9. The Curse of the Golden Idol
8. The Rise of the Golden Idol - I played both Golden Idol games this year and my feelings were similar for both. I’m obsessed with the art style. The mysteries are challenging but not impossible to figure out. Rise has next level aesthetics, storytelling, and special effects that Curse does not. The drive-in theater is a particular highlight. I found Curse’s long-tail story more digestible and easy to figure out than Rise. I highly recommend both games. It’s that simple - they rule.

7. Chants of Sennar - I played Chants during my holiday break last year and fell in love with the puzzle solving. I was sad when the game ended and I had translated the last line of my final language. Chants is beautifully stylish and each level you traverse feels differentiated. The puzzles are intuitive and nothing feels overly easy nor hard. Of all the mystery games I played this year, it was my favorite thanks to its combination of style and coherence.

Indie And Incredible

6. Balatro - One person made this game and it’s a staggering achievement. I’ve put in a lot of hours, earned special decks and chips, and strategized hundreds of Joker builds over the past year. Balatro is a great game that deserves every bit of love it’s gotten from players. However, it was not my favorite indie game to be released in 2024.

5. Animal Well - Videogame Dunkey, you’ve done it. You’ve published a video game…and it’s really, really good. Great, even. Spectacular, one might say.

Animal Well is also a game that was made by one man, Billy Basso, and it is DEEP. Level one is all that I completed, and I still feel like I got a robust, challenging experience. You play a blob who must defeat a dog(?), an ostrich, an iguana, and a seahorse to earn tools and flames in order to descends to the depths of the well and defeat a vile monster. Animal Well has SO many secrets hidden within its eight-bit designs. The gameplay is intuitive but still difficult. There’s a moment in this game where my stomach literally dropped because of a task I realized I would have to complete.⁴ It took a bunch of attempts, but I did it - and, I felt incredibly accomplished upon its completion. I think everyone should play Animal Well, and I’m a bit surprised it did not get more Game Awards love. To me, it’s the best indie game of the year, and I think it speaks to both Basso’s talent and Dunkey’s eye as a publisher that this is the first output from Bigmode. I cannot wait for what is next from either (or both) of them.

Epic Yet Inscrutable

4. Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - When the critique of Final Fantasy 7: Remake started to focus on “why are we spending all of this time in Midgar,” my first inclination was to push back.

I was a fan of Remake - it hit at the right time for me (during the lockdown portion of the pandemic) and it felt incredibly fun to play - I ranked it as a top five game of 2020. Final Fantasy has figured out combat, at this point; the transition from a turn-based RPG to something more real-time is complete. I loved playing as Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, and Aerith. I didn’t feel like the game dragged on - which may have been because it took place in a space as dense and realized as Midgar. Exploration hit a fulfilling balance between a manageable amount of sidequests and a good volume of content. The game worked well for me.

Rebirth also is fantastic. There are scenes in this game that are the platonic ideals of how I imagined certain FF7 scenes as a child. Entering The Gold Saucer is a mind-blowing experience and would have made 6 year old Ethan so happy. The Queen’s Blood card game was an inspired addition. Everything that happened at Cosmo Canyon with Red XIII moved me; so did the relationship between Barrett and Dyne. This game hits emotional peaks and stays focused enough in its main story that it doesn’t fall into the Infinite Wealth or Valhalla traps - I was willing to keep jumping through its hoops to get to the end. A lot of critique around this game is that it felt overstuffed, and while I can’t totally disagree with that, I actually think that there may have been just enough for me to feel engorged without bursting. It’s bloated, but not overly so, and when considering that it is objectively one of the prettiest games ever made, I have even less of a problem there.

So, with great combat, fun characters, incredible art, moving moments, and a ton to do, why is it not my Game of the Year? I have two minor criticisms and one existential thought that kept it from claiming a top three spot.

Firstly, even if the game is not bloated, that doesn’t mean there weren’t significant slow-down points. Similarly to Veilguard, there are certain missions where you have to take along certain characters that, honestly, I didn’t really feel like exploring with or learning more about. This killed momentum for me - I’d rather have just spent more time with my favorites instead of having to look for grappling hook catchpoints with Yuffie and unlocking doors with Cait Sith.

These two characters are also forced into battles as part of your team, and I didn’t like playing with them much. Cait Sith’s abilities are all over the place and hard to learn, especially in contrast with his counterparts. Yuffie is, similarly, pretty one-dimensional with an ability that is cumbersome, especially when compared to Aerith’s ranged attacks and healing ability. I leveled both of them up but often deferred to Barret/Aerith/Red as my big three with Tifa occasionally coming in over the top for melee help. Any time I had to bring Yuffie or Cait to a battle, I groaned inside.

Finally, my major issue: I cannot imagine how someone new to the Final Fantasy 7 lore is taking in these two massive, pricey games and connecting them together into one story. I feel like, to a degree, these games are the result of the love affair around IP and content for money’s sake over coherent narratives. I cannot imagine how someone who doesn’t love FF7’s initial IP from 1997 is actually supposed to follow this plot. It gives credence to the critiques of Remake - the time spent in Midgar feels like it was a structural choice to pad playtime instead of one made for the sake of breaking up the story, and that feels really bad.

I have sincere concerns that this is where franchises like Final Fantasy (and, honestly, Like a Dragon) are going: dragged out content for superfans filled with easter eggs for them to scour: nothing new, nothing iterative, no real compelling throughline for younger fans of the series to grab onto other than “your millennial uncle loved this game when he was a boy, so you should play it too.” Then, when games like FF7 inevitably don’t sell well (why would a teen buy a nonsensical game for $70 when they can play Fortnite or Minecraft for basically nothing), the powers that be and industry sources blame the medium, the fact that it was first-party, or that it was expensive to produce, in order to confirm priors rather than create compelling new single-player stories to tell.

I will play the final iteration of this trilogy, and I’m still enjoying myself, but I’m watching you, Nomura and Square Enix. This game wasn’t as good as Final Fantasy 16 (which has better combat, music, new characters, and a story that makes sense), and makes me existentially concerned for the state of gaming. Not a great combo.

Yet it’s fourth on my list because it’s one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever played, launching into enemies with Red XIII is fun, and Max Mittleman made me cry when he changed his voice at Cosmo Canyon. C’est la vie.

Most Played Game of the Year

3. College Football 25 - In talking about College Football 25, I want to discuss two heroes: Tobias Peprah and Doug Wegher.

Tobias and Doug were similar specimens; positionless athletes that hailed from suburban Perkasie, Pennsylvania and New Canaan, Connecticut, respectively. However, their traits were undeniable. Peprah, at 6 foot 5 and 220 pounds, was fast, could catch, and profiled as a Nico Collins type wide receiver. Wegher, similarly 6 foot 5, brought 98 speed and 96 acceleration to the table - he’s a once-in-a-generation freak of nature. Once those two were on board, I redshirted them for a year, letting them develop, and then unleashed them in 2027 with senior Nick Evers’ 97 throw power and 99 play action helping them thrive. UConn won a bowl game that season, but still could not crack the playoff.

The year after, Marshall transfer quarterback Scott Petty came on board and, after a failed Wegher at QB experiment, he took the reins and helped the whole squad go 11-1 and make the playoff, only to lose in the National Semifinals. 2029, though, would be UConn’s season, as new recruit Ben Pounds, who had perfect route running, release, and speed, took off his redshirt and immediately became superhuman, combining with Peprah and Wegher to lead the Huskies to an undefeated season and championship. Wegher ended his career with three Heisman trophies and over 10,000 total yards. Peprah went to the pros as well, and Pounds was a 1st round pick in 2030. The three backup wide receivers - Jameson Hickok, Roberto Angulo, and Demarcus Knight - thrived as well.

I had more fun with College Football 25 than any game this year. Thank god this game is back. It plays so well and lets the player develop headcanons about their guys. Who likes who? Why do these two players combine so well? People criticize sports games for being formulaic and boring - they miss the point. Sports is real human drama, and I brought that perspective into my playthrough of College Football 25. I didn’t even talk about the defensive linemen, running back supersoldier Cooper Krull (who rarely broke big plays but always got the 3-5 yards that mattered) or the cornerbacks (specifically, Larry Joy, the 5 foot 8 slot corner from Lexington, Mass who entered Storrs with 82 speed but had a green gem next to his name and ended his career with 30 career forced fumbles, 10 interceptions, and third round draft pick status.)

I’ll end this section with my receiver room and my headcanons for each of them - honestly, this would be a fun script to write at some point. I may do it. Let yourself love sports games. They are truly special if you let your mind wander.

Surprise of the Year

2. Pentiment - This game absolutely stunned me.

I’m surprised how much I loved Pentiment. I was late to it because it was XBOX exclusive for so long, but thanks to my mystery-kick this year I ended up getting it on sale once it came to PS5. I’m so happy I took the plunge.

In Pentiment, you play as Andreas Maler, an artist who finds his way to the town of Tassing in 1518. Maler is hired as an illuminator at Kiersau Abbey, where he uncovers a malevolent murder plot. As Maler, you follow leads, learn about the townsfolk, and build connections over the span of multiple decades in Tassing.

There are so many spoilers and secrets that I don’t want to reveal in Pentiment, but I do think there are a couple of descriptors that particularly struck me and don’t reveal too much of the story, so if:

• You think it would be cool to inspire a town to unionize against an oppressive benefactor

• You love when choices matter in games

• You’re intrigued about European history and want to see accurate ways in how people from different walks of life perceived each other and intermingled in 16th century Bavaria

• You are a sucker for a good mystery (and good characters) who develop over time in unexpected ways

• You aren’t really a gamer, but you like, just…reading. Or good art. Or how antiquated circumstances intersect with modern morality.

Play this. Pentiment gets my strongest recommendation.

There are other obvious perks as well. The art style is incredible and makes you feel like you’re in the middle of an interactive storybook. The characters are absolutely fascinating and I fell for them quickly; watching their lives evolve over time, and my impact on them, was an absolute pleasure. It’s a reminder that we’re only as righteous as the actions that we take. If I hadn’t encouraged a certain character to draw, he wouldn’t have become an artist nor had the courage to stand up to his abusive father. If I hadn’t studied selected French as my Andreas’ second-language of choice, my understanding of a certain set of writings would have been completely different. If I hadn’t learned just a bit more about a certain character’s motivations, I would have doomed him instead of deciding at the last minute that he must be saved.⁵

I cannot say enough good things about Pentiment. It’s not my Game of the Year, but it’s the game I’m happiest to have discovered and finally checked off my backlog.

For My Game of the Year, No Linguistic Sleight of Hand is Needed - Click Here

1. The one exception to this is Astro Bot, which I just bought as of posting this and will include in my 2025 list. I didn’t have time to invest into it before, it will be my “time off” game this year. It’s unfortunate I waited this long, because thus far, I’m loving it. Alas, it will have to wait.

2. Watch and read Vinland Saga, you will not regret it. It’s become my favorite manga and anime of all time. A story of evolution, love, and restraint. A story to aspire toward. It’s one of one.

Also, I finished the season late because I knew I had to be in the right mindset to watch it, and that mindset was curled up under covers during winter time. Totally worth it. Ultimate winter show.

3. Pip the Mouse had some of the most fun rhythm stealth puzzles I played this year, love that little guy. Him and Thrash were high on my “Favorite Characters” list (included within Game of the Year blogpost).

4. ANIMAL WELL SPOILER

The moment when you realize you have to outrun the Dog a SECOND time and swap the discs again…Moment of the Year. What an incredible decision by Billy Basso. It’s the most I’ve ever felt like I was a contestant of Legends of the Hidden Temple.

5. PENTIMENT SPOILER

I went into the second part of the game ready to doom Guy immediately. Then, I learned why he was stealing the money, and knew that I had to keep him alive. It would have felt icky if I had killed him off. I only came to that conclusion by following through the whole storyline, which I only did because I wanted to ensure I had the evidence to doom him. What a great game with great twists. A+++++++ writing. I also loved Paul’s arc, Otto’s whole deal, and the way the women in this community took care of each other despite (some) awful men around them.