ALLTheDinos' Favorite Games of 2024

It’s a little hard to believe that this is my 6th consecutive year of making GOTY blogs; it is not at all hard to believe that I’ve failed to finish a single one on time. Part of the reason is that I’ve only ever written the things as long as I’ve been a parent. This fact likely informs my choices, as indie games with shorter runtimes tend to dominate my lists. Another major factor is Game Pass, as you’ll see below. With a month of 2025 under my belt, I think this list caps an era of gaming in my life, and the list that I am hopefully able to write 11-12 months from now is going to be much different. Game Pass feels like a product that has started its decline, at least as far as getting awesome day one indies is concerned (although hello Citizen Sleeper 2). Even more than that, my kids are old enough to start legitimately pining for a real Nintendo system. We have a Switch Lite, which I personally hate using, and my daughter has glommed onto it in a big way. I’m afraid my unintentional embargo on Nintendo games in my GOTY list is about to end, assuming I can grab a Switch 2 this year. The other reason for my lateness is that I caught COVID for the first time right around my normal publishing time, and it's been a never-ending cavalcade of illness since then. Like I said, I'm a parent of young kids.

This is just about the lowest stakes intro I’ve ever written to one of my blogs. Granted, most of the blogs I write these days concern the Hottest Mess in gaming in a given time period (or company). But I think at this point I’ve started with “boy, that was sure a rough year” in each of the previous blogs. I don’t have to tell you that a 12-month period was rough. I sure as shit don’t need to tell you the next 12 months will be rough. Anyone with at least two functioning brain cells to rub together can perceive our current toilet universe, in technology and in general. The relationship of any art form during horrible times for a given person is to give you some pocket of fresh air, not to be honed by how horrible the times are. Games are no exception. Knowing way more about what goes on behind the scenes than I did in 2019 deepens my appreciation for the games that hit for me, and it also allows me to see how rampant mismanagement and freewheeling layoffs lead to underwhelming products. I was never a “lazy devs” guy, but that mindset is even more infuriating now. The devs are swirling the bowl along with the rest of us, the least we can do is lock arms as we circle the u-bend.

I don’t even know what characterizes 2024. As tempted as I am to say “2023, but worse”, it feels far too reductive. Sure, my two most-played games in 2024 were a pair of 2023 releases (Against the Storm and WarTales, my #6 and #5 of 2023, respectively). And I don’t think anything this year challenged my top 3 of 2023. One notable achievement is that 2024 was the first year since 2010 that I played no Skyrim whatsoever, finally. Instead of figuring out a characterization for the year, I’ll let the games speak for themselves. Screenshots are mine unless otherwise noted, and I marked which platforms I played each game on.

Apologies to: Alan Wake II: Night Springs and The Lake House DLC, Animal Well, Beastieball (early access), The Cabin Factory, Crow Country, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred DLC, Exiled, Hades II (early access), Home Safety Hotline, Indika, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Starfield: Shattered Space DLC, Tekken 8, Temtem: Swarm (early access), and WHAT THE CAR?. I didn’t have enough time for you, and I probably never will.

Not Ranked: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (Xbox Series X)

No, I don’t have some sweeping opinion on whether DLC should be eligible for GOTY discussions or not. The truth of the matter is that I had no idea where this should fit into my list. My annual cheat entry allows me to avoid this conflict altogether. I greatly enjoyed this game, easily my favorite piece of additional content since Mass Effect 3’s Citadel DLC. It cemented Elden Ring as one of my top five all-time games, and it captured the imagination of both of my kids (as noted in “their” GOTY list). I rarely get time to revisit my favorite games these days, so this excuse to spend a couple months in Elden Ring again was incredibly welcome. Now please, enough with the poison swamps.

10. The Rise of the Golden Idol (PC)

Having blitzed through its predecessor earlier this year, The Rise of the Golden Idol is a strange game to discuss. On the one hand, it has a ton of quality of life improvements and the story dips into some pretty wild implications by the end. But it ended up being a less satisfying journey than The Case of the Golden Idol, mostly thanks to the excess blankity-blanks. As Dan noted in the Bombcast at some point, there were many moments that I felt I had accurately depicted the scene, but the game was looking for an alternative story that was also true. After figuring out what it wanted me to say, I didn’t always leave satisfied that the game was pointing me towards the most pertinent information about a given scene. Nitpicks aside, I played this alongside my partner, and we had a blast solving all the mysteries. There are four planned DLC drops in 2025, and you can be sure I’ll return for each one of them.

9. Still Wakes The Deep (Xbox Series X)

Despite loving horror as a medium, I don’t usually love games in horror settings unless they hand me a gun. I didn’t enjoy sprinting away from monsters and hiding in improbably large vents all that much, but it’s Still Wakes The Deep’s attention to detail that makes it stand out. The drilling platform that serves as the game’s setting is incredibly well realized, both in terms of making it feel like a (barely) functional workplace and adding flourishes of its inhabitants’ personalities everywhere. The voice acting is incredible, and not just because of the dense Scottish brogue and colloquialisms. This focus on the characters gives their eventual transformation into monsters that hunt you real stakes in a way many horror games fail to, peaking with getting pursued in a hallway by the giant head of your antagonistic supervisor. Lastly, the game avoids one of the biggest traps of horror by not explaining much of what’s going on. They drilled too deep, things are bad; that’s all you need to know. Oh, and kudos on the subtle jab at people who complain about yellow paint by including it to enhance immersion.

8. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Xbox Series X and PC)

Given that Capcom is the poster child for successful remakes and AAA sequels these days, I’m extremely glad they make time for weird shit like Kunitsu-Gami. The fact that the game rules is just icing on the cake. I was a big fan of tower defense custom maps in both Starcraft and Warcraft, and the controls in Kunitsu-Gami rarely feel obtrusive towards what you’re trying to set up. The combat felt similar to Monster Hunter: World, in that there are relatively few inputs but a surprising depth to your moveset. The enemy variety was enough to predict attack patterns and keep you on your toes at the same time. The first time I saw one of those wall enemies that had a ramp for smaller spirits to spill over was one of my favorite experiences of the year. My only knock against this game is that some of the bosses were very annoying and required specific builds to get through, particularly the final boss. If this game came out 20 years ago, it would probably be the only thing I talk about for a month (and I might have dipped into New Game Plus as well). If you have any fondness for the PS2 era, you owe it to yourself to check this game out.

7. Thank Goodness You’re Here! (PC)

Holy shit is this game funny! It took about 3 densely packed hours for me to do just about everything that I could, and I spent nearly all of it either laughing or with my jaw hanging open. The relatively small game map also has your character revisiting areas frequently enough for little gags to develop at different paces, which was also key to the humor working. Running subplots (like a pie rivalry) pay off in big and small ways, and the chainsmoking fishmonger’s narrative conclusion absolutely floored me. The ending sequence to the game deserves its high praise, integrating the story and gameplay in a way that couldn’t have worked as a movie or show. I’m really glad I made time for the game in December, because I couldn’t imagine any GOTY list without it now.

6. Balatro (iOS and PC)

Before Balatro came to iOS in September, it was in danger of falling off of my list altogether. Now it’s my go-to phone game for flights, bathroom trips, and waiting for food to cook. It does the best job since Vampire Survivors of incentivizing me to unlock things, not only through teasing new cards and vouchers but also giving me fun objectives to pursue. My biggest complaint is that the escalation is not nearly as fun as the unlocking process. I’m simply not enough of a min-maxer to figure out broken card combos, and I’m also way too lazy to look it up. The fact of the matter is that this game has been fun all year for me, and having something self-contained enough to easily drop 5 minutes into without a) spending any more money and b) investing much brainpower into it is just really nice. It’s probably ruined my ability to properly play poker, though.

5. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PC)

I think I like the idea of puzzle games more than I actually like playing them. Part of this might be the fact that my available time for gaming is limited by having two young children. If I beat my head against a puzzle for a while and make little to no progress, I feel like I’ve wasted my evening. Lorelei solved this issue for me by always giving me a little puzzle to solve just on the horizon. Progressing through Hotel Letztes Jahr was always rewarding, provided I had any clue what I did the last time I played. Like some of the GB staff, I had a long enough hiatus to forget everything I had done. Fortunately, I had scribbled a lot of things onto a notepad (essential for this game), which gave me some footing for pushing through to the end. I did look up a couple of items to avoid the problem I described above, but this didn’t diminish my time with the game. The end of the game seems really polarizing, but I liked it (and prefer it to things I’ve seen others propose, to be honest). Even if you never reach the end thanks to the game’s surprising length, I think it’s well worth it to drop in and solve some puzzles among creepy vibes.

4. Dragon’s Dogma II (Xbox Series X)

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen has a lot of freaks (complimentary) that absolutely swear by it. I am not one of them. I gave it an honest attempt back in 2019 or so, and it just wasn’t for me at the time. I probably would have passed on its sequel if the combat videos didn’t remind me so strongly of Monster Hunter: World. I'm glad I did, because I can’t believe I almost missed out on this special, bizarre game. The combat works well (especially when you find a class that speaks to your preferred style of play), but it’s the adventure of everything that made this game unforgettable to me. Preparing in town to explore a new part of the map or make your way to a known waypoint felt more like setting off in a Dungeons & Dragons game than even Baldur’s Gate has for me. Then seeing all my plans go awry because I got waylaid by a strong enemy, only to fumble around the roads looking for a campfire to survive the night, was just as fun as when things were going well. Even the annoyance of losing a pawn to a bad jump or slide down a cliffside was entertaining, because it put you into another great “Oh Shit, Now What” situation. Of all the games on my list, it’s probably the one I think about starting a new game the most. This time, I just want to exist in the world, doing low-stakes adventures and exploring, and sending my monstrous main pawn out to other sickos’ games. If there’s a downside, it’s that now I’m worried the next Monster Hunter won’t delight me as much as Dragon’s Dogma II.

Also holy SHIT that final area of the game, and the fact that many people could just miss out on it entirely. Truly deranged game design, excellent work.

3. Frostpunk 2 (PC)

It’s probably impossible to discuss this game without disclosing your relationship to the first one. So here goes: I really liked the tough decisions present in Frostpunk, but I didn’t enjoy playing it all that much. Frostpunk 2 feels more to me like a Real Time Strategy game, which thanks to games like this / Against The Storm / Manor Lords seems like the genre is having a moment. I also watched The Terror (season 1) for the first time this year, so my fall was filled with British people freezing to death. I enjoyed the campaign and its tough choices forcing me to select a path that lay well outside my own morals. It definitely picked up after chapter 2, in case you’ve had difficulty getting into it. Utopia Mode is the one I keep coming back to, where I can try different areas and different configurations of the generic factions. It’s definitely a game that punishes careless play, but the aesthetics and satisfying exploration keep me coming back every few weeks even into 2025.

Thematically, it’s an incredibly bleak game, which I suppose is fitting for 2024 and beyond. You can be adept at balancing the disparate factions or even assuming complete authoritarian power, but none of it will matter if you can’t withstand an ever-worsening climate crisis. The game sprinkles some “ideal” outcomes that you can achieve throughout the campaign, but failing to meet them will cause far more death and injury than committing to a worse option early. The campaign also denies you a happy ending, letting you know that anything can collapse in due time. There’s a dagger in the final message, which I’ll paraphrase as “you did the best you could… right?” That doubt stuck with me for a long time, considering the only time I saw any members of my colony was either as a number or a still portrait. It’s definitely something to consider in the fraught near future, where we’re just going to have to do the best we can while confronting a staggering amount of decay and a dramatic increase in destructive weather.

2. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Xbox Series X)

I’ve gotten a December spoiler in the last few GOTY lists, but never before has a game threatened to become my top choice in the final month. Color me extremely surprised that a game I had little excitement towards until November, and in a franchise whose last movie I enjoyed was released shortly after my third birthday, almost pulled it off. In some ways, the game came out at a perfect time. Fascism is about as powerful as it’s been in the United States during my lifetime, with top advisors giving Nazi salutes and impending tariffs depending on how much companies are willing to kiss the top executive’s ring. So forgive me if I find it extremely satisfying to whip a weapon out of a fascist’s hands and beat him with the blunt end of a rifle until it falls apart in my weathered hands, or if I take pleasure in pushing a Nazi officer off a cliff. Add in some really interesting puzzle solving that falls short of requiring a notepad (though some Sukhothai puzzles came close) and the best torch-lighting in any video game, and it was so easy to immerse myself in a franchise I haven’t cared about in decades.

The story is perfect, in that it matches the tone of the movies down to their most slapstick moments. Troy Baker, whom I’ve had a pretty mixed opinion about depending on the performance, is absolutely flawless as a young Harrison Ford. I don’t care much about the Game Awards nominees, but if he’s left off the list next year, it will be a stupid joke. Tony Todd gets some incredible moments late in the game as the towering Locus, including an all-timer of a final scene. And of course the preening Emmerich Voss (played by Marios Gavrilis) is a perfect villain, gloating about even his most minor victories before the vanquished have even left his presence. Machine Games gave this game a ton of care to establish a very specific tone, and I don’t think anyone can doubt that they threaded that needle. And it’s so good, there will be no need to make a fourth Indiana Jones movie, right? Right?!?

1. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Xbox Series X)

My father was 58 when he died of cancer. It felt that until he was well into that cancer’s spread, he had a lot of trouble asking other people (or at least me) for help. As someone who didn’t start playing the Yakuza Like A Dragon series until Ichiban Kasuga entered the picture, I didn’t have any nostalgia or much fondness for a 55 year old Kazuma Kiryu other than knowing how important he was to longtime fans. This game made me care deeply about his journey, not only through his fond reminiscing of his old adventures and relationships, but also through an unwitting connection to someone I cared deeply about. Kiryu’s journey in learning how to rely on others hit me in an unexpectedly hard way. The previous game’s theme was about defusing toxic masculinity through brotherly love; this one took another shot at the toxic masculinity of every man being an island. You see the people using others as pawns in order to become Great Men defeated by two tight-knit crews of a found family. The people who prevail put their egos aside to deliver aid precisely when it’s needed. This is the advantage of having a series full of older protagonists: that message feels earned with their lived experiences and regrets of how they treated others when they were younger. It’s never too late to change, and it’s never too late to ask for help.

Lest I forget, there’s an extremely good video game between all of these things! I really enjoyed the turn-based combat, and the changes they made between LAD and this game were universally positive. You can skip piddly low-level battles and still get most of the rewards. You can move around the battlefield and actually position your attacks without needing to wait. And building social links gave your party enough combo attacks to make everything feel kinetic, even when battling a trash bag pervert for the 100th time. The game is so good that it has smaller great games inside of it, like a whole Pokemon gym (and legendary hunt), an Animal Crossing where you beat up pirates and piles of trash, and a Pokemon Snap for sex criminals. Just running around Hawaii and Yokohama felt great, and I would spend hours just collecting all the food conversations (and being insanely jealous of what they were eating). I showed the Hawaii map to a coworker that lived in Honolulu for a long time, and they were extremely impressed by its fidelity to the real equivalent. I spent 100ish hours in the game and never felt like I had played it too long. Even the load times were impressive, and somehow way shorter than the prior game (good optimization, I suppose). My one complaint is that it takes very long to get to the fireworks factory in the beginning, which may put the barrier of entry too high if you aren’t familiar with Ichiban. But man, you should really become familiar with Ichiban!

Honorable Mentions: I’m frankly stunned how much I’ve been enjoying Star Wars Outlaws, which I think is my second favorite Star Wars game of all time now (behind TIE Fighter)... Songs of Conquest hit 1.0 this year, and I’m still a complete sucker for any Heroes of Might & Magic-like… I haven’t spend a real dime on it, but Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket has been a staple of my daily life since it released… Finally, while the game is way too fucking long (I spent more time on it than even Infinite Wealth), Dragon Age: The Veilguard was one of the most impressive salvage jobs I’ve ever seen. Now please, Bioware take note of how RGG reuses assets and don’t let this universe sit for another 9 years.

Dishonorable Mentions: Planet Coaster 2 should have been a shoo-in to my top ten, but the game feels completely broken right now. I’m not sure a game has disappointed me this much since Fallout 4… For the first time in a while, I didn’t enjoy enough of an MLB The Show game to win a fourth World Series with the Baltimore Orioles… Palworld really has little to offer, and it will continue to surprise me that it gets even a fraction of its initial engagement… My least favorite game of the year was Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn for reasons I can no longer articulate. I had a viscerally negative reaction to that game, and I would rather do anything else than revisit it.