by mocbucket62
Hey I know I just made a list for my top 10 games of 2023 today...on 12/31 of 2024. But hey I'll also put out a Top games of 2024 today as well. Granted looking back at this year I only got to play 12 2024 Releases and that is about as many releases within the year I played since 2020. However, this year was a pretty big year for gaming for me since I beat 41 Games total this year. Many if these games were retro games since I had a real itch to play plenty of old games this year. There were a few games that released in past years of this decade that I played as well and a few of those games got me motivated to play a few of their follow ups that released this year. However, this list is strictly listing my favorite game releases from 2024 and sometime next year I'll create a list of every single game I beat in 2024 with some scores I'd give them and brief comments about them.
Anyways, from what I've played of 2024, there were some amazing titles that I'm happy I got to play! Heck a few games that made my list were remakes of games I played back in the GC/PS2/XBOX generation and found the remakes to be amazing. But will say, between beating a certain RPG that released in 2020 and got a sequel this year, I feel confident in naming its sequel my GOTY as well as the franchise of the year. Plus its main Character...
Yeah, honestly between beating Yakuza 7 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Ichiban Kasuga and his group of buddies have become some of my favorite characters in gaming ever. And its frankly kinda amazing I sunk my teeth into both titles but Moreso into Infinite Wealth. From seeing Ichiban dress up as Ono-Michio to confront and beat up a fradulent Ono-Michio Mascot to seeing him help a kid make enough money from selling lemonade to buy a tiara for someone who looked over him during his time at an orphanage, Ichiban is an incredible human.
So that revealed my GOTY immediately, but now onto the list itself. Where I'll rank every 2024 game release I played. When I have time I'll add descriptions for each of the games but here's the list as is:
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2024 was the year of Ichiban Kasuga. Not only because I got to be Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth but because I beat Ichiban's previous journey in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. this game was on my backlog for so long that last year I finally too the time to beat it and man it has become one of my favorite RPG's. Loved the combat and job system in it where everyone has their base jobs such as Ichiban being a classic RPG Hero, but there are other side jobs that I could give other members such as making ex-Cop Adachi a Musician and deliver buffs to the party. Not to mention the substories were both really hilarious and engaging ranging from Ichiban go from having Ichiban help a nervous tour guide to help fund a scientist's project to get a giant Roomba to clean Yokohama. Also Ichiban Confections/Holdings became such an addictive side game that I couldn't put down. I was really happy I finally got to beat Yakuza: Like a Dragon on April 19 and can see why this was the runner up for Giant Bomb's GOTY in 2020. Then 4 days later on my Birthday, I get Infinite Wealth on my Birthday from my brother and what a perfect way to continue seeing Ichiban's story evolve. Infinite Wealth is I think a better video game than Yakuza 7 and it has become my favorite RPG ever. The combat system is even better now with each party member using space to utilize their attacks better as you can move towards objects like Bicycles and use those bikes to wail on Sujimon or if you launch a Sujimon towards another party member, they can land an additional attack. The Job system much better as there are incredibly useful and funny jobs your party can be such as Aquanauts who use surfer based attacks on enemies and Kunoichi which gives your Female party members a speed boost and can use shurikens and daggers to attack. Plus grinding for these jobs is so much easier than in 7 as your party members can level up the jobs quickly when using them. Plus the side content in this game was super addictive ranging from the Sujimon battles where you can catch Sujimon and take on other trainers' Sujimon in Pokemon esque battles to Dondoko Island which is very much like Animal Crossing with a Yakuza flavor. The substories were even better in Infinite Wealth than they were in 7 which already had a high bar as some highlights include one where you find a wind shaman to help a Japanese Rockstar summon wind for an effect for his music video and one involving a lady getting her pet chicken back from a UFO. But most importantly without spoiling anything, Let It Snow was by far the best substory I've experienced in this whole series. If anything I do think 7 has a better overall plot as its more focused with its main villian and seeing Ichiban go through this path and the emotions he and his party deal with seeing what this villain and his crew are doing to Japan. Here it gets a ilttle less focused with various villains and how they are pulling the strings in Hawaii and Japan and neither were as memorable as 7's villain. But I was still engaged with the story and cared so much for the characters that I still wanted to see it thru. Not to mention Kiryu gets a big spotlight in the second half of the game and I got pretty hooked on his tale as well as all the side content he could do. For these games being my entries into the Yakuza franchise they certainly aren't what the series once was. But man it was a magical experience to beat both Yakuza 7 and Infinite Wealth this year and while I'm looking forward to Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, I really want to see what is next for Ichiban, Nanba, Adachi, Tomi, Saeko and everyone else in the RPG part of the Yakuza franchise.
Much like the Like a Dragon Games, the first 2 Paper Mario games were RPG's I spent lots of time with this year. And funny enough both the original N64 game and TTYD were RPG's I really liked as a kid but somehow got lost after clearing chapter 2 and didn't know where to go. I beat Paper Mario on N64 NSO and it is one of the best aged N64 games! It took the console until 2001 to finally get a good turn based RPG and it is a delight to play. The battle system was good from the start as Mario could either jump on or hammer enemies around him and he could equip badges to give him specific attacks or attributes to have in or out of battle. Plus his partners were all super useful and had their own attacks that were best suited for certain battles. The Thousand Year Door however is a better game overall. This partial remake really shows that this game has held up big time and manages to improve on nearly everything in the original. The Partners have even more personality now as they all have unique comments on specific plot developments they are witnessing if you have them out and the script itself is just funnier. Shoutout to Goombella for not only being Goombario but better in battle but having descriptions of different environments and characters that got me to chuckle often. The battle system is improved as you can equip more badges that can turn the tide into battle as some could give Mario and his party an attack boost if they're low on health. THe partners themselves were super useful in fights too ranging from Yoshi Kid who could Yoshi tounge gulp spiked enemies and then attack the other to Flurrie who can use Gale to blow away smaller enemies or weapons during boss fights. Plus the story was more interesting as Mario has to save Peach again but also is in a race with an evil intergalactic faction of X-nauts to get to the Thousand Year Door and make sure they don't let the X-nauts fulfill their dastardly plans with what's inside the titular Door. Not to mention Bowser gets into some hilarious missteps trying but failing to get the Crystal Stars before Mario. If there's anything I'd say N64 Paper Mario does better, its the dungeon design and the Peach Sections. Every dungeon was consistent with interesting puzzles utiliziing your partner's abilities but in TTYD not every chapter had a dungeon that was super creative in utilizing your partners' abilities (even if plot wise the locations were more interesting). And for Peach in N64 it felt like they let Peach get to do more stuff using stealth to learn more about Bowser's plot and she got to do more activities such as making cake and participating in Trivia Shows. In TTYD her plot with TEC is fun as this Computer AI develops feelings for her and wants to help by letting her send emails to Mario to reveal details on Grodus' plans. But besides a few highlights such as the Dancing Mini game Peach doesn't get to as much as she did in the first game. But otherwise, Thousand Year Door is a better game and if it weren't for Infinite Wealth, this remake would be my Game of the Year. So happy I got to revisit both N64 and TTYD. Oh and there are new boss fights that were added to this version and one of them was my favorite boss fight of the year.
I played this game late in the year and granted I probably should have played this earlier when it releases, but glad I did. I knew my brother loved Balatro and when I was visiting him in November, I bought it on Switch and I couldn't put this game down when flying to see him. As I stayed with him on vacation in November I played more Balatro and got more advice from him and within my stay I beat 3 runs. Then I kept playing into December and beat even more runs and challenges. Yeah I got hooked and with it being so addictive towards the end of the year I thought Balatro looked like a deserving #3 on my list. Its such a brilliant take on Poker where you can adjust runs with Jokers that can you perks for you scores, money and other benefits. Plus there's other ways to improve your runs by using Tarot Cards that can either enhance your cards (Chariot was the best) or can give you more money or even make Jokers. There's Planet Cards which can be great if your run is very specific on a certain hand run you're going for. Jupiter was my favorite since I like doing Flush runs but now I've used Mercury and Pluto more seeing how I can score with a Pair or High Card run respectively. Anytime I beat an 8th ante boss blind I always record it on my Switch and then watch those clips again to relive beating those major boss blinds. My brother is way better than me as he's beaten Gold stakes whereas I'm still trying to get past Green Stake. But for me this was easily my favorite indie this year and my favorite non RPG game of 2024. Oh and real quick my top 5 Jokers in Alphabetical order: Baseball Card, Blueprint, Hologram, Spare Trousers and Vagabond.
Astro's Playroom is a really cool short game that is included inside the PS5 but holy crap Team Asobi knocked it out of the park with their latest installment in the Astro series. I really enjoy 3D Platformers but I don't think many stand with the likes with Mario unless we're talking Banjo-Kazooie or the PS2 Ratchets if you ask me. But Astro bot is just unlimited joy as there's so many fun levels to explore. Many of these levels will have a power up that those power ups feel so much fun to play around with. My personal favorite is the Rocket Bulldog dashing thru glass walls and the Bulldog bot looks sort of Boston Terrier like. Also really like the Frog Boxing Gloves and the Mouse shrink power ups. The levels all have fun ways to utilize these power ups but all have so many nooks and crannies to explore and find these bots to take to the center. Many of these Bots are also dressed up like PlayStation characters. For every iconic Cameo Bot there is such as Solid Snake and Kratos, there's a freaking Intelligent Qube Bot where his head is a giant I.Q. Block Puzzle! Or an Ore No Ryouri Chef bot which references a Japanese Only PS1 cooking game that served as the inspiration for the Cook, Serve, Delicious series! The amount of love and reverance this game has for both Playstation's famous IP's as well as its obscure franchises is staggering! It makes me wish Sony would do more with those lost and obscure franchises but Astro Bot Cares y'all. Also I did find the main courses to get pretty easy but those trial levels did not F Around. Really had to earn the Kiryu Bot and the Reiko Nagase Bot from Ridge Racer. Oh and going into all the fanservice that's done right I really adored the Playstation themed levels with the big favorites being the Ape Escape, Uncharted and LocoRoco levels. Astro Bot is the definition of a Delight where its great to control, has wonderful music and looks pretty and jolly. It was a great choice to win The Game Awards' Game of the Year award in 2024.
Prostagma? Age of Mythology is one of my favorite games of all time. In fact if I did a top 100 game list for myself the original would rank higher than numbers 2-4 on this list. However even if this game is lower in the top 5 Retold is still a great Remake of one of the best RTS's out there. Really I spent all my time completing the Fall of the Trident Campaign since I have so much nostalgia playing the campaign from my youth. It was awesome to revisit this story seeing Arkantos initially drive out Pirates from Atlantis and aid the siege of Troy but then gets pulled into a plot to prevent an evil cyclops Gargarensis from opening any of the 4 gates that imprison Kronos. The Campaign does a great job giving you a good sense on how 3 of the 4 Pantheons play as you start with the Greeks which are the closest to playstyle for classic Age of Empires players and gain favor by worshipping at Temples. But then the Egyptians get introduced and they gain favor by building Monuments and its wise to prioritize Priests and Pharoahs as hero units. My favorite was the Norse as they gain favor by fighting enemies and animals and I loved collecting high amounts of gold with Dwarves and their Mine Carts. Plus their mythological units were my favorites too. Loved destroying villagers with hordes of Mountain and Fire Giants. This game isn't higher on the list because I didn't give myself time to check out the Skirmish mode as well as the other campaigns and even the new Arena of the Gods Roguelike mode that was added. Also some new things about this version of AoM didn't work for me all time. The new auto gather setting is nice for having villagers collect a certain ratio of resources but felt like it didn't always work. Also this is nostalgia but felt like the Voice Acting in Retold's campaign (besides new Arkantos who is pretty close to the original) didn't do it for me. Otherwise Retold is a great remake of my favorite RTS and it even got me to understand how to play the game better than I did back in 2002.
Far and away the most relaxing game I played this year. I'm a sucker for fishing games and when I heard about Webfishing being this 5 dollar chat room fishing game that is reminiscent of Animal Crossing, I was sold. So yeah, I really dig this game. The fishing itself was something I wasn't sure of at first since I thought I had to hold down the left clicker of the mouse and then tap for the rest of the catch once I got to a bar that required a number of clicks. Turns out after clicking at the bar I can hold the clicker down and it made catching fish easier. There's a varied assortment of fish that can be caught in Fresh and Salt Water and always got a kick out of catching some crazy rare fish. Catching fish like Salmon and Grouper are fun but it gets crazier when you can catch a Bull Shark or even the Golden Manta Ray, one of the rarest creatures in the game and one I caught twice! Not to mention the loop is addictive as you can sell your fish to gain money or view the quest board and get cash from certain quests and then use that money to buy rod upgrades, new bait that can catch shinier fish and even new clothes. I started playing solo rooms just to enjoy the fishing for myself. But eventually I started joining some rooms and every room I was in had the chillest vibes from the other folks fishing. Just some friendly folks who are out there fishing and may even show off a Whale they caught that is so big it takes up most of the screen. Out of all the games listed here, this is one of the games I want to go back to and try to complete my fish log since I have 4 fish that are missing. But yeah, Webfishing is a nice, cheap fishing game where you can chat it up with others and is worth the cast.
