by mrcropes
This year I had outdone myself without noticing. I finished 15 games in 2024. This doesn't mean I enjoyed all of them. I played games like Plucky Squire with my wife, swapping the controller back and forth, and by the end, I think we were both pretty over it but determined to finish it. Maybe the major detrimental feat against Plucky Squire was following Astro Bot which I had done the same controller hand-off. A game came out this year that compelled me to finish it on Steam, and a few friends of mine had convinced me to play Balatro. One friend insisted on the fact he'd even buy it for me to play it. Turns out: Balatro good.
One thing 2024 proved to me was that I am no longer into these massive games if they're not compelling in multiple ways. I spent too much time playing Dragon Age: Veilguard and by the end just really didn't enjoy a lot of it. Too much. I am a known Elden Ring lover, so that's a weird statement, isn't it?
The one game that actually belongs on my "Game of the Year" list is Disco Elysium. After falling off of it a few years ago, I returned to it this year and finished a fresh run. Disco Elysium made me laugh, and it made me cry, and sometimes let out that little chuckle you do through tears as a way of realizing how ridiculous it is you're crying over something. There was a moment in the last thirty minutes that I found so touching, and I don't think any other game has ever had something so simplistic feel so jaw-dropping. By all means, this is not an Adam game; hence falling off all those years ago. I am so glad I returned to Disco Elysium and may try a separate run in the future. After all, it's not a very nice game world to live in.
I will likely not be writing something for every game on the list below. The list below is every 2024 game I played in 2024. I got a lot of use out of the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X this year through Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, or remasters. My Nintendo Switch didn't get a lot of use outside of Disco Elysium and this year's Legend of Zelda.
Games I wish I played more of:
Top 10 Movies:
Showing 1-10 of 29 items
Playstation 5 - Platinum Trophy (Main Game) 44/53 Trophies - 9/16/2024 What a game. Astro Bot just feels like what video games need should like. Various mechanics, various themes in levels, various character appearances. For a game with no spoken words, Astro Bot wears its heart on both sleeves. While it could be argued Astro Bot serves as a Product Placement the Game, nothing about this game feels undercooked or self-serving to its corporate overlord. Astro Bot brought so much joy in the time my wife and I had played it, I knew it had to be the one game to get that Platinum trophy. Each level typically had enough variety from what had preceded it with a few incredibly exceptional stand-outs like “Downsize Surprise” and “Slo-Mo Casino.” For a game with minimal storytelling to it, by the end, I think Astro Bot had a lot more heart to show than it had portrayed for several hours until that point. The finale was stellar and the closing level of each world served as its own kind of reward.
Playstation 5 - 26/44 Trophies - 11/2/2024 It is weird to say that playing this game was a pleasant experience, being what it is, but, in the end, playing Silent Hill 2 in any way was such a cool thing to do. This game was so oppressive in many ways, however kept pulling in ways that just drew me in. I may have ran into a bunch of locked doors, or broke a lot of windows, but a few low-level crimes was nothing compared to the horror within. While I may have known the story of Silent Hill 2 through podcasts or the zeitgeist of gaming, being the one to "control" James elevated this experience. My ending was the good ending. The good ending still leaves the player feeling bad. Silent Hill 2 also just felt good to play I know there’s another playthrough for another ending in my future. Melee combat was so basic but didn’t feel bad, and the gunplay itself may not beat out the Resident Evil 4 Remake from last year but it at least feels up-to-par with it.
Playstation 5 - 5/17 Trophies - 9/29/2024 The A24 of video games. To play this in our bedroom in a dark room on our couch only three to four feet from the screen was so enthralling. Almost from the beginning, I was all in on Indika. By all means, Indika should not work. The blend of puzzles and shifting between prayers and a bygone era of video game history worked so seamlessly I couldn't let go. From the acting to the music, to the level design (save that elevator) I was so engrossed in Indika's world that I may have well possessed her myself. What a game.
Steam - 12/22/2024 Mouthwashing caused me to move my desktop to the TV. This is kind of because my main monitor hasn't worked after moving, but also due to the fact I wanted to play on a bigger screen so my wife could watch, too. Mouthwashing is one of those games that breaks through the veil of "games being art" in such a way that it avoids pretension. The decades-old aesthetic does not hold back anything this game was capable of doing. It is weird that this game has a following of fan artists that kind of blow against the point of how dark the plot of this game actually is. Mouthwashing in the aspect of gameplay is so simple, there’s a few puzzles, but that doesn’t weaken the overall product at all. From the opening alone, it is very obvious this game is going to do things. This game is barely longer than most modern-day films and manages to be just as impressive as 2024’s movies. Mouthwashing is such a bleak story with a few unlikable characters, but those unlikable characters make you want the good ones to have a better outcome. But a better outcome isn’t what this game is about, for anyone.
Xbox Series X - 37/45 Achievements - 12/15/2024 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle took me a while to warm up to. Between Troy Baker's Indiana Jones and not understanding how fast travel worked, I was unsure for a while. When I figured out how fast travel worked and found myself stumbling into more of Troy Baker's rendition rapidly, I found myself falling for the overall experience. The puzzles are firing on all cylinders, although that last zone maybe is spread out far too much, and the combat is a bit repetitive but still never undercut by the fact you're punching fascists and Nazis all the time. In true Indiana Jones fashion, you’re never really incentivized to go on a shooting spree; the gunplay is weak and I never really considered it until closer to the end of the game when I was growing tired of casually creeping through the enemy camps. The Disguises make traversal much easier amid all the side quests giving you reasons to explore so much. I think, in the end, this game exceeded so many expectations and found a way to break away from what could've been a standard first-person shooter. I would play a new Indiana Jones every few years if it found ways to just iterate off of the Great Circle.
Playstation 5 - 24/39 Trophies If you hadn't played Helldivers, your impression may have been low. If you played any third-person game, your impression may have been low. Instead, what we all got was one of the great third-person "live-service" games this side of the pandemic. From the DDR-style Stratagems to the overall chaos of every fight, Helldivers II is a great game in so many ways. While my friends who I podcast with were all joining in friendly-fire festivities, myself included, it only enhanced the overall chaos of what this game throws in front of you. The only thing that kills its position on my list was the long wait for the third enemy race.
Playstation 5 - 25/36 Trophies - 12/5/2024 I was so excited to play this when I saw the trailers during Summer Game Fest, and, boy, did it live up to that. Never had a game presented itself in a way of "you get what you pay for" more than this. The additional mode following completion the first time around was treated as a separate experience instead of a retread. The graphical style may have been a throwback, however this game felt so modern. There is no combat in this game and thankfully has only a few instances of that hide-and-seek stealth that modern horror games really love. The aforementioned change between stories is worth noting, as it isn’t the A and B style of storytelling you’d expect from, say, Resident Evil 2. It starts with a change in perspective of the game’s opening minutes but from there splits off to an entirely new location with a completely different story. As with Crow Country, I’d totally play another one of these.
Playstation 5 - 9/16 Trophies - 11/9/2024 What a blend of old-school video game horror with modern conveniences. I was scared Crow Country's combat would feel archaic, instead, it felt mildly modern. In a lot of ways, Crow Country tries to be this year's "Signalis" but doesn't quite nail it. That doesn't make it bad; it nailed what it was going for and has a great (while predictable) story. I would play another one of these.
Playstation 5 - 42/42 Trophies - Undisputed 10/7/2024 "We're so back," says me from 2003. I had wanted to play a WWE game for so long and one finally landed on a service. PlayStation Plus dropping this was a godsend. It was so fun to just be back in the ring with a stupid goofy character I created. I played some of the Showcase mode and really enjoyed the shifts between gameplay and the cutting over to the real-world match. I just found the objectives to sometimes be a bit too much, and it maybe didn’t help that I jumped into this mode without understanding the core mechanics of the game. Undisputed was where I spent most of my time. This tries to play itself out as choose-your-own-adventure with leveling up stats and choosing or to follow or fight and when or where. I have no attachment to modern-day wrestling, so most of those on display in the Undisputed mode I was learning who they were at that time. This just means I had no sway or loyalty to really anyone that made me choose certain outcomes, I just followed what I thought my character would want to do. Obviously, this isn’t the greatest storytelling in video games, but I just had so much fun throwing down and dropkicking whoever had annoyed my character. The core fighting is incredibly basic and felt like I had remembered some new-era changes. As a long-lasting gaming franchise I’d fallen off of for decades, this felt just the way I wanted it to upon return.
Mobile Deck-building games are the exact opposite of my style of game, and to top that I've never been into poker. Within only a few days, though, I had completed a run. On mobile, this is the perfect "taking a poo" game or "sitting in the living room watching a TV show I don't want to watch" game. The Jokers are explosive in ways that even shooters can't beat.