Games of the Year 2024
If you were unaware, this is less my favorite games that came out this year and more, favorite games I played this year.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth I'll be real with you; Like a Dragon games are some of my favorite games ever now. This game came out and it was the only game I played for over a month. If I organize my steam games by playtime, there is ONE game that has more hours and it's fucking Skyrim. The story of the game is overall, just okay. The Ichiban part, at least. The Kiryu part? That is peak. An incredible farewell to the character, honestly. And every system from Like a Dragon is improved and smoothed out. It's glorious. Also, fucking Danny Trejo is in there. Like, go play it.
Nine Sols Barquq infected so many of us with the Nine Sol brainworms, it's wild. And it is, to be fair, one of the best games I've ever played. I got a little frustrated at times trying to figure out where to go, but like, that's most of it. And the variable difficulty kicks ass. And so do the bosses--some of the most fun boss fights I've ever encountered. And the game actually is trying to say/do/contemplate some interesting concepts. To borrow from our boy:
"The entirety of Nine Sols reflects the Taoist principles of action through inaction with parries. You have to do nothing at times to gain an advantage which is directly tied to not only the philosophical themes of the game but also Yi’s personal character growth" (Barquq, Auldnoir forum).
Like, can you name another game that actually incorporates philosophical beliefs and questions not only into the game, but into the fucking gameplay? I sure can't. Anyways, go play Nine Sols, it's $30 normally and well, well worth it.
Signalis Alright, so if you are in Barquq's discord, you'll know that this game ate me for a weekend. I picked it up during Steam's Halloween sale cause I wanted something a li'l spooky. I think I started and finished it inside of a weekend. Now, I only got one ending, but I don't care, lol. The ending I got was extremely satisfying to me. But honestly, I can't remember the last time a game grabbed me by scruff and held me down like that. Great game, lesbian robots everywhere, what more could I want?
Webfishing If you haven't heard of this game by now, idk what to tell you. It is a perfect game for just hanging out and vibing with your friends. Any time we wanna hang and aren't sure if we wanna do something, Webfishing is a viable option. And it's five bucks. Also, dev is based af for making a "Straight" Title, but it's the most expensive one available, when straight people complained about there not being a straight title.
Another Crab's Treasure
What if you made a souls-like that's also a mascot game. You'd probably get something a lot like Another Crab's Treasure. Heck of a good time. Some strong anti-capitalist vibes (from the studio that made Going Under?? say it ain't so!!). And again, has variable difficulty in terms of what kind of damage you can take, how much health enemies have, even lets you have a gun if you want, just stellar stuff. My only real issue is that I felt the weapon variability was a bit lacking, but I still had a hell of a time.
Monster Hunter Rise I picked this up on sale over the summer and kinda fell off. Anyways, me and the homies have been getting back into it and I've been having a blast with playing DmC, but hunting giant monsters while doing it (average dual blade fan).
Eastward What if you did Last of Us w/o zombies and Joel wasn't an insufferable piece of shit? What if you did it and Ellie was a cute li'l girl with godlike powers? That is an awful way to describe this game, but there's the post-apocalypse angle, an otherwise difficult and solitary man adopting a daughter and some big impending issue. The difference is John, despite probably smelling worse, would clear Joel with his frying pan and also, he probably thinks Palestinians are people, unlike Joel.
But seriously, it's kind of goofy, mechanically fun, and emotionally resonant. Also, the characters have so much energy and life, it feels alive in the same way that a Miyazaki movie does. Also, the DLC is like, a whole second game. Check it out.
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising This is legitimately the first fighting game that I've ever tried to seriously get into. I even pulled out a few ranked victories, which feels pretty good! And, as Barquq said, it got enough of the sailers to play, initially, that we could've held our own tournament bracket. That's fucking sick as hell.
Honorable Mentions AN: I have a few in mind, but I think I'm going to spend some time deliberating more. Part of my criteria for this list is that I have to have beaten it inside the calendar year and so there's some I have really enjoyed, but not beaten for one reason or another.
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Lil Guy Link is where it's at.