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George's Top 10 Favorite Games of 2024

2024 was a year filled with remasters and remakes, so it was a somewhat of a light year in terms of AAA releases. However, indie games picked up the slack here, and there were a few new IP that really stuck the landing. Without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite games of 2024.

10. Marvel Rivals

It’s really rare that I play multiplayer games, much less esports adjacent ones like Overwatch. So it’s just a testament to how much fun Marvel Rivals is. The immense roster and hyper-offensive gameplay just makes every match a spectacle to play. The game is oozing with charm too. Instead of going for a hyper-realistic art direction like Marvel Avengers, Marvel Rivals’ cel-shaded art style lets developer NetEase go crazy with emotes, skins, and MVP screens.

9. Tetrachroma

Tetris is the most important game of all time, and many developers have already put their own spin on it. Tetrachroma’s gimmick is that blocks appear in two or more colors, and in order to clear a line, the color must match. It’s similar to the board game Reversi, where placing a new color changes adjacent squares. This single aspect alone adds a whole new dimension to gameplay and is much more challenging than traditional Tetris. The retro mid-2000s futuristic aesthetic and music will help calm you down as you cry out in frustration (but it’s still fun).

8. Nine Sols

This action-platformer inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice manages to take the parrying spectacle of its influences and successfully translates it into 2D space. The combat mechanics feel precise and refined, not letting up for the entire game. While Nine Sols is a typical revenge quest story, protagonist Yi’s relationships with side characters are charming enough to add enough dimension to his one-track mind. The futuristic “Taopunk” art direction is also nice to look at as well, as it blends the traditional Asian aesthetic with the modern cyberpunk imagery in a non-orientalist way.

7. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

There’s no game quite like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. It’s a real-time strategy game mixed with tower defense elements where you plan out your forces during the day and execute your directives at night. In a year filled with remasters and remakes, it’s refreshing to see such an original idea out of a big developer like Capcom. Its traditional Japanese setting and art direction also makes it stand out amongst its contemporaries.

6. Helldivers 2

Look at that, another multiplayer game! Helldivers 2 was just so damn fun that I couldn’t put it down for a month. Its emergent gameplay led to hilarious moments even when getting constantly blown up by evil robots and monsters. Its satirical fascist undertone is the cherry on top, especially considering everything that’s going on in the world today. Every games-as-a-service needs to learn from Helldivers 2 and how it prioritizes fun. I didn’t feel like I was being nickel-and-dimed with microtransactions at every corner, so there’s that at least.

5. Animal Well

Animal Well is a truly unique Metroidvania game, with so much exploration that even though I’m personally done with the game, there’s still many secrets that I have left to discover. Its take on item use really had me thinking long and hard about how I could utilize them in a myriad of different ways. As you’re a defenseless blob, there are no weapons to fight enemies with, so you’re forced to rely on your wits in order to continue on. Figuring out how to cross a terrain with my tools felt just as good as conquering a Dark Souls boss. Its minimalist and neon aesthetic also complements its relative simplicity.

4. Metaphor: ReFantazio

I’m a big JRPG nerd, so I was really excited to see what Atlus was cooking with its new IP. With gameplay refinements from the Persona series, along with a new politically charged story, Metaphor: ReFantazio is an absolute gargantuan game that’ll soak up dozens of hours. It doesn’t stray far enough from Persona, with the Archetypes essentially being Personas and the Follower bonds being Social Links/Confidants, which ends up being its biggest downfall. But that doesn’t really matter when everything else is so good, like the turn-based combat, dungeon crawling, and aesthetics.

3. Balatro

Similar to Tetrachroma, Balatro is another spin on a popular game. This time it's poker. Here, players have to reach a target score with a poker hand, along with Joker cards that drastically alter the rules of the game or give you a bonus. For example, one Joker card can multiply your points if you play a Four of a Kind, and another can multiply your points for every King in your hand. It’s a unique roguelike game where you won’t be surprised when you lose hundreds of hours too.

2. Astro Bot

Astro Bot is just pure, unbridled fun. While cynics might downplay it as just a large advertisement of PlayStation’s IP and graveyard of its old franchises, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the platforming mechanics are top tier. The variety of mechanics and level design even rivals that of Mario, and you’re constantly surprised at how much the little robot you control can do. It expertly takes advantage of the PS5’s DualSense haptic feedback features to give you an unparalleled and immersive gameplay experience.

1. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takes everything I loved about Remake and blows it up to epic proportions. With an open-world, a plethora of mini-games, and new characters, it does suffer from bloat, but I don’t really mind. Its real-time action gameplay is made even better with the introduction of Synergy attacks where two team members dish out flashy attacks in tandem. It really helps sell the camaraderie behind the cast of characters. The environments look just as gorgeous as ever too, and makes exploring the open-world less tedious. Regarding the fate of a certain character, I’m really curious to see where Square Enix goes with the final installment of this remake trilogy.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Persona 3 Reload
  • Pacific Drive
  • Silent Hill 2 remake
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
  • Dragon Age: The Veilguard