In recent years, I’ve only felt strongly about a handful of releases, though not for lack of exceptional game launches, of course. Every year raises the bar of what’s being done in the space of game development, and every year I find my backlog of “games I will get around to eventually” steadily growing despite my attempts to whittle that log down. 2024 was no different in that regard; there were yet again too many fantastic games for me to try them all. This time though, I’ve got ten. Ten games to talk about that shaped my 2024 in major ways. You can think of this list as a roadmap of sorts, as I plan on writing about most of these games in greater detail in the months to come. For now, please enjoy my top ten games of 2024.
10: Botany Manor
Botany Manor is without a doubt the easiest game I can recommend on this list. It’s short, taking roughly 2 to 4 hours or so, it’s incredibly sweet, and it’s a delight to play through and through. It’s the sort of picturesque game I would use to bridge the gap between people who have almost no experience with games or people who think every video game is a shooter for teenage boys. It’s a puzzle game where you have to figure out how to grow fantastical plants and you do so through exploration; sometimes the clue is in a note you find, but oftentimes it’s found by being a keen observer and spying something in the environment. The level design is straightforward and not too complex, but it’s still enough to really sink your teeth into for a few hours as you figure out its myriad puzzles. Everything matches up seamlessly as well; from the stylistic art direction, to the writing style that sincerely captures the tone and setting, to the beautiful compositions that inspire curiosity and warmth and bitterness. Yes, that’s the thing that really surprised me about Botany Manor. Despite its “cozy” atmosphere, the game has a clear message to convey, which I won’t spoil here, and the path of protagonist Arabella Greene is one carved through the underbrush by millions like her. It’s a well-worn path, and in playing Botany Manor, one feels compelled to help Arabella pave a new journey through her world of flora.
9: The Operator
The Operator is one of those works that demonstrates so clearly why some stories simply have to be told through the medium of games. You play as a new employee for the fictional Federal Department of Intelligence, and your role is to assist agents in the field by using the FDI’s various electronic systems and internal databases to solve various cases. It’s essentially a visual novel with a fancy GUI that’s used for puzzle solving, with a few twists thrown in here and there. Make no mistake though, The Operator really pulls its weight with full voice acting, exceptional casting and direction, and a tightly-paced script. There is not a single actor who isn’t giving it their all in their performances and while I’m not the best judge of acting skill, the dialogue adds an immense amount of gravity to what would otherwise be a purely textual experience. It’s not that you couldn’t make a game like this without voice acting, but the performances sell the whole concept, which proves highly effective for The Operator’s story. It’s an absolutely bone-chilling experience I highly recommend.
8: Fallen Aces (Chapter One)
Look, if your setting is gonna be called “Switchblade City” sign me the fuck up. Fallen Aces is a game I’ve had tabs on for a long time, and last year saw the release of its first chapter. Six levels of old-school shooter action painted with the veneer of mid-20th century comic book flair, Fallen Aces Chapter 1 was a highlight of 2024. It’s one part DOOM, one part Thief, and two parts hard-knuckle wise-guy attitude. The presentation is off the charts with this one, folks, and it’s dressed to the nines from levels to the soundtrack to the cutscenes. Perfectly suited for immersive, slow-and-steady skulkin’ about, and cruisin’ bruisin’ speedster playstyles alike, Fallen Aces hits all the high marks you’d hope for in a game with such an ambitious pitch. I’m not sure anyone in the last 30 years asked “what if DOOM had mobsters with tommy guns and lead pipes” but the answer is “it would be fucking incredible.” The only downside is that we just have Chapter 1 to sink our jaws into, but that just makes the anticipation for the next chapters all the sweeter. Pick this one up if you’re a real goon-clobberer.
7: Helldivers 2
There was a significant point in time last year where Helldivers 2 was the talk of the town. Everyone was playing it or talking about it or streaming it. It rekindled cyclical debates about works like Starship Troopers and it produced some of the most obnoxious forum posting I’ve seen in years. But that’s to be expected with a game as good as Helldivers 2. Something I particularly enjoyed about it was the plethora of immersive sim elements they put into the game to enhance both the gameplay and the vibe of being a Super Earth Helldiver. It’s not the kind of game that usually comes to mind when one says “immersive sim” but little details like how reloading prematurely wastes unspent rounds in a magazine, or how supplies are limited, or the hilarious ways in which the physics engine can turn an expertly tossed stratagem orb into Impending Imminent Death for you and your squadmates truly does add necessary flavor and fun to the chaos of intergalactic warfare. While the kayfabe of Helldivers 2 is something I believe is best saved for in-game experiences (some people are a little too happy about roleplaying as shock troopers of a fascist super empire in, say, the Youtube comments section), when it comes to getting people together to do dumb shit for false glory, Helldivers 2 is a staple choice.
6: Shadows of Doubt
I wrote about Shadows of Doubt a while ago and talked about how much I was looking forward to the full release, and it’s incredible how much the game has improved in what feels like such a short time. It’s a true pearl of a game, and you really can’t find anything like it anywhere else. Most of the improvements implemented since my previous writing are found in bug fixes, usability enhancements, significant changes to level generation, smaller tasks you can complete in the game, and new investigation approaches such as having to find a rogue sniper’s vantage point. Shadows of Doubt is still the fantastic sandbox detective game with charming voxel models and sprawling cityscapes it was in 2023. It’s still a great game for spending an hour combing through an apartment complex trying to find your primary suspect, only to hear that they’ve murdered someone in the diner down the street. It’s still the only game where I can eat a yakisoba pan while sprinting down a street in the rain, running away from an angry citizen who is mad that I took a collector’s baseball from their apartment which they had stolen from their so-called friend days prior. I highly recommend it.
5: Balatro
Yeah, yeah, Balatro in a list of top games from 2024, big surprise I know. There’s barely anything I could say about Balatro that thousands of others haven’t already said about arguably the best game of 2024, but the fact of the matter is it simply is that good. The only critique I have for Balatro is that going past Ante 12 is strictly a build check to see if you got a good set of “the right jokers” which usually boil down to the same staple combos. There’s a sticker for beating Gold Stake with every joker but if there was a sticker for beating Ante 16 with every joker, completionists would themselves become the Joker. It’s not that the game would be better if such a feat were possible, but it’s just a bit sad that some jokers don’t get to shine in the spotlight as much as DNA or Blueprint, and it would be fun to see more decks or game modes that cater to the little fellas. You don’t have to be a card shark to understand why Balatro is one of the best games of last year; you need only gaze into the eyes of Jimbo and know why everyone wants to be his friend.
4: Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
Coming down from the emotional highs and climactic saga-ending finale of Endwalker, I was curious how Dawntrail would fare narratively as the “Part 1” in a new era for FFXIV. A small but extremely charming aspect of the story was the shifting of the player character from the typical status of Main Character to essentially a mentor role. A lot of people did not like this shift in focus, but when I realized they had made my guy an “Auron” or “Uncle Iroh” to Dawntrail‘s heroine Wuk Lamat, I was ecstatic. It’s a really good shift in roles after Endwalker ramped up the Main Character vibe of the player character; rather than trying to one-up that climax, better to shift the paradigm completely. What really surprised me, however, was Dawntrail taking the conclusion of Endwalker and flip it on its head and send it screaming right back at us. The final boss of Endwalker concludes that life and existence itself is full of pain and suffering, and so seeks to end everyone and everything, because surely whatever comes after will be better than clawing and bleeding and scraping for survival. The retort that’s presented is that life is still worth living, hope is still worth having, and being that hope for others in times of dire need creates unbreakable bonds that can lead us to brighter futures, even if death is our inevitable end. Dawntrail’s villain, in that most timeless of narrative twists, takes that reply to its logical extreme, arguing that life is indeed worth living, and that we should actually live forever, amplifying the horror of that maladaptive conclusion in ways I don’t even have time to cover. Terrifying conceit for a Final Fantasy villain aside, Dawntrail cements itself as a solid foundation upon which this next saga for FFXIV can be built.
3: Void Stranger
Void Stranger. I’ve had to pause and sit here while thinking of what to say about Void Stranger. There is so much power and emotional resonance to be found in this sokoban game. On the surface it looks like a charming little homage to GameBoy titles like Link’s Awakening, but this is a trick. Do not be fooled by the incredible sprites and sublime soundtrack. Void Stranger is the game to play when you want your heart to hit the fucking floor and shatter into a million pieces which then vaporize into void ash. It’s soul-rendingly good and really deserves to be experienced yourself. The story is like a simple recipe; few ingredients and a straightforward approach, but it’s the quality of its components and the deftness of technique that really bring the whole dish together. Oh, fair warning; while the story is a real gut-puncher, don’t expect the puzzles to be easy by contrast; some of the solutions are downright diabolical. I had to learn how nonograms work in order to finish this game, and even if you’re someone who is already in the know about nonograms, that won’t save you. Few are the virtues that will save you in the depths of Void Stranger, but I promise you it will be worth it by the end.
2: Dread Delusion
Dread Delusion is brimming with vibrant weirdness and ethereal atmosphere. From its surreal soundscape to its bizarre locales, it’s a game that instills within oneself that eye-widening desire to explore and uncover the myriad secrets of its absurd landscape. It’s a perfect example for how to design an open world that’s strictly as big as it needs to be. Dungeons are relatively short compared to the likes of The Elder Scrolls series, but this is to the benefit of Dread Delusion’s overall pacing. The level and world design is big enough for the explorers and strollers to get their fill, but small enough that the action-focused, goal-oriented players won’t agonize over needlessly vast swathes of land. While its combat and quest systems are standard fare all things considered, they’re time-tested approaches that don’t bog down the experience with niche complexities, and any game that can get players to stop hoarding consumable items gets a gold star in my book. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dread Delusion; it does its own thing in the space of open world RPGs, commits to its goals and vision right down to the flavor text, and isn’t afraid to give players levels of freedom and progression seldom seen in recent years.
1: Pacific Drive
Pacific Drive is absolutely phenomenal. It is my favorite game of 2024 bar none. Set in a forsaken, reality-fractured swathe of the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Drive masterfully blends vehicular gameplay with scavenging, resource management, and car maintenance, all while trying to avoid getting your car and your body mangled and warped by dozens of hazardous anomalies. These anomalies range from the cute and cantankerous road bunnies to the unsettling Tourists, to giant clouds of acid; each one an engaging obstacle on your journey through the Olympic Exclusion Zone. Pacific Drive’s art direction excels at creating immaculate landscapes while also providing visual clarity for its vehicle-based gameplay. I’m personally a huge fan of the pixelated UI that both pulls you back to the late 90s of the game’s setting and provides clear and concise information at a glance, allowing you to identify multiple types of items simply by their color. The procedural generation of the levels means no trek into the Zone is quite the same, and once you get the hang of how to source various supplies and resources for upgrades, each trip feels like measurable progress as a single trek can have multiple different personal objectives. The tumultuous nature of the Zone, its strange weather effects, its mysterious history, and its menagerie of anomalies make for a fascinating world to explore, and everything being experienced behind the wheel of a haunted station wagon only adds to the game’s unique appeal. Pacific Drive is a stellar game, from its unimpeachable art style to its wonderfully fitting soundtrack, and my singular pick for Best Game of 2024.
