t's that time of the year where all of the media outlets get their smartest minds together to decide which game that released in the last 12 months is fitting of the moniker "Best Game That happened to release in the last 12 months." Exciting stuff.
I'm not going to act like I haven't been a part of this system - I have made my fair share of "Best Of Current Year" lists over the years - but I feel like we've reached a point where making these kinds of lists is arbitrary and adds nothing worthwhile to the medium of video games or games media. These lists exist to get clicks and have people flood comments sections with messages about how you're wrong and they're right, but it's ok, because Yummy ad revenue!
Anyway, here are the best games of 2024 as voted by me, some guy on the internet. (We don't have ads)
10. Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom!
People think Astro Bot was the savior of platformers this year, but Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom did it first. It's a combination of classic PS1/N64 inspired platforming levels in-between Crazy Taxi inspired Crazy Taxi levels, what's not to love? Well, there are a few things. It gets a little monotonous after a while, even though it does ramp up the difficulty and adds in complex levels, but the gameplay stays relatively the same all the way through, and that puts it at the bottom of the list.
9. Dino Crisis
People love those Resident Evil games. Zombies are very popular. You know what else is popular? Dinosaurs. Dino Crisis takes the survival horror gameplay of the classic RE games and replaces the walking dead with giant lizards. The dialogue is just as cheesy and the storyline is somehow more convoluted than it's zombie brethren, but it's a fun time and one of the most underrated Survival Horror games ever made. It's available now for PS+ members (this is not an ad, I swear).
8. Helldivers 2
I love how unabashedly the team behind Helldivers 2 made a Starship Troopers game in all but name. It takes balls to make a thing based on another thing and change nothing but the name and bug designs. The only reason this game is this low on my list is because I just didn't play as much of it as I would have liked, but I enjoyed (almost*) every second that I played of it. *I didn't love all of the dying.
7. Tekken 8
Fighting games have made an incredible comeback the last two years, and after Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 last year, Tekken 8 had a high bar to meet. While I don't think it quite reached the heights of those other two games, it was a great new entry into the series. I only wish it had a more robust training mode like SF6, because out of these three new fighting games, this one is the hardest for newbies (and long out-of-practice players) to get into.
6. Thank Goodness You're Here
Comedy in video games is hard. Jokes rely on timing and it's hard to time jokes in a game when somebody else is in control, but somehow, surprisingly, Thank Goodness You're Here stuck the landing. It's a silly game full of silly people doing silly things and it's super simple to play, which is nice in this modern age where games feel like they're overly complicated for no reason. If you've got a funny bone that leans towards silly walks and coconut horses, you should definitely give this game a look (AND it's short too!)
5. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind
As a child of the Nineteen Hundred And Nineties, I was a huge fan of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and played my fair share of the MMPR games that released on the SEGA Mega Drive back then (my personal favourite was the fighting game) so I always enjoy seeing newer games based in that universe and this one was right up my alley. It's based on the original show, while also being a new storyline that allows us to revisit those old storylines, and it's full of retro-style beat-em-up gameplay, along with boss fights that play like Punch Out and levels that have on-rails shooting mechanics. It's a whole mish mash of different retro game styles and they somehow all gel into a cohesive bundle of nostalgic joy. This game is so rad.
4. Marvel Rivals
Over the past 5 years I've been gradually falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of online GAAS games, with all of the nonsense that comes along with them, and Marvel Rivals is my latest addiction. Goodbye 'The Finals', you were a good friend to me, but here comes Marvel to take over my life and I'm pretty happy about it. As somebody that tolerated Overwatch for about a month back when it came out, it's good to see a game come out that scraps all of that stuck-up "balancing" nonsense and just let's you have an unfair advantage whenever you get the urge, without being punished for it. Yeah, the paid cosmetics are a tad overpriced, but the free character skins are still some of the sickest designs I've seen in a recent game. Whomever the character designers are over at NetEase, please, just keep cooking, I love your work.
3. Balatro
If you've never seen Balatro and didn't know what it was until you saw that above image, believe me when I tell you that you still don't know what Balatro is. As addicted as I am to Marvel Rivals right now, there was a good two month period when Balatro was my drug of choice and I chased that dragon all around until I ended up owning it on EVERY available platform. I own 4 copies of this game and I'm not ashamed to say that I'd buy it again, that's how insanely good it is. It's not just a poker game (that's reductive and literally not even the point of the game), it's a way of life.
2. Astro Bot
Team Asobi deserve every award and praise that they have received for Astro Bot. It's a masterpiece of platforming that takes us back to a time when games were simple without being boring or feeling like you were having your hand held the whole time. You enter a level, you're given a new fun gadget, and you get to figure out how you'll make it to the end of the level using said gadget. As somebody whose early Playstation life started with games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Croc and Ape Escape, Astro Bot is everything that I've missed about Playstation for the past... like... 20 years?! Yeah, Ratchet And Clank were holding the 3D Platforming fort (platfort?), but Astro is the kind of Playstation mascot I've been waiting to see make a return, and BOY what a return it is!
1. Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown
Speaking of returns... holy shit. When this game was announced I thought it looked really cool and I was looking forward to playing it, but I wasn't super hyped about it. I don't have any real affection for previous Prince of Persia games, except for the original game that I played on my friends Macintosh back in the early 90's (as good as the Sands of Time trilogy may have been) so I was just looking forward to playing a cool-looking Metroidvania game. Then I played it. A lot. Until I finished it. I REALLY have to be invested in a game these days to feel compelled enough to finish it, and The Lost Crown is very compelling. It has nothing to do with the story, either, because I skipped probably 80% of the thin cookie-cutter plot points. This was all about gameplay for me and the devs nailed every moment of gameplay that was offered. This game reminded me of a time where games put gameplay first and story second (not that there's anything wrong with games that are heavily story focused, if the story is worth telling) and between this game and Astro Bot it really does feel like the time is right for classic gameplay-first games to make a return. Although, with the sales of The Lost Crown being as low as they were, I doubt Ubisoft will be footing the bill for any of those. PLEASE GO BUY THIS GAME! IT'S INCREDIBLE!