The Best Games I Played in 2024

Deli
Dec 20, 2024
17 min read

In the year 2024, if you have said the words, "There just aren't any games this year," you just don't enjoy games. Have the releases been at 2023 level? No, not quite, but not many years of releases can stand in comparison to a year like 2023... and that is okay.

As always, this is my list of the best things I played this year. These are not necessarily games that came out this year, but there will still be several of those on here. I like to start my top 5 list with a handful of games I played a lot of this year and deserve the mention before I get to the list of my 5 favorites.

Follow me on GG, an app/website made for tracking your games and what you played!

Brawl Stars

I have included this game on a list before, but I have never played this game more than I have this year. It is only right I include this on here again, and probably every year, honestly. Yes, this is a mobile game, but it is probably (easily) my most played game of the year.

Brawl Stars has seen exponential growth over the last year or so, and it is paying out in dividends as the content has not slowed but only increased since I downloaded it when it launched into soft beta back in 2017.

The dedicated team at Supercell has taken this game from the depths and has made it Supercell's highest profiting game with an ever-growing player base that makes other games pale in comparison.

If you have not played this game, it is free, and it is on ya' phone. What is stopping you from trying it? If you like MOBAs or HEROish/SHOOTERish games, this is the best one on the phone and, honestly, one of the best, period. There are more than 80 brawlers, each with distinct and interesting play styles. The additions of gears, gadgets and hypercharges have added an amount of depth to the games that was really needed, and they continue to build on those systems with every update.

This year was the beginning of a new direction for seasons with two collaborations with well-known IP. The Godzilla event, being the first, was a tad lackluster, but the second one they did with Spongebob has done wonders for the game. Thanks to this collab, I now have several IRL friends who play Brawl Stars daily, which was the number one missing thing for me as I was mostly playing this solo.

This is a live service game done right. It has a constant drip feed of content that respects the players time/money when it comes to progression and cosmetics. More games that want to be "live-service" should be looking at Brawl Stars as a model to develop their games.

Old School Runescape

I mean, what can't be said about a tale as old as time? I spent a lot of my childhood playing this game. It was mostly a hangout spot for me and several friends in the days before I had Xbox Live. We did things here and there, but I never truly understood the game that is RuneScape.

In the summer time of this year, I decided I would start playing it again and basically started fresh. I have roughly 150 hours played on my phone since then (seriously rookie numbers for OSRS players), but it is the perfect mobile game for times when you are at the office, working on things.

I loved this game growing up, and 2024 has been the year for me to learn that there was much more to this game than following friends around and killing goblins.

Core Keeper 1.0

I played THREE survival/crafting games this year that I absolutely loved and that could have made my top 5, so I felt like I had to choose one for the top 5 and let the other two rest on this list.

Core Keeper is the first of those, and this game is such a gem. Sometime in the last 2-3 years, I discovered that my favorite genre of game is a survival/crafting/boss rush style game. Corekeeper is just that. It shares a similar art style to the survival/crafting king Terraria and takes a unique spin on the genre with an isometric "ARPG" camera angle and controls.Fighting bosses and venturing further from the "Core" is the name of the game as you progressively get stronger doing so. A unique feature I really liked is the OSRS-like skills that you level up by doing that task, each with their own skill trees that give bonuses to your character. Mining rocks levels your mining, walking levels endurance, hitting enemies with swords and axes levels melee, and shooting enemies with bows and arrows (or other weapons) levels your ranged. There is magic, fishing, cooking, farming, you name it, and each featured a skill tree offering several bonuses for putting points in each node.

All of that, on top of passives you can earn for taking down the main game's bosses, tons of armor and weapon sets that each had unique properties that could be used to build your character the way you wanted to. I played this with a friend, and I focused on melee weapons and armor, while my friend used magic and spells. I did a lot of mining for resources, while he spent a ton of time fishing and cooking to make us foods that gave buffs and upgrades.

There is a lot I could say about this game, but to keep it short, the final thing I will leave is that this game lets you build some automation systems. So, for getting resources that were important for upgrading your armor, weapons and building bigger and better things, you needed a lot of them. You eventually unlock the ability to build things like mining drills that could be connected to conveyor belts and then have little machines insert them into chests automatically and even have them smelt the ores for you. While I don't think its automation systems are to the level of a game like Factorio or Satisfactory, these systems were really fun to learn and mess with, and it has really piqued my interest towards playing those two games I just mentioned.

Enshrouded (Early Access)

The second of three survival games I played is an early access one, or still in development. Enshrouded was one I had been anticipating for a while, as it had a lot of similarities to another one of my favorites of the genre in Valheim.

This game surprised me a lot more than I expected, because I thought it was going to be the typical survival/crafting game; it actually has several similarities to another well-known game in Breath of the Wild. The world design and locations around the map, and discovery felt pretty reminiscent of playing Breath of the Wild, while also doing the typical gathering resources, building a base and progressing through the crafting.

I believed this game was going to blow up like the next Valheim when it dropped, but a week before it came out, another survival/crafting megahit dropped with Palworld taking the world by storm. I haven't gotten to Palworld yet, because I didn't want to play two of these at the same time, but I will eventually.

I can't wait to come back to this game after several updates and hopefully a big 1.0 launch in the next few years, because the base of this one was awesome, and with a few more years of development, it is going to be a great experience.

Balatro

So, it may seem a bit weird that I have Balatro on this list and just outside of my top 5 this year, considering it is my vote for Game Of The Year (GOTY) at The Game Awards, but I just like to see indies win on the big stage, and I do still think this game is deserving of GOTY.

This game is literal crack that injects itself through all of your senses. If you have ever thought, "How do we make Solitaire for the modern age?" This is it. While visually this game immediately makes you think of poker, other than playing hands like a two pair, flush, straight or a full house to score points, that is kind of where the similarity ends. You don't need even the slightest knowledge of how to play poker to enjoy this game.

To give a quick rundown of what the game is, it is a deckbuilding roguelike. Essentially, you start with a normal deck of cards, and you play hands to beat the increasingly difficult scores that move you on to the next "ante" or difficulty tier. The key is that you gain things like joker cards, which can modify your deck in like 150 different ways, or planet cards that upgrade your hands, and so many other upgrades or modifications that give each run a different feel. Like Vampire Survivors, another recent indie hit that seems extremely simple at first glance, the level of depth and playability here is on another level.

From the minute you load the game, you are met with the beautiful and magical background music that you will inevitably hear for hours on end even after stopping yourself from playing for the night. This song is the equivalent of the Greek mythological story of the lotus, a fruit that when eaten caused such bliss you would forget about time altogether. So, yeah, Balatro is that, and now there is a mobile version so you can take this unbelievable bliss with you wherever you go.

Did I mention this game is developed by one person? Like the very popular, single-dev games before it, Stardew Valley and Vampire Survivors, I can't wait to see where he continues to take this game or what he will do next.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape

I mean, how can you not include the conclusion to a 10-year saga on here? This expansion was the Infinity War moment for Destiny fans, and Bungie delivered on it perfectly.

The conclusion to the story, the addition of prismatic, the new activities and the raid were all so well done.

The race for the world's first raid is always a big deal with a new expansion, but this one was just different. On top of that, it also ended up being the longest and hardest, with Bungie really throwing in the big guns to make this raid feel special. Longtime World Of Warcraft raiders, well known for their performances in that game, have commented saying this raid is atop their list for raid experiences, and that is truly saying something.

I did not race for the contest, but I have several friends who did, and they were the 50th team in the world to complete it during the raid weekend. Watching that experience was among the best I have had in gaming this year.

For me, I think this expansion was my end point for playing Destiny. I jumped on with Destiny 2 in 2017, but I can easily say that Destiny, despite all the negativity surrounding the game, has some of my most memorable experiences in recent years, and there really isn't another game doing what Destiny does so well.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

This game was DRASTICALLY overhated. I do resonate with fans of the older Dragon Age games, because if you played them, you probably do not like where the last few have gone in terms of gameplay.

But man, how can you not enjoy this game's combat? Everything is so smooth, and yet it's weighty and crunchy at the same time. I picked the warrior class, because if you know me, you know why. A lot of what I read online about the combat says that the warrior was the most boring class, so if that is true, I am going to have to replay on a mage, because I think it is a blast. Every attack is meaty; every swing of the big two-handed hammer is heavy but graceful. You can throw a shield like Captain America, charge at people with your body, and slam the ground. Everything is just so excitingly fun. All the abilities have huge particle effects and explosions and animations that are stunning and give you the power fantasy feeling similar to something like God of War.

The writing is where many get caught up on this game, and while I do agree it has its issues, the writing feels very on par with a Marvel movie. It has lots of moments that make you wince a little when people say some videogamey lines. But the overall story and character moments in this are severely overlooked here thanks to the online hate brigade this game received. Will old Bioware fans be disappointed in the lack of game-changing decisions? Yes, probably. The opportunities to make decisions feel much more in line with Telltale Games than something like Dragon Age: Origins or Knights of the Old Republic. Dialogue options are pretty even across the board. You often times get to the exact same line of the story regardless of if you picked the "positive" dialogue option or the "negative" option. They never really let you stray away from anything other than the hero of the story leading a team of people. For many Bioware fans, this is where the criticism is valid, that has been a staple of Bioware for 20+ years and it is lacking here severely.

Regardless, I think this is a step in a direction many want. This is Bioware's first game since Anthem, the failure of a live-service lootershooter, and I think they made a really fun action RPG here with a combat system that kept me playing until I beat its somewhat generic fantasy story.

Alright, on to the top 5 of the year in no particular order this year.

Stellar Blade

Unlike a 70% cinematic boss rush that undeservingly was nominated for GOTY this year, this is an actual good action game with a beautiful score and soundtrack.Wukong jokes aside, Stellar Blade from the outside looks like a game designed to just quell the male fantasy with an overly attractive and voluptuous main character doing very anime-like things. And from someone who beat the game... that is exactly it. But at the same time, its beautiful score, the high-speed, action-heavy combat system that evolves the entirety of the run time, and its gorgeous world design push it so much farther than just a gooner game.

This is a perfect example of the capabilities of studios held captive by their gacha overlords, who routinely showcase their ability to make fun, engaging games with great combat but are forced to build those games around gacha systems. This game features some of the most beautiful moments mixed with an amazing soundtrack, making for something really unforgettable.

The combat is the main entree here, being an action game, and every time I unlocked something new, I thought, "Oh wow, this is really cool," and I unlocked new things consistently through to the ending. Even the final fight of the game unlocked a new element to the combat. Everything felt fast, fluid and punchy, and the amount of combos you can string together here made every fight feel engaging.

Voice acting and characters felt robotic; this is probably due to some translation issues, but I think it was partially done on purpose, as the characters are all androids that look human. The overarching story wasn't anything to rave over, but all of its individual moments were really good when they were mixed in with that beautiful soundtrack and gorgeous views (world design and character design).Did I mention the soundtrack is beautiful?

I haven't played Nier: Automata yet, but after loving this, I can only imagine I would love that as well. I spent around 35 hours with this one, and there was plenty of the side content and collectibles I could have done to get another 10ish hours.

Hell Divers 2

I remember being pretty excited for this game a few weeks before the launch even though I hadn't ever really played the first one. When they had the gameplay reveal, it reminded me a lot of a game like Star Wars Battlefront. I am so glad this game exists, and I can't wait to see where they continue to take it.Everything here is done so well. They make you feel like just one of the cogs in the machine of war who could be replaced at any moment, while at the same time giving you a power fantasy of a marine soldier tasked with mowing down armies of bots, bugs, and now, as of recently, a new race of enemies with the Illuminate.

This game is a live service done right. Down to the world-building, they have implemented this idea of an "evolving game" into the updates as if it is some galactic war spanning hundreds of planets. When a new update adds new armor, guns and other items to collect, it is implemented into the story of the game as the war evolves with it.

On the consumer side, every battle pass added brings new weapons, armor and cosmetics to the game, and all are obtainable forever. There is no limited-time FOMO that comes with these updates. And to top it all off, if you play enough, you never have to spend a dime to collect everything. The means of gathering in-game currency is pretty generous, and you could easily obtain all the passes without spending any money.

Now for the gameplay. This is one of those games that truly made people jealous they didn't have a PS5 or a PC. The sheer fun and thrill of drop-podding a soldier onto a battlefield covered in enemies with up to 3 others is one like not many others. When it burst onto the scene, it took over, thanks to its fresh take on PvE hitting the mainstream. I have one single TikTok that has over 1.1 million views, and all of my comments are just people trying to figure out what kind of game it was. If I had to pick a game that explains it the closest, think Deep Rock Galactic. You pick a planet, you pick your gear, you land, kill hordes, complete an objective and then extract.

This game does hordes perfectly. This game does guns perfectly. This game does explosions Michael Bay-like. This game does fun perfectly.

Vrising 1.0

Vrising made my 2022 list as an early access game. I am glad to report its early access period was done very well, and this team has created arguably one of the best survival/crafting games I have ever played. I skipped out on coming back to this game after its initial launch to make the 1.0 update that much bigger for me, and I was rewarded.

The sheer amount of new content in this was almost mind-boggling, and the quality of life updates were plenty.

This game does have a PvP center, but it plays just as well on PvE-only servers. This is more of a shared world, like something akin to Rust, where you make a base somewhere in the world and you can run across other players gathering resources and fighting enemies. On a PvP server, obviously you could also fight others and raid their bases. We stuck to the PvE servers as we don't really like the idea of losing progress due to others.The world is handcrafted and designed to be explored as you progress through a chain of bosses, each giving you new abilities, resources and access to new crafting tools. Combat is super fun, and the leveling system is simple but well designed. The better your gear (bronze tools, iron tools, silver tools, armor etc.), the higher your level becomes, which allows you to hold your own with higher-tier enemies. I think the game's progression system makes every fight with enemies at your level engaging and just hard enough that you can't coast through groups of enemies until you become stronger than them.

The base building is the perfect mix of design and function. Everything LOOKS sweet to build, and all of the new items you get to build fit into themes that tie to each room and make it easy to design super sick-looking vampire castles while also filling them to the brim with crafting tables and storage chests.

The game has a very cartoony look to it at first glance, but it fits the world so well and is an overall really good-looking game. As you get later into the game with bosses having more raid-like abilities, the effects get turned up to 11, and everything looks so sick.

If you are a fan of survival/crafting games in any way, or top-down ARPGs, or even if you were a fan of Battlerite, the MOBA hero shooter game they abandoned years ago, this will be right up your alley, I think.

Astro Bot

I will preface this one with this. I never played a Mario game growing up. My introduction to video games was the original Xbox, and I played Halo 1 in 2001. I played Crash Bandicoot a few times, but my platformer history is pretty non-existent.

As a 27-year-old now, I have yet to play a Mario game, not out of spite, but just because I just haven't. I even own Mario Wonder, a GOTY nominee from 2023, and just haven't gotten around to it yet.

So, to be honest, I think Astro Bot may be the first true platforming game I have ever beaten. And I wouldn't even say I have any kind of nostalgia for PlayStation. I grew up with Xbox only until I bought a PS4 in 2017.

All that to say, this game was amazing. I think Astro Bot is childlike wonder packed into a game, and in an era where games have to be big, dark, gritty narratives with bloody action and adult themes (I love these too), this game is a breath of fresh air and a reminder games can just be fun.

Every level felt unique, and each area had special mechanics that used the PS5 controller to its fullest potential. Every world is colorful in design and packed with secrets to find. My absolute favorite levels were the ones found at the end of each section where you would find yourself teaming up with a bot that resembled very popular Sony IP characters such as Kratos or Nathan Drake. The mechanics and music of that level down to the world design felt authentic to its source, and it was a creative collaboration of all Sony's best IP.

I have no Mario experience to compare this to, but a lot of people called it a successor to the Super Mario Galaxy series, and that is some pretty good company to be associated with.

In a year where nearly an hour of the game awards were ads for gacha mobile games, and games like Concord lasted less than 2 weeks as another live-service multiplayer 'attempted cash cow' failure, I hope Astro Bot can be a giant neon sign in boardrooms across the world of the gaming industry that games can succeed with less and do more.

Elden Ring/Shadow of the Erd Tree

I said this list had no order, but I will be honest this is defintley a 'saved the best for last' kinda situation.

What I wrote in 2022 about Elden Ring.

"I fully believe this game is special, massive and extremely beautiful in a tragic gothic way. But I am not a Dark Souls kinda guy. This game is easily the most accessible Dark Souls game out and I really do like this one, but it just isn't for me enough to be in my top 5 this year... but everyone should give it a shot at least."

With that context in mind I will just say this, I thnk Elden Ring is the greatest game created so far.

Sometime around May of this year, with the June DLC looming, I decided I would try this game again. I hadn't touched it since March of 2022, but I really wanted to be excited for the DLC, so I knew I needed to finally complete this game.

5 hours in I was fighting, and really struggling, against Margit (the first mainline boss) and I was about to give up again, because I didn't feel it was worth it. I had a friend give me a few tips about how combat worked, and I followed a short build guide to obtain a really big sword. 100 in-game hours later, I became an Elden Lord defeating the final boss at 3 a.m.

The pure satisfaction and joy of beating a really difficult Elden Ring boss is easliy among my most unforgettable gaming moments ever, and you do that like 20-30 times in the span of this game. I never considered myself to be someone who could just sit and attempt killing a boss for hours on end, and yet I did with this game.

The thing that makes Elden Ring so special is because of how well it is made, it is almost never the game's fault for you dying (except the Fire Giant...), every death, every battle with a boss is a learning experience. You fight and learn the 'dance' that is the fight and perfect it.

The other thing I think makes it feel so special is it is currently the best example of "If you can see it, you can go there" because it is one of the few games I have played where It is as true as can be. Not only is it true, but they do it on the grandest of scales possible.

Think of a moment when you start a game, maybe it is an open world RPG, and sometime after playing through a tutorial, it leads you up on to a cliffside and shows you the vast size of the world and you get treated with a beautiful shot of the games landscape and maybe even the title card.

Ok, so in Elden Ring this happens like every 5-10 hours over the course of 100+ hours of playing the game. Every location you discover, every dungeon, castle and cave you come across is grand in design and thoughtfully handcrafted by the geniuses over at Fromsoftware.

I remember after being 60-70 hours in, and I finally arrived to the main city in the middle of the map and was treated to that landscape view showing me all of this new area I had discovered, I said out loud to a few friends watching, "WHAT GAME IS DOING IT LIKE THIS?"

This is all just the base game. I have some things to say about the DLC. I understand so many were upset a DLC was nominated for GOTY this year. But like I said as I discovered the city of Leyndell, WHAT GAME IS DOING IT LIKE THIS?!?!

This DLC came at a perfect time and it was a perfect ending to my time with Elden Ring. The sheer sense of scale and discovery I experienced with this DLC made me feel like I was experiencing Elden Ring on launch. I am so thankful for that, because it was the one part I felt like I was missing after waiting so long to finally come back.

Souls-heads are some of the silliest, most insufferable gamers, at least on the internet, but one thing is for sure, they aren't wrong when they say this game is a masterpiece.

Ok, that is the list, what games did you play this year?