Best games I played in 2024
This year I finished 36 games on various platforms, both new and old games (I even played on PS2), some were great, some less great. But which games earned my personal Game of the Year awards in 2024? Let's find out!
1st place: Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition (PC)
A true hidden gem that exceeds a lot of big budget productions in quality and enjoyment. Combines the best parts of JRPGs.
+ Great presentation: cute and sympathetic graphics, surprisingly amazing music, visually pleasing environments, nice overall atmosphere. + Fun combat and gameplay with convenient systems. Skims all unnecessary, cumbersome stuff and keeps things simple and lean, yet gives options for character customization. Possibility for rewarding exploration. + Good sense of progression with stat increases and gear upgrades. + Interesting story with good pacing, likeable characters, well-written dialogue and good humor. + The length of the game is just right. There was never a dull moment and no needless padding. I like a game that respects my time. - Minor nitpick but controls took a moment to get used to: there's no easing, nudging the stick moves the character up/down/left/right at full speed. - I would have hoped teleporting was possible straight via map instead of walking to a teleport crystal.
See my posts about Ara Fell
2nd place: Chants of Sennaar (PC)
Unique puzzle-adventure game that tickled my intellect in just the right ways. Exceeded all my expectations despite knowing it's a well-received game.
+ Visually memorable, stylish, pleasing colors. Good music + audio. + Exceptionally interesting and rewarding game mechanics. Such gratifying feeling to uncover the meaning of the glyphs, getting the logic/grammar of the languages and understanding cultural differences. Logical deduction at its best! + Nice story that had me wanting to find out how it ends. + Well-designed puzzles. - Level design could have used improvement in a couple of places as rooms looked too identical and made navigation frustrating.
See my posts about Chants of Sennaar
3rd place: Pokémon Ultra Moon (3DS)
I really got into Pokémon Ultra Moon and I have 100% Pokédex completion and 259 hours of play time to vouch for it. One of the best games in the series.
+ Rather charming visuals, good music. Overall I just got a really cozy and positive feeling of the game. + Great gameplay with superb team building options. More challenging battles than usual in Pokémon games. Convenient quality of life features. + Quite decent story. Nice character cast, a massive selection of Pokémon. + Nice side / post-game content with great attention to detail, enjoyable and funny side quests with great world-building. - Super double battles, etc. available a bit too late in the game. - The surroundings of the Pokémon Nursery weren't the best for hatching eggs (yet I bred more Pokémon than ever).
See my posts about Pokémon Ultra Moon
Honorable mention: Piofiore: Episodio 1926 (Switch)
Fantastic sequel. Crown jewel of my otome game collection. I think my husband is a Piofiore fan now also. I'm sad there's no third game in the series.
+ Incredible art style, beautiful UI, superb voice acting, great music. + Nice overall story with some very good routes. Memorable and fun characters with good dynamics - I now obsess over them after having played both Piofiore games. + Good localization. + Yang. - Some eye-roll-worthy dialogue and some routes I felt were a bit whatever. - Poor contrast in some memoir parts made it nigh impossible to read parts of the text.
See my posts about Piofiore: Episodio 1926
Honorable mention: Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS)
This critically acclaimed JRPG with intense atmosphere and rich party customization had me glued to my Nintendo 3DS for a good moment.
+ Great art and music that emphasizes the dark, oppressive and hopeless tone of the game. + Addictive gameplay, especially demon fusing. Good battle system. + A gripping story with multiple endings, cool characters. Surprisingly disturbing content. + Some hilarious dialogue to lighten up the mood. - Weird difficulty curve: very tough start, then last boss fights were no challenge. - Combo of bad overworld map, frequent demon encounters and dead ends was frustrating. - Poorly explained quests at times - how can anyone beat this without a guide?
See my posts about Shin Megami Tensei IV
Honorable mention: Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action (PC)
Addictive pinball with a twist - the table attacks back! Sometimes I kept playing this for hours and I occasionally jump back in for a run or two.
+ What vibes! Super cool presentation. The music goes hard (got the soundtrack for Christmas) and the sound effects complement the awesome aesthetic perfectly. Not sure what the lady says at times ("dry your food"?), but she sounds great anyways. + Top notch high-speed pinball gameplay with bullet-hell influences. You can even defeat bosses here. Highly addictive and fun. + No story content found here but there's multiple different game modes to challenge yourself with. - A couple of glitches caused me grief in the early access version, these have apparently been fixed now. - Even though there are smaller bonus tables you can enter from the main table, another main table would have been a great addition.
See my posts about Xenotilt
Honorable mention: 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (PC)
A thrilling mystery-adventure game kept me guessing whodunit. I did not expect all the things that ensued and that made it all the better experience.
+ Nice art style, great Japanese voice acting, super good music as well. + A well-written, compelling mystery story that leaves just the right amount of questions and room for own interpretations. Interesting way to weave real-life events into the story. + Good puzzles: some easy, some pushed me to my limits. - Grating dialogue and relationship between certain characters. - True ending was stretched too long and repeated the same things unnecessarily.
See my posts about 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Honorable mention: Pandora's Tower (Wii U)
An underappreciated action-adventure classic long overdue for a Switch port. Wholly exceeded my expectations.
+ Pretty good art direction, great music, good English voice acting. Atmosphere and game design choices gave me Dark Souls and Shadow of the Colossus vibes. + Fun gameplay with enjoyable combat, time limit aspect was implemented well. Nice level design. + Unique and compelling setting, story that made me want to keep playing. - Poor camera angles made boss battles frustrating at times. - Aiming the Oraclos chain was clumsy in hectic situations (I used the Wii U GamePad right stick). - Inventory space limit, my worst enemy made an appearance.
See my posts about Pandora's Tower
What comes to the honorable mentions, I wanted to pick a variety of genres. That is why I decided to leave Octopath Traveler II out and replace it with Xenotilt, as I already had multiple JRPGs in my top picks for this year.
Nominees for my personal Game of the Year 2024
Only games I have finished in 2024 have been included.
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (PC) A Castle Full of Cats (PC) A Little to the Left (PC) Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition (PC) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Xbox Series X) Chants of Sennaar (PC) Cupid Parasite (Switch) Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Switch) Eastern Exorcist (PC) Easy Come Easy Golf (Switch) Etrian Odyssey Nexus (3DS) Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise (Switch) Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PC) Lies of P (Xbox Series X) Little Kitty, Big City (PC) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2) Mizi NO! (PC) Mouthwashing (PC) Nightshade (PS2) Octopath Traveler II (Switch) Pandora's Tower (Wii U) Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons (PC) Piofiore: Episodio 1926 (Switch) Please, Touch The Artwork 2 (PC) Pokémon Ultra Moon (3DS) Project Zero (PS2) Return to Grace (PC) Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) SPY×ANYA: Operation Memories (Switch) Super Video Golf (PC) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PC) Vanquish (PC) Weapon Shop de Omasse (3DS) Wii Fit U (Wii U) Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action (PC) Yakuza 5 Remastered (PC)
Wishing you all a successful New Year 2025 with lots of fun gaming experiences to your liking!
