Last year, around this time, I wrote a feature arguing that Starwith its universe quite okay, but a little synthetic and cold, it was the real game of the year at 2023.
Not because it was the best game of 2023, but because of how it felt to play it, the short bursts of fun inside loops through the galley at which often did not make much sense or surprise, as a reflection of the experience of living and working around the games. business last year. A masterpiece that would be a masterpiece with all its size and incredible scale, but little of its soul, for a medium that was constantly shaking more people onto the fire all sticking to the bangers we got for comfort.
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I wouldn't say 2024, although it could be said even worse in terms of the state of the industry, they had a big game like Starfield which was accidentally a metaphor for feeling so apt for it.
Instead, I'm going to do what I did a bit in that feature last year – I'll momentarily cast the gloom into the sun, and focus on the good. As always, the indie scene released some rare gems and gems that got plenty of credit this year on the reg.
Each list will be different, but here is mine.
Chill sim Golden Lap racing management was as lively as Funselektor releases have always been when I reviewed itand it hasn't gotten better since then as their devs have been working hard to fix their initial problems and start adding improvements over the past few months.
Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss it was an emotional rollercoaster through a shipwreck and the lives of its crew that I think flew under a lot of people's radars, but it's definitely worth a try if you like it Baldur's Gate 3a reporter, and how to do a bit of detective work.
Still awakening the depths I chose to go further into the Lovecraftian and the stock horror than he did the scary truth of what can happen when bad things go out in the big blue abyss for the fear that he is, but he's still good, with his great Scottish accents and running with a big head.
Hades 2 another thing I had a lot of fun with, even though I didn't have much time to go back and check out Supergiant's changes from constantly getting my ass kicked by Chronos and the sirens damn that when it went into early access in a form that was just as good as the first game, if it could be said that no one was able to follow such a hard act.
Renaissance painting romp Death of the Revocation This one is probably my favorite find in retrospect, especially since I'm now in the process of going back and playing the Pythonesque point predecessors. -and-click, which is equally unique and funny.
That's five just off the top of my head, and it doesn't include the awesome Steam next fest demos for stuff like Keep driving.
Although, like I said, it has its cool indie stuff every year, so with that in mind, here's the absolute best thing it's important to shout out when it comes to helping out making 2024 in video games as good as it has been at times. Modes.
Yes, there are plenty of great and unique mods every year, and it's a place that is starting to be recognized more by many publishers big and small for the main part that it can help people get even more out of their games – especially the big ones. Single-player RPGs I love – for a few years now, 2024 was a huge step forward.
Fallout: Londondespite its launch, it was a full-blown unofficial Fallout game that you could pour hundreds of hours into what was basically a year clamoring for a new entry in the series because of the TV show annoying everyone.
Besides Larian official mod support to Baldur's Gate 3 – for both PC and consoles – helped the real game of the year 2023 get past some of the metrics from the year of release in which he blew us all away.
CD projects distribution of REDkit modding tools for The Witcher 3 has sparked a renaissance for that game, with tournaments getting lots of interesting entries from people who wanted to try a little more advanced stuff like a new quest and area design.
There are also plenty of 2024 releases that have been big on the modding front. From Stalker 2 newto Circle of Elden: Shadow of the Erdtreeand even occasionally such Helldivers 2 download.
Heading into 2025, it feels like modding is as big a part of what people love about games as ever, and as someone who likes to write about them regularly at work, that is the biggest bright side of this year for me.
