In 2024, independent games outshined big-budget AAA releases in quality and innovation. This year, scholar Brendan Keogh’s exegesis The Video Game Industry Does Not Exist serves as gospel. Indie developers utilize the platforms and distribution methods owned and operated by Nintendo, Valve, Microsoft, and Sony to challenge these multinational corporations’ grip on the medium. Hence, why 2024 has shown Keogh’s vision of the industry is not only salient but correct. This isn’t to say that AAA studios didn’t release noteworthy games—our list has plenty of them—but the real standouts, the transcendent ones, were predominantly made by small independent studios. The future of the industry and games as art increasingly falls to small indie studios. – Luis Aguasvivas
The previous year, 2023, was remarkable for the number of great new games. In 2023, we got Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy XVI, and more. It might seem impossible for 2024 to surpass such games. Yet with titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Astro Bot, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Frostpunk 2, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Black Myth: Wukong, and Balatro, it’s possible.
What highlights the abundance of releases this year is that we didn’t even have space to include all the aforementioned games in our final list, as there were far more new titles we loved. Dozens of great remakes and reboots, such as Persona 3: Reload or Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake—of which there were exceptionally many this year—also flew under the radar of our list. Speaking of this year’s trends, it’s also important to note that, alongside a flood of re-releases, the rise of gacha games, and the ultimate blurring of the lines between console exclusives and multiplatform projects, there’s at least one unfortunate pattern in the gaming industry as well.
Compared to 2023, the total number of layoffs in the gaming industry has increased by about 35%. Legendary studios such as Piranha Bytes, Arkane Austin, and Roll7 shut down. Many major industry giants, such as Avalanche Studios, Rovio, and PlayStation Studios, closed offices and internal studios—one of the most notable examples being Concord developer Firewalk Studios. Even the new studio founded by a BioWare veteran, Humanoid Origin, was shut down before releasing its debut game. Amid such grim news, the miraculous rescue of The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush creators, Tango Gameworks, feels like an absolute wonder.
Despite this backdrop and the huge flops of some AAA releases this year, the gaming industry continues to stand and thrive, sometimes barely noticing the problems. That said, there are plenty of exciting events on the horizon—from Sony’s rumored new handheld console and the potential addition of FromSoftware to PlayStation Studios to the next season of the Fallout series and the releases of Grand Theft Auto VI and a new Fable. Dive into our list of the best games to make the wait for all that and more a little brighter. – Igor Bannikov
Our 24 Best Video Games of 2024 are presented alphabetically by title.
I raved about 1000xResist when it was released earlier this year. Its innovative narrative has stayed with me and opened my imagination to the possibilities of complex narratives in video games. I firmly believe that this game and the efforts of Remy Siu and Sunset Visitor will be remembered as one of the most important narratives told in the medium.
As I experienced the story of Iris and her clones, I got a new appreciation for diasporic existence. On top of this, 1000xResist highlights and demystifies the uncertainty of living in a future world where forces dictate stories so nebulous that they appear to us as gods. Can you believe that these god emperors wear no clothes? 1000xResist sets a new standard for ludonarratives. – Luis Aguasvivas
See also “1000xResist’s Magnificent Operatic Heterotopia“.
It’s not a secret that Billy Basso’s and Shared Memory’s Animal Well is fantastic. It distills the joys and frustrations of discovery into a brisk and engaging experience. By honing search-action gameplay (better known as metroidvanias for the believers) and refocusing on exploration, puzzle solving, and traversal, Animal Well succeeds where many fail.
In addition to being an excellent game, Animal Well is also a masterclass in audio design. The depths of the well come alive with unearthly music, animal growls, and echoes within the shadows.
The challenge of the well beckons. – Luis Aguasvivas
Disney’s Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Purple Lamb)
Designer Warren Spector, behind renowned games like Deus Ex and System Shock, attempted to make a game with a decision-based morality system. However, this system is still barebones and has no consequences for Mickey’s dubious actions. The original Epic Mickey was released in 2010 and met with tepid responses. Eleven years and a remaster developed by Purple Lamp later, many of the game’s initial flaws have been remedied with additional improvements. With new gameplay tweaks and a graphical overhaul, Warren’s take on Mickey’s sins can now be appreciated for what it is: one of the best 3D platformers. – Luis Aguasvivas
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Electronic Arts)
There was a time when every RPG lover adored BioWare, the legendary studio behind the first two Baldur’s Gate games, the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, and many other iconic titles known for their deep narratives and rich role-playing mechanics. However, since 2017, they have faced a series of failures with Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, whose disastrous launches nearly spelled their downfall. Many fans had long written them off, but Dragon Age: The Veilguard has restored their reputation overnight and perhaps even saved them from a bleak future as just another support team within Electronic Arts.
The fourth installment in the series, picking up where Dragon Age: Inquisition left off, has surprisingly become one of the most vibrant RPGs of the year. Advertised as a soft reboot of the franchise, Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels fresh and more vivid than ever. With a shift to a more cartoonish, Fable-like in its visual style, it quickly draws comparisons to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Hogwarts Legacy, and Immortals Fenyx Rising. The first ten hours or so are cleverly designed as a straightforward, action-packed experience reminiscent of dynamic slashers like Devil May Cry, complete with linear-level design. Yet, at its core, it retains the best mechanics from Mass Effect and other BioWare classics.
Anyone who makes it past the prologue (shoutout to Maximum Fun host Jason Schreier) will find that The Veilguard gradually evolves into a good old RPG with a semi-open world packed with screenshot-worthy views, side quests, secrets, and puzzles. This time, BioWare chose not to immediately shock players with a massive amount of content, instead delivering it little by little. At this point, visually and narratively, Dragon Age: The Veilguard strongly resembles Baldur’s Gate 3, reimagined as an action RPG with combat mechanics similar to God of War. With its well-crafted story, nice graphics, and well-thought-out design, Dragon Age: The Veilguard can easily pull you in for 80-100 hours of engaging gameplay. – Igor Bannikov
Dragon’s Dogma II (Capcom)
Twelve years after the release of the original game, fans of hardcore RPGs have finally received the highly anticipated sequel to Dragon’s Dogma. This is a significant event for the genre because, nowadays, it’s rare to find a genuinely immersive game set in a fantasy universe where you must traverse the open world entirely on foot, without fast travel or even mounts. It’s a cruel, cruel, cruel world where your oil lamp can get wet, leaving you in the pitch-black darkness of night, where food in your bag rots in real-time, and where a massive flying beast can grab you, soar into the sky, and then drop you to your doom. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
As the Arisen, a hero bound to a dragon they must ultimately defeat, you’re thrust into the epicenter of a geopolitical conflict between two kingdoms. If you’ve ever wondered what the best gamification of Game of Thrones might look like, this is probably it. Dragon’s Dogma II resembles the original game in almost every way but features improved graphics and an even more realistic, expansive, open world.
Like its predecessor, Dragon’s Dogma II involves plenty of walking, with almost Elden Ring-like surprise encounters against massive beasts. Thankfully, you’re still accompanied by highly intelligent companions known as Pawns, which you can share with other players or borrow from them. Enjoy. – Igor Bannikov
In Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, the player assumes the role of a private investigator, a duck down on his luck. The only way to solve the case of an office’s missing salami is by finding clues, interrogating suspects, and drawing de-duck-tions. Is it just a workplace scuffle, or is there something bigger afoot?
This game’s 2D art style, like that of Paper Mario, and its voice acting make it a memorable work. Though it is relatively short and can be completed in a few hours, it is an iconic game with an original spin on the gruff detective character. Each character in Duck Detective comes alive and resonates with the player. From the depressed duck going through a messy divorce to the overworked and underappreciated employee at the call center, this game includes various character archetypes that are unexpectedly realistic and demand the player’s sympathy. – Samantha Trzinski
Fantasian: Neo Dimension (Mistwalker)
The latest and potential last fable from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi finally saw wide release this year. Fantasian: Neo Dimension includes added voice acting and difficulty scaling.
This game is a labor of love. Each of its settings is a hand-made panorama (one of which was designed by the late mangaka Akira Toriyama). Sakaguchi’s frequent collaborator, Nobuo Uematsu, one of the world’s most revered living composers, composed the music. Fantasian: Neo Dimension is a game for those who want a reimagining of 1990s Japanese RPGs crafted by masters. – Luis Aguasvivas
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is, without question, the longest, most expansive, and content-packed RPG of the year, requiring about 140–170 hours of your precious free time to beat it at nearly 100%. It’s too complex to briefly explain the game’s plot, as this is already the second part of the trilogy of remasters of the most iconic installment of the Final Fantasy series of all time. In truth, when you see the sheer volume of in-game content in this gaming mammoth, the story quickly begins not to matter.
During Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you’ll encounter countless vivid characters, including a talkative robot cat and an almost-naked bodybuilder, explore a variety of beautiful locations, and take part in hundreds of side quests, challenges, and mini-games, with your primary goal becoming simply to make it to the end… one day. Here, you can even ride multiple types of transport—from segways and the speedboat and plane hybrid to flying Chocobos and the stylish desert buggy car.
Few match this content-rich game, with its many mechanics that, rather than turning the gameplay into a chaotic mess, make it even better, more vibrant, and irresistibly fun. Thankfully, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is one of a kind, and not every remaster nowadays makes original games a thousand times longer. – Igor Bannikov