Whilst I’ll be highlighting favourites from 2024, there’ll also be some rediscovered titles from years prior.
Weird West
This was a game that I stumbled across on Game Pass and wasn’t actually playing for review, but the blend of top-down action / RPG and kooky oddness really resonated with me. It was a game that I found myself returning to feverishly until completion, and absolutely one I’d recommend if you haven’t checked it out. The blend of the dusty wild west combined with an evocative score and general oddness is a heady blend!
Lego City Undercover
I played Lego City Undercover on the Wii U back upon its original release, and it was one of my favourite LEGO games at the time. Again, having a young son and discovering that the Switch version had local co-op, it was a very simple decision for me to make and I dove back in excitedly. To me, Lego City Undercover is the best Lego game. An open-world city that is packed with mini-games, collectibles, myriad vehicles, the best story and humour in any Lego game, and memorable characters and set pieces alongside an incredibly catchy funk soundtrack…it’s safe to say that even now, weeks after re-discovering in, I’m still happy to plod along with my son, slowly unlocking all 450 – FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY! gold bricks.
It is therefore a shame that this, my favourite Lego game, is also the worst one in terms of performance. The game regularly hard crashes in multiple ways, the frame rate is more unstable than Oliver Reed at a free bar, the car controls are twitchy and irritating, and the camera swoops around randomly like it’s chasing off-screen birds. And yet, I still love it. Lego need to spend more time in their original IPs, and they really do need to revisit the world of Chase McCain soon. Isn’t that right, Honey?
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
When I played this game for review, it instantly struck a chord with me. The quietly heartbreaking relationship between the main characters and pacing in the storytelling in such a stark, bleak world won me over, even the forgettable combat couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm. I’ve heard that some reviews thought the game was bland, and the characters boring – but they appeared to me to be subtle and understated, which I appreciated. I may be in the minority, but nonetheless Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden was very much a gaming highlight of 2024.
Sinden Light Gun
As someone who collects games and accessories for older systems, the loss of the light gun when moving from CRT to LCD TVs was a harsh blow. I had heard of The Sinden Light Gun and was lucky enough to get a unit for review purposes. What followed were days of absolute, unbridled joy. The setup can be a tad finicky, but once the emulation is all prepped, and your gun is setup, you literally have access to what was once an entirely lost genre of gaming. Andy Sinden is a gift to the world of gaming, and there are also several models available to suit your tastes, dependent on how full-on you want to go with your setup. A wonderful creation, and an accessory I will be promoting to the end of my days.
Still Wakes the Deep
A game that had the most impressive opening section of the year for me, Still Wakes the Deep is a game that I know I’ll be talking about in years to come. A grittily beautiful horror game set upon a collapsing oil rig, the level of naturalisation in the dialogue will not be bested for some time. These earthy, grounded characters feel fully formed in the short minutes you spend with them as you desperately try to survive in an ever-escalating situation, accompanied by incredible audio work - gorgeous stuff.
Robocop: Rogue City
Another game that I wasn’t playing for review purposes, Robocop: Rogue City was a game that my brother kindly passed my way early in 2024. I’ve always been a fan of the original film, and I believe the last version of the game I played was the PS2 version, which… wasn’t the best. From the moment that Basil Poledouris’ theme kicked off, I felt that unique rush that can only come from childhood memories melding with adult interpretations, and from then on – it was 15 hours of nothing but solid gold. The game didn’t miss a beat, and when the credits rolled, I knew that I was dealing with a GOTY contender. For a fantastic companion piece, check out the Robodoc documentary, peter Weller doesn’t give a hoot.
Thank Goodness You’re Here
I don’t tend to put my year-end lists in any order, but my word, if I did – this would be a very serious contender for the top of the pile. An extremely British title that was so funny that I had to play through in a single night, the esoteric nature of the in-game world, perfection of the voice acting, glorious music and visuals combined with simplistic gameplay mean that the gags just kept coming right until the end. A glorious, feel-good game that is also one of the funniest.
Drova: Forsaken Kin
I had no idea how much this game would grip me when I installed it. As I was playing a pre-release version, there was a moment of absolute terror when – after an hour or so of incredible RPG gameplay, I hit a game-breaking bug that was patched out mere days later (before release!) and I breathed a sigh of relief, because what occurred over the next 30 hours of gameplay was a rollercoaster ride that to me is one of the very best RPGs ever made. The balance of free-roaming gameplay, gloriously low-key and yet incredibly detailed graphics, an emotive soundtrack and satisfying – yet challenging - combat and narrative all rolled up in a world that it is a pleasure to discover. Folks have described it as Gothic in 2D, and with the sad passing of Piranha Bytes – what better way to carry the torch and celebrate the western RPG genre. Hail to the king.
Dungeons of Hinterberg
This one really came out of the blue, I saw it on Game Pass and my young son was attracted to the pastel colours on the image in the Game Pass library, that was it – I downloaded it not really knowing what it was about, but -aside from the slice-of-life day-to-day areas of the narrative which really wasn’t to my tastes – everything else, and I mean everything else about Dungeons of Hinterberg was absolutely sublime. Incredibly satisfying puzzles (the best of the year, as far as I’m concerned, beautiful graphic novel styled visuals, a soundtrack that is aching to be released on vinyl, and combat that throws enough into the mix to keep things fun up until the end all adds up to one of my favourite games of the year.
My son was so engrossed with the wonderful monster and character designs that he is playing through in new game + just to spend time in the world of Hinterberg, what higher accolade is there?
There are many more I could include here, but these are the ones I feel compelled to write about, and now? Onwards into 2025, love to all!
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