Sitting down to compile my GOTY list has been a pleasure and today I'd love to share it with you to see if there’s any gems in here (alongside a classic) that I can tempt you to try.
Dragon's Dogma 2 - The Organised Chaos RPG Award 🏆
I’d never played the original game and the premise of DD2 had me licking my lips in anticipation for an enormous RPG to get stuck into on my newly purchased PS5. DD2 did not disappoint. Every crevice I explored seemed to unveil something new for me to discover, whether that was a new enemy, a chest, a cave or an interesting building. I’ve piled lots of hours into this game and I'm yet to complete it. I’m determined to revisit and complete it in 2025 as I attempt to uncover the regions of the map
Tetris Forever - The Legend Of Henk & Alexey Award 🏆
I was drawn to this Digital Eclipse Gold Master release due to the fact that TETRIS is truly one of purest video games ever conceived and I was really interested to look at all the different releases across the years. When I began to dig into this TETRIS opus I was blown away by the story of Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov and the interactive documentary became a must read/listen/watch page turner of a ‘game’. I love this series and I love TETRIS forever.
Drova Forsaken Kin - The Cilla Black Surprise Award 🏆
This game completely blind sided me and turned out to be one of the best video games of 2024. It’s an RPG that is steeped in a love for the genre and has that retro feel to it that takes you back to the classic RPGs where you are discovering a world and an IP for the first time. It’s a marvel of a video game made by a small team and I implore everyone to play this game today.
Indiana Jones - The Late In the Day Award 🏆
Indy films are my jam. I grew up watching them and punctuated my youth with visits to the cinema to watch them as soon as they were released. As the years have worn on I've lost the passion for the films since Crystal Skull and as far as Indiana Jones video games go, I'd settled for the fact that Uncharted was going to be the best effort since the beautiful Lucas Arts point and clicks. I therefore watched from afar as Machine Games prepared the Indiana Jones And The Great Circle video game but I was never really hyped by anything I'd seen pre release. I managed to get my hands on a copy upon release to check out what the latest offering would be like and WOW, just WOW! The game oozes class, the performances in the game are awesome. The puzzles are pitch perfect, the combat is so ‘Indy’ that I am relieved they didn’t just create a first person shooter/murder machine of a game. The game and the environments just feel alive and the locations are big enough to get lost in but never outstay their welcome. It only came out in early December but my word it grabbed the hat from underneath the falling stone door to give us the real next Indiana Jones movie!
GTAIV - The Best Game Of 2008 In 2024 Award 🏆
Somehow I had only managed to play up until GTAIII up until late 2024. The announcement of GTAVI had really peaked my interest in the franchise again and I picked up GTAIV on a Steam Sale price of about five pounds. I dropped it onto my Steam Deck and I was transported back to 2008 and was really surprised at how well it held up in 2024. The story swept me up into the world of Niko Bellic and I found myself becoming a resident of Resident Of Liberty City and getting caught up in all of its politics and personalities.
Stalker 2 - The Great Allure Of Radioactive Jank Award 🏆
The Stalker series passed me by in 2007, 2008 and 2009 as it was a PC game at a time when I was never a PC gamer. Looking back at the series now, it would have been right up on my list if I'd have been a PC gamer at the time. Then I got swept up in the Stalker 2 pre release story and I knew that I just had to play Stalker 2. Despite a really rough launch, I could see this game was special and as the devs resolve the issues the game gets better and better with it's depiction of life in The Zone.
Tiny Terrys Turbo Trip - The Keep Me Busy Award 🏆
For a game that's around 4 hours long this kept me busy doing fun stuff in this open world platformer that has an awesome art style and a music sense that compliments the game perfectly. It's the perfect example of an indie game that benefits from not over stretching itself and making sure that what it does, it does it well. Go make friends with Tiny Terry and i promise you won't regret it!
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom - The Simple Pleasures Award 🏆
Hand crafted retro worlds are brought to life in this cool PS1 era style platformer that sees you trying to navigate the worlds without a jump button! It's a playground of video game fun that is a pleasure to pick up and play. Be warned though, it gets HARD and also at around 6 hours it does feel a little too long.
Astrobot - The Pure Joy Award 🏆
If I was forced to pick one game from this list that had to take all the glory it would be Astrobot. It has everything I could ever want from a platformer and is probably the best example of one since the release of Super Mario Odyssey. The music is a delight, the platforming is on point, the various mechanics that are introduced through power up bring a smile to your face, the bots you rescue are now my family as I care for them back at the crash site like they were my own, the game is almost perfect. This is the game I would buy a PS5 for if I didn't already own a PS5 and I seriously can't wait for Team Asobi's next game on the PS5/PS6! Bravo Bravo Astro!
Ye Olde Honourable Mentions...
Indika - The Best Nun Sim Award 💙
You are a nun, you do nun things, go on a journey with the devil and see what happens...
Children of the Sun - The Psychadelic Bullet Cult Award💙
You are a sniper, you do sniper things, you control the bullets that you fire in bullet time, you are angry, you want to destroy a cult, go get a position on that hill and see what happens...
