When preparing to share my favorite games of 2024 I got into a predicament. I played a lot of video games in 2024. Of the 400+ games I played this year, 150 had Western releases. Because of how many new games I played this year, I had the largest pool of games to choose from. So, this year was one of the hardest to judge what I enjoyed most.
At the same time, this caused a problem. Since I played so many games, it was hard for me to finish them all. Although I did complete a good chunk of games this year, a lot of them were on the shorter side. It also meant that I had plenty of games where I put in the time, but did not reach their respective conclusions.
So, this year’s list is a bit different. I’ve broken up my lists into two groups of five, both numbered. One features my favorite games that I finished in 2024. The other is my five favorite games that I did not complete. I couldn’t come up with a definitive Top 10 because my opinions on games I didn’t finish were changing so much. At the same time, it doesn’t mean that my unfinished games are #10 – #6.
We’ll start by featuring my five favorite games that I played in 2024 but did not finish.
My Five Favorite Games That I Did Not Finish
Again to preface this list. These are all games that I did put in a significant chunk of time playing. The problem is that these are games on the longer side of things and I did not have enough time to play them all the way. For the five featured here, I got deep enough into the games to put them on the list. They are also ones that I have every intention on finishing in the future.
Coming up with this list of five was difficult. I could have done a Top 10 with how many great games I sampled. I wanted to include games like Astro Bot, Black Myth Wukong, and Unicorn Overlord. All three I put in good time into them, but didn’t finish. Then there were games like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, Silent Hill 2, and 1000XResist. I started these but could not find the time to play more.
5. Stellar Blade
I was flip-flopping having this on my list. For the first two hours of Stellar Blade, I was struggling to find enjoyment. This is an action game that requires proper timing on counters and parries to win fights. Trying to button-mash your way through every battle is not only not smart, it’s impossible. Because of that, it took a bit of time for me to click with this game.
Believe me, I’m still dying a lot. It takes me many tries to win most boss fights. Twitch-based controls are harder for me, so I still make mistakes. But, once I got to the open-world section of this game, I was having so much fun. The parts where EVE is exploring different areas and completing tasks were a nice change of pace. They offer a lot of side content and the mission variety is great.
Because I’ve put a lot of time into the sidequests, I’m only 30% complete. There are still two parts of EVE’s skill tree that are inaccessible. Not to mention, I only received the double-jump ability. My PS5 says I’m 10 hours into the game, but I could say that at least two hours of that are me retrying boss fights. I should shift my focus to completing the main campaign, as I’m eager to see what other abilities EVE gets.
4. Deathless. Tales of Old Rus
A few years ago, I wrote about my interest in card-building games. In 2024, I played quite a few. The first one that stood out was Zoeti, which was a bit older but I had a lot of fun with it. As we closed out the year, I started playing Deathless. Tales of Old Rus and I’m having so much fun with it.
At the moment, I’ve put in over 10 hours into the game. While I have done runs with all four of the playable characters, I have yet to complete the story with one. What I love about this game is the variety of characters. There are four distinctive characters, each with their pros and cons. While I have spent most of my time playing with Valeria, the first character you have access to, I need to mix it up.
The other element of this deck-builder that I love is the importance of card play order. To have the most success in each fight, you need to be strategic. As you unlock more cards, you start to see how there are synergies that can make a fight so much easier. This doesn’t mean that fights get easier as you progress.
Because of that, I’m still struggling to progress past the game’s third boss characters. In most of my runs, it’s that battle which proves most challenging. No matter how many times I retry a battle, I can’t win. But, I keep coming back because I unlock new cards and I want to try them out. I expect that this is a game I will come back to in 2025 and hope more people give it a shot.
3. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Super Mario RPG was my favorite game of 2023. After having so much fun, I was eager to get my hands on Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I picked up a copy while I was in Japan but only played it for an hour before forgetting about it. In December, as I started looking back at the games I played, I knew I had to put some time into this. My only regret is not playing this one sooner.
For a lengthy RPG, I’m only about eight hours into this one. Before writing this blurb on the game, I collected the second Crystal Star. So, I’m only about to start the game’s third chapter now, which means I’ve put in around 7-8 hours.
But, there are so many things I enjoy about the game. The story is a lot of fun, with some great dialogue interactions between characters. The side stuff with Princess Peach in captivity and the Bowser moments are great. The combat is great and I like the way battles progress. This isn’t a difficult game, which is another thing I love about it.
2. Metaphor: ReFantazio
When it comes to games I wish I made more time for, Metaphor: ReFantazio is at the top of the list. This is a game I began playing on PC, then proceeded to start it all over again on Xbox. Although I’ve played for about 12-13 hours, I’ve only now begun to play what feels like the main plot of the game.
There are characters I’ve heard about through social media that I still haven’t met. For context, I’ve reached the town where you’re on the hunt for a suspected child abductor. Because of spoilers, I know what happens next, but I am still looking forward to seeing it unfold.
I played all four of Atlus’ 2024 published games. They are all deep and I wish I spent more time with them. But, of the four, Metaphor left the greatest impression and the one I want to finish first. Yes, that means investing another 60-80 hours. But, I don’t mind that challenge.
1. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
At the time of this writing, I’m part of the way through Gizeh. The Vatican City part of the game was a lot of fun, but I stayed on the critical path. Because I avoided most of the side content, I didn’t get a chance to visit some of the extra sites. But from the moment I began playing the game, I was in love.
This is exactly the kind of Indiana Jones game I wanted to play. There is a nice mix of combat, exploration, puzzle-solving, and comedy. I loved the films because of the great mix of humor, suspense, and action. This game is managing to do the same. The puzzles are fun but not too difficult. There are some great characters and I hope there are more to discover. I’m still not bored of sneaking up behind fascists and nazis and slamming them with a shovel or any other object.
It’s also great to hear that Disney/Lucasfilm wants more Indiana Jones games. At the same time, this only makes me want to learn more about what IO Interactive is doing with their James Bond game. Machine Games has set the bar for iconic film heroes. So, the 007 project must go above and beyond what we experienced here.
My Five Favorite Games That I Did Finish
So, for the following five games, these are all titles I played in 2024. Picking five here was a bit easier because the list was much smaller. There were about 15 games released in 2024 that I played from start to finish.
Most of those games are on the shorter side of things. In 2024, I grew to appreciate games that you could finish in less than 10 hours. One game I wanted to include on this list was Slay The Princess. While I did play the Pristine Cut edition, which was an update for 2024, the game first came out in 2023.
Of the 2024 games that came out, only two that I finished took more than 15 hours to complete. I quite enjoyed Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn but it wasn’t good enough to crack the Top 5. Meanwhile, the other long game did make this list. For 2025, I want to play more games that I complete in less than 10 hours.
5. Buckshot Roulette
Buckshot Roulette takes less than 30 minutes to complete. Your time with the game varies depending on how lucky you are. But even with its short game time, I kept thinking about this a lot throughout the year. It’s such a simple concept: Russian Roulette with a shotgun. But it’s everything around it that was so interesting.
There’s no real story here. You are at a club and as the music blasts, you enter a room and begin playing a modified Russian Roulette game. I cheated death on two occasions. The only thing I never did with the game was its double-or-nothing mode. If you survive and win the cash, there is an option to try to double your money.
To unlock this, I think you have to take the pills offered to you at the start of the game. I didn’t, so when I won the game, the story ended with me driving away with my prize money. I wouldn’t mind going back and seeing what happens if I try to take the risk. They also released a multiplayer mode which seems like a lot of fun to play with friends.
Because of the low cost of entry and simple mechanics, this is such an easy recommendation. As you’ll see with the majority of this list, I had a lot of fun with smaller games that go against gameplay norms. There were so many that I enjoyed and hope developers continue to go this route.
4. Mouthwashing
There is a lot of recency bias with Mouthwashing‘s inclusion on this list. I started and finished this game a few days ago. But, if I had played this back in September when it came out, I still would have included it here. There is so much I liked about Mouthwashing and I only hope more people play it.
This is a game where the story kept me wanting to see what happened next. As we jumped between the past and present, I was so engaged in trying to determine what was real and what wasn’t. Even when I finished the game, I still wasn’t sure how to feel. How the lives of these five people changed so much over the story is incredible. It’s also commendable considering this is a game that doesn’t last more than three hours.
Mouthwashing will inevitably breed more games like this. Games where the story is the focus. Yes, there are “gameplay” sections, but they aren’t the highlight. I didn’t mind doing menial tasks like baking a cake because it allowed me to further the story. Although this game doesn’t need to be longer, I would not have minded more chances to learn about the crew. At the same time, not having that deeper connection would have affected how the impact of the story.
3. Indika
In all seriousness, I could have mixed up the order of these first three games. Indika is the third game on this list where the developers did a fantastic job of blending genres. This is also the most ambitious of the three. Sure, I have a connection to the game’s use of Russian/Slavic iconography and religion but there’s more to it.
I loved the way the game broke the fourth wall in creative ways. The mix of 16-bit sections of Indika’s teenage years with high-fidelity graphics. Your inner dialogue commenting on everything she did. Not to mention the many times where the game played with your vision. I fondly recall how perspective plays into some of the game’s sections.
It’s disappointing that so many people may have skipped out on Indika. While I can understand some of the reasons, this is a game with strong production values. If a Western studio developed the game, I am certain more people would have played it.
2. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Dragon Quest III became the first Dragon Quest game I finished. To be fair, before this, I only played DQ IX and XI. I’d love to go back and play more XI because I did have a lot of fun with it. Everything about this game impressed me. I enjoyed the grinding. The game has so many surprises. It was a thrill to travel the world and find random locations with treasure. Heck, I even found a random island village that I had no connection to the main story.
Most of all, I loved the job system. Fooling around with this is a game within a game. Adjusting my squadmates to maximize their skills and abilities was so important. To be successful in this game, you have to change their vocations. But the best part of it, it’s so easy to level up. So, it never felt like a chore.
Because of how much I enjoyed the DQIII HD-2D Remake, I cannot wait for the Dragon Quest I + II HD Remake. At the same time, I want to play more Dragon Quest games. I have VIII on my 3DS and XI on my Switch. So, 2025 could be a big year for me about the DQ series.
1. Balatro
Balatro is without question the game that left the biggest impact on me in 2024. In the first half the of year, this game held my attention on my Steamdeck. Then in September, it held my attention again on iPad. It’s super rare for a game that I enjoyed so much that I ended up playing it on two different platforms.
Even if it’s not the game I put in the most hours into, the randomization was what kept me coming back. Yes, I managed to finish a successful run on both platforms. But, there are things I still didn’t come across. There are Joker cards that I have yet to discover. At the same time, I want to further experiment with card combinations.
There is so much variety in Balatro. I also appreciate how well it managed to stay on people’s minds throughout the year. The dual release helped but the positive word of mouth also played a huge factor. If you haven’t tried Balatro, you owe it to yourself to seek it out. It’s less than 20 dollars on almost every platform.
