Every year, in terms of the games that come out, is a great year for gaming. You just have to seek them out sometimes. Indie games are always thriving. But even when it comes to the AAA scene, this year really was packed with some genuine bangers.
Most of my favourite games come from the second half of the year, not for lack of great games earlier in the year (I’ll get around to you eventually, Infinite Wealth) but because I literally didn’t have the time to play them all. I was spoilt for choice, from the biggest AAA to the smallest indie.
My GOTY list is just one of many, because all of us here at TheGamer are doing it! Make sure to check out my colleague’s lists as well, which are also filled with definitively correct gaming opinions, just like mine.
10 Sonic X Shadow Generations
The very first Sonic game I ever played was Sonic Heroes back on the PS2. I remember it asking me whether I wanted to play in 50hz or 60hz and having no idea what that meant. It got me into Sonic though, and more specifically, Shadow.
To see Shadow return to the spotlight not just as the edgy companion to Sonic, but as a genuinely heartfelt character with his own trauma to work through felt like a warm hug from the past. Shadow Generations having some of the best Sonic levels ever made sure helps, too. A shame they didn’t give him a gun, but you can’t have everything.
9 Visions Of Mana
While I’d heard of the Mana series beforehand, it never really caught my interest in a major way. It had gorgeous art, but not much else to entice me. But Visions of Mana cast a spell that I couldn’t ignore.
Square Enix has a weird habit of making some of its best games the most under-marketed. Visions of Mana is gorgeous, with a painterly art style that makes every colour and location pop, and action combat that is both fluid and fun Morley is also my cat boy extraordinaire.
8 Silent Hill 2
Who would have thought Bloober Team could really do it? I’m not going to claim that Silent Hill 2 Remake somehow surpasses the original, but I can’t say I only like it because it’s better than expected either. There is a genuine heart to this experience, with some truly show-stopping performances.
It uses the subtleties of facial expressions to catch emotions the dialogue doesn’t, the way the audio creeps around you every step of the way. I would have loved to see Bloober’s take on an independent Silent Hill game, because this remake shows that, despite all their ‘sh***y games’ (their words) in the past, they really do get what makes Silent Hill 2 special.
7 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a game of two halves. There’s the journey you have with your friends, the heartfelt ways they interact with the world and each other, and how it’s all woven into every aspect of its gameplay.
Then there’s the mechanical side of things, everything Sephiroth related, how the lore works. At times, the latter really is a drag. There are parts of this game I hate. But the most annoying part is how much I love these damn characters. They are written with the expertise that only years of writing them can give you. It’s in many ways what a remake should be. Even in the parts where it’s bad, it’s so damn good.
6 Mouthwashing
What if the worst man you knew was suddenly in charge of your life? That’s what Mouthwashing is about. You’re stuck on a ship with some of the crappiest people you’ve ever met, claustrophobia accosting you from every angle, an obnoxious corporate jingle telling you everything is great.
And one of your awful colleagues has an inferiority complex that will get you all killed. Seriously, you owe it to yourself to see just how much Mouthwashing can dissect the human condition in such a terrifying, ugly way. It’s only three hours long. You have time after reading this to make it your game of the year. Make that your responsibility.
5 Kunitsu-Gami
It’s so rare to see major publishers take risks with games, to make anything that isn’t guaranteed to make its budget back and then some. And then Capcom makes Kunitsu-Gami.
God, Kunitsu-Gami is so good. It’s an action game, but it’s also a tower defence game. It’s a sweets-appreciating simulator, it’s a ukiyo-e painting unfurling before your eyes. It is so gorgeous, it is so well-paced, and it deserves all of the attention you can give it.
4 Sorry We’re Closed
Sorry We’re Closed is the first ever game I reviewed, and what a banger to start off with. I’ve said so much about it already, but there is so much more to it. It’s got the eerieness and camera of Silent Hill, the popping colours and gunplay of Killer7, and a queerness all of its own. It is such a gay game.
Demons will be scantily-clad, leather and spikes, but it never demeans or sexualises them. In fact, the game never tells you how to think. It never gives you the right answer. Love is hard, man, there are no easy answers. You just have to try for it.
3 Umurangi Generation VR
When Umurangi Generation originally came out back in 2020, I told myself I would buy it. When it came to Switch with gyro controls in 2021, I said now’s the time. Finally, in 2024 when it came to PSVR2, I played it. And man, there’s just nothing like it.
Having to bring the camera up to my face and see its world through my own eyes is upsetting, overwhelming, and undeniable. You can’t ignore the faces of these people, the haphazard way the cities are built. Aotearoa is a land occupied, and your camera is the last line of defence to show the world how things really are. Be creative, and show your passion for art that still exists in the world, even at its very end.
2 Dragon’s Dogma 2
The gaming world is plagued with open-world experiences. Everything has to be wide and expansive and filled with things to do. Just content for the sake of it. The original Dragon’s Dogma, admittedly, was stretching the definition of ‘open-world’ with how small it was, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the real deal.
I have never played a game that makes me want to just do stuff so much. I know the game will reward me for experimenting. I finished a quest of a man pretending to be a beggar, and afterwards brought one of his secret wives to meet the other. Chaos ensued, and that had absolutely nothing to do with the quest itself. It is such a thoughtful world with some many fun threads to pull on if you just meet it on its level.
1 1000xResist
This game broke my heart and put it back together. It’s hard to describe it succinctly because it shifts its style so frequently. Anything to convey the narrative, anything to make you understand the world can be better. Generations of trauma, language barriers, racism, oppression. The world can be unjust, and sometimes it’s hard to say that what you’re suffering now is better than what could have been. But you can never know unless you try.
That’s the core of 1000xResist. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what will happen, but any change is better than nothing at all. And the voice actors sell this game. Every line voiced, delivered with startling emotion. The game focuses on the Asian diaspora, but is wide enough to look at every form of diaspora, all people who are oppressed around the world, across history. Just fight for change, and let 1000xResist be the game that radicalises you.