How would I sum up 2024 in video games? It sure did happen. It started in January, now it’s December. Some games came out in between. And that’s 2024. I’m being a little harsh – of course there were some great games this year. Games that I loved, games that I appreciated were technically marvellous, and games that were both. Like any year, enough good games came out that you could point to as evidence of its greatness. But mostly, it feels like 2024 belongs to Palworld.
Palworld is not my Game of the Year. Even leaving aside my aversion to putting early access games on my list (my view is they’ll get their time), it was not amongst the 15 or so I considered to highlight. But there is always one game that captures the spirit of gaming in a 12 month period, and this year, that game is Palworld.
One Game Always Defines A Year
Let me use some recent years to explain what I mean. 2020 was the end (and start) of a console generation, and was defined by a massive emphasis on photorealistic technology and the pursuit of filmic prestige – traits we see repeated in The Last of Us Part 2. 2021 was the year the pandemic hit the release schedule, and was a year of odds and ends picked up and put down at random – a la It Takes Two. These two happened to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards, but that’s not always the case.
In fact, 2022 was dominated by its own Game of the Year winner, Elden Ring. But that was not the game that defined the feeling of the year. That feeling was instead the inevitable crushing of everything in its way by Elden Ring, leaving other games feeling shallow and empty. It’s best summed up by Horizon Forbidden West. Five years after the original launched on a collision course with Breath of the Wild, the sequel repeated the trick and was doomed to be overlooked.
We think of 2023 as consistent high quality, but mostly it was a year of surprises. Baldur’s Gate 3 was not expected to take the world by storm, and when it did, everyone found something new. GTA 6’s trailer finally emerged. Metroid Prime Remastered was shadow-dropped after years of rumours. On the other side of things, Starfield suffered an unexpected crash landing. Each week brought a fresh surprise. Hi-Fi Rush, completely unknown and shadow-dropped as an Xbox showcase stinger, only to end up one of the best reviewed games of the year, best encapsulates that spirit.
And in 2024, it feels like the year started strong, keeping the good vibes of 2023 going. By the end of February, we already had Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Helldivers 2, Tekken 8, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, and Balatro. But things soon slowed down, and a crushing blow from Nintendo put an end to everything. For Palworld, it was the lawsuit that will continue to hang over the game’s head and delay or change the already lagging updates. For 2024, that was the Switch 2 declaring for 2025.
Without The Switch 2, 2024 Feels Incomplete
The Switch 2 was never actually delayed, since it was never actually announced. It still hasn’t been formally shown off, we have no idea of its name, specs, or appearance. It has a Pokemon game and a Metroid game. That’s about it. What hints we have been given suggest it is a continuation of the Switch rather than a new console – a SNES to the NES rather than a Wii to the GameCube. But it was widely expected to arrive in 2024, so without it, there’s a bit of a hole in the calendar. You add a Switch 2 into 2024, and it becomes a very strong year again.
On the one hand, this is obvious. But if you add a Switch 2 into 2023, it suddenly becomes overloaded. Add it into 2021, where triple-A releases ghosted from summer onwards, and it probably just gets 2021 up to the level 2024 is currently at. With 2025 set to be dominated by GTA 6 in a similar fashion to Elden Ring ruling the roost in 2022 (maybe more, with a wider casual appeal), it is not a year that needs the Switch 2. 2024 needed it. But 2025 is the one getting it.
There are other links you can make to Palworld too – indie games have continued to step up to the plate in the absence of some major triple-A games. AI generation has been a hot topic, as have debates around who is using it and who is lying (Palworld’s devs deny using generative AI, for the record). Some of the year’s biggest failures came as a result of trying to copy other, more successful games already on the market, which is kind of Palworld’s whole deal. But it’s the wound from Nintendo that rings most true.
It’s important to note that it’s not the year itself that is captured by Palworld, but specifically gaming. 2024 as a whole, with its political turmoil, feels closer to Metaphor: ReFantazio. Similarly, 2020 is Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ with its indelible link to lockdown. But when it comes to the state of gaming in 2024, few games this year reflect the fate of the past 12 months like Palworld.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
71/100
- Released
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January 19, 2024
- Developer(s)
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Pocket Pair, Inc.