From a gaming perspective, 2024 has been a year of sequels, surprises, and celebrations for me. This has been a year that’s seen a lot of long-term projects from incredibly talented developers come to fruition, either emerging from early access or being released whole-cloth into the world for gamers to enjoy.
Every developer who worked on every one of these games should be proud whether they were made as a personal labor of love or under the oversight of a monolithic publisher. I’d replay any of them without a second thought.
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10
Empires Of The Undergrowth
I love ants, as long as I’m not sharing an apartment with them. I’ve been fascinated by the world’s hardest workers ever since I was a kid, and Empires Of The Undergrowth is a wonderful tribute to the teeming billions.
The game’s survival-RTS gameplay, presented like a nature documentary, offers plenty of challenges to keep me coming back, and there’s a grim satisfaction in overwhelming a predator with sheer numbers then bringing it back to the nest to use as food.
9
Core Keeper
I’ve never been the biggest fan of games like Minecraft or Terraria, so I was shocked at how much Core Keeper compelled me to burn the midnight oil. Its subterranean world full of secrets is a joy to explore, and the boss fights require enough planning and strategy to get my gears turning.
8
TerraScape
My relaxing puzzler of choice since it launched, TerraScape is the game that I wanted Dorfromantik to be. It lets you build a kingdom, tile by tile, card by card, creating combos and synergies to maximize your score or just build for fun.
Best of all, TerraScape is still being actively supported, with new puzzle maps and features continuously being added. Which reminds me, I have to finish the newest set and get my All Achievements ribbon back.
7
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge Of The Seven
I never played the original version of Romancing SaGa 2, so getting to experience the remake fresh was a treat. Its succession mechanics and intricate, freeform progression system make the most tedious part of most JRPGs fun and engaging, and there’s an entire semi-open world to explore at the same time.
Honestly, I wanted to do even more empire management; once it was time to set off for the final battle, I was disappointed that there were no more worlds left to conquer. I guess I can always start a new campaign.
6
Helldivers 2
The first month or so of Helldivers 2 was a magical time. The entire internet was ablaze with patriotic fervor, and recruits lined up to fight the Terminids and the Automatons. As the Galactic War raged on, though, that enthusiasm faded.
Then, just a few days ago, a new threat emerged. The return of the Illuminate, the third enemy faction, revitalized interest in this stellar multiplayer shooter. Don’t get me wrong, the game ruled even when we were just fighting bugs and bots, but Omens of Tyranny proves that Helldivers 2 is here to stay.
Honorable Mentions: Songs Of Conquest, Steamworld Heist 2, Millennia
I couldn’t bear to leave these three off the list – they may not have cracked the top ten, but I thoroughly enjoyed them.
Songs Of Conquest is doing great things with the old Heroes Of Might And Magic formula, and with a fifth faction on the way it’s one to watch going into 2025.
Steamworld Heist 2 keeps the series’ record of finely-crafted games in their world of robots alive and untarnished with fun, challenging tactical battles.
Millennia adds flavor to the classic Civ formula with its dynamic Ages system, and even has a secret metanarrative to uncover if you’re diligent enough.
5
Star Wars Outlaws
I’m usually very critical of Star Wars as a franchise. I think its storytelling went off the rails the moment production started on The Empire Strikes Back, and it’s a case study in all the bad things that happen when art and money collide. For all that, though, Star Wars Outlaws had me giddily invested in the galaxy far, far away like I haven’t been since I was twelve.
If you passed on this one, you missed out. It’s the most fun I’ve had in an open-world game in a long time.
4
Songs Of Silence
Songs Of Silence is a very pretty game with notes of Heroes Of Might And Magic and a fun card-based autobattler system. The whole thing is extremely well-presented, both in the story campaign and in one-off skirmishes. If you’re looking for 2024’s rock-solid strategy title, this is it.
Not only is Songs Of Silence fun and fast-paced compared to other 4X games, it has a gorgeous soundtrack composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto of Final Fantasy Tactics fame.
3
Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn
Soulslikes and I don’t generally get along, so Flintlock really did the impossible here. Its worldbuilding, characters, and story kept me engaged even when I had to keep restarting boss fights for the umpteenth time.
While I do think that Flintlock was perfectly paced throughout its ten-hour story, I’d love for it to get a DLC with one more area to explore, if for no other reason than to see what further trouble Nor and Enki can get up to.
2
Frostpunk 2
Frostpunk 2 is everything that I want in a sequel; it expands on the world presented in the first game but makes its own mark rather than just being more of the same. It’s fascinating to watch the city grow and expand beyond the limits of mere survival that the first game focused on, and meet the new and unexpected challenges that come with adapting to the frozen world three decades on.
In fact, I was ready to call Frostpunk 2 my Game Of The Year for most of the summer and fall, unless there was a last-minute launch that absolutely blew me away…
1
Caves Of Qud
After a development period to rival that of Dwarf Fortress – one of the few games I can think of to rightly compare it to – Caves Of Qud finally launched into 1.0 earlier this month. I hadn’t touched the early access version at all, but as soon as I started post-launch, I was in love.
Qud’s unbelievable depth and immersive science-fantasy setting, which evokes a blend of Dune and Numenera, mean that you truly never know what’s going to happen next, even on your tenth, 20th, or 100th playthrough. There were some exceptional games in 2024, but Caves Of Qud is enchanting, surprising, and beautifully strange in a way that sets it apart from the pack. It’s not for everyone, but for the players that take the plunge it has the potential to be an all-timer.
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