Game Of The Year Editor’s Pick, 2024

I didn’t play four of the six games nominated for TGA’s Game of the Year award this year, so when I first saw the list of nominees, I had the feeling this was just a down year for games. But then, as I compiled this list, I found myself struggling to whittle it down to just ten, like I do every year.

This eclectic list of games from all different genres and platforms represents not just my taste, but also the wide diversity of gaming experiences in 2024. It was a real ‘something for everyone’ year – unless the only thing you wanted was Hollow Knight: Silksong.

10

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket

This biggest Pokemon mobile game phenomenon since Pokemon Go (sorry Unite), Pokemon TCG Pocket is the first game I play when I wake up and the last one I play before going to bed. Its commitment to recreating the TCG collector experience is something I’ve never seen before in a digital card game, and I look forward to every new pack I get to open, even though I’ve already completed the Genetic Apex collection.

9

Balatro

I bought Balatro three times this year, and if Xbox ever comes out with its mobile machine, I’ll buy it a fourth. It’s my favorite game to play when I don’t know what to play, or when I don’t have much time to play, or when I should be playing something else. I am proudly the first Balatro lover at TheGamer, and its massive popularity does surprise me. It deserves every ounce of praise it’s gotten.

8

Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden

Banishers didn’t get nearly as much praise as it deserved. Don’t Nod’s 17th-century ghost story is one of the most compelling narrative-focused games I’ve played and a fantastic foray into the action RPG genre.

No matter how much they promise it, choices rarely actually matter in video games. Banishers is an exception, and the moral quandaries it presents demand a level of careful consideration and soul-searching that you won’t find in most RPGs. With fascinating lore, unique combat, and some great performances, Banishers is well worth your time.

7

Batman: Arkham Shadow

Gamers groaned at the reveal of a VR Batman, but Arkham Shadow turned out to be an incredibly faithful and worthy entry in the long-abandoned Arkham series. The way it manages to scrape the style, themes, and mechanics from the main series and repurpose them for VR is incredible, and its implementation of Arkham’s rhythmic hand-to-hand combat is one of the coolest fighting systems I’ve ever played in VR.

More Asylum than City, Arkham Shadow is a densely packed game that tells an authentic Batman story, despite centering on a villain no one cares about. This is now the first game I recommend to new VR players, especially those with a connection to the Arkham games.

6

Still Wakes The Deep

With all the buzz around Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, I wasn’t expecting The Chinese Room to drop a banger this year, but Still Wakes The Deep is a must-play for horror fans. This walking sim, set on an offshore oil rig that has inadvertently awakened something ancient and unknown, is a roller coaster ride from start to finish.

This game knows how to make the most fundamental horror tropes its own. I’ve never been more disturbed by the sounds coming from the other side of a door, or more hesitant to open said door, than when I was playing this game. As a huge fan of John Carpenter’s The Thing, Still Wakes The Deep pushes all my buttons the right way.

5

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

The Lost Crown is without a doubt one of the best Metroidvanias of the last decade, and a game I expect to return to many times over the years. In a saturated genre filled with similar games, The Lost Crown manages to stand out and push Metroidvanias to the next level.

At the center of its innovative powers, its memorable boss fights, and its ingenious Celeste-level platforming puzzles is a movement system like no other. Sargon has the most fluid animations and buttery smovement of any character this side of Super Smash Bros., and every other fantastic element of the game is built upon the foundation of how good it feels to play it.

4

Mouthwashing

A crew of outer space long haulers are left stranded when their captain intentionally flies their ship directly into an asteroid, and as it turns out, that’s the least of their problems. Mouthwashing is a movie-length horror game that leverages paranoia, dread, and trickery over gruesomely detailed monsters, and it’s all the more effective for it.

It’s the kind of game you’ll get more out of the less you know going in, but if you’re a fan of psychological horror or games like The Stanley Parable and Pony Island that play with the medium of video games in their storytelling, Mouthwashing is a must-play.

3

Astro Bot

I can’t even read the word Astro Bot without hearing its delightful jingle of a theme song playing in my head. This game is pure joy from beginning to end (except for that one lava level) and the best platformer since Super Mario Odyssey.

Much like 2022’s TGA Game of the Year Winner It Takes Two, Astro Bot excels in its variety and creativity. It’s so packed with fun mechanics and cool ideas that it can get away with using some of its best ones only once. There’s not a lot of games I complete 100 percent anymore, but nothing in Astro Bot felt skippable, not even that one lava level.

2

Destiny 2: The Final Shape

What a long, strange trip it’s been. A decade of Destiny storytelling culminated this year in Destiny 2’s sixth annual expansion, The Final Shape. And if you ask any long-time Destiny player before TFS launched, they would have told you there’s no way Bungie could pull this off.

And yet, The Final Shape worked. It gave us the fight we’d been waiting for in a way that felt satisfying and final, while tying up loose ends and telling a story that truly felt ten years in the making. The stakes had never been higher for Destiny’s story or the game itself, and what Bungie delivered exceeded all expectations. I’ve never regretted the years I’ve invested in Destiny, but The Final Shape still felt like a huge payoff that long-time players needed.

Honorable Mentions

1

Animal Well

Has there ever been a game that did so much with so little? Animal Well blew me away from start to finish, despite the fact that you start as a blob that can jump, and end as a blob that can jump, but now has a slinky.

This game epitomizes getting out what you put in, and the deeper you dig into its caverns and crevices, the more there is to discover. You’ll never find a more beautiful, haunting, captivating, or complex adventure for just 33 MB, and I’m jealous of everyone who hasn’t yet taken the plunge.