- If you think it's tough keeping up with all the latest TV shows and movies ... try keeping up with what's new and buzzworthy in the world of videogames. It's pretty much an impossible task, and yet ... thanks to listening to podcasts like Triple Click, I constantly feel like I'm missing out. There's so much cool new stuff, all the time - especially in the world we now live in where there's an almost constant stream of interesting new indie games to check out.
So let me talk about ASTRO BOT. I'll spoil my list below and reveal that Astro Bot is 100% my Game of the Year for 2024. It won GOTY at the Game Awards earlier this month. And it premiered to nearly unanimous rave reviews. And yet ... I still hear people talk about it with a bit of condescension. Why? Because the game isn't a 100+ hour behemoth that requires a black belt in gaming to master and defeat? Because the game emphasizes awe and wonder and delight and fun over grimdark storytelling and endless lore? Because it's a 3D platformer in an era when the genre is less popular and considered somehow less-than?
Honestly, I think the games industry needs way more games like Astro Bot. Games that provide escape without taking over your entire life. Games that are simple yet challenging. Games designed to make you feel something. Games that are in the spirit of the kind of stuff that made my generation fall in love with games in the first place, in the days of the NES, Super NES, and Playstation. I've always loved the 1-1 controls of a great platformer. There's something so satisfying about pressing a button and causing an instantaneous reaction, rather than what you get in so many games today where a button press activates a pre-programmed set of animations to play out. The feeling of pressing the "jump" button and your character just, you know, jumps. It can't be overstated how good that feels and how immersive it makes gameplay. There's also something to be said for games that can be played in relatively short bursts, that don't require a a multi-hour commitment and don't require the memorization of or mastery over multiple complex systems in order to really get in the groove. Not that there's anything wrong with that ... but sometimes, less is more.
And that, I think, was evident when it came to some of 2024's high profile bombs. The recent Suicide Squad game will forever be the quintessential example of this. The game tried to be SO much. It was a single player action adventure game, but also a loot shooter, but also an online co-op game, but also ... Why do game publishers think this is what people want? Hopefully, game successes like Astro Bot help to swing things in the other direction. I mean, when Nintendo made Super Mario Bros., were they thinking "gee, I bet we could create better longterm monetization opportunities if only we put ___ in this game"-?! No, of course not. Great games always win out at the end of the day. As we inch towards new console generations and even more advanced tech powering these games ... it's a lesson the industry could stand to remember.
I played a lot of great games in 2024, and of course, a lot of those games were not from 2024. I played through Astro's Playroom in preparation for Astro Bot's release and realized it has the most amazing videogame soundtrack ever ("S-S-D ..."). I finally got to the end of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which I really enjoyed. I also finally played Life Is Strange: True Colors, which I loved. What an incredible and affecting narrative experience.
But as for my favorites of 2024, let's get to it.
DANNY'S FAVORITE (NEW) GAMES OF 2024:
1.) Astro Bot
- Astro Bot is just pure coolness and joy wrapped up in a shiny futuristic package. It's a platformer on par with the greats in terms of gamplay, level design, and tightness of its controls. It has numerous moments that are there simply to wow and delight. And its techno-synth musical score absolutely rips. But bigger picture, it also feels like a throwback to the optimistic Y2K Futurism of the late 90's and early 00's - the era of Space Channel 5 and SSX Snowboarding and Daft Punk. There's something inherently happy and cool and inviting about this game that feels needed in this day and age. At a time when joy and escapism was much needed, Astro Bot answered the call.
- Animal Well is a mind-blowingly magical and inventive indie game - a brilliantly clever and imaginative Metroidvania. It looks simple and charmingly retro on one hand (with its 8-bit style graphics) - but it's a game full of complex puzzle design that demands creativity and thoughtfulness and discovery on the part of the player. Inspiring, absorbing, and endlessly surprising. If you haven't given this one a whirl yet, you've really got to check it out.
- I love the Life is Strange games. I spent a solid chunk of gaming time in 2024 playing through True Colors, which I can now say is incredible and hugely underrated. And I'm just now dipping my toes into Double Exposure - which brings back original series protagonist Max Caulfield, continuing her story from the first Life Is Strange game. It's great to check in with Max again, and already I can tell that the same eye-popping visuals and absorbing narrative design from True Colors have carried over into this one, via developer Deck Nine. Those classic Life Is Strange emo-punk vibes are back again, and that to me is a wonderful thing.
- I'm a longtime fan of the Tekken series. I love the insane characters, the even more insane storylines, and of course, I love the bone-crunching fighting game action. Tekken 8 brings back pretty much all the best characters and gameplay innovations from the previous game - while also upping the ante in terms of graphics and fighting play styles. But at the end of the day, this is just the complete Tekken package. It's one of those series where each new installment helps to make a Playstation generation feel complete. Finally, there's Tekken on PS5 (now I just need Soul Caliber).
5.) Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- I'm not a hardcore Dragon Age fan, so I don't have strong opinions on the overall direction of the series or anything like that. But I decided to give this new installment a go, as I was especially intrigued by its shift to action-heavy gameplay. And so I recently fired up the game and got totally lost in its fantasy universe. The game feels a lot like Mass Effect but high fantasy, except in this case, the combat is nicely crunchy with a Horizon: Zero Dawn esque flow. I'm into it.
6.) Star Wars Outlaws
- It was always going to be a bit of an uphill battle for a brand new take on a Star Wars adventure game to win me over, so close to the release of a new game in the super-fun Jedi Fallen Order series. But this one quickly drew me in because it allows you to just sort of hang out in Star Wars in a way that few other games ever have. Sure, the various missions are cool, as is the narrative - but even more cool is just stumbling into a Star Wars dance club and checking out the scene.
7.) Loco Motive
- I'm a sucker for a great, old-school point-and-click adventure game, and Loco Motive hearkens back to subversively funny LucasArts classics like Day of the Tentacle or Sam & Max Hit The Road. The game features some really amazing pixel art, some really nice jazz music, and that classic LucasArts-esque charm and wit that makes all the puzzle solving that much more enjoyable.
8.) Stellar Blade
- If you enjoy quirky Japanese sci-fi action games a la Nier Automata, then Stellar Blade will likely float your boat. The game has an out-there story about an android protagonist navigating a post-apocalyptic world, and it's got fast-paced, stylish action that calls to mind the likes of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. In fact, the game feels like a bit of a throwback to the PS2 days. Which to me, made it instantly appealing.
- I missed out on the original Epic Mickey game, so I was super curious to finally try it out via its new remaster ("Rebrushed"). From what I've read, this new version not only gives the game an amazing-looking visual refresh, but it also polishes up the gameplay substantially. Suffice it to say, the game now looks and plays fantastically, and so far I've really been enjoying it a lot. The Disney magic is strong in this one.
10.) The Plucky Squire
- The Plucky Squire is one of the most graphically innovative games I've ever seen. The central conceit is that you play as a cartoon-ish character from a children's storybook, who can leap out of the 2D plane of the book and into a more realistically rendered 3D space. Not everything works here, and there can be some clunkiness. But there is a sense of real visual magic on display in this game that you don't often see. It's worth checking out for the wow factor, but overall I found a lot of fun and charm from this one.
