Games I played in 2024
SIGNALIS
This one sort of came out of nowhere for me. Released in 2022, SIGNALIS ticked a lot of my boxes:
- Survival horror
- Unique rendering approach (3D rendered in orthographic, but pixelated)
- Appealing art style and character designs
- Moody soundtrack (I bought the vinyl!)
I haven't played a ton of indie games, but I was pretty impressed by this one and it's made me rethink what indie games can be. I don't want to spoil anything but this game was a ride through and through. It's pretty rare that a game can keep my undivided attention 100% of the time and make me skip meals to get through it. To be fair, it's not particularly long (~10 hours for me) and I finished it in a weekend. Still, there are AAA games that have me yawning or needing a break after 3-4 hours. If games were on trial for not being art, I'd use this as the evidence for the defense. Go play this game, it's my favorite thing I played this year.
Alan Wake
I'd seen this game in the Official Xbox Magazine back in the day and always knew it was fairly well received and had a bit of a cult following despite being somewhat niche. This was one of the first games I played on my Steam Deck which btw is the perfect device for the 360-era of titles.
Overall: in some ways Alan Wake surprised me, in others it frustrated me. I'd say it's "good" but definitely not "great". The core mechanic of light as a combat tool was pretty cool as a starting concept, but the evolution of this gameplay element kinda just stops at a certain point in the game. After that combat just becomes really repetitive and frustrating as the difficulty increases. This is one of those games where the third-person control feels a bit clunky due to how the animation and movement systems work. It's hard for me describe it here in words, but think something similar to modern Rockstar titles, only a bit tighter.
Still, it's a game I'd recommend playing. The modern offering of third-person single-player story-driven shooters is getting slimmer by the year, and Remedy is the Atlas holding the genre up.
Control
Played this somewhat fresh off of Alan Wake. A really great 3rd-person action game with only some minor issues. The most standout thing here is probably the environment design and gameplay-driven world building. It's heavily inspired by SCP, and the various areas you visit are all really really nice to look at and explore.
Combat feels good and the movement and controls feely really tight here unlike Alan Wake - appropriate given its focus on action. My one gripe is that upgrades feel pretty insubstantial. The game does the "increase damage by 1%" sort of thing that I really dislike. These sorts of systems usually feel half-baked or last-minute and very unrewarding. But that's really the only thing and I'm sad I hadn't played it sooner.
CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII– REUNION
Crisis Core Reunion definitely feels like a PSP game - good thing I played it on my Steam Deck! I never played the original despite owning a PSP 3000, but I had a mostly pretty fun time going through this "remaster" (it really seems more like a remake to me). It was neat to get some lore dump to fill in the blanks of FFVII and finally experience the references for myself. Also has some really great cinematics and a nice soundtrack.
TEKKEN 8
I'm not an avid fighting game player and I probably never will be. It's not that I don't find them fun, but the amount of skill upkeep these games require is just a massive time sink. I also think it's hard to play fighting games "just casually". Games like League and CS feel easy to mess around in with friends without feeling the pressure to get better for the sake of it. But something about fighters feels like it's always pushing you to improve. That's not a bad thing, but it's not something I'm willing to do. Maybe it's the primal aspect of the 1v1 in a game that has all sorts of options for disrespecting your opponent.
All that aside, Tekken 8 is fun and has really great beginner content - something especially appreciated in a game apparently considered as having one of the highest skill ceilings.
Death Stranding
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It's indeed a walking simulator and honestly the gameplay loop is pretty alright. I don't really find it that "comfy" or particularly fun/not fun. What I do know is that Kojima really wants to direct a movie, and it shows in Death Stranding. I liked what he's built in that regard, and I'm actually looking forward to the sequel.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
This game is absolutely massive. I'm not quite finished but I'm about 90% done so I think I can give it a fair assessment. In short: I think this game is a once in a generation type of game that has plenty of shortcomings but is absolutely a labor of love.
It improves on Remake in almost every way:
- The combat systems are more fleshed out and interesting with extra options for attacking and defending
- Quality of life changes like being able to use multiple potions or healing spells in quick succession
- Without the constraints of the PS4, the game looks pretty great!
The biggest additions are probably the open-world-ish format and the plethora of mini games. The former is basically Ubisoft-lite: map markers and icons. Only here it's much leaner and the activities are generally pretty dense and meaningful.
The latter is mostly (90%) a hit but there are some particular mini games that are absolutely awful. There was an interesting amount of discourse surrounding the quantity of mini games that I found a bit strange personally. Most complaints boiled down to: "nothing happens in the greater plot and the gang goes around doing all these tasks and mini games, accomplishing nothing". For newcomers to FF7, I can understand but disagree. But for anyone who played the original, did we play the same game? The whole point of this arc in the original story was the character development by traveling to areas outside of Midgar linked to each of the party members. This is the part of the game where the party really starts to get closer and understand why and what everyone is fighting for. Also did we also forget that Cloud went snowboarding in a mini game right after that event happened?
Moogle Mischief will go down as one of the worst mini games ever made
The best way I can describe the good in this game is: it's the not-so-small things. The amount of cutscenes, dialog, activities, side quests, one-off mini games, and environment detail in this game is enormous. Nothing feels half-baked or underdeveloped. It absolutely feels like there was an army of talented artists and developers working on every square inch of the game with an unlimited budget.
The bad is: The combat still feels a bit clunky when you're in a pinch. Some enemies want you to fight them like a Dark Souls boss but the controls really are not equipped for that, nor are the animations appropriate for effective telegraphing.
Hopefully I'll finish this up soon, I can only begin to imagine how large the final entry of the trilogy will be.
DOOM
I'd never fully played through this game. I guess it's some sort of rite-of-passage. Played it in a single sitting and it was pretty fun.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Also not technically finished with this and 90% of the way there. This is basically a whole game as a DLC. If you liked Elden Ring you'll like this.
There are so many beautiful vistas in this DLC
Call of Duty Black Ops III
Bought this to play zombies with friends, it's fun and also it supports macOS which is interesting.
Alan Wake 2
Remedy really cooked hard with this one. The artistry on display is insane. From the graphics to the soundtrack with recorded guest artists to the environment design. I'm happy Alan Wake diehards got this because I thoroughly enjoyed it too. Unfortunately it's not a blockbuster seller, but I think people will look back on it fondly and it'll be a slow burn into a modern classic.
This game is crazy good looking, glad I bought a 4080 Super this year
Call of Duty Black Ops 6
Checked it out because the campaign seemed interesting and fun. Multiplayer and zombies are also fun.
What I'm looking forward to
I bought Persona 3 Reload but I haven't started it yet since I don't want to have too many "long games" in-flight. I got Unicorn Overlord during the Black Friday sales, and given that I enjoyed 13 Sentinels a lot, I think this one will be fun too. Pacific Drive is something I've had my eye on for a bit, especially liked the art-style. Finally, there's an indie game called Mouthwashing that came out earlier this year that I've been meaning to check out.