Games I Played in 2024 [2024-Dec-04]
The following is a list of games I played this year, ordered from least to most favoured, alongside some broad thoughts on each one. This list only covers primarily singleplayer games, and as such will not cover any online multiplayer games, or the various fighting games that took up much of my 2024.
DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED
Date: May | Status: Unfinished
This is the okayest immersive sim I've ever played. The setting is great, and I love sneaking around - hacking things and breaking into places, but the combat isn't very fun, and the story is boring and way too on the nose (much like its predecessor). I don't even know what more I can say. Just play the original Deus Ex, it's uglier but better in every other way.
There's nothing truly bad about Mankind Divided; I stopped playing this game not out of frustration, but because I simply forgot to open it again. It might be about time I accepted that most immersive sims are never really going to click with me.
OUTER WILDS
Date: November | Status: Completed
Possibly the most disappointing game of my life. This game has been hyped up like nothing I've seen before; everything from steam reviews to youtube essays and personal anecdotes suggests that this might be a "once in a lifetime" game. Something so profound and unique that not a single part of it can afford to be spoiled. I just don't see it.
There's a lot that Outer Wilds does right. It's got a beautiful and creative world full of memorable locations, simply travelling around feels great, and it's amazing that almost the entire game is gated behind player knowledge with no other progression. However, it is a puzzle game, which means it lives or dies by its puzzles, and I did not enjoy several of the most critical puzzles in the game. I found them to be underexplained and requiring huge leaps of logic, sometimes taking me hours to figure them out, and I felt far more frustration than relief upon their completion. Maybe the story could have made up for this, but I found its delivery dry and unengaging.
I can see why this hit for most people, maybe I just had bad luck. Maybe I approached it too much as a problem to be solved, rather than a world to explore. Either way I definitely don't think it's as good as it's made out to be.
THE FORGOTTEN CITY
Date: January | Status: Completed
Much like Outer Wilds, this is a well received time loop puzzle game, with most progression gated by knowledge.
Weirdly, I think the world and gameplay is far less engaging than in Outer Wilds, but I ended up liking this far more. I think I'd mostly attribute that to its many well written and well acted characters. They give the game a sort of humanity and grounding that makes it feel quite compelling. The puzzles were alright too, nothing all that memorable but rarely frustrating either.
I liked my time with this game, but ultimately it's not one I'm going to think about much again. It's good but there's nothing really to latch onto or rave about.
PACIFIC DRIVE
Date: February | Status: Unfinished
Just because I didn't finish a game, doesn't mean I don't think it's great. Pacific Drive is my exact kind of boring. It's methodical and slow, but engaging the whole time. The distances you travel feel suitably long, and the paths you take are challenging but never actively hostile. It's sort of what I wished Death Stranding was.
It's a nice game for long sessions when you're not busy. The loop of planning a journey, kitting out your car with all the right gear and parts, then setting out for a long drive and gathering parts is very fun and rewarding. I feel like I could spend forever in the garage fiddling with parts and paint, listening to that amazing soundtrack on the radio and watching the rain fall outside.
The reason I stopped was a loss of momentum. Some time around the late game, I felt bogged down by the resource gathering, maintenance, and more hazardous drives. I enjoyed the game because I had little to stress about, but that changed as it went on, and I guess I'd had my fill of the driving.
SIGNALIS
Date: November-December | Status: Ongoing
I've been playing Signalis with my girlfriend, switching turns every half hour or so. The exploration and mysteries feel very engaging when you have someone going through it all with you, and I always find horror more palatable when I can cuddle up to someone.
The game really lives off of its atmosphere; the visual design is particularly strong, effortlessly combining classic 80s sci-fi with early 00s style graphics. Usually I'd find this sort of derivative retrofuturism a bit dull, but perhaps the strong palette or the cool robot girls just works for me. Something about the isometric perspective works especially well too, detaching you from the world and obscuring some of the details. It's impersonal and uneasy, almost feels like you're seeing everything through a CCTV camera.
I really enjoy how slow and methodical it feels, from the cautious scouting down to the clunky shooting and reloading. This is a simple, strong game, and I look forward to playing more of it in the coming months.
LIES OF P
Date: December | Status: Completed
A steampunk hack-and-slash with tough boss fights and a pretty doll boy protagonist with a robotic arm is such an easy sell that it's a miracle I didn't play this game sooner. It feels laser focused at me. I've always been a sucker for a good steampunk world, and this is one of the richest and most beautiful I've seen. The architecture is grand and severe, ranging from ornate gilded halls to run down villages choked out by industry, the warm glow of a luxurious hotel contrasted against the dingey gas-lit streets it sits above.
It plays brilliantly, always feeling challenging but never unfair, with particularly delightful boss fights. At its peak you'll be internalising complex attack strings, judging when to block, dodge, or parry, and strategically inserting your own attacks when it's safe. It rewards the kind of engaged and well planned fighting that I've usually only seen in fighting games, and the gameplay alone could have made Lies of P one of my favourite games of this year, but the story elevates it to something truly special.
As with most adaptation of Pinocchio, this game is very dark and existential. There's an overbearing feeling of being in a world embracing its own death, with the majority of the plot threads dealing with characters grieving or facing their own mortality. Blood soaks the streets and the feeling of loss permeating through the world is palpable and vast. Throughout the last year of my life my own mortality has felt more real and inevitable than ever before, and this story that very deliberately deals with the terrors of death and of outliving those you love affected me deeply.
RETURNAL
Date: January-March | Status: Completed
I want to keep this short because I have far too many thoughts about this game, but Returnal is probably my favourite video game ever.
The gameplay is snappy and brutal. Enemies, as overwhelming as they may be, are slow and predictable; they can kill you in a heartbeat, but you're fast and blisteringly responsive, and will learn how to anticipate and dodge any attack. Death is punishing but never unfair, and with few permanent upgrades, most of the progression will come from your own skills developing. There are no shortcuts: the game forces you to play well and you will learn to play well.
What really makes the game special though, is its story and themes. Returnal quickly reveals itself to be less literal than it first appears, and as you progress it becomes increasingly difficult to untangle metaphor from reality and text from subtext. At it's core this is a piece of art about death, grief, and the cycles of self-inflicted torture we put ourselves through. It's about inevitability, it's about overcoming impossible odds, it's about giving up, and it's about Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper". I really don't want to say more because it's so compelling to uncover, and I can't spoil the most audacious twist a game has ever pulled on me.
Returnal got to me so hard I cried, and feels so good that the rush of finally beating a boss feels better than like half the sex I've had. I strongly believe that everyone should both play this game and watch Jacob Geller's superb video essay on it.