At its midpoint, 2024 has been an incredible year for playing video games.
Emphasis on playing because it needs to be said that it is not a great time to work in video games. Massive layoffs have ravaged the industry in recent months, leaving many talented people without consistent sources of income. I'm not here to bum you out, but I just needed to make sure we were on the same page about that.
Anyway, back to the part where 2024 has been excellent for playing games. The following 10 titles represent only a fraction of what has come out over the last six months. Whether you like RPGs (if you do, it's been a hell of a year), weird takes on poker, shooting space bugs with the homies, or being horny for ancient Greek myths, there's been a little something for everyone so far.
Here's hoping the people who made all these games can keep their jobs.
The best video games of 2024 (so far)
Notably, several games didn't make the cut simply because we didn't have the time to digest them fully. That's how packed this year has been.
Animal Well
Animal Well is one of those games where I could easily go on for 500 words about how great it is, but you're better off just skipping past this part and experiencing it for yourself.
Simply put, it's a Metroidvania with a heavy emphasis on puzzle-solving and atmosphere rather than combat. You play as a little blob in a big, creepy 2D world full of strange creatures that want to kill you and mysterious secrets to uncover. It's got an absolutely gorgeous lo-fi aesthetic with fake CRT scanlines turned on by default, beautifully haunting sound design, and puzzle solutions that make you feel genuinely clever every time you figure it out.
Balatro
I've admittedly spent very little time with Balatro, but it's taken hold of so many of my friends in the past few months that it had to make this list.
Balatro is a great example of how you can take the mechanics of a real-life card game and twist everything so it not only makes more sense as a video game but feels like something else entirely. Understanding the rules of real poker and being good at it will only get you so far here, as Balatro translates those rules into a roguelike format where you can buy special cards and power-ups and, most importantly, rack up incredibly high scores.
Just be careful if you dive into Balatro because you may never come out.
Helldivers II
Helldivers II is so damn good that nobody even cares about the part where it barely worked for a couple of weeks after it came out.
Matchmaking issues aside, Helldivers II's novel and often hilarious combination of punishing combat, sweet cape physics, and one of the better satires of fascism in video games makes it a uniquely thrilling and cool co-op experience. Its missions are paced perfectly to allow for good amounts of casual banter between homies in between exciting fights, and failure is often more funny than frustrating.
Plus, sometimes you'll run into an enemy type that the developers (in character as the fascist Super Earth government) deny exists as part of an official disinformation campaign. There's really nothing else like it.
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Part of me wants to spoil parts of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but I know people who bought it at launch and still haven't finished this unfathomably expansive adventure.
Turning the tightly paced corridor crawls of 2020's Remake into a sprawling open-world game has been divisive, as some people justifiably think Rebirth is too bloated for its own good. But I maintain that its best-in-class combat, amazing musical score, endearing characters, and varied zones make it a good time from beginning to end.
Speaking of the end, Rebirth takes some big swings in its final act. While we'll have to wait for part three of this remake trilogy to see if they stick the landing, I feel pretty good about where things are going.
Dragon's Dogma 2
Speaking of divisive video games, I have friends who have referred to Dragon's Dogma 2 as "Dragon's Dogsh*t" — and friends who think it's one of the best games in years. I tend to fall on the latter side, but Capcom's long-overdue sequel absolutely will not compromise its ideals for your enjoyment.
That's what makes Dragon's Dogma 2 so great. Capcom could've sanded the edges off the 2012 cult classic for a broader audience, but instead, the developers found ways to maintain its thorny, frictional spirit while making it a slightly more friendly experience — except for the part where fast-travel is more limited than it was in the widely available version of the first game.
But again, that's part of the fun. Constantly running back and forth throughout Dragon's Dogma 2's open world because you can't always fast-travel whenever you want gives the player an intimate relationship with the in-game environment. Between that, excellent combat, terrifying boss monsters, and quests that really ask the player to figure things out, this is one of the best games of 2024.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
I just realized that half of this list is made up of RPGs. It's been that kind of year. The thing is, though, they all deserve it, especially Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
You just won't find a big-budget game with more heart than this. RGG Studio's latest mainline entry in the series formerly known as Yakuza is also one of its most ambitious, with fleshed-out turn-based combat, two completely opposite but thoroughly lovable protagonists in Ichigan Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu, and a story that admittedly bites off a little more than it can chew near the end.
While the main plot sort of loses itself over time, the character work more than makes up for it. Kasuga's charming himbo personality is further developed, with more of a focus on his flaws as a person this time around. It makes him more three-dimensional and even easier to love. While Kiryu's personal journey is pretty different from Kasuga's, Infinite Wealth gives us easily the most introspective and emotionally honest version of one of the best protagonists in gaming.
Persona 3 Reload
Atlus's high school dating sim/turn-based demon RPG series Persona has had its fans in the West for as long as it's existed, but 2017's Persona 5 was arguably when it found a mainstream audience. However, in some ways, 2006's Persona 3 laid much of the groundwork for its sequels' success.
It made a ton of sense, then, for Atlus to remake Persona 3 from the ground up with spiffy new visuals, fresh music, and almost totally revamped combat. In a lot of ways, this is Persona 3 in Persona 5's body, and while I imagine longtime fans might find that irksome, I think it's ultimately for the best.
Building out a small army of wacky demons while furthering relationships with your buddies outside of combat is a formula that just works. Everything you do in Persona 3 Reload elegantly feeds into everything else, so you never really feel like you're wasting time. The only problem is that, like its brethren, it's exceptionally long. Set aside a lot of time for it.
Hades 2
Excerpt written by Mashable editor Amanda Yeo, who is 100 percent correct about this game
The sequel to Supergiant Games' universally lauded 2020 title, Hades 2 follows Princess of the Underworld Melino? on her mission to defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time. She's aided in her quest by her extended family of Olympian gods, who grant Melino? boons which empower her attacks and ensure no two runs are ever the same.?
It's immensely satisfying mixing and matching these powerups, choosing ones that synergize with each other to dole out massive damage. The entire experience is further elevated by Supergiant's signature style, with Hades 2 boasting gorgeous art, entrancing music, engaging writing, and a disembodied narrator offering poetic commentary along the way. There's also dating.
Like its predecessor, Hades, there's a good chance you'll fall in love with Hades 2, even if you aren't typically into roguelikes. Its main plot is unfinished, with the developers planning regular updates until its full release. Yet even considering its incomplete state, Hades 2 is still some of the most fun I've had with a game this year.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Every year, there's at least one game that I theoretically have no interest in but wind up loving. This year, it was Granblue Fantasy: Relink.
By that, I mean that Granblue is based on a series of free-to-play mobile games that more closely resemble slot machines than video games, and I have never played a slot machine. Developer Cygames made the very smart decision to turn it into a console action game that isn't overly reliant on microtransactions and acts as a primer on its expansive cast of eccentric anime heroes.
It's also just incredibly fun to play. Granblue has some of the most exciting and challenging boss fights you'll see in a game this year, and Cygames keeps updating the game to add even more content over time. Every character feels truly different, and you have to work to master them all. Perhaps most importantly, Granblue has one of the most theatrically excessive final boss themes I've ever heard.
Tekken 8
Tekken 8 is admittedly in my "I need to play more of this" pile, but that didn't stop me from loving what I saw of it earlier this year.
If you've ever played a Tekken game, you get it. Bandai Namco's iconic series of 3D fighting games has always been mechanically sound and full of hilariously weird characters, and its eighth mainline entry is no different. Tekken 8 also has a really fun story mode that's exactly as silly as it needs to be. I could go on, but honestly, Tekken speaks for itself.
