As ever, keep in mind that I've played every single game released in 2024 (yes, even that one) just to spare you the trouble of telling me I've missed something.
12. The Rocky Horror Show Video Game (Freakzone Games, PC)
From the same team that brought us Manos: the Hands of Fate and Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, Rocky Horror is another retro-inspired platformer. One modeled a bit after Mario 2 as your main attack is picking up and throwing objects to clobber enemies. The presentation is quite on-point, it's got a great sense of self-aware humor and the chiptune style music features some great adaptations of the classic songs. A brief but memorable bit of campy fun, just like the musical it's based on.
11. Kingsvein (Rad Codex, PC)
The fourth tactical RPG from the incredibly talented Rad Codex, and it changes up the format once again, becoming something slightly more akin to the Divinity games with a focus on exploring large maps in search of secrets. The setting is a distinct one too, taking place in a largely ruined city inhabited by hostile Wisps and living stone humanoids called Diecasts. The combat remains clever and inventive, letting you turn various elements of the environment to your advantage - pushing over braziers to burn enemies, channeling electricity through spilled blood, knocking enemies down pits and so forth. A new mechanic comes in the form of Wyvern mounts, which grant their rider protection for as long as their mount stands or they dismount. Wyverns can become quite powerful in their own right too, of course, though they level up slowly and have considerably fewer options for development. It doesn't have the scale or variety of Horizon's Gate, though, which hampers the long-term enjoyment factor that game had.
10. Mario VS Donkey Kong (Nintendo, Switch)
A remake of the similarly-named Game Boy Advance game from 2004, which is more or less a sequel to their 1994 Game Boy remake of Donkey Kong. A clever puzzle-platformer involving colored switches and elements from Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. (climbing up and down ropes and ladders, using hammers to destroy enemies, conveyor belts etc), your goal is to get ahold of the key (or the Mini-Mario holding it) and get through the exit door, optionally acquiring the three gift boxes in each level. You also get the odd boss battle with Donkey Kong himself, usually involving platforming and dodging barrels he throws as in the original arcade game. I do love me a good action puzzler and this one fits the bill quite well.
9. Gimmick! 2 (Bitwave Games, PC/Switch)
Not one, but two cult classic Sunsoft titles returned this year after a very long absence, and Gimmick is definitely the better-faring of the two. The original was known for its intricate physics system, strong music and surprisingly intelligent enemy AI, which all return here in fine fashion. The gameplay, rather than being a straightforward platformer, is more explicitly puzzle driven, having you utilize the physics and your star-throwing to traverse segments with doors, locks, togglable platforms and other hazards. It's not quite as punishing or perfection-driven as the original, but it's still got plenty of challenge and charm for fans of classic platformers and puzzle games.
8. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix, PlayStation 5)
The second part of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, taking a PS1 classic and adding more. Way more. Like, an excessive amount more. Every time you go to a new area you're deluged with at least 30 more side-objectives to complete and several more minigames to play to absolute perfection if you want full completion, and if you want the platinum you get to do the whole 200+ hour experience a
second time on a harder difficulty. Needless to say, it's not something I intend to ever do. Thankfully it's got plenty to offer for people who aren't obsessive completionists, recreating key moments from the original in gorgeous 4K graphics while adding numerous new twists, genuinely funny moments of levity and several more playable characters, all with unique mechanics - stuff they honestly should have focused on more instead of just packing in mountains of content-for-the-sake-of-content. The story beats are excellent, the presentation is top-notch and the gameplay is fun when it allows itself to be, but it's also indisputable proof of the old quote:
"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
7. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo/Grezzo, Switch)
Well, it took almost four decades, but we finally got a Legend of Zelda game starring the title character in the lead role. Gameplay-wise it's a return to the classic format of Zelda with its more linear progression and a focus on dungeons and puzzle-solving, but a few elements of the newer open-world style titles do return - being able to manipulate objects via an Ultrahand-like power and create smoothies with a variety of beneficial effects, for example. The main gimmick is the titular Echoes - by scanning objects and defeated enemies, you can create duplicates of them to get around various obstacles or fight off monsters for you, which lends itself well to the player coming up with clever ways to get around obstacles, particularly as the game progresses and you unlock upgrades like being able to create Echoes at a distance or have more active at a time. There is a slight copout in that you also unlock the ability to morph into Link temporarily, using his usual bow, bomb and sword attacks, but it's only very sparingly required (and in fact I avoided using it as much as possible in favor of coming up with my own clever solutions to puzzles). If you're not totally sold on open world Zelda and/or want something that feels like the classics yet has quite a few clever twists, Echoes of Wisdom is a good time.
6. Balatro (LocalThunk, Android/iOS/macOS/Switch/PS4/PS5/PC/XBox One/XBox Series)
How do I describe this one? People have used the term "roguelike", which is kind of true, but it's also Poker crossed with an element of Solitaire. Basically you get dealt cards, try to form Poker hands for points, and hit a score threshold within a certain number of hands. As you progress the quotas get higher, but you also unlock ways to score more points - planet cards give you more points for certain hands while Jokers give you multipliers for hitting certain conditions like playing face cards, cards of a certain suit, getting bonuses for playing lower-numbered cards or pairs, and so forth. One can also add more cards to the standard 52 deck to potentially get greater combos, remove cards to slim down the deck, or add properties to them like stone wildcards that can be played with any hand and award a large amount of points but don't fit into any hand themselves, wildcards that count as any suit, or Metal cards that grant bonuses as long as they stay in your hand unplayed. A fiendishly addictive and fun game you can easily sink hours at a time into if you're not careful.
5. Arzette: the Jewel of Faramore (Seedy Eye Software, PS4/PS5/PC/XBox Series/Switch)
While nobody would really call the infamous CDi Zelda games "good", they have taken on a life of their own with the advent of the internet, with countless parodies, fan games, remakes and Youtube Poop remixes utilizing their famous cutscenes and distinct brand of campy weirdness. Arzette is an exacting love letter to those semi-classics, replicating the animation style of their cutscenes, the absurd voice acting and the overall design of the art and gameplay quite flawlessly, though thankfully much more polished and with numerous side-objectives to complete and character upgrades to find and purchase. An enjoyable adventure that revels in its ridiculousness and never for a moment takes itself seriously.
4. Beyond Shadowgate (Zojoi, PC/Mac OS)
It took a decade to get done, but 2014's excellent Shadowgate reboot finally got its sequel - Beyond Shadowgate. Bearing virtually no resemblance to the Turbografx-CD title of the same name, this is based on the original design documents from 1990 and is very much a callback to the point-and-click style titles of the '80s, even recreating the familiar interface, dry sense of humor and pixel art graphics with very limited animation. There are also numerous callbacks to those titles, from lines of dialog to straight-up cameo locales returning, which I quite liked as a long-time fan. Thankfully they also avoid a lot of the annoying trappings of frustrating old '80s adventures, with logical puzzles and no ways to make the quest unwinnable (none that I could find at any rate), as well as four potential endings. If you're a fan of the classic ICOM adventures, this is one you don't want to miss.
3. Astro Bot (Team Asobi, PlayStation 5)
The PS5 has struggled for several years to get (and keep) a really good exclusive to its name, and with Astro Bot's announcement came a deluge of people immediately singing its praises well before it was released as the chosen one to finally fill the void. As a gamer of 35+ years I'm no stranger to platform apologists, but when the thunderous praise continued well after the game's launch, I decided I'd better at least give it a try. Well, a 94 Metacritic score might be
sliiiiightly inflated, but the game actually does live up to its hype as a well made, imaginative and very enjoyable experience. Like its predecessor Astro's Playroom there is a definite nostalgic component - lots of little references and 'bot costumes of PlayStation stars of the past that have gone largely ignored in recent years - but that's just a tiny fragment of what the game has on offer. Its real selling is just being a brilliant platformer, with world design, stage gimmicks, variety and immaculate polish to rival any great Mario game, and the fact that it was made by a studio of about 60 people on a relatively modest budget should really get the industry re-evaluating its priorities. Astro Bot is the first true must-buy for the PS5, and I for one hope it sells like gangbusters - it's proof positive that shorter, lower-stakes, more modestly budgeted games still have a very beloved and profitable place in the gaming sphere and don't just need to be relegated to indie developers (or Nintendo platforms).
2. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Artdink/Square Enix, PC, PS5, Switch, XBox Series)
Dragon Quest III is easily one of the most beloved and influential Japanese RPGs of all time, and it's been remade and ported several times over the years to reflect that. The HD-2D remake is the latest in that line and easily its best, keeping the core gameplay, story and design intact while giving it a massive aesthetic upgrade. The HD-2D visuals are gorgeous, the music is fantastic and even the newly-added voice acting is surprisingly pretty solid. New features abound too, from a monster arena, a new class called the Monster Wrangler (who appropriately gains new skills by recruiting friendly monsters), and numerous new dungeons and side-missions to complete as you undertake the adventure. A true classic gets a proper introduction to a new generation and makes long-time fans fall in love all over again.
1. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Rabbit & Bear Studios, PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, XBox One, XBox Series, PC, Switch)
As a huge fan of the Suikoden franchise I've waited many years for a worthwhile successor to it, or at the very least a compilation of the original classics. An HD port of 1 and 2 got pushed back to next year (grumble grumble) but in the meantime we got Yoshitaka Murayama's spiritual successor, Eiyuden Chronicle. A very authentic '90s RPG experience in most every respect (even some of the annoying ones), but as a huge fan of that era of RPG I didn't mind one bit - the enormous cast of characters to interact and recruit with, the stylized blend of 2D animation on 3D backdrops, the well-acted and staged cutscenes, the clever turn-based combat that works in gimmicks and party composition as strategic elements, and no shortage of side content to complete (including several minigames), it's all great stuff. It's bittersweet, though, as Murayama passed away shortly before the game's release, throwing a potential franchise's future into doubt. Still, even if Suikoden's legacy ends here, it at least went out on a very strong note.
