Like every year, we have drawn up our collective ranking of the best video games of 2024: here’s what they are, from independents to big names.
Like every year, we have drawn up our ranking of the video games of the year that is coming to an end, and – you will see – there were many and varied opinions that we expressed within the GLHF editorial team.
The best video games of the year —
2024 was a long and generally positive year, although there were no hits that really made everyone agree. For example, the indie scene was more modest, although – and we are usually happy about this – some examples still found a place in our top ten.
Similarly, the triple-A audience offered a medium-high level, but there was a lack of titles capable of rising to the status of undisputed and indisputable masterpiece. In this dialectic, we have each expressed our top ten with scores from 10 and lower, and the results you can see below in a list of twenty video games in total.
These are our games of the year 2024.
1. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – 63
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth contains dozens of minigames. From fan favorites, like Fort Condor, to new addictions, like Queen’s Blood, FF7 Rebirth is packed with content that rivals the madness of a Yakuza. All accompanied by an intensely emotional and twist-filled story, which is based on the same foundation as the original 1997 game.
The brilliance of Rebirth lies in the way it manages to perfectly balance its tones, constantly oscillating between the bizarre and the emotional heaviness of the story. All of this happens by expanding the planet and bringing characters to life through various side missions, without ever losing sight of the main mission. FF7 Rebirth will be one of the best games of all time, if you allow yourself to sink into its depths.
2. Metaphor: ReFantazio – 53
The Persona series is a masterclass in storytelling. Each of the dozens of characters is a well-rounded and well-written personality, and their adventures have a concrete meaning despite being fantasy. Developed by many of the creators of Persona, Metaphor: ReFantazio takes off the slice-of-life mask and dives into fantasy full force in a story with adults instead of students. If you’re a fan of Persona, you’ll notice all the hallmarks of the series, but you’ll also see how everything has been refined and expanded.
Metaphor takes place in a semi-open world, and the places you choose to explore shape your journey. Atlus has let go of the reins and you’re free to explore the world further, while the lines of what you can do each day are more blurred. You have more control over your teammates than ever before, and the new Archetype system is easier to use, but with more options for synergies. Metaphor is the next level of Persona-style RPGs, and we can’t wait for Studio Zero to take the next step.
3. Astro Bot – 46
Astro Bot: Rescue Mission was one of the best PS4 games, but you wouldn’t know it because almost no one played it. It was a PSVR exclusive, and while it made masterful use of the new technology, the platform essentially nipped it in the bud. Astro’s Playroom brought the cute mascot back into the spotlight, but most players still didn’t know that the lovable bot could deliver a full-fledged gaming experience.
Luckily for all of us, Astro Bot is the third and best installment in the series, offering dozens of gorgeous levels full of hidden secrets and nooks and crannies to explore. Best of all, if you sit still for a while Astro Bot turns around smiling and waving, and that kind of joy is something we all needed this year. With fast, fluid movement and a wide range of interesting mechanics, Astro Bot is pure fun, and that’s what made it one of the best games this year.
4. Dragon’s Dogma 2 – 37
Stabbing strange goblins and giant trolls in a fantasy setting is hardly the most appealing or original hook for a game, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes a tired setting and throws it off a cliff. The world of DD2 is alive. He’s not alive just because there are NPCs walking around: he’s actually alive. If you don’t go and save that NPC when told to do so, he will probably be killed by the creatures on the way and you will only find a corpse in his place. It is a simulation and systemic game, where it seems that anything can happen.
Take that fake dead NPC. You could leave it alone, but there’s also an item you can get to reanimate the dead, so that moment that happened because of the simulation can kick off a personal quest that’s unique to you and will mean more than anything else. can be scripted. Every single journey is like this in DD2, which somehow makes the in-between portion of custom content even more meaningful than the destination. Additionally, it is possible to drop a giant cyclops into a hole and cross it like a bridge. This is also very beautiful.
5. Indiana Jones and the Ancient Circle – 36
Even though Dad tried repeatedly, Indiana Jones just doesn’t interest us. Sorry. We just don’t care. We would have preferred Machine Games to announce Wolfenstein 3. But then, at a press event, we got a sneak peek at the game and thought, “Wait a minute, they’re making Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay.” The rest is history.
Even though we saw glimpses of one of our old favorite games, we didn’t expect Machine Games to do something like this. Sure, there’s a bit of Riddick, with its great stealth and first-person combat, and there’s the fash-bashing of Wolfenstein, but Indiana Jones is also a brilliant adventure game with intricate puzzles, temples forgotten and mysterious caves. It’s a virtual vacation to some of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s 20 hours we will never forget.
6. Balatro – 34
We like cards and games in which the numbers skyrocket, and never have these two things intertwined in such a complex and engaging way as in Balatro. It takes something that many people are already familiar with (and can easily learn) in the standard set of poker hands and adds a handful of seemingly simple systems that will push your mind to the breaking point as you desperately try to strategize the ways seemingly infinite ways in which they can combine to make your score skyrocket higher and higher with each run. The best deck builders force you to rewire your brain until you speak a new language, and Balatro did this with a standard deck of playing cards. You’ll find yourself thinking out loud about how this new wild card interacts with everything else in your deck. We have never felt so close to finally understanding the universe than when we managed to get a hand so big that it broke the game’s counter and achieved simply nothing.
7. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – 32
Just when we thought we were out of it, they pulled us in again. From Software is experiencing a period of success, and Elden Ring could be one of the greatest action role-playing games ever made. A mesmerizing world, challenging combat, and a story that is written as you move through the world come together in one of the greatest games of all time. And that was before the DLC arrived. The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC refines what was great about Elden Ring, narrows the scope, and gives players a much denser world to explore. This is the perfect density for an open-world action game from From Software, and we hope that the team’s next big game improves and refines this formula further.
8. Indica – 30
We never thought we’d get excited about a game where you play as a nun, but here we are. We don’t care if it’s blasphemous to say it, Indika is a damn gem. It’s part walking sim, part 2D platformer, and part Naughty Dog-style adventure game, where weapons are replaced by reflections on morality and faith.
The player takes on the role of a cursed nun, hated by all her sisters and tempted by the devil. Indika mixes surrealism and the mundane to draw you into its world, forcing you to complete mundane tasks one minute before exploring an Escher-like environment that twists on itself. There’s no game like it, and there are few better ways to spend a day.
9. Silent Hill 2 – 22
It’s been a long time since we visited that city. Silent Hill. It was so long ago, in fact, that we didn’t remember much about it. The broad lines, sure, but the details, no. For us it was the perfect recipe for playing the remake, because we were never sure what was new and what had always been there, and the story was just as compelling the second time around. Bloober Team really nailed what made the original Silent Hill 2 so great, but made the quality of life upgrades that modern players were begging for.
Not only does everything look shiny and new, but there are more dark secrets than ever. There are more corners to explore and the puzzles are even more dangerous, if that’s why you’re here. We returned to Silent Hill with higher spirits than old Jimbo, and everything about our journey was terrifying excitement from start to finish. Silent Hill 2 is such a classic game that it probably didn’t need a remake, yet Silent Hill 2 is here to prove that even a great game can be made even better.
10. Tactical Breach Wizards – 21
Everyone who plays a game has one that sticks in their skull until they find themselves daydreaming about it every moment of the day. Then there is “The Zone”: that zen place you enter when you are perfectly in tune with the game, be it Tetris or WipeOut. For some it’s during an intense action sequence that requires their full concentration, but for us it’s when we spend ten minutes staring at a screen motionless thinking about every possible input and outcome of a given scenario. Never has such an experience been as enjoyable as during Tactical Breach Wizards, the latest creation from game design wizard Tom Francis.
The game takes XCOM-style turn-based tactics and boils it down to its smallest, purest form. Instead of large maps to explore and clear, you have a single screen with a series of enemies that need to be knocked out or, preferably, sent flying out a window. To do this you have five wizards at your disposal, all equipped with completely unique moves that allow you to manipulate the battlefield, enemies and allies in countless ways to accomplish your objectives.
Even the simplest scenarios give us a lot to think about, all peppered with a brilliant story and hilarious writing that brings this silly idea of the world to life and makes me invest even more in my endless glances at the screen and in my thoughts at loudly.
And which games made it to the doorstep of the top 10? Here they are:
- Warhammer 40k: Space Marines 2 – 20
- Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth – 20
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – 20
- TCG Pocket – 20
- Emio: The Smiling Man – 18
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – 16
- Tales of Kenzera: Zau – 15
- Star Wars Outlaws – 15
- Frostpunk 2 – 13
- Microsoft Flight Simulator – 13
Contributions by Georgina Young, Ryan Woodrow, Kirk McKeand, Rahul Majumdar and Dave Aubrey for GLHFintroduction by Paolo Sirio