I don’t believe it myself, but 2024 has come to an end. And personally, I remember it primarily as the year in which every Japanese game crushed the Western market. But I already wrote a separate article about this.
Today I collected the 5 best games (personally in my opinion. this is NOT the opinion of the entire editorial board) 2024, which are worth playing if you haven’t already.
1. Marvel Rivals for those who miss Overwatch
The release of Overwatch 2 and the deafening failure of Concord seemingly put an end to the entire segment of online shooters and scared off future developers. And personally for me (a person who played a lot of both Overwatch and even tried to find something good in Concord) the first trailer for Marvel Rivals raised eyebrows with the feeling that it was going to be another flop.
Plus I really dislike Marvel in general and comics in particular. However, I downloaded the game the day it came out, thinking it would last me a couple of matches… and I woke up late at night.
And judging by the Steam statistics and a bunch of positive reviews, I’m far from alone. What’s the matter? It’s simple. The Chinese company NetEase Games succeeded, first of all, in making an interesting online third-person shooter in an unusual (for the “hero third-person shooter” genre) settings.
There are currently 8 available maps in the game: Wakanda, Yggsgard, Hydra Base, Tokyo 2099 and Planet of the Symbiotes. The unique feature of the game is not immediately apparent, but its competitors don’t have this: the cards in Marvel Rivals are partially destructible.
There are only 4 modes so far, and all of them are classics of the genre: superiority, escort, team battle and a mixed mode, consisting of two stages, in which you must first capture a point, and then a cargo will appear on it that needs to be brought to the base.
The reason I included Marvel Rivals on the list isn’t really because of the modes and destructibility. It’s just very beautiful in appearance (without any hint of a design agenda. The characters look really cool) and an addictive game that is easy to start, pardon the pun, play. There is no overloaded leveling and progression, a bunch of manipulative mechanics and a complex plot. It’s just a fun third-person shooter game available to everyone for free.
Download Marvel Rivals free on Steam
2. Metaphor ReFantazio with a very cool plot
From online shooters with beautiful graphics, let’s move on to Japanese RPGs with a unique design. This year, in general, a lot of cool games from Japan were released, but first of all I would like to highlight the project from the creators of the cult Persona series.
Metaphor ReFantazio is a long-term construction project, work on which began back in 2016 and under a slightly different name. A full announcement took place on June 11, 2023 during the Microsoft Xbox Games Showcase presentation.
So why launch this weird Japanese thing with clearly outdated graphics in 2025? For the sake of history first and foremost. The plot takes place in the fantasy Middle Ages and starts right off the bat – some blond man very brutally kills the local king. The ruler has no heir, and no understanding of what awaits the kingdom in the future.
It is for the funeral of the monarch that our hero (in the Russian localization his canonical name is Alexander) arrives in the capital, accompanied by a fairy, with a book in hand and some important task, which I will not reveal here. However, the funeral ends with the fact that the face of the murdered king has appeared in the sky and announced a competition for the royal throne, in which every resident can take part.
The world of Metaphor ReFantazio is inhabited by various races: from the elf-like Russents and dog-like Paripas to the religious Mustari and Eld. The latter are as similar as possible to ordinary people; there are few of them left in the world, and they are sincerely hated. The theme of hatred and racism in general is one of the central ones in local history.
People here also refer to exclusively deadly and grotesque-looking monsters. Speaking of design in general, this is the calling card of Metaphor ReFantazio. From the item selection menu to individual small interface elements, everything is done at the highest quality level and allows you to forget about not the most modern graphics.
The gameplay will be familiar to connoisseurs of the genre, but as the first JRPG in life, Metaphor works very well. By the way, the project has been completely translated into Russian, so I see no reason not to try one of the most stylish games of 2024.
Page Metaphor ReFantazio in Steam
3. Horrible Silent Hill 2
Rumors about a remake of the cult Silent Hill 2 have been circulating for a very, very long time. But the first trailer and the information that the Polish Bloober Team is responsible for the development caused a lot of abuse on the Internet. What can I say, I myself was one of those who buried the remake before its release, citing as the main argument the fact that the Poles would not be able to convey the atmosphere of Quiet Hill as subtly and terribly.
And after completing it, I’m ready to say that I was critically mistaken. Silent Hill 2 in 2024 is still an endlessly scary, tragic and adult game, the end credits of which probably leave the most bitter aftertaste possible.
Bloober Team managed to reproduce the main aspect of the original game – viscous, almost tangible suspense. Fear of the unknown and fear of looking around corners. Silent Hill 2 2024 is a very dark game with virtually no jump scares or typical clichés of modern horror.
There is no point in talking about the plot and gameplay. The story in the remake is identical to the original (whoever understood, understood), and the gameplay was clearly inspired in many ways by 2019’s Resident Evil 2. The combat is juicy, every blow to the monster is felt, and the locations are filled with slow-motion details that are fun to study.
I wholeheartedly recommend Silent Hill 2, even to those who know the original game by heart. Moreover, it is best to play on the DualSense – the game uses all its features to the fullest, and a couple of times it was the gamepad in my hands that scared me more than what was happening on the screen.
Silent Hill 2 page in Steam
4. Incredibly beautiful Unicorn Overlord
For some reason it seems to me that everyone who is reading this now is seeing Unicorn Overlord for the first time. And this is also the first time they’ve heard about the small Japanese studio Vanillaware. The history of George Kamitani’s team and his path is actually a separate article, but here I will only mention their latest creation.
The fact is that Vanillaware does not differ in both stability and speed of releasing games. Their projects are usually released once or twice a generation of consoles, each time they receive high ratings from the press and players, but they consistently do not collect money and some kind of worldwide hype. In our country, too, they have not gained much popularity due to the fact that they are released mainly on consoles and without translation into Russian, but you need to read a lot there, especially in the last two games of the studio.
And all because these are often unique, but very niche games with an incredibly beautiful, hand-crafted visual style. George Kamitani’s idea is to bring to the screen not just a game, but a living picture, each screenshot of which can be hung on the wall.
And Unicorn Overlord is no exception. It is a tactical role-playing game with visual novel and strategy elements, set in the fictional kingdom of Fevrit, where the once prosperous kingdom has fallen under the rule of the robber general Valmor. We take on the role of the son of the previous queen, who must liberate his homeland and restore peace.
The gameplay of Unicorn Overlord is vaguely reminiscent of the King’s Bounty series. The player is released onto a global map of the kingdom with one single task – to kill Valmor. You can try to do this right away, but there is a 99 percent chance that neither the strength of your units nor the understanding of the local tactical system will be enough. Therefore, it is best to systematically clear individual cities from enemies, carry out third-party assignments and develop your squad.
The battles are no less interesting. Unlike King’s Bounty or Fire Emblem, there is no direct squad control. You can fine-tune it for a long time and very finely, but you can’t give orders in the middle of battles, just look at the results of how you developed your units. The squad management system is very complex and is revealed gradually, so you won’t be able to quickly understand all the subtleties.
Unicorn Overlord is a complex, endlessly beautiful and extremely addictive project that I recommend everyone to try. Yes, the game does not have a Russian translation, unfortunately, but don’t let this be an obstacle.
Official website of the game Unicorn Overlord Here
5. Astro Bot is the best game of 2024
My personal main game of 2024 and so far of the entire generation of PlayStation 5. Not a single project before it gave so many positive emotions, did not force me to knock out all the trophies and did not literally gather the whole family in front of the TV.
My hour counter in Astro Bot is slowly approaching a hundred, and all because my wife still returns to the game and her daughter plays with great pleasure.
What is the magic? Well, the robot is running around funny, collecting other robots, why is everyone running around with it? The magic is in the details. The developers from Team Asobi aimed to create a GAME first. Not a narrative adventure with a very important and adult plot. Not a large complex RPG, where you need to spend several hours to learn how to play it, not just another online service with a donation store.
Astro Bot is first and foremost a computer game that makes sure that the player has fun playing it from the very beginning. It is full of small but very funny details (listen, for example, to the lyrics of the song from the first level), many of the mechanics in it are made by hand, but are used only once, and the player’s curiosity will never go unnoticed.
The authors of Astro Bot sought to make each level unique, fill it with references and, excuse the cliché, soul. For example, remember the PlayStation 3 demo where they showed ducks moving in water using physics that was calculated in real time? Yes, this technology was not used anywhere on the PS3, but Team Asobi remembers this presentation, and in addition to the visual reference to ducks, there are many places in the game where there are a huge number of small details, interaction with which follows the same logic. And at the same time, the game has no bugs and FPS does not drop anywhere.
Astro Bot is a rare example in the modern industry of a completely finished product from the very beginning. Without a paid store with cosmetics, without any donation in principle. No day one patches or optimization problems. A game that harkens back to the days when Sony consoles were home to a wide variety of different and unique games.
And it’s sad that this approach with a bunch of references and fan service only works once. Team Asobi set the bar too high with their debut project, and it will most likely not be possible to repeat the success of Astro Bot. But I am sincerely glad that both journalists and players appreciated their work. Many awards from specialized publications and my personal game of the year 2024. Try it, perhaps it will become your main discovery in 2025.
Astro Bot Page в PS Store
Yes, I really think these are the best games
It would seem that after the stunning 2023 with its Baldurs Gate 3, Final Fantasy 16 and Tears of the Kingdom, it would no longer be possible to surprise me personally. However, 2024 brought even more cool and memorable projects. It was really hard to choose from all the sea of good games. But I have already talked about most of the notable releases in one way or another in materials on the site throughout the year.
I’m not going to stop, by the way. In 2025, we will see even more interesting games and, probably, the main release of the decade. Which? And guess this for yourself.
I leave you with this thought. Have a good day!
Source: www.iphones.ru
