Published , by Shack Staff
Published , by Shack Staff
In a wonderful year stacked with excellent video game releases, Shacknews has decided to count down the Top 24 games of the year.. The Shack Staff each submitted their personal top 10 ballots, which were compiled with a cumulative Shacknews Chatty Community vote to create a single definitive list that will be etched in Shacknews history. Here's the Shacknews Top 24 Games of the Year 2024. Please take a look at our Top 10 video, or read along underneath the video embed to see Games 24-11.
There were some great games that didn't make the cut for our Top 24 Games of the Year 2024 list, but we wanted to give them a proper shout-out. Here's a list of our honorable mentions in no particular order:
22. Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
22. Another Crab's Treasure
22. Animal Well
21. Kamikaze Lassplanes
20. Tales of Kenzara: ZAU
19. Black Myth: Wukong
18. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake
17. The Finals
16. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
15. Mario & Luigi: Brothership
14. Helldivers 2
13. Pacific Drive
12. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
11. Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2
Want to read the rest of the list? Hit Next Page to see our text version of the Shacknews Top 10 Games of 2024 or watch the video.
There's a lot of stress involved when building a new game from a popular franchise in a new engine. Instead of simply iterating and taking what it needed from Tekken 7, Bandai Namco had to build Tekken 8 from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. There was a lot of stress about physics, character look, and the overall features of the game…
But in the end it all paid off. Tekken 8 is a masterpiece of a fighting game, and only Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear Strive are really capable of the kind of quality that competes with it. However, Tekken 8 brings something they don’t: 3D fighting without being an arena fighter. Tekken 8 is amazing in its stage design, offering players some of the most beautiful arenas ever while making them highly strategic and interactable as always.
The characters are amazing and intense as well. This game launched with a massive roster and has only added to it since. The characters are also incredibly fun and balanced. Many will tell you that Dragunov or Feng are a problem, but the truth is that if you put in the time and effort, you can learn to do well with any character. Take it from TJ Denzer, who has made it to blue tier ranks with the supposedly C-Tier Kuma.
Or don’t! You can easily pursue your own path in Tekken 8 because the game gives you a ton of options to play, have fun, and learn. It features a solid story mode, an arcade-style mode with character endings, and one of the most ridiculously well-equipped training modes ever put in a game. Put that together with solid rollback netcode and crossplay and you have all the pieces that make Tekken 8 one of the best fighting games ever, not to mention an excellent addition to 2024's gaming release lineup.
Tekken 8 is available on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms.
The last few years have been good for horror and gaming remakes. Sometimes, the two worlds collide. In a time when the gaming world has been blessed with new school horror experiences, it was nice to see one of the originators step to the forefront and remind a new generation of what psychological horror can do.
Developer Bloober Team wasn't content to simply retell the story of Silent Hill 2. It was determined to improve upon it in nearly every way imaginable. The town of Silent Hill itself benefits the most from gaming's modern improvements over the past decades, becoming even more of an unsettling space that is contantly watching you. The fog, the creatures, or simply the haunting scenery. All of it is there to remind you that you are not safe within these city limits.
Leave it to Bloober Team to nail down the original Silent Hill 2's shortcomings and work to remedy them. The 2024 game does away with sluggish controls and clunky combat, creating something far more refined and intuitive. Of course, just because the new game is simpler and more streamlined doesn't mean it's easy. Silent Hill 2 is every bit as tough as the original, testing players with scarce supplies, relentless foes, and an air of paranoia that's pervasive throughout the story.
Silent Hill 2 isn't merely the original with a new coat of paint. Bloober Team went into this project recognizing that it was tinkering with a classic and remained focused on maintaining what made it that way in the first place. It's a perfect illustration of why the original was the horror staple that it was while creating a new modern classic in the process.
Slient Hill 2 is available on Steam and PlayStation platforms.
If VanillaWare knows how to make a bad video game in a genre it hasn’t touched before, we haven’t seen it. Dragon’s Crown is a solid acrcade-style brawler, Odin Sphere is a fantastic action-RPG, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is an amazing sci-fi narrative adventure with strategic elements, and Unicorn Overlord is a sprawling strategy-RPG that takes the best parts of yesteryear’s Ogre Battle and modernizes it enough to make it stand out as one of our favorite games released this year.
At its core, Unicorn Overlord is an incredible story of a young lord’s mission to gather allies and unite the nations against a malevolent tyrant and his overwhelming power. The game is filled to the brim with characters to recruit, some having relationships with one another that makes their stories exciting to unravel. The game also features a massive abundance of classes for you to mix and match into squads.
You see, you don’t have any one character fight at a time in Unicorn Overlord. Instead, in battles, you send out squads as a singular unit to engage in combat with enemy squads and take over control points in stop-and-go real-time strategy. The composition of your forces is of important consideration as pretty much every class in the game has strengths and weaknesses. Figuring out how they best synergize is a big part of the fun.
Between these features, a beautiful art style, enjoyable music, and a compelling story, Unicorn Overlord’s strategies shine, making it easily one of our favorite things to come out of VanillaWare so far.
Unicorn Overlord is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms.
It’s been a long time since an original Indiana Jones game graced our video game consoles and computers. It’s a franchise that perfectly captures the sense of action and adventure. There’s nothing quite like putting on Indy’s hat, cracking a whip at Nazis, and exploring lost ruins for artifacts that belong in a museum. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle manages to not only be a stellar video game experience, it actually feels like it could be a real Indiana Jones film.
Right off the bat, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle lets you know exactly what you’re in for. You’re walking through a dense forest in first-person, investigating abandoned campsites and discovering poison-tipped darts in trees. From here, you’re inside a tomb, avoiding traps and snaking your way across pressure-activated tiles. And, with careful pressing of the thumbsticks, you’re swapping a golden idol for a bag of sand. That’s right, it’s a near shot-for-shot recreation of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
From here, the game is a whirlwind of action and adventure. You’re using Indy’s whip to crack Nazis or smashing their heads with all sorts of objects, solving puzzles and climbing through ruins, and of course, being a bit of a wiseass and getting into all sorts of trouble.
The team at MachineGames has delivered the best Indian Jones video game in a long time. You can read more about how much we loved it in TJ Denzer’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available on Xbox and Steam platforms. The game will be launching on PS5 next year.
That GSC Game World was able to release Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl at all is incredible. Developing a game under any circumstances is difficult. To do it while your country is being invaded is mind boggling. Released on November 20, 2024, exactly 1,000 days after the invasion, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is one of the best games released in 2024. From its breathtaking visuals in Unreal Engine 5 to its adrenaline-pumping gameplay, there is no part of Stalker 2 that isn’t filled with thoughtfulness and attention to detail. What GSC Game World has built here is something that the entire gaming industry should applaud. That's why we here at Shacknews are celebrating one of the best games of the year developed under the most unthinkable circumstances.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is available on Steam, Epic Games Store, and Xbox platforms.
Capcom’s sequel to Dragon’s Dogma doubled down on everything that made the original so special.
Now in the RE Engine, Capcom takes open world design to new heights with an endless stream of unique encounters. The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is packed with ogres, bandits, dragons, and other creatures that’ll cause trouble as you make your way to the next quest objective. You can toss enemies into the water, climb an enemies back to stab it in the face, and even use their toppled bodies as a bridge.
The Pawn system is what really sets Dragon’s Dogma 2 apart from other action-adventure games. These NPC companions are so rich with personality that they almost replicate the feeling of playing with friends. There’s nothing like being stumped by a quest, only for your Pawn to tell you that they heard a rumor that might help you out, or when they tell you what type of attacks a nearby enemy is weak to.
When you’re not playing, your Pawn goes into other worlds to aid other players in their journeys, bringing back their newly-acquired wisdom and passing it on to you. When you hire another player’s Pawn, you can leave them a gift as a token of thanks. It’s a system that fosters a sense of community in a way most games fail to accomplish.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam platforms.
If you know Astro Bot, then the moment you saw the title, one of the many charming songs that accompany the levels probably entered your head. If not that, then maybe one of the many Cameo Bots you saved along the way came up instead. Maybe the pride of defeating those tough button challenge levels swelled inside?
No matter where you come from on Astro Bot, the feelings we got when we thought of the game were nothing but joy. This game is a greatest hits of platforming mechanics that seems to pull from decades of good games that came prior. The running and jumping is silky smooth and responsive, but reasonably challenging, the power-ups were delightful to discover and use, and music is infectiously cute and catchy throughout the game.
Astro Bot is also a game that makes incredible use of the full extent of PlayStation 5’s hardware in a way that other games just don’t. It’s not just about looking pretty (though this game does that excellently, too), but Team Asobi clearly has a solid understanding of how to get the most out of Sony’s platforms. The responsive triggers, touch pad, and even the microphone function all play parts in solving Astro Bot’s numerous challenges. That said, we also appreciate that Asobi realized not everyone wants to play with a DualSense and made options to allow you to play on third-party controllers.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: For the first time in a long time, PlayStation has a standout mascot again. It’s a cute little robot that is always ready to lend a hand to its pals, and we sure do like running around the galaxy with him.
Astro Bot is available on the PlayStation 5 platform.
After the incredible success of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, no one expected to hear about one of Nintendo’s most beloved franchises for years to come. But the Big N had other plans. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom brought us one of the best classic 2D-style Zelda games in a long time, utilizing the adorable art style of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and shaking up what players had come to expect of the franchise.
For decades, players have filled the green tunic of Link as the main hero, but Echoes of Wisdom shirked that norm. For the first time ever, players were now in control of Zelda. This dramatic change in main protagonist (though, one could certainly argue about who the real hero is across all the games) had an equally dramatic effect on the gameplay in Echoes of Wisdom.
Zelda isn’t a fighter. She’s not wielding a sword and shield in the same manner as Link. It’s just not her style. As the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, Zelda is able to tap into something else entirely, and Echoes of Wisdom leans hard into this. The game introduces Tri, a magical being that bestows on Zelda a wand that can summon echoes – copies of objects and creatures Zelda encounters in her adventure.
This mechanic starts off simple enough: summon a bed to reach higher levels. But it’s not long before the complexity and depth of Echoes of Wisdom begins to shine through. This is thanks to Nintendo’s ability to give players tools and the agency to use those tools in any manner they see fit. Will you summon an Ignizol to clear a field of grass or perhaps an army of sea urchins to fight on your behalf?
No matter how you approach Echoes of Wisdom, there’s always going to be a solution to your troubles, a way to overcome the challenges before you. It’s a theme that runs through the heart of the Zelda franchise and one that stands out in Echoes of Wisdom. It’s an incredible game and a testament to how much the series means to not only the players, but to the developers at Nintendo.
Read more love in Asif Khan’s The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is available on the Nintendo Switch platform.
With Metaphor: ReFantazio, ATLUS and Studio Zero proved that not only can the Persona formula work in a fantasy setting, it thrives. The world of Euchronia immediately grabs you and holds on tight until the credits roll.
Archetypes offer a unique way to build your party, rewarding experimentation and exploration.
From charming party members to endearing NPCs, Metaphor prioritizes relationships and the connections between us. Being compassionate and coming to the aid of those in need is rewarded with new Archetypes and abilities.
Artistically, Metaphor: ReFantazio provides a stunning moving portrait of a fantasy world. From the beautiful vistas to the jaw-dropping cutscenes, every frame is worthy of being my next desktop wallpapers. The pop of color on the menus ensures that even managing your inventory is an exciting part of the process.
At the heart of this RPG is a rallying story about power and corruption. It’s impossible to walk away from Metaphor: ReFantazio without feeling emboldened and energized.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is available on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms.
Over the decades since video games were introduced to mainstream pop culture, developers and artists have come up with increasingly complex ways to enjoy them. They can capture the imagination with lore-filled worlds. They can tell tales of complex heroes and anti-heroes, stories that make people relate to the human experience in new ways. They can be bombastic summer blockbuster-like packages that can be enjoyed with like-minded fans around the world. One thing that the best games all have in common is that their joy can be expressed and shared with others around the world. Balatro hits those heights with a deceptively simple presentation.
"It's only poker," some might say. That is to minimize the impact that Balatro can have over a prolonged period. Developer LocalThunk took some of the greatest elements of the roguelike genre and imagine a myriad of ways that it can fit into the realm of poker. Can players go on high scoring runs with a basic deck of 52 cards? What if some of those decks have special properties? What if it's possible to increase the multipliers on certain hands? What if the opposition imposes special rules designed to test, challenge, and frustrate the player into wanting to try one more time?
What else is core to the gaming experience? Exploration and discovering new things. Balatro makes the simple act of discovering new Jokers and experimenting with them a wondrous loop of trial-and-error. Can a player get lucky enough to encounter the Joker they need to best enhance their starting deck? Is it possible to come up with a nigh-unbeatable combination of Jokers and enhanced cards? It's as fun to try as it is flabbergasting to run into that one Boss Blind that crushes your strategy in its tracks.
At its core essence, however, Balatro is about the basic rush of watching numbers rise. Scoreboard go BRRRRRR! The simple dopamine infusion caused by watching numbers rise, multipliers trigger, and the minimalistic 'ding' sound that hits as scores go into triple digits, quadruple digits, and even quintuple digits and beyond. This is what video games can and should be. When approaching any game, the question always arises, "Is this fun?" The best games are not only an emphatic yes, but drown players in enjoyment to the point that they've stopped thinking about that question entirely.
Balatro represents something exceptionally rare in gaming. It's one thing to stand out over some of the biggest titles in the mainstream space. It's another for an indie developer to do it on their first time out. Balatro is LocalThunk's debut. This industry has rarely witnessed anything like this. Balatro will bring joy for years to come, just as LocalThunk has the potential to craft it for a lifetime. For this incredible effort, Balatro is the Shacknews Game of the Year for 2024.
Check out the Shacknews Game of the Year 2024 - Balatro article to read more!
Balatro is available now on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Apple, and Android platforms.
That's the Shacknews Top 24 Games of the Year 2024. What games should have made the list? What games should be ranked higher or lower? Let us know in the Shacknews Chatty comment section below. Congratulations to all of the games that made our list this year!
Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2024 feature.