This year was dominated by indie games and a new MMO, taking up most of my gaming time. I’m okay with that.
What A Gamer Would Have Gotten For Christmas In 2001 is still an enjoyable experience, offering quietly haunting gameplay in a Pacific Northwest backdrop. Pacific Drive features satisfying roguelite gameplay and a semi-sentient car companion.
I approached Dragon’s Dogma 2 with caution, but the progression made more sense this time around, encouraging exploration. The game’s roguelite elements were a welcome surprise.
Once Human is a great way to spend time, collecting blueprints, blowing up monsters with balloons, and building an army of creatures to take back to base. Halls Of Torment improves on its formula, introducing a progression system similar to ARPGs.
Backpack Battles has a simple yet addictive formula: competing with other players’ backpacks in a competitive Tetris-like game. Enshrouded is an incredible survival game with a vast voxel-based open world that has received continued support.
Throne And Liberty stands out as the best new MMO, despite some flaws, offering large-scale PvP and strategy. Balatro provides pure dopamine through constructing perfect poker decks and achieving high scores. Path of Exile 2 feels like a fresh start, while Supervive offers a unique blend of action and strategy.
However, there’s one thing missing from this year’s gaming landscape: real Christmas classics.
Source: https://www.thegamer.com/game-of-the-year-editors-pick-2024-harry-alston