Last year, around this time, I wrote a feature arguing that Starfield, with its perfectly OK, but a bit synthetic and cold universe, was 2023’s actual game of the year.
Not because it was the best game of 2023, but because the feeling of playing it, the short bursts of fun within a meander through the galaxy that often lacked much meaning or wonder, best mirrored the experience of living and working in and around the games industry last year. A would-be masterpiece with all of the awe-inspiring size and scale, but very little of the soul, for a medium that was constantly chucking more people onto the layoff fire while we all clung on to the bangers we did get for comfort.
I wouldn’t say 2024, while arguably even more depressing on the state of the industry front, had a big game like Starfield that accidentally served as so fitting a mood metaphor for it.
Instead, I’m going to do what I did a bit in that feature last year – I’m gonna momentarily chuck the gloom into the sun, and concentrate on the good. As it always does, the indie space kicked out underrated gems and gems that got plenty of credit this year on the reg.
Everyone’s list of these will be different, but here’s mine.
Chill racing management sim Golden Lap was as vibe-immaculate as Funselektor releases have proven to always be when I reviewed it, and it’s only gotten better since as its devs have worked hard to rectify its teething issues and start to add improvements over the past few months.
Thalassa: Edge of The Abyss was an emotion-heavy stumble through the wreckage of a ship and the lives of its crew that I think flew under a lot of people’s radars, but is definitely worth a go if you’re a fan of Baldur’s Gate 3’s narrator, and like doing a bit of sobering detective work.
Still Wakes The Deep opted to lean more into the Lovecraftian and stock horror than it did the terrifying reality of what can happen when things go bad out in the big blue abyss for its scares, but it’s still good, with its great Scottish accents and chase with a giant head.
Hades 2 was another thing I had a lot of fun with, even if I haven’t had much time to go back and check out Supergiant’s changes since routinely getting my arse kicked by Chronos and those damn sirens when it rolled into early access in a form that was just as good as the first game, if arguably not one capable of conclusively eclipsing such a hard act to follow.
Renaissance painting romp Death of the Reprobate might be the one of these that was my favourite discovery in hindsight, especially since I’m now in the process of going back and playing its Pythonesque point-and-click predecessors, which are just as unique and hilarious.
That’s five just off the top of my head, and it doesn’t include great Steam next fest demos for stuff like Keep Driving.
Though, as I said, every year has its cool indie things, so with that in mind, here’s the real best thing it’s important to shout out when it comes to helping make 2024 in video games as great as it was at times. Mods.
Sure, every year has plenty of good and noteworthy mods, and it’s a space that’s been starting to be recognised more by many major and minor publishers for the key role it can play in helping people get even more out of their games – especially those big single-player RPGs I like – for a few years now, 2024 was a big step forward.
Fallout: London, despite its buggy launch, was an unofficial full-blown Fallout game you could sink hundreds of hours into loving in a year that basically cried out for a fresh entry in the series due to the TV show whetting everyone’s appetites.
Larian’s addition of official mod support to Baldur’s Gate 3 – for both PC and consoles – helped 2023’s actual game of the year manage to outdo some of the metrics from the release year in which it basically blew all of us away.
CD Projekt’s release of REDkit modding tools for The Witcher 3 triggered a revival for that game, with competitions getting a lot of interesting entries from folks keen to try relatively advanced stuff like quest and new area design.
There are also plenty of 2024 releases that’ve been big on the modding front. From Stalker 2, to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and even occasionally the likes of Helldivers 2.
Heading into 2025, it feels like modding’s as big a part of what people love about gaming than ever before, and as someone who loves getting to write about them on the regular at work, that’s this year’s biggest bright side for me.