My 2024 In Gaming
(Following on from my old "2021 in Gaming" post, here's a look at my feelings about the various games I played in 2024. Just keep in mind this is everything I happened to play for the first time in 2024, not specifically only games that released that year. Now featuring arbitrary ratings!)
Super Mario RPG (Switch) - 9.5/10
I've always considered the original Super Mario RPG on SNES to be one of my all time favorite games, so when a full fledged remake was announced for Switch it was probably the most hyped I've been for a remake in a long time. Overall I'd say this new version of Super Mario RPG easily lives up to the original, and does a good job updating the style and presentation of the game while still preserving its original charm. The visuals are great, the re-arranged soundtrack is stellar, and basically everything I loved about the original is still in place. The new super moves and buffed dodge mechanics are also interesting additions, though I will say they do make the game feel even easier than it already was. The new UI is also a bit less charming than the original, though I can't deny that it's also much more readable. Overall I couldn't ask for much more from a remake of one of my favorite games.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Switch) - 8/10
While I love RPGs and consider the original Mario RPG to be one of my favorite games, and have frequently heard great things about the classic Paper Mario games, I never actually played the original Thousand Year Door on GameCube. The game had always been on my gaming bucket list, so this Switch remake was a good excuse to finally jump in and see what all the hype was about. Part of me was expecting the game not to live up to the hype that's build up over the last 20 years, but in the end I must say I was impressed. The characters are all charming and well written, the story is engaging and for the most part well written, if a bit barebones at times, every new world you visit feels creative and unique, and the story's chapter format keeps things moving forward at a good pace and never makes any one character or area feel like it overstays its welcome. Vivian was probably my favorite of the main cast, and the way the remake handled her story arc makes me glad that Nintendo is seemingly no longer afraid to address issues related to gender identity. The Excess Express and its *Murder on the Orient Express* parody was also a highlight for me, and I did get a kick out of the wrestling storyline in the Glitz Pit for [hopefully obvious reasons.] I know people did complain about the remake only running at 30fps compared to the GameCube original's 60, but I can't say I ever noticed the FPS and also feel like the beautiful new graphics more than make up for it anyways. In the end, while I doubt any Mario RPGs will ever top the original Super Mario RPG for me, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door definitely now occupies a close second place.
Hollow Knight - 9/10
I've actually owned Hollow Knight for several years and had attempted to play through it at least three times over the years, but for some reason it took me until 2024 to actually properly commit to the game. Now that I've finally played through the game, I can say I finally get what the hype was all about. I've admittedly always had a bit of trouble really getting into Metroidvanias, but this is possibly one of the best Metroidvania-style games I've ever experienced. The world is super well designed and atmospheric, the bosses are just the right balance of fun and challenging, and there's so many different places to go and things to do that it never feels like you just have to wander around for the sake of it. Hollow Knight is also the perfect example of a game that knows how to show and not tell, both in how it trains the player on using the various mechanics as well as how it presents its story. I will say though, while the difficulty level does feel fair for the most part, by the time I got most of the game's major collectables and beat the final boss I didn't really have much desire to complete any bonus objectives. I'm by no means a completionist, and if getting 100% completion (or 117%, in this case) requires beating a True Arena-style boss rush against bosses with this level of difficulty, then I'm more than content with the 88% I finished off with. That said, I'd still definitely recommend the game for anyone who enjoys Metroidvanias, and I suppose this means I can now officially join the circus in the wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Super Kiwi 64 - 6/10
Super Kiwi 64 is quite possibly the most nothingburger game I've played in recent memory. It's not even really a *bad* game, it's just such a dull, mindless experience that I can't really say anything particularly good about it either. Visually it tries to mimic the style of Rare'a N64 games, but it doesn't quite hit the mark and ends up feeling a bit flat and stilted. The levels are also incredibly short while also being so easy you can practically finish them while sleeping. There's nothing buggy or broken about the game, but all 45 minutes of the experience were entirely forgettable. I could see it serving as a decent starting point for a sequel, but as it stands I really can't say I recommend it.
Fallout: London - 7.5/10
I hadn't actually heard of Fallout: London until a few weeks before it came out, so I pretty much went into the mod with zero expectations. I do love Fallout 4, though, so I figured if it even came remotely close to the quality of the original game then I was in for a good time. While I admittedly never actually beat Fallout: London, I did spend quite lot of hours in the game and I'd still say I had a good time with it. In a lot of ways comparing Fallout: London to Fallout 4 reminds me of comparing Fallout: New Vegas to Fallout 3; same game engine, same core gameplay and a lot of the same central themes and ideas, but designed and presented by a different team with unique goals and game design ideas. However, while Falout: London does compare favorably to the official Fallout games in a lot of ways, and I did enjoy my time with the game, it did have its fair share of problems as well. The balancing isn't perfect, the map design can be hit or miss, with some particularly big misses in terms of how easy it is to read and navigate certain environments, and there is a slightly amateur-ish feeling to the game overall that I felt became more obvious the longer I played. With all that said though, while Fallout: London doesn't 100% match the quality I'd expect from an official Fallout game, it's easily at least 90% of the way there. After all, it is worth remembering that it isn't an official Fallout game, and the fact that a fan-made mod is able to feel as close to the official games as it does is incredibly impressive in its own right. While I sill prefer Fallout 4 in the end, I think Fallout: London will absolutely be remembered as one of the best fangames ever made.
Halo 4 - 6.5/10
Having slowly worked my way through Bungie's original Halo games between 2021 and 2023, I was definitely curious to try Halo 4 in part just to learn why it and the other 343 Halo entries were so much more divisive. Purely in terms of gameplay I think Halo 4 might actually be my favorite in the series so far, in large part just because they finally added a dedicated run button. Where the game really faultered for me was the story. Things start off decently enough, picking up where Halo 3 left off, though I can't say I loved the decision to make the initial villains a resurrected Covenant after that entire plotline was pretty cleanly resolved in the original trilogy. Other than that though I actually enjoyed the story up until around the game's halfway point, at which point (spoiler alert), they introduce the *real* villains out of the blue while simultaneously declaring Master Chief to be some kind of chosen one. After this bizarre revalation, the remainder of the game then feels like a neck-breaking sprint to resolve every plot point they introduced up to that point despite it supposedly being the starting point for a new trilogy. I genuinely feel like this would've been a better game had the basic plot they set up been spread across an entire trilogy, thus allowing the story and its characters to actually be fleshed out instead of just feeling like a checklist to resolve before the end of the game.
Halo 3 ODST - 7/10
Yeah, I played Halo 3 ODST after Halo 4. Honestly I kind of forgot ODST even existed for a while, and even after playing it the game hasn't really stuck with me. I don't really have much to say about the game, good or bad to be honest. The open world exploration design did make things interesting, but overall it just kinda felt like more Halo 3. The non-linear story was also kinda interesting and did help to sell the game's darker atmosphere as your character struggles to piece together his memories of recent events, but unfortunately the characters themselves didn't really do much for me. I did like Halo 3 ODST's story more than Halo 4's at the very least, and I commend it for trying to mix things up and do something different with the Halo formula, but the end results are just forgettably hit-or-miss.
Sonic Superstars - 6/10
Sonic Superstars sure is a Sonic game. This game clearly wanted to be Sonic Mania 2 so badly, and it just really, *really* isn't. It's not even an especially bad game for the most part, the controls are fine, graphics are colorful, characters are fun, and the new chaos emerald powers are actually pretty neat. If the only classic-style Sonic games it had to compete against were Sonic Forces and Sonic 4, I might even call it a good game and a return to form for the series. Unfortunately, in a world where Sonic Mania exists, Sonic Superstars just doesn't hold up. The level design is pretty bland and repetitive, the way powerups are implemented is pretty hit or miss, boss fights are a slog, and the references and callbacks to Mania peppered throughout the game mostly just made me want to close the game and boot up Sonic Mania instead. If you liked Sonic Mania or the original Genesis Sonic games you may very well like Superstars too, just don't go in expecting Mania 2 or you'll find nothing but disappointment.
Sonic X Shadow Generations - 8.5/10
Sonic Generations is probably my favorite 3D Sonic game, even in spite of its somewhat lackluster original PC port, so when an enhanced remaster with a whole new campaign added on was announced I was definitely keen to pick it up. Now, the Sonic Generations half of this bundle isn't particularly noteworthy. It's still the same boost-style Sonic game it's always been, same levels, same story and all. Lives are now optional, the voice acting has been redone, there's been some slight tweaks to the game's script, and they added a somewhat awkward take on Sonic Mania's drop dash, but for the most part it's the same as ever. The real meat of this release is Shadow Generations, an all-new campaign that serves as both a second Generations-style anniversary game with a new selection of retro stages, as well as a sequel to 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog game. While still using the boost formula, Shadow Generations' gameplay is much closer in style to Sonic Frontiers than it is the original Sonic Generations. This does take some getting used to when coming fresh out of Sonic's campaign, but I think it does feel much tighter and more responsive in the long run. Also, rather than getting two distinct gameplay styles like Sonic, Shadow's main gimmick is instead a variety of new "doom" powers, which add additional mechanics and challenges to his levels. I personally find these new powerups to be somewhat hit-or-miss, but overall I feel the new selection of stages are just as good or better than many of Sonic's. My only other minor complaint would be the game's length, I do feel Shadow Generations would have benefited from having at least one more stage included, particularly a stage based on the 2005 Shadow the Hedgehog game since no levels from that game are featured for some reason. Overall though, this is still an excellent game and probably one of the best Sonic games in recent years.
Sonic Frontiers - 8/10
If it wasn't obvious, I went through a bit of a Sonic phase this past year. Sonic Frontiers is a very odd entry in the Sonic series, effectively taking the best aspects of the "boost" style Sonic games and applying that style of gameplay to the framework of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While this combination might sound strange at first, I was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually feels to play in practice. Sonic handles really well in this game, and I think my favorite part of the overall experience was just running around exploring the open zones and seeing what I could find. Weirdly, I feel like the weakest part of this game is actually the more structured levels dotted across the map, which the game requires you to complete to progress the story. While the open zones were all fairly unique and provided a unique new style for 3D Sonic gameplay, these more traditional stages just ended up feeling boring and repetitive, a feeling that wasn't helped by their repeated reuse of assets and level designs from past Sonic titles. I don't think anyone was asking for another "boost" Sonic game featuring Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone, but at least this time they're mercifully short and broken up by the far more interesting open maps. Overall I think Shadow Generations did a superior job at balancing a mix of open exploration with linear levels, but Sonic Frontiers is still a solid experience and provided the framework that I hope Sega continues to stick with.
Stardew Valley - 9/10
Here's another entry for the list of beloved games I've owned for ages but never played until recently. Much like Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley is a game I had tried and failed to get into multiple times, only for something to finally click in my most recent playthrough. At this point I don't know what more there even is to say about Stardew that hasn't already been said hundreds of times over the years. It's just a charming little Harvest Moon style farming simulator, with cute characters, good writing and lots of possible objectives. Events are fun, building a farm is fun, exploring dungeons is fun, it's just all around a fun game both solo or with friends. My only real complaint is I wish the in-game days lasted longer, as later in the game you can sometimes feel a bit rushed to get all your daily tasks done in only 15 IRL minutes.
HoloCure: Save the Fans - 9/10
Yes, the vtuber game, shut up. I have nothing against vtubers in general and have a few that I enjoy watching on occasion, but I know very little about Hololive specifically. I think I've seen one or two streams from the English Hololive members, but I obviously have no idea what's going on with the Japanese side of things which I think is the main focus. That said, you really don't need to know much about Hololive or vtubers in general to recognize that HoloCure is a genuinely great game in its own right. The game is basically a Vampire Survivors style shoot-em-up/"bullet heaven", combined with a bonus life sim and parlor game collection. There's dozens of characters, weapons, upgrades and stages to unlock and hundreds of different possible loadouts you can use to progress through the game, and all of this is tied up in a neatly presented package. The game arguably rivals Vampire Survivor itself in terms of how much content it offers, with the bonus highlight of being completely free. There is a pretty obvious anime/idol vibe as one might expect, and the various characters and items throughout the game are almost certainly packed with references that go right over my head, but I don't think either of these things take away from HoloCure being a fun game in its own right.
Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds - 8.5/10
Rounding out this year's reviews is the obligatory MMORPG expansion. Since 2021 I've continued to play through and enjoy Guild Wars 2, and have enjoyed each of the expansions that have come out for it in the years since to varying degrees. Overall, 2024's Janthir Wilds was no different, introducing some beautiful new maps and introducing an entertaining new questline with some charming bear people. The characters, both new and returning, are fun, while the newly-added/reworked spear weapon and warclaw mount offer some interesting new options for players. I am a bit wary about the future content drops that ArenaNet plans to use to extent and eventually conclude the expansion, given the content drops for the previous Secrets of the Obscure expansion were a bit lackluster, but I'm hopeful they've learned from their mistakes since then.