It was always going to be hard to top 2023 but 2024 didn’t even come close in my opinion. Naturally, I don’t play everything that comes out but there also wasn’t a lot I was really interested in. Probably the biggest AAA release that I wanted to play but didn’t this year was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 which was a long-awaited (and unexpected) sequel to a game I quite enjoyed. I am sure I will get to it sometime and by all accounts, it was very good. Apart from this, the only two games that I wanted to play but haven’t are Animal Well and Penny’s Big Breakaway. The former was the first title published by Bigmode which was founded by YouTuber “videogamedunkey” and his wife. The latter was a new game from the creators of Sonic Mania. As with Space Marine 2, I am sure I will get to both of these eventually.
Most of the games I’ve played are once again Nintendo published and interestingly, Nintendo didn’t win even one of the “super official” Game Awards for 2024 for all that matters. The big winner there was the PlayStation 5 exclusive Astro Bot which honestly does look fun and something I would play if it were to become available on PC or another platform. It is hardly something that would prompt me to spend hundreds of dollars on a new console though.
World of Goo 2
This release was mostly ignored by the mainstream gaming media which surprises me given that it is a sequel to one of the earliest independent success stories made possible by digital distribution. Nowadays anything with a budget and scope smaller than a Hollywood action film gets described as “Indie” even when backed by a major publisher. World of Goo was released in 2008 for WiiWare and on PC. I played it on the latter though it was one of the titles that demonstrated what could be done with the limitations placed on titles released for WiiWare.
It is odd to get a sequel to this such a long time later and on first booting it up, it is hard to believe that sixteen years have elapsed as it is all immediately recognisable. As of writing, I haven’t played all the way through but I have played enough to know I enjoy it. It is very familiar but also does include new gameplay elements not present in the original that show the original concept was far from exhausted.
One thing I will say is the developers offered the game directly through the game’s website (which uses the HumbleBundle storefront). Apart from on Nintendo Switch, it is only available outside of this on the Epic Games Store so I just bought it directly for full price with the soundtrack. I often wait for sales but if the full price is going mostly to the developers, I am more likely to be more generous so here is hoping more start making this an option.
Although I’ve still got a little way to go, I can already recommend this game.
Princess Peach: Showtime!
This was developed by Good-Feel who also developed Wario Land: The Shake Dimension (Wario Land: Shake It!), Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Yoshi’s Woolly World though it isn’t a straight 2D platformer as these titles were. I initially had no intention of getting this but decided to after seeing a glowing review from a very enthusiastic Nintendo fan. More seriously, I have a daughter who was interested in playing it and so I did too.
The last game with Princess Peach as the main character was Super Princess Peach on Nintendo DS which hilariously included the ability to control her emotions as a gameplay mechanic. Princess Peach: Showtime! is a side-scroller but allows movement into the background and foreground similar to beat ’em ups. As the title suggests, it is set in a theatre and all the levels are designed like a stage show with different themes including costumes that give Peach unique powers. Some of these are more like rhythm or party games but the majority are more action orientated and these tend to be more fun. These various abilities are tied to specific levels and can’t be mixed and matched.
I enjoyed the game and only had a few issues with some design decisions such as unskippable cutscenes. There is a fair bit of variety but the game is over quickly and only extended by typical collectables including various dresses but then this is certainly a very girly game and I am not the target audience.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Judging by general consensus, this seems to have been the best received Nintendo game of the year. As with Princess Peach: Showtime!, this is another case of the damsel becoming the hero but not in the obnoxious way we’ve come to expect in other media. This is the first time Nintendo has had Zelda as the protagonist if you exclude one of the infamous Philips CD-i titles which Nintendo most certainly do.
Echoes of Wisdom was developed by Grezzo who developed the Link’s Awakening remake from a few years back and this shares the same aesthetic which I liked. It is also a twist on tradition gameplay wise as Zelda is able to make “echoes” which are copies of various objects, items and even enemies within the game world. This is used for everything including combat, puzzles and traversal though she can still call upon an echo of Link for combat too.
It was certainly fun but though a different game, had a similar problem to that I had with Scribblenauts which released on Nintendo DS in 2009. The latter title allowed you to make almost anything appear by typing it in on the screen. The vast majority of these had very little utility and the same is true in with regards to the various echoes. I quickly found a few objects and enemy types that were most useful and neglected most of the others. The best example is the bed which is one of the earliest acquired and allows you to make stairs and can even slowly restores hearts if you lie in it. So the game has a novel concept but in practise, very few of the available echoes will be used more than one time — if at all. There are even a few that only exist for a specific purpose at certain points in the game.
This gets to the main problem with this game as a whole as it is one of those that has a whole lot of content that isn’t very useful. There are even mechanical assistants that can be created that I didn’t even bother with until the game was nearly over. By the time you’ve got most of the items, there is nothing much left to do except play around or acquire more items and collectables.
Though this might sound overly critical, it was still an entertaining experience and even the limited end-game content was fun.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (remake)
I covered a lot of remakes and/or remasters last year and also pointed out the need for clear definitions between the two. Mario vs. Donkey Kong was originally released for Game Boy Advance and though I never played it, I was interested as it is a sequel to Donkey Kong (1994) for the original Game Boy which I reviewed a good while ago.
This is a full remake that includes new levels but someone who played through the original probably still isn’t missing out on much. This was almost exactly what I expected it to be and that isn’t a bad thing. It isn’t particularly long or challenging but it is highly engaging while it lasts.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
This was probably the biggest surprise of the year for me. I have mostly ignored new Mario Party releases which is a series that began on the Nintendo 64. I certainly have fond memories of the Nintendo 64 titles and also played at least two on the GameCube. The last one I remember playing was on Wii U and I didn’t like it. So I generally assumed the series was stagnant but that is not the case if judged only by this entry.
This is the best title I have played in the series since the GameCube and it has a lot to offer beyond the standard Mario Party boards. I noticed that this was nominated for ‘Best Family Game’ and lost to Astro Bot which is a single-player game as are all the other nominees besides this. I considered writing another post asking whether the Game Awards understand their own categories but it will be enough to say it here. Surely a ‘Family Game’ is one that can be played with your family and not just games rated ‘G’ or ‘E’? A quick look through previous years suggests this has mostly been the case. Then again, that downloadable content was one of the nominations for ‘Game of the Year’ should give you some explanation of the inconsistencies these awards continue to show year to year.
Regardless of all this, I would rate this as the best game for Nintendo Switch for 2024 and probably the best overall.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
This released late in the year after all the awards nonsense was over with and this is the only mainstream AAA game I played this year. This was developed by MachineGames which developed the excellent Wolfenstein: The New Order from 2014 and then made a number of mostly terrible sequels/spin-offs to that title. I had considered them done as a company but it seems not as this game was very good.
The main thing to state is that this was a visually impressive game and the first time I’ve been genuinely “wowed” by a game since Battlefield 3. It is also a mostly fun game too. I say “mostly” because I found my enjoyment declined pretty consistently as I played and just wanted it to be over by the end. The main fun to be had are in three different open-world areas which are in the Vatican, Egypt and Sukhothai in Siam (Thailand). These all involved a mission based structure that encouraged exploration and stealth mechanics. Indy’s signature scrappy fighting style is well-implemented and you can make use of a number of objects in combat. Firearms are available but discouraged as you’re generally outnumbered, have limited ammunition and weapon fire brings the heat down fast. There are also a number of clever puzzles to be found throughout with all the clichés the franchise is famous for.
The main problem with the game is what is inherent in “modern game design”. There are some scripted action sequences and also some more linear moments at other locations which drag out the game and are not fun. I found myself wishing by the end that they had narrowed the scope of the game and put more focus on the parts that make the game genuinely refreshing from most other AAA slop. I would actually recommend first time players just play the game and mostly ignore the side-content as it can all be come back to later.
That said, it is still a fun game and notably distinguishes itself from the well-known Indiana Jones imitators: Tomb Raider and Uncharted.
UPDATE: I decided to review the game and it can be found here.
2025 is looking to be an interesting year not so much because of what is known but what is unknown. The successor to the Nintendo Switch could be announced as early as this month and will probably be out before the end of the year too. 2024 was marked by a number of big budget failures with Ubisoft being the company most affected and also most at fault. They will be sending out Assassin’s Creed Shadows to die early this year and I can only hope the whole company will follow after all the slop they’ve been releasing for well over a decade now. They are from alone with this though and I expect we’ll see more studios and publishers closing their doors this year.
The only known game I am really excited about is Kingdom Come: Deliverance II which was officially announced and originally set to be released in 2024. I wrote about the original in 2022 and played through it again last year in anticipation for the sequel. Outside of this, I am expecting Nintendo will have a few big announcements to coincide with the launch of their follow-up to the Switch.