The year 2024 could be considered a rather “mixed” year as far as video game releases goes. From highly anticipated titles like Black Myth: Wukong, surprise hits like Astro Bot, and huge disappointments like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, watching the reactions and feedback to all these wildly varied game releases has certainly been entertaining to behold. Despite the wackiness this year, there have still been plenty of great game releases, and we’ll be discussing our personal favorites here in Gaming Respawn’s Game of the Year 2024. Check it out!
Daniel Garcia-Montes
Dragon’s Dogma II
Once again, not many games were vying for the position of my personal GOTY this year. Not that there weren’t a lot of good games released this year, I just wasn’t too interested in many of them. The only games that had my attention were Dragon’s Dogma II and Rise of the Ronin. The latter was fun but way too bloated and repetitive, so for me, Dragon’s Dogma II proved to be the easy choice between the two for my GOTY of 2024. I mean, I was a pretty big fan of the original Dragon’s Dogma, despite its faults and the occasional jank, so when I first heard that a sequel was on the way, I was overjoyed. I was certain that Dragon’s Dogma was one of those “semi-one-hit wonders” that was never going to get a sequel, so finding out it would get a sequel after all these years was a nice surprise.
There were some disappointing elements with Dragon’s Dogma II, the main one being that enemy variety wasn’t quite comparable to what was on offer in the first game. There were a handful of new enemies, but they weren’t game-changers. The were also some new vocations for the Arisen and the Pawns, but they came at the cost of some vocations from the first game not returning. The game wasn’t a perfect sequel that blew its predecessor out of the water, but overall, it did do most things better. The combat was more intense and engaging, the story was (a bit) better, the graphics were far superior, and the open world was more varied and enjoyable to explore. There was certainly room for improvement, but Dragon’s Dogma II was definitely the most fun I had playing a game this year.
Bryan Applegate
Persona 3 Reload
For my Gaming Respawn Game of the Year, I go with Persona 3 Reload. Does it have problems? Yes. It has only one problem: Episode Aigis- The Answer from Persona 3 FES was relegated to DLC duty, and the intensity of some of the cutscenes from both The Answer DLC and the main game were toned down to cater to a wider audience who started with Persona 5. Some scenes had extra impact, which created a tonal dissonance for me when playing through Xbox Cloud Gaming via Game Pass Ultimate.
So, what is there to love about it? Everything else! The new Thurgy attacks add a new layer of strategy to combat as you time their uses to inflict maximum damage and/or down enemies for all-out attack opportunities. Furthermore, Social Links in this iteration are impossible to break. Side stories are also included to give your party members more weight to being there, besides filling specific party roles. Furthermore, you can, like in Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 onwards, control your party’s actions in battle.
Exploration within Tartarus is also more encouraged than the original Persona 3 FES. Also, Shuffle Time is similar to Persona 4 Golden‘s version of the mini-game. The story is the same as it ever was. All the memorable beats and tragedies are included and accounted for, making this – in my opinion – the definitive way to play Persona 3. Yeah, it also doesn’t feature Kotone-chun, but it got me excited for Persona 6, and for that above all else, it’s my pick for Gaming Respawn Game of the Year.
Will Worrall
Crow Country
My choice for Game of the Year has been both disappointing and tough this year. In the first part, it is disappointing because I was rather hoping that Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1& 2 Remastered would top this list and save me the job of picking. In the end, however, Aspyr’s handling of that particular masterpiece was a little ham-fisted and has left me too cold to give the game and story the credit that they deserve.
The tough part has been choosing between my two, probably more deserving, GOTY choices. In the end, it was only by a narrow margin that Crow Country managed to beat out Thank Goodness You’re Here! (still unsure on this one.). Both games are indie affairs made by British developers, and both captured my heart, but while Thank Goodness You’re Here! feels like the sort of game I’m going to play again once in a blue moon, Crow Country is the sort of game I’m not sure I’m ever going to stop playing.
If you’re not familiar with the game (which you should be if you’re a regular reader), Crow Country is a PS1-revivalist survival horror, with more than a little in common with games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. You’re exploring an abandoned theme park with tank controls, limited inventory, and health indicated by a changing ‘condition’ EKG readout. You also have a bunch of puzzles to solve and enemies to fend off, but you also have to make careful use of your resources, which are severely limited (depending on your difficulty setting.)
The real thing that makes this game so amazing is the fact that it manages to introduce enough modern QOL features to be an easily playable classic, and it plays on various tropes of the genre that you’ll be able to pick out if you’re a fan. In general, the semi-tongue-in-cheek attitude goes a long way towards making this game so enjoyable, and with SFB at the helm, that isn’t particularly surprising. These folks have been parodying games for so long, they’re basically masters at this point, so if you’ve not already given it a go, I highly recommend you try out Crow Country immediately. Also, British people, try out Thank Goodness You’re Here!, it deserves the attention too.
Peter Keen
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
My Game of the Year 2024.
For me, there are four games in contention: Astro Bot, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II, Stellar Blade, and Helldivers II. Each should win awards for something this year.
Helldivers II – Best Multiplayer. Astro Bot – Best Level Design. Stellar Blade – Best New IP, Best Art Direction, Best Gameplay Mechanics.
Yet, despite all that, my game of the year is Space Marine II. All of the above have captured my excitement at playing them, but Space Marine II just does everything so well. What was also surprising was the quality of the presentation and the overall standard of the game. I genuinely put the game on, and I don’t know if I want to play the campaign, operations (the co-op mode), or multiplayer as each of them offers something a little different but are all excellent fun to play. Couple this with the free content the game offers and a road map full of new and exciting upcoming events and modes, this means that not only am I hooked on the game already, but I’ll be hooked for the foreseeable future as well.
Ultimately, the reason Space Marine II wins my vote is that it is just so much fun to play. You feel like a total badass when playing it, and the lead character, Titus, basically (to me anyway) feels like playing Kratos from God of War but with guns! How fun is that?!
Matthew Wojciow
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
I must admit finding a GOTY this year was actually pretty difficult. Not many new releases have blown me away in the same that previous years have, and I was this close to submitting Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 or Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown here, but one game swooped in to nab this title. I love the Indiana Jones film franchise a lot and even have a soft spot for the two newer films, so I was intrigued by how this game could turn out.
Machine Games have really knocked it out of the park with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. From that stellar opening, recreating the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, through to the weighty hand-to-hand combat and the awesome voice acting of veteran actor Troy Baker, there isn’t really an element I didn’t like. Each of the environments is well detailed, and you can see that nous that the developers picked up with the Wolfenstein franchise to recreate the period accurately. If you have Xbox Game Pass, you need to play this game ASAP, and when it comes to PlayStation next year, you need to play this one.
Tasha Quinn
Metaphor: ReFantazio
I feel like I’ve talked about Metaphor: ReFantazio a lot over the past couple of months, but here I am preparing to talk about it again. I haven’t played all that many new releases this year, but the ones I have played have all been pretty impressive. I enjoyed the challenge and the interesting adaptation of Chinese mythology that Black Myth: Wukong offered, as well as the new direction in which Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has been taking its series.
The game I’ve enjoyed the most, though, has been Metaphor: ReFantazio. I went into Atlus’ latest offering with high hopes, and it didn’t let me down. They’ve taken the traditional RPG formula and worked their magic to make something familiar yet different.
Outside of its flashy graphics, epic music, and tried-and-tested battle mechanics, what I like the most about Metaphor is that it makes you think. It thoughtfully touches on real-world issues, such as discrimination and coming together to overcome anxiety, but it does so in an eloquent way that doesn’t detract from the fantasy setting or make it feel like the developers were forcing an agenda.
Each character is complex and well-written, with their own hang-ups and motivations. This is something Atlus has always done well – from party members to side characters and villains, everyone has some depth to them – and Metaphor continues this trend.
I also appreciated the way Archetypes were implemented. Unlike Personas, where only the protagonist can switch between them, any character can use a specific Archetype, which allows you greater control over the makeup of your party.
As a fan of both the Persona series and fantasy RPGs in general, Metaphor: ReFantazio has just about everything I want in a game, so it’s no real surprise it’s my Game of the Year.
