2024 in Review: My Favorite Games

It’s a rare year that sees me playing more than a few games that were actually released that same year, but one of the best things about Game Pass is that I could try out games I usually wouldn’t have bought to see if I’d like them. That’s led to some fun experiences with games like Ghostlore, Loop Hero, Midnight Fight Express, and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, as well as two all-time favorites: Citizen Sleeper and Slay the Spire. It’s also let me DNF a few games that ultimately weren’t for me without feeling like I’d wasted money on them, including Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, both of which had severe difficulty spikes that killed my interest, and Octopath Traveler II, which I liked but didn’t love enough for it to stick.

2024 turned out to be a transitional year, though, with several non-Game Pass games piquing my interest enough to buy them without a sampling opportunity, ultimately leading to me reducing my Game Pass subscription from Ultimate to Core next year because I now own several games I want to play more than anything that’s currently available on, or coming to, the service. Ironically, that’s partly the fault of one game I only played because it was on Game Pass to begin with, which ended up being my favorite of the year and leading to my buying what might be my 2025 favorite.

Honorable Mentions

Personally, 2024 was one of the best years for gaming in a long time, and I even played more acclaimed new releases than usual. I also replayed several old favorites that remain in heavy rotation, some as palate cleansers, some as in-between mains. These were my favorites, a few of which could have been my game of the year in any other year.

Old Faves

In the age of live service games, 2024 found me more interested in single-player narrative experiences, but I still carved out time throughout the year for Titanfall 2 and For Honor when I wanted some mindless fun. Both games were deleted from my hard drive last month, though, in favor of a couple of new faves that scratch a similar itch. At the other end of the replayable spectrum, Dead Cells and Slay the Spire continue to be more thoughtful and engaging palate cleansers, joined in heavy rotation by a new fave.

2024 Faves

• Football Manager 2024 (Windows): Technically a late-2023 release, and once again the game I put the most hours into, it remains the best RPG ever, although as an iterative release, it’ll probably never be my GOTY. It was one of the games that justified my Game Pass subscription, but as the final iteration before a major overhaul next year, I may buy 2024 on Steam just in case the new version needs a season or two to get everything right.
• Marvel Rivals: Is it an Overwatch clone? 100%. But it’s also a lot more fun than Overwatch has been in years, and the wildly unbalanced, chaotic gameplay suggests it won’t get stale any time soon. It’s one of the two games that led to me uninstalling Titanfall 2 and For Honor, partly because playing as Moon Knight is way more fun than I was expecting.
• Diablo IV: Overtaken by my 2023 GOTY, Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor – Martyr, as my King of ARPGs, it’s belated addition to Game Pass was perfectly timed and I played the hell out of it for a couple of months. I was fully prepared to buy the expansion, too, until the next three games completely changed how I thought about Game Pass and my owned games library.
• Balatro: What questionable life choices have I made that this game joined Dead Cells and Slay the Spire as one of my favorite relaxing palate cleansers?!? It’s fun, challenging, and addictive, and I’m glad I only have it on my Xbox because I’d never get anything else done if I had it on my phone, too.
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II: Am I officially a Warhammer 40k fan now? Even though I still haven’t played Rogue Trader yet, its existence lit a spark that led me to Inquisitor – Martyr, the Eisenhorn quadrilogy, and many hours of lore videos. Throughout all of that, I had zero interest in the iconic Space Marines. My son convinced me to check this out, though, and it was getting strong reviews, so I bought the Ultimate Edition and have no regrets! It’s a perfect example of how an engaging narrative combined with tight mechanics doesn’t require a 100+ hour campaign to justify its price tag, and it’s a legit GOTY candidate for me. It’s the other game that dethroned Titanfall 2 and For Honor, as its replayable Operations and decent PVP modes are fun to drop into when I need a break from my immersive main.
• Metaphor: ReFantazio: I’m only (maybe?) 1/4th into the game so far, but it has GOTY potential — if not for Persona 3 Reload. Oddly, I probably wouldn’t have played it if not for experiencing Persona 3 Reload first through Game Pass, but I was so impressed by P3R and the buzz Metaphor was getting, I bought the physical collector’s edition before I’d even finished P3R! Considering I’ll play the majority of it in 2025, and it’s got a pretty good soundtrack of its own, it’s already the early frontrunner for next year’s GOTY.

GOTY: Persona 3 Reload

I wrote a ton of positive words about P3R when I was only 40 hours into what I thought was a 90-hour game, and when I finally finished it after 150 hours, it mostly stuck the landing on its ambitiously high difficulty narrative. I intended to write a big follow-up to that post, but other than expanding on how the story plays out, there’s not much more to add. It’s ultimately greater than the sum of its parts, but a few of those parts are particularly notable.

I loved the turn-based combat and Persona mechanics, and how engaging with different NPCs was an important part of the leveling process, and I’m enjoying it even more in Metaphor: ReFantazio where they’ve mixed it up just enough to be fresh but familiar.

I still think about several characters’ storylines, including ones I didn’t get to finish, and the finale’s nod to the people you connect with throughout the game is a standout moment. Junpei’s might be my favorite for balancing two of the most annoying characters and one of the most engaging subplots, which also tied into a specific gameplay mechanic. I dropped him from my squad several times, but his storyline kept organically pushing him back into the mix, and I finished the game with him, Yukari, and Aegis as my main go-tos.

As an unexpected bonus, P3R‘s expanded soundtrack is among the best I’ve ever heard in a game, so much so that it dominated my YouTube Music stats as my most listened to songs and artists of the year!

Next Year?

I’m excited about continuing to play through the aforementioned Metaphor: ReFantazio, and bought Disco Elysium – The Final Cut, Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition, and Persona 5 Royal on sale for Xbox a few months ago. I’ve also dusted off my neglected Steam account and bought Civilization VI and Rogue Trader, the latter of which will definitely be my next immersive main when I’m done with Metaphor.

Of the many, many new games currently scheduled for release in 2025, it’s not a terribly exciting year for me, with South of Midnight the only notable one I’m curious about, and it doesn’t even have a firm date announced yet. Fortunately, I have plenty of backlist games I already own to enjoy, so that’s not a major concern for me.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.