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Unknown 9: Awakening is an ambitious single-player action game that takes some bold swings with regards to its stealth combat, character arcs, and universe building. And though it’s sad that the lack of budget and inability to get out of its own way with lore often means it doesn’t always deliver on them, there’s still enough ambition and creative choices made here that players craving a linear cinematic story in the vein of Uncharted should at least check it out. Stepping into enemies to kill off others is repeatedly fun, the globe-trotting venture is big in scope, and Haroona herself has many attractive qualities. As the first piece of a wider universe, Unknown 9: Awakening has its merits; I just hope that its many rough edges are sanded off in time for a potential sequel.
What could have been an overstuffing of gameplay styles old and new has quite literally turned out to be a jamboree of a good time for Mario’s most chaotic franchise. A few unbalanced mini-games and over-talkative tutorials aside, Super Mario Party Jamboree strikes a good balance between giving players options with how they’d like to play while also providing a good sprinkling of board game twists – most obviously through the new brilliant Jamboree Buddy system. If you’ve been previously left disillusioned by previous Mario Party games on Nintendo Switch, this is easily the best entry on the platform, guaranteed to give family and friends a fun but frenetic time.
Neva is a Ghibli-esque adventure of torture, triumph, and friendship that won’t fail to tug on your heart strings. Combining beautiful visuals, with precise platforming and combat that coats every action you make with endless heart, it’s easily one of the best games of the year and by far my favourite indie of 2024. I’ve never felt so emotionally attached to an animal companion – which is thanks to the carefully crafted bond Nomada Studios built between the wolf and the girl, and by extension, the player; none of them made me want to take as big a leap as the ones I took to protect her. My only criticism of Neva is that I won’t be able to play it for the first time again; but the memory will stay with me forever.
The creepy town of Silent Hill looks and feels marvellous to explore in Bloober Team's mostly faithful remake, being a good (but not great) way to revisit a stone-cold classic.
Metaphor: ReFantazio presents a few nips and tucks to a template true JRPG fans will recognize without ever losing the essence of what made its predecessors so enthralling in the first place. And true, while there are some areas where it would have been nice to see it stray further away from aspects that both Persona and Shin Megami Tensei popularised, it’s hard to complain when said titles are considered some of the best JRPGs ever made.
I went into The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom wondering about where the direction of more classic Zelda games might go. Now, after rolling credits, I was delighted to see that Nintendo has (mostly) been able to find a nice middle ground about how to best pay tribute to this classic adventure series’ past while also incorporating elements of where it is now, thanks to the likes of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel. While it’s true that echo summoning is full of potential it also has its limits, as proven by that last pesky dungeon and many of the 127 featured echoes doubling up for one other. This, combined with the Nintendo Switch continuing to show its age via some less-than-ideal technical performance, holds Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom back from achieving true legendary status. However, Zelda’s time in the spotlight is still a refreshing and often surprising top-down adventure that, thanks to its central idea, comfortably stands apart from what’s come before.
Overall, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a genuinely well put together remake, but it’s one that by nature of its approach can’t help but stay caught between two eras. If you’re a newcomer wanting to play for the first time or a returning veteran with priors, there’s no doubt that this is the definitive version. That said, by nature of being so faithful to the 2006 version – aside from the significant graphical upgrade, new voice lines, lighting, better mechanics, and such – enough slight drawbacks slowly pile up to prevent it from becoming the ultimate perfect package it perhaps could have been. The emphasis on backtracking still annoys, as does the incredibly simplistic boss fights, yet there’s no denying that, faults and all, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster solidifies Capcom as the king of the modern remake.
If someone were to ask me why it is I love video games, I’d immediately tell them to play Astro Bot. No other title in recent memory has done a better job at instilling the sheer wonder only a medium as interactive as this can provide. Much more than a super-loaded sequel with even more creative levels and mechanics, Astro Bot celebrates the entire medium by delivering unbridled joy distilled into a charming 3D platformer. I never cry at games, but one extended sequence based on one specific PlayStation series saw me come extremely close. That sort of magic doesn’t come around very often, but it’s a kind of magic Astro Bot frequently thrives on. Should you enjoy games in any capacity whatsoever, you absolutely owe it to yourself to share in this magic too.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is one of the biggest surprises of 2024 – one we all maybe should have seen coming. Not only is it a bigger, better sequel that improves exponentially via its visuals, gameplay, and sheer mode variety, it’s also a reminder that there can still be a place in everyone’s gaming palate for a rough-and-tough shooter that doesn’t care about being high art if treated with enough time, care, and passion. Sure, the reliance on lore will leave newcomers flummoxed and some Xbox 360 era sensibilities still bleed their way into mission design, but the crunchy combat, impressive graphics, and generous suite of game mode options stave off these minor quibbles. Regardless of whether you’re a Warhammer 40K person or not, Space Marine 2 is an essential addition to any avid shooter fan’s diet.
I had some amount of fun zooming through Tatooine’s dunes to Jabba’s palace on my speeder, commanding Nix as an extension of myself, and even uncovering fresh threads for Kay to wear. That said, the inconsistency of each open-world coupled with undercooked stealth mechanics, poor technical performance on console, and the frankly odd implementation of the Reputation system makes this not the open-world Star Wars game I was looking for.
In the end, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club successfully bridges the gap between classic and modern visual novel formats with ease. Because while, on the surface, it appears to share a lot in common with the revitalised Famicom Detective Club duology for Nintendo Switch from a few years back, there’s also some slightly new changes made to its mechanics and presentation that makes it ripe for relative newcomers to the genre. While it’s true that some lines of enquiry outstay their welcome and the correct dialogue action isn’t always made blatantly evident, the story of “Who is Emio?” didn’t disappoint me by the time the final credits rolled.
Black Myth: Wukong is an exceptionally well-playing and slick Soulslike adventure stacked to the rafters with memorable boss fights, an in-depth upgrade system, and some seriously good-looking environments. The fluidity of its staff-based combat combined with the litany of spells, spirits, and creature transformations make it a truly unique entry in the genre, offering more than enough challenge for FromSoftware veterans while still offering just about enough leeway for newcomers to be able to enjoy this epically grand mythological story. Bar a few small niggles with location layouts, and my disappointment with the stance system, Game Science has still crafted a new way to experience Journey to the West in the highly polished and gratifying-to-play Black Myth: Wukong.
Cygni: All Guns Blazing might not entirely reinvent the idea of what a vertically scrolling twin-stick shooter can be, but it does do an excellent job of offering genre fans something slightly different by playing with depth, shield/gun prioritisation, and some seriously punishing, yet rewarding, sections. Yes, you’ll likely be done with the story in just a few short hours, and the narrative largely comes off as melodramatic, but Cygni: All Guns Blazing still sits comfortably as an impressive visual treat compared to its peers and one of the most cinematic genre entries I’ve played in recent years.
Dungeons of Hinterberg could have easily buckled under the weight of its many systems, locations, and most important of all, dungeons. Perhaps against all odds, then, the team at Microbird Games has done a wonderful job keeping its debut game’s various plates spinning with exceptional flair, creating a truly memorable world in the Austrian-inspired Hinterberg that is fun to explore, thrilling to be in, and packed with some of the most inventive (yet never stressful) dungeons I’ve played in a third-person The Legend of Zelda-like such as this in ages. True, while combat isn’t especially spectacular and it would have been nice to see Luisa’s customised gear better represented on her person, Dungeons of Hinterberg is still absolutely one of my personal indie game highlights of 2024. It's a cosy slay-cation worth taking.
Though Hellblade 2 has the power to force your jaw open and give you goosebumps, too often the whole project ends up feeling like a very expensive tech demo – an absolute tour de force of technical achievement bogged down in its own sense of gravitas and mystery. Keeping you off the stick for so many of its most impactful moments, and not giving you enough to play with when you do have control, hobbles the potential of this visual and aural masterpiece enough to make the whole experience feel like it was constantly trying to find a foothold on that dread Icelandic scree, and never really getting to its feet until you come staggering over the finish line.
WWE 2K24 is the best entry in the series since it returned in 2022, with Visual Concepts continuing to improve on what makes the series great.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is the kind of game we don’t get very often; the kind that does a lot with very little, yet in a way that speaks perfectly to my tastes as someone who enjoys video games as a storytelling art form. Don’t Nod’s latest effort transcends anything it’s made before, in my eyes, being a narrative-focused single-player RPG that places its characters firmly at the forefront, fully leaning into its unique premise to the point that Antea and Red’s nature as ghost hunters influence everything from dialogue options and combat, to the upgrade system and of course the world.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth features one of the series' best stories yet, all while packing in a wealth of fantastic side content
Tekken 8 makes great strides to sort out Tekken 7’s biggest issues, all while carving out its own identity within the series thanks to the brand-new Heat system. The wealth of single-player content available is the best I’ve seen since Tekken 5, and the cinematic story mode outclasses the likes of Mortal Kombat and Injustice in the format they pioneered.
It isn’t lost on me, though, that Asgard’s Wrath 2 is very much the exception to the rule as opposed to the norm. VR games with this much budget and creativity behind them almost barely ever come around; hence why – despite an overwhelming amount of stuff to do and the relatively complex menus and control scheme needed to back it up – the game’s scope ends up working for it rather than against it. If you’re seeking a Skyrim-level RPG primed to keep you busy in VR, look no further than Asgard’s Wrath 2.