Opinion
Days Gone and six fellow failures: I gave these seven games a second chance – and didn’t regret it
by Domagoj Belancic
Our 2024 games of the year
16.12.2024
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
The editors voted on their favourite games of the year. Here’s our top 10.
2024 was a bloody good year for gaming. Whether AAA blockbusters or indie gems, we were inundated with a flood of excellent games from January to December. Time for a look back at the highlights.
Last year, we gave you one favourite game by individual members of the editorial team. This time we’re doing it differently. First, each gaming editor made their individual top ten, which you can read at the end of the article. I then calculated a collective top ten list from all their votes. You can read more about the methodology I used in the info box below:
Tastes vary wildly across the various members of our editorial team. Same goes for our preferred gaming platforms. As a result, our final top ten is a colourful assortment of excellent games from different genres. A total of 53 titles made it into the seven individual top lists. These ten games scored the most points:
10: EA Sports College Football 25
Compared to other sports games, EA Sports College Football isn’t just an annual update with minimal improvements. The last entry in the series, NCAA Football 14, was released in 2013. Fans had to wait a whole eleven years for another release. For college football fan Kim, it’s a dream come true. He’s the only writer who voted for the game – in first place on top of that.
EA Sports College Football 25 was released on 19 July for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
9: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Debora was thrilled by the sweet adventure, the only editor to include it on her list (1st place). To her, it’s even the best Zelda game in recent years. She was particularly impressed by the mix of nostalgia and new elements – even if she’d have liked a little more swordplay.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was released on 26 September for the Nintendo Switch.
8: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
The new Indiana Jones game from developer studio Machinegames (known for Wolfenstein) is a dream come true for fans of the whip-wielding archaeologist. In classic Hitman style, you explore open levels where you disguise yourself, sneak around or beat up Nazis. In between, you’ll find creative puzzles to solve.
7: Balatro
Balatro is an addictive mix of poker and roguelike. You’re tasked with beating a set number of points per round played. You do this by playing poker hands. Cards for this are randomly assigned to you from a deck. The points required to move on increase as the rounds progress. In order to overcome these ever-increasing hurdles, you have to invest the money you earn into various bonuses. They expand your deck with special cards or jokers that boost your score.
6: Call of Duty Black Ops 6
After the scandalously bad single-player campaign in last year’s Modern Warfare 3, this year’s Call of Duty delivers one of the best shooter campaigns of all time. It impresses with varied locations, open levels and exciting gameplay mechanics. It’s not just non-stop shooting, there’s also some sneaking and – hard to believe – puzzles!
The game impressed both me and Phil, we both put it in fifth place. Singleplayer alone would be worth the purchase price. But then there are the excellent zombie and multiplayer modes. I got stuck on the latter in particular, and am currently fighting my way up the prestige ranks.
5: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Following a relatively linear adventure in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and co. are transported to several open game worlds in part two of the remake trilogy. The story feels familiar yet completely different to fans of the original PS1 JRPG. Same goes for the numerous fantastic locations you visit. But even if you haven’t played the original, you’ll still enjoy the beautiful world.
The game impressed both Final Fantasy expert Kevin (first place) and me, a Final Fantasy noob. As Kevin raves in his review: «The team at Square Enix has quite simply created a masterpiece that even surpasses the original. The title is close to perfection […]».
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was released on 29 February for PS5.
4: Silent Hill 2
Cassie (second place) and I (sixth place) were particularly impressed by the horror masterpiece. Unlike me, Cassie also played the original game. She particularly likes how the game plays with her expectations and memories and how she can immerse herself even more in the nightmarish world thanks to the new, more intimate perspective.
Silent Hill 2 was released on 8 October for PS5 and PC.
3: Emio – The Smiling Man
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club was released on 29 August for the Nintendo Switch.
2: Animal Well
Animal Well was released on 9 May for PS5, Switch and PC. A version for Xbox Series X/S followed on 17 October.
1: Astro Bot
As already mentioned in my review, Astro Bot is one of the best games I’ve ever played. I still stand by that. No other title this year has made me smile as much as this cutesy platformer from Japanese developer studio Team Asobi.
It’s one of the very few games that I’d describe as perfect. The level design impresses with ingenious ideas and lots of variety. Both the sound and visuals are detailed and technically excellent. And the controls make full use of the entire PS5 controller. The game lets me feel every step, every jump and every attack with a mix of haptic, visual and auditory feedback. No other game feels this damn satisfying to control.
For long-time PlayStation fans, the game also features countless guest appearances by well-known gaming legends and levels based on iconic PlayStation titles. Thanks to several free updates, Astro Bot has also recently received new levels and additional content. In short: it doesn’t get any better than this.
Astro Bot was released on 6 September for the PS5.
Here’s how our individual editors voted
Individual top tens across the editorial team are listed below in alphabetical order. If we’ve covered a game in our magazine, I’ve linked the respective article in the game’s name.
Cassie Mammone
Debora Pape
Domagoj Belancic
Kevin Hofer
Kim Muntinga
Philipp Rüegg
Simon Balissat
You can also find an overview of all our reviews at opencritic.com.
Header image: "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth"
Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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