For this year, I found that not only did I play too many games I liked, but a lot of them paired up in an interesting way, so I am going to have a list with no particular order about pairs of games I thought were worth writing about. Shout outs to games like Shinobi non Grata and Smushi Come Home that I rather enjoyed but didn’t quite fit with this framing.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line and Mario Wonder
So these are games I really should have put on my Game of the Year list last year. The way I make these lists is that I take the list of games I got through for the year, highlight the ones I really liked, and then I choose about ten or so for a list. I don’t know how I forgot Theatrhythm. It is not only the best rhythm game I played, but also one of my favorite rhythm games of all time. It has some of the best music, and the charts, especially the hardest Supreme level charts, make you feel less like a rhythm game and more like you are learning some sort of strange, ultra modern instrument. I imagine I just forgot it because I have a bad memory, and use game narrative (which this game has none of) to really remember what I played. As far as Mario Wonder, I just didn’t finish it. One of my rules of these lists is that I have to finish the game to qualify, and Mario Wonder I just wanted to savor. It delivers the promise that the New Mario Bros. series never quite lived up to where it is a sublime 2D platformer with fun art and music to boot. I loved these games, and I look forward to other games like Resistx1000 appearing here next year.
Drakengard 3 and Astrobot
These two games on the surface really couldn’t be more different. Astrobot is a super polished 3D platformer made for mainstream audiences, while Drakengard 3 is a sequel to a cult hit Playstation 2 beat ‘em up action RPG series that seems to be designed for people to hate it. Astrobot is super smooth, looks great, and wants you to play it more, and Drakengard 3 feels like it wasn’t even made for the system it was created for. It feels like a bad port, despite only having one version in existence. In this way, I couldn’t help making the connection. Astrobot is a game that wants you to love it so much that it comes off as hollow, while Drakengard 3 wants you to hate it so much that I ended up loving it anyway. This video game dyad of my creation was a microcosm of how 2024 went for me. The year wanted to be seen like the happiness and optimism of an Astrobot, but in reality it was the horrible pain and suffering of Drakengard 3. It was not something like Astrobot that could be loved by all, but something like Drakengard 3 where you had to get the backstory and experience the pain of the past to understand why it is all happening. Astrobot is the game I wanted to love and be a part of what made the year great, but Drakengard 3 is the game that resonated with my soul. Astrobot is the fulfillment that is always barrier away or in the past, and Drakengard 3 is the pandora’s box, but instead of hope, it offers only catharsis and pathos. Sometimes bringing your amazing game to a tough year is going to feel like bringing your favorite dance playlist to a funeral. On the other hand, please play the Final Song (Saigo no Uta) from the Drakengard 3 OST at my funeral.
Anodyne 1 and Anodyne 2
Anodyne 1 and 2 by themselves are good games. Anodyne 1 feels like a take on the classic Legend of Zelda series, while Anodyne 2 takes 3D platforming exploration and combines them with classic 2D dungeon puzzling. By themselves, Anodyne 2 is the better experience, and if you are only going to play one, 2 is the to go with. That being said, something special happens if you play both, a sort of synthesis that comes with sequels being 10 years apart. It is a 10 year conversation that enriches both games, and makes two pretty good games into a narrative that is sort of mind blowing with implications. The things Anodyne 1 leaves out, but is then covered by Anodyne 2 and vice versa isn’t always obvious, but when combined together they really feel like they were always meant to be played together, even if that isn’t super obvious. Sometimes it takes 10 years to make an amazing story that makes it worth experiencing.
Momodora Moonlit Farewell and Shadow Generations.
Momodora and Shadow Generations are on opposite sides of a trend I had this year where I would play a game, and then play many games in that same series or genre. With Momodora, I played it early in the year, and then proceeded to play through many of the 2D Metroidvania/Search Action games such as Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Hollow Knight. With Shadow Generations, I actually started with Sonic Mania, and I played through all the classic Genesis Sonic games, and ended up with Sonic x Shadow Generations by the end of it. When playing all those Metroidvanias, I actually grew fond of Momodora Moonlit Farewell and appreciate it much more than I did when I played it originally. Shadow Generation then felt like a culmination of what made Sonic the Hedgehog gameplay fun (having the mechanics to speed run through a level) and felt like the developers finally got why this series is fun in the first place. Like Anodyne 1 & 2, I find playing games that are in conversation with each other to be one of the best parts of playing video games as a hobby, and makes all the money and time I invest worth it, so I have these two games to help thank with that.
If Found… and Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag
I find it hard to recommend games sometimes, especially the narrative ones I love. Visual Novels in particular feel different to recommend than a book. A book you can just recommend the writing, or the story, but with Visual Novels there is a sort of synthesis with interacting with the game and the story being told that is hard to really articulate at a party or get together. A lot of times a part of me just wants to tell people to just trust me, buy the game, and you won’t be disappointed, but I know that isn’t really the thing that actually gets people to play it. I remember recommending Kentucky Route Zero (which is still one of my favorite games of all time) to people and it sounded more like a desperate plea than a convincing recommendation. Knowing that, If Found… and Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag are games about the human condition that I think are just required experiences. If Found… especially, as Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag can be a bit disturbing and weird as it explores mental illness. If Found… is about a youth trying to find themselves and finding it is a bit harder than it should be. As much as I could write about both, seeing as they are mostly about reading and story, it is hard to really go into without spoiling, and so much of the joy of these games is the discovery, so as bad habits go, this is one I will repeat. Please play these games.
UFO 50 and Resident Evil 4 Remake VR
If I was doing a more traditional Game of the Year list with numbers that indicated best to not as best, UFO 50 and Resident Evil 4 Remake VR would have been my 1 and 2. UFO 50 is the perfect platonic ideal of video games with 50 games to play and discover what they are all about. They are also a great representative of how I got into old video games this year, and loved finding those obscure treasures I would never have found normally. Resident Evil 4 Remake VR (RE4RVR) is the most fun I had with an action game this year, and the VR experience was both beautiful and a perfect way to reimagine this classic game. Both these games are games I will carry with me, and I haven’t even played all of the games in UFO 50, so that might even be eligible for next year. Hell, I could play Resident Evil 4 Remake in flat mode and that could be eligible too. Let’s keep the good games going!
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore and Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Like I mentioned in the #2 entry, 2024 was a tough year. Medical stuff, moving stuff, life stuff, it was all tough to adjust and get through, and that is why I wanted to leave off with two games that really made me smile. Arzette is a take on the old, bad Zelda CD-i games that were more known for their odd cutscenes than awful gameplay, and Thank Goodness You’re Here is a take on the traditional adventure game, but instead of dialog choices and inventory puzzles, you just are a little man who punches things. Both games take their genre and spin it in a way that just brought me joy. Both games are fun adventures where you get to help a bunch of odd characters have better days. Neither are perfect, Arzette without the cutscenes is just a competent 2D action adventure, and Thank Goodness You’re Here can feel like it is punching down a bit with its humor, but I think what really alleviates them is how they are both about doing good things and building communities. As we go into the darkness and uncertainty of 2025, I think these games allow us both the opportunity to laugh, and maybe instructions on how to survive: sometimes you just gotta help people and hope they say something like Matt Berry in response.
