Community MetaCouncil's Games of the Year Awards 2024 Results

[Le Pertti]

Welcome to our annual games of the year awards! Thank you all for voting!

Let's get directly into the fun!

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Top 10 Games of the Year

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]Animal Well was a very good metroidvanian in a world of a billion metroidvanians. It stood out with its interesting visual style and unique weapons and the progression through the world was nicely paced. Liked the theme and overall felt it was a worthy GOTY this year.

I was quite surprised and impressed with Nine Sols when I beat the game. The game had great artwork, an interesting story, excellent music, fun combat, and some really outstanding boss fights. The final boss was one of the most satisfying in any game I've played and serves as the crowning achievement of this great gem.

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Nothing this game does is amazing on its own, but it just so happens to hit all of my sweet spots simultaneously. I love immersive sims, I love exploring, I love clockwork game worlds that let you wander as you may, I love well produced puzzles, I love being wreckless in stealth then brawling when I get caught. I love stealing everyone blind. My brain justs wants to be a Skyrim stealth archer who robs everyone. This game adds in immersive sims elements, Hitman elements and puzzles. I love all of this stuff. I never think about Indiana Jones, but this game makes me want to be him. It was a surprise mega hit for me.

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1000xRESIST uses a sci-fi background to make you feel a rollercoaster of emotions.

I wish there was a way to play this game for the first time again.

1000xRESIST is a must experience for anyone who likes narrative games. There are so many well crafted layers within this story it is dizzying how much thought was given to every little detail and how it all connects to the broader messages it wants to convey. Even if you initially think you cannot ressonate with some of those messages, the writers find a powerful way to reach you. Lastly, the world building is masterclass. It is no small feat to create a world dripping with substance that motivates you to want to learn more. I only recently completed this and gave it some time to mull over for any critiques, and I do have some minor criticisms about the end, but I think these do not detract from the overall experience and are largely justified. I look forward to whatever this team puts out next.

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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth feels like 2 full (and amazing) Yakuza games in one package delivering an unforgettable experience that somehow was perfect for newer fans and those who have been with the series from the start. It also fixed every issue I had with Yakuza: Like a Dragon and is the best turn-based combat today alongside the other 2 RPGs in my top 5.

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I had to flip a coin to decide if I wanted this or Metaphor to be #1. They're both near perfect complements of each other and are best-in-class for the types of RPGs they are. However, Rebirth's greatest strength is its characterizations for the protagonists. It's one of the few games I've ever played where the main characters feel like actual people and not archetypes. It also tickles the nostalgia funny bone which makes it my GOTY.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth brought back the wonder of the PS1 era of JRPGs with a massive world map to explore, beautiful cutscenes and over the top boss fights. This is the game I spent the most time with this year, and despite some of the open world bloat it remains at the top of my list.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth lived up to the impossible expectation of bringing the ps1 golden age of jrpgs to modern day without any sacrifices. It's a game where they were unafraid to have fun and pack their game full of crazy ideas and moments. They made entire songs for a minigame you may only do once, or a place you may visit for 2 minutes and never see again. They made wacky minigames that you may only come across once. It felt like a game from an alternate universe where money doesn't control every aspect of our lives and the businessmen in charge were not afraid to say yes to everything. Also the towns in the game are some of the most incredible towns I've ever seen in any game never mind jrpgs. They took a town like Kalm that was like 5 buildings in the original and blew it up into a mini city full of life and detail everywhere you look. Every aspect of this game is packed with love and care. We just don't get AAA games like this anymore.

Unexpectedly immense, beautiful, nostalgic and more fun to play than most other AAA games.

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Batatro is everything PC Gaming stands for - Untold creativity and audience that appreciates it.

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Metaphor combines elements of Persona and SMT to create one of the best RPGs in recent memory.

Metaphor was just head and shoulders above most of the competition for majority of 2024... until the very last minute, where Indiana Jones swung in and gave it a good run. Metaphor still ended up winning in my book, but credit to Indy for making it a competition. Both fantastic games.

Metaphor surprises by its strong focus on the basics of any good RPG, namely an interesting world, a great, gripping story and characters you care about. Atlus also managed to produce a combat system that is a wild mix of ideas from all over their own games, taking inspiration from Persona, and all sorts of other SMT games. The result is probably the best turn based combat system I have ever played in any JRPG. What elevates the experience further is the amount of style this game has. From its crazy menus, the painted look of much of its overworld to the amazing soundtrack (that I never grew tired of in my 80+ hour experience), this is not a game I will soon forget. Most of all, though, what sticks to me is the sincerity that Metaphor has in its story telling. A story about idealism, about democracy and the ability of a society to overcome its dark urges and together push for a better future. It is not a game I would have expected anyone to make in 2024 and I am all the more happy that it exists.

Metaphor is the best version (thus far) of Atlus' Press-turn system married to the most interesting story it has done thus far. The game also has some really resonant themes of hope during times of despair, and how to win elections that are particularly relevant during "these times".

Might be because of recency bias but Katsura Hashino does it again. Game has such amazing stylised visuals, great music and the narrative has moments that just hits. Has some nice QoL changes from the Persona series as well which is great. Honestly one of those games that just kept me hooked throughout my playthrough.

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Best of Last Year

Best Ongoing

Early Access Game of the Year

Best Soundtrack

Best Old Game

Turd of the Year

Again thank you all for taking time to vote!

 

[lashman]

Balatro was robbed!

 

[Le Pertti]

Balatro was robbed!

Oops, you made me look and had wrong votes on Metaphor, fixed now.

 

[edin]

Thanks for putting this together! Here's to 2025's awards.

 

[Lashley]

And ya'll still pretend to hate anime

 

[lashman]

 

[Le Pertti]

Hidden Gems! A little bonus, games that only got one vote but they were the voters best game of the year.,

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Absolutely excellent twin-stick, kinda feels like a take on Doom Eternal, kinda like Sorath games - fast, difficult with plenty of distinct ways to play it and interesting scoring systems. Lovely stuff

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Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven takes the best things out of Romancing Saga 2 and elevates it in the ways that all remakes should strive for. A common complaint from people unfamiliar with SaGa series is that the mechanics can be a bit obtuse and sometimes unforgiving. This remake addresses all that complaints and then some. As we can expect, the classic SNES difficulty is still present, and it's still very easy to lock ourselves out of some of the best recruitable retinue and abilities, but the battles and dungeon exploration is still as rewarding as ever. A modern classic in every sense of the word.

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Steamworld Heist 2 is everything we should expect from a sequel. It builds on the excellent foundation of the original game and introduces new mechanics, systems and interactions while retaining what made the first one unique. Add the excellent music, improved graphics, level design and enemy AI and you get an amazing game.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

I'm so happy 1000xRESIST got into the top 10. Too bad I only played Balatro after submitting my list as it's also very good.

 

[Kvik]

Alright, fine. I'll install 1000xResist.

Thanks for doing this as always, Le Pertti

 

[Le Pertti]

Alright, fine. I'll install 1000xResist.

Thanks for doing this as always, Le Pertti

 

[Durante]

Hidden Gems! A little bonus, games that only got one vote but they were the voters best game of the year.,

Does this mean someone else voted for EDF6? If so, good going!

Also thanks for putting this together. I played 3 of the top 10, not great, not terrible.

 

[Le Pertti]

Does this mean someone else voted for EDF6? If so, good going!

Also thanks for putting this together. I played 3 of the top 10, not great, not terrible.

Oh shit you are right, I missed a few because the excel sheet sorted wrongly! And yes you were the only one for that one.

 

[Derrick01]

I thought I'd be the only one voting for rebirth so I'm pleasantly surprised where it ended up.

 

[ExistentialThought]

I'm so happy 1000xRESIST got into the top 10. Too bad I only played Balatro after submitting my list as it's also very good.

Hekki grace

(Seriously though my favorite game of last year even though I only played a few new releases from 2024)

Thank you again Le Pertti for putting this together!!!! It is seriously appreciated. Maybe next year I will have finished more games.

 

[Le Pertti]

More hidden gems! (sorting error excluded some)

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Great year for gaming even if it wasn’t a very good year personally. I still managed to get some games that I consider among the best I’ve played. Crow Country is a joy, beginning to end, short and sweet as I needed it at the time.

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I think I spent more time playing this than any of the other games on my list, and I enjoyed most of it. What's great about EDF is that it seems completely and utterly divorced from the general trajectory of game design. It's all about creating a fun and challenging set of co-op action missions, with character classes that play completely differently, and even several builds within those classes that are extremely unique.What's not so great about it is that their technology stack feels like it's from 2004.

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I enjoy everything about the Horizon games. Cool setting, gameplay to my taste, a huge beautiful world to explore, intriguing story, interesting characters — you name it, its all there.

 

[MegaApple]

MegaApple said:
Batatro is everything PC Gaming stands for - Untold creativity and audience that appreciates it.

I'm mentioned!!! Never been so honored in my life.
Lovely list Le Pertti

 

[QFNS]

All of these hidden gems which I have not already played have entered the wishlist.

Too 10 is full of bangers and I'm gonna get around to 1000xResist sooner than later since it apparently is great.

Thanks Le Pertti and everyone here for submitting votes

 

[Parsnip]

Video games are good.

None of mine made the list which isn't that surprising tbh, but I did feel like there was a chance that Lorelei could have made it to the top10.
I'd say it was a pretty good year for games overall.

 

[QFNS]

Video games are good.

None of mine made the list which isn't that surprising tbh, but I did feel like there was a chance that Lorelei could have made it to the top10.
I'd say it was a pretty good year for games overall.

I really need to play Lorelei and the Laser Eyes also. Heard only good things.

 

[lashman]

None of mine made the list

My Summer Car was ROBBED!!!

 

[hersheyfan]

Oh, Le Pertti has the GotY thread up! Lets take a look!

(sees quote for Metaphor)

Wow, he included my (crappy) writeup in the Metaphor blurb! I'm so honored!

(sees 1000X Resist in the top ten)

DAMMIT! I knew I forgot something! huhuhu

Play 1000X Resist, y'all!

 

[fantomena]

I didn't manage to find time to vote this time, but thanks for the for Le Pertti !

 

[Vantr]

Thanks Le Pertti for doing this and putting up the hidden gems list as well.

Guess I'll probably get 1000xResist next sale.