With all of the other lists behind us, we find ourselves here at the top ten games of 2024. In a year jam-packed with critically acclaimed games, I kind of found myself struggling to find games that resonated with me for large chunks of the year. For example, this was kind of a huge year for JRPGs, which is a genre of game I don’t really enjoy that much. So a lot of the biggest titles from this year are notably absent from this list.

But with that little caveat out of the way, I present to you the top ten games that I played this year.

10 – House Flipper 2

House Flipper 2 is a great example of not messing with success. Built with the same ethos in mind as its predecessor, House Flipper 2 puts a bunch of properties that are in varying states of disrepair in front of you, and tasks you with fixing them up. It’s a simple premise that sounds unremarkable because it is, but I find these kinds of games really calming. Games like this are a great way to occupy my hands while I watch TV or listen to a podcast, and House Flipper 2 is among the best in the biz in that regard.

9 – TCG Card Shop Simulator

Piggy-backing on what I said about House Flipper 2, TCG Card Shop Simulator was a real surprise for me in terms of games I would enjoy. After a miserable few years working in retail, I would never have thought playing a game about running a shop would click with me in the way TCG Card Shop Simulator has. Hell, I don’t even like card games, but selling booster packs to the same 7 ugly character models is actually kind of fun. It also helps that this game presents an idealized version of the world where no one is toxic and shitty. Some people do come in with stink lines around them though, so that is realistic.

It’s unfinished. It’s janky as hell. It’s one of my favorite experiences from this year, and I’m really excited to see this one evolve over time.

8 – Dungeons of Hinterberg

I think the best word to describe Dungeons of Hinterberg would be ‘uneven’. It’s a game that has some pretty glaring mechanical flaws, but makes up for them with clever puzzles and charming characters. I said it back in July, but had this solely been a puzzle game with a heavy focus on social interactions, and not have any combat in it whatsoever, I would have enjoyed it much more. Still, it’s one of the best games I’ve played this year.

7 – Thank Goodness You’re Here

Thank Goodness You’re Here is more of an interactive cartoon than a video game. It’s delightfully weird and hilarious, but you don’t really do anything besides walk around and hit the interact button on people and objects. The story and jokes are the only things that Thank Goodness You’re Here can really hang its hat on, and if they aren’t your jam then there’s nothing here for you. Luckily, I found this game hilarious and thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

6 – Minishoot’ Adventures

I wasn’t expecting a mashup of top-down Zelda games and shoot-em-ups to be such a compelling combination, but y’all, do not sleep on the terribly named Minishoot’ Adventures. With tons of exploration, navigation-based puzzles, and some pretty excellent shooter mechanics, Minishoot’ Adventures is the video game equivalent of discovering that chocolate and peanut butter go great together.

5 – Animal Well

I’ve already spoken about how much I loved Animal Well, both earlier in the year and earlier this week, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see it on the top 10. I can’t think of many games I’ve ever played that were as shrouded in mystery as this one is. Every screen — every pixel of this game is deliberately placed to feed into a broader puzzle. Layer by layer you start to peel back this digital onion until you find that at the center, you still have no idea what’s happening.

I mean that in the best way too. I think Animal Well being an enigma is its greatest strength and not a shortcoming. It’s also a really good puzzle-platformer at its core, but what that platformer is in service of is what’s so amazing about Animal Well. It’s opaque and obtuse, but playing Animal Well for the first time was an unforgettable experience.

4 – Chants of Sennaar

Speaking of unforgettable experiences, Chants of Sennaar is one that I won’t ever forget for multiple reasons. Both Animal Well and Chants of Sennaar occupy a similar place of being wonderful “multiplayer” games that my partner and I enjoyed. But we both agree that Chants of Sennaar was the better experience from top to bottom. While it did technically come out last year, we only played it for the first time in 2024.

But for those few days it took us to blitz through the entirety of Chants of Sennaar, it was the only thing we could talk about. I never knew that the act of translating languages could be so engaging, but it is. I really hope another game like this is in development somewhere, because it’s a concept that’s so good that it shouldn’t be limited to one game ever.

3 – The Rise of the Golden Idol

At the end of this block of puzzle-game excellence is The Rise of the Golden Idol, one of the best puzzlers I’ve ever played. It’s a game that’s solely about observing your environment and making logical conclusions based of the information gathered in that, and previous levels.

It boasts remarkably engaging story whose twists and turns are even more impressive because you yourself are uncovering them. Understanding the motives of characters and what their mere presence in a scene implies are some of the most rewarding feelings of puzzle solving I experienced this year, and possibly ever.

2 – Astro Bot

Astro Bot is an incredible 3D platformer that’s either packed with nostalgic delights or filthy with advertisements, depending on who you are. I can understand the viewpoint of the latter, but I err on the side of the former in this regard. Astro Bot is a tremendously fun and positive experience that celebrates the long and storied history of the PlayStation brand.

But it’s more than just a nostalgia trip — it’s a really good platformer at its core that is constantly throwing new things at you, both in terms of mechanics and level design. Divorced from the PlayStation branding, Astro Bot would certainly lose a lot of its charm, but the core gameplay is solid enough that it could support just about any theme you throw at it. It’s truly remarkable and a must have for any PlayStation 5 owner.

1 – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

There might be a bit of recency bias going on here, but I really do think that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would have been my favorite game this year regardless of when it came out.

Holy cow, this game came out of nowhere for me and blew me away. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes the best parts of immersive-sim games, like Dishonored, and mushes it together with the excellent active stealth you’d see in the modern Hitman games to make something truly amazing.

Every aspect of this game shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but it came together so perfectly. A large part of it has to be thanks to the phenomenal Harrison Ford impression that Troy Baker does, which once again, was a pretty dicey proposition on paper. But he disappears into the role and truly embodies the role, making it feel like I’m watching a long lost Indiana Jones movie. Which by the way, this is probably the best Indy story since Raiders of the Lost Ark.

But everyone is doing an excellent job portraying their roles in this game. The lead villain, Emmerich Voss, is perfectly portrayed as this slimy, miserable Nazi with the most punch-able face you’ve ever seen. Regardless of which character you’re talking about, everyone is putting in an excellent performance, all of which help to elevate this game.

And what of the game itself? That’s really good too! Machine Games is unsurprisingly adept at making the act punching fascists in the face feel as good as you’d imagine. The sound work is incredible, really emphasizing each hit with a heavy ‘thunk’ noise. Between solid melee combat and the versatility of Indy’s whip, whether it be used as a grappling hook or a cool way to choke fascists out, you have a surprising amount of variety in how you approach each encounter.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle isn’t a perfect game, but it was the best thing that I played this year.

So that’s it. That was the Game of the Year. I hope you enjoyed it. Consider subscribing to The Bonus World so you can get an email updating you whenever we publish something new.

I’ll be taking some time off, but I’ll catch you all at the end of January. Happy New Year, everybody.

The Spotlight is a monthly summary that encapsulates some of the more notable media experiences I’ve had over the past thirty days. From insights on games played, to articles worth checking out, and even cool stories from tabletop role-playing games, it all has a place in the Spotlight.

For the month of June, 2024, here’s what I’m shining the spotlight on.

Games

Thank Goodness You’re Here!

Funny, genuinely gut-busting games are a rarity in the gaming sphere, but Thank Goodness You’re Here! manages to be just enough of a game to be included among those ranks. Despite being armed with a jump and a punch, you aren’t really doing much of anything in Thank Goodness You’re Here! aside from prompting new bits of dialogue. You don’t have an inventory or any choices to make, and I don’t think there’s even a fail state in the game.

Thank Goodness You’re Here! is more of a lightly interactive cartoon than a game. Were it not for its excellent writing, voice acting and truly bonkers story lines, I definitely wouldn’t be lauding the game as much as I am. Sitting somewhere between a point-and-click adventure game and something you’d watch on TV, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a delightful experience that’s worth checking out.

Lawn Mowing Simulator

Honestly what do you really need me to tell you about Lawn Mowing Simulator that you can’t glean from its highly descriptive title already? You mow lawns and get money for doing it. You hire more people and buy more mowers to help you do the jobs you don’t feel like doing. Lawn Mowing Simulator is what it says it is, and nothing more. It’s supremely relaxing and puts me in this zen-like state that’s been so calming, I may have fallen asleep at my desk more times than I’d like to admit.

Submerged: Hidden Depths

Speaking of zen-like experiences, Submerged: Hidden Depths, is a game about exploring a half-submerged city in a rusted jalopy of a boat. There’s a bunch of corrupted vine overgrowth that you clear out by climbing various structures like hotels and hospitals and solving some very easy puzzles. It is not a challenging game by any stretch of the imagination, but it was soothing and had a decent enough gameplay loop to keep me engaged enough to complete it.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

I don’t think I’ve played the original Mafia game since its initial release back on the OG-Xbox and PS2, so playing through Mafia: Definitive Edition has kind of been a real treat for me. The story is what you’d expect from a mafia movie, where your character gets wrapped up in the world of crime by happenstance, but that’s not a bad thing by any stretch. I’ve always felt that the Mafia games were pretty hit-or-miss in terms of quality, but this remake is easily the best version of this classic game.

Castaway

Castaway is a supremely short, top-down action-adventure game reminiscent of the classic Legend of Zelda games. Consisting of 3 micro-dungeons, each with their own bosses and puzzles, Castaway is a fun-sized Zelda adventure that does a pretty decent impression of its inspiration. I beat Castaway in under an hour, but once doing so I did unlock an endless mode that I haven’t touched yet, so there’s clearly more game there than I’ve seen. I think I paid like three dollars or so for Castaway, which feels like a reasonable price for what I got.

Crime Scene Cleaner

Hell yes, another increasingly niche simulation game has made it into the August Spotlight. Crime Scene Cleaner is, as you may have guessed, a game about cleaning up crime scenes for the mafia or something. I did not pay attention to the story because it could not have mattered less to me.

What did matter was the enjoyment I was getting out of disposing bodies, mopping up blood, and ensuring no evidence of wrongdoing was left behind. If you liked Viscera Cleanup Detail, you’ll enjoy Crime Scene Cleaner. It’s not as tedious as Viscera was, which honestly is a good thing. I inhaled this game at record speed and am more than eager for more levels to be added to the game in the near future.

Watch List

My Adventures with Superman

I’ve never been the biggest Superman fan, but My Adventures with Superman contains probably my favorite depiction of the Man of Steel that I’ve ever seen. It’s also a show whose title I consistently forgot, often times going with My Friend Superman, which is would be a great title for the Totoro, Superman, crossover event we’ve all been waiting for.

What I really like about My Adventures with Superman is that this is a Superman who isn’t invincible or infallible. He’s this kid who is trying to figure his shit out is bolstered by the support of his friends. It’s very anime in that sense. But it’s beautifully animated and has some great story lines for all of the characters. I really can’t praise this show enough.

Batman: The Animated Series

After My Pal Superman, I decided to go back in time and revisit a childhood favorite of mine in the form of Batman: The Animated Series. It was nice to see it was all available on HBO Max, but for anyone who feels like watching it, be warned that it is completely out of order and is technically 3 series mushed into one listing.

Despite that, Batman: The Animated Series is still a phenomenal show. That wonderful art style, the great plots, and the iconic and imposing voice of the late Kevin Conroy as Batman, are all things that have elevated this series to its legendary status. After years of different iterations of Batman, going back to this one is great, but it does highlight just how more powerful they’ve made Batman over the years. Seriously, Batman routinely gets his ass kicked by 2 or 3 nameless thugs who for some reason can tussle with the Dark Knight with any efficacy at all. But whatever. I love this show and am happy I returned to it.

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Game of the Year 2024 – Top 10