One thing I’ve come to understand is that I can pinpoint a 12 months by its one big videogame (or two barely smaller however nonetheless very giant videogames), whether or not I performed them or not. Final 12 months’s was, indubitably, Baldur’s Gate 3. Elden Ring took over everybody’s lives the 12 months earlier than that, whereas Resident Evil Village and It Takes Two have been the discuss of the city in 2021.
There’s one thing near-universally true about all of those video games: Individuals have been fairly jazzed about them earlier than they have been even launched. That fanfare virtually all the time ended up persevering with for months past launch—hell, in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring’s case, they’re nonetheless scorching subjects and ripe for infinite information right this moment.
However now, in 2024? I truthfully could not let you know what The Massive Sport was. Palworld was an actual flash within the pan. Helldivers 2 most likely comes the closest, having had a wildly profitable launch not even Arrowhead might predict, however I barely recall any of that pre-launch mania I’ve develop into so accustomed to. Balatro’s been a sluggish burn of recruiting my fellow poker roguelite sickos, and Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC had some good hype however a surprisingly quick tail. Black Delusion: Wukong, in the meantime, was racking up the Steam wishlists, however I’ve heard little or no about it within the months because it dropped.
Do I feel that is essentially a nasty factor? Truthfully, no. I feel it is simple to dismiss this 12 months as a forgettable one for videogames, however I could not disagree extra. As an alternative, I might argue that it has been a fragmented one, and yeah, sort of a bizarre one. Nevertheless it’s been a 12 months that has helped folks dip their toes into video games they might not have tried in any other case, and one which has been nice for extra area of interest nooks of the videogame hive.
A bizarre 12 months, huh?
Living proof: In 2023 I performed roughly 15 new releases, a determine I arrived at by my Steam library and diving into my thoughts palace to retrieve video games I performed on different launchers. After all Baldur’s Gate 3 is a giant one, and I dabbled in different main releases like Avenue Fighter 6, Deadly Firm, and Starfield.
Evaluate that to this 12 months the place I’ve bounced between 35 new releases: I briefly tangled with the Palworld hype, spent method an excessive amount of time in Fields of Mistria on my Steam Deck, returned to Remaining Fantasy 14 for Dawntrail, and watched time march on in Metaphor: ReFantazio. I fell in love with Webfishing, lastly received to grips with my long-anticipated spaceship restore sim Uncle Chop’s Rocket Store, suffered many a beating in Tekken 8, and received to be an unapologetic dress-up recreation sicko due to Infinity Nikki.
Fast sidebar: That is additionally the primary 12 months through which I’ve owned a Steam Deck. Do I feel that helped bump up the variety of video games I devoured? Just a little, certain. I doubt I might’ve completed Metaphor with out it and a 14-hour flight I needed to take was completely timed with the Kingdom Hearts assortment dropping on Steam. Yeah yeah, I do know it is historic, however in VST (Valve Customary Time) it is recent as a daisy.
However even with out all that moveable excellence, this 12 months has given us the respiration room to embrace all method of weirdly particular video games. Passable isn’t my factor, however for a lot of it’s the height of the automation style. I most likely would not have checked out UFO 50 twice had it been launched final 12 months, however I fell in love with it after just about dusting off each cartridge the sport needed to supply. Thank Goodness You are Right here! is a delightfully British romp that I worry would have flown beneath the radar had we had entry to the all-encompassing megahit of years previous.
If something, the factor that has outlined 2024 has been the niches, the underdogs, and the surprising. That makes it powerful to have a look at one specific gaming beacon and say “yeah, that is 2024 proper there.” However you understand what? I like that. I like that the PC Gamer staff was divided on what needs to be our GOTY. I like that I can ask 5 completely different mates what their favorite recreation of this 12 months was, and I might very effectively count on 5 completely different solutions.
I do largely count on issues to return to kind in 2025, although. There’s already a feral degree of pleasure round Monster Hunter Wilds, whereas the remainder of February looms over each PC gamer with the likes of Civilization 7 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Oh, and Avowed. And Murderer’s Creed Shadows. That is just one month of the 12 months, no much less.
GTA 6 pleasure will little doubt be reaching crucial mass, and lest we neglect Hideo Kojima threatening to launch Dying Stranding 2 (I am kidding). I am sure subsequent 12 months can be hype prepare central, however I am going to secretly be over right here kinda lacking the vibes that 2024’s fragmentation introduced.
