Reviewing Every Game I Played in 2024
Year in Review
I covered the first half of 2024 in my mid-year review, so here’s a summary of the second half of the year:
Kerbal Space Program
I wrote up some thoughts earlier in the year, but I’ve continued to play Kerbal Space Program on and off since then. Very difficult game, but rewarding when you get it right.
Terra Nil
I first played this during Steam Next Fest 2021 and finally picked it up. It’s billed as a “reverse city-builder” where you restore the environment instead of exploiting it. That’s a bit of a stretch; it’s just a puzzle game where the puzzle is to build a self-sustaining ecosystem and clean up after yourself.
I played on my Steam Deck and it was a relaxing way to spend an hour or so in bed before sleep.
Humankind
I’ve been a fan of Amplitude Studios for a decade now, so I was pretty excited when they announced Humankind. It’s a 4X game in the vein of Civilization, but with the typical Amplitude twists. I’m not the biggest Civilization player so I can’t speak much to the comparisons, but it is very polished and enjoyable.
Until Dawn
Another game that’s been on my backlog for years. I got it as a PlayStation Plus monthly game in 2017 and it’s been installed first on my PS4 and then my PS5 ever since. Playing Supermassive Games’ The Quarry last year is what finally pushed me to play Until Dawn.
It was a fun experience over a few nights. It’s one of those stories where you think you know what’s going on, but it turns out to be more complicated than you thought. It’s mechanically and structurally similar to The Quarry, so I knew what to expect going in.
I thought it held up pretty well for a game that’s almost a decade old. Coincidentally it got a complete remake a few months after I played it
Sea of Stars
This was a last-minute playthrough before it left PlayStation Plus Extra. More thoughts over in this post.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers
I’ve never ran around giving out parking tickets and frisking jaywalkers, so that was fun for a bit. The novelty wore off after a few hours, and I got tired of grinding out the same accident reports over and over.
I’m reasonable confident that more interesting things continue to unlock as you progress in the game, but it didn’t hook me enough to keep going.
It’s a bit janky too, which pulls me out of the game. Basically if some interaction glitches out, you can just run away and move onto the next thing, and you aren’t really penalized for it. I guess that’s good, but it lowers the stakes quite a bit.
Animal Well
This game got a lot of hype this year. It’s a pixel art metroidvania with a surreal aesthetic and creepy atmosphere. There’s not much of a story but it’s all about exploration and intricate puzzles. Some of the puzzles are mindblowing when you figure them out.
Best to go in blind and not look up any guides. That said, I got stuck a few times and had to look up a hint or two, but if you can avoid that, it’s a great experience.
There are multiple “level” of puzzles; I only did the first two and called it quits, but there is a lot more to do if you’re into that sort of thing.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
I’m a sucker for games that are leaving PlayStation Plus. I see people praising them online and FOMO takes over. This was one of those games. I heard about it when it came out, but it’s not really my genre so I didn’t pay much attention to it. But the discourse around it was so positive that I decided to give it a shot.
It’s mostly a visual novel, told in a non-linear fashion through the eyes of 13 different protagonists. There is also a whole RTS game in there that takes a quarter or so of the play time. Honestly I could have done without the combat sections, but they were a nice change of pace.
The story is very complex, but it kept throwing out twists and turns that kept me on my toes. I think it tied it all together by the end, although I’m sure I missed some of the finer details.
Overall happy I played it.
Unpacking
This was my 2nd playthrough of Unpacking, this time to scoop up the Platinum trophy before it left PlayStation Plus Extra. My kids really enjoyed watching (and playing) this game, so it was a fun family activity.
Dredge
Who knew that a Lovecraftian fishing game would be so fun? It has a great atmosphere, satisfying gameply, and a story that’s just enough to keep you going.
There are definitely some horror elements, but it’s very clever in that the horror is mostly in your head. Best to go in blind on this one too and see what you can catch.
I grinded to get all the trophies, which wasn’t too bad.
Red Dead Redemption 2
I wrote up two posts about this game: one mid-game and another after finishing the game. So I won’t go into too much detail here.
It just edged out Marvel’s Midnight Suns for the longest game I played this year.
Minecraft
I replaced our family Minecraft server with a new one, running the latest (at the time) version 1.21.1, with a whole new set of mods. I spent a lot of time curating an even bigger list of mods that I thought would be fun for the kids and get us back into the game.
We’ve been playing for a few months now, but there’s still so much to do! So this one isn’t “completed” per se, but I wanted to include it here anyways.
Deadlock
This is Valve’s new multiplayer MOBA shooter, currently in playtest. I got myself an invite and have become a McGinnis main. I’ve gotten a lot better at it but I still have a long way to go. Tons of fun, and looking forward to the full release.
Night in the Woods
Apparently this game won a number of awards back when it came out, but I first heard of it this year in a Reddit thread about autumn games. Since it was on PlayStation Plus Extra I decided to try it out.
I actually started it just before jumping into Red Dead Redemption 2, but I didn’t get very far before RDR2 completely sucked me in (and it had a deadline to leave PlayStation Plus). So I started Night in the Woods over again in December.
I’m not really sure how I feel about the game. It does an interesting job exploring a number of themes that are underrepresented in games, which I appreciate. But the gameplay is pretty boring, and there’s a whole B plot—while it added some mystery to the game, I’m not sure it was ultimately that satisfying. I really liked a lot of the vibes and the character interactions, but I’m not sure it all came together for me in the end.