My Gaming Habits in 2024

I spent the last evening of 2024 gaming (Deadlock), which was a fitting way to end the year. While I’ve already covered the games I played in 2024 in my mid-year review and year-end review, I wanted to review not what I played, but how I played, although there weren’t really any major changes in my habits this year compared to previous years.

Here’s a breakdown of the platforms I played games on in 2024. (Note: some games are counted twice!)

Most of my gaming was on the PlayStation 5, largely due to the PlayStation Plus Premium subscription. This was the second full year of my subscription, and I’m confident I got my money’s worth. It allows me to try a variety of games that I would never have purchased on my own, without any pressure or buyer’s remorse. Games such Haven and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim are examples of games that I would never have bought, but enjoyed playing nevertheless. And other games like Dredge and Dave the Diver were on my wishlist for a long time, so getting to play them for “free” is a win.

I like streaming PS5 games to my Steam Deck, but the only PS5 game this year that I played entirely via my Steam Deck was Night in the Woods. Other games got partial playtime on the Steam Deck, but I mostly played them on the PS5. I use Chiaki4Deck (which I believe is now called Chiaki-ng), and it works pretty well most of the time. There are some games I wouldn’t play on the Steam Deck due to latency issues, but especially for slower-paced games, it’s a great way to play PS5 games in bed. Especially as a parent, it’s nice to be able to play games while still being present around the house.

Aside from the PlayStation 5 (and one lonely game on the PlayStation 4), most everything else was played either on my desktop or my Steam Deck. The only non-Steam game I played was Minecraft. We have a modded family server that we play on, which got a major overhaul this year. Sometimes I play that on the Steam Deck, but I like it more on my desktop with a mouse and keyboard.

One VR game made my list this year: Half-Life: Alyx. I played it on my Valve Index, and it was a blast. I had started it back in 2020 but never got around to finishing it, so this year I started over and powered through. VR is pretty wild, and I wish there were more games of this caliber to play.

I started one game on the Nintendo Switch, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, but I didn’t get around to finishing it. The kids mostly monopolized the Switch this year, but to be honest, I just didn’t prioritize it over other games. I have a growing backlog of other Nintendo games that I want to play, so maybe I’ll get to them in 2025.

The most significant change in my gaming habits this year was getting into online multiplayer thanks to Deadlock. I’ve never been much of a multiplayer gamer, but I’ve been having a lot of fun with Deadlock. I don’t have a recurring group to play with so I’m queuing up solo. Matchmaking seems somewhat unpredicatable, but it’s still a good time.

As far as 2025 goes, I don’t have any major plans. I do want to finish up some games that I’ve been slacking on, as well as tackle some of my backlog. But I know I’m going to get sucked into some PlayStation Plus Extra games that I haven’t even heard of yet, so we’ll see how it goes. I also want to spend more time playing games with my kids as they get older.

Looking forward to another year of gaming in 2025!