Elijah Gonzalez’s Top 10 Games of 2024
Elijah Gonzalez is Paste’s assistant editor for the Games and TV sections. Today he shares his personal picks for the top 10 games of 2024.
It’s hard to say anything new about how this year went for the videogame industry, so I’ll keep it brief: it was a period of unprecedented layoffs where thousands of talented folks lost their jobs, many of which will probably never make games professionally again. It was a year that saw a shockingly small number of well-received AAA games produced outside of Japan as budget size and development time continued to balloon. Basically, it was another 12 months of brain drain and general dysfunction.
However, to take a slightly different tact, there were also a few things that left me hopeful for the future. For one, the relative shortage of big budget output likely encouraged many players to check out projects made by smaller teams, ideally helping them realize there’s always plenty of new creative, challenging, interesting games if you know where to look. Furthermore, the game industry being pushed to the brink of ruin seems to have been a catalyst for further unionization efforts, with a growing number of workers who make games gaining leverage in their workplace. And as always, games this year provided a wide range of experiences: dumb action fun, grimy horror, thoughtful story-first experiences, and everything in between. Anyway, here are ten games that stood out most in this dumpster fire of a year, little beacons which reminded me that no matter how bad things get, people will still create art worth celebrating.
10. Shogun Showdown
Roguelike deckbuilders are a crowded genre, and it’s to Shogun Showdown’s credit that the words “Slay the Spire” never crossed my mind as I cut down countless foot soldiers on my way to the titular big bad. Honestly, Into the Breach is a much better reference point for what’s happening here because, just like that tactically rewarding experience, this one melds strategic depth and straightforward math to make every battle feel like a well-designed puzzle. The turn-based action takes place on a 2D grid as you maneuver your little ronin and play cards to have them attack. Much of the standard genre stuff is here: you draft cards, navigate a map with nodes, and collect items that help round out your build.
However, a compelling point of differentiation is the relative lack of randomness compared to many other deckbuilders. Specifically, when you use a card, it goes on cooldown instead of cycling back into your deck, meaning you always know when you will be able to use it again. On top of this, enemies’ attacks are telegraphed a turn in advance, so you’re always given the intel to succeed. While Shogun Showdown lacks some of its peers’ near-infinite replayability, these strategically rich battles scratched my brain in all the right ways.
9. Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 has had a bit of an up-and-down journey this year: it was an unexpected breakout hit, then drew ire for its temporary PSN linking policy and balancing decisions, until finally mostly ending up back in players’ good graces after a few extensive patches. The result is that this exercise in interstellar jingoism is more engaging than ever, with a huge arsenal of stratagems and ordinance that will almost inevitably accidentally turn your allies into mincemeat. This increased range of viable options results in much more varied “liberating,” with tons of tools that can be the right one for the current job. Although this increasingly empowering game balance squares awkwardly with all its glib anti-fascist satire, Helldivers 2 remains a brutal co-op shooter that demands teamwork if you want to avoid completely biting it. Well, that will probably happen even if you’re all well-coordinated veterans (again, that’s sort of the point considering the Starship Troopers inspiration), but that steep challenge makes for an oddly satisfying experience that will keep you and your friends marching toward certain doom.
8. Mouthwashing
Lo-fi horror went to some interesting places in 2024, from the chart-topping death sport of Buckshot Roulette to Sorry We’re Closed and its demonic dating woes. But of these, Mouthwashing is the one that keeps buzzing in my mind, a game that’s uncompromisingly bleak, darkly poetic, and oddly enough, occasionally quite funny. Here, the crew of the Tulpar, an interstellar cargo ship, is stranded in deep space where no one can possibly find them. As they grapple with their imminent doom, the story jumps back and forth across time in a fragmentary daze, playing with perspective as we slowly discover ignored truths.
Mouthwashing isn’t scary like games typically are: there aren’t ghosts that will give you a jump scare or zombies to shoot in the head. It’s frightening in a more piercing way, delving into the psychology of selfishness, as an abuser deflects personal responsibility and drives their companions towards ruin. It’s about moral rot, examining how a single terrible individual can cause tremendous harm to those around them. And most interesting of all, it’s about the type of mental gymnastics this brand of awful person performs to keep going, as they twist reality to suit their narrative. It all leads to the slow realization that you’re not running from a monster; you’re playing as one.
7. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a game with vision. It wraps intriguing puzzles in a digital gothic framework. It makes the most of its chosen medium as it forces us to navigate the tenuous details of this backdrop. Just about every layer of the experience is creatively risky, from its fragmented narrative to its uncompromising barrage of challenges, but these gambles largely pay off to deliver something with purpose and direction. Crafting this kind of maze isn’t easy; it takes a combination of subtle guidance and faith in your audience. But despite these challenges, Simogo never loses sight of how to stoke curiosity about what’s lurking around the next corner, whether it’s a treasure you’ve been seeking or, conversely, something horrible lurking in the dark.
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