Shack Chat: What is your personal Game of the Year 2024?

It's the final Shack Chat of the year! We will soon begin sharing our Shacknews Awards winners for 2024, but as always, it's tradition that we close out the year of Shack Chatting by sharing our personal picks for Game of the Year.

Question: What is your personal Game of the Year 2024?

Balatro - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Poker Champ

I was afraid that a game like this would get its hooks into me. I know how I am with card games like Hearthstone and Marvel Snap and with roguelikes like Hades. Sure enough, Balatro is everything that people said it was and so much more. I continue to be dazzled by the number of Jokers and the way they interact with different strategies. The minutes fly by when I play this in a way that they have with few other games this year. Balatro is a phenomenon. It's a game that can stand the test of time, one I'd expect to see in various forms throughout the rest of my life.

The best part is, even if I am hooked on it, I only have to pay the asking price. There's no gambling here, silly. Could you imagine some fools thinking there's gambling in this game? That's just wacky.

Unicorn Overlord - TJ Denzer, assembling grand strategies

Strategy and RPGs are two of the most important genres to me in gaming, and one game delivered a perfectly synergistic balance between both this year. It was VanillaWare’s Unicorn Overlord. The moment I got a good look at this game, I knew exactly what it was. It plays like a modern, yet faithful spiritual successor to Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, which is one of my favorite games of all time.

Unicorn Overlord pulls a ton of stuff mechanically from that game, including forming your characters into squads and sending them out as one unit, timed strategy battle with semi-real-time tactics, and a massive array of unit types with which to create your ideal forces. There are some tasteful improvements such as character rapport and the ability to cast spells on the overworld map in battles, but it’s as close to that original game as any has gotten in decades.

There’s also VanillaWare’s fantastic music and art. The game is beautiful, the characters are awesome-looking, and their narratives are compelling. Traveling the world with them and going into battle amid the game’s always-enjoyable orchestral soundtrack was the cherry on top. I had this game called early for my possible GOTY. It feels like a game specifically made for me, and nothing else could push it from the top of my list when 2024’s dust settled.

Balatro - Asif Khan, CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Honestly, this might seem odd to some, but The Finals has gotta be my GOTY. It sneaked out right at the end of 2023, which meant it missed out on our awards last year and made it eligible this year. It’s the game I’ve played the most, with my Steam library claiming I’ve put about 400 hours into it. It manages to nail everything I want in a shooter: excellent shooting, a focus on teamwork, destructible environment, slick traversal and movement, and some of the best cosmetic items to play dress-up with.

However, if we’re being super strict and saying it must have been released in 2024, Black Myth: Wukong is it for me. I’ve adored my time with the game. It manages to nail intense, almost Soulslike combat, with some light exploration between boss fights. It’s such a terrific game that’s only been made better with recent updates (shout out to the new map feature).

An honorable mention to Dragon’s Dogma 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Helldivers 2, Animal Well, Isles of Sea and Sky, and Felvidek. Such a great year for games.

Metaphor: ReFantazio - Donovan Erskine, King

I came into 2024 with a modest curiosity in Metaphor: ReFantazio. I’d never played any of the Persona games before reviewing P3 Reload earlier this year; I had a lot of respect for ATLUS and the group at Studio Zero, but not much of an affinity for their work. That said, the fan of turn-based RPGs in me was excited to climb aboard for their new venture.

From the opening hours of Metaphor: ReFantazio, I knew I was experiencing something special. I was immediately captivated by the world of Euchronia and found myself reading through every piece of in-game lore to learn more.

I’m a sucker for endearing characters and found myself falling in love with Strohl, Hulkenberg, and a couple of other party members that I won’t spoil here. I loved learning more about them and helping them accomplish their personal goals while we worked towards a shared objective.

In battle, Metaphor pushed me in a way few RPGs do. It’s brutal and unforgiving, but never fair. Whenever I stumbled into a boss fight with a half-baked plan, I got beat so badly that I questioned if I was severely under-leveled. In every instance, I was able to come back with a fleshed-out strategy and emerge victorious.

I loved every second of Metaphor: ReFantazio. It earned the only 10 from me at Shacknews this year, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know since I finished playing it. It’s not just my game of the year, but one of the best of the decade.

Mario and Luigi: Brothership- Steve Tyminski, It’s a Me, Stevetendo!

What is my game of 2024? There were quite a few games that I played this year that I enjoyed. There were also some games that I liked this year that aren’t even on the radar of some folks. This is a tough one because there are a few indie games that I liked this year as well as several big company releases. I think I’m going with Mario and Luigi: Brothership for my personal game of the year. I love role-playing games and to surprise no one, I’m a big Nintendo fan. It was nice to see the Mario and Luigi series come back and this installment didn’t disappoint. There are some great songs in this game and the story knows how to get the player going. It might have been a little padded near the end but that doesn’t matter as Mario and Luigi: Brothership is my game of the year this year! I have to give a shoutout to Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore as that game was great too!

Those are our games of the year. Let us know your favorite game of 2024 in the Chatty, and stay tuned for the official Shacknews Awards 2024 rollout!

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.