The Best Games I’ve Played So Far This Year

Alex Rowe
11 min readSep 30, 2024
The main combat screen in Valbrace, with the hero at the bottom and two purple bat enemies at the top, overlaid on a first person dungeon in the background.
Valbrace, one of the fifty games in UFO 50, is an amazing dungeon-crawler RPG. PC screenshot taken by the author.

We’re three quarters into 2024, and with only one major chunk of game releases left to go, I decided it was time for a check-in on how my top ten list is going so far.

I’ve read a bunch of online chatter that this is a “weird year” for AAA video games, and in some ways, that’s true. Sony is about to launch a big expensive new console without a clear demo title to go with it. Microsoft should have had an amazing release lineup this year, but with continued production issues and layoffs, the sudden delay of Avowed, and an Indiana Jones release so late that it won’t qualify for the big televised Game of the Year awards show they’re wallowing in mess. Nintendo’s sales momentum is still going so strong that they’re rolling out some non-traditional core franchise entries this year, and the Switch 2 is nowhere in sight.

So yeah, I guess that’s all a little weird when taken collectively — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still awesome games to play. Here are the titles I’ve enjoyed the most so far this year, in no particular order. At the start of the new year I’ll write an “official” ranked list, but for this is what I’ve liked. I’m sure your own list would be different (at least I kind of hope so), and you’re welcome to leave a reply with a game you loved that I missed!

Rise of the Ronin

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Alex Rowe
Alex Rowe

Written by Alex Rowe

I post commentary about gaming, tech, and sometimes music. I’ve written professionally about games since 2005. Look mom, I’m using my English degree!

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