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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

2024 gave us some great games. This list’s top 10 is as good as any I’ve seen in my 14 (?!) years running this section at Paste. But the industry is at a major crossroads right now, stuck between a dying era of ever-escalating size and scope and whatever comes next, and that’s reflected by what kind of games made a splash this year. The fact that no huge budget “AAA” game by a Western studio with hundreds of (always crunched, always on the verge of being laid off) employees resonated with audiences or critics in 2024 shows how creatively bankrupt the dominant sector of the games world is today. Releasing good art through a corporation is always exceedingly difficult but for games it’s as impossible as it’s ever been (outside of Japanese companies, who are given more freedom to balance art and commerce than their Western counterparts); rampant layoffs, studio closures, and consolidation have wiped out a notable chunk of the industry’s creative class, and what remains is too risk-averse and commercially desperate to make anything genuinely interesting or challenging. The only “major label” games worth celebrating this year that weren’t developed in Japan were smaller titles sent out to die by massive publishers who have no idea what they’re doing, an explicit critique of the corporatism that brought the industry to this place, and an old-fashioned-ish Bioware RPG that barely made our list.

If there is an upside to the current system’s steady unraveling, it’s that it’s brought greater attention to the smaller publishers and developers who are actually making good, interesting games. The fact that Balatro, a game made by one single developer, was perhaps the most praised and consistently buzzed about game of the year, and continues to get hyped 10 months after release, is a promising sign—like a small flower blooming through a cement crack at the end of a movie about the apocalypse. Yes, designers take a lot of risk striking out on their own, without the money and security of a corporate game design job (a security that only lasts until the next acquisition or round of layoffs, of course), but any game made with passion and personality has more potential to become great than the latest product churned out by the corporate assembly lines. And more than any other recent year, this one has been proof. Here are the best games of 2024, as picked by a small team of Paste games writers, including assistant editor Elijah Gonzalez, contributors Dia Lacina and Marc Normandin, and me. No DLC or Early Access games were considered, so please save your questions about Shadow of the Erdtree and Hades II.—Garrett Martin

1. UFO 50
2. 1000xRESIST
3. Balatro
4. Metaphor: ReFantazio
5. Thank Goodness You’re Here!
6. Ultros
7. Arctic Eggs
8. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
9. Animal Well
10. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
11. Tekken 8
12. Astro Bot
13. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
14. Mouthwashing
15. Arco
16. Dragon’s Dogma 2
17. Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island
18. Dungeons of Blood and Dream
19. Sorry, We’re Closed
20. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
21. Clickolding
22. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
23. Helldivers 2
24. Ys X: Nordics
25. Little Kitty, Big City
26. Crow Country
27. Shogun Showdown
28. Tactical Breach Wizards
29. Unicorn Overlord
30. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
31. Children of the Sun
32. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
33. Rivals of Aether II
34. I Am Your Beast
35. Utopia Must Fall
36. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
37. Interstate 35
38. Kill Knight
39. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
40. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

The 40 Best Games of 2024

The best games of 2024 are like tiny flowers growing out of the cement cracks of the apocalypse that is the games industry.

www.pastemagazine.com

 

[LectureMaster]

39. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
40. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

 

[TintoConCasera]

Based, UFO 50 deserves the love.

 

[Punished Miku]

Better list than most. Much better.

My 3 most wanted Xbox ports are 1000xRESIST, Lorelai and Arco. Hopefully 2025.

Really surprised Dungeons of Hinterberg isn't on here. Most slept on indie game this year.

 

[joeygreco1985]

Brutal. I get that UFO 50 is an indie darling but GOTY? Over the likes of Balatro and FF7?

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Wtf is a paste magazine?

 

[HogIsland]

Ultros over Animal Well is a coup. Not saying it's wrong.

 

[Little Mac]

12. Astro Bot

 

[Topher]

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

garbo list. what the hell is pasta magazine

 

[darth.shrimp]

I don't think I've ever heard of half of those...

 

[Loomy]

How can the entirety of UFO 50 qualify for game of the year? This might be one of the worst list I've seen lmao.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Ah yes, the hipster vote….and OF COURSE UFO 50 is on top….

 

[near]

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is the best game I've played this year.

 

[Madflavor]

1. UFO 50
2. 1000xRESIST
3. Balatro
4. Metaphor: ReFantazio
5. Thank Goodness You’re Here!
6. Ultros
7. Arctic Eggs
8. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
9. Animal Well
10. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
11. Tekken 8
12. Astro Bot
13. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
14. Mouthwashing
15. Arco
16. Dragon’s Dogma 2
17. Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island
18. Dungeons of Blood and Dream
19. Sorry, We’re Closed
20. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
21. Clickolding
22. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
23. Helldivers 2
24. Ys X: Nordics
25. Little Kitty, Big City
26. Crow Country
27. Shogun Showdown
28. Tactical Breach Wizards
29. Unicorn Overlord
30. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
31. Children of the Sun
32. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
33. Rivals of Aether II
34. I Am Your Beast
35. Utopia Must Fall
36. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
37. Interstate 35
38. Kill Knight
39. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
40. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

The 40 Best Games of 2024

The best games of 2024 are like tiny flowers growing out of the cement cracks of the apocalypse that is the games industry.

www.pastemagazine.com

Jesus Christ I think I could smell the Venti Decaf Soymilk Latte reading this list.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Paste is an apt name, like the paste I discharged into a tissue last night, easily disposable

 

[rofif]

Stellar blade is not even included. fuck these idiots. Paste them on my toilet bowl

 

[Topher]

Ah yes, the hipster vote….and OF COURSE UFO 50 is on top….

Better title:

"Here is.......a random list of games"

 

[The Cockatrice]

Another hipster garbage "magazine". Gotcha.

 

[TheStam]

1000XRESIST was such a ride, love weird good narrative focused Indies but there are not many of that quality. It's a bit of a VN but more interactive. I got sucked in and finished it in like two days. Probably my GOTY.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Hey I know someone who runs their own online zine as half assed hobby if we are just posting any top 40 lists as their own thread.

 

[Arsic]

No SH2 remake?

LOL. LMAO, even.

 

[Optimus Lime]

UFO 50 is a pretty good pick for #1.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I'm posting my GOTY on the blog I have 13 followers on. Look forward to that thread.

 

[Arsic]

1000xResist is now on my Steam wishlist.

Now THAT looks cool as fuck. Never heard of it.

 

[DaciaJC]

Yeah, that's the sort of list I would expect from a bunch of glue-sniffers.

 

[ReBurn]

Wtf is a paste magazine?

It's for the kids who ate paste

 

[Calico345]

 

[tommib]

These guys don’t fail in giving visibility to good games that are under the radar. So much more interesting that what the mainstream lists will look like with all the usual yawn inducing suspects.

Good to see Tekken 8 so high. Absolutely stellar package.