Rambling Fox

My five favourite games that I played in 2024

The longer title being "My five favourite games that I played in 2024, that weren't necessarily games released in 2024 but which I played extensively in 2024, which were also brand new games for me in 2024 so I'm not counting re-playthroughs or ongoing multiplayer mayhem". But that's not as catchy.

5. SYSTEM SHOCK (the remake)

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As someone who considers himself a huge fan of "immersive sims" (about as blurgh of a genre name as IDM or boomer shooter), the original System Shock has been a humongous blind spot in my gaming experience. I know, I know, playing a remake isn't exactly the same thing - but to NightDive's credit, they've done a phenomenal job at balancing how the remake plays. It feels at the same time both like a brand new experience, as well as a museum tour highlighting just how important the original was. Based on what I've read the game's overall design remains relatively faithful to the original apart from a few quality of life or balancing tweaks here and there, though the big change is obviously how the game plays, in that it now behaves like you'd expect a first person game to do in the 2020s. I also love the little touch in how the updated graphics have a touch of old-school scruff into the textures, turning the visuals into a fascinating hybrid of the 1990s and 2020s. Both in their own way contribute to the remake being a smooth and incredibly immersive experience.

And... that's all there is to it, in a good way. System Shock wasn't the first of the immersive sim family tree (and I really would love Ultima Underworld to receive a similar remake), but it's the one that codified the ethos of the genre - (0)451 and all. Because the remake is kept so faithful, there's no unique twists to the core formula and it's bound to be incredibly familiar to everyone who's played games like this in the past; if anything, for veterans of the genre who've experienced its growth it might not even feel that much of an immersive sim as System Shock stays a little more on rails and how it gives the player the freedom to proceed in their own way is a lot more micro level. But it speaks a volume to the legendary strengths of the original game that you don't need anything else. The experience of surviving through the Citadel station, scrounging for ammo while outsmarting its rampant AI and eventually beginning to gain an upper hand - it's incredibly gripping and it doesn't need anything else. The relative simplicity of System Shock is one of its great strengths because it allows it to focus on the feel of the experience.

System Shock is a great example of what remakes ought to be: taking great games whose strengths have been damaged by time and technology moving on, brushing them up and bringing them closer to modern day sensibilities in presentation and gameplay but understanding and retaining what made them so special in the first place and not touching that.

4. PENTIMENT

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Pentiment was the biggest surprise of the year, primarily because I was surprised to even know it existed. I consider Obsidian to be one of the few studios who I at least try to keep an eye on, and even I had completely missed its release in 2022. But, I guess it's not the most media-sexy game there is - a murder mystery in realistic 16th century Germany all told through 2D graphics that imitate the scriptural illustrations of the time and where the gameplay is basically all based around reading and thinking isn't exactly the sort of thing you can pack into a suave trailer. But Pentiment generally feels like a small passion project/experiment rather than a fully-fledged key title for the studio - and that's probably to its benefit.

Pentiment is decidedly smaller scale and it feels refreshing because of it. There's no grand world-shaking plot or intense action, only well-written character drama in a small German village where each character feels alive enough that as the game progresses and the in-game years go on, you genuinely become familiar and attached to the families growing around you. Or not grow - it all depends on your choices made. Pentiment is all about your choice - there is no canonical truth to each chapter's big mystery so the player is never directly questioned whether they did the right thing, but the same lack of real truth does bring out a surprisingly vivid feeling of did I genuinely do the right thing? in the player, which gives each choice weight, especially as you can so clearly see the results of your actions.

Combined with the wonderful presentation, which doesn't set off fireworks but makes sure each detail counts (from the font of the speech bubbles to the few moments when the otherwise ambient background sound is replaced by music), the genuinely engaging story progression and the little touches that make it feel like your adventure, and Pentiment is a genuinely refreshing experience. It's somewhere halfway between an adventure game and a RPG, and it's now a game I heartily recommend to people and buy them in sales - because no one else seems to have heard about it either.

3. CULT OF THE LAMB

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Roguelites are now a field so crowded that you need something special to make it genuinely captivating to repeat dangerous dungeons over and over and over again while accruing incremental changes. Cult of the Lamb’s answer to this is to lace the game with irreverent cult humour, add a light city builder/social manager layer to break the monotony and to make every character into a whimsically cute cartoon animal. And what do you know - it’s the most fun I’ve had with a roguelite since Dungeons of Dredmor and stands head and shoulders above most entries into the genre.

Whilst obviously the dungeonhacking is the key gameplay aspect, what made Cult of the Lamb so enjoyably addictive to me was the actual cult simulation side of it. It's so much fun to manage your little flock of faithful followers, controlling their daily lives according to your whims as they spend their days toiling and worshipping (and with the latest content patch, happily sinning) for you. While the action sequences are great, I found the cult simulator sections in-between so engaging that often I found myself more excited to spend more time with my little guys when logging on. The micromanagement isn’t burdensome and can be relaxed to cater to the player’s needs (and I do recommend toggling on the setting to stop time in the village whenever you go into a dungeon) so it never overstays its welcome - and in fact, I could imagine enjoying an alternative version of this game that fully focuses on this aspect in greater detail over the 50/50 split is now. It’s a lot of great fun and nicely breaks the tension between the more intense dungeon running.

Roguelite elements in games is now becoming an overcrowded cliché akin to WW2 shooters in the 2000s and zombies in the 2010s, but Cult of the Lamb proves that with a little whimsy and imagination, you can make the genre feel fresh and fun still.

2. COBALT CORE

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Cobalt Core is the most fun I've had with a roguelite since Cult of the Lamb. Again, maybe the best way to breathe life into the overcrowded roguelite scene is to just fill it with cute cartoon animals?

OK so the graphic design is only like one third why Cobalt Core is such a great experience - and I'm not talking just about the cartoon animals but the overall character-rich spritework which shows 99% of the retraux indie games how it's done when it comes to pixel graphics. The second third is just how well the gameplay loop is executed and how good and effortless it feels. It's the best parts of a deck builder and roguelite mashed together into a well-oiled machine that not only constantly offers something new but downright revels in letting the player surprise themselves in figuring out new tactics and coming up with brand new ways to manage their run. The main variable is the selection of characters you pick for each run, three out of a total eight choices - your crew determines the types of cards you get and thus your playstyle. Each character operates wildly differently but no one feels like an underthought - and some of my most hilarious and/or fun playthroughs have been on the back of combinations I thought would never work and yet created absolutely bonkers but valid tactics that I would have never thought of otherwise (and that's the best part of this genre, quite often!). Unlike so many games where it's easy to get stuck in a rut of your favourite options, Cobalt Core makes experimenting with new ideas feel like it's really worth it.

The final piece of the puzzle is the writing, which is just wonderful. It's self-aware, sharp-witted and gently irreverent - so like so many indie games, but proving that in the right hands that formula can be something that genuinely sticks. Once again this is where the different characters come to play: each one has a distinct personality, they're constantly chatting and often with each other, and so each run feels like you're having the best road trip with your buddies. Deep in the core of the Core is an actual plot which is tricklefed slowly as you complete more runs and the more serious aspects are handled in a manner that doesn't clash with the overall tone.

Add to all of that a genuinely great soundtrack, and the final result is a refreshing and exciting roguelite which I found incredibly hard to stop playing.

1. SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS

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Of course this was going to be number one game of the year and if you know me at all, it should have been blindingly obvious from the very beginning of this article that this is where we were heading all along.

My opinion remains the same as it was when I posted my original thoughts on the game, apart from the fact that I've now also completed the Sonic Generations remaster (still one of the best Sonic games but the new additions are bit superfluous) and the Sonic 3 movie tie-in DLC (Keanu!Shadow is kind of cool, especially with the amount of asskicking he does in the level, but it's oh so painfully short). So, there's not much else I can really elaborate on here: Sonic Generations continues to be incredible, and Shadow Generations is genuinely worth the full price of admission alone. I would suggest just clicking the link to the earlier blog post and read in more detail just why this game is such a ridiculous joy to play.

Instead, let me talk a little bit about the physical soundtrack which was finally delivered to me earlier this week, and specifically mention all the really cool artwork contained within. The liner notes this time are pretty light on text (just a page-long write-up from Jun Senoue in the general approach to the music of the game which is pretty standard, instead of the track-by-track notes of the past few soundtracks), but there's so much excellent artwork across the pages. Each level and boss is given its own excellent illustration dripping with atmosphere and the general Rule of Cool that the entire Year of Shadow has been riding on, and unless I'm completely wrong, these illustrations are exclusive to the soundtrack booklet? The music, as we knew, was already brilliant in itself and the soundtrack has been a great opportunity to properly dig into the various recreations of familiar songs from Shadow's past journeys - and there's a few surprises too, like how "Supporting Me" now has its vocals restored. I also appreciate the inclusion of the score from tie-in anime short. Another wonderful physical release as is standard for this series.

But seriously, Game of the Year undoubtedly. And it's actually from 2024 too!

#flint plays games