GameCentral delivers its mid-year video game report, in what has been an exceptional six months, filled with great titles like Animal Well and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
We don’t want to alarm you, but we’re now halfway through the year. Time flies when you’re worried about the future of the video game industry, but 2024 is now 50% complete and while the news has been a non-stop parade of woe, the best way to cheer yourself up about the current state of gaming is simply to play some of the new releases.
At first we weren’t even sure if there were 20 games that deserved such praise, but as the list below started to take shape we realised we had to leave out a lot of notable games, including the still-very good Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Rise Of The Rōnin, as well as countless indie titles like Dicefolk, Paper Trail, Hauntii, V Rising, Ultrawings 2, Freedom Planet 2 and Little Kitty, Big City.
We’ve used the same rules as our annual Top 20, except we’re excluding remasters, remakes, and DLC (though we do count Final Fantasy 7 as a new game), so that leaves out the fantastic Elden Ring: Shadow Of, The Erdtree and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and not to mention Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, Braid Anniversary Edition, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, and Persona 3 Reload.
Clearly it’s been an excellent year for quality games. A few weeks ago the second half of 2024 looked a bit barren, but now the season is filled with an encouragingly diverse range of promising titles, from Astro Bot and Star Wars Outlaws to Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom and Life Is Strange: Double Exposure.
If the divide between games and news seems hard to believe, the answer is simple and related to one of the major problems in the industry right now: games take too long to make. All of the ones mentioned below would have started long before the layoffs and uncertainty started. What happens next is hard to say, but for now, this is shaping up to be one of the best years for gaming in the modern era. That is a very welcome surprise.
20. F1 24 (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
We never know what to do with annual sports sequels in these types of lists, because even when they’re good, they’re usually not much different from the ones before them. F1 24 literally can’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s the best Formula 1 game Codemasters has made to date and a sign that their purchase by EA isn’t having a negative effect.
19.WWE 2K24 (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
Likewise, Visual Concepts has been making WWE games for years and not only is this the best wrestling game in at least two generations, but they’ve now fully atoned for the disaster that was WWE 2K20, in a comeback story worthy of the real WWE.
An old-school Japanese role-player with beautiful art, excellent combat and some very welcome co-op options – even if you’ve probably never heard of it. If only it had a better script, it would have been significantly higher on this list, instead of having to take on the role of one of the hidden gems of the year.
The name makes it sound like some kind of immobile child’s game, but this is a surprisingly funny detective game that is considerably more complex than the cute visuals suggest. The fact that it draws comparisons to Return Of The Obra Dinn is the highest praise you can give it, with its engaging puzzles and characters.
There’s been a lot of talk about Jet Set Radio lately, with a reboot , rumors of a remake , and last year’s Bomb Rush Cyberfunk . RKGK borrows more sparingly from Sega’s old classic, but the graffiti-themed platformer is the most successful homage yet and a fine debut for new developer Wabisabi Games.
Survival horror games always look to the past for inspiration, and this throwback to PS1-era classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill really tickles the nostalgia nerve. The gameplay and visuals are period-perfect, and while it’s not actually all that scary, the sense of strangeness is engaging, even if you’ve never played the original inspirations.
You wait for one new Prince Of Persia game and then two come out at once. While The Rogue Prince Of Persia is off to a promising start in early access, it’s currently the more fun of the two titles: an inventive Metroidvania with excellent combat and platforming, even if it has little to do with the rest of the series.
If there’s one thing that’s always puzzled us about Soulslike games, it’s why they always copy the tone and visuals of FromSoftware’s games, as well as the gameplay. This immediately proves that a different setting does wonders to make it feel more unique, but it also has plenty of unique ideas, for your hermit crab hero.
Sony was undoubtedly excited when its first live-service game of the year became a huge hit, though its popularity seems to have waned in recent months. It’s likely to bounce back, though, as its friendly-fire love affair and ever-changing meta still feels fresh and markedly different from other co-op shooters.
It may not look like much, but this indie release is one of the few games brave enough to copy the (old) Zelda formula… and then mix it with a bullet hell shooter. It can come across as a little clinical at times, in terms of art style and lack of human characters, but otherwise this is one of the best indie games of the year.
Inspired by the forgotten Game Boy Advance title Drill Dozer, this is a fantastic little platformer that uses its drilling gimmick in wonderfully inventive ways, both as a weapon and as a means of transportation. The graphics can be a little spartan at times, but there are some great gameplay mechanics and excellent boss battles.
There will be a lot of competition for the ‘weirdest game’ award this year, but this surreal puzzle adventure from Year Walk creator Simogo is the clear favourite. The story may be harder to understand than the puzzles, but both are equally rewarding once you figure out what’s going on.
Roguelikes have never been more popular than they are right now, but if you want to experience one in its rawest form, the latest Shiren The Wanderer is as hardcore as it gets for a newly released game. It’s old school, but there are enough modern elements thrown in to make it pleasantly addictive, even for those who swear there’ll be no more.
The franchise formerly known as Yakuza has been doing quite well lately and this might be the best entry of the entire series. Moving to Hawaii keeps things fresh, but the turn-based combat is much better than the last game and the range of side activities are the most fun they’ve ever been, especially the ones that parody modern gaming.
One of the most surprising successes on this list, not so much because the developer is virtually unknown, but because the overly sexualized female protagonist is really the only offensive part of the game. The combat is absolutely top notch and while the exploration and survival horror elements can seem a bit random at times, the overall experience is immensely enjoyable.
You wouldn’t expect the eighth installment in a fighting game franchise with its fair share of workmanlike bits to be one of the best games of the year, but this one absolutely is, with excellent single-player and multiplayer options and a perfect balance of depth and accessibility. The only downside is the minimal number of new characters.
We’re not sure what most people would expect from a game with a name like this, but it’s probably not an homage to 90s strategy games like Ogre Battle. The latest from the makers of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, this is truly a game in itself, with Vanillaware’s typically beautiful artwork combined with gameplay that is both nuanced and surprisingly original.
3. Balatro (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)
Indie games had a fairly quiet 2023, but this year is very different, with a ton of interesting and varied games. Poker mixed with a deck-building roguelike sounds terribly unappealing, but try saying that to yourself when you’re trying to stop playing at 1am in what is arguably the most delightfully addictive game of the year.
Weird, unappealing names are de rigueur for most indie games, but if you can ignore that, this is a fantastically well-designed Metroidvania-style adventure, packed with secrets and encouraging you to use its various tools and weapons in endlessly inventive ways – making it all the more impressive that it’s the work of just one person.
The first part of the remake trilogy was much better than we expected, but this middle part is even more extraordinary. You could call it excessive, but the sheer amount of content is stunning, as are the visuals and the fact that the characters and their motivations remain sympathetic and understandable throughout the game, in what is possibly the best modern Final Fantasy game ever.
MORE: Games Inbox: Shadow Of The Erdtree disappointment, Soulcalibur reboot and Nintendo remaster prices
MORE: GTA boss Dan Houser explains why there was never a Grand Theft Auto movie
MORE: Elden Ring Movie Teased As Shadow Of The Erdtree Sales Pass 5,000,000 Copies
Sign up for all the exclusive gaming content and the latest releases before they hit the site.
Privacy Policy »
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.