5 best games of 2024 for PC and PlayStation to get stuck into during the holidays. It creates masterpieces

I don’t believe it myself, but 2024 has come to an end. And personally, I remember it primarily as the year in which the secret of the Japanese game fell on the Western market. But I already wrote a separate article about this.

Today I collected the 5 best games (personally in my opinion. this is NOT the opinion of the entire editorial board) 2024, which is worth playing if you haven’t already.

1. Marvel Rivals for those who miss Overwatch

The release of Overwatch 2 and the deafening failure of Concord seemingly put an end to the online shooter segment and scared off future developers. And personally for me (a person who played both Overwatch a lot and even tried to find something good in Concord) the first trailer for Marvel Rivals raised eyebrows with the feeling that it was going to be another flop.

Plus, I really dislike Marvel in general and comics in particular. However, I downloaded the game the day it came out, thinking I’d have enough for a couple of hits… and woke up in the dead of night.

And judging by the Steam statistics and a bunch of reviews, I’m far from alone. What’s the matter? It’s simple. Our company NetEase Games succeeded, first of all, in making an interesting online third-person shooter in an unusual (for the “hero third-person shooter” genre) installation.

There are currently 8 available maps in the game: Wakanda, Yggsgard, Hydra Base, Tokyo 2099 and Planet of the Symbiotes. The unique feature of the game is not immediately apparent, but there is no alternative: the cards in Marvel Rivals are partially broken.

There are only 4 modes so far, and all of them are classics of the genre: superiority, escort, team battle and mixed mode, consisting of two stages in which you must first capture a point, and then a cargo will appear on it that needs to be delivered to the objects.

The reason I included Marvel Rivals on the list isn’t really because of the modes and setbacks. It’s just very beautiful in appearance (without any hint of a design agenda. The characters look really cool) and an addictive game that is easy to start, pardon the pun, play. There is no overloaded leveling and progression, a bunch of manipulative mechanics and a complex plot. It’s just a fun third-person shooter game available to everyone for free.

🛒 Download Marvel Rivals for free on Steam

2. ReFantazio metaphor with a very cool plot

From online shooters with beautiful graphics, we move on to Japanese RPGs with development. Overall, a lot of cool games from Japan have been released this year, but first of all, I want a project from the creators of the cult Persona series.

The ReFantazio metaphor is a long-term construction project, work on these problems began back in 2016 and under a different name. A full announcement took place on June 11, 2023 during the Microsoft Xbox Games Showcase presentation.

So why launch this strange Japanese thing with a closed closed schedule in 2025? For the sake of history first and foremost. The plot of the action takes place in the fantasy Middle Ages and begins with a place in a quarry – some blond man very brutally kills local residents. The ruler has no heir, as well as no understanding of what the kingdom awaits in the future.

It is for the funeral of the monarch that our hero (in Russian localizations his canonical name is Alexander) comes to the capital, accompanied by a fairy, with a book in hand and some necessary task, which I will not reveal here. However, the funeral ends with the fact that the face of the murdered king has appeared in the sky and a competition has been announced for the royal throne, which can be accepted by every resident.

The world of Metaphor ReFantazio is inhabited by various races: from the elf-like Russents and dog-like Paripas to the Mustari and Eld. The latter are most similar to ordinary people; there are few of them left in the world, and they are sincerely hated. The theme of hatred and racism in general is one of the central ones in local history.

And people here call exclusively deadly and grotesque-looking monsters. Speaking of design in general, this is the calling card of Metaphor ReFantazio. In the item selection menu, down to the smallest interface elements, everything is done at the highest quality level and allows you to forget about not the most modern graphics.

The gameplay will be familiar to connoisseurs of the genre, but primarily as a JRPG in life, Metaphor works very well. By the way, the project has been completely translated into Russian, so I see no reason not to try one of the most stylish games of 2024.

🛒 Metaphor ReFantazio page on Steam

3. Horrible Silent Hill 2

Rumors about the cult Silent Hill 2 have been circulating for a very, very long time. But the first trailer and the information that the Polish team Bloober is responsible for the development caused a lot of abuse on the Internet. Yes, what can I say, I myself was one of those who buried the remake before its release, citing as the main argument the fact that the Poles could not convey the atmosphere of Quiet Hill as subtly and scaryly.

And after checking, I’m ready to say that I was wrong. Silent Hill 2 in 2024 is still an endlessly scary, tragic and adult game, the end credits of which are voiced, probably the most bitter aftertaste possible.

The Bloober team managed to reproduce the main aspect of the original game – viscous, almost tangible suspense. Fear of the unknown and fear of looking around the corner. Silent Hill 2 2024 is a very dark game with virtually no jump scares or typical clichés of modern horror.

There’s not much point in talking about the plot and gameplay. The story in the remake is identical to the original (whoever understood, understood), and the gameplay is noticeably inspired in many ways by 2019’s Resident Evil 2. The combat is lush, every hit against a monster is felt, and the obstacle locations provide behind-the-scenes details that are fun to explore.

I wholeheartedly recommend Silent Hill 2, even to those who know the original game by heart. On the contrary, it’s best to play on the DualSense – playing all its features behind your back to the fullest, and a couple of times it was the gamepad in my hands that scared me more than what was happening on the screen.

🛒 Silent Hill 2 Steam page

4. Incredibly beautiful Unicorn Overlord

For some reason it seems to me that everyone who is reading this now supports Unicorn Overlord. And this is the first time about the small Japanese studio Vanillaware. The story of George Kamitani and his journey are actually separate articles, but here I will only mention the team about their extreme creativity.

The fact is that Vanillaware is not as important as the stability and speed of releasing games. These projects lead to the emergence of a one-two rule in a generation of consoles, each time they lose high marks from the press and players, but consistently do not collect money and some kind of general hype. In our country, too, they did not gain much popularity due to the fact that it was played on consoles and without translation into Russian, and you need to read a lot there, especially in the last two hearings.

And all because these are often unique, but very niche games with an incredibly beautiful, hand-crafted visual style. George Kamitani’s idea was to bring to the screen not just a game, but a living painting, each screenshot from which could be hung on the wall.

And Unicorn Overlord doesn’t rule it out. It is a tactical role-playing game with visual novel and strategy elements, set in the fictional kingdom of Fevrit, where the once prosperous kingdom has fallen under the rule of the robber general Valmor. We are pregnant as the heir of the previous queen, we have to take down our homeland and restore peace.

The gameplay of Unicorn Overlord is vaguely reminiscent of the King’s Bounty series. Players release a global kingdom map with one control country – kill Valmora. You can do this right away, but with checks of 99 percent you will not have enough strength of your units or understanding of the local tactical system. Therefore, it is better to systematically clear the city’s units from enemies, carry out external assignments and develop your unit.

The settings are no less interesting. Unlike the same King’s Bounty or Fire Emblem, there is no direct control unit. You can fine-tune it for a long time and very finely, but you cannot give orders for battles, you can only look at the results of how you developed your units. The squad management system is very complex and is gradually getting worse, so it’s impossible to understand all the subtleties at a glance.

Unicorn Overlord is a complex, endlessly beautiful and extremely addictive project that I recommend everyone to try. Yes, the game does not have a translation into Russian, unfortunately, but don’t let this be an obstacle.

🛒 The official website of the game Unicorn Overlord is here

5. Astro Bot is the best game of 2024.

My personal main game of 2024 and so far of the entire generation of PlayStation 5. Not a single project has given it so many emotions, made me knock out all the trophies and did not literally gather the whole family in front of the TV.

The hour counter in Astro Bot is slowly starting to look like a hundred for me, and all because my wife still returns to the game and her daughter plays with great pleasure.

What is the magic? Well, the robot runs around and is funny, other robots are assembling, what is everyone wearing like that with him? The magic is in the details. The developers from the Asobi team aimed to create a GAME first. A non-narrative adventure with a very adult and plot-driven nature. Not a large complex RPG, you need to spend several hours to learn how to play it, and not just another online service with a donation store.

Astro Bot is the first computer game that makes it fun for players to play right from the start. It is full of small but very funny details (listen, for example, to the lyrics of the first level song), many of the mechanics in it are made by hand, but are used only once, the player’s curiosity is never left unattended.

The authors of Astro Bot strive to make every level of success, fill it with reference and, forgive the cliché, soul. For example, remember the PlayStation 3 demo where they showed ducks moving in water using physics that was calculated the first time? Yes, this technology was not used anywhere on the PS3, but the Asobi team remembers this presentation, and in addition to visual references to ducks, there are many places in the game where there are a huge number of small details, interaction with which follows the same logic. And at the same time, there are no bugs in the game and the FPS does not drop anywhere.

Astro Bot is a rare example in the modern industry of a completely finished product from the very beginning. Without a paid store with cosmetics, without any donation in principle. No day one patches or optimization problems. A game reminiscent of the times when Sony consoles were home to a wide range of unique and unique games.

And it’s sad that this approach with a bunch of references and fan service only works once. The Asobi team raised the bar too high with their debut project, and Astro Bot will most likely not succeed. But I am sincerely glad that both journalists and players appreciated their work. Following specialized publications and my personal game in 2024. Perhaps it will become your main discovery in 2025.

🛒 Astro Bot page on PS Store

Yes, I really think these are the best games

To figure it out, after the stunning 2023, Baldurs Gate 3, Final Fantasy 16 and Tears of the Kingdom will no longer be able to surprise me personally. However, 2024 brought even more cool and memorable projects. It was really hard to choose good games from the whole field. But for most of the releases, I’ve already been involved in one way or another with the material on the site throughout the year.

I’m not going to stop, by the way. In 2025, we will see even more interesting games and, probably, the main result. Which? And guess this for yourself.

I voice this thought to you. Have a good day!