Top 10 Games of 2024: Nintendo Editor Michael’s Picks

If you know me, then you knew I would be sharing my Top 10 Games of 2024 list eventually.

But you DIDN’T know I would be sharing it so close to 2024!

Fortunately for you, I played most every game I wanted to before the year came to a close. Except for Persona 3: Reload. And Another Code. And…

Okay, so I put timeliness over completion this year. Sue me!

(Please don’t sue me.)

In no particular order:

Granblue Fantasy Relink

Not just one of my Top 10 Games of 2024, but probably the best game of 2024. I made an awful lot of promises that I would tell you how awesome Granblue Fantasy Relink is early this year, and I failed on all but one account. But it’s awesome, an action RPG with over twenty characters. Part Monster Hunter, part, uh, Granblue Fantasy, Relink is the year’s best action RPG and its most beautiful. The soundtrack is sublime, the cinematography is breathtaking (and I don’t just mean compared to other titles in the genre), and the campaign is filled to the brim with surprises.

The late-game grind is perhaps overly reliant on too few fights, and it could dole out certain rewards at a much better pace (looking at you, Fortitude Crystals), AND the shop’s economy is goofy at best, but they’re minor foibles in a premium title. If you like beautiful JRPGs, breathless action, or challenging co-op bosses, then stop sleeping on Granblue Fantasy Relink, and start having fun.

Helldivers 2

We watched the fires burn as wave after wave of napalm strikes, incendiary mines, and fire bombs razed bugs by the hundreds.

It was a moment of power, a moment that proved our approach to Democracy was Right—or at least effective.

The very next run, we scampered through the crustaceous bodies of alien bioforms and learned what happens when you don’t kill them fast enough. Escape sat on the other side of vicious mandibles and sharp claws.

Most of us didn’t make it.

Helldivers 2 may have some jank, but it’s a fantastic time with friends nonetheless, and can be both petrifying and empowering.

Unicorn Overlord

Only in a year with Granblue Fantasy Relink can a Vanillaware game not be an automatic shoe-in for best art direction! Like the developer’s previous games, Unicorn Overlord is unmissable for fans of the genre. Players build up strategic units of capable fighters with a startling amount of control. Those who love to fine-tune builds and be rewarded with world-conquering power will feel right at home.

The story may be fairly standard fantasy affair for a JRPG, but it’s also not offensively bad, which is the second-highest praise I can offer. The localization transports the player in time, and the performances (particularly Frank Todaro’s truly wicked Baltro) do a lot of heavy lifting.

But the gameplay and art are the true heroes of Unicorn Overlord. Now it only needs some sort of update that lets us tackle continents in any order in successive play-throughs and it’ll be perfect!

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

The triumphant return of a bonafide classic! Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is Mario at his most creative, with a cast of colorful characters and a world filled to the brim with peoples we’ve never seen since. Seriously, just strolling through Rogue Port is enough to make a man miss the days of invention that used to be standard for the entire franchise.*

*Of course, with the likes of Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Wonder, it would appear those days are back again!

Fortunately for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, it also barely shows its age in design. Combat is just as fun as ever, and the story is as good as I remember it. You do have to backtrack an awful lot, and I’ll allow that most of the game is corridors compared to modern Paper Mario, but those corridors are filled with wit and charm abound!

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Truly the Breath of the Wild of top-down, old-school Zeldas. Let me count the ways:

1) Cooking

2) The ability to surmount obstacles in creative ways

3) An open Hyrule that can’t lock you out from finding whatever path you please.

There’re definitely some other things, too, but I can’t count higher than three. Echoes of Wisdom rewards outside-the-box thinking, and is as fun as you can make it. Whether you’re climbing towers of plants and beds or sending six Club Moblins to do your dirty work, the Echo system is a ball.

Shout out to my Club Club* for helping me take down evil!

*Yes, the aforementioned Moblins.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Atlus is at it again, standing far above its genre competition by delivering on all cylinders. Amazing music, fantastic use of color, unique world-building, compelling characters, a well-defined antagonist, a smashing battle system, and engaging progression—Metaphor: Refantazio is everything and then some when it comes to JRPGs. And best of all, its dungeons feel much less padded than its predecessor.

Which makes it an easy slot for my Top 10 games of 2024.

Special shout-out to Heismay, the battle theme, and those sick Human designs!

Neva

Neva was custom-built to play with my emotions. It made a mess of me. Forget the beautiful art for a minute (hard to do, I know): it’s the emotive level design that did it for me. I dare not be too specific for anyone who hasn’t played (the game’s like 3-4 hours long, if that helps you find time to fit it into your busy gaming schedule!), but suffice it to say: the battles match the narrative. The quiet moments are submerged in awe. Every press of the button serves the emotional core of the journey.

Fall was particularly riveting, every chapter of the season a succinct narrative arc of its own.

An example in the ways interactive media can deliver stories in powerful ways.

Okay, now we can talk about the beautiful art!

Windblown

I already let you know that Windblown is a great early-access roguelike playable entirely in co-op, right? So you already know it’s got tight action, numerous builds, and, yes, as of time-of-writing, no mercy for those who fall in battle (Editor’s Note: As of the time of posting, now with some mercy!).

Even in early access, it provides plenty of fun, and the promise of improvements during the early access period is an exciting proposition for those of us who can’t get enough.

Now, I still haven’t tried that Rush build… Better get back to it!

Kunitsu-Gami

An inventive tower defense strategy-action game that is as good as its enemy design and artwork.

Singularly confident in its vision, Kunitsu-Gami has got to be one of the most momentous games of the year—in so far as the momentum of play never lets up. It’s such a tough one to put down because the interplay between action-packed missions and serene town visitations is so smartly balanced.

I welcome any more original titles you’ve got cooking in the back of the kitchen, Capcom!

Arco

I vaguely remember the original announcement of this title back during one of the gaming showcases, but then I had completely forgotten about it. Until my brother gave it to me for Christmas! Huzzah for shops that let you gift each other digital copies! (Seriously, Nintendo, get on that!)

Arco was a fantastic, 10-15 hour adventure told from multiple perspectives that culminate in one grand finale. Like most of the best games of the year, it succeeded in marrying gameplay with narrative to make for a most engrossing tale.

I particularly loved the way the different chapters were carefully designed for the changing characters. Going from a shotgunning bowman to a melee-focused warrior sounded like an impossibility. But by the end, I had no idea how I would swap from a brawler to an arrow-lobbing ranged unit.

Runners Up

Picross S: Namco Legendary Edition: I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Picross has co-op. It’s had it for a while, too, and when I learned that, I jumped to download their latest puzzle set. You can now expect me to be a regular for this considerate puzzle-game establishment.

Dicefolk: I love games that, while inspired by countless forbearers, become something wholly their own by release. Sure, there’s hints of Pokemon in Dicefolk, but they’re hints. The combat and creature designs are exclusively Dicefolk.

Pepper Grinder: A buttery-smooth 2D platformer. Short, sweet, and perhaps a little too demanding of my thumbstick’s precision for the final boss, Pepper Grinder is the perfect title to sneak in for a weekend.

Eldin Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree: While I’m allowing Early Access games in my Top 10 Games of 2024, I’m not yet to the point of permitting expansions to win “coveted” awards. Besides Best Expansion, which Shadow of the Erdtree definitely is for 2024. More Eldin Ring is more Eldin Ring, and there’s nothing I enjoyed more than grinding out the final boss with friends.

Emio — The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club: It’s hard to say whether or not The Smiling Man fixes the most archaic elements of FDC’s design, but I didn’t have to search the internet for hints this time, and that means a lot. I felt pretty engrossed in the mystery until it stopped being a mystery, and I’ll never understand the decision to make the ending into what was, essentially, a 40-minute anime episode.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II: I loved that stinking sniper.

UFO 50: I’m only about 20% through the 50 games that star in UFO 50. It’s the game I’ve always wanted to make, a collection of ideas that capture the heart of a console that didn’t exist in a time that definitely did. Not every title inside is worth revisiting, but they’re all worth booting up at least once.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard: I liked so much of what The Veilguard was doing, but ultimately I think it botched its premise and failed to make its villains compelling. In fewer words, the writing was earnest, but clumsy. Too bad—it should have been a shoe-in for my Top 10 Games of 2024.

Games I Watched:

Beastie Ball: Speaking of games inspired by Pokemon… Beastie Ball is another shining example of how a game can capture that same thrill without feeling like a cheap rip-off. It’s about Volleyball, and while it’s got a ways to go before all its art is finished and content is fleshed out, it is already beatable in Early Access. I watched my brother play it, and in this house, that counts for something. Just not enough to call it one of my Top 10 Games of 2024!

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth: After chapters 10-12 made me drop the first game for a year, I was kinda done with the FFVII remakes. I ended up going back to finish Remake, but I let my brother have dibs on Rebirth. Junon was excellently crafted, in the way that chapters 1-9 were of the first game, but Costa del Sol was disappointing enough that my brother, well, dropped it. Time will tell if he comes back to finish it in a year.

Stellar Blade: Can’t complain about much of what I saw of this one, except that the story felt pretty lackluster. Looked like a satisfyingly tough action game, and maybe a little nicer to the player than Souls games.

Astro Bot: While I did play the first half or so on my own while borrowing my brother’s copy, I had watched him beat most of the thing already. A sense of fun and whimsy deserving its accolades.

Dragon’s Dogma II: Sometimes you just need a great big fantasy world to get lost in. For my brother, Dragon’s Dogma II did the trick.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: What an excellent adventure! For someone who hasn’t seen any of the original Indiana Jones movies, I was completely engrossed in my viewing experience.

Games I Missed

Persona 3 Reload: Awkward release timing prevented me from playing it, but I’ve got my copy, and I know that once Metaphor is a little further back in the rear-view mirror, I’ll be more than happy to revisit an old favorite in a new way.

Another Code Recollection: I was finally about to play my copy…when everyone gifted me Steam games for the holidays. Maybe next year!

Enjoy my list of the Top 10 Games of 2024? Then check out last year’s list! Or, wait around another 12 months to see if I write about my favorite games from 2025!