I find it interesting to take a quick look at last year's top games before writing this one. Satisfactory is... still not out. I'm still playing Factorio, again again. And I still feel like there hasn't been a huge amount of great games out this year. The ones that are at the top of the pile are excellent, but of the 43 games I've reviewed this year, 21 of them actually came out this year, most of them were demos, and only 5 of them I gave full marks. They are, in order:
I'm not sure I can add a whole lot to this that anyone hasn't ready already if they're interested, but I think it's simple enough to say this is the best RPG I've ever played. It's true to the DND 5E ruleset, extremely well voice and motion captured, combat is engaging, the game is beautiful, and it's memorable enough that I can actually remember the character's names. If you're even remotely interested in RPGs, turn based combat and dialogue, get this.
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Dredge is a beautiful indie fishing game. The mechanics are pretty simple, but it's just so highly polished that I'd recommend it to anyone. "Something" happened to the old fisherman, so you take his place on the isles and start pottering about in a little boat. Fishing consists of a number of minigames, hitting the button at the right time, and there are a few variations based on fish type. You soon start travelling the seas, helping NPCs and upgrading your boat. There are LOADS of different fish, interesting things to explore, an engaging storyline, relics and mystical powers. I found myself highly engaged throughout.
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Everspace 2 is as good and so much more than I was hoping for. When I played the first game, what I really thought was "this would have been better as an actual full game rather than a roguelike" but they really have taken everything they learned from Everspace 1 (and the money) to develop what I think Everspace always should have been. It's an extremely highly polished space arcade looter shooter. The controls are great, the story is good, the voice acting is good, and all the weapons and ships feel great. It's also WAY bigger than I would have expected. I finished the game in about 40 hours, but I've barely visited 2 of the 7 systems, and done maybe 10% of the side quests.
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Sun Haven is a clone of Stardew Valley (which is a clone of Harvest Moon). Fans will try to deny it, but with a practically identical art style it's hard to ignore. You inherit a farm and proceed to farm, cook, upgrade tools, mine, donate to the museum, forage, fish, buy friendship by giving gifts and take on side quests. There are some nice differences too though. There are MUCH larger skill trees than SDV, no stamina bar, an adjustable day length, magic spells and a main story. On the whole I would highly recommend it if you're looking for one of those farming life sims to get lost in. I've enjoyed 50 hours so far, but am giving it a rest until they fix the bugs.
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If there's one thing this game does fantastically well, it's making you feel like you're in the world of Harry Potter. Gameplay mechanics aside, everything from the voice acting, animations, attention to detail and music make you feel like you're basically playing in the film world. The game itself is a fairly standard AAA open world action adventure game, complete with collectathons, enemy camps, levels, gear, rarity, skill points etc, but I did really enjoye playing through it. The main quests are maybe 20 hours or so, then there's about 40 hours of side quests and fluff. Main quest is just the right length to not out-stay it's welcome, and there's tons of things to do if you want more.
Read the review2 of my favourite EA games from last year are still not out. Core Keeper is suppsoedly coming out Summer 2024. Dyson Sphere Program has just released the combat update, and might possibly be coming out at the end of next year. Other worthy EA mentions:
Fabledom is a relaxing village builder set in a storybook fantasy land. It's like The Settlers, but spun like a child's bedtime story where you interact with other kindgoms' princes and princesses.
Forever Skies probably won't be out any time soon, but it's looking WAY better than the demo I played already. It's a sci-fi sort of "Raft, but on an airship" where you float around Earth above the toxic ground scavenging for resources and building an airship.
I Am Future is already really well made and started focusing on content. It's a colourful cozy survival game set on a rooftop where you fend off toxic wildlife and do little quests for vending machines.
The Wandering Village is a unique-aesthetic city builder, set on the back of a giant creature wandering through different biomes. You have a symbiotic (or parasitic) relationship with the creature as you try to survive the changing boimes.
Oh and Valheim still isn't out.