Last year, Baldur’s Gate 3 took Just About’s GOTY 2023, our inaugural title, by a country mile (and deservedly so; I’ve been replaying it recently, and… wow). The contest was much tighter this time around.

In an illustration of the breadth of excellent games that released this year, each of the following superb releases turned up in our nomination reward: Dragon’s Dogma 2, Space Marine 2, Marvel Rivals, Stellar Blade, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, and of course, Farming Simulator 25, as well as brilliant and massive expansions like Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree and Destiny 2’s triumphant conclusion, The Final Shape. Had any one of these taken GOTY, either here at Just About or at our flashier but less prestigious rival show, The Game Awards, you wouldn’t turn up your nose.

But as strong as they are, none of the above could muster more than a single vote each. Thus, by gaining two votes apiece, the Silent Hill 2 remake and the Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom are tied in sixth place, which brings us to our top five, about which we’ve got time to say a little more. In anticipation-building reverse order, Just About’s top five games of 2024 are as follows.

Fifth place: Astro Bot

Astro Bot took GOTY 2024 at this year’s Game Awards to a somewhat mixed reaction. Here on Just About, many felt it was unseemly that a platform-exclusive game should win the big award, and that Astro Bot didn’t seem like a radical departure from past 3D platformers. But it had plenty of defenders, too, arguing that its innovation came in its inventive use of the PlayStation 5’s features and controller - which it could not have done, had it not been PS-exclusive - and that its soundtrack, gameplay, and puzzle design was just so dang fun that it blew them away. Here’s JHenckes: 

What we had this year was completely surreal, the game has extremely immersive mechanics, a gameplay that varies in various styles and mechanics, has a coherent difficulty, makes perfect use of Dualsense... I'm speechless, it was a game that nobody gave much thought to and it turned out to be a great surprise!

With two and a half votes, Astro Bot sneaks above Silent Hill 2 and Zelda to claim our #5 spot. Why two and a half? Because x0xShinobix0x couldn’t decide between two of this year’s releases, so we split their vote equally between Astro Bot and something else. (Don’t worry, this particular controversy hasn’t affected the order too significantly.)

Third place tie: Balatro and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

With three votes apiece, Balatro and FF7: Rebirth are tied in third spot, and almost couldn’t be more different. Balatro is a bona fide indie sensation, a hypnotically addictive and satisfying card game made by a single developer, while FF7: Rebirth is an enormous triple-A RPG, part two of an epic reimagining of one of the most popular games of all time. 

Here’s yan57436 on Balatro:

Nothing in this game is bad! All the people I've seen criticising its nomination for Game of the Year simply haven't played it. Balatro is the ultimate expression of everything video games stand for: playability. You don't need the ultra-realistic graphics of Unreal 5 or particles flying at you, you just need to have fun, and Balatro brings that essence of gaming back.

And our resident Final Fantasy superfan Lanah Tyra on Rebirth:

The graphics are absolutely stunning, and it presents a huge open world. Something that exceeds the wildest imagination of those who grew up with the OG game. If you thought that Remake's battle system was perfect, then Rebirth has something new to offer with the Synergy system, where you can learn special combo moves for party members, giving you a perfect reason to replay the game again and try out different party setups as well. Let's not make the same mistake the Oscars did with the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies. Let's show some appreciation to part two when it's actually due and not just when we fully understand it.

Second place: Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 was one of only two games to earn five or more votes in our reward - combine the votes of both those games and you get nearly a third of all votes cast. So although the overall winner was decided by the thinnest of margins, our members’ opinions coalesced pretty solidly around the top two.

Helldivers 2 is that rarest of things: a live-service shooter that’s not only succeeded in an infamously tough market, but was made by an independent studio (albeit a large one with a great track record and a long relationship with Sony). Why? lebiadkin says:

Gameplay. Even when the beginning can feel overwhelming, the learning curve is fair and you are getting advantages by playing. Once you land for the first time, you understand why this game community is so big. Also, the players can be genuinely cooperative; even when the mics are off, they behave and play in a way that benefits everyone.

But the key thing is the way the developers “roll with any surprises the community throws at them,” as TrialByStory puts it, naming “the infamous example of players choosing to save the orphans rather than unlock new equipment.” Not only is the lore richly realised, but the developers are adding to it in real time, with input from the actual decisions made and battlefield results achieved by their community. Very few other games can make the same boast - in fact, Elite Dangerous and EVE Online are two of the only examples, and, well, we know how good they are.

First place: Black Myth: Wukong

But, by a monkey hair’s breadth, our overall winner and our Game of the Year 2024 is Black Myth: Wukong. If Helldivers 2 made a splash on its launch, Wukong’s was a tsunami. Just hours after release, Wukong peaked at over 2.4 million concurrent players, putting it second only to PUBG. When you consider that it’s also available on Epic, on consoles, and on Chinese platform WeGame, with analysts estimating that 88% of concurrent players were based in China, you get an idea of just how huge it really was - and how huge the Chinese market, usually invisible to Western gamers, really is.

Much of its record-breaking launch is explained by millions of Chinese gamers being very excited for a home-grown, triple-A adaptation of Journey to the West, one of their nation’s most beloved national stories, but that tells us nothing about the game itself. Was it actually any good? 

Turns out: yes, very. Here’s a selection of Braulio M Lara 🔹's thorough and generous praise: “The number and variety of bosses is incredible and the game features wonderful graphics, using light, fog, and the camera well to highlight the lush forests and mountains of China.” Hunter adds that, with the aid of “the incredible Unreal Engine 5”, Wukong boasts “some of the most stunning visuals ever seen in a video game” and that it was “a breath of fresh air to see this ancient culture depicted with such love, from the music to the lore and architecture and even the variety of NPCs.” Everyone agrees that it doesn’t just look great, but plays well too, with SIRCAM praising its “amazing and engaging combat style”, Braulio enjoying the way the Monkey King’s combat abilities develop, and Borrrrr saying it offers just the right challenge and excitement when fighting bosses.

In summary, it's an extremely pretty and well-made Soulslike, offering many hours of gameplay, from a team that clearly cares deeply about getting it right. And in this, it's the latest in a trend: our 2023 GOTY was Baldur's Gate 3 and most would agree that 2022's was Elden Ring. These are large single-player games that offer a ton of value, made by passionate developers that make no compromises on quality. Will we see more games like them in future? Gamers have made their preferences pretty clear at this point.

Do you agree with our members' top five and their ultimate pick for Game of the Year 2024? Do you want to make the case for something else that didn't even get a mention? We'll see you in the comments!

Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. Image credit: Game Science