2024: My Year in Gaming (A Series of Mini-Reviews)

28 Dec, 2024

Pulled from the R#d%t archives. Lightly revised.

Hey Patient Gamers,

back again after another year of gaming. Having made a similar post last year, I’ve once again put together a series of mini-reviews for the patientgaming titles I played this year. Also, I just really like writing about video games.

While 2023 was something of an indie roguelike/-lite awakening for me, this year lacked a clear overarching theme. 2024 saw me branch out far more in terms of genres - delving into deck builders and real-time strategy for the first time, discovering the Warhammer 40K franchise, and getting around to playing some long-overdue classic ‘90s titles.

Like the year before, I didn’t finish many of games I started. The vast majority of games this year were left abandoned after some point, though I have made note of games I’ve played for hours on end and personally consider “played” even if I haven’t beat the game.

For those interested in some numbers:

• Purchased: 47 games
• Played: 42 games (including backlog)
• Completed: 22/42 games (about 50% of games played and 40% of total 2024 library).

Before I get to the mini-reviews, here's a complete list of all titles I played (sorted by date played and/or completed):

Top Ten

10. Pathway (2019) - 8/10

Pathway was a complete shot in the dark that I turned out to absolutely love. This cute pixel graphic turn-based RPG roguelike (that’s a mouthful) is surprisingly addicting and impressive in its scope. After selecting your chosen team, you are thrown into an Indian Jones-style adventure, chasing down legendary treasures and powerful artefacts, confronting and escaping nazi soldiers, nazi scientists, and the occasional zombie cult, in an exciting journey that takes you all across the Middle East. Your loot and and weapons stay between runs, allowing you to equip newly unlocked squamates with weapons and items to give them the upper hand the next time you begin an adventure. All-in-all a short game (I finished it in about a weekend of gaming) but a highly enjoyable and fairly replayable one.

Criticism: combat is fairly simple and repetitive (though still enjoyable), and there is an argument for too few events, which makes replayability a coin-toss. I personally enjoy repetitive gameplay loops, but would totally understand someone who would get bored after the first complete run. 

9. Death Road to Canada (2016) - 8/10

This post-apocalyptic zombie survival roguelike is simply adorable. Everything from the comedic tone and pixel art style to the incredible soundtrack and challenging gameplay just fits really well and holds the game together in a way that few other games could manage. In this whimsical survival roguelike, you take control of either a pre-made or self-created duo (complete with traits/perks that may prove useful in the harsh post-apocalypse) as you make your way through a zombie-infested America. The goal is a simple one: reach the safe haven of Canada. Along the way you’ll need to scavenge for food and supplies, possibly recruit more survivors to your team, and survive not only zombie waves but also each other. Death Road to Canada is anything but serious, with possible recruits including but not limited to an Anime Girl with cartoonishly large eyes and a magic wand for a weapon, or even Dracula himself. Not to mention the range of ridiculous road events that can occur and the often hilarious dialogue you can choose from. Highly recommended.

Criticism: the game can feel overly harsh and the rng too punishing but it’s also just possible I’m really bad at this game lol. But I do always come back to it.

8. Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus (2018) - 8/10

Mechanicus immediately hooked me not only with its gameplay and grim dark setting (which to me was something completely new), but also with its absolutely breathtaking soundtrack. If you’re new to the franchise, Mechanicus is a fantastic way to get into the world. This game gets the Warhammer 40K setting. The game has an incredibly rich atmosphere and everything from the art direction to the sound design and soundtrack is just perfectly crafted. And when I say the OST is perfect, I really (really) mean that. Composer Guillaume David went above and beyond in creating a breathtaking soundscape that combines church organs, Dune-style chanting, and synthesiser, resulting in a holy music that would greatly please the mighty Omnissiah. Give Children of the Omnissiah and Noosphere a listen. The gameplay is fairly easy but incredibly addicting. This turn-based strategy game offers lots of variety in building your own unique tech priest squads, including support for multi-classing and an impressive diversity in weapons and gadgets to collect, each catering to your playstyle. All-in-all, this game really feels like a passionate love letter to the franchise. 

Criticism: lack of certain QoL features (no way to respec a tech-priest if you’ve invested into a build you dislike), and the difficulty curve is disproportionately steep, with the early game being incredible hard, and the late game way too easy. 

7. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War I (2004) - 8/10

A classic hailing from the tail-end of the golden RTS era (‘90s to mid 2000’s), DoW I was my first real foray into the world of real-time strategy games and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I didn’t make it far into the main campaigns (including the numerous standalone DLCs), I did spent countless hours raiding bases and defending strategic points in multiplayer mode. The game has a special charm with so much contributing to its flair, ranging from the energetic and dramatic soundtrack to the accurate depiction of Warhammer units identical to the units of the tabletop back then. On top of that there exists the incredible Unification mod, which adds a whopping 27 playable factions from the franchise including my beloved Adeptus Mechanicus tech cult. 

Criticism: the main campaign was not interesting enough to catch my attention, though this is probably due to me wanting to play the game with friends in multiplayer as soon as possible. And I’m not sure if this is a valid criticism, but the AI does feel too simple - it either rushes you with units in a way you can’t recover, or it screws up so badly that playing against it is barely fun.

5. Pirates Outlaws (2019) - 10/10

A pirate-themed roguelike deckbuilding game available for both mobile and PC, this little gem is highly addicting and allows you to take to the seas with 16 different captains, each with their own unique playstyles and decks. Having never played a deckbuilding game before, I was curious if this would click for me and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The build synergies are fantastic and crazy and each captain offers a unique strategic approach to the game (which is fairly hard, especially when starting out). The art style is absolutely adorable and the music is so joyous and adventurous. Loved it.

Criticism: the desktop/steam version can be buggy at times with the menu and the game itself can be a grind until you unlock the good characters and cards/relics. Which is why I recommend the desktop version because the mobile version is filled with micro-transactions to help you advance whereas steam version is not.

4. Jupiter Hell (2021) - 9/10

Jupiter Hell advertises itself as a true roguelike, diving back to the original roots of the genre with a return to turn-based action, permadeath, and procedurally generated levels. In this 90’s style sci-fi title, you take on the role of a crash landed marine/technician/scout on a demon-infested research facility on the moons of Jupiter, with the goal of escaping to safety. The game offers a vast variety of builds one can create, ranging from shotgun-blasting soldier tanks, to sneaky assassin scouts, to technicians armed with pistols and hacked robots. Alone and armed with your weapon of choice, you delve deeper into various science outposts and demonic pocket dimensions as you fight your way to safety. This game is moody in just the right way, with a foreboding and threatening atmosphere and matching soundtrack that made me always come back to it. 

Criticism: very minor bugs (character disappearing if they attempt to walk in the direction of a wall).

3. Rimworld (2018) - 9.5/10

Often dubbed the “war crime simulator”, this colony management game is incredible in its scope. At its core, it’s a storytelling title, granting you control over a group of colonists as you build and expand your settlement. What kind of colony you become and how you go about creating it are entirely up to you - whether you choose to build a colony of peaceful farmers focused on harvesting fields of produce before the harsh winter, or a ritualistic cannibal slave camp intent on raiding any and all settlements on the rim… The potential is incredibly immense. This is one of those games where you can spend literally all night playing until the first morning rays come in, all without you noticing the time passing by. Especially with the massive amount of mods available, you can really tailor the game to your own tastes in incredible detail.

Criticism: the random elements of the game can often be disproportionately harsh and punishing. Your colony is one unlucky RNG drop away, or one mental rampage away from being extinguished. There’s no shame in reloading a save. 

2. Dredge (2023) - 10/10

Being an avid diver and eldritch horror enthusiast, I’ve patiently been waiting for the Mac OSX port ever since the game was announced and was thrilled to find it come out just in time for the holiday season, and it has succeeded at everything I had hoped and more. This gem of a horror fishing game is such a unique experience to describe, with half of the game consisting of an adorable and relaxing fishing simulator and the other a beautifully disturbing deep sea horror survival. In Dredge, it’s all about upgrading your boat and completing various mini games to haul in fish either to sell them or contribute to local research projects, while also fishing for relics of old and uncovering the unsettling phenomena surrounding the island you call home. The music is breathtaking, the art style is refreshing, and the gameplay is extremely engaging and addictive. If that doesn’t make for a Top Ten game, I don’t know what does.

Criticism: the ending felt very abrupt and anticlimactic. The game just… ended. Was hoping for a bit more. Also, the controls can be a bit unreliable in tight spaces. On one voyage my camera began spasming which caused me to accidentally crash into some rocks causing heavy damages to my ship. But such are the dangers of going through narrow passages I suppose!

1. Fallout 2 (1998) - 10/10

They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Released during the golden age of isometric cRPGs, Fallout 2 is a quintessential isometric cRPG that not only helped define the genre, but set the bar for the rpg genre as a whole for decades to come. The by-now iconic post-apocalyptic setting of the Fallout franchise is created in such immersive depth in these classic titles, and the flexibility with which you can explore the world and go about the main quest line is as impressive as they come. What stands out most about the game is the depth you can go with playing your character, especially concerning the consequences of your actions and choices within the world. As an example, this game allows you to invest in the bare minimum intelligence points and unlock special (hilarious) dialogue where NPCs painstakingly speak in dumbed down language trying to explain things to you. Not to mention a low-intelligence character doesn’t know how to use a computer and as such will have problems getting into most if not all of the high-tech areas or abandoned vaults. The game also allows you to become an ahem “movie” star, weight boxing champion, slaver, and much more. As far as roleplaying games go, the classic Fallout titles are very hard to beat and the reason they are definitely still worth playing 25 years later. 

Criticism: in general I don’t care much about a game’s age, but Fallout 2 has to be played with this in mind. It is a product of its time and is therefore oftentimes very unintuitive to play. Not to mention even despite several projects to make the game more accessible on modern operating systems, it can still occasionally hit you with some annoying bugs. Save often. 

Honorable Mentions

(including games I didn’t finish but immensely enjoyed and will eventually finish)

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (2020)

I have to mention this game once more. It made my Top Ten last year, and I spent a great deal of gaming this year replaying with multiple different builds. The opportunities are just incredible, truly one of the best rpgs I’ve played in a long time and one which I permanently have installed despite its 50gb hard drive space. I always come back to it. 

Loop Hero (2021)

A unique game that I spent a massive chunk of this spring playing. The main reason it never made the list was I couldn’t get past the final stage of the game, and at some point lost all interest in trying. Perhaps next year!

Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate (2022)

This one has actually been on my watchlist for a while and only just did I discover they rather quietly released a MacOSX version on GOG, which I immediately grabbed. A refreshing take on the chess genre

Torchlight II (2012)

This action rpg dungeon crawler is just pure monster slaying fun. The plot is entirely forgettable but that’s completely OK because that’s not what the game’s about. Torchlight 2 is about creating fun builds and demolishing mobs of enemies. The art style is adorable, the controls are simple, and the combat remains fun and action-packed. As a bonus, the game has/had a sizeable modding community that includes many refreshing classes to play should you get tired of the 4 base game classes available. 

Wasteland Remastered (2020)

I thoroughly enjoyed this game but didn’t get to finishing it yet as my laptop died while I played it and I lost significant progress in-game. Perhaps next year I’ll give it a shot. I’m not usually a fan of remasters, but in this case I really love what they did with the game, especially as the original is a bit too old-school  even for my taste.

Diablo (1996)

Another title I significantly enjoyed but haven’t gotten around to finishing yet. I can, however, finally appreciate the influence it has had on the action rpg genre and fully understand how such a title made such a significant impact on the gaming industry. 

Backlog Elimination 2025

The following are on my radar for Backlog elimination:

Hand of Fate (2015) - this unique deck builder has been recommended to me on more than one occasion, so I’m curious how it’ll turn out.

Cultist Simulator (2018) - I gave this a try this year but gave up too quickly, will give it another go next year. 

Warhammer Rogue Trader (2023) - my current setup is sadly much too weak to run this, but who knows what the next year will bring. If I can, I will give this one a go because I’ve only heard good things

Tyranny (2016) - been meaning to play this especially as I’m an avid Pillars of Eternity 2 fan.

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Well, there you have it. My 2024 in review. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed reading this write-up and ideally have found one or two games which strike your fancy. 

Cheers and till next year,

Morrowindnostalgia

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