As always, this year saw its slew of big budget, big action video games – a new Prince of Persia, a new Diablo, a new Tekken…. But was there (whisper it) a sense that blockbuster titles had lost their soul? Amid all the sequels, remasters and re-releases, it began to feel like some games studios were going through the motions.

This was very much reflected in the news coming out of the industry, which included a lot of layoffs. Microsoft in particular seemed to be flailing, closing down multiple games studios it had acquired only years earlier, and not, apparently, seeing huge amounts of success with its Xbox-only exclusives. Apple also seemed to struggle to crack the VR/mixed reality equation, with its VisionPro headset facing low demand.

In better news, 2024 brought us a rare beast: a genuinely successful live-action version of a video game, thanks to Amazon’s Fallout series. Currently boasting an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, the show fully captured the zaniness and cartoon violence of the original game. The same can sadly not be said for the Borderlands film, which sank without a trace.

Last, but not least, Nintendo continued its decades-long policy of ignoring what everyone else is doing and carving its own stubborn path. There was no Switch 2 and no Metroid Prime 4, however they did surprise us with the Alarmo clock and the Nintendo Music app, the latter of which treats Nintendo’s much-loved IP with both reverence and generosity.

Now, onto the games of the year:

Tiny Glade; Developer: Pounce Light; Publisher: Pounce Light; Platform: Windows

If your favourite bit of The Sims was the part where you create and decorate a house, this one’s for you. Designed as a soothing building sim, Tiny Glade lets people construct castles, cottages and whimsical ruins to their heart’s content. And as you’re building, the environment responds – the light changes, and animals wander through and set up home nearby. People have gone wild for it, with TikTok full of epic recreations of real and fictional buildings.

Black Myth: Wukong; Developer: Game Science: Publisher: Game Science; Platform: PS5, Windows, Xbox

Players can experience equal amounts of rage and delight with Black Myth Wukong, which has been praised as China’s first blockbuster game title. This is a big action RPG that has everything – impressive visuals, compelling gameplay, diabolical bosses and a world that seems to go on forever. But perhaps what makes it so enjoyable is the chance to experience a narrative so deeply rooted in Chinese mythology, and the kind of story that hasn’t been reused and rehashed to death by so many other games already.

Animal Well; Developer: Shared Memory; Publisher: Bigmode; Platform: Switch, PS5, Windows, Xbox

One of the criticisms levelled at newer games is that they’re all too predictable; the player is simply spoonfed a list of tasks and they mechanically complete them, like a productivity checklist. Animal Well is the antidote to this. At first, it’s like any other retro-nostalgic platformer, as you dutifully take over the role of a pixellated blob with a cavern to explore. But the more you play, the more you realise how weird the world around you is. The map is massive, the levels are many, and each of them hides its share of secrets – which you’ll only find through a huge amount of experimentation and play.

The Rise of the Golden Idol; Developer: Color Gray Games; Publisher: Playstack; Platform: Windows, PS5, Switch, Xbox

Why do people love games so much? It might be the chance to try on another life. Maybe you’re a samurai, or a pilot, or a bounty hunter or, in this case, a determined detective, hot on the trail of a fiendish crime. The Rise of the Golden Idol is the follow-up to The Case of the Golden Idol and, just like the first game, challenges the player to solve mysteries, Cluedo-style. The graphics really take things up a notch, featuring people with strangely warped, sickly-looking faces that pleasingly contribute to the game’s general atmosphere of weirdness.

Thank Goodness You’re Here; Developer: Coal Supper; Publisher: Panic Inc; Platform: MacOS, Windows, Switch, PS4, PS5

It’s always risky picking up a game purely for the graphic style, but this one doesn’t disappoint. Come for the comic-book-style animation and unhinged trailer – one YouTube commenter wrote, “I have no idea what’s going on, but it’s brilliant” – and stay for an adventure game set in the fictional Northern town of Barnsworth, which seems to be peopled almost entirely by characters that need your help. Rarely does a game feel so deeply and thoroughly eccentric.

Astro Bot; Developer: Team Asobi; Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment; Platform: PS5

Anyone that remembers their first experience playing Mario on a SNES will probably agree that the rest of their gaming life has been a futile exercise in recreating that high. However it’s possible that Astro Bot gets close. The platformer is an extended version of Astro’s Playroom – a mini game that came pre-loaded onto the PS5 – and spans six galaxies and 60 planets, all waiting for baby robot Astro to jump through, solving puzzles and saving fellow bots as he goes. The game might only be 10 hours long, but each of those 10 hours has been lovingly crafted to offer maximum charm and joy.

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom; Developer: Nintendo EPD, Grezzo; Publisher: Nintendo; Platform: Switch

Nintendo had already cemented its Zelda franchise as one of the most loved, and most pioneering games series of all time, so why not throw another title on top of that? And more than that, why not cast Princess Zelda as the main character for the first time? Granted, this doesn’t reach the complexities of Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, but Echoes of Wisdom transports players back to a simpler, safer era of Zelda games, with its two-dimensional worlds, cutesy characters and eminently endearing story.

Flock; Developer: Hollow Ponds, Richard Hogg Limited; Publisher: Annapurna Interactive; Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox, Windows

There’s a rapidly growing section of games that tap into a growing need for calming experiences. With most of us furiously typing and swiping all day, it makes sense that there’s a huge interest in games that don’t really ask too much of us. And all Flock wants is for you to identify and ‘collect’ animals. Sure, they’re weird, alien little beings, but this is as close as you’re going to get to living in a game version of a David Attenborough documentary. Mount your bird steed, and off you go.

SCHiM; Developer: Ewoud van der Werf, Nils Slijkerman; Publisher: Extra Nice, Playism; Platform: Windows, MacOS, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox

SCHiM invites you to leap from shadow to shadow, in a platformer-style game that started life as a college project by developer Ewoud van der Werf. Players need to do some gentle puzzle solving as they find their way through the world, hiding behind or underneath people, vehicles and animals or navigating flickering streetlamps. You can cheat a tiny bit by controlling traffic lights or lifting barriers, but the solution is by no means obvious. And it all unfurls against the backdrop of minimal graphics that leave the experience feeling more like an animated short than anything else.

Neva; Developer: Nomada Studio; Publisher: Devolver Digital; Platform: Windows, MacOS, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox

Games that involve animal companions always tug at the heartstrings, and Neva is another one of those. Players enter a beautiful but corrupt world, accompanied by their faithful pup – who, obviously, has to be rescued from various scrapes along the way. Graphics and music all come together to create a lovely sense of size and perspective in this game, in which you’re always a tiny little character journeying through vast landscapes, inhabited by creatures that are often equally vast. An expectedly great second title from the makers of Gris.