Happy Monday, folks, and welcome to the last Weekly Video Games Thread of 2024! And what a year it was for this industry, from massive instability to a record-breaking number of layoffs to corporate malfeasance to… I mean, it wasn’t all bad. 2024 was a strange year, because without as many huge, epochal, unstoppable monoliths as last year, it was down to more surprising and off-kilter new games to challenge our assumptions. The gleeful, demented Balatro, whose mathematical zaniness keeps your mind and your heart racing. The spooky and distant Animal Well, which challenged Metroidvania conventions to such a degree that it was entirely new. Crow Country, a PS1-style retro horror game with unique ideas and a compelling narrative. And then there was the surprisingly unorthodox The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which contributes to its storied franchise by what it throws out and adds in, as well as the speedy mix of influences that was Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Plus, we got adaptations like Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley and Vampire Survivors‘ brobdingagian Ode to Castlevania DLC. My Game of the Year, Lorelei of the Laser Eyes, was part of a canon of loopier and stranger additions to the modern gaming canon.

I mean, remember when I hemmed and hawed for months about buying Crow Country to play as my “last game of 2024?” And then after that, I bought Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and blasted through it so that could be a new “last game of 2024?” Well, I hit the credits to Ode to Castlevania yesterday after hearing the dulcet tones of SungWon Cho was Death. That’s why it’s nine games! But that’s crazy, even if there are people here who play far more new games a year than I do.

And while I could think about the many, many games that have thus far escaped my grip—Astro Bot, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Dungeons of Hinterburg, Unicorn Overlord, Kunitsu-gami—this was still a pretty big year for me. I played nine new games to completion. I finished a sizable monthly series that had directed my gaming for the entire year. And that doesn’t even account for the literal dozens of older games I beat, from newer fare like Tunic to classics like Oracle of Seasons. Many of them demanded I use a pen and paper to take notes, and for the first time since playing Hades in 2020 I got to really experience roguelikes. I suppose the theme of the year for me might have been “investigation and expansion.” While I’ve always tried to play more games and do consider it a journalistic duty, for some reason I felt more energized this year than I have in a long time. I tried new genres, new franchises, new studios. I made sure to clean up some of my backlog, which is why you get a header image from the pretty blah Fire Emblem Engage; I got that for Chanukah last year and eventually got around to it. And yet I also kept expanding the backlog and often prioritized new games; I can be proud that I beat Ape Out and Mark of the Ninja, but also, like, I only bought those this fall.

I’m being a bit wistful now, and it’s more of a temporary comfort. I’ve still got a lot of writing for Source Gaming, the Peely’s, a new project, and what feels like an ever-expanding array of largely self-imposed demands. So it’s nice to have this time to think about this year in gaming as a distinct experience. And for the prompt, I’d like you to do the same. Give yourself a review or an epilogue and, if you can or would like, sum up 2024 for you as a year of playing games. Maybe you bought a new console and got to explore a new video game ecosystem. Maybe you experienced playing in a different way, like doing more couch or online multiplayer (and if you didn’t, we should do this next year and play Among Us. It’s different from our Werewolf games, and I really wanna do this with you all). Maybe you braved a genre or franchise that’s given you pause. Whatever the case, I’d love to see you put into words your last twelve months in this strange, beautiful, stupid medium we share.

One last bit of sitewide promotion: we are currently in Round II of the Peely Awards, so please come in Parts One and Two to vote and nominate some more. And you should, not only because my last nomination for the “Lizard Brain” award is amazing and deserves more votes but because WordPress has been running me ragged since Friday. The normal editor isn’t letting me change the font weight or add links. I mean, Classic Editor is fine and is letting me do this., but… eesh.