Our Favorite Games - Second Half of 2024

We're at the tail end of 2024 and looking back at a pretty wild year, as far as the second half goes. We had the US presidential election, Mike Tyson boxing Jake Paul, and of course some wacky weather. That aside, gaming has never been better. While there have been some stinkers released this year, some of the best games of 2024 will be cemented in history as some of the absolute best.

We've already discussed our favorite games from the first half of 2024, so let's take a look of some of our favorites from the second half.

Inscryption

My game for the second half of this year is Inscryption. This game was released in late 2021 for PC and later came to consoles over the course of 2022 and 2023. Developed by Daniel Mullins, this game is a deck-building roguelike where you play a tabletop RPG style card game against a mysterious set of eyes from across the table of a log cabin. From there, the game devolves (no pun intended) into some places I did not expect and while I would like to discuss that, for the sake of spoilers I will not. Your best bet is to play this game blind and experience it as is.

The game starts off rather difficult with how it throws you into it and does not explain a whole amount of it, you are expected to die so you can end up learning more about how the game works. I usually do not like that style of game design because I find it rather lazy. Inscryption is so clever with how it handles the roguelike elements, I ended up really enjoying the game. By the end, I knew that card game pretty well and could breeze through battles.

From a striking art style, immersive presentation and a surprising amount of depth, this game shocked me into liking a type of game I normally hate. Easy recommend on this one!

~ Thrak

Steamworld Heist II

A sequel to one of my favorite games of all-time, this one had some pretty huge shoes and expectations to fill. SPOILER ALERT: it absolutely delivers.

Steamworld Heist II has a much bigger map than the original game and has so many areas to explore, enemy ships to destroy, and loads of side missions. The game rewards you handsomely for exploring and doing side missions by giving you water (the game's currency), weapons, and cool upgrades for your submarine. Not to mention that completing side missions gives you valuable XP for your characters' jobs.

You heard that right. Steamworld Heist II has a job system. Each character starts as one of six jobs (Boomer, Brawler, Engineer, Flanker, Reaper, and Sniper) and can change to a different job at any time outside of battle by equipping different types of weapons belonging to the corresponding job. As a character levels up, they'll gain "cogs" which can be spent on skills that they've obtained in other jobs. With the right weapon loadout and some tinkering, you can make some pretty bonkers job combinations.

Just like the original game, Steamworld Heist II goes for a "quality over quantity" approach with the party characters. Each one starts as a certain job by default, but each character has their own unique abilities that you can unlock that will further enhance their playstyle. Each character also has a unique personality and some very entertaining dialogue that you'll see throughout the game.

Even if you haven't played the original, this game is worth playing. If you love turn-based tactics and you think robots are neat, this is one of the best indie games of 2024.

~ Aaron

UFO 50

I refuse! I simply cannot narrow my list of favorite games, so instead, I’ll choose fifty. Thankfully, they all come bundled in Mossmouth’s ambitious compilation: UFO 50. I vaguely recall hearing about its announcement years ago, but it had largely dropped from my radar until its surprise release this past September. This multi-genre collection of 50 games is inspired by the 8-bit era, and Derek Yu (Spelunky), alongside a talented small team of indie devs, channeled their love for Indie Game Jams (https://itch.io/jams) into what would have been prototypes, now expanded into fully realized experiences.

Make no mistake; UFO 50 is not a collection of "minigames" but rather fifty full games. Some, like Magic Garden take the classic Snake into an arcade-style timed experience you can easily sink hours into. Others, such as Grimstone deliver a full-fledged JRPG experience, complete with a diverse party of classes, random encounters, and the grind for gold to upgrade gear. I can't forget to mention Mortol, a Humans-style game that within the fiction created by Mossmouth, got a sequel, Mortol II which expands on the original with new classes and abilities. There’s also Pilot Quest, which is an addicting idle game, a genre that doesn't even exist prior to the modern era; where you explore a wild zone to collect fragments from your crashed ship so you can escape.

I could go on with a dozen more titles that are just a treat, there is so much here. It's a quirky mix of games all themed over an imaginary console called the "LX" which for those who dig deeper does tie into an intrigue meta game with the in game terminal, codes, cheats, and surprises.

UFO 50 is a compilation of hidden gems that never were, and I doubt we'll see another quite like it. For its price, it’s an absolute steal and a must-buy for fans of retro gaming and clever indie design.

~ Jake

Fallout London

Fallout London is an entirely free fan-made-total-conversion-content-mod for Fallout 4. In other words, it's a completely free new Fallout game set in London made by a ragamuffin crew of hobbyists, industry professionals, modders, and game enthusiasts (now known collectively as Team FOLON). Don't let the words fan made throw you though, because this is the highest quality fan made content I've ever played. There's some fantastic characters, storylines, quests, voice acting, and a very impressive post-apocalyptic map based on London. I've never been to London, but I still thoroughly enjoyed discovering the massive amount of British easter eggs they've loaded into this game (brands, products, stores, historical figures, Banksy artwork, a TARDIS sidequest, subtle references to Alice in Wonderland, 007, the Italian Job, Harry Potter, and more).

The bugs are the only real hangup. The build I played was very broken (some quests were unplayable without heavy use of the console), but as soon as I rolled credits, they released a huge patch which greatly improved the game's stability. They continue to improve the game with each patch. If you want to dive in, the GOG version of Fallout 4 is strongly recommended for best results. Read a full review here with more information. If you're hungry for more Fallout, give Fallout London a go.

~ Mo

Sea of Stars

The second half of 2024 will go down in history as being one of the most memorable for me because I was fortunate enough to play the indie RPG gem known, as Sea of Stars. Released back in August of 2023, Sea of Stars instantly resonated with fans of old school RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG and Illusion of Gaia.

When I first played this game, I was immediately struck by how visually stunning Sea of Stars was. And the battle system was incredible as well, utilizing timed button presses, character combo attacks and a charge system that lets you strategically boost almost every action. I was captivated by it all, especially the game’s story. The story experience with Sea of Stars will go down in history as one of the most memorable for me. The world in which you travel is a lush and vibrant one but it can also be a dark and sinister place. Your main characters, Zale and Valere, are Solstice Warriors who are tasked with defeating the last Dweller, a creature summoned by The Fleshmancer (which is the best name for a bad guy, like ever). Zale and Valere travel with their childhood friend Garl and their journey will be one of friendship and growth, and that’s the best part about Sea of Stars.

While the story setup and reasons for doing the things we do are pretty straight forward, I’ve never played a game that made me feel so connected to the characters I was playing as. While I was vested in their journey and wanted to accomplish their mission of saving the world, I grew close to each person and felt genuinely happy when they showed happiness and I felt genuine sadness when tragedy struck.

But what sticks with me, and will always stick with me, is how Sea of Stars handles its ending. No spoilers, of course, but not only was the “true” ending to this game an extremely satisfying one from a narrative standpoint, it felt incredibly earned and made the time I invested in the game as a player well worth it. I’ve never smiled so long and so genuinely as I saw those final scenes. And the cherry on top was the amazing soundtrack by Eric W. Brown. Just... muah.

2024 has been a tough year for a lot of people for a lot of reasons, but this was the shining light in the sky for me. If you love turn-based RPGs, rich and dense worlds, or a great story that’ll stick with you long after the credits roll, you owe it to yourself to take a journey and travel across the Sea of Stars.

~ Nomad

Metro Trilogy

Recently I decided to finally tackle the Metro trilogy after years of putting them off and Metro Exodus ending up becoming my favorite game I played this last half of the year.

Metro Exodus takes the survival aspects of 2033, the action/stealth gameplay from Last Light and combines them together in a well crafted open world. The game is broken up into different areas, each with their own side missions and plenty of places to explore for loot and resources. It kind of reminded me of Evil Within 2, which had a similar open world structure with segmented areas that gave the player a lot to do without it ever feeling overwhelming.

I think my only complaints about Metro Exodus are that the story was kind of lacking compared to the previous two games and the requirements to get the best ending are kind of obtuse, but that was also something that I had an issue with the previous games. Metro Exodus does have DLC content that I’ve heard good things about, but I’ll have to get to them at some point next year.

Anyway, go play the Metro trilogy if you haven’t already, because they are great games that are worth experiencing.

~ Tony

What are some of your favorite games from the last half of 2024?

Let us know in the comments!