The startmenu Awards 2024 | Winter Spectacular 2024
Hey folks, fair warning. I get pretty dower at the end of this list because it has, in all truth, been a bit of a shitty year for the industry. That said, I do want to clarify up top that I am immensely proud of startmenu and everyone that has stuck with video games and video game coverage this year. We do this because we love it. Hell, I did this for over five years before finally relenting and starting a Patreon to support the site, and it is because of that Patreon that we/I can keep going and keep welcoming new and diverse voices into the industry and help folks hone their critical and professional skills.
I look back on the names that have written stuff for previous Winter Spectacular or even for the site just once of twice back in the day, and I am endlessly proud that we had a hand in cultivating so many unique and important voices in the space who have gone on to surpass both me and my expectations. I wouldn’t still be running this site if I didn’t think it was important to train and mentor the next generation of critics and writers to be thoughtful, empathic and considered in their writing, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have stayed up until 2 am on Christmas Eve (for a second year in a row) editing together our awards if I didn’t.
I am so proud of this site, but more than that. I am excited. I look at all the amazing people who have written for us over the last five years and I don’t think we’ve done a great job, I think we’ve gotten off to a great start.
Lex Luddy,
EiC, startmenu
Four-Fifth’s of the people people that helped run startmenu at various points.
Imogen Mellor, Issy Van Der Velde, George Benjamin Jones, Lex Luddy
Definitely Not Political Award - Award By Lex Luddy
Nominees: Metaphor ReFantazio, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble, Helldivers II, Princess Maker 2 Regeneration, The Political Machine 2024, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Warhammer 40,0000: Space Marine 2, Dragon Age: The Veilgaurd, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Tactical Breach Wizards, Unicorn Overlord, Frostpunk 2, Solium Infernum, 1000xResist
There have been a lot of video games released in 2024 that weren’t political. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth definitely wasn’t all about corporations capitalising on climate change. Helldivers 2 had nothing to say about fascist governments and their similarities to certain modern-day nations’ propaganda presented as culture. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was actually just about guys being bros. Frostpunk 2 doesn’t want you to interrogate your own principles. 1000xResist definitely had nothing to say on several hot-button issues. And actually the only reason Bill Clinton shows up in Black Ops 6 is so he can do a sick saxophone solo.
But out of all these games, the digital experience that had the least to say about the real world or the political systems that those in power abuse to keep us under their thumb, had to be Metaphor ReFantazio. Please, ignore what I published about this game on Giant Bomb yesterday. This game is just about the power of friendship and dragons and in way is a biting incidement of our failed society. Nope. No way….
Runners-up: Helldivers 2 and Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6
Winner: Metaphor ReFantazio
Best Styyyyyyyyyyle - Awarded By Simon Estey
Nominees: Children of The Sun, CLICKHOLDING, Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor ReFantazio, I Am Your Beast, Metal Slug Tactics, Zenless Zone Zero, Buckshot Roulette, 9 Sols, 1000xResist, Unicorn Overlord, Neva, Thank Goodness You Are Here, Lorelei And The Laser Eyes, Mullet Madjack
If the visuals of MULLET MADJACK don’t sell you on its styyyyyyyyyyle, the gameplay loop should. Each stage has a very short amount of time that it takes to be completed, but this deadline can be increased by quickly defeating enemies. The game basically boils down to a mad rush of carnage and mayhem delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible and despite this chaos, it is always very clear on what is going on.
Sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one. While this didn’t happen this year with Persona 3: Reload, it is still one of the most visually appealing games of the year. Atlus has a way of making menus look like works of art which when coupled with the versatile soundtrack leads to a feast for your eyeholes and earballs. Few series can be known for their visual style, and this entry proves once again that anytime this discussion is had, Persona needs to be mentioned.
Normally when thinking about style in video games, the first thing that comes to mind may be character action games like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry (which I always thought were called stylish action games). You may also think of titles like the Persona series which have so much personality oozing through everything from the menus to the character designs that “stylish” would be an apt descriptor. What you may not be thinking of is whatever the hell Thank Goodness You’re Here is, but rest assured this game has style in spades.
The adventure game developed by British developer Coal Supper may not be the most exciting gameplay-wise but it makes up for this in every other aspect of the game. The visuals are unique amongst other titles, looking like they should be on some late-night adult animation. The writing is consistently clever and had me laughing out loud at multiple points due to the work of its cast of incredible voice actors including The IT Crowd and What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry. Thank Goodness You’re Here didn’t overstay its welcome, but during its short time, it tried something different in the medium and it did with the utmost confidence that was most assuredly earned. If that’s not styyyyyyyyyyle, I don’t know what is.
Runners-up: Mullet Madjack and Persona 3: Reload
Winner: Thank Goodness You’re Here
Best Live Service - Awarded By Edwin Teo
Nominees: Concord, Zenless Zone Zero, Overwatch 2 (with Overwatch Classic), Final Fantasy XIV (with Dawntrail expansion), Helldivers II, Diablo IV (with Vessel of Hatred), Call of Duty: Warzone (Black Ops 6: Season 01), Genshin Impact
If there was ever a year where live service games felt the noose tighten around their desperate need to capture and retain player interest, it’s 2024. Concord had its potential cut short when it shut down just two weeks after its launch. On the other hand, MiHoYo has struggled to recapture the early days’ magic of Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, given the tepid reception to the former’s launch on Xbox Series X/S this year (along with its Version 5.0 update) and the release of Zenless Zone Zero.
Among the nominees, Diablo IV stood out with its Vessel of Hatred expansion, which added the Spiritborn class and made it possible to create a variety of builds with its special Spirit Guardians, each of which catered to a different playstyle such as mobility, precision, or crowd control. There’s also the addition of a new map region, storyline, and character customisation options, which help make Diablo IV feel like a refreshed game — an impressive feat considering Blizzard already did it earlier this year when it released the game’s fourth season, Loot Reborn.
Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XIV continues to be a robust live service game contender. Its Dawntrail expansion featured challenging boss battles with new battle mechanics, as well as player-friendly missions and well-thought-out dungeons. Even if it was poorly executed in certain parts, it still had a fantastic story with interesting ideas that touched upon themes of family and culture.
That said, the best live service games captivate players with a combination of both compelling gameplay and meaningful updates. Not only does Helldivers II boast an enjoyable shooting experience, but there’s an extensive selection of weapons and tactical tools such as orbital strikes ready to be employed, as players traverse vast, dynamic battlefields. Moreover, the game’s surprise updates, such as unannounced enemy introductions or emergent narrative events, help maintain the world's sense of realism, which is all you can hope for in a live service game.
Runners-up: Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail and Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Winner: Helldivers II
Best DLC Chunk - Awarded By Michael Beckwith
Nominees: Shadow of the Erdtree (Elden Ring), The Answer (Persona 3 Reload), Post Game Dungeon (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Vengeance Storyline (Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance), The Final Shape (Destiny 2), The War Within (World of Warcraft), Terry Bogard (Street Fighter 6), Ode to Castlevania (Vampire Survivors), Penacony (Honkai Star Rail (v2.x))
It almost feels unfair to lump Shadow of the Erdtree alongside the rest of 2024’s DLC offerings when FromSoftware’s long-awaited expansion proved to be far bigger than I think any of us realised. There’s a reason why it was nominated for Game of the Year; it’s so stuffed with content that it arguably constitutes a separate game.
Size admittedly isn’t everything and it’s ultimately just more of what Elden Ring offered, but you wouldn’t complain if a world-class chef offered you two of the best chocolate cakes you’ve ever had in your life. While there were early complaints about it being too challenging even for FromSoftware veterans, I honestly respect the developers’ devious commitment to the difficulty, and subsequent patches have since toned it down to make encounters more reasonable… or at least as reasonable as FromSoftware fights can be.
Runners-up: Terry Bogard (Street Fighter 6), Ode to Castlevania (Vampire Survivors)
Winner: Shadow of the Erdtree (Elden Ring)
Best Game That Was Tooooo Loooooooooong - Awarded By Stuart Pettigrew
Nominees: Dragons Dogma 2, Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, Unicorn Overlord, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Rise Of The Ronin, Satisfactory, Dragon Quest III: HD-2D, Star Wars: Outlaws
I played the demo for Unicorn Overlord three times as I was invested in the actual gameplay. But on launch, it then asked me to sit down in a tavern and chow down on one hundred burgers to build bonds with my allies. There is so much optional fluff that it takes away from one of the best strategy games this year. Why is there a mining minigame which plays identically to MySims? Why do I have to crawl across the map looking for ancient statues? Why this?
I want to love this game so much. I want to recommend it to everyone. I want to hyperfixate like I did with the demo- just please get rid of the tacked-on side content. Oh, and while I’m making requests, remove the strange cousin dating implications. Thanks!
Runners-up: Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Winner: Unicorn Overlord
Worst Day at Work - Awarded By Ali Rees
Nominees: Caz (Still Wakes The Deep), Gangsters that get defenestrated (Tactical Breach Wizards), Van Arkride (Trails Through Daybreak), Sargon (Prince of Persia and The Lost Crown), Skif (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2), Tiny Terry (Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip), The protagonist (Clickolding), Everyone (Frostpunk 2), Watcher (1000xResist), The Helldivers (Helldivers 2), Everyone for the last 40,000 years (Warhammer 40,0000: Space Marine 2), The Crew (Mouthwashing)
There’s something deeply relatable about a character who is having a terrible time. If the oil rig I was working on hit some horror of the deep that began to consume the rig and everyone on it, I’d be fucking furious too. Caz is just trying to outrun his troubled past (like so many of the best horror protagonists) and really doesn’t want to be dealing with this on top of how pissed off his wife is.
Caz is just meant to be lying low for a while, using his skills with the ‘leccy, until the trouble on the land blows over, and instead he’s dealing with the worst day at work you could imagine. His resigned anger, reluctance to split the party, and palpable fear makes him a likeable character who doesn’t deserve the bad day that has risen from the deep to plague him. Still Wakes the Deep’s Caz McLeary is having a truly terrible day at the office.
Runners-up: Gangsters that got defenestrated from Tactical Breach Wizards, The Crew from Mouthwashing
Winner: Caz McLeary from Still Wakes the Deep
Best Mini Game - Awarded By Michael Beckwith
Nominees: Dondoko Island (Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth), Crazy Delivery (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth) Sujimon (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Karaoke (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth) Queen’s Blood (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth), Junon Parade (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth), Fort Condor (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth), Monster Arena (Dragon Quest III: HD-2D) Cute Girl Ahead (HoloCure: Save the Fans!), Math Quiz (HoloCure: Save the Fans!)
Mini-games have always been one of the Like a Dragon series’ strongest suits. When they’re not short and harmless distractions from the main story, they are shockingly layered and moreish, potentially eating up hours of a play session. Infinite Wealth boasts some solid contenders for 2024’s best mini-game, but I can’t think of anything more deserving than its Animal Crossing-esque Dondoko Island.
I was woefully unprepared for how meaty this mini-game would be as best boy Ichiban Kasuga agrees to clean up and run an island resort. Calling it a mini-game is almost disingenuous because it’s anything but mini, with you needing to sink hours into gathering resources, crafting structures, fending off pirates, lodging guests, and ticking off daily activities. There’s simply too much to cover to the point I’m frankly baffled that developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio opted to build an entirely separate game in its already massive RPG. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sega winds up selling a dedicated Dondoko Island spin-off down the line but, for now, I can’t even imagine what sort of mini-game ideas RGG has for Like a Dragon 9 if this one’s anything to go by.
Runners-up: Queen’s Blood (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), Monster Arena (Dragon Quest III: HD-2D)
Winner: Dondoko Island (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth)
Very Bad No Good Not Fun Terrible News of The Year - Awarded By Undefeated Update Patch Champion - Alex Green
Nominees: Yangon Gameworks shut down, Palmer Luckey wants back into gaming, US Copyright Office does not recognize games for library usage, Concord (just in general), Nintendo closes online stores for 3DS and WiiU, GameStop ends Game Informer, IOC announces annual “Olympic Esports Games” to begin in Saudi Arabia, Dragon Quest character designer and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama passes away, Love Live! School idol festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! announces its February launch and May closure in the same tweet
2024’s newsscape was about as serene as the second season of Arcane with just as much war, fractious relationship drama and awesome music to get through the suffering. Tango Gameworks’ closure was a pretty terrible piece of news, packaged with the closure of three other Microsoft Studios indicated an Xbox more beholden to shares than success and how making an excellent critical success in Hi-Fi Rush doesn’t matter anymore even when owned by an obscenely large company, with the consequences falling on those who won awards and made one of Xbox’s best exclusive games. However, it does live on under publisher Krafton so at least it does live on.
One which wasn’t lucky to be saved was Game Informer, with the publication being closed down this year by GameStop after a 33-year run. The publication’s end was deeply unceremonious for such a distinguished and long-running magazine with employees met on the same day as the closure with the entire site shut down before writers could archive their own work.
However, the winner of this award wins for how truly baffling it is to the degree of hilarious absurdity and a story that could happen with gaming the way it is currently. Gacha game Love Live! School idol festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! (Yes, that is the title) announced its release date for February of this year and in the same post, announced it would shut down on 31st May 2024. A comedically brilliant summation of the state of live service games and gacha this year. If only Rocksteady had the same foresight this year.
Runners-Up: Tango Gameworks Closure, GameStop’s closure of Game Informer
Winner: Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE!
Very Good Not So Bad Fun And Wonderful News of the Year - Awarded By Undefeated Update Patch Champion - Alex Green
Nominees: Toys For Bob escapes Activision’s grip to go independent again, Steph Sterling celebrates 10 years as an independent patron-supported creator, General staff at Blizzard vote to unionize, Switch becomes Nintendo’s best-selling system, Krafton revives and rebuilds Tango Gameworks after their closure by Microsoft
Despite all the grim stuff, some hopes for the future of the industry and the security of workers emerged. The aforementioned rescue of Tango Gameworks by Krafton sees a talented studio live on with half of its staff retained. Studios also sought to break out of the large conglomerates owning many developers. Crash Bandicoot developers Toys for Bob broke away from Activision where they’d become part of the Call of Duty machine where they are developing a new game with Xbox Game Studios. Following their mass purchasing spree over the last few years, Embracer Group divested from Gearbox Entertainment and Saber Interactive which hopefully encourages other mega studios to do the same instead of simply shutting studios that they see as valueless.
However, the winner of this award is perhaps the biggest example of unionisation for employees. Following Blizzard’s California Lawsuit in 2021, employees this year were able to organise in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) with all World of Warcraft workers now a part of the new union at the company. This coincides with a growing movement in the industry for workers where the last 2 years have seen increasing job losses from companies as funding dries up and profits don’t translate to job security. Hopefully, the humans who made some of the brilliant games mentioned in our awards can continue to improve their job security and have increasing fairness in the workplace and with their paymasters.
Runners-up: Krafton revives Tango Gameworks, Studios divesting from large publishers
Winner: Blizzard Staff unionise
Best Thing That Feels Old - Awarded By Scott McCrae
Nominees: UFO 50, Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2, Tetris Forever, Animal Well, Arzette The Jewel of Faramore, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster, Sonic x Shadow Generations, Slitterhead, Yars Rising, Celeste 64, Nightmare Kart, Backyard Baseball ‘97, Dragons Dogma 2, Crow Country
Dragon’s Dogma 2 opens on a title card simply saying Dragon’s Dogma. That alone tells you the game’s exact mission statement right there and then; this is 2012’s Dragon’s Dogma but with the benefit of 12 more years. Despite not being one of Capcom’s heavy hitters (although it sold shockingly well and had both an anime and MMO spinoff), it was approached with the confidence of a surefire hit like Resident Evil. The team led by Hideaki Itsuno in what would be the final project in his 30+ year career at Capcom went all out to make this the game they wanted Dragon’s Dogma to be.
What really wins Dragon’s Dogma 2 this award, however, is the sheer amount of artistic vision you can feel poured throughout. The idea of a AAA game that lets you miss out on key moments and massive, sprawling side quests because you didn’t bother to explore is unheard of in an era of inflating budgets. Not to mention a game that will wipe out an entire town – including main story quest givers – if you don’t pay attention to your companions, it’s a ballsy move to be so committed to letting players ruin their own game, and more reminiscent of 90’s RPGs than something we’d see in 2024.
Runners-up: Celeste 64 and UFO 50
Winner: Dragon’s Dogma 2
Best Remake/Remaster/Re-release/Redux/Return - Awarded By Scott McCrae
Nominees: Worms Armageddon Anniversary Edition, Tetris Forever, Silent Hill 2, Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, Tombi Special Edition, Sonic X Shadow Generations
Sonic Generations was already a fan favourite when it comes to the series, so Sega plopping out another remaster and calling it a day would’ve done the trick for a huge chunk of the fanbase. And yet, taking a page out of Nintendo’s book, Sonic Generations got the Super Mario 3D World treatment of packing a sequel alongside the remaster ala Bowser’s Fury. To celebrate the Year of Shadow (which has been far better for Sega than the year of Luigi was for Nintendo, let me tell you), we got Shadow Generations, which takes us down memory lane with the edgiest hog on the planet.
Shadow Generations is a funny thing, however, as not only is it a midquel to Sonic Generations, it’s also a sequel to 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog and does more to justify that game's existence than it did (outside of the banger I Am… All of Me, of course). Sonic Generations biggest strength was making chicken salad out of the rest of that analogy, and Shadow does it even more (thanks to the guy appearing in far fewer good games). Kingdom Valley from Sonic 06 may be the best stage across both games, and the Sonic Forces one isn’t half bad either. Between this and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 being the first-ever video game movie to hit that certified fresh (there’s also that adaption of some barely known VR game, but shhh), Sega actually made it the year of Shadow.
Runners-up: Silent Hill 2 and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Winner: Sonic X Shadow Generations
Funniest Product Name - Awarded By Vivan Winn
Nominees: Nintendo 64 Mature – Nintendo Switch Online, Minishoot’ Adventure, Yeah! You Want “Those Games,” Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let’s See You Clear Them! 2, Clickolding, Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes], Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, Squirrel With A Gun, Just a To The Moon Series Beach Episode, Mortol II, CLICKHOLDING
There are so many factors that contribute to product naming, that it’s always impressive when most video games do manage to find the perfect title. Developers want meaningful and thematically relatable phrases, marketers need brand consistency and maximum search engine optimisation, legal teams require unique and specific identifiers, and players prefer something easy to say. Incorporating the same tone and style in a game’s title as is in the base product takes a level of finesse, and it’s worth celebrating the masterfully crafted (and a few of the unfortunate pratfalls) from this year’s titles.
Despite coming from a faux anthology and not being the title of a “full” game, Mortol II is worth acknowledging for its fun little twist. For such an obvious play on words, complete with death and finality as mechanics within the games, it’s quaint how the fate of the original game completely escaped its own themes, as implied by the sequel status of Mortol II. A very cute and charming coincidence!
On the flip side, regulations and licensing demands can have an overwhelming influence in misleading developers to a very poor - if well-intentioned - name choice. Such is the case with Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online: Mature, which forced the platform to have a separate app for the more restrictive-rated games Nintendo wanted to offer for its premium subscribers in order to maintain the accessibility for the lower-rated games already available in the base app. This is not a problem with the restriction itself, this is a result of Big N completely fumbling the bag. The irony of video games’ most family-friendly brand name deciding to apply the most antithetical term in the most blatant fashion is fantastic fodder for mockery. No matter your level of love for Nintendo, you gotta admit that tacking on the rating as a subtitle is a hilariously clumsy solution that’s even clunkier than the original problem implied.
The piece de resistance for 2024, however, has to go to Just a To The Moon Series Beach Episode for anyone who has even the minutest understanding of the original To The Moon, one of the most sincere, depressing, cherished narratives of 2011. Featuring multiple minisodes, spawner or two sequels with names wholly divorced from the To The Moon branding, now available in a casual throwaway form with low-stakes and summertime fun! What else could anyone expect, except an extreme surreptitious undermining of its own deceit? No notes, 10/10; you did an excellent job, Freebird Games.
Runners-up: Mortol II and Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online: Mature
Winner: Just a To The Moon Series Beach Episode
That Came Out This Year? - Awarded By Vivan Winn
Nominees: Mario VS Donkey Kong, Skull & Bones, Alone In The Dark, Content Warning, Stellar Blade, Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection, Endless Ocean: Luminous, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy (EO and Apollo Justice added by Sana), Princess Peach Showtime!, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble, Turnip Boy Robs A Bank, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, Gimmick! 2, Red Dead Redemption for Windows, Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE!, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, Pacific Drive
There are always too many games released each year, but 2024 feels like it has become one of the most “too many games this year” ever. Part of it comes from the fallout of 2023’s massive list of big hitters still stealing the attention of players away from new releases. This year ended up being chockablock with role-playing games, a genre that tends to eat up a lot of hours. A good chunk of the perception is the continued wave after wave of remakes and re-releases and recollections that publishers perpetually throw around to garner praise for keeping its IP fresh and relevant instead of doing what should have been done a long time ago and releasing those games in a matter more fitting for long-term availability. Sometimes it’s just easy to miss an okay 7/10 kind of game, and sometimes the lifespan of a particular game’s zeitgeist happens to be measured in hours instead of months. Usually, January’s a bad month to release a game, and usually, it doesn’t take two decades to make a port or a sequel. Looking at the nearly 18.000 games released on Steam this year, it’s obvious that 95% of games from 2024 deserve to be on the list of forgotten surprises.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy holds a very odd place in the spectrum of “why weren’t these already easily available?” There are multiple collections within the overall Ace Attorney oeuvre, each focused on its own various protagonists, and not all of them had original releases outside of Japan. The first remastered collection came out in 2019, followed by the Great Ace collection in 2021. It’s easy to forget about the Apollo Justice collection coming off DS exclusivity last January, when just eight months later comes Ace Attorney Investigations, finally offshore and starring everyone’s favourite prat, Miles Edgeworth. Three years of silent, overlapping development, just to get overshadowed. A damn shame for AJ fans, and a show of low expectations by Capcom.
You would be forgiven for forgetting that delays following a terrible gameplay reveal trailer pushed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League into this year. Heck, outside of that brief uproar of disappointment in Rocksteady after continuous flop decisions from Warner Bros. leadership through its movies and games over the past few years, it wasn’t worth much paying attention to it since. The fact that the final content update will occur barely within the game’s first anniversary is a testament to just how lacklustre the reception has been. Personally, it only came back into my own purview after I learned it had become the Bad Rats of the current generation this past season. That’s the last that most people would know or care about this game. We all would be forgiven for completely forgetting about it outside of the cheap prank.
What could top that fumble of a release? How about a PC port that’s almost 15 years overdue, long after many of its developer contemporaries and spiritual sequels (and an actual sequel) made their way to the platform, complete with mod capability and a price tag comparable to modern releases just for some hi-res textures and unnecessary HDR lighting? Hoo-wee, what a right-down boondoggle! Rockstar Games once again demonstrates a predilection for maximising profits, this time by capitalising on a very odd choice of skipping Red Dead Redemption during its period of porting most of its developed and published games to PC shortly after console releases - Bully and GTA IV in 2008, L.A. Noire in 2011, Max Payne 3 in 2012, and GTA V in 2015 (two years after its initial 2013 console release). The only real benefit for players in this situation is never having to deal with the hassle of Games For Windows Live, but since the closing of the GFWL program would have required serious backend reworking (leading to a complete rehaul and subsequent re-release like the other games had), there’s no actual positives for an RDR audience in this case. There’s only the lost decade and a half that we could have been enjoying the adventures of John Marston without the need for an Xbox 360 or PS3. Rather than a case of “I forgot that game came out this year” like most entries on this list, it’s entirely the epitome of “that finally came out just this year.” The level of astoundment of that situation is simply incomparable.
Runners-up: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Winner: Red Dead Redemption for Windows
Not A Video Game, Video Game Thing - Awarded by David Cole
Nominees: Fallout, Arcane Season 2, Like A Dragon: Yakuza, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Secret Level, Break the Game, Tetris Forever, Llamasoft: The Story of Jeff Minter, The Making of Pentiment (NoClip), What We Don't Talk About In “Spec Ops: The Line” (Jacob Geller), Borderla— NAH I'M JUST KIDDING FICK THAT MONEY, Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike Top 6 at EVO Vegas 2024, reactions to Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection (Nintendo Direct), Ken Griffey Jr Baseball speedrun by Peanut Butter the shiba (SGDQ 2024), Double Fine PsychOdyssey Ep 33, Nintendo Music streaming app, Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Documentary (SecretTape)
I know we’re all in our tuxedos and gowns, surrounded by the glitz and glamor of this industry, but I must remind you: video games are serious business. As a medium, our tendrils extend lovingly into the surrounding worlds of linear visual entertainment. Film, content, and the most serious of all, anime. This year, video games were adapted or discussed in ways that demand our utmost attention, like a drunk Al Pacino remembering his “jazz voice.”
Look, there were some great video essays this year. A dog did a speedrun of the second-best baseball game ever made. Wild. But Fallout (the series) being the best piece of content that franchise has produced in a very long time is something I wasn’t expecting. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to have the mainstream appeal and staying power it ultimately did, asserting Fallout (the franchise) as culturally relevant in a way that it never has been before.
What’s most remarkable about Fallout is that its trio of protagonists all come across as functional, historic builds from the games. Lucy is a high karma Vault Dweller with high agility, the Ghoul justifies his low karma ways with high charisma, and Maximus is a special lil guy who got a lucky drop. Each navigates the wasteland in a different way, turning what makes the games so replayable into a character-shaped lens through which we can see the wider world. Sure, the lore can be a little confusing but the surprise way(s) that the “War never changes” creedo is worked into the narrative make this singular season of television a must-watch even for those uninvested in the franchise.
Runners-up: Peanut Butter the Dog CONQUERS Ken Griffey Jr. and Llamasoft: The Story of Jeff Minter
Winner: Fallout
Best Graphic Story Or Visual Novel - Award By Pawkt
Nominees: Not going to lie… These three were all we could think of. - Lexi
I've never had such a powerful life-changing experience from a book as I have with I Wani Hug That Gator. Months have passed after my run-in with this game, and life has not been the same. Viewing the world through the eyes of Inco-G-Nito and his buddies was absolutely heartbreaking, capable of causing powerful anxiety attacks, of which I previously never once experienced. Despite facing criticism on social media, this story about disabilities, pain, and becoming a better person for oneself and others highlights the importance of stepping outside of one's comfort zone and helping yourself & others heal.
The ability to engage yourself in a science-fiction perspective on a dystopian lifestyle that appears all too real in today's society is terrifying, as AI is becoming increasingly more powerful to the point of controlling humanity's future. Mind’s Beneath Us offered an excellent approach to morally right or wrong player-driven choices that would ultimately affect everyone's futures. With so much passion placed in body language since there were no facial expressions or features to distract you from the otherwise stunning futuristic lifestyle. It was capable of submerging you in an ocean of emotions without expressing a single word.
Until Then deserves every accolade that it can get for what it is capable of conveying through an emotionally charged down-to-earth story. It's more than just a visual novel; it's a journey deep inside your own psyche, to confront hard-hitting, real emotional topics that will make you think.
This is a story that just cannot be expressed with mere words. The art direction, combined with the character development, which gradually begins to pull you apart piece by piece, cannot be matched by anything else, you have to sit down and experience it for yourself. It displays real people with real emotions, as you struggle to hold back tears till the very end.
Runners-Up: Minds Beneath Us and I Wani Hug That Gator
Winner: Until Then
The “My Handwriting Is Terrible” Award For Video Game Note-taking - Awarded By Edward Lee
Nominees: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Rise of the Golden Idol, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Silent Hill 2, Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, Satisfactory, Broken Sword: Shadow of The Templars Reforged
Ah, note-taking and video games. Depending on who you are, you may get a kick out of jotting down information readily available in-game. Others would rather bin a game than suffer the horror of scribbling notes when gaming. It’s no surprise, considering we’re all pretty lazy when using pen and paper these days (at least, I am). It almost brings a tear to my eye. Then I recall the exam hand cramps.
It’s not an activity I’m routinely doing, but occasionally, a game will make me grab a pen. Sometimes, I can’t be bothered with playing memory games or navigating a cumbersome inventory system to find the note that holds the code.
In the case of the winner, it explicitly expects players to take notes while exploring the labyrinthian nightmare of Hotel Letztes Jahr. It’s one of the trickiest puzzle games I’ve played, simultaneously making me feel like a genius and a halfwit. There is no combat with AI enemies; rather, combat with your own mind. And even when you admit defeat and search the internet for pointers, you’re unlikely to get a straight answer to punch in.
Runner-Ups: Rise of the Golden Idol, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Winner: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Cutest Character of the Year - Awarded By Eoghan Watters
Nominees: Astro Bot (Astro Bot), Koromaru (Persona 3 Reload), Aigis (Persona 3 Reload), Bunkichi and Mitsuko (Persona 3 Reload), Cloud Jr (FFVII Rebirth), Heismay (Metaphor ReFantazio), Panda (Tekken 8), Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris Forever), Bangboos (Zenless Zone Zero), Piper (Zenless Zone Zero), AiAi (Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble), Jeff The Land Shark (Marvel Rivals)
There’s no world in which Astro Bot isn’t the cutest character of the year. The lil guy wins this award solely for waving at the camera whenever he stops moving. It’s more than that, though. Astro Bot is so expressive as you play, each time you get a new power-up, you can feel how excited he gets. It only gets more adorable as the game goes on. Even when he takes the place of a character like Kratos, he manages to be incredibly cute. The interactivity in the world of Astro Bot, and how Astro reacts to this interactivity, makes this an obvious choice.
Runners-up: Cloud Jr (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), Aigis (Persona 3 Reload)
Winner: Astro Bot (Astro Bot)
Best Trailer of the Year - Awarded By Eoghan Watters
Nominees: Astro Bot (State of Play), Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Nintendo Direct), Street Fighter 6 Season 2 DLC (Summer Game Fest), Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (State of Play) Infinity Nikki (State of Play), skate. (Summer Games Fest), Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (RGG summit), Destiny 2: The Final Shape (Launch Trailer), Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind (Summer Games Fest), Killer Bean (Summer Games Fest), Alan Wake II: Night Springs (Summer Games Fest), Ghost of Yotei (State of Play), Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet (The Game Awards), Project Century (The Game Awards), The Witcher IV (The Game Awards)
A good trailer, especially a reveal trailer in a showcase, has to achieve a few things. Number one, it has to build up the excitement to the reveal. Number two, it has to effectively demonstrate what makes the game special, ideally feeding you something new every few seconds. Number three, it has to end with a bang, leaving the viewer at their most excited when the trailer ends.
Astro Bot’s reveal trailer achieves a lot in its three-minute runtime. The first 35 seconds set the tone. Astro Bot is about wonder. We get three reveals in this short period of time. First, this is a Team Asobi game. Second, here’s Astro Bot. Third, he flies on a DualSense. It’s at this point that the trailer's narrative brings us to gameplay.
The next 50 seconds of the trailer hit with core platforming gameplay. With a remix of the series’ main theme, we see Astro explore colourful worlds and acquire fun powerups. This is a 3D platformer, through and through. At the 1:40 mark, the music swells with the reveal of the Nathan Drake bot. This is followed by a rapid-fire look at bots, including Journey’s ‘The Traveller’, Ico, Parappa The Rapper and the PS5 console itself.
The music then kicks into overdrive as we see the PS5 spaceship fly through space and get a glimpse of four of the game’s boss battles. We then see more rapid-fire shots of cameo bots, platforming challenges and the extraordinary sights that Astro will encounter on his journey, with a tease of the cameo levels when Kratos throws Astro the Leviathan Axe. The trailer hits its apex at the 2:45 mark, with a shot of the final battle, Astro and his compatriots flying across generations of PlayStation consoles, handhelds and accessories. As Astro waves towards the viewer, asking them again to join him on this journey. The trailer ends with one more cameo bot tease (Including a Locoroco!!!), a title card and a release date.
The reveal trailer for Astro Bot tells you, in three minutes, exactly what this game is, why you should want to play it, and uses its visuals and music to continually up-the-ante at every turn. It’s a masterclass in trailer design and editing, and in my opinion, it’s the best trailer of 2024.
Runners-up:Nominees: Project Century (RGG Studios, The Game Awards 2024), Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet (Naughty Dog, The Game Awards 2024)
Winner: Astro Bot (State of Play)
Best Game That Just Isn’t Coming Out, Get Over Yourself - Award By Ali Rees
Nominees: Hollow Knight: Silksong, Pragmata, Silent Hill Townfall, Silent Hill F, Switch 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2, 2XKO, StarCraft: Ghost, Star Wars Eclipse, Haunted Chocolatier
Originally intended to be an expansion for Hollow Knight, Silksong grew arms and legs and was announced as a new standalone sequel in February 2019, much to the excitement of the first game’s many fans. 2019 was a year of huge hype for fans of Team Cherry’s bug-based adventures - images and teasers were released a month after the initial announcement, and then in December of that year the studio’s composer, Christopher Larkin, released a preview of the soundtrack as a well as a few lore tidbits.
After that, things started to slow down. In February 2022, PC Gamer scored a much sought-after interview with William Pellen, co-director at Team Cherry. He assured fans that the game was still being worked on and that we could expect more updates closer to release. In May 2022, Unity awarded the game with “Most Anticipated Game”, and Team Cherry’s response set fans afroth - “It can’t be much longer, surely,” they said. Bet.
In June 2022, excitement reached a fever pitch. Team Cherry released an honest-to-god trailer for the game and announced that it would be a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass. Then, despite no solid release date, Xbox said that the game would be with us in the next 12 months, so sometime before August 2023. This was it, thought fans. It’s not quite a release date, but it’s a window through which we can see ourselves getting our grubby little hands on the game.
We didn’t get the promised uptick in updates ‘closer to the release’ that we had been expecting. One fateful day in May 2023, over four years since the game was announced, Team Cherry’s head of marketing told us what we’d all known in our hearts - the game was delayed, with no planned release window. “Expect more details from us once we get closer to release,” he said in his Tweet.
Readers, there have been no more details. Team Cherry will never be satisfied with Silksong. They will always want to make it bigger and better - it has to live up to the hype! But like a snake eating its own tail, there are no winners here, just a cautionary tale of announcing a game too soon into the development process.
Haunted Chocolatier will never happen because ConcernedApe can’t stop tinkering with Stardew Valley enough to call it finished - there would be absolutely no surprise if Haunted Chocolatier morphed into an expansion or update for the farming sim. Beyond Good and Evil 2 might happen at some point, but it will never be the Beyond Good and Evil 2 everyone planned: the tragic death of creative director Emile Morel in 2023 has undoubtedly inexorably changed the path of that game.
Runners-up: Haunted Chocolatier, Beyond Good and Evil 2
Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong
Best Feeling - Awarded By Vivian Winn
Nominees: Babbling and honking the car horn simultaneously (Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip), Clicking rapidly (CLICKOLDING), Emoting (Big Kitty Little City), Flicking between cards (Balatro), Hitting headshots (I am your Beast), Holding the controller (Astro Bot), Jumping off the map with a mouth full of players (Marvel Rivals), Landing a shot (SteamWorld: Heist 2), Mashing basic attacks (Zenless Zone Zero), Reloading (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl), Rolling about (Go Mecha Ball), Skipping across water (Pepper Grinder)
There’s going to be a bit of debate happening with this category. It was initially created to focus on That One Button that makes the player melt in their seat in satisfaction, the “You Can Pet The Dog” Award equivalent at startmenu. It quickly turned into That One Mechanic that makes you go “nnnng yeah,” similar to “Best Styyyyyytle” exclusively for controls. After a bit of soul searching, I couldn’t find any meaningful difference between the two nor do I care to make a distinction. Controversial? Possibly. Fair? Go to the BAFTAs for that.
Even in an overall flawed controller system, there will almost always be something that just feels so much better to do in than anything else in that game. Zenless Zone Zero makes do with That One Button by having every single character fly about the screen in all manners of acrobatic and athletic showmanship from simple mashing, like a casino lights show at the slot machine. Flicking cards in Balatro stimulates the ears as well as the eyes and brain as the light swishing of the cards reinforces every decision, mulling and milling until either the perfect hand aligns itself or desperation kicks in. The only step up from that felt this year is dashing up a ladder to dodge an incoming ram attack and nailing that ricochet shot like you’re a mechanical X-Com field agent on an incredible bender. The relatively sparse pacing of those trick shots opportunities enhances an already satisfying experience, and that's a feeling that's hard to top.
Runners-up: Mashing basic attack (Zenless Zone Zero) and Flicking between cards (Balatro)
Winner: Landing a shot (SteamWorld: Heist 2)
Best Beats To Jam To - Awarded By Ali Rees
Nominees: Defiant Charm, Twin Machetes (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Burn My Dread (Persona 3 Reloaded), Opening Credits (Persona 3 Reloaded), Bloody Tears Stage 3 (Haunted Castle Revisited), Promise Pragma Version, Theme of Laura (Silent Hill 2 Remake), Bugboss, Play It Cool, Dusty Drill (Pepper Grinder), Bot of War, I Am Astro Bot (Astro Bot), Storm Rising, The Decisive Blow (Tekken 8), Hollow Skies Battle Edit, No Promises To Keep (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth), Sunset Heights, The Ark Radical Highway Section (Sonic x Shadow Generations)
Pretty much everyone in the startmenu Discord had an opinion on this award and for some reason, it was left to me (a musically illiterate backlog dweller) to judge which video game song was the best to jam to from 2024.
I spent a long morning listening to all the songs people put forward, narrowing the list down a bit, listening again, and repeating until I was left with three songs. I had never heard any of this music before starting this process and haven’t played any of the games these songs come from - they were judged purely based on how much they made me feel like jamming.
My winner is Bot of War from Astro Bot. That song goes so much harder than it has any right to, and I genuinely found myself bopping a bit. I think my top three songs all go extremely hard, actually. Dusty Drill drilled its way into my heart with its inclusion of trumpets, which I couldn’t resist, but it wasn’t enough to make it into the top spot. The fast pace and high intensity of Bot of War is a jam that cannot be denied.
I know that by choosing any single one of these songs I will be making enemies for life of the people who preferred something else but perhaps this fact will ease that pain: the process of judging this category has really reminded me of how much video game music slaps. I frequently listen to the FTL: Faster than Light soundtrack as I work but other than that, stick mainly to lo-fi while I’m writing. That ends today, these songs are way too good to be ignored and I’ve already made a Spotify playlist featuring all the nominees which is playing right now as I work. So, while I did, according to the rules, have to select a single winner and two runners-up, this music is all excellent and well worth your time.
Runners-up: Defiant Charm (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth) and Dusty Drill (Pepper Grinder)
Winner: Bot of War (Astro Bot)
“NO MORE, I BEG OF YOU” Award - Awarded By Branford Hubbard
Nominees: Industry-wide mass layoffs totalling over 10,000 this year alone, Sony’s Games-As-Service initiative, Neptunia games, Zaslav’s employment at WB, Single Player-focused studios working on live-service games that are cancelled or flop, Nintendo DMCA and lawsuits
It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. At least I think that’s how that saying goes. I have the distinct honour of handing out another award this year: The “NO MORE, I BEG OF YOU” Award. You may ask, what does that entail? Well, mostly foolish business decisions.
2024 was a year of unprecedented layoffs and a possible watershed moment where Sony and Microsoft decided to make some unwise bets that didn’t pay off. Over 15,000 (and counting, sadly) jobs have been lost as companies achieve more and more profit and better financial years than ever. This is due to a combination of fear of a possible recession and companies who can’t land the metaphorical ‘we are no longer in COVID lockdown’ plane. In the 1960s, the movie industry went through something similar where too many blockbusters bombed. The question is, how will the industry handle this going forward?
Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard, only seemingly break their word to the FTC in torching the former company seemingly just for Call of Duty. Sony tried to leverage Bungie’s live-service expertise, but the car-obsessed Pete Parsons had little to say beyond locking his Twitter account when Concord, The Last of Us Part II multiplayer offering, and many more we probably won’t hear about didn’t work out. On the other hand, the unfortunate Insomniac leak let us know even Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 wasn’t achieving the numbers Sony expected. This implies Sony’s slate of triple-A, ‘sad dad’(and related) games isn’t just something Sony is striving for - it’s the ONLY thing they’re banking on. Gone are the days of yearly Insomniac releases, or any of the associated games featuring the cast of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Nintendo is doing their own thing and somehow ended up in 1st place by, wait for it, actually focusing on and making games, among other things like their movie and theme park divisions.
On a similar note, David Zsaslov has been running Warner Bros. Discovery. By ‘running’ I mean in the same way a babysitter too preoccupied with calling over their significant other for some quality time than actually doing their job, and expecting to be paid in the end. From holding cancelled movies hostage, to simply writing them off as tax writeoffs, I am thankful every weekend Toonami is still airing and has not had the proverbial Eye of Sauron turned towards it.
In the gaming space in particular, Suicide Squad: Kills the Justice League and Mortal Kombat 1 have been thoroughly lambasted. The latter to the point its DLC plans are rumoured to be cancelled. This is despite what figurehead Ed Boon claimed, saying it would receive support for a while(as faithful fans know the half-life of these games is notoriously short). To add even more perspective, Mortal Kombat 1 has turned off players, hardcore and casual alike, so much so that they’re heading to Tekken 8. I’m not sure I can quantify how bad of a shape Mortal Kombat 1 must be for that to happen within the scope of this article, so you’ll just have to trust me.
Unrelated, but did you know there’s a Batman villain called Zsasz who takes pride in his kills by carving a tally mark into his body for each one?
Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo. You’re winning the ‘console war’ without trying, but there is one thing I’d like to bring up - why so much lawyer-ing? From DMCA takedowns, to weirdly ‘protected’ limited media such as Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Nintendo’s games now have an unknown staff prior to purchase, and their Nintendo Music app doesn’t credit composers(despite the same music being credited in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate). Nintendo even opened up a museum which is much less educational than it is promotional. Nintendo is a stubborn company and has intellectual property and war chest to back that up. As someone who engages in online multiplayer and fighting games, I’m pretty uninvested in Nintendo as is, but they should be careful, as they could easily slip from being the beloved Switch company to the confusing, obtrusive Nintendo 64 or Wii U days.
In marking a winner in this category, it feels like the tagline from Alien vs Predator: “Whoever wins…we lose”. I want to give it to the many, many Hyperdimension Neptunia games, but what good would that do besides a laugh? The winner of this category has to be the industry layoffs. Some unsolicited advice: Maybe instead of laying off teams for not selling their game to each of the 8 billion humans on earth, you could recognise what they’ve done for you as Krafton did for Tango Gameworks or Swen Vincke did when he called out those at the top of the industry when handing out this year’s GOTY award at TGAs. I challenge each and every publisher to put forth a fighting game. These don’t have to break the bank, and have loyal player bases, even if they are small. SNK has come back from the brink and Samurai Shodown(2019) was the fastest-selling game in that series, topping even King of Fighters XIV. Guilty Gear: Strive, basically the same story - and these games are still ALIVE. I could go on in terms of fighting games, but I know that doesn’t mean much to those who hold the money - these games living this long means there are opportunities for money, as well.
Runners-up: They are all tied for second-worst
Winner: Industry-wide mass layoffs totalling over 15,000 this year alone
The Year Of The Dragon Award For Best Dragon Game - Awarded By Branford Hubbard
Nominees: Dragon’s Dogma 2, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero, Dragon Age Veilguard, Pain in the ass boss fights in Metaphor ReFantazio, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, Rage of the Dragons NEO, Fields of Mistria (apparently there are romanceable dragons in there?)
Dragons - these mythical beasts have been gaming staples since their inception. With the Year of the Dragon coming to a close, there is a decision that needs to be made to set the record straight. startmenu asks the burning, journalistic question ‘Can you tell the wyverns, drakes, and giant lizards from actual dragons?’. We dive into who’s blowing smoke, and who’s fit to be the Aspect of Life.
I think for many, Dragon Ball Z is never far from their minds, Akira Toriyama’s brilliant ability to not take everything so seriously and think differently still inspires today. Though you may think of him drawing spiky-haired protagonists, he invented the poop emoji and was the artist behind Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger. So it makes sense that Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, the follow-up to the Budokai Tenkaichi series, sold over 9,000 copies(16+ Million sold actually, I double-checked the scouter). Unfortunately, the weird tournament gaffes, lack of current manga & recent movie characters, AND OH MY GOD WHERE IS ANDROID 21 make this a couple of Dragon Balls shy of calling the great Shenron.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a good game, but how ‘Dragon-y’ is it? While the final boss, disappointingly, is NOT a Dragon, there are several hydras, and a boss called Orochi. This does not bode well for the game titled ‘Dragon Quest’, but I suppose not every game can have the Dragonlord as its main antagonist. HOWEVER, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake does have an ace up its sleeve, provided you’re willing to put in time, effort, and lots of grinding. At the end of the post-game content in the Temple of Trials, our collective wish is granted in the form of a final showdown with the Grand Dragon, Xenlon.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard, was almost titled Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, which is a good change as the previous title wasn’t very Dragon-y. Haven’t we heard enough about people’s inner wolves? While I would hope a game that promised an age of dragons would be a frontrunner in the category of ‘best Dragon game’, doing extensive research I’ve discovered though you do fight MANY dragons, they all look the same! I can’t abide by this and will be penning a complaint to Bioware yesterday.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, I’m sure many anticipated, has a dragon or two. Whether they’re actual dragons or just two men who embody the resilience and good fortune of the beasts of legend, I’m sure we’ll find out within the next four entries of this franchise. At first glance, you may think ‘Hell yeah, there’s the Dragon of Dojima’ but a simple title doesn’t let you remain atop the dragon hierarchy! Ichiban and Kiryu both have distinct dragon tattoos, but Kiryu is the only one who uses the Dragon style itself. Ichiban, however much of a stud he is, only uses pro wrestling, mixed martial arts, and baseball bat-styled, improvisational mayhem. While I respect these dragons, I can only hope by 2036 they’ll be ready to step into the arena once again to some appropriately epic background music.
Rage of the Dragons NEO has a lot of heart, and even the ultimate entity The Black Dragon. If you’re wondering if you’ve heard of this game before, you may have - this is a rerelease of a game that looked to use the Double Dragon license but had to make do without. This itself is a bit confusing as Technōs Japan once upon a time was giving the license to the franchise to anyone and everyone who asked. Unfortunately, while this dragon breathes fire, it isn’t the biggest, greediest flying lizard around this year.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is based for making the enemies humans, and there is a dragon. The game itself has had breakaway success, which is wild considering how niche Persona and Shin Megami Tensei were once upon a time. But as the saying goes, ‘Your Dragon of the Year is in another castle.’
Dragon’s Dogma 2 arrived this year, unexpected for many. Hideaki Itsuno had given an ultimatum to Capcom, in that he could either make a new Devil May Cry game, or a sequel to Dragon’s Dogma, or he’d quit Capcom. He actually got to do both in the form of Devil May Cry V and Dragon’s Dogma 2, and he still left Capcom. Absolute Legend. To talk specifically about Dragon’s Dogma 2, the first game and its sequel start with a dragon, a creature signalling the end of days, taking the heart of the protagonist and marking them as an Arisen. There are dragons at the endgame, dragons to fight in general, and you can even climb a dragon and punch it in the eyeball. All this without the threat of a live-action remake! Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes the cake(and award) this year for Best Dragon game aka the real GOTY.
Runners-up: The Dragons we met along the way… but especially Fields of Mistria for letting the Scalies romance Caldarus
Winner: Dragon’s Dogma 2
Best Social Link/Companion - Awarded By Lex Ludy
Nominees: Jane Doe (Zenless Zone Zero), Maya, Maiko (Persona 3 Reload), Hiesmay, Basilio, Brigitta (Metaphor ReFantazio), Tassh, Neve (Dragon Age: The Veilgaurd), Kazuma Kiryu, Adachi, Saeko, Nanba (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Nix, ND-5 (Star Wars Outlaws), Neva (Neva), Hecate, Nemesis, Moros (Hades 2)
There were some great characters in video games in 2024, but for this category we are honouring a very specific type of side character: the social link, the companion, the people you build up relationships with over the course of the game.
Special shout-out has to go to Nix in Star Wars: Outlaws for the little fellow was so damn cute that when I saw someone walk around with a plushie of him during the final day of Gamescom this year I almost had a breakdown and cried (I wish this was a joke).
And Honourable mention also has to go to Neve from Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for proving that my gay-ass will do literally anything a powerful woman says.
That said, this award kind of has to go to Heismay from Metaphor ReFantazio. In any other game this regal anthropomorphic bat would be played for laughs but Phillippe Spall imbues him with a tortured pain over the death of his child and banishment from an army that hated his kind to begin with is some of the best character work Atlus has ever produced. Hiesmay sets the bar for side characters in games because he makes both the player and protagonist want to be a better person.
Runners-up: Nix (Star Wars: Outlaws) and Neve (Dragon Age: The Veilguard)
Winner: Heismay Noctule (Metaphor ReFantazio)
Best Performance - Awarded By Ashley Schofield
Nominees: Luke Roberts - James Sunderland (Silent Hill 2), Gianna Kiehl - Angela Orosco (Silent Hill 2), Takaya Kuroda - Kiryu Kazuma [JP] (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Kaji Tang - Ichiban Kasuga [EN] (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Phillipe Spall - Heismay Noctule [EN] (Metaphor ReFantazio), Anastasia Dyachuk - Indika (Indika), Efim Shifrin - The Devil (Indika), Xalavier Nelson Jr (I Am Your Beast), Senua - Melina Juergens (Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2); Watcher - Nhi Do (1000xRESIST)
It’s been an amazing year for voice acting, of which there are several performances genuinely in the running for the top spot. From the haunting and broken sorrows of Luke Roberts and Melina Juergens’ travels through nightmares, to Nhi Do’s dejected disappointment in the system around her, there’s no shortage of moving performances. Chief among them, in my opinion, is a voice actor giving the performance of their career across Ijinchō, Kamurochō and Honolulu, going out (unless SEGA does in fact bring him back, again) at his best: Takaya Kuroda, as Kazuma Kiryu in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
It was a genuine challenge to choose between Kazuhiro Nakaya and Takaya Kuroda for the winner here. On further thought, I realised that this was the wrong year for Nakaya to win; if I had been asked to give this award in 2020, it would have gone to him in a heartbeat. His performance as Ichiban Kasuga in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is still one of the absolute best in the entire series, even with 15 years coming before it and the passing of four years after. Yet despite being Kasuga’s second starring title as the new series protagonist, Infinite Wealth is very clearly written as Kiryu’s finale first, Kasuga’s return second. After faking his death and living undercover for years, he’s finally back to clear his debts, take on the sins of the yakuza, and actually, truly, be done this time (for real, we promise).
Kiryu is a man with one foot in the grave, previously figuratively and now literally, and Kuroda expertly communicates this with Kiryu’s reserved, almost permanently dispirited inflexion. Every word he says, every decision he makes, it’s all with the knowledge that his time is finally running out. He’s not giving up by any means, and his few moments of high energy across Infinite Wealth bring forth the soul of the younger unstoppable dragon he’s come to be known as both in-universe and out of it, but he’s quickly brought back down to earth by his body’s slow decay betraying his iron will.
Kuroda’s performance of the line “Thing is…I’ve got cancer” could come across as almost comedic in how utterly casually it’s spoken as if Kiryu is just telling Kasuga about his day, but under the surface, it heartbreakingly demonstrates how accepting, almost happy, Kiryu is to know there’s an ending for him. After all he’s done, he doesn’t have to suffer anymore.
“Just be aware that everything has to end sometime. You can always start anew, but you can’t erase what has been. Life is written in the single stroke of a brush. That’s why you’ve gotta make every moment count.”
Runners up: Ichiban Kasuga - Kazuhiro Nakaya (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth); James Sunderland - Luke Roberts (Silent Hill 2 Remake); Senua - Melina Juergens (Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2); Watcher - Nhi Do (1000xRESIST)
Winner: Kazuma Kiryu - Takaya Kuroda (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth)
THE SKELETON AWARDS - AWARDED BY FRIEND OF SITE AND GENERAL THREAT TO SOCIETY, SKELETON
SHORTEST TIME TO SATISFYING KILLS: Pigface: Combat Demo
(https://titolovesyou.itch.io/pigface-combat-demo)
MOST FINISHED ANTHOLOGY BY SOLO DEV: Anthology of the Killer
(https://thecatamites.itch.io/anthology-of-the-killer)
MOST AGGRESSIVE: Bitch Hell
(https://eviesrc.itch.io/bitch-hell)
SADDEST CUM: Slime Feet
(https://nadianova.itch.io/slime-feet)
MOST THING YOU SHOULD PLAY: HEADQUARTERS
(https://yogurtthehorse.itch.io/headquarters)
MOST “I WISH THIS GAME HAD A CHRISTMAS LOBBY LIKE PHANTASY STAR ONLINE”: Atlyss
(https://kiseff.itch.io/atlyss)
BEST VALUE WITH A BUDDY: STRAFTAT
(https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386720/STRAFTAT/)
THAT CAME OUT THIS YEAR - Folie à Deux: DREAD DELUSION
(https://lovelyhellplace.itch.io/dread-delusion)
Game of 2024 - Awarded By Lex Luddy
Nominees: Concord, Helldivers 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Dragon Age: The Veilgaurd, Astro Bot, Metaphor ReFantazio, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, Horizon Zero Dawn - Remastered, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, Tetris Forever, Mouthwashing, Skull And Bones, Unknown 9: Awakening, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Star Wars: Outlaws, Balatro, Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE!, CLICKHOLDING
Let’s not beat around the bush. 2024 has been shit. I should know, having run the Winter Spectacular for going on four years now, I have never witnessed so many guest writers and contributors feel the need to acknowledge how fucked things are right now. Hell editing Alex Green’s monthly Update Patches was like riding shotgun in a car careening downhill - and things haven’t gotten much cheerier since we took it to a weekly format with new writers on our Patreon.
But this year has been extra bad; from growing numb to watching our friends be treated like shit and laid off week in, week out, to becoming almost desensitised to ongoing target harassment campaigns as almost just another fact of life - it feels like we have all left 2024 a little less human. And that is without mentioning that the next few years don’t look much more promising when we look outside of the industry.
For that reason, it kinda feels like there is one game that needs this award. The game that summed up what it feels like to work in the video game industry right now. That embodies the hundreds, upon thousands of hours of work that we can put into things we love, only for them to be mothballed due to circumstance, a changing market and a shitty marketing campaign that seemed to begin and end with “People bought our other games… They’ll buy this one.”
That’s right. It Concord.
A game which is impossible to say if it was good or bad at the end of the year because, frankly, no one got to play enough of it to tell. It was only available to the public for 13 days before it was decided that Firewalk Studios’ roughly eight years of work was not worth seeing through.
A game that epitomises the levels of polish and grandeur and technical acumen this industry can reach, only for it to be ripped away and shelved on some server deep within Sony, destined, one day, to be lost to time forever.
I wish giving this award to Concord didn’t make so much sense this year.
Maybe next year we can give this award to something like Baltaro. Wouldn’t that be nice?
