Our individual Game of the Year articles allow our lovely team of writers and editors to share their own personal PS5 picks for 2024. Today, it's the turn of news reporter Khayl Adam.
5: Dragon's Dogma 2
I wanted to like the first Dragon's Dogma, but I came to it too late and struggled with its technical performance. With Dragon's Dogma 2, I held off until the release of PS5 Pro, and I'm glad I did; the emergent chaos that the ambitious RPG regularly throws your way is best experienced at a steady frame rate.
I'm admittedly not done with the open-ended game, but it's near the top of my holiday to-do list. Capcom's big swings, when they connect, are incredible, and Dragon's Dogma 2 is really in a league of its own. If you're willing to be patient and learn its eccentricities, it's one of the most unique and forward-thinking games I've ever played.
4: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
I was likely always going to enjoy Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, given the subject matter, but Saber Interactive's care and attention to detail, not to mention bone-jarring combat mechanics, surprised even this degenerate Games Workshop fan.
The campaign is solid and certainly special in that it opened the eyes of an entirely new audience to the Warhammer universe, which has unfortunately not always enjoyed such high-quality adaptations. I haven't checked in for a while, and I think there are still a few Operations I need to beat, but Space Marine 2 was another surprising multiplayer hit for me, and I look forward to the inevitable sequel.
3: Metaphor: ReFantazio
Metaphor: ReFantazio is another impressive showing from Atlus, and while long-winded, the developer's take on a fantasy world wracked by supernatural political turmoil is incredibly compelling. In Louis, we get one of the more enigmatic villains in recent gaming narratives who, channelling the spirit of Napoleon Bonaparte, leads a violent revolution based on reason and meritocracy.
Combat remains familiar, and overall, I think I prefer it less to the Atlus benchmark, Persona 5 Royal. The calendar system also feels a little superfluous here. Still, with a fraction of the budget of my #1 pick, the developer is flexing its creative muscles, and I'll be eagerly awaiting what comes next.
2: Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a rare beast, a genuine surprise hit with heart that lives or dies by its gameplay. After the mammoth launch, there were admittedly some issues with balancing, and I would go months without playing, but that mostly seems sorted. With fresh and accumulated content, it's somehow better than ever.
The rock-solid co-op gameplay is undeniably awesome, simultaneously demanding coordination and individual skill under pressure, which inevitably leads to hilarity. The ceiling is also incredibly high in terms of difficulty (for those who want it), and a spicy hot drop, followed by half an hour's worth of carnage, then extracting under fire, is just about the most immaculate gameplay loop going.
1: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth doesn't feel real in some senses. Against all odds, and almost certainly despite itself, Square Enix is somehow pulling off a full-trilogy remake of one of the most important video games ever made to the industry, PlayStation, and myself personally. It enriches the original rather than seeking to supplant it. It retains Remake's cinematic and mechanical excellence, with the developer effortlessly reinventing itself, doing an end-zone dance on the open world RPG subgenre for kicks.
But it's too big; despite being ridiculously detailed and having unbelievable production values, not enough people will see it. That adds a slight melancholy for me because I don't think Square Enix is likely to do anything like this again, nor should it, quite frankly. Still, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the realisation of decades of my fanboy dreams: a meaningful, respectful accompaniment that looks and plays like the Advent Children simulator I always wanted, and far and away the most impressive game I played all year.
What do you think of Khayl's personal Game of the Year picks? Feel free to agree wholeheartedly, or disagree politely, in the comments section below.
Comments 25
Rebirth does demand a lot of hours, still loved it though. I wish I liked Helldivers 2 as much as everyone, I just found it repetitive.
Khayl knows class games!
Only thing I’d swap is HD2 for Astro just due to the fact I’m not a big online gamer
Already played hd2 on pc, had a lot of fun
@DonkeyFantasy but you can just streamline the story yourself and ignore the extra stuff/do it later?
Couldn't agree more about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth! Truly outstanding game in my eyes! Can't express how much of a dream this game was for me after praying for this for all these years after being blown away by the original all those years ago
Rebirth is the answer
@DonkeyFantasy Just ignore the extra stuff like the mini games because it was bad executed to be honest. The story of the game was really good.
@Khwarezm89 @SuperSilverback I really want to replay Rebirth at some point and just skip almost all the minigames. Doing them as you go grinds the pacing to a crawl — and that's on top of the padding that already exists.
Devs clearly poured a crazy amount of effort into the game, but for me, the good stuff is buried a bit too often. Can absolutely see why other people, like Khayl, adore it though.
I actually got space marine 2 as a prezzie yesterday and it's great. I love the whole testosterone driven carnage. The only gripe I have is that whilst the graphics are really good they are a bit soft in performance mode. Looking forwards to a bit of a space marine session later on this afternoon. I've got to edit this post to say that for the first time I can remember I am choosing to play a ps5 game in quality mode@30fps because the "vasoline smearo" vision in performance mode is just awful. I'm surprised it was not touched upon in the review to be honest. Still a pretty epic game but good lord the smeary visuals are just too distracting.
Astro bot is still number one.and i will add black myth wukong.silent hill 2 remake.and like a dragon infinite wealth in the top 5.word up son
Between Rebirth and XVI both being mediocre for the exact opposite reasons. I think either Square Enix games are no longer for me or Square Enix doesn't know what they want Final Fantasy to be. XVI sees it as a DMC/God Of War hybrid with worst combat, characters and story than both of those. Even the set pieces while beautiful to look at don't have the impact of God of Wars big ones or DMCs insane devil fights.
VII Rebirth wants to be Yakuza, FFXIII, The Witcher and Horizon. Problem is, the mini games aren't as well designed or well put together in the world like Gwent or Yakuza's mini games are. The open world and side-questing isn't as rewarding as The Witcher nor as well paced or fluid as the Horizon games. The story wants to be cinematic but lacks focus, drama or conviction.
@breakneck Fair criticism and it's fine if they aren't your thing. However, Rebirth and XVI are both critically acclaimed, well loved games. Final Fantasy's identity has shifted game from game since 9 and has resulted in some hits and some misses.
Between 7 remake, XIV and XVI they seem to be in a really good spot with the franchise.
Rebirth is in a strange position for me. I didn't go for the plat but I did all but one side quest, all of the overworked activities minus certain spoilers, completed queens blood and played for over 120hrs. But for all that I could never put it on one of these lists and I can't think of a reason 🤔 anyway, for me the best part of the game is the characters, I really think they did an excellent job of expanding every single one and so got really attached to all of them, especially my fav Barrett. The environment was a let down in how barren and samey it looked and it didn't look much better than the first on PS4 except the models themselves. I played Forbidden West straight after this and it showed there was no really excuse for all of the bad texture work and shoddy models.
Anyway, I'd deffo have Silent Hill 2 and Astro Bot but i still haven't played enough of Space Marine despite having it since launch, bloody Yakuza took over 🤣
Still to play both Space Marines 2 and Helldivers 2 (must fix that soon) but Rebirth was really, really good imo 🤩
Rebirth is on the right spot.
Someone got it right haha. This is the best game of 2024 for sure. I know it's opinions, but nice to see someone put it at the top. Well deserved.
@breakneck They say opinions are subjective, but it dosen't mean we should throw objectivity out of windows.
Worst combat ? There is no world where FF16 combat is considered bad unless an IGN journalist is playing !!
Dozen builds, hundereds of skills, superb boss fights and etc.
Hey, if you don't like it, all points to you, we don't need to meet eye to eye in everything, But you can't make such claims on something like FF16 combat of all things.
Good picks dude, results I can get behind.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner to my great shame, I haven't played Astro Bot yet Gunna play it with my daughter, but she's still a bit too small haha
@iDreamwalker You mean the combat where every Eikon essentially falls into one of two archetypes? Fast and weak or strong but slow? The combat is good for a 10 hour game like DMC or the Old God of Wars but it lacks the depth, build variety, enemy variety to sustain a 40+ hour game.
I am happy Rebirth got a lot of love here! I still have to give DD2 a try. It’s on my next wave of games to purchase alongside Alan Wake 2, Dragon Age Veilguard & Astrobot. I wanted to give Warhammer a go but I’ll never have people to play it with that aren’t randoms 😭
None of these games appeal to me except for Helldivers 2 which was one of my personal top 5's as well. Such a GREAT game and so well done!
Glad FF7 grabbed the top spot here.
Another great list! Keep it coming!
FF7R is the only one of interest to me on this list (I found DD2 highly disappointing); hopefully I'll like it when I finally give it a go.
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