Karl’s Top 10 Games of 2024

What Didn't Make the Cut in 2024

With every award and Top 10 list, some things did not make the cut for the main list. As a chance to see what didn't make the list, to complain about them again, or to give reasons as to why they did not make the list, here's the "cut content" from my Top 10 of 2024.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Release Date: February 29, 2024
Review Score: 5 out of 5 Stars

I can hear the fanbase going crazy with complaints as to why this isn't on my list at all. Honestly, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is one of those games that just got lost in the shuffle. While the game itself is worth the top spot on many other people's lists, I didn't have the time to give it the attention it deserved. That aside, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is a great game that, when given the time, is going to eat up many days of your life. From the new gameplay system that worked for Final Fantasy VII: Remake, to the story writing that continues things to yet another great stopping point, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth should be my Game of the Year... If I had the time for it.

Stellar Blade
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
Review Score: 5 out of 5 Stars

So why isn't Stellar Blade on this list? Well, beginning around this time my body went through what would eventually be diagnosed as Cauda Equina Syndrome, meaning I had developed back pain that got so bad that a disc bulged into my back and nerve stem, leaving me on the verge of being paralyzed. Due to this condition, I didn't get enough time to play many games during my early recovery, and Stellar Blade is one of those games... I just forgot to get back around to it.

Hypercharge: Unboxed
Release Date: May 31, 2024
Review Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

Hypercharge: Unboxed is one of those games that I love to talk about, it had a very interesting and unique style to it that just had so much potential. However, as I said in the review, the lack of post-launch content or some sort of recognized brand associated with the game hurt the overall longevity of the game. If you get a chance to get Hypercharge: Unboxed at a discount somewhere, then please buy it. But beware that there might not be too many servers going, meaning you might be stuck with the single-player version of the game, which isn't as fun as playing online or with friends.

NBA 2K25
Release Date: September 6, 2024
Review Score: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

I do not want to talk about this game again. NBA 2K25 shows that 2K Games cares more about how much they can nickel and dime players instead of giving them a value-for-money experience. Everything in NBA 2K25 pushes you towards their online mode or their card-based mode, where you are pushed to pay more for pointless items or points to do things that used to be unlockable through playing the content. Fuck this game as 2K Games will not learn from their mistakes.

Funko Fusion
Release Date: September 13, 2024
Review Score: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

So much appeal and potential down the drain. Had Funko Fusion been a fully developed game that was playtested and bug-fixed before release, it would have gotten a higher score. However, the game came out with game-breaking bugs and the game was unplayable most of the time, not to mention the game design itself was made by a blind man so you have no idea where to go or what to do half the time. Given the brands that Funko was able to add to this game, there was great potential for future expansions and characters to join the mix... If only they didn't do that by making you buy Funko Fusion branded Pop Vinyls to get the extra content via random roulette.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
Release Date: September 19, 2024
Review Score: 3 out of 5 Stars

If there is one thing that pissed me off with 2024, it was lazy remasters. Instead of adding new content to the game, and rebuilding it from the ground up like Silent Hill 2 did, we got CAPCOM throwing a really good game through a horrible AI upscaling program and releasing that as a budget remaster. Given some of the other remasters that came out this year like Lolipop Chainsaw, Horizon: Forbidden Dawn, and the other entry on this list, I would lose my shit when I saw the word "remaster". I just hope that CAPCOM and other companies realize that doing things this way is not what gamers want and reform their ways... Yeah, I'm on copium.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered
Release Date: October 31, 2024
Review Score: 3 out of 5 Stars

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered cemented the way I feel about a lot of remasters that have been thrown onto store shelves in 2024: I don't like them. But unlike the Dead Rising remaster, at least Shadows of the Damned remains 100% as it did when it was released in 2011, completely unaltered and uncensored. Frankly, if this is the way remasters and gaming are going to become in 2025, then it's going to be the downfall of gaming in general. Bad, lazy remasters like Shadows of the Damned combined with DEI-driven modern games are going to hurt gamers to the point where they are going to leave and companies churn out nothing but crappy trash games as they did before the original gaming crash.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind
Release Date: December 10, 2024
Review Score: 1 out of 5 Stars

I really wanted Rita's Rewind to be a good game. I'm a Power Rangers fan who has been wanting a good Power Rangers game for decades and after playing Rita's Rewind I feel that quest is still ongoing. Digital Eclipse is a good retro developer, mostly when it does a collection of retro content. This time around though, they have failed at doing something that should have been easy to replicate: TMNT Shredder's Revenge. Trying to make a modern retro game with Power Rangers in a 16-bit style is not something that we, or the Power Rangers brand, needs in 2024.

#10 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Release Date: 20 November 2024
Review Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

This was a very last-minute addition to the list as it came out in November, as such, this was one of the last games I played this year before dropping back into Fortnite every week with my friends.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a very different survival game that blends themes from Fallout with mechanics from any Elder Scrolls game you might have played in recent years. You have to spend a bit of time managing your character's weight from all the things that they find and carry with them, along with making sure that you don't die of radiation poisoning as you make your way through the Russian wasteland.

What drew me to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was the fact that the radiation system, which comes from Fallout, is something that makes sure you are thinking instead of mindlessly shooting your way through everything, especially when you are navigating areas on your way to things like bunkers, deserted towns, and other locations. The more you get radiation poisoning, the worse you play, giving real-life consequences to your actions for wanting to skip through that puddle of yellow goo instead of going around it as you should.

The reason this gets the number 10 spot is because it is still new and I'm slowly playing through it, unlike some of the other games on this list where I just ran out of times to play when it came out or other factors which have stopped me from giving them the attention that they deserve.

#09 - Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered
Release Date: December 10, 2024
Review Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

I played a LOT of remasters this year, and many of them were not even worthy of making this year's list as I developed a hatred of remasters as many of them were horrible AI-created messes, made for a quick cash grab from the nostalgia market. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered was the opposite of every remaster that I've seen this year.

First of all, there was actual effort put into the graphical upgrade that was done for this remastering of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2, bringing what looked to be more than just upscaled graphics to fit a 4K screen. The images used for the characters and backgrounds look like they were remade from scratch, keeping some of the styles from the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games at the same time. Then there are the extras, ranging from fan content to behind-the-scenes moments, and even cut content. This remaster showed that when you put effort into something, people will like it.

#08 - Marvel Rivals
Release Date: December 6, 2024
Review Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

Marvel Rivals appears out of nowhere and turns out to be one of the best Hero Shooter games in a long time. Dubbed the "Overwatch killer" since it was in beta, Marvel Rivals actually lives up to that boast now that the game is out in full Season 0 release. All you need to do is jump into the game, which you can download for free, and jump into any of the available characters... And we mean all available characters. Nothing is off limits when it comes to the characters you can choose from, no microtransaction bullshit shoved at you from the get go. Sure, there is a season pass, but its cheap and will remain available for every season to come.

It is weird to jump into a free game and enjoy it for hours on end, learning new characters, their abilities, how they work with a team, and all the other things that comes with a new game... Without being forced to pay for something every 5 minutes. Marvel Rivals is one of those games that comes along every now and again during a time when greed reigns supreme, and should be the norm for many live service games... Learn from Marvel Rivals and you will be rewarded.

#07 - World of Warcraft: The War Within
Release Date: 26 August 2024
Review Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Yeah, I know, World of Warcraft: The War Within is not a new game, but the expansion is a new part of that game. Much like Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, this game is going to count because whole new content is just as worthy as a whole new game.

To say that World of Warcraft: The War Within was a game that took up a big chunk of my time is an understatement. If anything, World of Warcraft: The War Within was a reason for me to get out of my bed after the back surgery that caused me to miss many other games at the time because I had a monthly cost associated with World of Warcraft: The War Within and I needed to use that time or I thought I was wasting money. Using World of Warcraft: The War Within as a means to recover quickly is why I put this game up where I did on this list.

However, my time with World of Warcraft: The War Within didn't last too long as I quit the game once again after finishing the main storyline twice and gearing my character up alone since my Guild Leader was more interested in progressing herself and her friends in the guild rather than the whole guild itself. World of Warcraft: The War Within has shown that the social aspect, or the Massive Multiplayer Online, part of the game is dead, replaced with systems that ensure that you don't need anyone to progress, and once you hit the peak there is nothing left to do until the next patch hits... Eventually.

#06 - Squirrel with a Gun
Release Date: August 29, 2024 (PC) / October 15, 2024 (Console)
Review Score: 3 out of 5 Stars

This game is all about the premise. When I first heard about Squirrel with a Gun, I got the same vibes that I got with Goat Simulator. You give a Squirrel a gun and let it loose on the human world to cause chaos and mayhem, and that's exactly what I did. Squirrel with a Gun is a streaming game, something wacky and fun that people love to watch others play as no two gameplay styles are the same here.

However, the game was let down a bit because of the complex level design that requires very specific things to be done to unlock new areas and progress in the story of Squirrel with a Gun. Because of these levels, I didn't get as far as I wanted in Squirrel with a Gun, but I had fun with it while I was playing, even going back a few times after I finished the review in order to do more with it.

While it is a semi-indie darling, Squirrel with a Gun has the feel of a AAA title, but you can tell that this was done with a limited development team who had a passion for their project and just wanted to do something unique and different, which is something that I want to award. We need more games like Squirrel with a Gun which puts fun above the pursuit of money.

#05 - Tekken 8
Release Date: January 26, 2024
Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

2024 was a good year for fighting games, with Tekken 8 taking the lead. While Tekken 8 did have some teething issues, especially on the PC review code that I had access to, it eventually evened things out to the point where people were playing the game online on the regular with no issues at all. While I'm not a huge fan of going online with my fighting games since Australian connections often are treated as a unworthy challenger, when I did get matches everything was smooth and I enjoyed getting my ass kicked over and over again... If Namco Bandai added Oceanic region servers instead of forcing us to US or Japanese servers, then I'd be really happy.

Online issues aside, Tekken 8 continues the amazing storytelling that brought Tekken 7 many awards when it was released. The implied end of the Mishima Bloodline feud gave us some very dramatic moments with an ending that comes right out of any Shonen anime that you could name. As someone who is a Kazuya main, getting to see the end of his saga was a delight to see... And you can see it all on our YouTube channel.

#04 - Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
Release Date: September 12, 2024
Review Score: 5 out of 5 Stars

If there was something that no one had on their 2024 scorecard, it was the packaging and return of some of the best CAPCOM fighting games ever made. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection takes the games that not only were the peak of my childhood in X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, but also the games that launched the online fighting game community for decades to come, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and gave us a chance to play them all over again on modern consoles (except Xbox, but that happens next year) with rollback net code... or in the comfort of your couch if you're some loser who only likes to play against the CPU or who has friends at their homes... And it had The Punisher for no reason at all.

Since its release, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection has become one of my favorite comfort games. I'll throw on a game of X-Men vs Street Fighter during a slow afternoon or evening just to go back to the days when I used to play this game in Arcades against the local community. While I might not have the skills needed to go online and play against the diehards that spend every moment using every exploit to gain an advantage in the game... or worse, running into the Wazzler (aka EVO Champion Justin Wong, who is the King of Marvel vs Capcom 2)... I'm more than happy to beat the crap out of the CPU again on the highest setting over and over again.

#03 - WWE 2K24
Release Date: March 8, 2024
Review Score: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

For all the issues I have with current 2K Sports games and the excessive use of microtransaction-laced modes, I did spend a lot of time this year playing matches of WWE 2K24. I played through the abysmal 40 Years of Wrestlemania mode, getting frustrated that the mode had a hidden difficulty built into it via the game AI spamming unblockable and uncounterable moves over and over again to the point where resetting was the only option available to you. I also played through the male and female-centric story modes to unlock the rest fo the base game.

Once everything was unlocked, things were a lot more interesting thanks to the many amazing content creators in the Community Creations section, including the top-tier god WhatsTheStatus. This PC modder made the content that was locked behind the horrible microtransaction-laced MyFaction game mode for free so those who couldn't get lucky with paying $400+ to unlock a version of The Rock with his 2024 tattoos or Roman Reigns with a man bun hairstyle. While 2K Games would continue down this path of offering old and new "persona" cards in the mode (and linking some of these special cards to physical WWE Elite action figures that were only sold in the USA), WhatsTheStatus and others made sure that people could play as these characters. God bless him, even if 2K Games continues to try and stop him every year.

Thanks to the Community of WWE 2K24, the game is somewhat playable as the best wrestling simulator on the market. However, the business practices of 2K Games continue to be one of pure greed. With WWE 2K25 already in production, people are already wondering how bad the additions to MyFaction are going to be, and how bad the DLC will be. when people wonder how BAD and GREEDY your game will be, then you have failed... But somehow I can't stop playing... It sucks.

#02 - Silent Hill 2 Remake
Release Date: October 8, 2024
Review Score: 4.5 out of 5

Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for one of the classic survival horror games on the planet and its new remake. As much as I love Resident Evil 2 as my all-time favorite game, Silent Hill 2 comes in a close second. So when it comes to my game of the year, Silent Hill 2 is... Second!? Yep, while it would be predictable for me to say that Silent Hill 2 is my Game of the Year, I'm not going to do that because as good as the game is, there is one better game that is not a remake or a remaster.

Silent Hill 2, even in remake form, is still one of the best psychological horror games on the planet. The story is legendary, the gameplay is much better now that you can defend yourself at all times, and the atmosphere still sends chills down my spine. While many others bemoan the gameplay for allowing too much action, those people forget that Resident Evil didn't achieve the massive cult status it enjoys till the original Resident Evil 4 added more action to the gameplay, Silent Hill 2 gets the same treatment with this remake and it gains success because of it, though there is more to the success of the game than a gameplay addition.

The streamlining of Silent Hill 2 in terms of game direction took an already long and complex story and turned it into something that was more digestible to old and new players alike. While some would say that characters like Eddie and Angela didn't get the "respect" they earned in the original, again, those people are wrong. If anything, those characters are closer to what they should have been the first time instead of the cartoon characters they were back then... Especially in looks. For all the bullshit those grifters on YouTube would tell you, Angela looks closer to the average late teens/early twenties female than she did in the original release.

Overall, Silent Hill 2 is one of those remakes that people will be playing over and over again, which includes me. I don't see a reason why this game shouldn't be the Game of the Year for many people's lists, but like I said before, there is one game that is worthy of that spot...

#01 - Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero
Release Date: October 11th, 2024
Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

When Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero was announced in March of 2023, people were instantly hyped. The Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi series of games from the PlayStation2 era are some of the most revered and respected Dragon Ball games of all time, with even second-hand copies of those games being worth over $100 each these days. So to hear that Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero was going to be made in the tradition of those games, I was ready to grab this game on day one and play till my fingers were sore.

What I didn't expect was one of the best versions of the Dragon Ball story that I've seen since Xenoverse. Instead of playing through the story of Dragon Ball Z for the millionth time, the story mode offered different versions of events for almost every battle and story beat that was involved. Want to see how things would have played out if Goku didn't die against Raditz? You can see that. Want to stop the Cell Games from ever happening? You can see that. While things tend to slow down once the player gets beyond the Majin Buu storyline where the different routes end, the game remains challenging and entertaining.

Add to all this the ability to make your own custom episode battles as well as a very competitive online community, and you have everything you need to make the game of the year. Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero does contain DLC Season Pass, the content is going to continue well into 2025, and if this game is supported as much as Dragon Ball Xenoverse is, or even Dragon Ball Kakarot is, then Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is going to be THE Dragon Ball game for generations to come... And that is why Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is going to be my 2024 Game of the Year.