Hello! I'm Eric Van Allen. You may know me as the co-host of Ax of the Blood God, an indie RPG podcast. Or maybe like half of Normandy FM. Maybe even just by seeing myself on the Internet, appearing as a random battle in the tall grass, just like I'm doing now on Giant Bomb Dot Com.
This was a good year for RPGs and a bad year for (points around). The media, especially, has been difficult, so I want to take a moment to encourage you all to celebrate the people who stick around and continue to deliver the material you love to listen to, watch, and read. I guarantee you, they appreciate every nice comment you send.
I've been following Giant Bomb since I started in gaming media, and now, it's great to post a list here. I've always enjoyed reading the top 10 here and seeing the variety of games, so I hope you find something you like here. Let's analyze it.
I'm relatively new to the popular MMORPG, with a free trial up to level… you know the rest. I arguably started at the worst possible time, using up server space to deliver wine and cheese in A Realm Reborn while longtime fans were trying to finish Endwalker.
Dawntrail was special for several reasons. It was the first MMO expansion I played at launch; I was able to experience the joy of discovery and exploration while discussing content with others in real time. It was also the first time I formed a static and ran some of the more difficult endgame content. Learning the Valigarmanda Extreme dance was very satisfying and I also got some awesome SGE weapons.
But as a story, I really clicked with Dawntrail. In its first half, it is essentially a tournament arc; in its second half, it grapples with mortality, loss, and grief. It came at a prime time for me and I really enjoyed my own story stepping back a bit so characters like Wuk Lamat, Koana and Krile could step forward. For all those reasons, plus dozens of hours searching for the last Triple Triad cards I need, FFXIV was a constant for me in 2024.
Tekken is great, and with its seventh entry, it stayed on top of the fighting game world for years. It was a relief when Tekken 8 came out and it was still just as good.
This year I spent hours in the lab, working hard, learning a character, and playing online games. When I was falling asleep or traveling, I was going over button sequences for Queen combos in my head. I watched competitions, high-end VOD, anything I could get new information from. Tekken 8 had me in its grip for the first half of this year.
Fighting games are at their best when they instill the drive to improve. Not necessarily to win, but to be better than the day before. Learning Tekken 8 helped me appreciate the long journeys and time spent learning a trade, and it paid off very well. (Don't test me now, my Queen is a little rusty).
I had a soft spot in my heart for the first Helldivers, but the sequel took everything great about that game and turned it up to 11. The perspective change and updated graphics are spectacular, sure, but changing the camera didn't just alter how the game looks. manage the game. It emphasized the chaos and carnage of Helldivers in a new and incredible way.
Giant storms and blizzards hit the areas. Swarms of insects emerge from nests, hide in holes, and threaten to overwhelm your squad in seconds. The sight of lasers firing through the smoke, sweeping across the battlefield as my Helldiver jumps for cover. Helldivers 2's visual language is unbridled chaos, which matches its gameplay perfectly, and I love it.
I had been down for a while, and this almost didn't make my list, but Illuminate's new threat brought me back and reminded me why I liked this game so much in the first place. I really hope Arrowhead has some room to run this game, as it's certainly a game I'll want to come back to.
Honestly, who didn't waste hours and hours with Balatro this year? Localthunk's rogue take on video poker is clean and understandable, yet deep and expansive, playing with all the different possible variables a poker game could contain. Pairs and probabilities, suits and colors, even modifying cards by changing their texture and face. It's brilliant.
I really don't know what else I could say about Balatro. It is elegant to play and captivating to watch others play. Balatro isn't just something I played a lot this year. It's something I see myself playing over and over again, years from now, the same way I play Slay the Spire or even solitaire.
Playing Emio in 2024 feels like a window in time. It has all the mechanics and interactions of the classic Famicom Detective Club games. He prods his interviewees for answers, moving from place to place and reading lines and lines of dialogue. While it has a modern look, Emio plays like an older game.
But it's that approach that made Emio, the smiling man, so attractive to me. It's a slow-burning mystery about a town shaken by a murder case, steeped in local folklore and legends. There is interpersonal drama and stories behind every nervous shift in someone's seat. Emio is a game about the places we live in, the people who live in them and the stories that are passed down and repeated, generation after generation. It's not a game for everyone, but if you've been craving a good slow-burn detective story that feels like a tunnel from 1988 to 2024, this is it.
After 80 or 90 hours of Elden Ring in 2022, I was wondering how FromSoftware would manage to take advantage of Lands Between. Sure, the studio's DLC has always been consistently strong, but where would Erdtree go within the massive world of Elden Ring?
The world and story of Shadow of the Erdtree ended up being something totally new, fresh and exciting. A new power scaling system, tons of new weapons, more summons and fights that took many Elden Ring players even further than the base game. It was certainly a challenge, something I struggled with a little bit.
But the other side of the tree conquered me with its magnificent views, otherworldly landscapes and fascinating stories. The DLC's main cast, essentially a Band of the Hawk-style troupe stuck chasing after their lord Miquella, is set up for beautiful and heartbreaking failures. Shadow of the Erdtree gave Elden Ring a nice bow, and I can't imagine what else FromSoft could… (puts finger on earpiece) Wait, what? What do you mean by “Night Kingdom”?
Vanillaware games always seem to target me, specifically, from 13 Sentinels to Odin Sphere. Unicorn Overlord is perhaps the most specific I've ever felt: a strategy RPG that combines real-time troop movements with clockwork squad-based tactics, running on an if-then system similar to Final Fantasy XII's Gambit system. .
Each squad felt like a small, concentrated self-fighter. Each battle raises new worries and threats, encouraging me to find new ways to use the army I had built. Some of the most important battles in this game reached supreme strategic levels. And it's Vanillaware, so the art is absolutely gorgeous, from the spectacular character models to the delicious food served in the taverns.
Unicorn Overlord was a game that was guaranteed to grab my attention and managed to keep it for hours on end.
Every year, there is usually at least one game that I think everyone, regardless of genre preferences or story, should experience. By 2024, mouthwash is that game. Mouthwashing, a short sci-fi horror story from Wrong Organ, is brutal, memorable, and, in my opinion, essential.
The story of Wrong Organ Crafts is not full of shocks or typical monsters, but rather fear and anguish when the crew of a space freighter finds itself stranded in the infinite void. Days blend and merge, past and present collide to show you what went wrong and where.
But, as I mentioned in my review of the excellent But Why Tho?, mouthwash also presents a disturbing picture of real problems. It forces the player to grapple with the reality of harm and questions of complicity, in the midst of a mouthwash-fueled meltdown. It's a vibrant story that I personally think everyone should take the time to play.
Rounding out an incredible year for independent films is 1000xRESIST, another sci-fi story that addresses a multitude of themes: immigration, culture, identity, power, guilt, and, yes, resistance. However, the way it moves the player through all of its scenes is simply amazing.
It made sense when I looked into developer Sunset Visitor's background and saw mentions of experimental theater, film, and performing arts. The way the studio frames the story, dialogue, action, and even the journey throughout 1000xRESIST keeps the player on their toes. Perspective and points of view change to emphasize stunning images at just the right moment and with the right framing.
Throughout all its chapters, 1000xRESIST traverses centuries to tell its story, in a way that I have seen few in the space attempt. It works very well and leaves an indelible mark of a game I'll be thinking about for years to come.
At the beginning of Metaphor, I knew it would be one of my favorites of the year. I've long enjoyed both Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, but with Metaphor, Studio Zero has taken the building blocks of both and forged a new RPG pillar to stand alongside those giants.
Each Metaphor piece plays with your systems. Travel time and the gauntlet runner add new twists to the calendar system, encouraging thoughtful use of the methods you have to develop personal virtues or cook useful dishes. The class system encourages experimentation, mixing and matching skills like I would do in, say, Final Fantasy Tactics; It also pushes me to bond with the characters, giving me more abilities and evolved classes as our relationships deepen. Even the fights themselves pushed me to rely less on hit-type weaknesses and more on building an engine for my RPG pool and fueling it to run over enemies.
The Metaphor story also emphasizes the power of stories themselves and how they can influence our lives. It's a game that left me hopeful for the future. It was very easy to get lost in his adorable party (shout out to Heismay, my favorite character of the year) and his rich world. I have a folder with all the fantastic sights and sounds the group sees throughout their trip. It really felt like a fantasy journey, one that I didn't want to end.
If Metaphor ReFantazio represents a new series, to run alongside SMT and Persona, it has more than earned its place. It's my favorite cast, art, world, RPG, and game of 2024.