I’m not sure about you but the game that ended up being my favourite for 2024, was actually something kind of a surprise for me and not something that was initially even on my radar. Now I mostly, say 99% of the time, play games on my Xbox Series X, it was after all the main reason that I bought it, though I did dabble here and there with some gaming on a linux desktop I have and sometimes even, shock and horror on a Mac but more on that later.

I started the year with Diablo IV, I’ve been a big fan of the Diablo games ever since playing the original Diablo way back when on an OG Playstation, so I was looking forward to when it launched. It got off to a fairly bumpy start though, it seemed at the beginning it was trying to be more Diablo 2 like but then it started to go more towards Diablo 3 territory? I think it ended up trying to be too many things to too many people, I was hoping that it would turn a corner with the expansion but I’m not sure that it’s quite found it’s feet yet. It still ended up being my most played game of 2024 according to Xbox Review but I lost enthusiasm with the last couple of seasons. I haven’t finished the expansion campaign yet.

One of the other games that I ended up putting a lot of time into was Borderlands 3 but mostly because I was playing it on coop with my son, it was a blast and luckily we finished it and it’s expansions about the time it was starting to get old.

The next jump from there was Fallout 4, it’s still on my to finish list but I have been playing it through slowly and methodically, my son was playing it as well but he’s already about 20 miles ahead of where I left off but I think I had a good reason to move on as I got hooked on Robocop Rogue City.

**Robocop Rogue City**

This game perfectly captured the feel of the original film

I know the game released in 2023 but I was waiting for a sale to pick it up, so I didn’t get to it until this year but I am very glad that I did. For someone like me who was around when the film was first released, this game scratched that itch that none of the previous Robocop games managed. They perfectly managed to capture the feel of the movie and world in this game and I had a lot of fun playing it.

Another game that my son spent a lot of time playing was Alien Fireteam Elite, another example of a game that managed to capture the feel of the movies and at the time, the frenetic pace of being swarmed by hordes of aliens. At the time it was a complete blast and we had a lot of frantic moments trying to survive the incoming hordes.

My son branched off into some stuff of his own, so for a while I was playing They Are Billions and Call of Duty but then we got caught in a wave of fighters, Mortal Kombat One, Injustice 2 and Streets of Rage 4, which were all fun.

Unfortunately this is where life stepped in and I wasn’t able to game for a while as I had some health issues and ended up spending some time in hospital in intensive care. After I was released I spent some time with some issues with my vision and so I could only play something that was literally right under my nose, as Im extremely short sighted. So I ended up playing on my M1 Macbook Pro via steam.

**Nova Drift**

A captivating game that really deserves your attention

The game that sucked me in the most was an indie called Death Must Die, closely followed by Nova Drift with a little of Children of Morta. If you haven’t played any of those, you definitely should check them out. Death Must Die has nice retro style graphics and is a touch Diablo and a touch Hades. Nova Drift is like asteroids on steroids.

My health finally started to pick up in September and just as if the universe decided I needed a pick me up, Space Marine 2 came along.

Now I feel compelled here to say that I up to that point, knew very little about Warhammer 40,000 and so I wasn’t even following the game. Then YouTube brought it to my attention and on a whim I decided to pick it up and I’m so glad that I did. I haven’t been able to stop playing it since and if I thought the swarms in Aliens were something, Space Marine taught me otherwise. It’s been an interesting journey since first playing the campaign and having those “Oh Shit!” moments to where I am now, grappling into the middle of hordes in operations. i love this game, I love how uncomplicated it is and how once you get into the flow, you can have John Wick style combat through the horde. I think with the exception of the Zoeanthropes, I’ve never felt like the game unfairly killed me. Usually if something happened, it was my fault, a bad call that I made.

I don’t know if I’ve said it enough but I love this game :) In fact I think I probably have more hours in it now than I do in Diablo IV.

But speaking of ARPG’s, theres a new kid on the block that also caught my attention and I picked up as part of the early access that they ran and that is Path of Exile 2. I never really managed to get into the first one, it just never felt right to me, despite giving it a try a couple of times but the second one also has me hooked. I haven’t got very far into it yet but at the moment, the way it plays just feels right and it was what I hoped Diablo 4 would be. I’m also having a good time with the skill tree and crafting/improving weapons, I really like that theres no, set armour or set gear that’s going to mean you can one button you way through the game (or maybe there is? I’m purposely avoiding any videos about it). I like how flexible it is and how there are different tactics and styles needed for different enemies. I’ve probably got about 15-20 hours in the game at this point, so still a way to go but I’m looking forward to what’s coming and I am really hoping that they don’t make the game too easy. I like the Diablo crossed with Dark Souls quote that was floating around online, I think it sums it up nicely.

At the end of the day though or rather the end of the year, Space Marine 2 has ended up being my top game for the year. I think everyone has probably played it by now, if you haven’t what are you waiting for? Next on my list is probably going to be Indiana Jones but I need to finish something and make space on my drive first.

So what about you, what games have caught your attention this year and kept you coming back to them?

My Favourite Games of 2024

M4 Mac mini - First Impressions

Audio woes with AI