Usual annual post. What did I play last year, what do I think I’ll play this year. What might I play if it comes out. Also the annual attempt to manifest a Hollowknight: Silksong release.

This year we’re going to try a novel new goal, of only buying games we’re ready to play. That Silksong release looks pretty likely compared to me pulling this off. Wish me luck.

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Top 5 played in 2024

1. Spider-Man 2 – PlayStation 5

This might be the best game I’ve played in years, but it’s definitely the best one I played last year. I did play both the first Spider-Man on PS4 and Spider-Man: Miles Morales on my PS5 previously, but on both of those I just completed the main story and skipped most of the side content. With Spider-Man 2 I got completely hooked until I’d done everything for the Platinum trophy. Led me to go back to Miles and finally play the PS5 remaster of the original. I expect to be updating the blog with a couple more platinums for those two this year.

It’s due out on PC this year too, the PS5 version is here – Spider-Man 2*.

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2. Alan Wake II – PlayStation 5

Well when I finished this I couldn’t imagine something else taking the top spot. Alan Wake II entirely deserved all the positive press it received. The first DLC is really good too, but the second one lost me a bit. I’m excited to see what comes next from Remedy, well after their upcoming multiplayer game anyway.

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3. Dredge (and A Pale Reach DLC) – Xbox Series X

Very much ticking most of my boxes, with Lovecraftian horror, fishing minigames and a lighthouse. Dredge manages to balance a ‘chill’ relaxing game, with a creeping unease and moments of dread. I love this game and hope we see more of it. I’ve already picked up the next expansion to play in 2025 when I’m done with various Spider-Man games.

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4. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story – PC

Applying the polish and format of the Atari 50 Anniversary Collection, to the history and back catalogue of Jeff Minter, my favourite game developer. Like the Atari collection, this was a great videogame documentary to play through, and now a library of some of my favourite games easy to play on my SteamDeck. Superb. The new collection is Tetris, which is potentially excellent, except the finest Tetris games are excluded due to licensing. Maybe I’ll wait for a sale.

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5. God of War: Ragnarok

As one of the highest rated PlayStation exclusives, I expected this to be higher. I really enjoyed myself with Ragnarok, but it didn’t really stay with me after completion. Almost forgot I played it this year. It is certainly an excellent game, and deserves a place in the top 5, but just hasn’t had the impact of the above titles.

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Also mention:

Inscryption – Xbox Series X

A real surprise hit this one, and probably would have broke the top 5 if I’d enjoyed the endgame roguelike mode that unlocked after finishing the story. It didn’t really land for me though, so the game hasn’t quite made it.

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Just the stats ma’am

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10 games for 2025

Usual vague attempt to line up games to play this year. I managed to play and finish 4 titles from this list last year, which all made it onto my Top 5 above. I also played but ultimately abandoned Axiom Verge 2 and Sea of Stars. I did think I might go back to Axiom Verge but I’m not convinced, the moment has probably passed. I’ve scrapped the others to start fresh this year. Well slightly fresh, decided to put the remaster of the original StarCraft on my list instead of rolling over Legacy of the Void again. Mix things up a bit.

Also I’ve given up putting Silksong on here, maybe that’ll make it finally appear. I will be playing that whenever it arrives anyway.

1. StarCraft: Remastered – PC

Here we go, a change of tactic for getting to some RTS gaming this year, and should run nicely on my new laptop. Haven’t decided yet if I’m going to play it with the cartoon reskin or not. We’ll see.

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2. Dredge: The Iron Rig – Xbox Series X

First of two DLC packs on this list, I’m very much looking forward to getting back to Dredge and catching some more monstrosities.

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3. Lamplight City – Nintendo Switch

Added this partly because I’ve definitely been neglecting the Switch as late and I want to make some time for it. Must be able to get through one or two more games on it before the next Switch console comes out.

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4. The Sinking City – Xbox Series X

Heard mixed things about this game, but ultimately curiosity won out and I picked it up last year. Now I actually have to play it.

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5. Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn – PS5

The other expansion I want to play in 2025. Partly because I wanted to make sure I get to a JRPG again, but also because I loved the main game. Only reason it’s taking me so long to get to is because I traded the original game back in when I finished it, so I need to buy it again as well as the expansion. Holding out for a bargain on that count.

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6. Split Fiction – Xbox Series X

First of two games on the list that aren’t out yet but should be releasing in 2025. This is the new co-operative game from the team that gave us A Way Out and It Takes Two. Played through both of those with my fiancée and we’re excited to play this too. Even the sci-fi/fantasy split suits us nicely.

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7. The Quarry – PS5

More co-operative gameplay for us, I’ve had this one ready to go for a while but we were playing the Dark Pictures games first. The third one of those was a bit of a disappointment after we really enjoyed the first two though so we abandoned it. Now we decided to play this before we get to the fourth one, spoiler for next game below…

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8. Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me – PS5

The conclusion of the Dark Pictures Anthology titles, hoping it’s better than the third game.

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9. The Darkness II – Xbox 360

One firmly from the backlog, that I also keep forgetting about. Popping it on here to try to remind myself to give it a proper shot on the Xbox Series X.

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10. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Xbox Series X

Finally something I know very little about aside from a very interesting looking trailer. It’s due out this year and hopefully I’ll get to playing it. It’s due to launch on GamePass so no excuse really.

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*these are affiliate links, I’ll get a small commission if you buy something.

A bit late with the round up I think, but here we are.

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Top 5 played in 2023

1. Octopath Traveler 2 – PlayStation 5

Didn’t quite finish Octopath Traveler 2 in 2023 but almost, and I was playing it for most of the year. It improves on the first, already great, game in every way, but without changing anything too dramatic. At some point I’ll be revisiting that All Time Top JRPG post again…

Also available on PC and Switch, but I played this PS5 version*.

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2. Dead Cells & DLC – Xbox Series X

I didn’t see this coming at all. When I first tried Dead Cells I bounced off pretty hard. I don’t have a great track record with roguelike/lites (or at least I didn’t until the Vampire Survivors model appeared). However, when the Castlevania DLC got announced I knew I’d want to play that so I tried again. It really hooked me, and I ended up playing over 80 hours and all 4 DLC packs.

I played on Xbox, where the base game was on GamePass and I just purchased the DLC. These multiple platform versions here* on Amazon contain the base game and all 4 DLC packs up to and including the Castlevania one.

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3. Forza Horizon 5 – Rally Adventure

Once again Forza Horizon puts in an appearance. This didn’t have as long a tail as previous versions though. The janky multiplayer is a continuing disappointment, don’t really understand what the problem is there. Anyway I really enjoyed the new content, and played until I’d done 100% of the additional stuff.

Best way to get Forza Horizon is still to buy GamePass* then the premium DLC bundle. It might be cheaper to buy from the Xbox Store direct, but you can get it from Amazon*.

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4. Street Fighter 6 – Xbox Series X

This might be my favourite Street Fighter, I’m just not sure if it’s surpassed Street Fighter IV though. I haven’t played as much as I’d expected to, but Octopath is to blame for that as much as it is for everything else I didn’t play. I am very happy with the new arcade stick* I bought to play it with though, so all good.

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5. Humanity – PlayStation 5

I almost didn’t pick this up, as so much fuss was made about it as a VR title (exclusive to PSVR2) that I thought it would be a waste trying to play before I had that. Fortunately I was able to try it at someone else’s house, and discovered that it’s a great game even playing on a television. I’ve since tried it in VR, and to be honest, I think I prefer it flat.

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Also mention:

Vampire Survivors – Xbox Series X

My favourite game in 2022, almost appeared in the top 5 again for 2023. There were two more DLC packs for it, as well as a bunch more free content, and I played it all. There are quite a few good clones of the game appearing now and I expect to be playing more of those as well as anything else that gets added to Vampire Survivors during 2024.

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10 games for 2024

As usual I like to set out a few games I intend to play over the coming year, so that I can mostly ignore the list and fail entirely. From last years list, I did play (and still expect to complete) Octopath Traveler 2. I also played Harvestella and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, but ended up abandoning them. I’ve kept 3 others on the list below, and scrapped the rest for now.

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1. God of War: Ragnarok – PS5

I did buy this last year as planned, but I ended up spending most of the year playing Octopath Traveller 2 and never getting round to starting it. It’s definitely up soon though, not starting another 40+ hour game until after I’ve played this!

It’s come down a bit since launch, Amazon* does have a few quid off RRP atm.

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2. Alan Wake 2 – PS5

At time of writing I’ve actually made a start with this one, but only started in January so I’m counting it. I adored the first game, and most of what I have heard of this sequel has been positive so I’m on board.

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3. Spider-Man 2 – PS5

I didn’t get round to picking this up last year, I was still playing Octopath when it came out. It’s firmly on the list for 2024 though. I’m pretty certain I’ll manage these first 3 games, regardless of what happens to the rest of the list…

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4. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void – PC

Thanks to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and the subsequent exiting of Bobby Kotick I feel a little bit better about reinstalling Battle.net, and playing their games again. As such, it’s time to dust off the final part of this campaign trilogy, and actually play it this year.

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5. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story – PC or PS5

Only just found out this was a thing due out in 2024, but as a collection / tribute to my favourite games developer I am definitely in. This is coming from Digital Eclipse, who put together the excellent Atari 50 compilation. I’m currently leaning towards getting it on PC, but it may be another PS5 titles. We’ll see.

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6. Half-life – PC

After all the years I’ve played this, I don’t think I’ve ever actually completed the campaign. Last year Valve released a free update for the game, adding support for modern hardware and higher resolutions. Last year I finally completed Quake 2, so I think it’s time to finally see the end of Half-life and tick off another classic.

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7. Sea of Stars – Xbox Series X

In my JRPG era, it seems I should definitely have one on the list. Considering Octopath Traveler 2 was over 100 hours long and derailed last years plans, I’ve gone for something that should be a bit shorter. At least until my little gaming group settles on a new communal JRPG to play anyway.

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8. Axiom Verge 2 – PC or PS5

Considering how much I enjoyed the first one it’s amazing I never got round to trying this. I’ll almost certainly pass over it for Silksong if that comes out. That’s highly unlikely though so let’s go for it.

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9. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream – PC

Another from the back catalogue that has been kicking around forever. Obligatory that I put a point and click game on the list, and thought I’d change it up since I didn’t play the last ones I chose.

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10. Hollow Knight: Silksong – Xbox Series X

Popping this on the end of the list, it’s become a bit of a joke as to whether it’ll ever get released. Going to play it when it does come out though, so we’ll leave it here and hope for the best!

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Other 2024 releases I’m looking forward too

Simon the Sorcerer Origins – PC

Something else I only just spotted as due this year (the release calendar for 2024 so far looks a bit sparse for things I’m actually interested in) but I am up for a new Simon the Sorcerer. Apparently due to be a prequel, I’ll take a look!

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*these are affiliate links, I’ll get a small commission if you buy something.