The best games I've played in 2024 did not come out in 2024 – this is your sign to tend to that backlog

2024 has been a weird one for video games in my book. So much so that I'm approaching the year's end with the same mission I had back in January: to clear my shameful backlog. Back then, it was down to the sheer lack of new titles slated for the New Year leaving plenty of room for me to plug some knowledge gaps. But perhaps it says something that, despite the litany of top-tier video game releases of 2024, none of them have managed to hold my attention for long.

Maybe it's a me problem, a victim of my own self-ascribed pickiness when it comes to genre selection that means I'm all too quick to judge a game by its theme. Maybe it's down to the scant handful of games I'd actually been looking forward to this year being delayed to 2025 – yes I'm talking to you, Assassin's Creed Shadows and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. Or maybe it's because I've been playing so many back-to-back bangers of the past five years that my standards have now been set unfairly high.

Righting some wrongs 

You might balk when I tell you that I've not actually played Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Helldivers 2, Space Marine 2, or Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Nor do I have any interest in doing so right now. But the truth is that I had the same attitude toward Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, and the whole Mass Effect trilogy until curiosity got the better of me. Somewhere over the last 11 months, finding increasingly fewer new games of interest, I decided to swallow my pride, challenge my black-and-white decision making, and see what made the biggest games I'd never played so darn good after all. And man, you guys were not kidding.

I kicked off this parade through the annals of time with Quantum Break. Fresh off the back of Alan Wake 2, the biting January chill left me scouring Xbox Game Pass in search of some more Remedy action. With a new monitor acquired – a Christmas gift to myself to commemorate my first year at GamesRadar+ – I sat down to enjoy the first of what was to be many nights of exploring all the things I'd perhaps been missing in the weird and wonderful world of video games.

My first Far Cry experience followed shortly thereafter, and while exploring all Hope County has to offer in Far Cry 5, I suddenly didn't mind that 2024's release schedule was looking very much like filler fodder as the industry preps for GTA 6. How could I, when I had a lot of catching up to do and little interest in much else going on? I don't think that's a provocative statement. Hype around older games grows stronger by the day, as many likeminded gamers turn to forgotten retro gems to fill the stopgap between now and the likes of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Even then, that's a pretty niche interest – not to mention one I do not share.

Better late than never

I could have let myself be miserable or let down by the fact that 2024 didn't seem to be my year, but now, I just feel grateful for the lull. Who knows if I'd have gotten around to any of the above if not for my keen lack of interest in the majority of 2024's offerings?

Don't get me wrong – the year hasn't been a total washout for me. I gave grueling dark fantasy Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 a more than deserving 10/10 (see why in my Hellblade 2 review) and enjoyed Silent Hill 2 Remake considerably more than anticipated. I even put a solid 140 hours into Persona 3 Reload, which is pretty unheard of for a JRPG hater like myself. But with Hades 2 not really qualifying for GOTY consideration just yet – not until it leaves Early Access, anyway – I can safely say that my favorite games of 2024 actually came out years ago. I haven't been able to put Cyberpunk 2077 down since I bought it in July. My eyes still sting whenever I think of Arthur Morgan, having only just treated myself to his story in April. Nothing more immediate has managed to top either experience for me just yet, especially off the back of the absurd number of hours I put into Baldur's Gate 3 in 2023. And you know what? I'm good with that. Not every year has to be my year for games, but I've found a way to make it feel so anyway.

Of course, all of this means that I'll have a lot more to catch up on in a handful of years when I finally decide to revisit everything I skimmed past in 2024. I don't expect to have this much downtime in 2025 between Fable 4, South of Midnight, and Avowed to name a handful of upcoming Xbox Series X I've been eyeballing, but hey – I'm somehow looking forward to the next gaming lull so I can play catch-up all over again.

Happy almost-New-Year! Time to look ahead to the upcoming PS5 games to watch for in 2025.