Hello! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. It’s time to do the yearly tradition and talk about videogames. 2024 was quite slow year for games. The year started off hot, but had a slow spring and summer, and finally ended with a lot of games coming out for the holiday season. We also got blue-balled by Nintendo who announced nothing about the Switch 2 and barely had any games thus it was up to Sony, PC, and dare I say Microsoft to fill in those holes. One thing I can say for sure is that this was definitely the year of JRPGs as you’ll see on this list. I’m Justin and these are the top 11 Games of 2024.
#11. Marvel vs Capcom: Fighting Collection
A big win for the fighting game community. Before Smash Bros. was a household name this was considered the most ambitious crossover in video game history. The icons of Capcom and Marvel duking it out with each other in fast pace exciting action. The collection is already a must buy with Marvel vs Capcom 1&2 alone, but they added other classics such as The Punisher arcade game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, and Marvel vs Street Fighter. On top of all this we get artwork and music from the games as well. This game made me feel like a kid at the arcade all over again and it’s a blast to play with your friends or online with others. This was a series the fighting game community has been fighting for years to see happen and hopefully it shows Capcom that people are still interested in the series and would love to see Marvel vs Capcom 4 down the line.
#10. Tekken 8
The first big game of the year. Many thought 7 would be the end of the series but Bandai realized they still had much to tell and squeeze from this series. With the success of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter in 2023, Tekken decided to make a return as well and show everyone that fighting games are back on the rise. Along with new characters and great graphics the game adds in an auto mode for beginners and special moves/rage arts to turn the tide of battle in your favor. On top of all this we continue the story of the series as the battle shifts from father vs son to. . .father vs son as Kazama and Jin take center stage. Finally, the music is great here. Next to Tekken Tag Tournament this is my favorite soundtrack from the series. With Clive from Final Fantasy coming over (it should have been Tifa) it seems like the Tekken series will be continuing in the years to come.
#9. Zenless Zone Zero
I normally don’t put gacha games on this list, but this one was too hard to pass up. It’s that good. From the team behind Geshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, comes Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ). Unlike their previous games, this game focuses more on the characters and their collected story in protecting their city from disaster while trying to piece together what happened in the past. Each character is associated with a faction, has their own specialty in combat, and they’re all fun to play with. My favorite faction being Victorian Housekeeping. While some characters are stronger and better than other characters no one feels useless or a waste of time to invest in. However, the big seller for me is how fair it is to get banner characters and items. Out of all the gacha games I’ve played this is hands down the fairest when it comes to getting new characters and items, and it’s so easy to get the points and items you need to pull them. With constant updates that keep enhancing the gameplay, new characters, and a good story this is a hard game to pass up and it’s the most fun I’ve had playing a gacha game in a long time.
#8. Super Mario Party Jamboree
The Mario Party series returned bigger and better than ever. In terms of content, this is the most we’ve gotten from this series. Along with the classic Mario Party, we’ve also got an online battle mode, a Bowser battle mode, and others. The new boards are fun and I do like how they brought back other boards from past games. Once again this series has the best use of motion controls on the Switch and the minigames are fun and challenging (although there’s 1 or 2 I would take out). There’s a lot of characters you can play with as well and I like the special minigames some of the characters have. I only wish they all had one and that they brought back character die as well. It may ruin friendships but it’s a fun party and one of the best I’ve played.
#7. Palword
So one of the big break out games was Palworld. The best way to describe this game is Pokémon + Minecraft + Survival games. It takes all the best elements from these games and gives us the innovation we’ve been craving from Pokémon games for years. There’s a lot to explore, see, do, and capture. I’ve spent hours building bases, equipment, supplies, and getting lost in this world all while having fun doing it. While people have pointed out the similarities of the Pals and Pokémon, in fact there’s actually a big lawsuit going on between them as we speak, I can still tell the difference between the two games and I’m rooting for Palword’s success in the months ahead. Their success will finally motivate Pokémon to do better in their games. A fun game and experience that’s worth checking out if you’re fan of Pokémon or survival games.
#6. Unicorn Overlord
This was a game that got lost in the shuffle. Getting released between two major games, a lot of people myself included skipped over this game. However, months later I picked it up and really enjoyed it. The story is nothing special, a prince’s kingdom gets taken over by an evil force and now he must reclaim the throne. A generic setup but I’m a sucker for these kinds of stories. Combat is the meat of this game as you can lead multiple forces into battle and assign them to squads. You’ll be mixing and matching teams throughout the course of the game to better suit your combat needs. There are multiple classes and characters to choose from. Including having the choice to spare or execute potential characters for your team. Gather resources from town/cities you liberate and develop bonds with characters in your army as well as discover secrets scattered throughout the world. This was a good JRPG that definitely deserved way more attention than it got when it came out.
#5. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
The next game in the newly named Yakuza series. We return to Ichiban who discovers that his estranged mom is still alive and in Hawaii. Ichiban journeys to Hawaii to meet her only to see she’s gone missing and finds himself in another yakuza conspiracy that puts innocent lives at risk. The game uses the same RPG elements from the previous game but actually improves on them. We get new classes that fit the area we’re in, meet new characters, and gain new party members including the Dragon of Dojima himself, Kiryu. The game does a good job capturing the beauty of Hawaii but also shows us how dangerous the underworld can be. I’ve heard some people were mad that they split the party up. One party in Hawaii and the other in Japan to give us two separate stories but I liked it. Not only do we get a chance to play as Kiryu again for what could potentially be the last time but we also get a chance to play with all the characters and see different interactions. Once again the voice acting is phenomenal here and the story does a good job balancing comedy, action, and drama. This series may have changed its name but the legend of Yakuza lives on.
#4. Persona 3: Reload
A remake of my all-time favorite game. Persona 3 is where the Persona series finally took off for me. While 4 and 5 helped the series gain worldwide popularity, 3 in my opinion had the best story, music, and theme out of all the games. It was cool to finally put voices to all the characters, I love the new battle and nighttime theme, and the new game mechanics are great. It’s a shame this game didn’t win as many awards as it should have but it still remains to be the greatest RPG I’ve played and I can’t wait to see what Atlus will do with Persona 6. Perhaps a remake of Persona 4 down the line as well.
#3. FF7: Rebirth
The sequel to the remake. Cloud and the others are finally out in the world searching for clues on where Sephiroth is. This game covers quite a lot of the story. I was surprised to see it cover so much. I actually had to take a break from playing because of it. The game does a good job adding in new events and expanding on the events from the first game you might have overlooked or questioned. The game is beautiful to look at. Easily the best-looking game in terms of graphics on the PS5. We of course get new party members to the team and have a lot to explore, see, and do. Once again FF7 continues to be the best game I’ve played in the series and I can’t wait for the third and most likely final installment of the game.
#2. Black Myth: Wukong
This company has a bright future. I love mythology and when I saw the demo for this game a few years ago I knew it was going to be good. Normally, I’m bad at these types of games. I even got stuck on one boss, but I enjoyed the game from beginning to end. That dopamine feeling of finally beating that boss and continuing the game is an unbelievable feeling that I can’t describe. We play as a monkey warrior believed to be the reincarnation of Wukong the most broken mythological character of all time. The game sees you go on journey regaining the powers of Wukong, unlocking armor and skills to help you in combat. If you’re unfamiliar with Chinese mythology then rest easy because this game gives you details about all of it. From every creature you encounter to every divine being you face in combat. The game is just amazing and I hope this studio continues the Black Myth series and explores more mythological stories.
And number one. . .
#1. Metaphor Re:Fantazio
From the team behind Persona 3, 4, and 5 comes a new entry into the world of JRPG. This game has been in development for years and kept under wraps since the completion of Persona 5. It was even believed that the series had been quietly cancelled at one point. Thankfully, we finally got a trailer in 2023 announcing its arrival in 2024 and it was well worth the wait. By God was this game beautiful to look at. If you thought Persona 5 and Reload were stylist with its menus then prepared to have your blown with Metaphor. Every where you look the game is dripping with style. From the characters to environments to monsters to music to battles, your eyes will never feel bored playing this game. Speaking of music, this might just be one of the best battle themes of all time. The game can be pretty heavy with its themes but it never feels forced or distracting. Rather, necessary to show you how this world works and fills you with determination to be the change this world desperately needs. All of your party members are good. My favorite being Strohl and why they didn’t make Catherine a party member was a big mistake. The game also features one of the most compelling and best villains to be featured in an Atlus game. In a year of great JRPG releases, Metaphor stands out as the best of the bunch and just like Black Myth I hope they continue with this series.
And that’s my list. What were your favorite games of 2024? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll you next time on Project Nitsuj.