2024: My Year in Gaming

I played video games for about 500 hours in 2024 and only managed to finish five games. I put a lot of time into other games that I returned to and dabbled in off and on (Skyrim), played most of the way through and failed to complete (Fell Seal: The Arbiter's Mark being one that I'd like to return to in the future), or ended up finishing in 2025 (Vandal Hearts). Still, I feel like I had a good year of gaming in 2024. Here are the games I finished, ranked in order from worst to best, along with a few of my thoughts about them.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

Was it the second coming of Suikoden? No. The story was ultimately disappointing, despite a few cool moments involving Nowa and Seign early on and a villain who was more interesting than one might expect. Aside from the card game, the minigames weren't fun. I didn't experience many technical problems playing the game on my PC shortly after its release, but I understand that the console versions were plagued by slowdown issues and glitches that required multiple patches to fix. On the more positive side, I thought that the battle system was solid aside from the combo attacks being weaker than normal attacks, and I liked the art style, the soundtrack, the castle-building system, and some of the characters. My final verdict is that it's a flawed RPG. I'd like to see it receive a sequel with a better story, a more mature script, and more of an emphasis on worldbuilding. More thorough playtesting would probably help, too.

Life Is Strange: True Colors

It wasn't as good as the first Life Is Strange, but what is? It had some great story beats, memorable characters, and a plot that gets dark and intense and suspenseful. That's what I want from a Life Is Strange game! The soundtrack was pretty forgettable compared to the ones for LiS and Before the Storm, but that didn't ruin the experience or anything. I'd say that True Colors is worth playing if you've enjoyed other games in the series or if you like other story-heavy games of this type.

Trials of Mana

I had never played a Mana game until I picked this up in December. I'm very glad I played it! Even after all of the updates and changes, it feels like a SNES/Super Famicom game in the best way possible. I had a blast with the battle system (getting to maul enemies with Kevin in wolf form was extremely fun), the graphics are colorful and pleasant to look at, and man, that soundtrack is beautiful. My favorite tracks include Powell, Rolling Cradle, and Another Winter. Also, having six characters to choose from and only being able to use three of them in a single playthrough adds a lot of replay value. The plot isn't anything special by modern standards, but it's a fun adventure. I'm looking forward to trying some of the other games in this series now that I've played this one.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean

A wonderful game with a unique card-based battle system, one of the coolest protagonists I've seen in a JRPG recently, and one of Motoi Sakuraba's better soundtracks. The plot is pretty great, too, with a couple of major twists I didn't see coming and a unique way of framing the narrative. My only real complaints are that 1) a few of the boss battles are brutal and take way too long and 2) a couple of the puzzles are much more difficult than they need to be. Still, it's a fantastic game, and now it's finally available in a remastered version for modern consoles and PCs. Also, I just have to say that Meemai is the best. :-)

Roots of Pacha

My personal Game of the Year and the best farming sim/Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons-like I've ever played. (Admittedly, I haven't played Stardew Valley yet.) Roots of Pacha has an amazing sense of progression, a diverse, wonderful cast of characters, and a prehistoric setting that sets it apart from most of the other games in the genre. I put about 125 hours into it during the spring of 2024 and enjoyed every minute of it. The game has received a couple of major updates since I played it, so I plan to return to it sometime in the future. If you enjoy farming sims at all, I strongly recommend playing it!