Coming after one of the all-time great years for videogames releases – although we’ll have to put aside what was going on behind the scenes – 2024 was always going to have intimidatingly big shoes to fill. But while its releases might not have been able to match 2023’s twin crown jewels of Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, no year that yields an Edge 10 can exactly be considered a letdown. And our detail-obsessed in-house statistician (allowed a temporary reprieve from their cage) reveals that the two years actually delivered exactly as many games scoring an 8 or above. More than enough, certainly, to have us arguing over the contents of our top ten up until the very last minute.

What might be notable is where those games came from – and, perhaps even more so, where they haven’t. This year has produced a particularly strong harvest from Japanese developers, as the following pages will attest, and in particular for that much-maligned form, the JRPG. But that wealth has all been focused on just one of the region’s two platform-holder giants. A couple of rather large exceptions aside, one way in which 2024 has undeniably been weaker is with firstparty releases. Nintendo at least has an excuse – Kyoto’s attention is clearly elsewhere right now – but Microsoft? Well, until this issue’s reviews fell into place, we weren’t even sure there’d be much to feature in its category. In fact, this year has seen Xbox lose out on top honours to not just one but two entirely fictional consoles…

PLAYSTATION GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

HELLDIVERS 2

Developer Arrowhead Game Studios Publisher SIE Format PC, PS5

At least one of Sony’s investments in service games paid off this year. While Concord chased a departing zeitgeist, Helldivers 2 forged its own path, with scant regard for monetisation trends or character silhouettes. The landing was rocky, but drops of fresh content show that Arrowhead has a plan for its killer concoction of bugs, bots and bombs.

RUNNER-UP

FINAL FANTASY VII: REBIRTH

Developer/publisher Square Enix Format PS5

With major thirdparty exclusives an increasing rarity, Square Enix’s project is a feather in Sony’s cap. It also makes nostalgic sense that, as Final Fantasy has become platform agnostic, this remake remains an expression of its PlayStation heyday. What matters most is that Rebirth is exquisite entertainment, a glorious roleplaying epic.

WINNER

ASTRO BOT

Developer/publisher SIE (Team Asobi) Format PS5

Sony’s brand may be synonymous with thirdperson action adventures these days, but there’s no finer advert for PS5 than Astro. After four years, few developers have given the DualSense hardware this kind of workout, and the results are transformative, adding texture to a world already brimming with ingenuity and splendour.

XBOX GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

DUNGEONS OF HINTERBERG

Developer Microbird Games Publisher Curve Games Format PC, Xbox Series

Not a title that sprang to mind immediately. While we took to the premise of Microbird’s combo of dungeon explorer and social sim, and the unusual gadgets provided to solve its combat and navigation puzzles, the execution was rather timid. Its inclusion points to a spartan year for console-exclusive indies on Game Pass as much as anything else.

RUNNER-UP

STALKER 2: HEART OF CHORNOBYL

Developer/publisher GSC Game World Format PC, Xbox Series

Its release is something of a victory in itself, but the result is almost as pleasing. Sure, this is ultimately STALKER shifted to a properly open world, and there are bugs. Yet GSC has always tested the limits of its survivalist horror in a way few other games do, and if the routines sometimes short circuit, it’s a price worth paying for all the times they spark.

WINNER

INDIANA JONES AND THE GREAT CIRCLE

Developer Machine Games Publisher Bethesda Softworks Format PC, Xbox Series

Like a grab of a fedora from beneath a descending stone door, the Microsoft empire left it late for an Xbox blockbuster in 2024, but The Great Circle largely justified the wait. MachineGames draws on its experience to amalgamate a host of systems befitting the adventuring archaeologist, and recreates the characters and tone of the films to a tee.

NINTENDO GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

PAPER MARIO: THE THOUSAND-YEAR DOOR

Developer Intelligent Systems Publisher Nintendo Format Switch

Even if Nintendo hadn’t admitted that 2025 will bring a Switch successor, it would be obvious from a release schedule increasingly reliant on thirdparties and remakes. We can’t complain too much about these archival dives, though, when they lead to the long-requested return of Mario’s finest RPG outing.

RUNNER-UP

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ECHOES OF WISDOM

Developer Grezzo Publisher Nintendo Format Switch

Grezzo’s game not only looks but plays like it’s made of modelling clay. Almost everything in this diminutive Hyrule can be ‘echoed’ into existence on a whim, then scrunched up to make something different. The result is remarkable, a top-down Zelda with all the plasticity of TOTK.

WINNER

SHIREN THE WANDERER: THE MYSTERY DUNGEON OF SERPENTCOIL ISLAND

Developer Spike Chunsoft Publisher Reef Entertainment Format PC, Switch

PC players’ invitation to Serpentcoil Island came late. Much as we warmly welcome new visitors, Shiren is undeniably a handheld game in spirit. Snackable and moreish, it’s the ideal accompaniment to your real-world wanderings, as perfect a fit for Switch as any of Nintendo’s offerings.

PC GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

TACTICAL BREACH WIZARDS

Developer/publisher Suspicious Developments Format PC

Mashing up self-serious military shooters with these floppy sleeved figures of fantasy is an excellent gag, of the kind you’d expect from former PC Gamer writer Tom Francis, who dedicated the best part of a decade to its realisation. We find ourselves laughing not just at the writing, though, but also with the relief of solving each knotty tactical problem.

RUNNER-UP

FROSTPUNK 2

Developer/ publisher 11 Bit Studios Format PC

Since Frostpunk’s 2018 release, the essential question at its heart – how humanity might survive after a global catastrophe – has only become more pressing. That this sequel progresses the conversation to encompass not just survival but rebuilding a society might then be considered a public service. But vitally, it’s also an endlessly engaging puzzle.

WINNER

UFO 50

Developer/publisher Mossmouth Format PC

The year’s best PC game is, ironically, a tribute to consoles. Yet among these 50 games you’ll find just as much influence from ’00s Web games as classic Nintendo. And its natural home turns out to be hardware that didn’t exist when UFO 50’s long development began. Valve, take note: this thing should come preinstalled on every Steam Deck.

VR GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

THRASHER

Developer Puddle Publisher Creature Format Quest (2, 3, Pro), Vision Pro

The rare game still experimenting with the interactions made possible by VR. Your fingers trace patterns in the air for a ribbonlike creature to follow, dodging threats, darting through gates and racking up combos. A little of Thrasher’s arcade-style stickiness might have been lost in the experiment, but not an ounce of its style.

RUNNER-UP

BATMAN: ARKHAM SHADOW

Developer Camouflaj Publisher Oculus Studios Format Quest 3

Conversely, here’s an example of what can be achieved by taking a well-established formula that’s been proven outside of VR and throwing serious budget behind it. A little old-fashioned by PC and console standards? Perhaps, but at a time when no one seems able to recapture the Arkham magic, we’ll happily take this chance to slip on the cowl.