Sure, gaming in 2024 had some killer underrated gems, but it was really the year of the mod

Last year, around this time, I wrote an article in which I argued that Star fieldwith its completely normal, but slightly synthetic and cold universe, was a real game of 2023.

Not because it was the best game of 2023, but because the feel of the game, short bursts of galaxy-wandering fun that often lacked much meaning or wonder, best reflected the experience of living and working in and around games. industry last year. A potential masterpiece with all the impressive size and scope, but with very little soul for a medium that continually threw more people into the fires of layoffs while we all clung to the fireworks we were given for comfort.

I wouldn’t say it’s 2024, although maybe even more depressing about the state of the industry, we had a big game like Starfield that just happened to serve as a fitting metaphor for the mood.

Instead, I’m going to do what I did in this article last year – I’m going to throw the darkness into the sun for a moment and focus on the good. As is always the case, the indie space has thrown out underappreciated gems and gems that have received a lot of accolades on the roster this year.

The list of these things will be different for everyone, but here is mine.

Racing management simulator Golden Lap was as polished as Funselektor’s releases always were when I’ve looked into thisand since its developers have worked hard to iron out teething problems and started adding improvements, it has only gotten better over the past few months.

Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss It was an emotionally taxing journey through the wreckage of the ship and the lives of its crew that I think flew under a lot of people’s radars, but it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re a fan Baldur’s Gate 3is a storyteller and enjoys doing sobering detective work.

Still awakens the depth decided to lean more into Lovecraftian and standard horror than the horrifying reality of what can happen when things go wrong in the big blue abyss due to her panic, but she’s still good, with her great Scottish accent and giant head chase . .

Hades 2 this is another thing I really enjoyed, even though I haven’t had much time to go back and check out Supergiant’s changes since Chronos and those damn Sirens kicked my ass on a regular basis when it came out in Early Access in a form that was every bit as good as the first game, although it may not have completely eclipsed the much more difficult follow-up act.

messing around with Renaissance painting Death of an Outcast This may be one of my favorite discoveries in retrospect, especially since I now go back and play its point-and-click Python predecessors, which are just as unique and fun.

These are the five that came to mind, and don’t include the great demos for the next Steam Festival for things like Keep driving.

Although, like I said, every year brings its own cool indie stuff, so with that in mind, here are the best things to shout about when it comes to helping make 2024 as great a year in video games as it was at times. Fashion.

Of course, there are plenty of good and noteworthy mods coming out every year, and the space is starting to become increasingly recognized by many large and small publishers for the key role it can play in helping people get even more out of their games, especially the large single-player RPGs I like – For several years now, 2024 has been a big step forward.

Aftermath: Londondespite the flawed launch, it was an unofficial full-fledged Fallout game that you could spend hundreds of hours a year loving, one that essentially begged for a new entry in the series due to the TV show whetting everyone’s appetite.

Adding Larian official mod support Baldur’s Gate 3, on both PC and consoles, helped become the game of 2023. be able to exceed some indicators from the year of release, when he simply blew us away.

project CD release of REDkit modding tools For The Witcher 3 sparked a revival of this game: competitions received many interesting entries from people who wanted to try relatively advanced things such as quests and new location designs.

There are also many 2024 releases that have had a big impact on modding. From Stalker 2To Elden Ring: Shadow of Airdtreeand sometimes even something like Helldivers 2.

Looking ahead to 2025, it feels like modding has become as big a part of what people love about games than ever before, and as someone who enjoys writing about it regularly at work, that’s the biggest bright side of this year for me .