BSN Members Game of the Year - 2024

The other new games I played this year, I think it was "I was a Teenage Exocolonist" and a visual novel (you could argue they're both VNs) is Royal Order. Both good, Royal Order was geared for older players and was heavier on romance. Also, you're technically the villain which was a lovely angle.

Exocolonist has lots of NPCs I liked and lots of choices and endings. Tough call to say which I liked better😜
Exocolonist was more addictive and I guess I feel drawn to explore the other endings.


Both are stat raisers.


Replayed Stardew Valley and tried a new romance in it. Elliot is King, and since he's not a dragon, that's allowed.

Oh yeah, Vampire Masquerade Swansong was .. interesting. I didn't regret playing it, but wouldn't play it a second time.

I only bought a handful of games this year and now that I think about it, I pretty much enjoyed them all very much. Lucky me.

In somewhat chronological order:

Terminator: Resistance - an AA shooter set in the Terminator universe while John Connor is leading the human resistance. You fight SkyNet's machines, meet an interesting cast of characters and improve your arsenal. DLC features another story mission at the side of Kyle Reese, plus a bonus mission as that Terminator that breaks into the human resistance outpost at the beginning of the movie.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon - FromSoft's big robot shooter. I loved tinkering with the armored core (robot) - the game lets you swap out pretty much every bit of the body and attached weapons and devices. And paint it and put decals all over it. Looks great, plays great.

Space Marine 2: I'm a Warhammer 40k fan so this one was a no brainer to me. Looks absolutey awesome, respects the franchise and almost venerates the first game made by Relic Entertainment. My new number one of "good bloody fun" with a truly epic campaign and operations maps for multiplayer. Love the combat that rewards precision and timing over wild hacking around.

I mean, it's Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Let's be real, it was always going to be Veilguard for me.

Of the other 2024 games I have actually played this year: I thought the Alone in the Dark reboot was criminally underrated. Impeccable Lovecraft vibes, fun gameplay and great performances from the leads. I'm sorry it didn't sell.

Also really enjoyed Times & Galaxy from BioWare alumnus Ben Gelinas and the rest of the team at Copychaser Games. (Do you like the parts of Mass Effect where you run around the ship speaking to your co-workers (and flirting with them outrageously)? Do you ever wish the parts of the game where you leave the ship involved reporting on a cat show or a spaceship crash instead of shooting hundreds of people? Do you want to play as a robot with a cool reporter hat? Boy, have I got a game for you!)

I haven't finished it yet (got distracted by a certain BioWare Game ...) but Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is excellent so far and I'm looking forward to getting back to it when my Thedas obsession recedes a bit.

Oh and Last Epoch finally got out of early access this year! It's really fun if you're like that sort of thing.

I'm one of those who hasn't played very many 2024 games. My favorite of the ones I did was probably Songs of Conquest, a spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic with lovely pixel art and fun campaigns. Unfortunately, the devs pulled the plug on more campaigns for the foreseeable future, but it was fun while it lasted.

My favorite game played in 2024 was Cultist Simulator, though it came out in 2018 and technically I first tried it last year. But that was only for a little bit, and I only got into it a few months ago. Once I got over that initial hump of having no clue how anything works, it became one of the most unique and satisfying narrative experiences I've had in a video game.

Definitely Veilguard, but then again I don't play that many games, only game I played in 2024 (other than like a DAO, 2 and DAI replay).

I like it, though. My offer with the nipples and Veilguard being GotY stands.

Favourite Game of the Year is:- BG3 (mis-read the OP, this isn't new to me this year, but it's still what I have enjoyed the most)
Favourite New Game of the Year is:- Nothing. The only games I've been interested enough to buy this year are 40K Rogue Trader which was released last year and Greedfall 2 which is Early Access.

I don't think I bought many new games this year:

Banishers Ghost of New Eden
God of War Ragnarok
Dragons Dogma 2
Homeworld 3
Black Myth Wukong


I also played some games which I bought recently or years ago on sale but never played:

Metro trilogy
Elden Ring


For the new games of this year, of the five games I played, it's Black Myth Wukong that's GOTY for me.

- Shadow of the Erdtree (now that the trauma has subsided.)

- Dragon's Dogma 2, for all its issues, fulfilled a hefty amount of enjoyed game time for its price.

- I didn't rate Phantom Liberty as highly as most others (I'm still confused by how many people say it's better than the base game story) but it was certainly something I invested a good amount of time in and appreciated.

I was going through the email address I use for all my gaming storefronts (for something unrelated to this thread) and saw that in addition to DAVe, Outlaws and HFW...I also purchased and played for the first time; Fallout 4 and Stick Fight: The Game.

I wasn't in the right head space to give Fallout 4 a real chance, so it misses out for now, likely through no fault of its own. And Stick Fight was fricken awesome fun, but it is no serious persons GotY.

I did not know there was a second Talos Principle. Instant Purchase!!!

Shadow of the Erdtree.

DD2 good, but pales in comparison for me.