Here are some brief reviews of every video game that I played in 2024, listed in the order in which I completed them. The retrospective contains even more Nintendo games than usual this time around because I made use of my expiring Switch Online membership to play a bunch of old N64 and GBA releases that I didn’t have access to previously. It was seemingly a back-catalog-focused year in general, as there were only two games I played that actually released during 2024. Even still, I once again used this fun, rewarding tradition as an excuse to analyze these titles and better understand the design decisions behind them.

 

Geometry Dash is a testament to the infinite creativity that exists within such a basic genre as the platformer. All of its mechanics seem quite simple when isolated, but they can be combined in a myriad of ways to create incredibly complicated, difficult levels. The main game was created by a one-man development team, but a majority of the content comes from a dedicated community of fans that make use of Geometry Dash’s robust level-editing tool. As new updates release, the spectacle and ingenuity of fan-created levels reaches greater and greater heights.

 

Bayonetta 3 has a lot of huge flaws that can all be overlooked because of how fun it is to play. It’s less graphically impressive than its immediate predecessor, its art design is the worst in the series, and its story is comically, atrociously bad. Despite all of this, I found the game to be consistently enjoyable, mostly thanks to the new Demon Masquerade mechanic. Throughout the game, Bayonetta gains access to a myriad of different Demon movesets which can be swapped back and forth during combat, similarly to how she could switch between different weapons in previous games. The major difference is that Demon Masquerades give Bayonetta new movement options in addition to new combo routes. The game’s level design takes full advantage of this emphasis on traversal, with huge, sprawling locales that incentivize the player to find which style of navigation suits them the best.

 

Another Code: Two Memories, formerly known as Trace Memory in North America, wins the award for “Biggest Disappointment.” I’ve already published a full-length review of the Recollection remake/collection, but here are some more brief thoughts. The puzzles which make up a majority of the gameplay are largely forgettable. There is one interesting mechanic in which the player can combine two of the items they’ve collected and make a new item with a different function, but it is only used once throughout the entire game. This theme of missed potential also applies to Another Code’s story, which introduces both science-fiction and paranormal elements. These ideas, in combination with the game’s abandoned mansion setting and hummingbird motif, have so many narrative possibilities that are begging to be explored. Instead, the game ends before it has the chance to deliver on any of its promising premises, making for an abrupt and awkward finale.

 

Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories, despite its confusing mess of a title, is much better than its predecessor. The sci-fi story, which was set up in the first game, is more fully explored here, leading to a satisfying conclusion. Unfortunately, most of the runtime is spent on uninteresting, tangentially-related side plots. Even more than this, though, Lost Memories is brought down by its utter lack of colorful characters. Aside from protagonist Ashley, the rest of the cast has boring designs, bland dialogue, and generic names. There’s a character who is introduced as ‘John Smith,’ and the game plays it off as a joke. “Surely, that can’t be his real name. It’s so whitebread.” Later, his real name turns out to be Greg Davis, as if that isn’t just as mundane. A story-based game such as this can’t afford to be so deficient in narrative creativity. Unfortunately, I don’t think that either of the two Another Code games are worth your time.

 

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is everything that a spinoff should be, placing familiar characters in an interesting new context. The artstyle, which is rendered beautifully by the GBA’s pixelated graphics, is more expressive than any Mario game before it. The detailed spritework does justice to the strange new Beanbean Kingdom, which feels like a cohesive, lived-in place despite its variegated biomes.

 

The gameplay, too, is a significant improvement on previous Mario RPGs. As Mario & Luigi progress further in the story, they unlock new abilities which (fittingly) serve a dual purpose, being used for both combat and traversal. This utility, along with an unprecedented emphasis on puzzle-solving in the overworld, keeps the game feeling consistently fresh.

 

The weakest part of Superstar Saga is its lineup of boss fights. Even though they sometimes introduce unique ideas, most bosses quickly wear out their welcome due to their arbitrarily large health pools. This artificial difficulty is especially prominent in the game’s final battle, which is preceded by a lengthy, shallow series of fetch quests.

 

By and large, though, this title is bursting with personality at every turn and I’d happily recommend it to any Nintendo fan.

 

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, like most Kirby games, is super slow-paced and doesn’t have very interesting level design. The moment-to-moment gameplay is still enjoyable, however, due to the new Power Combo mechanic, wherein Kirby can combine two enemy abilities to create a brand-new power-up. The large quantity and variety of these combinations makes it fun for the player to experiment, keeping the combat engaging throughout the whole game. My personal favorite power-up is the knockoff lightsaber, which you get from combining the Spark and Cutter enemy abilities. Additionally, the boss fights are solid and the bright visuals are still quite evocative despite the dated graphics of the N64.

 

Super Mario 3D Land has most of the same weaknesses as its successor, 3D World, but they are much more forgivable in this title due to the platform it released on. The short, self-contained levels are better suited for a handheld console like the 3DS than a home console like the Wii U, and the laughably basic story feels less out-of-place here as well. One of my major complaints about 3D World was that it lacked a consistent artstyle. The prequel avoids this problem in a counterintuitive way. By sticking to the standard Mario level themes and not attempting any grand new settings (sprawling savannah, jazzy amusement park, Japanese palace, etc.), Super Mario 3D Land maintains a more cohesive aesthetic. Its single-minded focus on floating obstacle courses allowed this title to define the whole series’ super-saturated, toy-like visual identity for many years after it released. The classic platforming gameplay is also just as fun as ever, and even though most of the game’s levels are understandably unmemorable, the last showdown in Bowser’s Castle is one of the best finales that Mario has to offer.

​

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is a soft reboot for the franchise, introducing a new protagonist and a new overarching plot after the successful conclusion of the Phoenix Wright trilogy. It’s fairly conservative as far as reboots go, but there are still a few small changes to the typical visual novel gameplay. Apollo’s new ‘Perceive’ ability, where he can determine if a witness is lying by looking for nervous tics, is cool in theory but very frustrating in practice. The tedium of watching a slow-motion animation over and over really breaks any immersion that the mechanic could have had. The forensic minigames, meanwhile, are an inoffensive way to add variety despite feeling pretty gimmicky and arbitrary. What really makes Ace Attorney great, though, is its characters. The main cast of this entry all fall into familiar archetypes (greenhorn lawyer, young assistant, undefeated prosecutor, offbeat detective), but the writers twist those tropes enough to make them feel fresh. I was slightly disappointed by the final trial, which builds up a lot of momentum only to end abruptly, but I wasn’t disappointed by the game as a whole. It's another solid title in one of my favorite series.

 

WarioWare, Inc. represents chaos. It’s not hard to tell that this game was created as a labor of love rather than as a marketable product because there are so many elements that are completely unnecessary for a simple minigame collection: a full cast of original characters, a vaguely metanarrative plot, an intentionally ugly artstyle that changes every few seconds, etc. I’m so glad that the developers had free reign to do whatever they wanted with this title because their initial free-wheeling attitude has stayed with the WarioWare series right up until the present day.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages might be the most difficult game in the series. Its dungeons are all as challenging as they come, and its puzzle-forward philosophy even bleeds out to the surprisingly linear overworld at times. This tight design, along with a suite of dynamic items, results in a gameplay experience that is even better than Ages’ Game Boy predecessor Link’s Awakening. Unfortunately, OoA is not able to replicate the charm of previous Zelda games. Its time-travel story is confusing and dull, making for an atmosphere that is inexplicably dismal.

 

Luigi’s Mansion 2 starts off annoyingly slow, with constant interruptions from cutscenes and tutorials. Once the game stops holding the player’s hand a few hours in, though, it becomes much better. The mission-based structure, which generally prioritizes tight puzzle-solving over exploration, is well-suited for a handheld console like the 3DS, and the bosses are all creative and challenging. The different buildings which Luigi explores are based on standard Mario level themes (desert, snow, jungle), but they feel quite novel when combined with the whimsically spooky atmosphere of the Luigi’s Mansion series.

 

Mario Kart 7’s contributions to the series are easy to overlook because almost everything it does well is one-upped by its comprehensive successor, Mario Kart 8. That being said, it’s still a very solid racing game, with tight controls and the best Rainbow Road in franchise history. Perhaps its greatest innovation, even more important than flashier features like gliders and kart customization, is setting a precedent for giving returning retro courses the same TLC as brand-new tracks.

 

Sonic Mania is easily my favorite game in the series. Its phenomenal soundtrack and art style are meant to reproduce the bright, colorful aesthetic of the Sega Genesis era, but the developers weren’t bound by those same technological limitations when creating Mania’s mechanics. Each level is filled with a variety of branching paths, but they all manage to provide a well-paced experience that flatters Sonic’s pedal-to-the-metal philosophy.

 

Dr. Mario 64 is a solid version of the classic puzzle game, with a few new modes added to help elevate it above the original. The developers’ decision to base the Story campaign off of Wario Land 3 characters instead of the usual Luigi-Bowser-Peach set is a bizarre one, but it helps the game stand out aesthetically in a sea of Mario spin-offs.

 

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade was wisely chosen by Nintendo to be the first game in the series localized for Western audiences. It’s an effective introduction to all the hallmarks of the franchise, with strategy gameplay that simultaneously facilitates a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling. This relatively standard RPG fare is accentuated by a diverse selection of visually distinct classes. Even now, in an era with many retro-inspired indie titles, the pixelated sprite animations in Blazing Blade are the best I have ever seen. The plot of the game is a bit all over the place, but the major characters are so endearing and well-written that the heavy emphasis on story feels more than justified in the end.

 

Gris manages to create interesting levels despite its conservative, basic platformer controls. Its commendable gameplay is doomed to obscurity, however, because the most memorable part of Gris will forever be its art design. The deliberate use of color in combination with a clean lineart style ensures that every single frame is beautiful to look at. It absolutely deserves to be in the conversation for Best-Looking Game of All Time.

 

F-Zero X certainly isn’t the most forgiving title out there, but it has a surprising amount of content (playable characters, modes, etc.) for a 90s-era racing game. Its futuristic aesthetic serves a dual purpose. No longer bound by the laws of gravity, the developers were able to design memorable and dynamic tracks that utilize the 3rd dimension in ways which are still exciting 25 years later. Additionally, the sci-fi setting neatly recontextualizes the polygonal artstyle of the N64, making it seem intentionally campy rather than the result of technological limitations.

 

Super Mario Land can easily be beaten in one sitting; there are only twelve levels. Despite this incredibly short runtime, it’s still interesting to look back on as a remnant from the early Game Boy period. During this time, Nintendo often introduced wackier ideas to make up for their primitive graphics, and this philosophy is definitely on display in Super Mario Land. Mario shoots bouncy balls instead of fire, stomped Koopas turn into bombs instead of projectiles, and the level settings take heavy inspiration from real-world locales like Egypt and Easter Island.

 

Pikmin 4 operates on a far grander scale than its predecessors. The comprehensive enemy list and unprecedented number of NPCs greatly expands the Pikmin universe, which supports my theory that Nintendo is trying to position this series as its next big marketable franchise. Despite its impressive polish and scope, however, the game design of this entry is a slight downgrade from Pikmin 3. The discrepancy in quality can largely be blamed on the new canine companion Oatchi.

 

In previous titles, players could switch between multiple Captains who each led a squadron of Pikmin independently. In Pikmin 4, the player can switch between the main player-character and Oatchi, who each have different capabilities. The player-character can throw Pikmin greater distances and Oatchi can clear small obstacles by jumping or bashing into them. This asymmetry is unfortunately more frustrating than interesting, as it always feels as though a core part of your moveset is missing when the two characters are split up. Instead, it’s usually more efficient to control both of them as one combined unit, which detracts from the time management multitasking that is crucial to the series’ identity.

 

This one design decision is not nearly enough to stop this game from being an incredibly enjoyable time, though. Between the main campaign, the post-credits bonus levels, and all the extra side modes, there’s enough content in Pikmin 4 that I feel justified calling it an essential part of any Switch library, right up there with Super Mario Odyssey.

 

WarioWare: Move It! excels in its proper context as a blood-pumping party game. The focus on motion controls over buttons makes it very easy for anyone to pick up and play, regardless of their prior experience, and the Story campaign is designed from the ground up to accommodate two players. A significant amount of the game’s content is only accessible in multiplayer mode, in fact, so I would really only recommend it to those who know they have a friend that’d be willing to play with them.

 

Although they limit the game’s audience somewhat, the dual emphases on physicality and cooperative play make Move It! the perfect companion to the other Switch-exclusive WarioWare game, Get It Together!, which features button controls and substantial singleplayer offerings. The series-standard microgames are solid in both titles, but I was more impressed by Move It!’s presentation; the art, sound, and animation design all display a level of detail that goes above and beyond what would usually be expected from a silly party game.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons released day-and-date with its sister title Oracle of Ages, which has led to the common misconception that the two games are just as similar as dual-released Pokémon entries. In reality, the experiences differ quite considerably. Seasons is generally easier, with a simpler story and a brighter overworld. Some reviewers have claimed that OoS swaps out difficult puzzles for difficult combat, but I didn’t find that to be the case. Instead, I would say that the core identity of the game comes from its focus on movement, as the Roc’s Cape, which acts as a double jump, can be combined with other items to create a moveset that is remarkably expressive for a Game Boy Color title. In the end, I prefer Seasons to its (fraternal) twin, even if its design is slightly less impressive.

 

Metroid Fusion is my favorite 2D Metroid game. It’s more linear than the others, taking place in a huge, abandoned spacecraft with multiple sectors instead of an open-air planet, but the designers are skilled enough to turn this compromise into levels that showcase the best of both worlds. For players who enjoy exploring and finding secrets, the different areas contain numerous interconnecting shortcuts. The intended path, however, is more tightly designed than previous games in the series, which facilitates Fusion’s commendable storytelling. Its atmosphere, too, is more palpable than ever before. The Metroid series has always been inspired by horror movies like Alien, and it feels like the developers were finally able to achieve that same level of tension with this title.

 

Paper Mario has a lot of charm, but its gameplay hasn’t aged particularly well. It deserves a lot of credit for expanding the worldbuilding of the Mushroom Kingdom and raising the bar for storytelling in a Mario game (the vignettes with Princess Peach are a highlight). However, the action elements that spice up normal turn-based battles were improved upon by later Mario RPGs, making this one somewhat slow and boring in comparison.

 

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror makes a bad first impression with its confusing map, confusing objectives, and near-useless gimmick of multiple CPU Kirbys. After you become familiar with the unconventional structure, though, it becomes a decently interesting twist on the series’ format. Even still, I think there are fundamental issues with the developers’ approach to making an ‘open-world’ 2D Kirby game. Without any permanent upgrades, the only way that they can gate progression is by requiring Kirby to use different enemy Copy Abilities to get through certain roadblocks. This would have been a great opportunity to incorporate puzzle-solving, but in a majority of cases, the player simply needs to get a Copy Ability early in the level and hold onto it throughout one or more enemy gauntlets until they reach the barrier that they need to destroy. This results in a lot of annoying, repetitive backtracking that slows the game down significantly.

 

Mario Kart 64 makes big strides in improving the gameplay of the series. Drifting still feels unintuitive, but other than that, the karts control much better here than in Super Mario Kart. The items are relatively well-balanced, too, and the iconic new blue spiny shell perfectly matches the chaotic nature of multiplayer mode. The game is greatly held back, however, by consistently uninspired track designs and graphics that are ugly and bland even by N64 standards.

 

Little Nightmares focuses more on creating an unsettling atmosphere than it does on its puzzle-solving gameplay. Checkpoints are a bit too sparse and load times (at least on the Switch version) are abysmal, which adds a lot of frustration to an already slow-paced genre. The presentation will make it worth it, though, if you’re in the mood for a horror game. Tarsier Studios’ environmental storytelling perverts familiar props and settings while doling out just enough information to maintain a sense of tension in-between the more action-heavy sequences. The protagonist’s transformation from prey to predator also compels the player to fear their own player-character, which is an inspired twist on the concept of a power fantasy.

 

Yoshi’s Story has perhaps the strangest structure of any triple-A game I’ve ever played. It defies genre, but if I had to describe it, I’d call it a 2D collect-a-thon crossed with a roguelike. Despite my low expectations for such a Frankenstinian combination, I really enjoyed this title. The gameplay is significantly faster than most other games in the series, with Yoshi’s bouncy animations helping to add a sense of speed. The world system, while unconventional, enhances replayability and strongly incentivizes exploration. Simply beating the game with as little effort as possible is so easy that it almost feels like cheating; the player has a very clear sense that they are missing out on a lot of content, so they will naturally want to go back and unlock all the levels. In doing this, there’s also a good chance that they will challenge themselves to collect more and more points with each new run as they get better at the game. This well-tuned feedback loop, in combination with Yoshi’s signature arts-and-crafts aesthetic, makes Yoshi’s Story one of the best platformers on the N64.

 

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is my favorite of the four Zelda games I played this year. When compared to the previous Game Boy titles, Link’s Awakening has a better story and the Oracle games have slightly better dungeons, but the element that elevates The Minish Cap over its predecessors is its presentation. This game is gorgeous. Its colorful sprites (which take just the right amount of inspiration from the whimsical cel-shading of The Wind Waker) are perfectly suited for GBA hardware. Link’s ability to shrink down to insectoid proportions allows the player to see the beautiful world at two different scales, making it feel more like a living, breathing place. Speaking of which, Hyrule Castle Town is a perfect hub area. It’s constantly evolving, always giving the player a reason to come back and explore after each story beat. The Kinstone-fusing mechanic, though often pointless, ensures that every character is relevant and worth a conversation. Between its detailed graphics and its lived-in, domestic Hyrule, Minish Cap is the only top-down game in the series that manages to match the level of immersion found in 3D titles. On top of the incredible game feel, the gameplay is just as strong as ever, with a combat system that goes above and beyond typical Zelda fare.

 

Bratricide supplements its simple-but-addictive real-time strategy gameplay with an impressive amount of polish. The kindergarten-esque soundtrack and cutesy cartoon visuals both give the game a sense of whimsy, even while dozens of ants die excruciating deaths. Antagonist Bratrick is appropriately menacing; his detailed animations are a technical achievement within the p5.js library. Full disclosure, though, I did create this game, so I can’t claim to be unbiased.

 

Little Nightmares II improves on its predecessor in most ways, but especially when it comes to gameplay. Dying is much less tedious thanks to shortened load times and an increased number of checkpoints. Additionally, the player has significantly more agency during action sequences, which helps to keep the pace up. One downside is that the worldbuilding feels less cohesive than in the first game, but that’s a natural consequence of an increased scope. There are still plenty of vague, unnerving environmental details to keep the player on edge - the Hospital filled with sentient mannequins is probably the most terrifying level that the series has offered thus far.

 

Wario Land 3 might be the most miserable experience I have ever had playing a video game; it easily wins the award for “Worst of the Year.” The game’s fundamental flaw is that Wario can’t take damage, so the developers needed to invent some other way to add stakes. The way they went about this is by wasting the player’s time at every given opportunity. Missing a jump or getting hit by an enemy often results in a lengthy sequence where you lose control over your character and the level design emphasizes tedium above all else, forcing the player to retread the same ground over and over again even if they’re playing perfectly. Wario Land 3’s unique structure, which is set up like a segmented Metroidvania, could have been interesting, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is so hostile that any good ideas the game introduces are unsalvageable.

 

The Messenger (+ Picnic Panic DLC) belongs to a steadily increasing category of retro-inspired games which attempt to recapture the magic of classic older genres. In this case, the genre is the Ninja Gaiden-esque action platformer. Far from just being a rehash of nostalgic ideas, though, The Messenger is an ambitious debut offering from indie developer Sabotage Studio.

 

Ironically, its flashiest feature is its least consequential. The player has the ability to time-travel between present and future eras, which is represented by the game’s artstyle and soundtrack seamlessly switching between 8-bit and 16-bit aesthetics. This transformation is definitely cool to look at (and listen to), but it doesn’t affect the gameplay in any way. This feels like a big missed opportunity, as changing the enemies or the player-character’s moveset would have exponentially increased the amount of gameplay possibilities.

 

A much better example of the game’s duality is its ability to recontextualize tight, linear platformer levels in an interconnected, Metroid-style open world. These two contradictory design philosophies don’t always mesh perfectly, but I was still surprised at how well The Messenger managed to combine them most of the time. Even in moments where the backtracking becomes tedious, the game is still a blast to control thanks to its central mechanic: ‘cloudstepping.’ The titular messenger regains his double jump every time he attacks an object, enemy, or projectile, so skilled players can play through lengthy sequences without ever touching the ground. This move singlehandedly adds an ever-present sense of rhythmic flow to the gameplay, transforming even the most unassuming room into an interesting challenge.

 

Although cloudstepping is far and away the best idea that this game offers, I wanted to shine a spotlight on another cool bit of design that I found to be impressive. The final upgrade in the shop allows the player to passively charge their basic attack, so if they don’t press the attack button for a certain amount of time (around half a second), their next sword strike will deal triple damage. On paper, this sounds like the sort of overpowered endgame upgrade that would completely break many similarly-minded action platformers. In The Messenger, however, most enemies only take one hit to kill, so the additional firepower is often redundant. Instead, it should be saved for the few enemies and obstacles that do usually require two or three attacks to take down. What this means is that every time the player sees one of these sturdy enemies on screen, they’re motivated to devise their whole strategy around the few half-seconds of pacifism required to clear the room more efficiently. The developers’ ability to create a powerful attack that increases mechanical depth instead of making the combat more mindless is a testament to how well they understand their own game.

 

For a title I enjoyed so thoroughly, I hate to end my review on a negative, but I have yet to talk about the story. Even though I would absolutely recommend The Messenger to anyone who enjoys platformers, its cheeky, self-referential, 4th-wall-breaking dialogue isn’t my cup of tea.

 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies adds a third dimension (and a third playable lawyer) to the mainline Ace Attorney series. The new 3D visuals manage to maintain the cartoonish charm of the old 2D sprites and the colorful character designs themselves are perhaps the best that the franchise has ever seen, which is a high bar to clear. The examination of crime scenes in 3D is also a major improvement. These segments now feel less like a point-and-click adventure and more like an actual exploration of a fleshed-out space. That makes it especially disappointing that there are relatively few of them when compared to previous Ace Attorney games.

 

It’s not just the examinations, though. The gameplay has been heavily streamlined overall: trials contain fewer cross-examinations and investigations are extremely linear. This removes the frustration of not knowing where to go next, but it takes a significant amount of agency away from the player. In maintaining the balance between interactivity and storytelling, the developers tipped the scales a bit too far towards the latter.

 

Since this is a visual novel, however, Dual Destinies' story also deserves to be discussed separately from the gameplay. The best way I can describe the plot is that it has a faulty start but somehow sticks the landing. It succeeds in spite of itself. The major issue with the writing is that it almost entirely ignores the events of the previous game in the series. Apollo Justice is sidelined in favor of veteran protagonist Phoenix Wright and the newly introduced Athena Cykes. This means that the narrative is fighting to continue Phoenix’s story (which had already come to a natural conclusion) and still make Athena’s story feel momentous, all while dropping every single one of Apollo’s loose plot threads. Conceptually, this doesn’t seem like the best way to continue the series, but Athena’s arc is strong enough that it saves the rest of the game from becoming lazy nostalgia bait. The end result is a climactic final trial that feels satisfying despite the narrative clutter surrounding it.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom eschews series tradition and places Princess Zelda herself in the driver’s seat instead of Link. This decision radically changes the core gameplay and creates a level of player expression that was previously unprecedented in the genre of top-down Zelda.

 

Nowhere is this player expression more pronounced than in the new combat system. Zelda’s power to summon clones of enemies, in combination with her meter-limited Swordfighter Form and telekinesis-esque Bind ability, ensures that each player will approach battles in their own unique way. Traversing the overworld is similarly unrestricted, all thanks to that same freeform moveset.

 

Unfortunately, not every aspect of the game lives up to the ambition of its gameplay. Although much mechanical inspiration was taken from open-world titles like Breath of the Wild, Echoes of Wisdom’s version of Hyrule does not achieve the same degree of immersion found in the over-the-shoulder (3D) Zelda games. The overworld content, while largely compelling, becomes a bit lacking towards the endgame. More importantly, though, I was disappointed by Echoes’ dungeons. Dungeons have always been the crown jewel of top-down Zelda level design. They typically require the player to maintain a keen sense of special awareness while navigating large, complicated puzzles. Echoes of Wisdom’s lineup leans more towards smaller, self-contained puzzles, which results in linear experiences that are often too short and too easy for a game that’s nominally about wisdom.

 

Despite my criticisms, I did greatly enjoy the game and ended up 100% completing it. None of its content is actively bad; there are just times when it fails to reach its potential.

 

Conclusion

And that’s the list! There were slightly more disappointing games than usual this time around, but it was largely a good year and I’m still looking forward to doing this again for 2025.