Haven't spent too much time with releases this year to be honest, but Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor has been fun (as someone who likes both Deep Rock Galactic and Vampire Survivors.

Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes]

It took me a while to fully get my head around this game, but a lot of fun once I did. I liked Vatista in BBTag, but I've really fallen in love with her all over again now. Even managed to go 3-2 at Combo Breaker, which I'm very satisfied with for what's essentially just my side game.

Being the dumbass who bought the Switch version though does kinda limit my ability to find games. Of course there's always Discord matchmaking, but I'm shy.

...what's your favourite game released so far in 2024?

Backpack Battles has been my Steam Deck go-to release of "2024". Shoutout to @Liam Dawe for the suggestion.

Palworld was fun for a short stint, but burnout set it in fast and friends got bored.

Not released in 2024, but IMO worth a mention:

Spoiler, click me

The GF and I recently (re)discovered Parkitect! For anyone else who played the RCT/RCT2/RCT3 games, this is a blast from the past, and co-op online multiplayer works flawlessly. I also quite love the custom ride designs available on Steam's workshop and a few of the mods like FPV.

The last few updates of Fallout76 have also been an absolute blast to play co-op. While still a little buggy at times, this game has vastly improved since launch day. Albeit the premium subscription to "Fallout 1st" is more-or-less essential to having an enjoyable time. Otherwise you'll run out of inventory and storage space almost instantly.

Dragons Dogma 2, saddly runs like shit on my rig, but is awesome.

I checked and I haven't played a single game released in 2024. So I'll answer with games that are less than a year old instead.

I enjoy Circuit Superstars, although I'm desperately bad at it. And I'm totally in love with Brotato. Yeah, I know, it's one year and two days old, but it's so good I had to mention it.

If I don't count demos, I have total seven games released in 2024. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/ is probably best so far, though I have sunk several hours into Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor as well.

I'll give some love to Keeper RL. A Little bit like Like Dungeon Keeper, A lot like Dwarf Fortress. And Of course a game like this is native on Linux

I ride the long tail generally, and never ever buy things in Early Access, so it has to be Potions: A Curious Tale for me, being the one game in my library that was released in 2024 that I've played.

I'd like to say Ghost of Tsushima... but based on the amount of hours I did in a very short time, I'll have to say Enshrouded.

There really hasn't been anything for me since Super Bomberman R 2 last September. In fact, almost everything I've been playing this year so far is decades old!

The only 2024 release I've even played is PathBlasters, which is a nice little game, but nothing else has come along yet that looks like it'll sway this from being an emulation-heavy year for me.

Harold Halibut.
In a few days it hopefully will be FF14 Dawntrail.

LoL, ask me again in 2025, when I have time for play something from my 2024 bucket list

Haven't played much that released in '24. The biggest and best thing was the Road to Elysium DLC for The Talos Principle 2. It hurt my brain and I loved it.

I suppose Nordic Ashes could count since it released to 1.0. I've actually put 36 hours into it already. Nothing like chilling a bit while causing mayhem.

But most of the time was put in Factorio so I can keep up my skills when the new DLC releases in a few months. Very much looking forward to that and I expect that to even top the Talos 2 DLC for me.

Only thing I've played that was released in the last few years was ... System Shock. Great game! Very old school in every sense, but with some modern improvements. I would definitely recommend.

I found Skald: Against the Black Priory and Between Horizons pretty enjoyable, though I've only finished latter. Between Horizons has bad controls, but using a gamepad helps. Skald is good at the start, but after about 1/3rd I needed a break and haven't returned since.

I guess I'm still waiting for something that manages to really draw me in. Assuming it does not slip into 2025, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will be that game.

Last Epoch and Horizon - Forbidden West.

I almost never play games on release, so I actually haven't played any games that released in 2024. I have played one game that entered early access in 2024, CivIdle (good idle game but nothing special, free with supporter pack and no microtransactions or other shit), but I don't consider that "released" yet.

I wanted to say Against the Storm, but it is from December 2023. It is a rare game I got on release (well, it released after a good while in early access). This one I got totally obsessed about, played hours every day, got a hundred hours real fast. One for my "truly exceptional indie games of all times" list. Dune Spice Wars in September 2023 was also a release buy and outstanding.

Anyway, for games released in 2024 ask me again next year or the other. Also worth noticing that most games release in the end of the year, so asking now will select from a much smaller pool (which might be the intention).

Checking over my list of games I have beaten in 2024 I can say I really haven't played very many that were actually released this year. Of the few I did I would say that A Night at the Watermill has been my favorite so far.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/a_night_at_the_watermill

It usually takes me until after the launch year to get around to getting a game, and I'm not sure I'm ready to pick a favourite, but here's a few new titles I did play I had at least some fun with.

Content Warning, Indigo Park: Chapter 1, Dark and Darker, Garn47 and Nightmare Kart.

Content Warning's a sillier Lethal Company focused on making scary videos for views, Indigo Park's really good for the "mascot horror" genre (as someone who got tired when FNAF pumped out a buncha games all at once that were very similar, and when the competition is... Banban.), I suck at Dark and Darker, I'm a sucker for absurdist shit like Garn47, and I've been keeping my eye on the development of Nightmare Kart for a while and it's really fun from what I've played.

Last edited by pilk on 30 June 2024 at 1:07 am UTC

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1373960/INDIKA/