🎮 Gaming reached new heights this year, with developers swinging for the fences to deliver breathtaking blockbusters and indie gems that once again cements video games as a medium where technical innovation meets artistic expression. Here are 2024’s top titles, from new concepts, remasters, and new installments, to meta brain-breakers.

#1- SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE: This challenging 40-hour expansion of Elden Ring requires players to have beaten specific main game bosses to access it. Set in the Land of Shadow, it introduces tougher enemies, a new stat-boosting system, and dozens of new weapons and combat styles. While maintaining the base game’s difficulty (or exceeding it), it offers enough new content and exploration opportunities to reward patient players.

#2- UFO 50: This indie anthology presents itself as a collection of 50 games from a fictional 1980s console. Created by Spelunky developer Derek Yu and other notable indie developers, it includes a wide variety of genres from beat-em-ups to experimental titles. While the quality varies, most games successfully blend retro aesthetics with modern design ideas.

#3- HELLDIVERS 2: This cooperative third-person shooter combines intense action and satirical humor. Players fight bugs and bots across procedurally varied missions, managing resources and coordinating special abilities called Strategems. It works best with friends, and its combination of challenging gameplay, humor, and generous rewards system has made it a standout release.

#4- THE ROGUE PRINCE OF PERSIA: If you’re looking for inventive gameplay and a Hades-level plot, this iteration of The Prince of Persia will satisfy your demands. Instead of strategy and puzzles, The Rogue Prince of Persia is a roguelike. As the prince, you get to hack and slash your way through invading Huns threatening to take over your kingdom, equipped with a device that lets him reverse time as needed — a convenient and clever way to frame the roguelike’s death mechanics.

#5– TEKKEN 8: While the game is very similar to its predecessor, released on consoles seven years ago, Bandai Namco built on everything that made T7 great and made it even better. Superfan or newcomer, you’ll enjoy it — choose between classic arcade mode, longer tournaments, multiple game styles, online or offline. Remember Tekken Bowl, the volleyball mode? It still exists and it’s perfect for game nights.

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