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Rex's GOTY Awards of 2024
12 months ago
General
So i've played a fuck ton of game and i may not remember them all but hell might as well do a TGA but shitty. Most of the picks below are gonna be games I played this year so lets get started.
Game of the Year
- RESIDENT EVIL 2: REMAKE
This game easily got me invested into the RE series and just seeing how much they improved upon the original is something to behold. This is a game with so much new and refreshed content that nothing else compares to it.
Best Direction
- ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY
The whole game feels like an interactive RoboCop movie just on account of how well the graphics and atmosphere contribute to nailing down the grime of Detroit City. The game took all the correct lessons from Deus Ex: HR & MD when they developed the tone and atmosphere of the game.
Best Narrative
- THE MESSENGER
The game goes beyond using the 8 bit & 16 bit graphics as nostalgia bait as it actually serves a purpose in their light story. Its amazing to see how the various plot points end up being tied together at the end of the game even when you think the game is over, there's another whole-ass section for you to play.
Best Art
- STREETS OF RAGE 4
I said it in my past review so i'll say it again, every single background in this game can be a desktop wallpaper and I would pay for it.
Best Music
- ROMANCING SAGA 2: REVENGE OF THE SEVEN
I wanted to select Rift of the Necrodancer but since I never played it, this will do. The theme of Avalon and Somon is still as patriotic and depressing respectively.
Best Indie
- THE PLUCKY SQUIRE
Despite the many glitches and technical issues, this game has a lot of heart and pays homage to various games that came before which helps sell the game as an experience of being a 90's kid.
Best Live Service
- BLACK OPS 6
It was the only live service I played and to its credit, i do like the MP so much that I went and got Diamond camo for the LMGs and Shotguns. I would have put XDefiant here but um...... *gestures towards Ubisoft*
Best Mobile
- SNES9XE
I played many retro games using various emulators so I used SNES9Xe the most which allowed me to enjoy the atmosphere and charm of the Soul Blazer Trilogy (Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia/Time, and Terranigma).
Best FPS
- TREPANG²
While Trepang² is not as good as its inspiration (F.E.A.R.), it nails down the best parts of being a chaotic woo shooter and has some good horror sections that I hope the devs learn from this to make the horror more meaningful. (Also, we don't need fancy shiny graphics because F.E.A.R.'s original graphics contributed to the unease and horror so stay in that area, k?)
Best TPS
- BINARY DOMAIN
Never would I ever have thought that I would be playing a third-person Yakuza game. And what an experience it is from the narmy voice acting, over the top cutscenes, lubricious robo-gibs, and hilariously implemented voice commands makes this game a must-play.
Best Action - Adventure
- IMMORTALS: FENYX RISING
Its Breath of the Wild but more story focused and I found myself loving the charm of the characters and seeing how they interact with each other even though I wish the ending could have been a bit better. The amount of ways you can solve puzzles truly shows that Ubisoft was cooking when they made this BUT the fact that Ubisoft nixed a sequel based in the pacific islands fucking SUCKS WHAT THE FUCK UBISOFT.
Best JRPG
- ROMANCING SAGA 2: REVENGE OF THE SEVEN
The original Romancing SaGa 2 was a game that I found charming but could never get past South Varenees/Cumberland in the 2017 remaster due to how hard and clunky it felt. This remake takes ALL of the issues in the original Romancing SaGa 2 (and the SaGa series) and fixes each and every single one of them that this becomes the definitive version of Romancing SaGa 2.
Best ARPG
- Ys SERIES
This was a tough choice between Diablo 3 and Ys but ultimately Ys won out for being a series willing to try so many things using what they learned from the NES era all the way to modern day era becoming its own thing. Diablo 3 was good but i cannot get over the crappy and unsatisfying skill system. I get why they did that but I don't like it.
Best Survival Horror
- RESIDENT EVIL 2 REMAKE
As mentioned above, this game is so well done that nothing else compares to this.
Best Simulation
- HOUSE FLIPPER
The game is still as liminal as ever and fixing up the houses is satisfying, The DLCs are also pretty neat though the luxury flipper was over the top with hour long missions that ended up feeling like a slog.
Best Co-Op
- LEFT 4 DEAD 2
The fact that this game has such an active modding scene keeping the game fresh is worth your time. Army of Two: 40th day would have gotten this but its too short for what it is.
Best Remaster of an Older Game
- TUROK 3: SHADOW OF OBLIVION and TOMB RAIDER 1-2-3 REMASTERED
Both of them freshen up the OG games in many meanigful ways such as Shadows of Oblivion getting 60 FPS and two new characters to play as while TR 1-2-3 allows you to save anywhere and adds in the DLC that never got released with the PS1 games making those two games worthy of being the best remasters of 2024.
Worst Game
- CRIME BOSS : ROCKAY CITY
This game isnt even good enough to attain "So Bad Its good" status as there are so many fucking glitches that cause you to lose. I lost missions because an enemy didn't spawn, there was a pool of fire in front of a mission objective so I couldn't complete the objective without failing the mission; etc. This game is why IDGAF about star power because all of the actors here have passed their prime. They're done. Finished. Kaput. What a goddamn waste.
Most Disappointing
- STRANGER OF PARADISE : FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN
This is a game whose only redeeming quality is Jack. Nothing else really helps with the game as equipment feels obligatory, levels don't mean anything, and skill trees feel depressingly weak. I expected more when I saw they has all the skill trees but again, just disappointing and the post-game wasn't even worth it.
Game of the Year
- RESIDENT EVIL 2: REMAKE
This game easily got me invested into the RE series and just seeing how much they improved upon the original is something to behold. This is a game with so much new and refreshed content that nothing else compares to it.
Best Direction
- ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY
The whole game feels like an interactive RoboCop movie just on account of how well the graphics and atmosphere contribute to nailing down the grime of Detroit City. The game took all the correct lessons from Deus Ex: HR & MD when they developed the tone and atmosphere of the game.
Best Narrative
- THE MESSENGER
The game goes beyond using the 8 bit & 16 bit graphics as nostalgia bait as it actually serves a purpose in their light story. Its amazing to see how the various plot points end up being tied together at the end of the game even when you think the game is over, there's another whole-ass section for you to play.
Best Art
- STREETS OF RAGE 4
I said it in my past review so i'll say it again, every single background in this game can be a desktop wallpaper and I would pay for it.
Best Music
- ROMANCING SAGA 2: REVENGE OF THE SEVEN
I wanted to select Rift of the Necrodancer but since I never played it, this will do. The theme of Avalon and Somon is still as patriotic and depressing respectively.
Best Indie
- THE PLUCKY SQUIRE
Despite the many glitches and technical issues, this game has a lot of heart and pays homage to various games that came before which helps sell the game as an experience of being a 90's kid.
Best Live Service
- BLACK OPS 6
It was the only live service I played and to its credit, i do like the MP so much that I went and got Diamond camo for the LMGs and Shotguns. I would have put XDefiant here but um...... *gestures towards Ubisoft*
Best Mobile
- SNES9XE
I played many retro games using various emulators so I used SNES9Xe the most which allowed me to enjoy the atmosphere and charm of the Soul Blazer Trilogy (Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia/Time, and Terranigma).
Best FPS
- TREPANG²
While Trepang² is not as good as its inspiration (F.E.A.R.), it nails down the best parts of being a chaotic woo shooter and has some good horror sections that I hope the devs learn from this to make the horror more meaningful. (Also, we don't need fancy shiny graphics because F.E.A.R.'s original graphics contributed to the unease and horror so stay in that area, k?)
Best TPS
- BINARY DOMAIN
Never would I ever have thought that I would be playing a third-person Yakuza game. And what an experience it is from the narmy voice acting, over the top cutscenes, lubricious robo-gibs, and hilariously implemented voice commands makes this game a must-play.
Best Action - Adventure
- IMMORTALS: FENYX RISING
Its Breath of the Wild but more story focused and I found myself loving the charm of the characters and seeing how they interact with each other even though I wish the ending could have been a bit better. The amount of ways you can solve puzzles truly shows that Ubisoft was cooking when they made this BUT the fact that Ubisoft nixed a sequel based in the pacific islands fucking SUCKS WHAT THE FUCK UBISOFT.
Best JRPG
- ROMANCING SAGA 2: REVENGE OF THE SEVEN
The original Romancing SaGa 2 was a game that I found charming but could never get past South Varenees/Cumberland in the 2017 remaster due to how hard and clunky it felt. This remake takes ALL of the issues in the original Romancing SaGa 2 (and the SaGa series) and fixes each and every single one of them that this becomes the definitive version of Romancing SaGa 2.
Best ARPG
- Ys SERIES
This was a tough choice between Diablo 3 and Ys but ultimately Ys won out for being a series willing to try so many things using what they learned from the NES era all the way to modern day era becoming its own thing. Diablo 3 was good but i cannot get over the crappy and unsatisfying skill system. I get why they did that but I don't like it.
Best Survival Horror
- RESIDENT EVIL 2 REMAKE
As mentioned above, this game is so well done that nothing else compares to this.
Best Simulation
- HOUSE FLIPPER
The game is still as liminal as ever and fixing up the houses is satisfying, The DLCs are also pretty neat though the luxury flipper was over the top with hour long missions that ended up feeling like a slog.
Best Co-Op
- LEFT 4 DEAD 2
The fact that this game has such an active modding scene keeping the game fresh is worth your time. Army of Two: 40th day would have gotten this but its too short for what it is.
Best Remaster of an Older Game
- TUROK 3: SHADOW OF OBLIVION and TOMB RAIDER 1-2-3 REMASTERED
Both of them freshen up the OG games in many meanigful ways such as Shadows of Oblivion getting 60 FPS and two new characters to play as while TR 1-2-3 allows you to save anywhere and adds in the DLC that never got released with the PS1 games making those two games worthy of being the best remasters of 2024.
Worst Game
- CRIME BOSS : ROCKAY CITY
This game isnt even good enough to attain "So Bad Its good" status as there are so many fucking glitches that cause you to lose. I lost missions because an enemy didn't spawn, there was a pool of fire in front of a mission objective so I couldn't complete the objective without failing the mission; etc. This game is why IDGAF about star power because all of the actors here have passed their prime. They're done. Finished. Kaput. What a goddamn waste.
Most Disappointing
- STRANGER OF PARADISE : FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN
This is a game whose only redeeming quality is Jack. Nothing else really helps with the game as equipment feels obligatory, levels don't mean anything, and skill trees feel depressingly weak. I expected more when I saw they has all the skill trees but again, just disappointing and the post-game wasn't even worth it.
