Games Inbox: What’s your favorite game of 2024 so far?

Infinity is not a number
I enjoyed GC’s list of the top 20 games of the year and found myself agreeing with a lot of them, even though there’s a lot I haven’t played yet. I was happy that Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth came out very well, but I think for me it’s my number one.

I’ve played Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Animal Well, but the game I’ve enjoyed the most this year is still Infinite Wealth. I’ll admit, I’ve always been a fan of the series, but even though I thought the character change and turn-based combat would ruin it, it’s only gotten better.

For anyone who hasn’t played one before, they probably don’t realize how much fun games are, especially this one. It’s full of jokes about gaming and everything else, and many of the minigames are more fun than some of the full-priced games I’ve played.

So that’s my guess, but I’m curious what everyone else thinks, especially if it’s something that wasn’t on the GC list.
Tom Meadows

Plug leaks
I’m just fascinated by what Nintendo has planned for the Switch 2 and its games. They seem pretty confident if they’re busy stocking up with enough of them that there’s no point in scalping, and you’d imagine that mistakes on the Wii U will be something they don’t want to repeat. But who knows.

I’m still counting on a mid-autumn reveal, but I wonder if Nintendo has all these consoles they’re churning out, surely some pics are bound to leak? I’m sure Nintendo will sue the culprit to hell and back, but I doubt it will deter anyone who doesn’t think it through very carefully.

I can only imagine how tight the security is in the factories right now, but I sincerely hope this doesn’t get out because it will be much more fun to see it properly exposed by Nintendo themselves.
Lister

Temporary boost
I can see that Palworld is already starting to drop in the Steam charts, despite the release of the new DLC. I just don’t think there’s room for more than a handful of these live service games to be successful. Not only do people not have time, but they are not going to put aside something they already enjoy, to play something else that may not be as good.

At this point, the live service game has to be absolutely top notch for any real transaction to happen, and while I haven’t played Palworld, I know that doesn’t describe Helldivers 2, which is by all accounts a better game.

This explains why Sony charges for these games even if it’s not full price because at least they make some money back that way. He must understand the risks, but I’m still not sure if it’s worth taking.
Terry Gold

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A shadow of a chance
I have some tips for anyone having trouble with Elden Ring and its DLC.

1. Have a lot of energy. The more health, the better. I have mine at 60+.
2. Use a large hammer or club or gore attacks with a large hammer.
3. Have a lot of stamina to escape.
4. Get to Haligtree for the best anti-damage talisman.
5. Get Dragon Rot breath.
6. Use your facial expression in every fight.
7. Learn the termination method to reset enemies chasing you.
8. Don’t run the DLC in New Game +2 like I did. Enemies are brutal even with lots of health and armor.
9. Explore the DLC to get more scuda stuff to make enemies hit a little less hard.

Using my tips, you too can get to the Twin Rennal boss, who moves faster than Sonic on the crack and still shoots me with two shots despite all my health.
Bobwallet

The old masters
If there’s one positive thing that’s come out of all the job cuts and industry chaos over the past year, it’s that I have a newfound respect for Nintendo. I’ve never really been into their games, but I’ve always recognized that they’re very good at what they do. Lately I’ve come to realize that they are very sensible and careful about their business in a way that I didn’t appreciate before.

Many of their decisions make no sense from the outside, but it’s clear that there’s always a backup plan waiting in the wings. They released the Switch in double quick time, after the Wii U failed, and that didn’t happen by accident.

Compare that to Xbox, which hesitated for 10 years before just giving up and buying everything – or Sony, which was completely unprepared for this generation’s problems – and they look amateurish in comparison.
Statically

Some fanfare
I just finished the campaign for Turbo Overkill on Steam Deck. It was released for PC in 2023, not much fanfare, but it’s a very good cyberpunk first-person shooter (of the “boomer shooter” variety) that borrows from other games like Doom, Titanfall 2, and Vanquish to create something worthwhile on his own.

The game introduces new ideas and enemy types at a good pace (mostly) and is perfect for shorter playthroughs as levels can be cleared in 5-10 minutes. The platforming is a bit frantic at times, especially the grappling hook, which I never got the hang of, but whether you’re moving from enemy to enemy or gliding on a chainsaw leg, the game gives you plenty of options and is rarely dull.

The only negative for me was that I was crazy about platforming (and when you’re into that shit, the last thing you need is a couple of timed sections that rely on that to appear right at the end of the game…). I also felt like it overstayed it’s welcome at ~16 hours: a bit of restraint would have made it a better game as the last few levels just felt like they were just throwing more enemies at you and longer boss battles (but maybe if I took a break and wasn’t so interested in finishing it, I’d feel differently).

It’s not for consoles yet, but I’d recommend checking it out if/when it gets ported, a solid 8.45/10.
Magnumstache

GC: This is a very specific score.

It takes ages to be this good
That Sega Neptune is great and all, but it reminds me that we still don’t have a mini Saturn and probably never will. I still hope it happens one day because Saturn was actually pretty big in Japan and Sege doesn’t seem to mind putting out stuff that only appeals to their domestic audience.

However, it never happened, despite the strange rumours. I wonder if it’s because they supposedly lost some of the game code from back then, but surely they could dump a bunch of ROMs and use them if the emulation works? Here is hope.
Benson

Cheese camp
I think the fact that one thing Capcom said about Resident Evil 9 is the director is definitely meant to be a message. The only way I can interpret this is that it will be more like the last game he worked on, Resident Evil 7.

I’m all for cheese and camp in my Resident Evil, but I think if you play multiple games like this in a row, you risk turning it into a total joke and it’s impossible to go back and make it scary again. Resident Evil 5 and 6 pretty much nailed it (although they were also really bad, which had the same basic effect).

I don’t think it’s necessarily a case of one scary game, then one goofy one, but I wouldn’t go too far either way. I’m hoping it’s a proper horror game this time around, which I’d like to see experiment with the open world and then go back to some more horror-comedy stuff at some point.

Resident Evil was never like that on purpose, although the Village is the closest to it. I’d love to see them hire a comedy writer straight up and really go for something along the lines of Shaun Of The Dead or Zombieland. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright seem to be fans of Resident Evil, so why not ask them for help?
Dougie Sr.

Inbox is also running
Depressing to see that even indie developers are now laying off people as the studio that made Tales Of Kenzera: Zau is cutting jobs. I don’t know if there will ever be a new normal that we will be happy with.
Hedin

I don’t know if GC saw it, but the new Transformers game was just announced. It’s primarily a racing game and looks pretty low budget, but I’ve seen worse and I like the design, which isn’t like Michael Bay movies.
Oscar

GC: Hmm… On a more positive note, there have been whispers that the Activision Transformers games might be available again, as they’ve been mysteriously re-listed on Xbox and Steam – but they’re currently unavailable for purchase.

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