It’s been a grim year, hasn’t it? 2024’s best games are all about disgust, decay, and existential dread

2024 was a big year for folk with a never-ending affinity towards all things survival-horror, largely due to the fact that the Silent Hill 2 Remake finally released. A game that, after its initial announcement, I was truly dreading. I love Silent Hill 2, so much, and for the longest time, all I ever really wanted was for the original trio of games to be ported to modern platforms exactly as they are. Nothing more, and nothing less. I, admittedly, did not trust Konami or Bloober Team to do it justice.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. After a preview event in which we spent three hours with the game, I was wholly obsessed. Converted from the stubborn, bitter Silent Hill fan I was always was (this is with thanks to the cancellation of Silent Hills, which I will never stop banging on about) into, well, someone who finally felt hopeful about the series. Bloober Team alleviated me of all my Silent Hill woes in such a short span of time, and continued to do so once the game was released.

The remake was a different game to the original Silent Hill 2, but Bloober Team managed to make something so special; an entirely new iteration of James’ journey that was just as psychologically tormenting as the last. I will never doubt Bloober Team ever again. As for my trust in Konami, we’ll have to see how Metal Gear Solid Delta turns out first.

While the Silent Hill 2 Remake stands tall as my personal game of the year in 2024, it was far from the only game to have impressed me. 2024 wasn’t quite the year for horror fans that 2023 was, — we got the Dead Space remake, Resident Evil 4 remake, and the exceptional Alan Wake 2 last year — but we did receive a good portion of indie horror games trying to make their mark, which some did with ease.

Mouthwashing, for example. An acid-trip of a game that, for two hours, is impossible to put down as you try to piece together its non-linear, gruesome story. Beneath all that, though, is a poignant discussion of existential dread. Is there more to life than, well, capitalism? Working your way up the ranks in an increasingly cruel world? Does any of it even matter? It isn’t the cheeriest way to spend your time, but it’s one game that you won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

My horror GOTY’s aside, there is one more game that — while it doesn’t quite beat Silent Hill 2 for me, personally — I spent the most time with this year. A game that some may argue isn’t really a game at all, and that’s Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

A part of me would argue that Shadow of the Erdtree, given its size and scope, is a game within its own right. There’s just so much to be done, but the folk who argue that you have to fight the likes of Radahn and Mohg to even access the DLC admittedly have a point. Either way, I think one thing many of us can agree on is that Shadow of the Erdtree was an exceptional DLC. I expected something brilliant from FromSoftware, as always, but I wasn’t quite prepared to be whisked into a haunting world in which most of my burning questions were finally answered.

Shadow of the Erdtree boasted numerous bosses in a much more compact space. A space that was still huge, however, meaning that exploration was still very much a big — and important — thing in Erdtree, but the DLC felt one step closer to a Dark Souls game. Boss fights were frequent, the world felt dark and grim, and the characters you meet along the way… oh, how they tug at your heartstrings (for the most part). Moore and his friends will forever have my heart.

I also owe a shout out to the likes of Persona 3 Reload and Balatro. These are two more games that have helped shape my year in gaming, though I’m not quite done with them just yet. And I don’t think I’ll ever be done with Balatro… that’s for sure.