PC Gamer's Game of the Year Awards 2024

[Zed Clampet]

PC Gamer's Game of the Year Awards 2024

From major releases to the games that perfectly captured their niche, these were the best games of the year.

www.pcgamer.com

So far we have:

Best Ongoing Game: Stardew Valley
Creative Achievement: UFO 50
Best Survival: Pacific Drive
Best Tactics: Tactical Breach Wizards
Best Roguelike: Revealed December 22
Best Comedy: Revealed December 23
Best FPS: Revealed December 24
Spirit of the PC: Revealed December 25
Best City Builder: Revealed December 25
Best Sandbox: Revealed December 26
Best RPG: Revealed December 27
Best Expansion: Revealed December 28
Best Multiplayer: Revealed December 29
Game of the Year: Revealed December 30

Personal Picks​

Chris Livingston: The Rise of the Golden Idol
Fraser Brown: Sins of a Solar Empire 2
Jacob Ridley: Frostpunk 2
Robin Valentine: Shogun Showdown
Jody Macgregor: Silent Hill 2
Jess Klinghorn: 1000xResist

So far I'm doing a great job of not angrily arguing against each pick.

 

[Alm]

I’m interested in seeing their favourite FPS. I tend not to align with PCG picks as they like more intellectual games than I go for.

 

[Johnway]

Just a little disappointed that there is no wooden spoon award. i would love to see every year an award to highlight and point at the gaming industries BS, stupidity and call them out on it. Ubisoft would be the clear winners here. But hey, why settle for one award? Why not flat out worst game of 2024 they've played or the biggest disasters ands terrible decisions/events to occur in 2024? Concord would be ranked pretty high up i would think.

 

[Zloth]

Dwelling on all the worst stuff? Ugh. Why? I think the resulting poor sales and lost jobs are punishment enough.

 

[Johnway]

Dwelling on all the worst stuff? Ugh. Why? I think the resulting poor sales and lost jobs are punishment enough.

I think its a good reminder that the gaming industry must do better. Too often they forget and repeat the same mistakes and not learn a bloody thing. A painful, ever lasting humiliation is in order tbh. Hell, i feel the avaricious AAA(A) deserves to be taken down a peg or 2. But i'm being spiteful and we need a good laugh at their expense.

 

[Colif]

Just a little disappointed that there is no wooden spoon award. i would love to see every year an award to highlight and point at the gaming industries BS, stupidity and call them out on it. Ubisoft would be the clear winners here. But hey, why settle for one award? Why not flat out worst game of 2024 they've played or the biggest disasters ands terrible decisions/events to occur in 2024? Concord would be ranked pretty high up i would think

Can't upset the apple cart.
toxic positivity for AAA titles

Lots of choice for worst game idea of 2024.
Concord, Dragon Age, SW Outlaws, Skull & Bones, Suicide Squad
I probably forgotten a few... its been a great year 🙂
Hard to say which cost the most.
S&B was multi year but then Concord included buying a studio

 

[Johnway]

Can't upset the apple cart.
toxic positivity for AAA titles

Lots of choice for worst game idea of 2024.
Concord, Dragon Age, SW Outlaws, Skull & Bones, Suicide Squad
I probably forgotten a few... its been a great year 🙂
Hard to say which cost the most.
S&B was multi year but then Concord included buying a studio

I suppose it depends on context for worst game. Financial disaster wise we have plenty to point and laugh at Concord. Easily winning it hands down, that game lasted weeks and set an all new (low) bar that every game could refer to when people say the game was rubbish. "hey, at least we lasted longer then concord!, "we had more players then concord" or "made better use of our money then concord". Warner bros and and Ubisoft have a lot to be embarrassed about. ubisoft especially with their pompous bluster deserves a roasting . Believing they were a cut above the rest of their competitors proclaiming they were AAAA developer/publisher and deserved accolades. When in reality they deserved to be scorned and laughed at.

But a game that was absolutely terrible to play by the AAA(A)? A little trickier as i can't think of anything that stood out as an unplayable mess of a game on the pc was so reviled and hated by all corners. So its down to biggest disappointments and mediocre awards and thats not all that interesting or easy to decide as it feels like the participation award for worst game. " No horrible games this year, Here <Game X>, you were the the lowest scored game so you get the award for worst pc game of 2024. you weren't terrible, you just came bottom because you were disappointing".

But worst publisher? We have a few contenders and Ubisoft would come top for their piss poor performance, negative news and general willful stupidity. Sony and Warner bros having honorable mentions.

 

[Frindis]

The last widely hated game I can think of is The Day Before. It was 100% a scam and got removed from Steam.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I’m interested in seeing their favourite FPS. I tend not to align with PCG picks as they like more intellectual games than I go for.

Best FPS 2024: STRAFTAT

Our favourite shooter of the year was look all the best custom lobbies rolled into one.

www.pcgamer.com

The last widely hated game I can think of is The Day Before. It was 100% a scam and got removed from Steam.

Does it count if it's briefly hated and then things start to smooth out, like Flight Sim 24?

 

[Colif]

Ubisoft put it off until February or they would have won hands down... AC: Insult Japan edition (I am sure thats its title)

they still trying to win

Ubisoft releases new Blood Dragon game... with NFTs

Not the video game debut Captain Laserhawk would've hoped for.

www.pcgamer.com

Guess they did say we need to be happy owning nothing. NFT is buying nothing... owning Ubisoft games they shut down after a few years is also owning nothing.
Its nice to know I wasn't only one who took message and stopped buying anything from them. AS I have better things to spend my money on than nothing,

 

[isleepinabed]

Best FPS 2024: STRAFTAT

Our favourite shooter of the year was look all the best custom lobbies rolled into one.

www.pcgamer.com

Bold choice. Was expecting S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 even if it's still a bit of a work in progress.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Ubisoft put it off until February or they would have won hands down... AC: Insult Japan edition (I am sure thats its title)

they still trying to win

Ubisoft releases new Blood Dragon game... with NFTs

Not the video game debut Captain Laserhawk would've hoped for.

www.pcgamer.com

Guess they did say we need to be happy owning nothing. NFT is buying nothing... owning Ubisoft games they shut down after a few years is also owning nothing.
Its nice to know I wasn't only one who took message and stopped buying anything from them. AS I have better things to spend my money on than nothing,

I could swear Ubisoft is actively trying to go under. And Yves wants to keep running the company if Tencent buys them!

 

[Frindis]

Does it count if it's briefly hated and then things start to smooth out, like Flight Sim 24?

Maybe in a rank for the briefly hated Steam game.

 

[Johnway]

Does it count if it's briefly hated and then things start to smooth out, like Flight Sim 24?

Well, technical issues aside it wasn't so bad so i guess it isn't worst game material and did get redeemed after fixing it. I mean, its not cities skylines 2 levels of disasterous technical issues. But hey, there's still time...

Perhaps we shouldn't just have one worst game catergory ever. Like the raspberry awards, we can have multiple categories. In this case i would add it to the "half raw christmas turkey" or technical fuax pas award.

 

[Colif]

I think best hope you have is to make them on the forums as I doubt some companies take kindly to top 10 worst games lists... I know I used to watch a YouTube channel that would highlight all the bad games and it was suggested to them to stop as advertisers don't like it.
It won't be so obvious on the forums.

Toxic positivity is only thing allowed... no calling games bad... call the audience bad instead... that is such a great working strategy, it works so well for TV & movies as well.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Best Sandbox 2024: Satisfactory

Take a lush, alien world. Turn it into a factory.

www.pcgamer.com

I am satisfied with this.

 

[Pifanjr]

Bold choice. Was expecting S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 even if it's still a bit of a work in progress.

Did you see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 won the Spirit of PC award?

Spirit of the PC 2024: Stalker 2

A PC gaming classic, back and better than ever.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[isleepinabed]

Did you see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 won the Spirit of PC award?

Spirit of the PC 2024: Stalker 2

A PC gaming classic, back and better than ever.

www.pcgamer.com

Yes indeed... and no question there. Well earned (even if what the "spirit" means to each of us might be a little different)

On the other hand I was expecting something different for RPG. This was a hot category this year I think. I was more inclined toward SMT V, Dragon's Dogma 2, or even something unexpected like Sandland or Dungeon Antiqua.
It's a safe choice, although the year was strong for this genre, I thought, and it was a gamble from Atlus that paid well.

 

[Zed Clampet]

PCG thinks it's keeping the "surprise" for Game of the Year as long as possible by putting the award for Multiplayer Game 2nd to last. Since a game can't win more than one award, you might be tempted to think that Helldivers 2 might not win GOTY 🤣

 

[Zloth]

If you get the print magazine, you've already known for some time now. 😉

 

[Zed Clampet]

If you get the print magazine, you've already known for some time now. 😉

Maybe if they start handing out game discs again, I'll sub.

You know, as tight as competition is, sending out a bunch of demos might help you out...if anyone actually has something to put it in.

 

[Zloth]

Maybe if they start handing out game discs again, I'll sub.

The latest edition had a disc! It looks like it's some sort of concert to promote some game I'm not interested in (War-something). Getting it to work with my current PC wouldn't be an easy task.

 

[Zed Clampet]

The latest edition had a disc! It looks like it's some sort of concert to promote some game I'm not interested in (War-something). Getting it to work with my current PC wouldn't be an easy task.

I bought an external player for $14.99 about a year ago so I could watch a television series I bought the discs for.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Game of the Year 2024: Balatro

Hands down the best game of the year.

www.pcgamer.com

I forgot Balatro was this year. The commenters at PC Gamer have lost their minds over this. They are definitely not impressed with the pick. Can't say I'm too impressed either.

This is like giving a commercial jingle the Grammy Award for song of the year. It sure is catchy to listen to, but song of the year? It's a bit insulting to all the other games.

 

[isleepinabed]

Game of the Year 2024: Balatro

Hands down the best game of the year.

www.pcgamer.com

I forgot Balatro was this year. The commenters at PC Gamer have lost their minds over this. They are definitely not impressed with the pick. Can't say I'm too impressed either.

This is like giving a commercial jingle the Grammy Award for song of the year. It sure is catchy to listen to, but song of the year? It's a bit insulting to all the other games.

I wasn't aware of the "only one award per game" rule.
I guess the choice is as valid as any other.. Although this isn't like Slay the Spire or Monster Train which basically had new gameplay mechanics. A succesful take on a classic and already established card game?... Did Wordle also win in 2021?
Even though Balatro was celebrated in various year end awards it didn't win other awards. Since a Playstation exclusive won most of the others, did they feel this would be the strongest PC game representative ? As a year when a lot of handheld computer consoles came up, maybe the ideal game for that sort of platform?...