One of the best PS5 video games in 2024

It’s been a little bit of a tough yr for PlayStation exclusives and the studios that make them. Whereas The Last Form was usually lauded as a wonderful concluding chapter to Future 2’s present story arc, Bungie was confronted with every kind of setbacks together with canceled tasks and layoffs. Elsewhere, Sony’s Firewalk Studios launched Harmony, unlaunched it, then closed completely inside the area of some months after the hero shooter failed to realize traction in a glutted market.

That mentioned, PlayStation nonetheless got here by this yr with a slate of wonderful video games that may hopefully display that there’s an urge for food for extra than simply live-service shooters. 

XDefiant, Foamstars, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Harmony — 2024 has been suffering from the bones of live-service shooters that got here, went, or are limping together with little fanfare and even fewer gamers. However Helldivers 2 was one thing particular. It might be the sport’s humorous over-the-top tackle political propaganda, the builders at Arrowhead Recreation Studios totally leaning into the bit, or the common content material updates together with the brand new Omens of Tyranny replace that launched in early December. However Helldivers 2 managed to be the one live-service multiplayer shooter this yr (that doesn’t have Name of Responsibility within the title) that has the juice to compete in opposition to the large eternally video games like Apex Legends and Fortnite. 

FromSoftware has managed to maintain the Elden Ring get together going with the discharge of Shadow of the Erdtree. The DLC is huge, filled with ass-beating enemies and a lot scrumptious lore, all happening over a map that’s a lot greater than what director Hidetaka Miyazaki known as “the dimensions of Limgrave.” Really, Erdtree feels extra like a straight-up sequel to Elden Ring than a mere growth of it — which might be what Elden Ring Nightreign is.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard took 10 years and a bunch of strife at BioWare to launch. There was no assure that it could stay as much as the popularity the collection has established — but it surely did. Veilguard is exemplary of the Dragon Age collection’ strengths: characters you come to look after and selections that devastate each them and also you. Layered on high of that may be a significantly detailed ability tree with a loot system that feels unusually like a Diablo recreation. Veilguard’s fight empowers you to customise your class to a degree of specificity I’ve by no means seen in a Dragon Age recreation earlier than, making it an fascinating iteration of the usual warrior, rogue, mage RPG system. There was a priority that Veilguard can be overshadowed by final yr’s Baldur’s Gate 3, and whereas Veilguard doesn’t appear to have that form of runaway success, I’m happy as hell that, in two years, I obtained two fantastic, life-absorbing RPGs.

Last Fantasy VII Rebirth continues Sq. Enix’s try at adapting one of many biggest RPGs of all time to go well with trendy consoles and gaming audiences. This second entry within the nice FFVII trilogy undertaking takes over because the gang escapes Midgar into the broader world, and rattling what a large world it was. Each side from the unique Last Fantasy VII has been expanded and totally fleshed out, both with extra story or with a flowery new minigame. Talking of minigames, Rebirth is much less concerning the occasions of FFVII Disk 2 and extra a Queen’s Blood supply system, proving that Sq. Enix is actually only a collectible card recreation developer in disguise.

Remaking a basic recreation is all the time a tough factor. A developer wants to aim to seize what made the unique so beloved, whereas additionally updating it for brand spanking new audiences. And that battle is very fraught once you’re coping with a genre-defining recreation like Silent Hill 2. However Bloober Staff did a surprisingly strong job with this remake, making certain that the idiosyncratic survival horror expertise appeared and felt at residence on trendy platforms, whereas nonetheless retaining many of the scares and tone of the unique. The remake is a bit cleaner than the PS2 recreation it’s primarily based on, but it surely’s additionally much less irritating to play. And most significantly, it nonetheless principally nails these foggy vibes.

There’s by no means been a recreation I’ve immediately clicked with greater than Astro Bot. Going again to my first demo with the sport at Summer time Recreation Fest 2024, I knew this had one thing particular. Astro Bot is a well-crafted platformer that has gamers touring by the galaxy to search out the scattered items of a PS5 spaceship and its stranded crewmates. Although it pays tribute to the video games of PlayStation’s 30-year historical past and options actually neat homages to their gameplay, Astro Bot can also be a love letter to pleasure. Each side of its design — from its music to its sound results to its vivid and cheerful graphics — is a reminder that there’s nonetheless a lot love on the planet that aches to be found. Astro Bot was my recreation of the yr from the second I rolled credit, and its GOTY win at this yr’s Recreation Awards was genuinely-earned.