Unlike last year I didn’t play any of my narrative games, despite my best intentions. Unlike with my end of the year music post I don’t usually make graphs for my end of the year video game posts, but if I did you would see that games 1-3 were played WAY more than any other other games I played this year. It was truly the year of Against the Storm, Cities: Skylines II, and Balatro. I don’t know too much about what 2025 will bring, but I am sure it’ll at least have a bit more of each of those three games. I would like to actually make a bigger effort to get through my narrative games this year, but I’m not sure how much that desire is worth when I consider that I didn’t play any at all in 2024. As usual, you can enjoy the YouTube video below that will have highlights of the games I played this year along with narration that matches the text below. After that are the images of my Steam Year in Review and, finally, my Top 20 overall games since 2011.

Games Played in 2024

1. Against the Storm (3 days, 14:52:39): I ended 2023 playing lots of Against the Storm and started 2024 addicted to it. In January I finally closed the Bronze Seal. I continued to play it often throughout the year and finally closed the Lead Seal in April. I was annoyed that it took me that long to realize that on the seal levels, the statues were pointing in the direction of the seal. Version 1.3 was also released in April, introducing some new features. In September the Frog DLC was released along with a new biome. This new content rekindled my addiction to the game. I finished the year without closing the Gold seal, but not for a lack of trying.

2. Cities: Skylines II (2 days, 22:43:24): Last year I mentioned wanting to wait until the pre-order DLC came out before playing more Cities: Skylines II. But delays kept coming, so I decided to play a bit more in Wantagh in January. Although I had been waiting for the Ports and Bridges DLC before starting a new city, in February I started my Milford County save. For the first time, inspired by City Planner Plays’ Magnolia County, I started thinking about my game in the context of connected neighborhoods rather than just one, ever-expanding city. Looking at things this way really changed the way I played and thought about expansion within the game. Eventually, the lack of content made my interest wane. Then the Economy 2.0 update got me back into C:S II. After another break came the Detailer’s updates and, finally, the release of the region packs. I’ve started 2025 excited to see how the game will evolve now that Colossal Order seems to have their mojo back.

3. Balatro (2 days, 9:24:13): This is the Poker-like rogue-like that took the gaming world by storm. Both myself and my wife got addicted to the gameplay. It was pretty simple to understand, but hard to master. It was also the first game that made me want to buy a Steam Deck so that I could play it on the airplane and on vacation. I think it’s impossible to describe why the game is addictive, but it’s hard to deny the call once you play.

4. Paper Mario (12:40:00): In March I got the Powkiddy RGB10Max3 and was looking for a game to play. At first I tried going back to some of the games I loved when I was young, but I’d already beaten those games. Then I started playing Paper Mario for N64. Man, I would have loved that game had it come out closer to when Mario 64 came out (early in the N64 lifetime). By the time it came out in 2000, I was prioritizing hanging out with friends and working part time jobs instead playing video games. It also didn’t help that we didn’t get any of the newer systems like the Playstation or Xbox. I hadn’t completely abandoned video games, but I didn’t really get back into them until college. By then I was playing on the Gamecube and PC. This game continues the feel and humor of the Mario RPG games. I find it hilarious in that Mario is teaming up with all sorts of baddies throughout the game, continuing what started in Mario RPG when he teamed up with Bowser. By the end of 2024 I was trying to beat Shy Guy’s toy box.

5. Wingspan (5:13:13): My brother, Dan, loves tabletop games. Not TTRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, but games like Ticket to Ride and Pandemic. In May Dan introduced me to the video game version of Wingspan, which he had as a physical version. After that the kids and I were very temporarily addicted to the game. It didn’t last too long, though. Dan set up some multiplayer games and I never got around to doing more than a couple turns. I think it’s the kind of game that rewards playing live (in person or virtually).

6. Poker Night 2 (4:00:00): Before discovering Balatro, I thought Danielle might like Poker Night 2, so I played a bit to introduce her to how the game worked (the video game, not Poker). I didn’t get much further than I’d been last time I played. She eventually collected all the items from the other players.

7. Spelunky 2 (3:09:03): Sam wanted to play adventure mode with me after watching me work on the 2023 GOTY video. Then the kids asked me a few times to play arena mode. As usual, it was fun to play, but I think I’m done playing on my own.

8. Cities: Skylines (2:33:34): In February I started Punk County, inspired by many Cities: Skylines creators who went back to the first game in the face of all the bugs and lack of content for Cities: Skylines II. I was enjoying expanding the city, but then all the missing C:S II content started coming and I never got back to the city.

9. Vertical Drop Heroes HD (1:51:23): As I said before, In January Sam saw me working on the 2023 GOTY video. In addition to Spelunky 2, he was reminded of Vertical Drop Heroes HD and wanted to play some more. He would ask again a few more times during 2024. Sometimes we’d made it to the end. Other times we’d die very early on.

10. Ultimate Street Fighter IV (1:32:49): At one point in the past I got a bunch of Street Fighter games as part of a Humble Bundle. I figured I should play those games, so I played a bunch with Sam. It was also a great opportunity to use my 8bitDo fighting stick remote.

11. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (1:15:00): As in years past, my Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gaming time came from playing with the family.

12. Mario Kart 64 (1:00:00): I played with kids to show them the best battle mode of all the Mario Karts. The kids agreed and played on their own for a while after this hour of destroying each other in very boxy 3D.

13. Across the Obelisk (0:55:00): Sam asked me to play with him one day. I didn’t find the game to be all that much fun, so I never played again after that.

14. Rocket League (0:47:58): In Aug the kids asked me to play. Once again on Extra Life Day they also wanted to play. Each time we play I just think about how much the handling really annoys me.

15. Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (0:30:00): As I mentioned in the Paper Mario section, when I first got the Powkiddy I was playing some games from when I was younger and this was one of the games I played.

16. Civ VI (0:18:46): This year was exclusively about playing multiplayer games with Dan and Dave. With Civ VII coming out in a month, I need to see if I can try and bring some of these games to a close soon.

Total Time for 2024: 10 days, 10:47:02

2024 Game of the Year

Two of last year’s contenders return in Cities: Skylines II and Against the Storm. Both games were so addictive I found myself wanting to play them whenever I had some free time. There almost wasn’t a month in which I didn’t play Against the Storm. With Cities: Skylines II I kept getting annoyed at the various bugs. It wasn’t until the second half of the year that the game was really starting to function as it should have on launch. It also started to get lots of interesting assets. The challenger is Balatro. Balatro was so addictive that it pushed everything else away for quite a long time. When I went on a business trip I was playing Balatro in the hotel after the conference. But once I stopped playing, I didn’t have that pull to come back. It wasn’t until December when I decided to make a push to defeat the final mode.

I decided to name Cities: Skylines II my game of the year. Although it had a rough start, I would find myself going to sleep thinking and dreaming about changes and improvements to the city. This never happened with Against the Storm or Balatro. I love simply following cars, buses, and trains around my cities in Cities: Skylines II. I always want to share my city planning ideas and cityscapes with others. I think it has the largest potential to the be game I’m still reaching for years from now.

Steam Year in Review

You can go to my Steam Year in review, but in case it eventually disappears, I’ve recaptured the image here:

Top 20 Games Overall (since 2011)

1. Civ V (13 days, 14:43:00) (no change in position) : I am almost certain this will eventually cede its position to Cities: Skylines II. I might do a campaign out of nostalgia, but with Civ VII coming out this year, I don’t imaging there’ll be much more Civ V on my rotation.
2. Civ VI (7 days, 22:40:27.262000) (no change) : I also think this will fall to Cities: Skylines II. I never got as hooked as with the earlier entries and Civ VII comes out this February.
3. Team Fortress 2 (5 days, 17:04:47) (no change) : It’s possible I jump back into TF2, but I barely play on any given year. I didn’t even do my usual Halloween game in 2024. Most likely it loses ground to other games below, like Cities: Skylines II.
4. Gwent (5 days, 4:10:22) (no change): I didn’t get back into Gwent in 2024. I don’t know if I’ll jump back in in 2025, but I’ll be so behind on the metagame that it might not be fun. Time will tell.
5. Cities: Skylines II (4 days, 15:01:08) (up from #12): With so many region packs still to come as well as the bridges and stations (or whatever it’s called) DLC, I will DEFINITELY play more C:SII. Really, the only limiting factor is that my computer is not beefy enough to run larger cities. This may eventually lead me to slow my pace with the game.
6. Against the Storm (4 days, 12:56:19) (up from #27): Despite my best efforts above, I cannot explain how addicted I was to this game in 2024. It continued to scratch that itch I have for base-building games. Combining the fact that as a rogue-lite the game slowly provides me with more bonuses and the fact that the developers keep adding new features, I think it will be a while before I’m totally bored of this game.
7. Stardew Valley (4 days, 0:42:48) (fell from #5): I think this will continue to fall unless I suddenly get readdicted to the game.
8. Spelunky 2 (3 days, 0:14:12) (fell from #6): As I have written before, I think I’m done with the game other than the kids asking me to play. The only thing keeping it from falling too far is that most of the games below it are games I no longer play.
9. Balatro (2 days, 9:24:13) (new to list): This game came out of nowhere to addict both myself and my wife (who was incredibly skeptical at first). It’s one of those games that doesn’t seem like it will be addictive until you actually play it. I don’t know when I’ll tire of the game, but probably not until I’ve finished beating all the modes.
10. Final Fantasy X (2 days, 9:00:00) (fell from #7)
11. Saint’s Row: The Third (2 days, 2:00:00) (fell from #8)
12. The Witcher (1 day, 23:00:00) (fell from #9)
13. Darkest Dungeon (1 day, 21:47:48) (fell from #10)
14. Cities: Skylines (1 day, 19:35:45) (fell from #11): I played a bit in 2024, but with all the improvements finally arriving on C:S II I don’t know if I’ll bring myself to return to Punk County.
15. Plants vs Zombies (1 day, 11:23:00) (fell from #13)
16. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (1 day, 4:30:00) (fell from #14)
17. Assassin’s Creed II (1 day, 3:30:00) (fell from #15)
18. Overcooked 2 (1 day, 2:30:00) (fell from #16): This game ALMOST had a change to climb higher, but when I went to play with the kids on my Linux computer in the living room the controllers didn’t work. Maybe in 2025…
19. The Baconing (1 day, 2:13:00) (fell from #17)
20. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (1 day, 2:00:00) (fell from #18)

Off the list since last year:

• Mass Effect 2
• XCOM: Enemy Within

Potentially making it onto list next year:

• Monster Train - Although I didn’t play it in 2024, I was thinking about playing it near the end of the year. It’s possible the release of other rogue-like deck builders (like Slay the Spire 2) in 2025 could make me want to play this one some more.
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - might make it if we continue to play as a family and new games don’t push it lower
• Vertical Drop Heroes HD - Sam does continue to ask to play it. It might make it up to #20.
• The Witcher 2 and Disco Elysium - I’m less confident than I was last year, but if I do finally get around to playing them, they’ll certainly rise into the top 20.

• End-of-Year
• Video-Game-of-the-Year