2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More

People who focus on the business side of games predicted that 2024 would see fewer AAA releases than 2023 and more layoffs throughout the industry. Sadly, they were right on both counts. It’s rough out there for people who make games.

But the dour cloud that’s currently hanging over the industry is all the more reason to celebrate the developers that did great work last year.

The year’s biggest success story might be the most surprising, as Team Asobi’s Astro Bot collected the most “Game of the Year” hardware from journalists and players, as well as three of the four major awards (The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, and the BAFTA Games Awards). But there was plenty to celebrate from 2024, with a dozen other games earning at least one “Game of the Year” accolade and dozens more appearing further down the lists.

That cohort includes LocalThunk’s Balatro (which won “Game of the Year” at the GDC Awards), Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Atlus’s Metaphor: ReFantazio, and MachineGames’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

The latest adventure starring everyone’s favorite archeologist is an interesting case, as it released so late in the year that many outlets (including The Game Awards) were unable to properly evaluate it. Will its recent launch on the PS5 give a boost to its 2025 GOTY Scoreboard crusade? I wouldn’t rule it out, but it’s possible that Nintendo’s shiny new Switch 2 will steal this year’s spotlight.

But that’s a conversation for a year from now. For now, you should definitely check out more of last year’s most-acclaimed titles after the break.

Astro Bot

Balatro

Black Myth: Wukong

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

College Football 25

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon’s Dogma II

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Helldivers II

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Silent Hill 2

UFO 50

Unranked Lists

 
More “Game of the Year” lists from 2024 will be added as I find them (or as they happen), but here is a pretty good overview of what’s been honored by critics and players so far:

2024 GOTY Scoreboard (Expand)