This year too the TGM Awards are back and for the 2024 edition we have selected what we think are the best video games of the year.
I honestly don’t like repeating myself, but this year too it’s impossible not to celebrate the video games of 2024 without thinking of the thousands of people who lost their jobs. If last year I wrote that 2023 was “the worst of the best years for video games”, this year it was no better. On the contrary.
According to aggregator VideoGameLayoffs, layoffs in the video game industry in 2024 amount to approximately 14,600. Over 4 thousand more people than those who lost their jobs in 2023. A real massacre that has hit the industry, partly due to the far from favorable economic situation, but also due to short-sightedness and obtuseness of certain managers incapable of reading the market and acting accordingly.
We cannot gloss over the great failures of 2024
And this is also why, alongside the great successes of the year, celebrated in the nominations that you can read below, it is not possible to overlook the great failures of 2024. Yes, because what is about to end was a year of stratospheric successes, but also of sensational thuds. One of them is Concord: the worst flop ever in Sony’s gaming history, closed and forgotten two weeks after launch. Or even Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, whose support didn’t even last a year. Not to mention XDefiant, which also lasted a few months. Or all those canceled projects, like that of Humanoid Origin which led to the closure of the studio founded by Casey Hudson; or even the difficulties that many famous studios are going through, such as DON’T NOD, Tequila Works and Bungie, just to name a few among many.
It is also for this reason that we have decided to continue with the tradition of nominating for studio of the year – our “We love these guys” – only those developers who have behaved in the best way towards their employees, although it must be said that in a couple of cases these studios are part of giants that have cut many jobs. And unfortunately, I add, it is currently news that 11 bit studios, among the candidates for the TGM Awards, has also had to fire some of its employees.
That said, below you will find our nominations. The process of comparison and voting among the members of the editorial team is still underway, so to discover the winners we’ll see you next week. As usual, you’ll discover our game of the year and the rest of our picks after Christmas.
TGM AWARDS PER GENERE
Action
Action games in the broadest possible sense, as long as the player’s nerves are at least as crucial as the brain.
Helldivers II
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Indiana Jones e l’Antico Cerchio
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
V Rising
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Role Playing Game
The role-playing (and action) games that we like, dense, deep and adhering to the genre in terms of stats, attributes but also in terms of simulation.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Beyond Galaxyland
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Tactics and Strategy
The reborn genre of turn-based tactics or even the best examples of real-time strategy: dominance of the brain, in short.
Unicorn Overlord
Balatro
Songs Of Conquest
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Frostpunk 2
Mechabellum
Platform e Action Plaftorm
Here are the titles that still put a tradition ahead of everything – that of platforms – among the oldest in video games. Together with the puzzles, but also without.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Ultros
Berserk Boy
Turbo Kid
Animal Well
Astro Bot
Horror
Action, narrative or horror survival games are more alive than ever, and indeed include many different meanings of anxiety and fear.
The Outlast Trials
CONSCRIPT
Silent Hill 2
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead
Still Wakes The Deep
Crow Country
Dynamic Adventures
Between respect for the more “enigmatic” past and the desire to tell stories of the present, the best dynamic adventures on the market.
Indika
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Thank Goodness You’re Here
The Crimson Diamond
Neva
Sports, simulations and fighting games
Engines, blows and balls, without prejudice to the arcade or simulation essence: the important thing is to follow your vocation well.
Tekken 8
WWE 2K24
Top Spin 2K25
MotoGP 24
Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero
EA Sports FC 25
Virtual Reality
Quality and experimentation in a sector that is growing slowly but constantly, both on a recreational and stylistic level.
Batman: Arkham Shadow
Assassin’s Creed: Nexus
Alien Rogue Incursion
Arizona Sunshine 2
Metro Awakening
Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice
SPECIAL TGM AWARDS 2024
The Games Machine D.O.C., best of PC Games
The best game for TGM’s platform of choice, not necessarily exclusive but which honors the Master Race for various reasons, including technical or stylistic ones.
Mechabellum
Indiana Jones e l’Antico Cerchio
Songs Of Conquest
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Frostpunk 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
RetroTGM Champion
The new prize linked to the magazine’s special insert on the “present of retrogaming” could not be missed: new games and crazy conversions for ancient platforms!
Spelunky (c64)
Dataman (NES)
Tony (c64, Amiga)
Roguecraft (Amiga)
The Lost Pixel (Amiga)
Black & White (ZX Next)
Tell me a story
The value of narration ahead of – or on par with – any other characteristic, despite passing through different systems of rules and visual presentation.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Indika Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Metaphor: ReFantazio Indiana Jones and the Ancient Circle Neva
Music to Play
Games that excel at soundtracks, or soundtracks that excel more than the games themselves.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Indiana Jones e l’Antico Cerchio
Frostpunk 2
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Stendhal syndrome
The games in front of which you are dazzled by the crazy artistic or technical level, for large or small productions.
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Indiana Jones e l’Antico Cerchio
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
We love these guys
The best studio of the year according to the editorial staff of The Games Machine. We had to make several sacrifices due to the situation the sector is facing.
MachineGames
Simogo
11 bit studios
GSC Game World
Team Asobi
Atlus Studio Zero
Best of the Future
The game not yet released from which we expect the most impressive performance in the not too distant future, presumably by 2025.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
Avowed
Monster Hunter Wilds
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Ghost of Yotei
The Games Machine GOTY
The jury prize for The Games Machine.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Indiana Jones and the Ancient Circle Astro Bot STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Metaphor: ReFantazio
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