Images: Larian Studios, Creative Assembly, Remedy Entertainment
Good video games are timeless, so here are the ones that continued to keep us hooked this year.
Hundreds of new video games are released every year, each vying for the attention of gamers of different demographics and varying tastes. But there will always be a select few titles that every gamer holds dear to their heart, still getting playtime years after release and plenty of time already spent in the sun. The writing team here at GosuGamers wanted to give our flowers to the games that still have us hooked, so here are the games that we still love to play in 2024:
Total War Warhammer III
Release date: February 17, 2022
Platforms: PC
By Kurt Lozano
While Warhammer 40,000 was all the rage in the world of Warhammer this year – thanks in large part to the release of my personal GOTY pick Space Marine 2 – Warhammer Fantasy is still trucking on with Creative Assembly’s Total War Warhammer III. Even after over two years since its release, Total War Warhammer III remains an addictive sandbox game where Warhammer Fantasy fans can see all their favourite races and characters battle for survival in the game’s flagship Immortal Empires campaign.
In 2024, Total War Warhammer III saw the release of two DLC expansions – Thrones of Decay in April and Omens of Destruction earlier this month – plus two Free-LC Legendary Lords in Epidemius and Arbaal the Undefeated. All in all, players were given a total of eight new Legendary Lords to play as – including fan-favourites like Tamurkhan and Malakai Makaisson – alongside tons of new units and exciting campaign mechanics. And even after adding 100 Legendary Lords to the game, Creative Assembly can still add plenty more like Nagash and Thanquol to keep players hooked.
And while all these new Legendary Lords are fun to play, nothing beats booting up yet another Empire campaign as Karl Franz to conquer them all. SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS!
Alan Wake 2
Release date: October 27, 2023
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
By Timothy Raj Augustin
Alan Wake 2 isn’t a live-service game by a long shot, but this horror-survival game saw the addition of two story expansions and a free anniversary update in 2024, giving this writer plenty of reason to dive back into Bright Falls. Alan Wake 2 saw the titular novelist attempt to write his way out of an alternate dimension, a premise that its expansions used as a springboard for some truly out-there campaigns.
The first expansion, Night Springs, was released in June and explored an anthology of multiversal stories featuring returning characters from the game - one of them featuring Jesse Faden from Control! The second expansion released in October, The Lake House, cleverly used a crossover with Control to spin a rather damning yarn of what happens when art is made without soul - AI shenanigans notwithstanding.
Another free update was released in October, and added a bunch of new accessibility options for players to check out, like infinite ammo and other gameplay assists, along with DualSense support. If you haven’t played the game since launch, these expansions and gameplay updates make it well worth checking back into this already excellent horror game this year.
Satisfactory
Release Date: September 10, 2024
Early Access since: 2019
Platforms: PC
By Anna Bernardo
Satisfactory is a first-person, open-world factory-building game developed by Coffee Studios that finally left early access this year after being in that state since 2019. Playing the game five years after its official launch is still absolutely, well, satisfactory.
In Satisfactory, players are engineers dropped onto an alien planet with a mission to build massive industrial factories. In the game, players gather resources, automate production lines, and explore the planet to see what other resources can be collected or what processes can still be optimised.
On paper that sounds a bit boring, even if fans of games like Factorio already know better — but Satisfactory’s open-world is a sight to behold! Each area is so beautiful you can’t help but explore as much as possible. And while encounters with most alien creatures can be quite scary, some are quite cute and endearing enough to become your unofficial pet.
Also, there’s something… satisfying about building factories and understanding how things work — and then making them work better. There’s always some new resource to discover, a new system to create, and thousands of ways you can customise your factory’s production lines so it can look like the most futuristic creation ever… or the silliest factory-turned-theme park.
Before you know it, you’ve spent hundreds and thousands of hours, playing this game that is so... Satisfactory.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Release Date: August 3, 2023
Platform: PC, MacOS, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S, GeFORCE Now
By Jay Chan
If you haven’t watched or heard about Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke’s recent speech at The Game Awards, you are either living under a rock… or perhaps not the gamer you think you are. But if you did, you probably share the same sentiment as me.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is still, hands down, the shining beacon in the video games industry even over a year after its release in August 2023. The game is evidently made with love, by a group of developers who clearly wanted to play the game they made themselves.
When Baldur’s Gate 3 first came out, the first two Acts of the game were stellar. Everyone lavished it with praise, and rightfully so. It is immersive, the voice acting is top notch, the game is extremely replayable, and it introduced Dungeons and Dragons to a different audience (one that wasn’t watching Stranger Things).
Act III was another story though; the gameplay was buggy, there were performance issues, and some of the endings were not fleshed out as well as the players hoped for. But it didn’t matter, because Larian Studios kept releasing patches throughout the next year.
Seven major patches and an official mod support addition later, the game is now remarkably different from the one that was initially released, and in a good way too. To top it all, all of this was done for… zero cost to the consumers (cough, other game publishers, are you looking, cough). There was no paid DLC for a refined evil run. There was no paid DLC for anything!
And if you thought Larian Studios were done with the game (they said so themselves earlier this year), they just announced they are releasing a final update, Patch 8, in 2025 which will introduce 12 different subclasses and crossplay functionality!
Baldur’s Gate 3 is truly a standout, and its standards are not replicated anywhere else in the video game industry, nor will they be any time soon. Larian Studios and Baldur’s Gate 3 have undoubtedly won my adulation, and I am genuinely willing to give my utmost support to this game till the end of time.
P.S. It also helps that the game itself is just that good.
Stardew Valley
Release date: 26 February 2016
Platform: PC, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Android, iOS
By Arianne Blanco
Yes, Stardew Valley was released eight years ago, and yes, I played this game too late. I first stumbled upon the existence of Stardew Valley one fateful April day in 2023 when I purchased my first Nintendo Switch, and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve had 3 saves so far, accumulating a total of around 700 hours of playtime, and although the gameplay is simplistic, it’s incredibly addictive!
In Stardew Valley, you play as a burnt-out corporate worker (but honestly, it’s more like you’re a slave to the corpo gods, isn’t that relatable?), and in a bid to retain your sanity, set off to finally inherit your late grandfather’s abandoned farm in the eponymous Stardew Valley. Upon arriving, you’re given a very clear goal of what to do: revive grandpa’s farm, learn the ropes of becoming a farmer, and build a new, peaceful life in the small town alongside your new neighbours.
But there’s more to this game than tilling crops and raising multitudes of chickens, Stardew Valley is carried by a rich and immersive story thanks to the cast of colourful NPCs you spend your time with and learn about. Like any newcomer to a small and tight-knit community, it takes a while for the townspeople to warm up to you, but when they do, you’re treated with incredibly realistic, humanistic, and sometimes tragic backstories that will never fail to touch your heart. George Mullner, you cranky old man, you will always be my favourite villager.
There’s no telling when I’ll let go of my watering can. Stardew Valley released version 1.6 this year, four years after its last 1.5 update, introducing tons of new festivals, new dialogue, and other features that have refreshed the game with new and higher levels of addictive replayability. As I’m writing this, I’m waiting for the game to load on my Switch!
Crusader Kings 3 (with Roads to Power DLC)
Release Date: September 1, 2020 (Base Game); September 24, 2024 (Roads to Power)
Platform: PC, Xbox Series X/S, Playstation 5
By Tommy Makmur
Early in 2024, I was one of the doubters of Crusader Kings III's Roads to Power DLC. I wasn’t sure whether it would get me back to playing it again or not, as I already felt I had my fill with the game. On paper, it should improve everyone’s enjoyment of the game, but Paradox’s execution with previous DLCs greatly lowered my expectations for Roads to Power. The last time a Crusader Kings III expansion was significant for me was the Tours and Tournaments.
However, my expectations were shattered like the glass on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance music when Roads to Power dropped last September. The majesty of the Byzantine administration, the landless lord gameplay, and the family estates system made the Crusader Kings III's previously irrelevant features feel more immersive with how you build your dynasty.
I fell in love with the game just like I loved Crusader Kings II. For me, the expansion was on par with how Way of Life, or for some Holy Fury, transformed the game and just weaved almost every feature available to be more vital in building your legacy. Furthermore, Roads to Power also gave you a choice on how you want to continue your game. You could choose to inherit your title or play as other family members with different situations, such as a landless lord, or a different kingdom altogether.
Overall, the Roads to Power DLC changed how I perceive Crusader Kings III and made me return for one more legacy.
