As we head into the very end of the year, it’s time to look back on our favorite things about 2024, including all the brilliant anime, manga, light novels—and video games—that released this year. From brilliant remasters to brand-new worlds, and even a few sleeper hits, 2024 has been a great year in gaming, particularly for JRPG enthusiasts.
Without further ado, here is our take on the best video games released in 2024!
5. Unicorn Overlord
In recent years, Vanillaware have rapidly amassed a series of successful titles under their belt, with 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim probably the best-known title, selling over one million copies in the four years since its 2019 release. Their latest venture has taken the team outside the realm of mecha and into pure fantasy strategy, with the gorgeously-designed Unicorn Overlord.
Featuring hybrid real-time and turn-based combat, an in-depth class promotion system, and some of the most charming character designs in recent memory, Vanillaware set their sights firmly on destabilizing the influence of genre titans like Fire Emblem. The gamble was a success, too, reaching the million-sales milestone in just six months—eight times faster than 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.
Despite some lackluster moment-to-moment storytelling, the overall artistic direction and gameplay sensibilities squarely land Unicorn Overlord a much-deserved place in our top five games of the year.
4. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Regardless of its release format, there’s no denying that Shadow of the Erdtree represents a monumental amount of content, truly worthy of being called a game in its own right. The humility of FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki saw Shadow of the Erdtree quietly marketed as an ‘expansion,’ when in reality, the 40-ish hours of content is honestly an entire game in its own right.
Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t just “more” Elden Ring, either. The expansion introduced an entire new area, a rebalanced leveling system unique to this area, a staggering 83 named bosses, and breathed literal years of life into the Elden Ring challenge-running community. With new weapons that can be taken back into the main game, Shadow of the Erdtree both complements and expands Elden Ring in a manner that challenges players and critics to redefine their expectations of what “additional content” means.
Whether released as downloadable content, or as a standalone game, there’s no doubting that Shadow of the Erdtree has earned its place as one of the best video games in 2024.
3. Metaphor: ReFantazio
It might be easy to assume that Metaphor: ReFantazio is simply “fantasy Persona,” but Atlus’ newly-formed Studio Zero used every bit of their accumulated experience on the long-lived franchise to craft a completely-new intellectual property that takes the best of Persona’s blueprint and delivers a breathtaking, story-driven game.
With a sweeping narrative that holds a lens to our real-world understanding of politics, racial bias, and discrimination, Metaphor: ReFantazio unapologetically asks bold questions while taking players on an epic journey. Familiar, SMT-style turn-based combat combines with Persona-esque social links to pull together an addictive gameplay loop that’s kept moving forward by the imminent threat of the plot’s political stakes.
Metaphor’s gorgeous art, thrumming music, and engaging gameplay have remained firmly in our minds long after the credits rolled, and solidly earns Metaphor: ReFantazio third spot on our list.
2. Tsukihime: -A piece of blue glass moon-
Visual novels might normally be passed over by other publications, but here at Anime Corner, we’re dedicated weebs through-and-through. The English release of Kinoko Nasu’s rebuilt masterpiece, Tsukihime: -A piece of blue glass moon– is nearly perfect in every conceivable way. Painstakingly updated and revised from its original 2000 release, the first part of the Tsukihime Remake duology is a masterclass in character-driven storytelling.
Serving as a leaping-off point for the broader ‘Nasuverse’ of Fate/stay night and its sister series, Tsukihime: -A piece of blue glass moon- offers two main ‘routes’ with branching storylines. With completely redrawn artwork, updated text, and some tweaks to the storyline, Kinoko Nasu has convincingly proven that his writing acumen remains unchallenged, even two decades later—if anything, time has only improved his narrative skills.
Whether you’re a seasoned visual novel enthusiast, or a complete newcomer, Tsukihime: -A piece of blue glass moon- is a thrilling adventure.
1. Persona 3 Reload
Persona 3 Reload is, quite simply, everything a remake should be. An introduction for newcomers; a ‘welcome home’ for veterans. Stripping the original 2006 release down to nothing more than its story elements, Persona 3 Reload has been rebuilt in Unreal Engine 4, with completely new models and assets, additional scenes not featured in the base game or re-releases, and fully-voiced dialogue and cutscenes that make Persona 3 Reload the title with the most in-game voice lines of the entire Persona franchise.
But it’s not just the upgrades that make Persona 3 Reload worthy of the illustrious top prize. The delicate balance of social links and gameplay is perfectly complemented by the unflinchingly dark storyline. Forget Persona 5‘s naive take on students standing up to adults; Persona 3 Reload is a grim tale about death, its inevitability, and the cruel inequality with which death takes lives. From a gameplay perspective, players are always challenging themselves to avoid ‘dying’ in video games; having a story so utterly fixated on the inescapability of death itself is a burden that’s felt poignantly with the game’s final, gut-wrenching moments.
From the smallest of side quests to the weightiest of story beats, Persona 3 Reload is not merely a remake, but a fully-fleshed JRPG that showcases the very best that the genre can offer.
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