GamesBeat writer Rachel Kaser’s Top 5 Games of 2024

We’re about to draw the shroud over 2024 — a complicated year that gave us excellent games but which I fully expect to be remembered as “troubled” by the industry at large. We’ve had over 14,000 layoffs, a withering market for three aging consoles, ballooning subscription costs and the (partial) collapse of the live service genre. But we have the first few weeks of January 2025 to eulogize the year’s events. Instead, it’s that time: Time to talk about our favorite games that we enjoyed the most this year.

Dean’s already revealed his favorite games for the year… so now it’s my turn. Just to be clear, these games are the ones that I personally enjoyed the most and found to be the most sublime overall experiences. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a longer list at some point in 2025 — my list of games played in 2024 isn’t as long as it was last year (though in related news, I’m better rested than I was one year ago), but for now, here are my top 5 games of this year.