Best Games of 2024: Yvonne's Choice

Funny, when I read my last year’s Best Games of 2023, it started out with the fact that we moved the site to a new home. And this year, I can start out by telling you that I am moving house in real life. Which is a whole lot more stressful, I can tell you! It’s a good thing, though, that games are always there to find some fun and relaxation.

Now we are here at the end of 2024, and it’s time for another Best Games article. Looking back on the ones I reviewed for LadiesGamers and the ones I played just for fun, it’s time to tell you which ones were my favourites. Let’s get going!

Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town

Seriously, never in my life would I have thought that Shin chan would star at the very top of my favourite games lists. That was one I didn’t see coming. When I told my daughter I was playing a Shin chan game, she was indignant: “You never let me watch that series because you didn’t like Shin chan!” Apparently, it still stings after 20 years. She is right, though; I didn’t let her watch it because of the jokes that really weren’t for her age group. But I must say, spending quite some time with the cheeky little boy now made me warm up to his character.

So why is Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town a simulation adventure you should try, and why did I give it Two Thumbs Up? First, this game isn’t for gamers who want to be bowled over by fast-paced action or striving for bigger and better goals. Instead, this is a game to curl up with on the couch and see Shin chan’s world with a kind of childlike wonder. The game is full of details, little adventures and bigger mysteries. Some of the interactions made me smile, and I was never left frustrated or in a rush. I took my time uncovering it all, and it was a grand journey!

NAIRI: Rising Tide

The Nairi games are puzzle adventure games, where the characters, the environment and the deep and well-written storyline. Often, in games, the story is thrown in as a sort of hindsight, but not in NAIRI: it’s almost like the gameplay element is there to tell the story.

We follow Nairi, whisked away from the city’s rich quarters to the grittier ‘poor district’ for her safety after her parents’ mysterious arrest in the first game, Tower of Shirin. Once wrapped in luxury, Nairi was thrown into the bustling streets with the city’s more notorious characters. Alongside Nairi is the unlikely hero Rex, a rat whose knack for history and research made him more of a scholar than a former bandit. With his deep knowledge and connections, Rex aids Nairi in her daring quest to save her parents.

Aside from clicking on everything in sight, Nairi: Rising Tide has other ways of making the gameplay entertaining. There is so much attention to detail, you get instructions and hints in the form of beautiful drawings. Nairi gets a tool belt so she’s able to combine things to make new items to solve a puzzle, there’s a little chick who gives you hints for coins and more.

What makes Nairi: Rising Tide so special? Although I know I’m looking at pixels, I really cared for Nairi and Rex and what happened with them. The game creates an atmosphere that is very special, for example, during one of Nairi’s quests, Nairi gets a stamp with which she can give approval to possible candidates for the resistance called The Rising. The fact that I was hesitant at first to try the stamp on characters for fear of getting them in trouble tells you something about how real these characters become.

Coral Island

Coral Island is a farming and crafting sim that started as a Kickstarter project, which has been out since October 2022. Although I supported the Kickstarter I had waited for the Switch version. As that took a long time coming, I opted for the Steam version instead and thus was very late to the party! And in a way, I was glad about that, as all the kinks were ironed out.

Coral Island includes all the staple elements that make a good farming and crafting sim. And when exploration and some fighting are added to the mix of farming, crafting, mining, fishing, socializing and romancing, you have a well-balanced game.

What makes Coral Island special for me is the addition of the underwater world. One that you have to clean up as soon as you earn a diving suit. When you find a solar orb and activate it, the effects are truly spectacular. A beautiful ray spreads over the ocean floor and revives the corals in reach. Lovely! I gave the game our highest rating, and it is one that I’ll double-dip for if it ever arrives on the Nintendo Switch.

Distant Bloom

Distant Bloom has many elements that attract me to a video game: exploration, crafting, managing seeds, and turning a barren landscape into a lush environment. All of this is set against an unusual scene of an alien planet and an alien crew.

You see, after a long journey through space, you and your team from Atra 2 arrive on an alien planet, ready to establish a new home for your species. But this planet looks very different from what you saw from afar, and the landing doesn’t go at all as planned. The pods with your teammates in deep sleep have ejected and are scattered over the planet. So even though you are only the Assistant, it seems up to you to find them and get things moving! With the help of KEi.Ki, a little robot following you around everywhere.

You have to get busy to make the grim landscape into a thriving planet again, and it’s very addictive to see things turn beautiful. The game had some hick-ups in the first version, but the developers have kept working on it. Once again, a game for which I would double-dip to get it on my favourite handheld, the Switch.

Another Code: Recollection

Another Code: Recollection combines two games that many of you may know from the previous generation of Nintendo devices. Originally developed by Cing (a studio that is no more, alas), Another Code: Two Memories on the DS (2005) and Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories on the Wii (2009) have been merged into one experience. This combined version boasts revamped 3D visuals, new voice acting, puzzles and music, offering a seamless adventure experience. Also, a hint and navigation system has been added, so you’ll never be stranded in your adventure. As a newcomer to the series, I was excited to explore Ashley Mizuki Robbins’ journey.

Like with Nairi: Rising Tide, the storytelling was what made this game so amazing for me. It focused on Ashley’s mysterious journey, which is the heart of the game. It made me eager to progress, so much so that I sometimes forgot to discover everything in the game and just stayed focused on the main mystery. The puzzles offer an enjoyable challenge, and they’re accessible enough for all players, thanks to the handy Dual ANOTHER System and the newly implemented hint system.

So even though this is an older game, it’s hard to beat Cing’s mastery of creating narrative-rich experiences!

One More Mention!

So there you have it, my favourites for this year that got my highest rating. There were many more good ones, of course, but I have to make a choice here! One thing that I want to mention as well is that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game that has such a revival as Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. The new paid version, Pocket Camp Complete, has given me many hours of wonderful gameplay since its release at the beginning of the month. I love it that all gameplay elements that were locked behind a subscription in the free version are unlocked now, but I do miss the interaction with friends a lot. So, if they would only bring that back, I’d be a happy gamer!