You might know me as Cool Judge Jake from Fire Escape’s game of the year episodes. But in all likelihood, you don’t know who I am at all unless you frequent GameSpot.com. I don’t know why I was asked to write one of these for Giant Bomb other than being minimally involved in some of their antics. Anyway, here are my favorite games from 2024.

10. Indika

This one is extra fun if you carry any religious guilt with you! Or maybe it’s less fun. Either way, it’s impressive.

9. Silent Hill 2

This one is extra fun if you carry any guilt with you whatsoever! Or maybe less fun. Either way it's impressive.

8. Balatro

Yeah, man. It’s really good, and you probably already know that.

7. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring is one of the greatest games of all time and Shadow of the Erdtree is one of the greatest expansions of all time. Fuck the final boss, though. I spent 10 hours on that guy (pre-nerf patch!!!) and literally collapsed when I beat him. Thank you, Miyazaki.

6. Hollow Knight

Happy I finally played this one (thank you Dan Ryckert for really pushing me over the edge to give it another try). Not much to say about Hallow Knight at this point. Can’t wait for Silksong in 2025!

5. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

It’s got that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion energy to it and I’m not going to explain what I mean by that.

4. Persona 3: Reload

Between Metaphor ReFantazio and this, Atlus was on a roll this year. And while I think both are fantastic, I adored the look, feel, tone, and characters of Persona 3 Reload (except Ken). Those 100 hours flew by so fast.

3. Mouthwashing

This game is so fucked up, but not in like a Terrifier way. The more you think about it, the more fucked up it is, all while telling a compelling story about responsibility and the lack there of.

2. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

As the biggest Indiana Jones fan under the age of 40, this game was everything I could have possibly wanted out of an Indy game and so much more. When they stopped making Indiana Jones movies after the Last Crusade (thanks for the joke SkillUp), I thought we’d never get a good Indy story again, but Machine Games has some of the best writers in the biz and it shows. I had the stupidest grin on my face the entire time. Also, Troy Baker killed it.

1. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

You don’t need to like or be good at math to play and enjoy this puzzle game and if another person tells me that I’m gonna lose it. Bust out a notebook and put your thinking cap on. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks for this list!

If you liked this list, make sure to check out fuckjake.org

Wait, people have been like "ugh math" for Lorelei? There's barely any math in the game! The notepad/book is 100% necessary though, and I did take some pictures with my phone for easy reference. Honestly, the thing that bugged me most was that hitting the B button didn't take me back one menu layer.

Here's to 2025!

Here's for 2025

....

I'll see myself out.

Dan is such a great ambassador for Hollow Knight. What a champ.

I had no idea about this Indika game. I am most definitely intrigued, thanks Jake!

It's also nice to see Silent Hill 2 and Persona 3 Reload in the top 10 — remakes that lived up to expectations.

Such an interesting list. I've played only Balatro and Stalker. I'm not a big gamer, but those games I liked a lot. Until the end of the year, I also want to try Indiana Jones and Hollow Knight.

I hope next year I'll have more time to play, because I already have a few games in mind which I want to try, but not this year definitely.