Moises Taveras’ Top 10 Games of 2024 He Didn’t Have Time For

What’s up, chucklefucks? This could very well be the first time you’re bumping into me and my writing, so I figured introductions are due. The name’s Moises and I write about video games all over the place. I was most recently over at Kotaku, but have been in other places like Waypoint, Paste Magazine, and even at Giant Bomb’s sister site, GameSpot. I’ve had the misfortune (kidding) of being on the GB couch so a few may have even seen me take a leaf blower to the face, and for that, I’m so sorry.

That’s more than enough about me though. You’re here to read about video games, and I sure as shit played and loved a bunch of them. It’s the end of the year, so naturally, you’re looking for game of the year lists to either affirm your purchases and opinions, or hopefully point you in the direction of some interesting things you haven’t tried yet. However, it isn’t the very end of the year yet, and I’m not calling my personal GOTY picks till we’re in 2025. In the meantime then, you’re gonna get something a little different. Instead, you’re getting my top ten games I meant to get around to.

The criteria is simple: I either got to these games and didn’t play enough of them to rank, or I simply heard great things about them and desperately need to find the time to play them. Hopefully, the holidays will be kind to these games (and myself) and they can be slotted into my proper GOTY list come January. Till then, here are the best games I quite literally didn’t get enough of in 2024.

If you really want to know my taste in games, you don’t need to look further than Nine Sols. I love evocative art styles, challenging combat and puzzles, and narratives that perturb and push back on me. Some of my favorite games of all time, like Hollow Knight and Bloodborne, embody these tenets perfectly, and Nine Sols feels like the strongest contender for my GOTY based on how well it fits into that lineage. I love everything about it from the sound of a perfect Sekiro-like parry to the arresting blend of Asian history and mythology in its distinct sci-fi world.

Nine Sols seems like it did well enough, but it also flew under the radars of so many of my peers. I’m just as guilty of this; Despite picking the game up at launch, I’ve only really been getting to it now that it’s on Xbox Game Pass. Don’t be like me and sleep on this game, especially if you’re similarly waiting for Silksong to ever arrive.

I love weirdo fiction, making Pacific Drive a game after my own heart. In it, you’re the driver of a souped up station wagon which must make repeated trips through a dilapidated and abandoned stretch of the Pacific Northwest where weird shit happens. Supernatural phenomena and anomalies are abundant in this area, known only as the Olympic Exclusion Zone, and if that seems S.T.A.L.K.E.R-esque, boy do you have no idea what a ride you’re in for.

I only bristle against Pacific Drive because it is a survival game—a genre I don’t gel with save for very few exceptions—but it’s also got one of the most interesting ideas for a survival game because you matter significantly less than the car, which is the game’s real central character. You have to take care of it as if it was a part of you, and that means repairing it on the road or back at the garage from which you’ll launch your expeditions into the Olympic Exclusion Zone. As you pilot it, you have to weather forces beyond comprehension which will try to take you out, scavenge for materials on your run, and come back to upgrade the station wagon in the hopes that you can somehow engineer a way to escape.

I’ve never been a car guy, but in 2024, I began to drive (shoutout to my permit) and started to understand the thrill and perils of being on the road. Pacific Drive couldn’t have come at a better time then, but unfortunately, the game was overshadowed by a million and one massive RPGs which launched around the same time. Maybe now that things are quieter, Pacific Drive will have a real chance to shine. And hey, if you don’t find the time for this unique game, there’s apparently a television adaptation on the way.

I waited years for UFO 50, and when it finally got here, I had no time to play it. Since it launched back in September, I’ve regrettably found very little time to dive into its sprawling promise of 50 full-fledged retro games, but suffice to say, there’s a lot to see here. Even if I dropped everything right now and dedicated my every waking moment to UFO 50 for the next month, I feel like I’d barely scratch the surface of this remarkable, momentous, and beautiful thing. It’s not going to make my GOTY, but it doesn’t need to. Its existence is already a gift worth so much more than that.

So instead of carving out the time to play through it now, time I’m sure I will find over the months and years to come, I’ll share my favorite thing about observing UFO 50 in the world. So many colleagues whose opinions I cherish and look to for guidance and inspiration are enamored with it, but it’s been a real joy seeing random people online pick it up and fall in love with one of its many offerings. Someone’s new favorite game is just one of UFO 50’s brilliant micro-experiences, and then there’s a game replete with 49 other bold and charming titles like it. It takes a lot of love to make such a thing, and I’m so glad for it.

I don’t think I know what Caves of Qud actually is, but I do know that the stories I’ve seen of others playing it seem like the most enticing, ludicrous, and emergent narratives ever. Earlier this year, I previewed Dragon’s Dogma II and called it a phenomenal engine for player-led stories, and it’s been wonderful seeing that trend continue to pick up steam and go even further in games like Dwarf Fortress and now Caves of Qud, ironically two ludicrously long-in-development games which offer some of the deepest world simulation possible in games, and consequently thrust the player into rich worlds and narratives unlike anything else being one in games. Due to this complexity, Caves of Qud also appears like the densest possible game, but I’m trying not to let that deter me, and I hope it won’t deter you either. There are so many wonderful things in the world to behold if you just fight a little harder to find and cling to them. I think Caves of Qud might just be one of those.

This one’s personal for me. I’ve talked here and there about a distinct lack of Latine voices in games, so when Arco came around, I should’ve been all over it. Good or bad, this is exactly the kind of thing I’m frequently shouting about. And the thing is, I’ve previewed Arco before and absolutely loved its blend of turn-based and real-time combat. I fell head over heels for its Mesoamerican trappings, and I walked away from it wanting more. According to my colleagues that have gotten through it, I was right to because Arco seems nothing short of brilliant, and I’m so happy to hear it. Now, if I could just find the time so that I can see its brilliance for myself…

It’s so odd, I had so many reservations about this game, but never the studio making it. MachineGames gave us the modern Wolfenstein games, which I count among the FPS greats, so I more or less trusted the team. I just didn’t know what shape Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was going to take, and now that I hear it’s an immersive sim all about knocking out fascists left and right, I simply can’t wait to find the time—not to mention the space on my hard drive—to go on a globe-trotting adventure to rid the world of evil dipshits.

I don’t know what is enough of Animal Well. There’s a route that one can and should follow in order to roll credits on the game, but the appeal of this metroidvania is how deep the rabbit hole goes beyond that. The developer, Billy Basso, intended for Animal Well’s secrets to puzzle players for months and years to come, and there’s no telling what amount of it has really been uncovered so far. I know that for me, I’ve been avoiding chatter about the game to do my own secret-sleuthing, and while I’m real slow-going about it, I think taking this one slow and steady is going to prove to be the most rewarding path forward.

Dread Delusion often invokes two comparisons: the PS1 era and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Regrettably, my time with my PS1 was cut short, meaning I never really developed a fondness for the style and art direction of games of that period. And as far as Elder Scrolls, I’ve only ever played Skyrim—like 99% of the population—and never particularly connected with it and the larger series. So when I look at Dread Delusion, I’m not necessarily won over by the nostalgia that seems to have grabbed so many others. The absence of that fondness makes it even more tantalizing though, meaning it’s only a matter of time before I dive into its garish and dark fantasy world and find out what people love about that style and era of games so much.

Mouthwashing has already become a cult classic. Sometimes you just know a game’s got the juice because of the way that it just rots the brain of everyone who plays it. My feeds have been awash with out-of-context screengrabs that I have since identified as vignettes from the game, but also no one will actually tell me what the game is about. Instead, I’m constantly met with repeated pushes to see it for myself. It’s like 1000xResist all over again, and that more than lived up to the reputation, so something tells me Mouthwashing just might manage the same feat.

I’ve never played a S.T.A.L.K.E.R game, but I fell for that kind of experience when I first picked up the Metro series, specifically Metro Exodus. As I’ve already expressed earlier on this list with Pacific Drive, I’m a sicko for weird shit, and this series certainly popularized it in games, so when this now frequently delayed sequel was announced some years ago, my ears perked up at the idea of finally exploring the infamous Zone for myself in a new, and presumably more polished experience.

Accordingly, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is more polished, which is no small miracle given its turbulent development. It isn’t without significant—not to mention, endearing—jank, but it seems to still have the series’ penchant for emergent storytelling and immersive gameplay. It may have a nice new coat of paint on, but it’s still the same oddity it’s always been, and I’m really grateful for that. I think games keep trying to push forward and become something else, but some of the things it used to be were perfectly fine. And at a time where consolidation and trend-chasing is harming the industry, it’s wonderful to see something as unapologetic as S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 come about.

And because this is my own list, over which I was given free reign over the format, here are some smaller games that I’m sure some of you will find something to love about. Each of them is so stylish and distinct, and crucially, made by teams that don’t have infinite resources and could use your support to build more extravagant and special games. In short, play more indies, they’re good for your soul and they may just save the games industry: