The big one. As it says, the Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters Game Of The Year 2024 award. The game we collectively believe to be the best released this year.
And here we are at the end of the awards feature. Every year, the collective team at Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters come down and build the ultimate list, a ranked Top 10 Games with numero uno being Game Of The Year.
Past winners: Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon (2023), Need For Speed Unbound (2022), Psychonauts 2 (2021), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Control (2019), Monster Hunter World (2018), Nier Automata (2017)
Game Of The Year Nominees
- Astro Bot
- Balatro
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Helldivers 2
- Indiana Jones And The Great Circle
- Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Satisfactory
- Tekken 8
- Zenless Zone Zero
How The Winner Is Decided (Deliberations Summary)
The deliberations this year went down rather smoothly, in that there were not much arguments and disagreements were had. Mostly due to tiredness, and one of the team members was sick.
But as spreadsheet list rearranging goes, it was pretty smooth sailing. The list pre-seeded with 11 games instead of 10 wasn’t a problem, we figured out the odd game out rather quickly.
The ranked list was from bottom to top, with games separately early which are locked in for the Top 5 and what are in what we call the Bottom 5 (#6-10).
Tekken 8 suffers from the fighting game curse as only one person at the team right now enjoys fighting games, and is not that big of a fighting game fan, so it stuck at #9. Though Satisfactory, a game barely spoken of throughout the awards, snuck in through at #10. The factory builder haven’t caught much buzz for its 1.0 release (and as a result, award eligibility), but the incredible game was thoroughly enjoyed during its Early Access period. One of the best automation games out there.
Unlike Ichiban’s last outing, which saw him soar up to his namesake ranking, Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth lands at a respectable #7, just above Indiana Jones And The Great Circle at #8.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a fantastic game, but none of us have that nostalgia for the original that would have buoyed its ranking higher up the charts. It landed as the top of the Bottom 5 at #6.
Zenless Zone Zero is a surprise. The free-to-play action game has got that good juice in its gameplay and a fun world to immerse in that it stands at #5 on the list.
The four other games, it’s a close race. At different point of times, this has been someone’s personal GOTY. Though Balatro has the strongest support in the room.
Between the two PlayStation Studios games, we have pushed the multiplayer shooter over the 3D platformer. Astro Bot is a fantastic rediscovery of what it is to play a video game, though the multiplayer innovations of Helldivers 2, in particular the ability to cause accidental mayhem via friendly fire, is something to celebrate. One of PlayStation’s multiplayer gamble sure ended up terrible, but Helldivers 2’s success made that gamble worth it for them. And fun for us either way.
Speaking of gamble, there was definitely a chance for Balatro to do the funny. In some cases it deserves an outright shot at GOTY. The idea of someone never hearing this, immediately calling out this as a bad pick, only to pick up the game and immediately rescind those comments are never not funny.
But we feel like in this troubling times, it’s important to highlight an important game.
Game Of The Year 2024, Gamer Malaya And Gamer Matters’ Top 10 Games Of 2024 (Ranked)
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Balatro
- Helldivers 2
- Astro Bot
- Zenless Zone Zero
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Indiana Jones And The Great Circle
- Tekken 8
- Satisfactory
Congratulations to Metaphor: ReFantazio, Game Of The Year 2024! A fantastic RPG on its own with new twists to the Persona-esque foundations, but its storytelling is what really punches it up this high to be Game Of The Year.
May its fantasy inspires others to create a better reality for everyone living soul in this world.
Check out the Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters Game Of The Year Awards 2024 hub for full list of awards.