Game of the year 2024

[mama]

I was enjoying Indiana Jones and got near the end but encountered a game breaking bug which wouldn't let me proceed. On reflection, even without the bug, while some of the puzzles were engaging it all became a bit Farcry formulaic to me. So no, not game of 2024.

 

[Vayra86]

Patently false. I've spent zero extra dollars on the game since initial purchase and have unlocked every single premium warbond. At no point are you ever in a position that you have to spend more money on unlocks. The premium currency is available in-game through normal discovery, and it's extremely easy to farm. I'll be sad when it dies, no doubt, because the game itself is incredibly tight and fun to play. I'll miss playing it when it's gone, but I won't be missing any extra dollars.

You gotta do some serious farming for that. Unless you play non stop you are not going to unlock everrything. Its not as bad as battle passes you can 'earn back' but certainly on the same M.O.

These MTX are not unlike other F2Ps. Stop fooling yourself.

 

[Fouquin]

You gotta do some serious farming for that. Unless you play non stop you are not going to unlock everrything. Its not as bad as battle passes you can 'earn back' but certainly on the same M.O.

These MTX are not unlike other F2Ps. Stop fooling yourself.

I had everything unlocked by level 75 and just have 2500SC sitting in my account, ready to buy the next two full warbonds that come out. By the time those come out I'll have even more. Farming is dead easy with a group, it takes literally an hour or so to make 300-400SC. That's $4USD per hour, sure, but we're just playing the game and making $4/hr. Ever since I hit 1000SC surplus I don't even have to farm, just play normally 4-5 hours a week and it stacks up.

It's really not that complicated or difficult. Of all the MTX schemes in 'live service' games, HD2's is quite possibly the most easy to ignore in its entirety. Just play the game.

 

[Venturya]

All Xbox/PC game pass games are for me GOTY that's about 100 + games and I like em all...

 

[kapone32]

Patently false. I've spent zero extra dollars on the game since initial purchase and have unlocked every single premium warbond. At no point are you ever in a position that you have to spend more money on unlocks. The premium currency is available in-game through normal discovery, and it's extremely easy to farm. I'll be sad when it dies, no doubt, because the game itself is incredibly tight and fun to play. I'll miss playing it when it's gone, but I won't be missing any extra dollars.

In my experience you had to go to the menu screen on ship to install the Upgrades you earn from doing Missions. The quickest way to level up in Helldivers 2 is to do about 3 Missions back to back and the upgrades do make you more lethal.

 

[Vayra86]

I had everything unlocked by level 75 and just have 2500SC sitting in my account, ready to buy the next two full warbonds that come out. By the time those come out I'll have even more. Farming is dead easy with a group, it takes literally an hour or so to make 300-400SC. That's $4USD per hour, sure, but we're just playing the game and making $4/hr. Ever since I hit 1000SC surplus I don't even have to farm, just play normally 4-5 hours a week and it stacks up.

It's really not that complicated or difficult. Of all the MTX schemes in 'live service' games, HD2's is quite possibly the most easy to ignore in its entirety. Just play the game.

You're still fed with a constant FOMO to collect em all (including peer pressure as you see what other people are using) and the ingame currency is still adapted to motivate players to buy SC in the store. That's why the mechanism is in the game. If you're level 75, you've got over a hundred hours in the game, at the very least. That's a lot of time to unlock things, compare it to any other game, its a bigger time investment than a full completion of Baldurs Gate 3 with almost every optional quest you meet along the way. Its five full time work weeks.

You're fooling yourself into thinking this isn't a F2P monetary model in a paid game bud. They call this phenomenon cognitive dissonance.
Simple thought experiment: why is it in the game if it wasn't meant to make money on? Wake up man.

In my experience you had to go to the menu screen on ship to install the Upgrades you earn from doing Missions. The quickest way to level up in Helldivers 2 is to do about 3 Missions back to back and the upgrades do make you more lethal.

That's another currency to collect. All these currencies are not there to make the game better, they're there so you keep playing and farming, so you eventually will buy something. Its the same M.O. as every other live service game out there, and to make matters worse, this game is B2P.

The fact you can earn it more 'quickly' (lmao... even with a perfect setup it takes many evenings... that's not quick at all compared to any SP game even with hundreds of collectibles that you can complete in under a hundred hours) is an abstract. The collection time is carefully tweaked to get an X amount of potential extra MTX sales. The whole game is adapted to it. Even Helldivers 2. The perception of it being 'quick' is just because every sub optimal method of collection is perceived as excruciatingly slow. So what does it result into? Zerg/farm train group setups that spend whole evenings to run across maps to grab all those currencies. Such fun.

 

[wolf]

Personally I'm going to call out Hellblade 2 Senuas Saga.

The first was similarly a very immersive story experience that sat with me long after the credits rolled.

Saga was visually breathtaking, immersion off the charts with many 'holy crap' moments, especially in character animation but geometric density/reality and lighting were A+ too, compelling storytelling with some beats that I could not believe the physiological reaction they invoked in me.

I can readily concede that the game is so linear and narrow, it's just not going to be a lot of peoples speed, but hot damn I gotta give it props.

Nothong else nearly as compelling but I'm currently enjoying a good dose of marvel rivals and space Marine 2. Very good games.

 

[Fouquin]

You're still fed with a constant FOMO to collect em all

FOMO requires that you can "miss out" in the first place. The warbonds do not expire on a timer, there is nothing to miss out on. Unlock at your leisure, same as all of the normal progression mechanics.

That's a lot of time to unlock things, compare it to any other game, its a bigger time investment than a full completion of Baldurs Gate 3 with almost every optional quest you meet along the way.

This is a false equivalency and shaky argument at best. One of these games is a fixed narrative game with a generally targeted completion time, the other is a multiplayer scenario based game. You were better off comparing to Deep Rock Galactic considering that's another game with permanent upgrade trees that take many hundreds of hours to unlock, with scenario based multiplayer gameplay, but without a premium currency option.

If you are trying to argue that the game does not respect the players time, fair enough I suppose. If you don't enjoy engaging in the game than the unlocks may seem tedious. Though this is the same for DRG. The unlock progression in that game is more intense than HD2's, but you cannot buy your way past it. HD2 and DRG also share balancing around the primary equipment that every person starts the game with. Your default set of equipment is equal to or even sometimes preferable to any unlock you may achieve along the way, once the novelty of the unlock wears off. The statistics of that equipment is the core balancing point, so nothing you buy is going to be drastically better, only different situationally.

You're fooling yourself into thinking this isn't a F2P monetary model in a paid game bud. They call this phenomenon cognitive dissonance.
Simple thought experiment: why is it in the game if it wasn't meant to make money on? Wake up man.

It is a monetary model in a paid game, and I never once suggested it wasn't. What I said is that is is easily ignored because it's incredibly easy to unlock everything without participating monetarily; which I have done and will continue to do.

The game is fun, the unlocks are easy, the progression is well paced. This is not as complicated or sinister as you are desperately trying to make it. I'm sorry you do not like that the game features an optional monetization scheme. If that kills any and all enjoyment of the other dozen things HD2 does well, than it's just not the game for you I'm afraid.

 

[kapone32]

That's another currency to collect. All these currencies are not there to make the game better, they're there so you keep playing and farming, so you eventually will buy something. Its the same M.O. as every other live service game out there, and to make matters worse, this game is B2P.

The fact you can earn it more 'quickly' (lmao... even with a perfect setup it takes many evenings... that's not quick at all compared to any SP game even with hundreds of collectibles that you can complete in under a hundred hours) is an abstract. The collection time is carefully tweaked to get an X amount of potential extra MTX sales. The whole game is adapted to it. Even Helldivers 2. The perception of it being 'quick' is just because every sub optimal method of collection is perceived as excruciatingly slow. So what does it result into? Zerg/farm train group setups that spend whole evenings to run across maps to grab all those currencies. Such fun.

I am confused. Playing a Game is now farming? I have not touched that Game in months as as soon as Space Marine 2 launched it became an after thought. Using a SP Game that takes under 100 hours could be Torchlight or Titan Quest. I am sure though that Path of Exile felt like much more of a grind to me than Helldivers 2. Exoprimal may have influenced my like for Helldivers 2 as I played the snot out of that to the point where some DLC was released for Outriders and I can't even do the first mission. I think about it sometimes but I am currently addicted to City Skylines 2 as that is full of what makes PC Gaming great with CIty packs released late in 2024. Th truth is that Gaming was fing great in 2024. If you are into Sim Racing and mods you will love AMS2. AC Evo just launched in Alpha and has better car physics than all of them.

 

[Vayra86]

I am confused. Playing a Game is now farming? I have not touched that Game in months as as soon as Space Marine 2 launched it became an after thought. Using a SP Game that takes under 100 hours could be Torchlight or Titan Quest. I am sure though that Path of Exile felt like much more of a grind to me than Helldivers 2. Exoprimal may have influenced my like for Helldivers 2 as I played the snot out of that to the point where some DLC was released for Outriders and I can't even do the first mission. I think about it sometimes but I am currently addicted to City Skylines 2 as that is full of what makes PC Gaming great with CIty packs released late in 2024. Th truth is that Gaming was fing great in 2024. If you are into Sim Racing and mods you will love AMS2. AC Evo just launched in Alpha and has better car physics than all of them.

Its very simple, its a B2P with MTX that are more than cosmetics = Bad deal. Its literally one OP piece of gear away from P2W, which is still not major as you arent PvPing, but lines are certainly crossed! Game great, but monetary model utter junk. Im not denying you can spend many hours unlocking all the things. Doesnt change calling a thing what it is. If the game is fun and keeps you playing, that still doesnt make a difference in it being the same thing: a B2P that still wants more money from you. It also happily employs every trick in the dark pattern playbook to keep that train rolling. Dont deny whats obvious just because you like it

PoE comparisons should really hit home but not the way you think... because you are literally deciding what you pay there and it could be zero ... and the actual gameplay elements like gems and gear ARE NOT MTX. But in Helldivers 2, they are. The difference couldnt be greater. Might wanna attune that radar a little...

 

[kapone32]

The truth is you don;t like the Game. That takes nothing away from the fact that Millions of people felt the way I did about the Game. I never bought anything with money. Marvel Heroes taught me that you don't spend money on MMO Games.

POE? Yes some people like it and it was massively popular. However I did not enjoy it the way I enjoyed Torchlight, Grim Dawn or Titan Quest. After a while the Game felt like a real grind to me and the skill tree overwhelmed my senses. At the same time I have a friend that still plays it. I did not spend one cent on that or Diablo 4.

It is just one Game in a growing Ocean of Games. If it was released 2 months later my Game of the year would have been Grendizer. Not because it has shump and Star Fox levels. Not because it has every special move from the show but because I watched that Anime in Grade 8 every morning before school. Games are Games. There is plenty of other things in this space to be gnarly about but Helldivers 2 is not one of them.

 

[Vayra86]

The truth is you don;t like the Game. That takes nothing away from the fact that Millions of people felt the way I did about the Game. I never bought anything with money. Marvel Heroes taught me that you don't spend money on MMO Games.

POE? Yes some people like it and it was massively popular. However I did not enjoy it the way I enjoyed Torchlight, Grim Dawn or Titan Quest. After a while the Game felt like a real grind to me and the skill tree overwhelmed my senses. At the same time I have a friend that still plays it. I did not spend one cent on that or Diablo 4.

It is just one Game in a growing Ocean of Games. If it was released 2 months later my Game of the year would have been Grendizer. Not because it has shump and Star Fox levels. Not because it has every special move from the show but because I watched that Anime in Grade 8 every morning before school. Games are Games. There is plenty of other things in this space to be gnarly about but Helldivers 2 is not one of them.

Nah that's the issue I have with it precisely. I like the game. I dislike the fact its a live service game with all the shitty tricks in the book, except 'a bit less so' and then its all well? They call that a sliding scale, and I've already found how that can cause issues. Already, content packs are constantly putting new things up for you to farm for. That's fine if its fair game with ingame currency. There is no need to add an MTX-currency here, if it is all nice and unnecessary anyway, right? And of course, the reason you only get 10 SC when you pick up a drop on the map, and its not possible to earn the next 1000 straight out of your bond is directly related. Its tweaked such that there is a flow of income, even if YOU don't pay it, its being paid.

The PoE comparison is there just to show the differences in approach and how much of a better deal it really is. F2P... totally optional purchases that have no impact on gameplay versus B2P with so-so optional purchases because they DO influence gameplay and you're constantly fed new challenges and new weapons are certainly going to give more options. Anyway. I'll drop it, we see this differently and that's fine.

You're right though, just one game in the vast ocean, but we're here identifying what in the ocean is most interesting... I just found myself skipping over Helldivers 2 more often than not because of its online service characteristics. The matchmaking that does fail a lot. Etc. I don't have a fixed group to play with either, so 'efficient farming' isn't a thing here. That changes the perspective, in a big way wrt the presence of MTX
The missions themselves though yea, an absolute blast every time. Its pretty awesome. It would have been better without the store. Let's move on to the other GOTY's...

 

[harm9963]

# 1 God of War Ragnarök ,
# 2Hellblade II
#3Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Still have games to finnish , to many to count .

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle , comes in at 4th for me , could change , still have more games to finish .

 

[Artas1984]

And Im like okay... what a snorefest

My mistake! Alan Wake 2 was back in 2023... When it comes to 2024 year, i will give my opinion after some 3 years, when i will buy all the top 2024 year games on steam -75 % of their initial price (LMAO).