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Overall Game of the Year 2024

Overall Game of the Year 2024 - Article

by Evan Norris , posted on 21 January 2025 / 7,169 Views

From the beginning, 2024 had its work cut out for it. The previous year, 2023, was one of the best in a long time, thanks to a plethora of unusually great games that included Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate III, and Resident Evil 4. In the end, 2024 failed to surpass its predecessor, but it turned out plenty of extraordinary experiences in the process.

Among those experiences are Astro Bot, a 3D platforming tour-de-force that proves PlayStation studios offer far more than just cinematic third-person action games; Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, an action-RPG that builds upon the successful framework of Final Fantasy VII Remake, a GotY contender itself; Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which did what Hollywood could not and made Indy compelling again; The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, a different and joyfully experimental take on the evergreen series; and Metaphor: ReFantazio, yet another in a long line of deep and engaging role-playing games from Atlus.

     

The Shortlist:

   

Astro Bot

    

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

 

    

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

    

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

     

Metaphor: ReFantazio

        

      

      

      

The Runner-Up:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is certainly more polarizing than its predecessor Final Fantasy VII Remake, but that didn't stop it from placing second in this year's GotY honors. And it's easy to see why. The sequel masterfully continues and deepens the story of Remake, while simultaneously enhancing combat and shifting toward a more expansive open-world format stuffed with things to do and see. Its size, scope, graphics, and fighting mechanics have endeared it to a new generation of gamers and its fresh take on legendary characters and moments has successfully tapped into the nostalgic vein of an older group that grew up on the first PlayStation system. No matter your age or allegiance, it will be a tough wait for part three.

    

    

   

The Winner:

Astro Bot

The Astro Bot IP has been building toward something monumental for a while now. The first game, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, made a big splash in the world of virtual reality six year ago, but remains fairly niche due to being tied to a technology that's not for everyone. And the second game, Astro's Playroom, demonstrated astonishing ingenuity but ultimately felt akin to a proof of concept for something bigger and better. Well, that bigger, better something has arrived. It's 2024's Astro Bot, one of the finest 3D platformers ever made and one of the very best reasons to invest in a PS5.

Astro Bot is remarkable for many reasons. Its graphics are polished to perfection; its art direction is whimsical and expressive; its music is catchy and evocative; its controls are impossibly nimble; and its PlayStation fan service is unrivaled. But what makes it so exceptional, and what allows it to compete with the best the genre has to offer, is its sense of playfulness. The game is constantly inventing, surprising, and amusing. It refuses to stay in one place for too long, always eager to show the player a new idea, gadget, mechanic, or location. It's simply bursting at the seams with creative energy.

Because of this, and for all the other technical and artistic areas in which it excels, Astro Bot is this site's pick for the Overall Best Game of 2024.

  

    

Previous Winners

   


The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

  


Elden Ring

  


Metroid Dread

    


The Last of Us Part II

  


Resident Evil 2

  


God of War

  


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  


Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

  


Rocket League

  


Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

  


Super Mario 3D World

  


Journey

  


The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

  


Mass Effect 2

  


Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

  


LittleBigPlanet

  


BioShock


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31 Comments
The Fury (on 21 January 2025)

As one of the later lists to appear, good to see Indie getting a nod, I hope by the time next year rolls around many publications remember it even if it did release in 2024. Anyway, good list and worthy winner too.

  • +5
xMetroid (on 23 January 2025)

Astro deserved, but in retrospect their was a pretty weak year. No big wow third party game, Nintendo transitioning to Switch 2 and had no big games, PS had like 2 first party games and MS like 1 ? Hopefully PS and MS output can burst a little more in 2025 while we also expect Nintendo to release more with Switch 2 coming out.

  • +4
LivncA_Dis3 (on 21 January 2025)

Thank God Wukong isn't in the short list I really don't get how it's gets nominated with low scores

  • +4
coolbeans (on 21 January 2025)

It's funny for me b/c out of all the Sony-published titles that've won our GOTY Astro Bot and LittleBigPlanet are the least disagreeable choices; and yet, I'm still a bit deflated that Helldivers II didn't reach the final round of voting. Perhaps that speaks to how much the experience swayed me before Arrowhead's continuous rounds of nerfs over the year? I don't know.

It's also interesting to see how VGChartz (staff & community) respond to GOTY-winning platformers in general. Because I'm willing to bet none of them rank as the most mechanically-sophisticated you can find from their respective release year, yet the other elements surrounding the platforming itself elevate their status to greater heights.

  • +3
psychicscubadiver (on 21 January 2025)

I figured the winner and runner-up would be those two games. I wasn't sure which order they'd come in, but I knew it was a two horse race this year.

  • +2
KLAMarine (on 21 January 2025)

No Wukong?

  • +2
coolbeans KLAMarine (on 21 January 2025)

Balatro and Black Myth didn't reach garner enough votes for the shortlist.

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/248817/vgchartz-official-game-of-the-year-awards-2024-results-thread/4/

  • +5
firebush03 (on 25 January 2025)

woooohooooo congrats Astro (and Final Fantasy)! 3D platformer has broken the glass ceiling. :) Maybe Mario could have a shot? Galaxy was only one award from winning in 2007.

  • 0
NathanSSSS (on 22 January 2025)

Good game, good choice

  • 0
CaptainExplosion (on 21 January 2025)

I'm not mad that Echoes of Wisdom lost, because at least it lost to a good game instead of a bleak and boring NaughtyDog project.

  • 0

I'm glad it got in instead of something like Balatro.

  • +4

I didn't even know what Balatro was until it was mentioned on this site the other day.

  • +1
Zeltaz13 (on 21 January 2025)

Astro Sweep is real

  • 0
killer7 (on 21 January 2025)

My GOTY is EOW. If GOY gets GOTY next year we know how biased the industry is. I would really be interested what happened if Astro Bot got ported to the Switch (2). Suddendly it won't even be runner up anymore i guess.😉 If it was not on Playstation nobody would care...

  • -7
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Machina killer7 (on 21 January 2025)

I guess you missed the list of our previous winners at the bottom, showing a wide range of exclusive and multiplatform winners.

  • +5
killer7 Machina (on 24 January 2025)

I know there are also Nintendo games winning GOTY. But i think that some users behave very childish when it comes to GOTY: If there is only the announcement of a PS5 exclusive game so many people shout GOTY without even having it played. If it was on Xbox the game would get trashed. There is so much fanboyism in games as they do not seem to be important anymore, just the plattform they release. I bet everything, that if Astro Bot got a Switch 2 release, nobody would praise it or shout "GOTY". The reactions would be like: Aha ok another Mario Clone... I am sorry but thats the feeling i have...

  • 0
NoLimitVito killer7 (on 21 January 2025)

Offt lay off from too much salt its not good for your health LOL

  • 0
killer7 NoLimitVito (on 24 January 2025)

I just said for me Astro Bot is everything but no GOTY! And it proves that Sony is in DIRECT COMPETITION with Nintendo! On a Nintendo system te game would have been called "kiddy" but on Playstation its the hot shit for everyone... cherry picking nothing more...

  • +1
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