Video games are challenging, not because they are inherently difficult but because they take time.
By time, I mean hours of your day. Some video game stories take a while to find their stride, and if you can only assign them minutes of your evening after work, you may abandon them before they deliver on their promise.
Others require hours of grinding before you can begin to understand and appreciate the mechanics. Fortunately, you have a long break to delve into some of the year’s most exciting titles.
‘Astro Bot’ earns a mention here because it caused a whole heap of controversy when it received the Game of the Year award at the 2024 Game Awards. ‘Astro Bot’ is a 3D platformer.
The objective is to traverse colorful settings littered with complex obstacles in the shortest time possible. It is most enjoyable when you play with other people, competing to secure the best time. ‘Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’ is an expansion of the original masterpiece, not a sequel.
But the game is still worth the investment because it offers ten additional hours of content. Expect new locations and bosses that expand your understanding of FromSoftware’s most innovative world to date. Naturally, if you have not played the original 2022 game, you should start there.
Fighting games don’t do anything for me and the ‘Tekken 8’ clips I have seen have not convinced me to give it a shot. That said, ‘Tekken 8’ has received rave reviews for the latest additions to Tekken’s suite of characters and the tweaks Bandai Namco has made to the combat system.
‘Horizon Forbidden West’ would have been the best game of 2022 if ‘Elden Ring’ had not debuted the same year. Some gamers are still discovering the title for the first time two years later, which is fortunate because the complete edition is finally out and it includes the Burning Shores expansion.
Technically, you can finish the game in 30 hours, but only if you stick to the primary story. If you explore every nook and cranny, you can easily squeeze a hundred hours out of Guerilla Games’s masterpiece. ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2’ came under fire when it debuted in March, with players criticizing the clunky camera, subpar AI-controlled characters, and the frame rate.
And yet, every gamer who completed the title continues to rave about it, praising the challenging quests and compelling stories. This game delivers the most rewarding fantasy adventure of the year.
The Guardian described ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ as having the dynamic action of ‘Devil May Cry’ and the balanced difficulty of a FromSoftware game. Game Science adds a new spin to the conventional ‘Journey to the West’ tale.
After wowing audiences with snippets of the gameplay in previous years, most gamers agree that ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ met and even exceeded expectations, which would explain the many accolades it eventually won, including ‘Best Action Game,’ and ‘Players’ Voice’ at the 2024 Game Award.
Final Fantasy is the gift that keeps on giving. Following a string of successful remakes, ‘Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’ continues that pattern by delivering another exciting saga for long-time Final Fantasy fans to sink their teeth into.
The main story alone will take you 80+ hours to complete. That does not even include the sidequests and mini-games. The fun of RPGs like ‘Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’ comes from their scale. You can wander aimlessly, finding random adventures along the way to keep you occupied for hours on end.
And that should do for now. I encourage you to experiment. Buy multiple games. Assign each of them a day and dedicate the rest of your holiday to the one you like the most.
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