Thursday, December 26, 2024

Best Entertainment Of 2024

This was an interesting one for me to write this year. On reflection, I played way more games than I ever have this year. I got into gaming YouTube and really followed the whole trajectory of the industry.

Nintendo (alongside Apple) now ranks as one of the companies I track the closest.

My consumption of new music and television dropped off. It's potentially something for me to pick up again next year. Although I have to say I've enjoyed the way in which I spend my downtime these days; which is by usually picking up my Nintendo Switch.

As a reminder for how this works I pick my favourite:

  1. Game
  2. Album
  3. Movie/television show

and this is not based on release year meaning it doesn't have to be released in 2024. I base it on what year did I discover and consume the entertainment.

You can view my past selections here: 2022 and 2023.

Here is my list:

  1. Game of the year: The Messenger
  2. Album of the year: A Hard Days Night
  3. Movie/television show of the year: My Neighbor Totoro

Picking game of the year was an absolute nightmare in a good way. I'm still not sure about my decision. I played some absolute bangers this year for the first time. These included: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

These are classics that were just so much fun to play.

I also learnt more about what kind of games I like. I like a Metroidvania.

Hallow Knight, Animal Well, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown are all incredible "modern" Metroidvania experiences. Especially Hallow Knight is just an exceptional game that I couldn't put down for a few months.

I loved Tunic which was a Zelda-like with some aspects of a Soulslike. The bosses and general game play loop were very memorable.

The reason I picked The Messenger was:

  • If I had game development skills this is the kind of game I'd want to make, retro art style with some Metroidvania style game mechanics
  • It has awesome platforming that reminded me of Celeste with fantastic boss fights and a fun vibe
  • The banter with other characters in the game is super quirky

A close second is Hollow Knight. I'm so excited for Silksong.

There were three albums that I "discovered" this year and went deep into them. Two of these albums obviously I knew of but had never truly gone through every song.

  1. Oasis: Definitely Maybe
  2. The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night
  3. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman: Self Titled

This year I dug deeper into the 1963-1965 Beatles catalog and it's fantastic. A Hard Day's night has some corny love songs from this era of The Beatles but it also has some cracking acoustic guitar songs with really interesting chords.

I'll let you in on a secret: a song from A Hard Days Night will be me and Emma's first dance song.

I also developed an appreciation for Help!

Some more random honourable mentions game music: Stardew Valley and Ocarina of Time.

The movie and television category was something I lost touch with this year. Playing games really took over.

I watched House of the Dragon season 2 and thought it was okay.

Probably what captivated me the most was watching some Studio Ghibli movies.

I'd seen Spirited Away but I'd never seen My Neighbor Totoro.

The animation and colour in all Studio Ghibli movies is just phenomenal. There's a reason why people cherish all the movies so much.