The 23 games I played with my kids last year (And the 87 I played without them)
Some surprising new favorites for the kids and some deep time sinks for me.
In 2007, I started marking the end of the prior year by publishing a list of all the video games I played in the preceding 12 months.
I’ve changed my approach since then, especially this time, as I look back at the 110 (or so) video games I played in 2024.
Today’s list is divided into shorter lists. First, there are the 2024 games–and some older games–that I played with my son and daughter in the past year. The twins both just turned eight and have been gaming with me since 5 ½, though only on Switch until we added a second platform this year (guess why!).
After the list of games I played with my kids is the rundown of games I played alone. I’m excluding any that aren’t out yet and that I only played for work. I may have forgotten a game or two as well. That tends to happen.
When I started making these lists, as a young reporter for MTV News, I was trying to make a case for finishing games. I was distressed that the finales of too many games went unseen. I would do my part to normalize the act of getting to the end of what we’re playing. That first list, published in early 2007, was 102 games long, and I marked off the 21 games I had “finished.” Half Life 2: Episode 1! Chibi Robo! Suikoden V! And so on.
By 2017 (269 games played in 2016; a second straight year of not getting to Bloodborne) I dropped the bit about completing games. I switched to recommending my favorites. That seemed more useful for readers.
After writing my 2019 run-through, I took a break from these lists. But I have brought it back now, thanks to the urging of Polygon editor-in-chief Chris Plante. (He said he liked them! I think he wasn’t joking?)
I hope you’ll find some interesting games below. I think I found some hidden gems. Please also let me know what I’m missing, what the kids might like, which games I should give more time to and so on. And, yes, it’s silly that I played 70 hours of a game I didn’t love when there was so much else to play.
A caveat: Via my work, I got access to most of these games via free review copies.
And if you are in a rush: Scroll to the bottom for my nine favorite games of 2024!
New 2024 games I played with my kids
Another Code: Recollection (Switch) — Our biggest surprise of the year…the first half of this “recollection” is a beautiful 3D remake of a 2D mystery game released on the DS in 2005. I was a little worried this game was too grown-up for my kids. Teenage protagonist Ashley Robbins explores an old mansion, trying to track down her missing dad while solving puzzles and tracing a family tree that had several branches clipped by early deaths. The interactivity of the mystery hooked them, there was only one gunshot and my daughter later told me that she learned from the game that daughters eventually become disappointed with their dads. Uh.. educational! We wound up loving the game even before we got to the collection’s latter half, a remaster of the second, longer but inferior Another Code that was first released on the Wii in 2009.
Astro Bot (PS5) — The kids’ first PlayStation game and one of their favorites of the year.
Botany Manor (Switch) — a plant mystery game that I dug more than the kids did.
Cat Quest III (Switch) — One of our favorite co-op games.
Just Dance 2025 (Switch) — Responsible for getting Blackpink’s “Pink Venom” forever stuck in my head.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch) — Better than decent, but less than what we’ve come to expect in our three years of playing Zelda games together. It’s our least favorite, ranking below Tears of the Kingdom (my son’s favorite), Link’s Awakening remake (my daughter’s top pick), Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword HD. In this game, Zelda copies “echoes” of objects and enemies, then deploys them to solve puzzles and defeat foes. It’s a great concept we would have enjoyed more, if selecting and using echoes wasn’t cumbersome and if we were impressed with more than one of the game’s dungeons (just the one on the mountain).
Lego Horizon Adventures (PS5) — We’ve had an okay time playing co-op.
Little Kitty Big City (Switch) — The kids love being a cat that can knock people’s cell phones from their hands.
A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars (Switch) — An expansion to one of my daughter’s favorite games.
Mario vs Donkey Kong (Switch) — An early 2024 fixation that long since faded.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain (Switch) — We liked this adventure about delivering packages via flying broomstick, but dropped it and need to return.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Switch) — This speedrun compilation is probably the only way the kids can stomach the NES Zelda or Metroid. And it’s the first time I’ve re-experienced Zelda II since the 1980s.
Princess Peach Showtime (Switch) — The kids’ favorite playable Peach transformation in this game: pastry chef. Please give us a full-scale cake-decorating game, Nintendo.
Stitch (Switch) — Fun puzzle game.
Sticky Business (Switch) — A sticker-making simulator that didn’t really click with them.
Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch) — The board game part stokes too many bad feelings, but the mini-games are mostly a joy.
Older games I introduced to them
Katamari Damacy Reroll (Switch) — I first tried this all-time great with them when they were six, but the dual-analog controls were too confusing. At age seven, they got into it and loved rolling everything up. They loved it so much that we went on to play…
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie (PS5) — Soooo good, and eventually enough Katamari for them.
Games from previous years that we kept playing in 2024
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) — Almost exclusively played this year for catching horses, visiting stables to swap new horses for old, and, most recently, for upgrading horses (Update: While I was writing this, we also revived our first dead horse.)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) — A perennial go-to until Mario Kart 10 is finally released (We agree that MK Tour = MK 9, yes?).
Unpacking (Switch) — My daughter played through it through at least four more times this year, sometimes calling me in to help. But I could not convince her to try Black Star mode.
Vampire Survivors (Switch) — The newish adventure mode didn’t hook us, but the kids did enjoy playing the Among Us level.
WarioWare Move It (Switch) — We cannot get enough of the Megagame Muscles mode and thankfully haven’t pulled any muscles speeding through it.
Games from prior years that I started in 2024 (without the kids)
Against the Storm (2023, PC) — Fun strategy game but kind of hard to read the screen on Steam Deck.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR (2023, Meta Quest) — My only VR game of the year.
Control (2019, PS4) — I’ve wanted to start this one for years. Kamala Harris’ Presidential run finally gave me a reason to (she’s in the game!).
Final Fantasy VII (1997, PSOne) — Yes. It took me a while. I could only afford an N64 while I was in college, so I missed this one! The 2024 release of FFVII Rebirth sparked an idea: I’ll play the original and the remake games in parallel. I’m still working on it; I most recently finished the Wall Market section in original and in Remake…
Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020, PS4) — See above.
Match Factory (2023, mobile) — I wanted to see why this was such a big hit for Take Two.
Monopoly Go (2023, mobile) — Got hooked for one intense month.
Pseudoregalia (2023, PC) — I’m so glad I got a nudge to play this spectacular indie 3D platformer.
Warframe (2013, PC) — Played it for article research, and, sorry, I don’t think I have the time.
Games from prior years that I went back to (without the kids)
Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023, PS5) — Finished it. Pretty, enjoyable but I’d finished its predecessor, AC Valhalla, interested in a part of Mirage protagonist Basim’s life that Mirage doesn’t cover.
Destiny 2 (2017, Xbox Series) — I doggedly caught up with the game’s sci-fi soap opera right up to the events leading into its 2024 expansion The Final Shape. I then put it down and fell hopelessly behind again.
Elden Ring (2022, PS5) — Got to Lyndell’s capital city, then put it back down…for now?
Shinsekai Into the Depths (2019, Switch) — The hideous beauty of this summer’s sleeper Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess sent me back to its lead creator’s previous, visually sensational work.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (2019, Xbox One) — MachineGames’ newest first-person anti-Nazi adventure, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, was so fantastic it made me wonder if I’d been too dismissive of its previous one. I learned last month that some post-release patches make Wolfenstein: Youngblood more appealing to play. My brief December 2024 return was promising, so it’s back in my queue for 2025.
The rest of what I played
1000 X Resist (PC) — Humble brag that I played this acclaimed story-driven sci-fi game too early, before some game-improving patches, including the addition of a map for the game’s confounding hub. I still need to finish it.
After Inc (mobile) — Discovered the game existed at 8 AM on its launch day, played it until 9:30 AM, requested an email interview with developer at 9:54 AM, got replies at 10:32 AM, published an article about it that afternoon.
Animal Well (PC) — A great game about discovery, and one of the most impressive displays of svelte game construction that I’ve ever experienced.
Arco (PC) — Beautiful, pixelated role-playing adventures in fictional Mesoamerica.
Arranger (Switch) — A clever adventure in which you slide the ground beneath the protagonist’s feet, though that concept wore out its welcome by game’s end.
Balatro (PC) — A poker-styled roguelike that deserves all of its praise.
Ballionaire (PC) — Pachinko roguelike… need to play more.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (PS5) — A ghost-hunting adventure set amid the Salem Witch Trials. Made a great first impression but was released when I was busy with too many other games.
Bingle Bingle (PC) — A roulette-styled take on Balatro, more or less. I preferred the poker version.
Black Myth Wukong (PS5) — Only on chapter 3; not sure what to make of it yet.
Bloodshed (PC) — Vampire Survivors as a boomer shooter. Sampled it during Steam Next Fest.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Xbox Series X) — Heard the campaign was good, started it, got distracted.
Captain Laserhawk: The GAME (PC) — Played this Web3 Ubisoft game to report a story. Got to buy an NFT with my own money to do so. Anyone jealous? No?
Cataclismo (PC) — Another good concept–build castles with Lego-like bricks and defend them–that clashed with my preference to play PC games on Steam Deck
Children of the Sun (PC) — Connect-the-dots, but with an assassin’s bullet.
Clickolding (PC) — The year’s best-named game? But it glitched during the finale; been patched since.
Creatures of Ava (Xbox Series X) — An eco-conscious open-world game about saving alien wildlife. I was going to play it with my kids, but was unsure what the game’s message might be. I didn’t have enough time to play it to vet it for them. But I plan to.
Cryptmaster (PC) — A dungeon-crawler powered by the words you type. Loved the bit I played. Need to get back to it.
Deep Rock Galactic Survivor (PC) — Vampire Survivors but with mining.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Xbox Series) — Spent 70 hours playing through its main quest, its side quests, and slaying all of its dragons and can’t even say I loved it. A compulsively playable game with several character arcs I was determined to see through (Death-fearing Emmerich’s was my favorite), even though I had never been into Dragon Age and was bummed by The Veilguard’s simple puzzles.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 (PS5) — Enjoyed it for five hours, but got sucked into other mega-games.
Dungeons of Hinterberg (Xbox) — This is an impeccably designed adventure about a woman on vacation in the Alps who spends her afternoons exploring dungeons and her evenings making friends, as she attempts to figure out what’s happening in one strange town. The game’s dungeon design rivals what has appeared in recent Zeldas. This one greatly over-achieved.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) — See earlier.
Flappy Bird (mobile) — Played the crypto version for reporting research.
Frostpunk 2 (PC) — Sampled it on Steam Deck, waiting for the console version.
Hades II (PC) — Sampled it on Steam Deck, waiting for it to exit early access.
Harold Halibut (PS5) — An adventure game that was too slow for my taste.
Hauntii (Xbox Series X) — Enjoyed the demo of this starkly-rendered ghost adventure, but wasn’t drawn into playing much more.
Helldivers 2 (PS5) — I didn’t start playing this online shooter when it seemed like the rest of the gaming world was; then could never find the right moment to jump in.
I Am Your Beast (PC) — Sampled this murder speedrunner that reminded me of Bulletstorm in all the best ways.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Xbox Series X) — Didn’t like the first playable scene nor the last; loved everything in between.
Infinity Nikki (PS5) — I sampled this free-to-play dress-up action-adventure game to size up whether it’d be good for my daughter, who has been seeking fashion games or some similar virtual Barbie type of experience. The moment I saw some outfits classified as “sexy,” I bailed. Don’t think the kids need to experience gacha design, either.
Karate Survivor (PC) — Vampire Survivors, but with martial arts, and a cool combo system. Need to play more.
Kunitsu Gami: Path of the Goddess (PS5) — Gorgeous strategy game slightly undermined by a tedious town management system.
Life Eater (PC) — A game about scrubbing through timelines using an editing application. I bounced off it but want to try it again.
LOK digital (PC) — A fascinating game about made-up words and their magical powers.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Switch) — A puzzle-filled mystery that should have been my thing, but I had to put down to play other games. I want to get back to it.
Lunar Lander Beyond (PC) — It’s a remake of a classic Atari game from the studio behind the time-splitting role-playing game CrisTales? Loved the audacity.
Magical Delicacy (Xbox Series X) — A Metroidvania with cooking that I wanted to like more than I did.
Mario and & Luigi Brothership (Switch) — Only just started it.
Mars After Midnight (Playdate) — A game about feeding Martians, from Obra Dinn and Papers Please designer Lucas Pope. Pretty good.
Metaphor ReFantazio (Xbox Series X) — Never played a Persona, didn’t know what to make of the first two hours I sampled. Will try it again.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Xbox Series X) — Tried it. Not my thing.
Monument Valley 3 (mobile) — Lovely, like the earlier ones
Mouthwashing (PC) — Just started it. Can’t assess it just yet.
News Tower (PC) — A strategy / assembly-line game about a profession I know a thing or two about. Very good.
Nonogram 3D Mega Puzzle (PC) — It’s, uh, Picross 3D 3!
Pacific Drive (PS5) — A roguelike in which you drive a station wagon through storms; but with a save system that seemed to be the enemy of parents. I’ve been told they improved it, so I plan to go for more drives.
Palworld (Xbox Series X) — I’m not a Pokémon person nor an Ark person, but several hours with Palworld left me intimidated about the gravitational pull of combining the two
Paper Trail (Switch) — Bounced off this one after I misjudged it as a puzzle game about level-folding that my kids would like; it was too frustrating for them.
Penny’s Big Breakaway (PS5) — A Dreamcast-inspired 3D platformer that I wasn’t quite good enough to really enjoy.
The Plucky Squire (PS5) — A game set inside a book and around it. It has its moments but was another one that faltered as an experience to share with my kids. It might have been the pacing. Or the distraction of Astro Bot one system menu game icon away.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Xbox Series X) — An excellent Metroidvania in a year perhaps too full of them.
Proverbs (PC) — A mix of Minesweeper and Picross set in a Bruegel painting. Who could ask for anything more?
The Rise of the Golden Idol (PC) — Loved its predecessor but never finished its DLC, so I put this down to go back to that. Will return.
Rise of the Ronin (PS5) — Enjoyed 20+ hours of this open-world adventure set in 19th century Japan. I was perfectly satisfied except… that’s only half of it. Shades of Far Cry 2 and other games with a second map that is not needed.
The Rogue Prince of Persia (PC) — Liked this roguelike well enough.
Rotwood (PC) — Cartoony combat game that didn’t keep hold of me for long.
Schim (Switch) — I loved the concept of a 2D platformer about jumping from shadow to shadow, but lost interest after some repetitious levels.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (Xbox Series X) — An adventure that was stunning to look at and listen to, if less impressive to play.
Skull & Bones (Xbox Series X) — Got to the game’s second half in search of the bespoke nooks and crannies that typically win me over to most Ubisoft open worlds. Didn’t find them.
STALKER 2 (Xbox Series X) — I was happy for the developers to launch this, but STALKER is just too hostile an experience for my liking.
Star Wars Outlaws (Xbox Series X) — I didn’t like the instant-fail stealth but found planets that were marvelously rewarding to explore. Outlaws has a gameplay structure that doesn’t spoon-feed, encourages exploration and serves as a promising response to the fatigue many Ubisoft players have expressed about the company’s icon-filled open worlds. A shame its core gameplay wasn’t more catchy.
Stellar Blade (PS5) — A strangely structured game with a terrific counter-based combat system, some stunning sci-fi spectacles but also the disappointing assumption that I play side quests in order to unlock skimpier outfits for my characters (that’s what we get for all those soda cans?). Some cumbersome early platforming left me skeptical I’d play much, but the combat got me and I rolled credits at 39:58:48 hours.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (PS5) — Like others, not the game I was looking for from this development team and not a remotely a strong showcase for their strengths.
Temtem: Swarm (PC) — Vampire Survivors, but kind of with Pokémon
Towerborne (PC) — This sidesdrolling 2D loot game from the makers of The Banner Saga seemed fine, but the prospect of full save wipes while it’s in early access sent me fleeing. I’ll wait for the full release.
UFO 50 (PC) — I am not nostalgic for the punishing games of the NES era, but I was smitten by many of the faux-classic games in this collection. My favorites include the submarine Metroidvania Porgy, bizarre platformer Mooncat, painting/racing game Paint Chase, social strategy puzzler Party House and Puritans vs devils chain reaction game Devilition. With its abundance of more games than anyone can reasonably handle, I declared UFO 50 “the perfect video game for 2024.”
Ultros (PS5) — A Metroidvania with psychedelic graphics, gardening, some clunky planting and—I swear— one of the best mid-game gameplay twists I’ve ever experienced. Dying for more people to reach it and discuss it.
We Never Yield (PC) — Co-op free running with a catchy soundtrack
Wilmot Works It Out (PC) — Enjoyed the demo of this game about piecing together jigsaw puzzles.
Windblown (PC) — A roguelike from the makers of Dead Cells that I enjoyed, aside from its controversial virtual barfing.
Yars Rising (PC) — An old Atari game is remixed in more than 100 different ways. The remixes are used mainly as hacking games in a new 2D adventure. This was the strangest approach I saw all year to honoring a classic, but a very fun one.
My top 9 for 2024…
Another Code: Recollection
Arco
Animal Well
Astro Bot
Balatro
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Ultros
UFO 50
Great list and insights. I’ve added a few things to my wish lists and backlogs as a result. You should defiantly make some form of these lists quarterly, if you hadn’t already planned to. Cheers!
I wish my kids were into Katamari, but they think it's the most ridiculous game ever made.