The Best Reviewed Games of 2024

ign.com:

2024 was another banner year for video games thanks to a slate of big releases, strong remakes, and surprising hits. But despite plenty of games that made a splash, IGN awarded only one new game a perfect score of 10, and some argue that it’s not even a ‘proper’ game. Which is it? You’ll have to read on to find out.

Every year we go through our archive of reviews to look back at the highest reviewed games at IGN. This year, 27 games received a score of 9 or 10, and of that only one new game received a 10 (the other 10 was given to a re-review of a very popular game). This is a marked downturn from 2023 where 36 games received our highest review scores, including five games that received a 10.

That certainly doesn’t mean 2024 was a worse year for gaming – far from it. But one thing that is apparent is that they were spaced out, unlike last year when the hits just seemed to keep on coming. In 2024, IGN didn’t give out a single 9 or 10 between the end of June and beginning of September, which helps explain why it felt a bit barren for games on the whole. Nevertheless, the year began with a literal deluge of great games before the noticeable summer pause.

In the first three months of 2024 we saw several big RPGs drop, all of which scored a 9. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was first out of the gate and continued the story of Ichiban Kasuga, who finds himself stranded on the beaches of Hawaii. Sega followed it up with Persona 3 Reload, a full-blown remake of the beloved Atlus JRPG. Speaking of, Atlus would go on to release the newest Vanillaware game, Unicorn Overlord, a strategy RPG with the trademark gorgeous art the developer has come to be known for.

The last big RPG release before the summer was of course Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the long-awaited second part of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 remake project. The sequel would be even bigger than the first, with a humongous open-world to explore with hundreds of hours of side quests to pursue, all while reliving the events