Game of the Year: Sammy's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2024

Infinity Nikki caught my eye, will definitely check this out! Finding these hidden gems are what year lists are all about for me, instead of debating whether a certain game is ranked high enough.

Edit: Woah, it is for free!

I'd change ZZZ for FF7R and maybe a bit of the order, but I mostly agree with this top5

Nice top 5! Solid list

@Darude84 Infinity Nikki has no right being so damned compelling and wholesome... Not sure how it performs on the PS5 but on PC is so well polished. As long as it passes the Vibes check with you you are in for a treat!

I must give Stella Blade a go, but right now Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is my game of the year with Animal Well a close second. It’s driving me crazy (i need to get a cork board and some red string), but i’m obsessed with it

@Mintie I’m sure it will. I like some breezy games every now and then and fashion holds my attention as well. My first impression is that it reminds me of FF X-2 minus the combat, a game that really clicked with me.

I absolutely love Infinity Nikki. Never in a million years did I think I'd enjoy a dress up game but everything about this game is top knotch. Visually it's an absolute treat and the music really adds to the atmosphere.

At least Astro Bot is in there and it's great Stellar Blade connects with gamers like it does. Just wish the industry would stop chasing trends and keep chasing fun, but publishers need to exploit our playing habbits, so fun is of a secondary concern. I'm not sure about this Infinitely Sticky, but sounds like a chill kinda game.

I played the Stellar Blade demo and found it lacking. Is the game better or is it just not clicking for me?

I'll readily admit that SB has it's faults, and as much as ShiftUp seem to have focused on suits/costumes/outfits (which is of little to no interest to me) the support they've shown post launch is above and beyond. I've not noticed any bugs either so it seems like that rare thing nowadays where the game was ready to ship at launch. I'm more of a motorsports gamer but have finished the Spider-man games, R&C and got halfway through most other games in PS5, but from the moment I started playing SB I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it's a very fun and playable (and replayable) game and I'm very much looking forward to a sequel(/prequel?)... Maybe in 2025 I'll get around to finishing AstroBot? Ng+ the Spider-man games? Although it's looking like I'll be getting back into GT7 seeing as they've (seemingly) resolved many of my issues with it.

Also, I don't get Infinity Nikki? I keep reading it's a dress up game which is of no interest to me whatsoever.

Surprised Astro Bot isn't a little higher but good list overall. Three of the games here easily make my top 5 as well.

Stellar Blade is the true GOTY. I knew it would be your number one Sammy. Happy New Year!

All of the lists published so far have been fab but for me Sammy's is the best yet! All absolutely brilliant games.

This list is closest to my own you'd just need Rebirth instead of Infinite Wealth. But those 2 gachas have been incredibly fun to play even if it's only been like a month for Infinity Nikki

And a part of me also still says I prefer Star Rail. But I can't lie I've been having the most fun with ZZZ out of the three hoyo games on ps. If they can just make exploration better, which they're constantly improving, it'd be my favorite. And having paid attention to the story this last part for once, its way less of a word salad than genshin and star rail combined lol

It's a very nice looking list! I loved your 1 & 5 and I might have to try Infinity Nikki as it looks excellent.

Based. I think we'd get along well!

Perhaps I should give ZZZ another try. I think perhaps I struggle with gacha games because of the relentless barrage of things they throw at you and I find that exhausting. Not really sure, but it's worth another shot.

Really surprised by how well received Stellar Blade has been. I put around 8-10 hours into it and I had to put it down. But, not every game is for everyone and I'm happy the developers found success with it. I just wish I did, too.

Infinity Nikki has probably been one of the biggest surprises for me, and I’m definitely not the target demographic! To call it a “dress-em up” actually does the game a disservice - yes, you collect outfits, many of which have abilities, but it’s also a gorgeous open world (running on UE5 no less!) with many platform and puzzle elements. I’m sure some of the “gacha” elements will start to grate eventually, but so far I’ve been having lots of fun and still haven’t spent a penny of real world money.

Stellar Blade is so good, I'm glad it did well in sales so we can get a potential sequel in the future.

I haven’t played Astrobot yet but pretty sure it will be my number one for the year when I do. Stellar Blade was really good but nothing that screams GotY to me, I liked Plucky Squire a lot more. Ff7Rebirth despite being only the middle third of a game was truly a complete feeling great JRPG. The Gilgamesh quest alone could have almost been its own game, as could queens blood. Some of the stuff was stupid but there was so much of it there and it was mostly good.

ZZZ was fun but I just had enough near 98% completion. Infinity Nikki has been really enjoyable but I don’t like the timed stuff being based on where you are in the game. I had to rush through some stuff to get to companion day and I still need to go into the wishful woods to unlock some more of it. And I have about 2 dozen side missions I haven’t done b/c the game is forcing me to skip stuff to unlock more stuff. Don’t care about the Gatcha, it’s all just more clothes.🤷🏻‍♂️

Some day I’m going to play a Yakuza game. Maybe the upcoming pirate one, looks fun.

I feel like this could very closely mirror my own top 5 this year. I never got to Infinite Wealth, but the rest are up there for me as well.

While it's all just personal opinions and differing tastes the fact that Gacha games, no matter how well made get onto these lists and even potential GoTY contenders is exactly why publishers chase the F2P/Live Service/FOMO. I mean I play 7DS Grand Cross and SF Duel on my phone and have played many others over the years but they disrespect your time in the biggest way, most are predatory and gate progress. They should be in their own category imo.

I agree with sammy here. There are games that do things better than stellar blade but I had the most fun with that game this year and the whole package seemed better than the sum of its parts.

@rjejr
I'd honestly put Astro Bot up there with Nintendo's best platformers. Be interested to know what you think when you get around to it.

This clearly comes from a different place to a hardcore gamer mindset. A valid opinion, but from my view... A gatcha game in second and stellar blade top?
Stellar blade is a great example of gorilla marketing at work with its whole thing of fake controversy and "protect our boobs!" manufactured backlash. But as a game... It's thoroughly Meh. Like a ps2 game yes, but not in a good way, it lacks many experience improvements you see in modern games whilst retaining stuff like a focus on skins.
It's weird how many fell for this one. It's not like hot girl leads are somehow rare.

@get2sammyb I'm super interested where the story goes from here. But everyone coming together for that finale was amazing. I just wish the voice acting scene was in a better shape cause it's a shame to see the amazing cutscenes without voiced lines

Stellar Blade was class and easily in my top 5

Well, you're right about Astro Bot being a great game.

"a breath of fresh air in an industry so often dominated by darker tones" . Well said !