RACCLOG

I remember a time when racing games were everywhere.  Franchises like Gran Turismo and Need for Speed were household names, while every developer and their dog was throwing their hat into the ring. The 2000's were a time where series like Project Gotham Racing could get four entries across five years, Need for Speed could be experimental, and simcades you've likely never heard of released to tiny fanfare, like Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli and Superstars V8 Racing. Nowadays you have a few flagship series like Gran Turismo, Forza and The Crew, a small number of devs trying to keep the sim racing genre alive with games like Assetto Corsa (rest in peace, Project CARS) and the odd indie title attempting to stir up fond memories of old arcade racers. Racing games are all but absent in the AA and AAA scene - you simply wouldn't get games like Pure or Split/Second anymore. Weirder still, I think, would be a remaster of a late-2000's racing game. Sure, EA occasionally oblig...

It was always gonna be hard to top 2023, but damn if 2024 didn't get close. Obviously, this only counts if we ignore all the job losses in the industry, the continued use of generative AI and (somehow!) NFTs, and whatever the heck was happening with always online, live service model games that came and went like a waft in the wind. But if we're talking about just the video games themselves, 2024 once again blew my expectations out of the water. And hey, no Hogwarts Legacy to stain the release calendar this time! Looking back at the games I played that released in 2024, I think my journey through the year will look pretty different to a lot of others. Out of all the games I played, only one of them could be considered AAA, maybe two depending on your definition of the term. I didn't even buy Granblue Fantasy: Relink and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth until December ,  while other big hitters like Silent Hill 2, Indiana Jones and Metaphor: ReFantazio (I have to Google that ga...

This is part two of my ranking of every game I played in 2024, covering the top ten games of the list. If you missed the first part check out #24-#11 here ! Brief thoughts: this top 10 was so hard to rank. The whole top 10 is nothing but games I adore, but the top five in particular were enormously hard to pin down to the point where all of them spent periods at the number one spot in my head. It's also half the reason this is a written article and not a video like it normally would be (that, and crippling lack of motivation, and family stuff, and looking at pictures of cute critters, and... so on). But enough preamble, check out this good-ass list: 10) THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! Developer: Coal Supper Playtime: 2.5 hours | Platform: PC (also on PS4, PS5 and Switch) The world's cutest balding salesman has been sent to meet with the mayor of a Northern English town, but the mayor is quite busy. To pass the time while he waits, the salesman explores the town, only to be rope...