My Favorite Things of 2024

I very much enjoy writing, and ended up jotting down some thoughts on things I used/saw/played this year, and that eventually turned into something lengthy enough that I wanted to post it somewhere. In college, I hosted a radio show despite knowing that my broadcasts of weird noise-rock music were going into an effective void, and this is basically the same.

Merlin Bird ID

This app single-handedly ignited my interest in bird watching. I now have a pair of binoculars, can semi-reliably identify several common east coast birds, and have a favorite bird that I hope to see in the wild (the Roseate Spoonbill). I’d been interested in the hobby in the past, but Merlin’s sound ID is so helpful as a beginner for narrowing down likely birds for an ID. Birding is a surprisingly addicting hobby, and I’d highly recommend Merlin as a great starting point.

Twin Peaks: The Return

Deeply empathetic, and deeply horrifying. A defining moment for television as a whole, and a show that I continually struggle to convince friends to watch.

Better Call Saul

Breaking Bad is one of my favorite TV series ever made, but on a rewatch I’ve realized Better Call Saul might just beat it out. There’s an emotional depth to its characters and drama that makes it very deserving of multiple watches and analysis.

Coraline 3D Re-release

The way it’s meant to be seen!

Interstellar IMAX Re-release

What’s there to say? It’s a big budget Sci-Fi blockbuster about love crossing dimensions. I’m always inclined to appreciate earnestly corny modern movies, and this was already one of my favorites when I rewatched it a couple years ago.

Games

2024 was a pretty solid year for games. Here are some of my favorites that I played — mostly from this year, in alphabetical order.

Animal Well

A delightful and idiosyncratic metroidvania that I had a very good time with. After beating it, I started to uncover some of it’s even more hidden secrets but got stuck since I couldn’t track down a Kangaroo or something like that. The ability unlocks are charming, and a nice change of pace from the combat-heavy focus of most metroidvanias. Overall, an easy recommendation and a solid entry into the genre.

Balatro

An instant classic in the already dense roguelike deckbuilding sub-genre, and one that’s far easier to grasp than it’s peers. This is one I’ll be coming back to for a while.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Dramatically diving around a corner while hitting headshots is very cool. Dramatically diving around a corner just to be immediately killed by the other team feels less cool but is also wonderfully silly. I had the most fun in BO6 multiplayer when I didn’t take it very seriously. The annual Call of Duty release is always going to be competently made, and the gunplay here feels great since it’s building off of Infinity Ward’s impeccable model from Modern Warfare 2019 onward. The super-twitchy/sweaty movement is fun, but for my personal tastes this had less staying power than Infinity Ward’s last 2 entries in the franchise.

I couldn’t care less about cosmetics and emotes, and the franchise’s increasing focus on them (while undoubtedly a smart business decision) makes me feel out of touch. You can’t swing a dead cat in a live service game without hitting UI animations, sound effects, and events tailor-made to satisfy reward/pleasure centers in your brain just to keep you hooked, and Call of Duty is no exception. I really hope that at some point these companies realize they should re-prioritize player fun over player engagement.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Somehow, Destiny 2 is my most played video game, so I was very happy to play The Final Shape and experience good Destiny again. The Final Shape delivered a very solid campaign, several great new weapons, and a new spec with lots of buildcrafting potential. I got sucked back in enough to finally get around to many of the raids I’d missed (still the best experiences Destiny has to offer), so my time with the expansion was elevated significantly by that.

Unfortunately, what might be the peak of Destiny 2 has been followed by one of the deepest troughs, no doubt worsened by significant layoffs at Bungie and poor player retention after the story’s 10-year “grand finale”. Destiny 2 is not an easy game to return to without a good reason. The gear treadmill is engaging when I’m regularly playing, but undergoes regular changes so as to be inscrutable anytime I return after a few months. Bungie seems lost with the overall player experience, and there’s been substantial backsliding when it comes to respecting players’ time and minimizing grind. Without some substantive changes or particularly compelling new content, it’s hard for me to see myself coming back anytime soon.

While it’s easy to be cynical about the game now, those couple of months after The Final Shape launched were truly magical, and while it’s not a game I’d recommend to most people, I’ve had a lot of great times with it.

Overwatch (…2)

After seeing the announcement video for the 3 week “Overwatch Classic” event, I downloaded Overwatch 2 for the first time since its launch. I hoped to relive some of the “glory days” back in high school, when I remember watching all of the cinematics leading up to the original release and hours spent playing with friends. The original Overwatch felt like such a special thing, and it was sad to me how much of a fall from grace the franchise has had.

The classic mode was a lot of fun. I remember when the game launched, doing teams of 6 junkrats, 6 tracers, and so on and so on. The 1 hero limit was a sensible inclusion to the game but for me it’s a clear mark of Blizzard focusing on Overwatch as a serious, Counter Strike level esport over the looser (and dare I say more fun-centric) gameplay of Team Fortress 2.

That being said, I’ve been more than a little surprised to find that Overwatch 2 is extremely fun in spite of all that. The designs for new heroes are good to great, and the game is still super engaging to play, even if it’s sweatier e-sports focus isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I was entirely pulled away from Black Ops 6, and whenever I went back to it I yearned for the far more thoughtful and strategic gameplay of Overwatch.

Persona 3 Reload

Persona 5 sits comfortably in my top 3 or 5 games ever made, so I had very high hopes for this remake that were easily met. The attack chaining combat loop returns from Persona 5 Royal, which is immensely satisfying and further aided by the incredible UI, sound design, and music. While not as consistent as Persona 5, the story is engrossing, and there are a number of excellent social links which are among the best in the series.

PlateUp

Overcooked might be a little bit more polished, but PlateUp is the only party game so far that has lead to 10 minute long discussions over whether our restaurant is ready to serve an additional pizza topping.

Wingspan

Wingspan is the first ‘engine-building’ board game I’ve played, and the first semi-complicated board game I’ve enjoyed playing enough to invest in an expansion. This is in no small part due to it’s focus on birds – a particularly unique and refreshing aesthetic compared to typical war/strategy games.

After learning how to play with the digital version, I was ready to play the board game version and trounce my friends who were learning for the first time. Of course, I instead ended up being thoroughly trounced myself. The game is a lot of fun either way, and the card art is so beautiful that I’m going to be obnoxious and put all the cards in protective sleeves.

World of Warcraft: The War Within

Getting into WoW wasn’t something I expected to do this year. I had seen the excellent WoW-related documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, and with the launch of refreshed Classic realms I decided to jump in to see what all the fuss was about.

Classic WoW is fascinating. Leveling is satisfying though it takes forever, and the difficulty is high enough that teaming up with strangers around you is often necessary. It’s a purposely social experience, though knowing that it takes 240-300 hours to reach max level gave me hesitation.

In comparison, it takes about 20 hours to reach max level in modern WoW. It’s less fascinating sociologically, but to be completely honest, it’s far more fun. I leveled a guardian druid (transforming into a bear is pretty cool) to level 70 and had such a good time that I bought the latest expansion, The War Within.

The War Within’s campaign is a fun romp with some cool moments and characters (lots of cool spider people in particular), and the endgame that opens up afterwards is filled with increasingly challenging activities that are equally likely to be a great time and to give you carpal tunnel.

Evidently, Blizzard has realized their audience that could previously no-life the game is mostly grown ups with actual jobs now, so while there’s loads to do in the game, all of it feels respectful of your time. I really enjoyed delves, short single player dungeons that can be taken at your own pace but that still deliver a challenge and good loot. I am interested in dungeons and raiding, but I don’t always want to spend the little time I have online being yelled at by a teenager for screwing up a boss fight.

The game seems to be in a really good place right now, and future content updates look very promising so I hope to stick around for a little while. Even if I end up falling off, I could very easily see myself coming back for the next expansion.