The best game of the year is just a bunch of stuff? It might say yes, yes, yes, but didn't it underperform in sales? It would be nice if you had some criteria lol.
Yep, you should have just not made a list. The moment you put a DLC on there and started making excuses why it should be GOTY is the moment you lost me.
Letting your whole team list their favorite games was amazing, im so happy with how the skillup channel has evolved lately, getting great people working on it. Here is for a great 2025 for all of you, im exited to watch every review from all of the members
I hope I’m not stepping into uncomfortable territory here, but I wish that Sam had the opportunity to make a surprise appearance and chime in with one or two of _his_ favorite games of this year. I would’ve loved to know what he really liked. Another year gone, another year where we commemorate what was once a goated channel - Gaymen Laming. 🙏🏼
@@d8n_q Those were the days, man. I’m so happy to see Ralph’s professional growth over the years, but I miss the “simplicity” of those older times, just a few years ago, heh. Ralph and MarcoStyle were my constant go-tos to remain up-to-date with all things Division-related. Here’s to hoping Division 3 re-ignites the franchise back to the glory days of Div1. Played so much of Div2, but the beautiful graphics never matched up to the pure _vibes_ that Div1 had in spades. Happy new year to you, bro. o7
Thank you for your consistently wonderful content. You are one of the few reviewers I can trust which is incredibly valuable these days. Hope you have a wonderful new year.
Outerwilds for Skillup is like Super Mario Bros 2 for Dunky. Such a fun list to go through, I never even knew about Kunistsu Gami until now and it seems so fun! Thank you for another year of amazing content :)
This was the year of JRPGs, and in general, JRPGs have been making a comeback in the last 5, 10 years. It's pretty obvious that Vanillaware simply doesn't know how to market their games, because they are great games and would definetely sell a lot more if their marketing budget was higher and their marketing team was better.
@@MegaPunch Unicorn Overlord isn't a JRPG though, it's a tactical strategy game. It was a love letter to OgreBattle, not Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. It is far more niche in appeal than everything Vanillaware has ever made.
I finally played it for the first time this year (even though I played Prey when it came out and it's one of my fave games of all time), and it is 100% worth the hype he throws at it. I wish Arkane Ausin was around to make a successor to it (I know Deathloop exists, but I wanted more Prey specifically)
Obligatory shout out to Nine Sols, my personal GOTY in a year of stellar indie releases, and the game that really made me start to pay more attention to indies.
My GOTY as well. Such an awesome game. It will be interesting to see what Red Candle Games does next. Like do they do another horror game like Detention and Devotion? Or do they build upon what they did with Nine Sols? Or do they do something completely different again?
Finally got around to it, and even though I haven’t beaten it yet, it’s in my top 5 already and might climb even higher once it’s over. Simply the best combat of any metroidvania I’ve ever played.
ManI feel HellDivers 2's theme will go down as one of the most instantly recognizable. I heard that DUN DUN DUN DUUUNNNN DUN DUUUUUNNNN and I got giddy even though I haven't played in months
They definitely made an impact. The permanent season pass that doesn't expire is already being adopted by games like marvel rivals and it's the better for it. Now if they could implement the $5 for skins.... I havnt helldived in quite a bit, but I heard all the weapons including my eruptor got buffed and as soon as life is not so demanding after the holidays I plan on nuking some bugs, bots, and whatever else that stuff showing up on my RUclips is I'm desperately trying to spoiler avoid.
It's criminal that the guy voicing James in SH2 didn't get best performance. He did an incredible job. I think it was some of the best VA work in any game, ever
So happy 1000xResist got a mention in this. By far my favorite game this year. Incredibly special game and just insane for a studio debut title. Still thinking about it months after finishing it, and don't think I'll stop anytime soon
I've started listening to that soundtrack while out on hikes now, such a beautiful melancholic tune. So glad I listened to Shill Up and finally played through that game
It was 20% “this expansion is incredible” with no further analysis and 80% “I can’t believe bungie’s management is fumbling something this good this badly”. I guess a spot on this list is as good as a review as you can ask for though lmao
One day he will learn to treat destiny like one of the best shooters you can play right now instead of some future investment. He acts exactly like some out of touch ceo he likes to critisize so much
@@mish5200literally. He’s a game reviewer but had failed to review like 40% of the stuff he said he was “looking forward to covering” last year. It makes me question the validity of calling him a game reviewer when he doesn’t even keep his word on things we expect him to talk about.
I hope that shit comes out man. I’m not even worried about “but what if it’s bad”. Oh well, I’ll say “I guess it wasn’t meant to be” and I can go play the originals then. But until that happens, I will always wonder in the back of my mind just how amazing a KOTOR remake could be.
Two wildly different types of games. KotoR games weren't 6-10 hours of story that's heavily combat driven. Don't get wrong, they knocked it out of the park with SM2, but KotoR is an entirely different animal to tackle.
"Fun is learning applied." I am a teacher, and I just wanted to say that this quote will stick with me for a long time. I don't know if it is a direct quote or your own summary of the author's central thesis, but in four words you have described not just video game design, but an ethos that has guided my entire career as a teacher. Thank you for not only sharing it, but for giving proper credit to the author and pointing to the specific piece of literature that it came from. This is why I respect your work so much. You bring a level of insight to video game discourse that elevates it beyond what you simply think is "fun" or "cool," and gets your listeners to consider what it is about this art form that enables great games to reach players on such a deep level.
Skillup you good lad, I had FF7 Rebirth as my GOTY when I finished it all those months ago, my friends thought I was silly for putting it that high, glad you agree.
my personal game of the year is easily Nine Sols, but sadly it didn't get much coverage in the mainstream gaming press so they probably haven't played it
I think it's because the game is good, but it doesn't really stand out. It's easy to just call "If Sekiro and Hollow Knight had a baby", which doesn't really do it justice, but it's not entirely wrong either. Game was shown on many showcases, including last years TGA and Xbox Show and I saw plently articles about it from IGN and other gaming sites. It was definitely more marketed than Balatro, so that's not the issue. "2D metroidvania, but you can parry" has been quite on the rise recently (Grime, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Blasphemous) and maybe too abundant. With many waiting for Silksong and having had played many 2D Metroidvanias to 'fill the hole', there is probably a certain amount of fatigue from those, who are interested. Hopefully people will come back to this game in the future, since it will surely be on many top-indie-game lists due to it's 'overwhelmingly positive' status on steam.
I have seen a lot of top 10 games lists in the last week, and Nine Sols features on tons of them, so it's not completely ignored (I got gamepass yesterday so will try it based on all those list-mentions, but with tough boss fights it's probably not for me).
It’s got nothing on pacific drive tbh. Especially when you use dual sense controllers, the feeling of driving in the game is just a way better experience than nine sols
Honestly... Just watching this channel grow over the years and seeing Ralph start to bring in some of the best talent in the editing/writing/reviewing spaces is just... awe inspiring. All four of you should be proud. Unapologetically so. This Best Of is no different. This was a shit year for me and my life, but I always had SkillUp to come back to in order to remind myself that the world keeps turning and that despite things being grim and hard for me, there are those with so much more talent that are being utilized and rewarded for what they can contribute. Gaming is just a medium, an outlet, but it's an incredible one. Oh and Outer Wilds deserved this victory yet again, the champ reigns SUPREME!
@@Chopzi11aBecause it is the best thing Destiny has ever released. For some that might not be saying much, but there's no denying just how influential this franchise is. It's just a shame Bungie executives treated it so poorly.
Great list and loved the video. But I am baffled that Wukong and stellar blade didn’t even get a mention. But I understand this is more of a personal list so makes sense
@@DeeDub02yeah I agree. The music was so reminiscent and if I closed my eyes I really felt I had time traveled back to my 10 year old self. When I openers my eyes though, it was a much different feeling. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the game because, for the most part I did. The actual gameplay and visuals felt much more modern. I don’t mean that in a negative way but I’m not praising it for that modernization either.
@@Nunaden0 For anyone actually feeling guilt-tripped by this: Don't worry. The liberation contribution actually scales to match the number of people online - So one mission will have way more effect if there are less people on. Not to mention, the Galactic War system is basically completely smoke and mirrors anyway. The game masters can and do rig it constantly.
FF7 Rebirth is my GOTY as well. Spent over 100 hours in that world and loved it. Even after all those hours I’m STILL keen on playing through on hard for the platinum on my PS5 Pro. The argument that there’s too much side content doesn’t make sense to me, when so much of it is exactly that…it’s optional. If you want it, it’s there. If not? Just play the story. But the variation in content, from mini games to Queens Blood, to side missions and more…it’s really impressive. The music is phenomenal too.
never played 7 OG, but i think rebirth is the best main crew the franchise has. Its one thing to have a very well written character in your party, but god the way the relationships between Cloud and crew play out between each other; supporting each other, laughing with each other, bantering and being so so earnest with each other, especially during each character's lowest point, this dynamic is what makes the main protagonists memorable. It struck me so hard after spending time in Barret's home, learning about his greatest loss, confronting Dyne and the grief they both still carried; watching the team come together in supporting Barret in their own respective ways meant the world to making the team feel like a team. And capping it off with Barret calling himself blessed for where his life brought him when they get on the buggy, ugh. It made me well up! No matter where the remake story goes, bar none Barret is the best written Final Fantasy character for me, and Remake's crew is the best team that final fantasy has ever put together. Whoever they had writing their dynamic, they should be putting out teaching material on how to make your main protagonists one of the highlights of your project.
@@Koustav_04 I find it hard to believe the original is funnier than Rebirth. Rebirth is hysterical at times. Written text generally can't compete with actual voice acting in terms of comedic delivery. If Rebirth wasn't funny, I'd believe it, but Rebirth is funny so I can't imagine how a non-voice acted iteration could surpass it.
Jesus christ, you tourist. Ff7 remake are some of the worst games to be made this generation. They are nothing like the old OG game. It's not even close. The fact there's kids like you running around thinking that the Remake is God's gift to mankind is next level irony. Holy shit. I just can't even.
@milky_toast_ have you ever read a funny book? You don't need voice acting for comedy to translate well. The OG is quite dark in tone as well. When Barret meets with Dyne, there isn't any Shinra in sight and I'm not gonna get into spoilers for the OG but what Dyne wants to do and the decision Barret has to make has much more impact than what Rebirth did. It's sad, and even with Shinras absence in the moment, it makes you hate Shinra Inc even more. I can see why people wouldn't play OG7 because of how dated it feels, but you're really missing out on decent storytelling.
It’s criminal how overlooked rebirth was this year. For me was the best gaming experience I had. Though introducing my 4 year old son to video games this year with Astrobot was genuinely special as well.
I think the image quality problems on PS5 were one of the reasons. It looks good on PS5 Pro, but on PS5 this looks like a blurry gaussian 720P mess at 30 FPS. I played it anyway, but this is one of the moments were I was like "should have waited for the PC Version".
I'm not sure 'criminally overlooked' applies to a game that was nominated for game of the year amongst so many other awards. Just because your chosen #1 isn't #1 for others doesn't mean it went overlooked, just that you have a differing opinion.
I'm actually surprised by how little people are talking about Factorio: Space Age this year. Its an incredible expansion on top of one of the best games I've ever played. While most expansions provide you more of the original title with bells and whistles, Space Age manages to fundamentally shift the underpinnings of the original game while providing new and interesting problems.
Skill Up team has a quite narrow type of games they play. Satisfactory should be the GotY list. Personally I don't think remakes or DLC should be on the list, but if they are allowed, Space Age is also a great pick.
Two people I've seen have commented it already, but I just want to make sure no one misses it: NINE SOLS. Red Candle Games pulled their very own Hi-Fi Rush with this (in that it's their first non-horror title and is absolutely excellent) and exceeded all expectations. The gameplay as tight and fun as you would expect from something drawing on the best elements of Hollow Knight and Sekiro. But that's just what it says to expect on the tin, it's everything else that blew my socks off. The music and soundscape is phenomenal, and the visuals are dazzling, with maybe the best visual style I've seen in any video game. Like, ever. All to say nothing of the shockingly compelling story and characters. Play Nine Sols if you haven't, it's fantastic.
People forget it was this year. Also, it wasn't incredibly great. Gaiden, which came out just months earlier, is honestly a better Yakuza game, even in its smaller format.
7 Rebirth is defo my GOTY. It's really special to me. I honestly couldn't believe modern Square Enix could make a game like this ngl. Can't wait for Part 3, cause that's when the plot gets REALLY wild in the original FF7.
Part 3 is gonna be nuts. I couldnt believe how good Rebirth was...what a game!! FF7 is a special game for me as well and seeing Square deliver is so good.
@@kunimitsune177 The combat is one of the best parts of the game. You're either bad at it or don't understand how it works, sorry. You can say many things about Rebirth, but bad combat is asinine.
Rebirth gave me back what i've lost for the last 10 years in gaming and from Final Fantasy....some of the lines are still with me everyday since i played it, it was a incredible ride....and we're not even done yet.
Nothing was “lost” in gaming. There are a myriad of games that have a similar quality as Rebirth, from the narrative to the gameplay. I do agree that something was lost with Final Fantasy in the past decade.
@@thegwynbleidd4202 I generally agree that nothing was lost in gaming. However, no game has ever brought back the sense of awe and pure joy I had as a child playing video games as well as Rebirth. When I was a kid, video games always seemed so much larger, magical, mysterious, bottomless. I always had a sense as a kid that there was something new to discover around every corner. Having played so many video games at this point in my life, even when I play a new game I can very quickly spot the patterns and begin to anticipate what's coming up around that next corner. Rebirth has a way of subverting those expectations I've built up over the years that reinvigorates that childhood whimsy in me.
@@thegwynbleidd4202like what? I can’t think of any modern game that have that goofy ps1 jrpg vibes with this level of production values. Rebirth is special.
@@thegwynbleidd4202 it's a concensus in the gaming community that gaming in general has been going downhill for many years. There have been no JRPG (or very very few games in other genres) over the last 10 years, at least, that have delivered what FF7 Rebirth has. You're a moron if you don't realize that.
My interest in the FF series almost entirely dropped after XIII was such an incredible disappointment. Loved every title before that to varying degrees. XIV 1.0 didn't grab me at all (was more of a GW2 guy back then) and I was very lukewarm on XV since I saw it as a watered down version of what Versus XIII could have been (which it was, especially at release) and I never played it until the Royal edition much later, just watched a playthrough that told me I was right in losing interest. FFVII Remake actually got me interested in the series again. Gave XIV another chance and discovered it was amazing (actually my favorite game of the series at this point). Maybe a controversial opinion but I also really loved XVI. But Rebirth was absolute peak, honestly. Generally, the last couple years have been a good time for being a Final Fantasy fan, and I'm honestly really glad about this. It's the first game franchise I ever engaged with, it was a huge part of my childhood and I'm glad I can call myself a fan of the series again without feeling resentment about it. I'm excited to see where the third Re-Trilogy game goes, I can't wait for the IX remake (although they REALLY need to drop an announcement for the damn thing already), I'll likely be playing XIV for another decade at minimum, and I have fairly high hopes for XVII. XIII is still shit though.
FF7 Rebirth is a love child to FF7 fans and I absolutely loved every minute of the 120 hours I played on PS and will likely do double on PC, I understand the complaints of bloat, but it's there for us to just soak up the world, spend time with the characters in a game that means so much more to original players that no other game could touch and I will forever be thankful to Square for making it. Pure fan service at the most genuine level, so much content that probably cost them more than they made from it and I love it all, thank you Square and I hope you ignore the complaints for part 3.
Absolutely agree. The thing with the game is even though it basically followed the Ubisoft open world design (towers, map markers, etc). It made each task feel fun because there was a tangible reward for doing it either from a progression point of view or from another special character moment. The game is like a road movie. It's all about the journey and the character interaction. And it's the only time Ive had in recent memory where I actively sought out every piece of side content for this style of open world game. You can tell the entire team loves and respects the original FF7 and its world, characters, story, etc. I really hope they stick the landing for the last part
I only hated how blurry the image quality was, selecting performance mode on my 120hz TV. Not to mention how choppy quality mode looked. I'm not usually a performance/graphics snob, mind you. I genuinely hoped I could push through long enough to get used to either option. That did not happen, however, and I'm very disappointed in Square Enix for not pouring more effort into optimization. Still, I pre-ordered Rebirth on Steam in the hopes of achieving better results on more advanced hardware. Will I cancel said-pre-order the second I hear something negative from Digital Foundry. Absolutely - I'd rather not waste my money a second time - but I digress.
Maximalism is the perfect word to describe it. It's decadent, baroque. We joked about quadruple a games with Skull and Bones, but no joke Rebirth just about earns that designation. If it didn't have the stigma of being part of a remake stretched into a trilogy I believe it could have reached the levels of Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate popularity. Hopefully part 3 is the high water mark.
Edge magazine also said the same thing in their review. Kyle bosman said in the age where AAA scene often feels "safe", it's refreshing to see a AAA title that tries to be weird and extravagant.
Im so glad about how great FF7 Rebirth was for you, because for me it was same. It just unbelievable how this game contain so much content, and mostly this content is good and above, im really wanna people speak about this game more, when its like pure PS2- fun era game with modern technologies. And ofc story, they did a good job adding more stuff to already great story of original.
FF7 was for the first Playstation. For me - personally - they ruined the remake by changing to "action combat". Still flabbergasted and annoyed by this decision.
I just picked up for sale with the upcoming second installment, and only have a couple hours in. My only complaint is I am not a fan of the combat system and having to switch between characters to exploit weak points. I hope it gets better, but I am here for the story more than the game play, so it won't ultimately stop me from playing through it.
@@XBluDiamondX If you're playing remake now, then I can tell you Rebirth makes improvements in this area. It still rewards players who are willing to switch between characters frequently, but it also introduces new materia that make your companions do more on their own without you having to control them.
Goty for me. First FF game I've cared about since FFX. That combat system is the best of any action jrpg ever made. Felt like a dream the entire way through. World and characters perfectly translated from the old ps1 blocky visual style. Every single character acts and sounds exactly how I imagined when I read the dialogue while playing the original. To be fair, I'm playing astro bot now and i can see why it won and don't have any problems with that. Games seems literally flawless so far.
37:13 "Greatness is never defined by the absence of flaws; it's defined by the things that make it great." *Exactly.* It's rare I hear someone articulate exactly how I feel about my favorite games, and that's it right there.
"I think its the best Final Fantasy since 10." I feel the EXACT same way. 10 was one of my favorite games of all time. Final fantasy, for me, lost its luster after that game. Rebirth is the first game in the series since 10 that i was really attracted to. Mainly because of the combat. Its like kingdom hearts on steroids. The game, as you said, feels like it had an unlimited budget. No corner was cut. Everything was given 100% effort and resources to create.
not really, like i'd put 12 higher just for a more complete vision with no bs the way 7R does the tragedy of FF7R is its a chunk of a game that was already complete for a worse version of the same story even with its new additions, being bloated doesn't make it better for it
What's funny is Rebirth and Remake both are colossal leaps in quality from 10 as well. 10 was great for it's era, but you try it now and boy is it rough lol. For sure a game held up by nostalgia and string at this point.
@@kunimitsune177I respect your opinion , but this combat-formula is the best for the series now , it is Mix between The old turn base combat and the modern action hack and slash combat system, and this combat system ist not new it was same combat in kingdom hearts series and it was beloved
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle took the top spot for me. Maybe it's the fact that it feels like it's own thing - part immersive sim, part first person brawler, part platformer, part puzzler, part movie - or maybe it's just that I had really been aching for a decent Indiana Jones story. Whatever the deeper reasons for myself are, it's a technically impressive feat on every platform while also just being a really entertaining romp through a time period and locations we hardly ever see in games. MachineGames kind of knocked it out of the park in a way I wasn't expecting.
For me, Indiana Jones falls apart after the vatican. The Vatican was great. Then you go to Egypt and it's like the game just starts over and you have to go through all the same stuff you just went through but in a new place. I wasn't invested enough in the story to keep playing and the change in level just killed the momentum for me. It just felt like a new list of boxes to check without much of anything new to play around with.
I just started FF7 Rebirth after picking it up yesterday. I am looking forward to experiencing it. Metaphor is definitely top tier. My other favorite JRPG of the year is Trails Through Daybreak. Kinda tough for me to choose which would be my number one, lol.
Balatro annoys me with how goddamn addicting it is. It has been my go to, instead of doomscrolling social media before bed. I’ll go start a run before bed, promise myself no more than a single run. 4-10 runs later, I finally go to sleep. So addicting. So fun.
Skill up has great taste. FF7 rebirth is my game of the year and it wasn’t even close. I can’t believe more people aren’t going crazy that this game isn’t getting the recognition it deserves. I can’t wait for part 3, and hopefully, an Advent children sequel would be great!
@ all good lol. I do have to ask you a question now lol, why wouldn’t you want a sequel after we are finished with part 3 to be advent children? I just want to story of these characters I’ve loved since young to continue lol.
Unfortunately, in the light of online discourse, I think the rightful nitpicks about Rebirth have ballooned in people’s minds to these massive flaws despite most of those “flaws” appearing in purely optional content. I think there are also some criticisms to be made with pacing and even the primary narrative thrust early on (following the black robes is a bit of a passive motivator when you dig into storytelling theory and it can make the first half feel a bit rudderless, for example), but again… largely nitpicks. I’m sure the ending rubbed some people certain ways, but it’s also mostly the product of being just part 2 out of 3. It feels like a lot of other contenders were given a lot of patience and slack, but, for whatever reason, critics were extra tough on Rebirth when it came to GOTY voting time.
I'd like to personally shoutout Stellar Blade. While not GOTY material (due to a lackluster story and boring characters), the boss fights, combat and music were *ahem* stellar!. A wonderful game from a studio that deserves all the praise.
@@via_negativa6183 yeah, you can have 5 characters in a unity, and every skill and passive interacts im diferent ways, depending on the build of the unity, the combinations are endless. But yeah, it is a tatics game, so you Just control where the unity goes during combat
The platinum for Rebirth pushed me to the brink of sanity, but I wouldn’t have it any other way I absolutely love that game. #1 Rebirth #2 Wukong #3 Space Marine 2
Im doing it on ps5 pro. My GOTY as well. Rebirth is fucking incredible. What a year.. Metaphor is up their too. That game floored me and made me a an atlus fan.
Sometimes I really can't believe I came to this channel for weekly vendor resets in The Division and ended up watching this channel grow into the best video game review, news, and media outlet in the business. I've loved every minute of it and I can't wait to see what's in store for the channel in 2025. Cheers!
Absolutely agree on your assessment of Rebirth. The game is charm and passion personified. The rest of the list and video was excellent. Keep up the good work team.
So far, you and Gameranx are the only channels that've recognized Rebirth as their GOTY which I find astonishing. An abundance of creativity, craft, passion and heart were poured into the making of this game unlike any other this year of this scale except Metaphor. Sure it's not perfect and while everyone keeps complaining about the game being bloated, the majority of mini games and activities are completely OPTIONAL. I've steadily sunk over 250 hours into Rebirth and I've treasured almost every bit of it. Hands down one of the greatest gaming experiences of my 20+ years of gaming.
I agree. I have never been able to feel the passion of the devs pouring through my screen as vividly as I did with Rebirth. It's clear that a massive amount of love went into this game. How people never lost their minds over the fact that this game came out just 4 years after Remake baffles me. It seems like most studios nowadays would take at least 8 years to develop a game of this scale and ambition. It's truly a remarkable achievement and that alone is worthy of immense praise. But the fact that they stuck the landing on all fronts? One of the best games ever made in my opinion.
Glad to see FFVII Rebirth get some recognition. It was my game of the year for sure. I feel like it was overlooked a lot in the GOTY conversation because it came out so early in the year and people have moved on.
This was an interesting year. While I don’t think there was a true standout like an Elden Ring or a Baldur’s Gate 3, there were A LOT of really good games.
There was literally Elden Ring. Also we're gonna be saying "not a true standout like BG3" for a long time. BG3 was not a normal game. It was a freak of nature. The people who made it even can't get that lightning to strike a second time.
@@mrdee2454as someone who genuinely enjoyed Stellar Blade, it was also extremely derivative and its story was bad enough to be detrimental to it. ShiftUp needs to hire some dedicated narrative designers and do something to truly stand out for a sequel if they want people to care about it. Because right now Stellar Blade is basically known as the Nier copycat game for degenerate coomers by most people, and the community around the game doesn’t do anything to shirk that image. They’re more concerned with how many skimpy outfits they can get for Eve rather than whether or not ShiftUp can tell a competent story. It has great combat, music, and art style, but those alone aren’t enough to make it a cultural behemoth like Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate.
Glad for the small ufo 50 shout out here. Criminally underlooked game. I think Mortol might genuinely be my game of the year, and the fact that it came with 48 other games that range from fun to experience for a bit to genuine great gems is amazing. Also Combatants was there but lets forget about that.
@Koustav_04 combat I'll give you that but enemy variety? There is a crap tone of enemy variety in Elden Ring wym? Lol and that's not mentioning the DLC 😂
@spartan_a1176 just look at ff7 rebirth playthrough on youtube, you'll see what I mean. Elden Ring has 3 types of enemies, Human looking, Ogre looking, and insect looking enemies. FF7 Rebirth has everything you can think of and then some.
As an OG Dragon Dogma fan, I was not disappointed at all. Except I guess from the fact that we don't have very difficult content yet kinda like what Dark Arisen provided. It's beautiful how it's a very improved version of the original and was in fact how they wanted the first game to come out. :D
FF7 Rebirth!!!!My personal as well...Square knocked it out the park. Every new region was an absolute joy to explore. So many sick bosses. Replaying on ps5pro rn. The final set of quests were soooo good and such a nice suprise. Pt 3 is gonna be sick. Banger year for games again. 2025 is gonna be amazing as well.
Space Marine 2 stands strong as my favorite game of the year. It is _precisely_ the kind of product that I want to see more of in the industry-a complete single-player and co-op suite with a sprinkle of multiplayer to enjoy.
Agree. It went further in that the coop multiplayer missions are still woven into the campaigns story as missions that were happening off-screen. Overall fantastic work.
As someone who was a huge fan of the original Dragon's Dogma and who was very excited for its sequel, I was initially pretty disappointed by Dragon's Dogma 2. It's bugs and performance issues really put a hamper on the experience and I think really accentuated the areas where the game fell short. I played it once, had a novel time, and figured I'd take it for a spin again for a few hours once they fixed it's most glaring issues, Now that the performance has largely been fixed and the game runs on consoles at a consistent 60 frames, what I thought would be a short revisit ended up being a second playthrough twice as in-depth as the first. It has skyrocketed up to genuinely being one of my favourite games of all time. In a game where so much of your time is spent traversing the environments, romaing and exploring as you soak in the atmosphere before you're thrust into the game's chaotic and frantic combat, it is amazing how much of a difference it makes when the game runs and feels good to play. It really lets you sink into the adventure and the experience in a way I didn't even realise was missing on my first look. If you're someone who played it on console at launch and wrote it off, I absolutely recommend giving it a second shot. The game shines like an uncut diamond, flawed and unrefined, yet still somehow dazzlingly brilliant.
The game desperately needs more content though. New enemies, dungeons or just something to spice it up. Besides performance improvements they haven’t touched anything or improved anything else. Monster variety is boring fighting the same things over and over
I love how much you've made the whole team part of the public face of the channel. I know most RUclipsrs have a bunch of smart people behind them but we rarely hear from them or even know their names. Getting to know Austin, Stu and Ed's tastes this year has been great.
I usually look forward to these videos at the end of the year, but it was awesome to just see the wealth of talent on display between all the guys on staff to help out. Where it might usually feel forced on other channels, the slow and very gradual addition they bring to the content and by extension this video has made this such a fun watch. Cheers
Watching this and hearing about the team's favorite games through the year makes me think it would be nice to get a monthly update in This Week in Video Games on the teams top 3 or 4 games for the month. Especially as I, at least, sometimes forget that you all continue to play the games you review, after you're done reviewing them. Happy new year and thanks for all the great content in 2024, looking forward to more and better in the year ahead!!
For platformers we had Astro Bot, for RPGs we had Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, for action games we had Stellar Blade and for co-op shooters we had Space Marine 2. These and many others showed a year of favorites that are varied and brilliant in their own ways and I hope 2025 will have a similar lineup.
For so long after FFX i was uncertain Square could ever grip me again with another Final Fantasy. Yet, even as a person who hadn't beat the og until the remake's announcement this remake series has me in love. I didn’t think they could improve upon some of Remake's best elements in Rebirth like OST and combat, but they somehow delivered so damn hard while also improving some of its flaws. I only hope that the PC version along with the passage of time, will bring the series more respect and fans.
Man, after such an incredibly rough year for the industry it feels so nice to just revel in the beauty of the art for a bit before going back to face those realities again.
@@russellcarey3568all that stuff was already happening in 2024 and before, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate the good stuff that happened alongside.
Black myth wukong was MY GAME OF THE YEAR! Its not even on this list lol. Insane in my opinion . Even though dragons dogma 2 had it's issues I did really love it. It was just a fun game, with super fun combat. Wish there was way more emeny/ boss variety, wish the story was overall better.
I would consider myself a pretty "casual" gamer. This year I played and enjoyed some of the big releases; Space Marine 2, Black Ops 6, and Indiana Jones (with some Destiny 2 always lurking in the background). Despite mainly having time for these bigger games, I always appreciate the thoughtful coverage of games big and small from this channel. I honestly think if I were to stop playing video games all together, I would still watch your videos. Great job in 2024 and I look forward to what's coming on the channel in 2025 and beyond!
SkillUp: Elden Ring DLC is just too good to not include it in games of the year list even though it is a DLC SkillUp: *lists Destiny 2 DLC on games of the year list*
Just wanted to say thank you. You're videos have been an absolute gem in my feed, look forward to them and whenever I see that orange and blue logo pop up, I smile. Thank you to you and the growing team. The audience appreciates you all and hoping you all the best in the new year.
I feel like FF7 rebirth is underrated, considering it should have won GOTY and should have won more accolades. One of the best games I’ve played in the past decade
Black myth wukong is my personal game of the year. Some of the absolute coolest bosses and cut scenes I’ve ever seen in a video game, may have even surpassed from soft character designs for me. Also the amazing cut scenes with just stellar boss fights that come down to the final stretch with no heals in my flask and still getting a kill has been some of the most rewarding gameplay I’ve ever had.
This is the best gaming channel by a long mile! Such an informative, entertaining, and wholesome dose of gaming news every week and reviews that I really trust. This is what the gaming community *should be about. Thanks SkillUp! Keep up the incredible work! 🔥🔥
bro, I thought i was in the twilight zone. did he boycot the game? wth k, he might have other games he enjoys more, but not even a mention, esp after he said the team has played Everything this year...
Not for nothing but wukong was a very rare example of a product very much centered around a foreign culture that broke those typical cultural boundaries and not even a fucking peep of its name. I think him and others avoided it because of the way it was dragged into the culture wars. Especially after how many of them all gushed about how insanely good it was. Because it is THAT good. VA work was on point. The story was captivating and the chapter cutscenes were jawdroppingly beautifully created by hand which made them extremely memorable. The gameplay was practically flawless. The music score was hauntingly gorgeous and it deserved the praise it got and still gets. I'm really losing respect for some of these reviewers when it really comes time to show you're not full of shit or playing it up for views.
Ok actually upon looking back at his videos to find snippets to quote him from, he didn't ever review it or speak on the game whatsoever. Wtf? How? Yea idk about skillup anymore if his policies or personal beliefs stopped him and his team from going near Black Myth Wukong.
I was looking for this comment before I made it myself. It’s like the forgotten game of 2024, and it should’ve been in the conversation for best rpgs this year.
You guys have saved gaming for me. I love video games so deeply, but I just have no time to wade through them to get to the gems. I watch your reviews and know exactly what I'm getting into and if it will work for me, and this past year has been banger after banger, maybe the best year for gaming in my entire life. I played Outer Wilds this year, crosscode, Ghost of Tsushima, Persona 5 (I'll get to Metaphor), Pacific Drive... just the fuckin best. Thank you to the whole team.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you Surfshark for sponsoring this video. Go to surfshark.com/skillup for 4 extra months of Surfshark at an unbeatable price!
Lara Croft Vs Helena Douglas from Kosmic the RUclipsr is Absolutely Epic!😊😮🎉😂❤
I can only assume the people praising Balatro have no idea about Monster Train which actually evolved the STS genre.
The best game of the year is just a bunch of stuff? It might say yes, yes, yes, but didn't it underperform in sales? It would be nice if you had some criteria lol.
Yep, you should have just not made a list. The moment you put a DLC on there and started making excuses why it should be GOTY is the moment you lost me.
where is the wukong ???
It's the Yearly Outer Wilds awards, can't wait!
Lifetime achievement award, and 100% agreed. It’s in my top 3 every and probably my #1
@njsteere Only game I've ever refunded on Steam. Hated it, but I know I'm in the vast minority on that.
@@JBrandonMercer123can understand your emotion about that game. I on the contrary keep revisiting the game every third or fourth Month every year.
easy win! see you next year.
@@dragoon4278 oh yeah dude i think for sure it is because you are a well read super genius and the rest of the world isn't.
Letting your whole team list their favorite games was amazing, im so happy with how the skillup channel has evolved lately, getting great people working on it. Here is for a great 2025 for all of you, im exited to watch every review from all of the members
I hope I’m not stepping into uncomfortable territory here, but I wish that Sam had the opportunity to make a surprise appearance and chime in with one or two of _his_ favorite games of this year. I would’ve loved to know what he really liked.
Another year gone, another year where we commemorate what was once a goated channel - Gaymen Laming. 🙏🏼
crazy thing i remember when skillup used to do the division tutorials
@@d8n_q Those were the days, man. I’m so happy to see Ralph’s professional growth over the years, but I miss the “simplicity” of those older times, just a few years ago, heh. Ralph and MarcoStyle were my constant go-tos to remain up-to-date with all things Division-related.
Here’s to hoping Division 3 re-ignites the franchise back to the glory days of Div1. Played so much of Div2, but the beautiful graphics never matched up to the pure _vibes_ that Div1 had in spades.
Happy new year to you, bro. o7
Wtf is Austin?
I respect this format immensely
Thank you for your consistently wonderful content. You are one of the few reviewers I can trust which is incredibly valuable these days. Hope you have a wonderful new year.
Bro ur fkin loaded
200 dollars!!? Damn.
Donating to your favorite millionaire
@@Reimasteredsimp culture
@@krispybowgod9656 Why did this hurt you so much? Why do you care how much someone donates to someone's channel?
Outerwilds for Skillup is like Super Mario Bros 2 for Dunky.
Such a fun list to go through, I never even knew about Kunistsu Gami until now and it seems so fun! Thank you for another year of amazing content :)
Kunistsu Gami is on PC game pass, if you have access to that. Wonderful game.
It's also on console gamepass, if you would rather play on xbox series! It was one of my 2024 favorites too, highly recommend!
Unicorn Overlord, should be a crime how overlooked this game is.
Vanillaware is the goat
I think it will thrive if it was ported to PC too, it’s a shame vanilla-ware games aren’t getting that treatment
if only its localization was better
This was the year of JRPGs, and in general, JRPGs have been making a comeback in the last 5, 10 years. It's pretty obvious that Vanillaware simply doesn't know how to market their games, because they are great games and would definetely sell a lot more if their marketing budget was higher and their marketing team was better.
@@MegaPunch Unicorn Overlord isn't a JRPG though, it's a tactical strategy game. It was a love letter to OgreBattle, not Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. It is far more niche in appeal than everything Vanillaware has ever made.
Prey Mooncrash gets mentioned in the year of our Lord 2024? Time for another run.
What an absolute masterpiece.
I finally played it for the first time this year (even though I played Prey when it came out and it's one of my fave games of all time), and it is 100% worth the hype he throws at it. I wish Arkane Ausin was around to make a successor to it (I know Deathloop exists, but I wanted more Prey specifically)
I hated it but different strokes and all that
I read this in ralph's voice lol...
Yeeeeeeeeeeeessssssss!
God give us more immersive sim, you guys should def check out System Shock remake if you haven't
Obligatory shout out to Nine Sols, my personal GOTY in a year of stellar indie releases, and the game that really made me start to pay more attention to indies.
Nine Sols is also my game of the year.
My GOTY as well. Such an awesome game. It will be interesting to see what Red Candle Games does next. Like do they do another horror game like Detention and Devotion? Or do they build upon what they did with Nine Sols? Or do they do something completely different again?
I want to play that one
Finally got around to it, and even though I haven’t beaten it yet, it’s in my top 5 already and might climb even higher once it’s over. Simply the best combat of any metroidvania I’ve ever played.
Ralph really needs to play this one!
ManI feel HellDivers 2's theme will go down as one of the most instantly recognizable. I heard that DUN DUN DUN DUUUNNNN DUN DUUUUUNNNN and I got giddy even though I haven't played in months
They definitely made an impact. The permanent season pass that doesn't expire is already being adopted by games like marvel rivals and it's the better for it. Now if they could implement the $5 for skins....
I havnt helldived in quite a bit, but I heard all the weapons including my eruptor got buffed and as soon as life is not so demanding after the holidays I plan on nuking some bugs, bots, and whatever else that stuff showing up on my RUclips is I'm desperately trying to spoiler avoid.
Okay, but the way you wrote out those DUUNNNNS actually sounds more like the Isengard theme for anyone reading 😅
It is next to the banger called "Plin plin plon".
Weirdly, it also sounds a lot like the Starship Troopers theme.
Why haven’t you reported to the frontlines, solider? Democracy requires you, helldiver.
It's criminal that the guy voicing James in SH2 didn't get best performance. He did an incredible job. I think it was some of the best VA work in any game, ever
Dude, 100%!!! Every single line of dialogue delivered by that man… just PERFECT.
Have you ever played the Hellblade series? She definitely deserved it.
Huge agree
Yes, absolutely. Giving it to Hellblade for a second time is just criminal.
@@fyrfly8768she already got it with the first game, her performance wasn't that amazing to warrant a second win with Luke in the running.
So happy 1000xResist got a mention in this. By far my favorite game this year. Incredibly special game and just insane for a studio debut title. Still thinking about it months after finishing it, and don't think I'll stop anytime soon
Just played through this game because of his recommendation. Probably my favorite video game story ever. Incredible writing, music, and atmosphere.
Dude, hearing that Outer Wilds theme always makes me emotional. What an experience. :)
I've started listening to that soundtrack while out on hikes now, such a beautiful melancholic tune. So glad I listened to Shill Up and finally played through that game
It gives me the spine tingles, every time.
What an incredible game.
We finally got our final shape review 19:22
"Bungie monkey paw curls, we got the thing we wanted, but it was deeply cursed"-skillup
Ralph, you are a Destiny RUclipsr. You cover it at every chance. There is no question.
It was 20% “this expansion is incredible” with no further analysis and 80% “I can’t believe bungie’s management is fumbling something this good this badly”. I guess a spot on this list is as good as a review as you can ask for though lmao
One day he will learn to treat destiny like one of the best shooters you can play right now instead of some future investment. He acts exactly like some out of touch ceo he likes to critisize so much
@@mish5200literally. He’s a game reviewer but had failed to review like 40% of the stuff he said he was “looking forward to covering” last year. It makes me question the validity of calling him a game reviewer when he doesn’t even keep his word on things we expect him to talk about.
reminder for those watching the Space Marine II section: Saber is also working on the KOTOR Remake now
That's very exciting.
I hope that shit comes out man. I’m not even worried about “but what if it’s bad”. Oh well, I’ll say “I guess it wasn’t meant to be” and I can go play the originals then. But until that happens, I will always wonder in the back of my mind just how amazing a KOTOR remake could be.
It's gonna be a bit before that is out. It was originally being developed by Aspyr but then development was restarted under Saber themselves.
Two wildly different types of games. KotoR games weren't 6-10 hours of story that's heavily combat driven. Don't get wrong, they knocked it out of the park with SM2, but KotoR is an entirely different animal to tackle.
And Turok!
"Fun is learning applied."
I am a teacher, and I just wanted to say that this quote will stick with me for a long time. I don't know if it is a direct quote or your own summary of the author's central thesis, but in four words you have described not just video game design, but an ethos that has guided my entire career as a teacher. Thank you for not only sharing it, but for giving proper credit to the author and pointing to the specific piece of literature that it came from. This is why I respect your work so much. You bring a level of insight to video game discourse that elevates it beyond what you simply think is "fun" or "cool," and gets your listeners to consider what it is about this art form that enables great games to reach players on such a deep level.
timestamp 33:49
Skillup you good lad, I had FF7 Rebirth as my GOTY when I finished it all those months ago, my friends thought I was silly for putting it that high, glad you agree.
my personal game of the year is easily Nine Sols, but sadly it didn't get much coverage in the mainstream gaming press so they probably haven't played it
I think it's because the game is good, but it doesn't really stand out. It's easy to just call "If Sekiro and Hollow Knight had a baby", which doesn't really do it justice, but it's not entirely wrong either.
Game was shown on many showcases, including last years TGA and Xbox Show and I saw plently articles about it from IGN and other gaming sites.
It was definitely more marketed than Balatro, so that's not the issue.
"2D metroidvania, but you can parry" has been quite on the rise recently (Grime, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Blasphemous) and maybe too abundant. With many waiting for Silksong and having had played many 2D Metroidvanias to 'fill the hole', there is probably a certain amount of fatigue from those, who are interested.
Hopefully people will come back to this game in the future, since it will surely be on many top-indie-game lists due to it's 'overwhelmingly positive' status on steam.
I have seen a lot of top 10 games lists in the last week, and Nine Sols features on tons of them, so it's not completely ignored (I got gamepass yesterday so will try it based on all those list-mentions, but with tough boss fights it's probably not for me).
It's on my wish list!
It’s got nothing on pacific drive tbh. Especially when you use dual sense controllers, the feeling of driving in the game is just a way better experience than nine sols
Not even remotely comparable as games. Why don't you compare a cook book with a romance novel while you're at it @@Arctis326
Honestly... Just watching this channel grow over the years and seeing Ralph start to bring in some of the best talent in the editing/writing/reviewing spaces is just... awe inspiring.
All four of you should be proud. Unapologetically so.
This Best Of is no different.
This was a shit year for me and my life, but I always had SkillUp to come back to in order to remind myself that the world keeps turning and that despite things being grim and hard for me, there are those with so much more talent that are being utilized and rewarded for what they can contribute.
Gaming is just a medium, an outlet, but it's an incredible one.
Oh and Outer Wilds deserved this victory yet again, the champ reigns SUPREME!
God damn that Final Shape segment was so depressing. I know its just a game but after playing for 10 years it's a strange spot we're in.
It’s got to be the most depressing segment on a “best games of the year” video ever lmao.
Why include it in the “best” games of the year then?
@Chopzi11a because people won't shut up about it.
@@Chopzi11aBecause it is the best thing Destiny has ever released. For some that might not be saying much, but there's no denying just how influential this franchise is. It's just a shame Bungie executives treated it so poorly.
All destiny one fans have jumped ship long ago. Enjoy the destiny 2 micro transactions my friend
Great list and loved the video. But I am baffled that Wukong and stellar blade didn’t even get a mention. But I understand this is more of a personal list so makes sense
Skill up was a lot softer than Stellar Blade than a lot of us.
FF7 Rebirth felt like the magic of playing a PS1 Final Fantasy again. I loved it!
Honestly? It was nothing like the original. Each to their own I guess.
@@DeeDub02yeah I agree. The music was so reminiscent and if I closed my eyes I really felt I had time traveled back to my 10 year old self. When I openers my eyes though, it was a much different feeling. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the game because, for the most part I did. The actual gameplay and visuals felt much more modern. I don’t mean that in a negative way but I’m not praising it for that modernization either.
I haven't really played Helldivers 2 in a few months, but, god, that soundtrack still hits on every level. 😊
You should jump back in! The Squids are a great third faction enemy
We require you on the frontlines, soldier. Democracy needs you.
I’d recommend logging on just to check out the city maps, they are pretty cool
@@Nunaden0 For anyone actually feeling guilt-tripped by this: Don't worry. The liberation contribution actually scales to match the number of people online - So one mission will have way more effect if there are less people on.
Not to mention, the Galactic War system is basically completely smoke and mirrors anyway. The game masters can and do rig it constantly.
Im rooting for industry underdog Outer Wilds 🙏
Pretențious boring bs game.
@cosmancho2959 sounds like a skill issue to me 👀
rooting
@ivolol 🙏🙏
@@cosmancho2959 are you a bot?
Rebirth is a masterpiece of a game. It will go down as an absolute classic.
Thanks for another year of great videos!
FF7 Rebirth is my GOTY as well. Spent over 100 hours in that world and loved it. Even after all those hours I’m STILL keen on playing through on hard for the platinum on my PS5 Pro.
The argument that there’s too much side content doesn’t make sense to me, when so much of it is exactly that…it’s optional. If you want it, it’s there. If not? Just play the story. But the variation in content, from mini games to Queens Blood, to side missions and more…it’s really impressive.
The music is phenomenal too.
never played 7 OG, but i think rebirth is the best main crew the franchise has. Its one thing to have a very well written character in your party, but god the way the relationships between Cloud and crew play out between each other; supporting each other, laughing with each other, bantering and being so so earnest with each other, especially during each character's lowest point, this dynamic is what makes the main protagonists memorable.
It struck me so hard after spending time in Barret's home, learning about his greatest loss, confronting Dyne and the grief they both still carried; watching the team come together in supporting Barret in their own respective ways meant the world to making the team feel like a team. And capping it off with Barret calling himself blessed for where his life brought him when they get on the buggy, ugh. It made me well up!
No matter where the remake story goes, bar none Barret is the best written Final Fantasy character for me, and Remake's crew is the best team that final fantasy has ever put together. Whoever they had writing their dynamic, they should be putting out teaching material on how to make your main protagonists one of the highlights of your project.
Play the OG, it's better written (some weird translations aside) and also funnier than Rebirth.
Part 3 is going to be a wild ride, you have no idea dude the best is yet to come
@@Koustav_04 I find it hard to believe the original is funnier than Rebirth. Rebirth is hysterical at times. Written text generally can't compete with actual voice acting in terms of comedic delivery. If Rebirth wasn't funny, I'd believe it, but Rebirth is funny so I can't imagine how a non-voice acted iteration could surpass it.
Jesus christ, you tourist. Ff7 remake are some of the worst games to be made this generation. They are nothing like the old OG game. It's not even close. The fact there's kids like you running around thinking that the Remake is God's gift to mankind is next level irony. Holy shit. I just can't even.
@milky_toast_ have you ever read a funny book? You don't need voice acting for comedy to translate well. The OG is quite dark in tone as well. When Barret meets with Dyne, there isn't any Shinra in sight and I'm not gonna get into spoilers for the OG but what Dyne wants to do and the decision Barret has to make has much more impact than what Rebirth did. It's sad, and even with Shinras absence in the moment, it makes you hate Shinra Inc even more. I can see why people wouldn't play OG7 because of how dated it feels, but you're really missing out on decent storytelling.
It’s criminal how overlooked rebirth was this year. For me was the best gaming experience I had. Though introducing my 4 year old son to video games this year with Astrobot was genuinely special as well.
Boring game
@ everyone is entitled to their own opinion!
I think the image quality problems on PS5 were one of the reasons. It looks good on PS5 Pro, but on PS5 this looks like a blurry gaussian 720P mess at 30 FPS. I played it anyway, but this is one of the moments were I was like "should have waited for the PC Version".
I'm not sure 'criminally overlooked' applies to a game that was nominated for game of the year amongst so many other awards. Just because your chosen #1 isn't #1 for others doesn't mean it went overlooked, just that you have a differing opinion.
@@Avenrise Just because a game gets nominated for awards does not mean the game isn't overlooked.
I'm actually surprised by how little people are talking about Factorio: Space Age this year. Its an incredible expansion on top of one of the best games I've ever played. While most expansions provide you more of the original title with bells and whistles, Space Age manages to fundamentally shift the underpinnings of the original game while providing new and interesting problems.
Skill Up team has a quite narrow type of games they play. Satisfactory should be the GotY list. Personally I don't think remakes or DLC should be on the list, but if they are allowed, Space Age is also a great pick.
100% agree. I've not seen it mentioned anywhere. It had some huge player numbers when it was released so I hope the devs got a big pay day
Two people I've seen have commented it already, but I just want to make sure no one misses it: NINE SOLS. Red Candle Games pulled their very own Hi-Fi Rush with this (in that it's their first non-horror title and is absolutely excellent) and exceeded all expectations. The gameplay as tight and fun as you would expect from something drawing on the best elements of Hollow Knight and Sekiro. But that's just what it says to expect on the tin, it's everything else that blew my socks off. The music and soundscape is phenomenal, and the visuals are dazzling, with maybe the best visual style I've seen in any video game. Like, ever. All to say nothing of the shockingly compelling story and characters.
Play Nine Sols if you haven't, it's fantastic.
Absolutely agreed. Nine Sols and UFO 50 are tied for my GOTY 2024 and criminally underrated. I’m sad the former went unmentioned here
Absolutely agreed. Nine Sols and UFO 50 are tied for my GOTY 2024 and criminally underrated. I’m sad the former went unmentioned here
Reviewers mentioning Infinite Wealth on a GOTY list challenge: Impossible
It has 3 goty awards so far/ and almost every publication has it in their top 10s.
its not goty bro
Neither are all the other games except FF7 Rebirth here. Emphasis on the word "LIST"@@heromedley
My game of the year it was so damn good
People forget it was this year. Also, it wasn't incredibly great. Gaiden, which came out just months earlier, is honestly a better Yakuza game, even in its smaller format.
7 Rebirth is defo my GOTY. It's really special to me. I honestly couldn't believe modern Square Enix could make a game like this ngl.
Can't wait for Part 3, cause that's when the plot gets REALLY wild in the original FF7.
hell yea
Part 3 is gonna be nuts. I couldnt believe how good Rebirth was...what a game!! FF7 is a special game for me as well and seeing Square deliver is so good.
Shame about that garbage combat running the game just like the first one.
RIP final fantasy
@@kunimitsune177 The combat is unbelievably good. One of the best combat systems of all time.
@@kunimitsune177 The combat is one of the best parts of the game. You're either bad at it or don't understand how it works, sorry.
You can say many things about Rebirth, but bad combat is asinine.
Rebirth gave me back what i've lost for the last 10 years in gaming and from Final Fantasy....some of the lines are still with me everyday since i played it, it was a incredible ride....and we're not even done yet.
Nothing was “lost” in gaming. There are a myriad of games that have a similar quality as Rebirth, from the narrative to the gameplay. I do agree that something was lost with Final Fantasy in the past decade.
@@thegwynbleidd4202 I generally agree that nothing was lost in gaming.
However, no game has ever brought back the sense of awe and pure joy I had as a child playing video games as well as Rebirth. When I was a kid, video games always seemed so much larger, magical, mysterious, bottomless. I always had a sense as a kid that there was something new to discover around every corner. Having played so many video games at this point in my life, even when I play a new game I can very quickly spot the patterns and begin to anticipate what's coming up around that next corner. Rebirth has a way of subverting those expectations I've built up over the years that reinvigorates that childhood whimsy in me.
@@thegwynbleidd4202like what? I can’t think of any modern game that have that goofy ps1 jrpg vibes with this level of production values. Rebirth is special.
@@thegwynbleidd4202 it's a concensus in the gaming community that gaming in general has been going downhill for many years. There have been no JRPG (or very very few games in other genres) over the last 10 years, at least, that have delivered what FF7 Rebirth has. You're a moron if you don't realize that.
My interest in the FF series almost entirely dropped after XIII was such an incredible disappointment. Loved every title before that to varying degrees. XIV 1.0 didn't grab me at all (was more of a GW2 guy back then) and I was very lukewarm on XV since I saw it as a watered down version of what Versus XIII could have been (which it was, especially at release) and I never played it until the Royal edition much later, just watched a playthrough that told me I was right in losing interest.
FFVII Remake actually got me interested in the series again. Gave XIV another chance and discovered it was amazing (actually my favorite game of the series at this point). Maybe a controversial opinion but I also really loved XVI. But Rebirth was absolute peak, honestly. Generally, the last couple years have been a good time for being a Final Fantasy fan, and I'm honestly really glad about this. It's the first game franchise I ever engaged with, it was a huge part of my childhood and I'm glad I can call myself a fan of the series again without feeling resentment about it. I'm excited to see where the third Re-Trilogy game goes, I can't wait for the IX remake (although they REALLY need to drop an announcement for the damn thing already), I'll likely be playing XIV for another decade at minimum, and I have fairly high hopes for XVII.
XIII is still shit though.
FF7 Rebirth is a love child to FF7 fans and I absolutely loved every minute of the 120 hours I played on PS and will likely do double on PC, I understand the complaints of bloat, but it's there for us to just soak up the world, spend time with the characters in a game that means so much more to original players that no other game could touch and I will forever be thankful to Square for making it.
Pure fan service at the most genuine level, so much content that probably cost them more than they made from it and I love it all, thank you Square and I hope you ignore the complaints for part 3.
Absolutely agree. The thing with the game is even though it basically followed the Ubisoft open world design (towers, map markers, etc). It made each task feel fun because there was a tangible reward for doing it either from a progression point of view or from another special character moment. The game is like a road movie. It's all about the journey and the character interaction. And it's the only time Ive had in recent memory where I actively sought out every piece of side content for this style of open world game. You can tell the entire team loves and respects the original FF7 and its world, characters, story, etc. I really hope they stick the landing for the last part
I struggled to get through this game not fun at all
@@kaysi768 Same, to each their own. I hated it to be quite frank.
My favorite game I’ve played in maybe 10 years.
I only hated how blurry the image quality was, selecting performance mode on my 120hz TV. Not to mention how choppy quality mode looked. I'm not usually a performance/graphics snob, mind you. I genuinely hoped I could push through long enough to get used to either option. That did not happen, however, and I'm very disappointed in Square Enix for not pouring more effort into optimization. Still, I pre-ordered Rebirth on Steam in the hopes of achieving better results on more advanced hardware. Will I cancel said-pre-order the second I hear something negative from Digital Foundry. Absolutely - I'd rather not waste my money a second time - but I digress.
Rebirth is the pinnacle of JRPG maximalism. It's such an insane ride and far beyond what any normal "remake" is and could be.
Maximalism is the perfect word to describe it. It's decadent, baroque. We joked about quadruple a games with Skull and Bones, but no joke Rebirth just about earns that designation.
If it didn't have the stigma of being part of a remake stretched into a trilogy I believe it could have reached the levels of Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate popularity. Hopefully part 3 is the high water mark.
Edge magazine also said the same thing in their review. Kyle bosman said in the age where AAA scene often feels "safe", it's refreshing to see a AAA title that tries to be weird and extravagant.
Rebirth is shit. Looks pretty, for sure. But it's a polished turd and a huge disrespect to FFVII.
I really think Stellar Blade should be included in the list, it’s so good!
Your Outer Wilds Timestamp for TYIVG: 35:52 ✅
Im so glad about how great FF7 Rebirth was for you, because for me it was same. It just unbelievable how this game contain so much content, and mostly this content is good and above, im really wanna people speak about this game more, when its like pure PS2- fun era game with modern technologies. And ofc story, they did a good job adding more stuff to already great story of original.
FF7 was for the first Playstation. For me - personally - they ruined the remake by changing to "action combat". Still flabbergasted and annoyed by this decision.
I just picked up for sale with the upcoming second installment, and only have a couple hours in. My only complaint is I am not a fan of the combat system and having to switch between characters to exploit weak points. I hope it gets better, but I am here for the story more than the game play, so it won't ultimately stop me from playing through it.
@@XBluDiamondX If you're playing remake now, then I can tell you Rebirth makes improvements in this area. It still rewards players who are willing to switch between characters frequently, but it also introduces new materia that make your companions do more on their own without you having to control them.
Goty for me. First FF game I've cared about since FFX. That combat system is the best of any action jrpg ever made. Felt like a dream the entire way through. World and characters perfectly translated from the old ps1 blocky visual style. Every single character acts and sounds exactly how I imagined when I read the dialogue while playing the original. To be fair, I'm playing astro bot now and i can see why it won and don't have any problems with that. Games seems literally flawless so far.
Commenting before I watched the video to see if Skill Up managed to (rightfully) include Outer Wilds again.
37:13 "Greatness is never defined by the absence of flaws; it's defined by the things that make it great."
*Exactly.* It's rare I hear someone articulate exactly how I feel about my favorite games, and that's it right there.
"I think its the best Final Fantasy since 10." I feel the EXACT same way. 10 was one of my favorite games of all time. Final fantasy, for me, lost its luster after that game. Rebirth is the first game in the series since 10 that i was really attracted to. Mainly because of the combat. Its like kingdom hearts on steroids. The game, as you said, feels like it had an unlimited budget. No corner was cut. Everything was given 100% effort and resources to create.
not really, like i'd put 12 higher just for a more complete vision with no bs the way 7R does
the tragedy of FF7R is its a chunk of a game that was already complete for a worse version of the same story even with its new additions, being bloated doesn't make it better for it
Bs take and lazy take. FF7 trilogy will go down as the best gaming trilogy ever with witcher and mass effect
The combat is garbage. Absolute trash. Completely ruined the experience.
What's funny is Rebirth and Remake both are colossal leaps in quality from 10 as well. 10 was great for it's era, but you try it now and boy is it rough lol. For sure a game held up by nostalgia and string at this point.
@@kunimitsune177I respect your opinion , but this combat-formula is the best for the series now , it is Mix between The old turn base combat and the modern action hack and slash combat system, and this combat system ist not new it was same combat in kingdom hearts series and it was beloved
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle took the top spot for me. Maybe it's the fact that it feels like it's own thing - part immersive sim, part first person brawler, part platformer, part puzzler, part movie - or maybe it's just that I had really been aching for a decent Indiana Jones story. Whatever the deeper reasons for myself are, it's a technically impressive feat on every platform while also just being a really entertaining romp through a time period and locations we hardly ever see in games. MachineGames kind of knocked it out of the park in a way I wasn't expecting.
For me, Indiana Jones falls apart after the vatican. The Vatican was great. Then you go to Egypt and it's like the game just starts over and you have to go through all the same stuff you just went through but in a new place. I wasn't invested enough in the story to keep playing and the change in level just killed the momentum for me. It just felt like a new list of boxes to check without much of anything new to play around with.
@@milky_toast_while there's definitely some structural carryover going from Egypt to the third act, you did stop before a pretty major shakeup there.
I might be biased towards JRPGs, but FF7 Rebirth and Metaphor were my favorite games this year lol
I just started FF7 Rebirth after picking it up yesterday. I am looking forward to experiencing it. Metaphor is definitely top tier. My other favorite JRPG of the year is Trails Through Daybreak. Kinda tough for me to choose which would be my number one, lol.
Metaphor is my GotY. I haven't played a AAA JRPG in years but I really want to check out the other Atlus games now.
So didn’t even play fantasian huh. Amateur stuff lol
@@ChronoMune okay but idc about Fantasian in the first place 💀
@@yannispirou101 yeeeeeeeeeesh
Balatro annoys me with how goddamn addicting it is. It has been my go to, instead of doomscrolling social media before bed. I’ll go start a run before bed, promise myself no more than a single run. 4-10 runs later, I finally go to sleep. So addicting. So fun.
My personal GOTY
*Addictive
for me it is actually the opposite: I have to force myself to play more than 1 round. I like it while playing but
it is far from addicting for me
Skill up has great taste. FF7 rebirth is my game of the year and it wasn’t even close. I can’t believe more people aren’t going crazy that this game isn’t getting the recognition it deserves. I can’t wait for part 3, and hopefully, an Advent children sequel would be great!
I strongly agree with you on everything except the AC sequel, lol.
@ all good lol. I do have to ask you a question now lol, why wouldn’t you want a sequel after we are finished with part 3 to be advent children? I just want to story of these characters I’ve loved since young to continue lol.
Unfortunately, in the light of online discourse, I think the rightful nitpicks about Rebirth have ballooned in people’s minds to these massive flaws despite most of those “flaws” appearing in purely optional content.
I think there are also some criticisms to be made with pacing and even the primary narrative thrust early on (following the black robes is a bit of a passive motivator when you dig into storytelling theory and it can make the first half feel a bit rudderless, for example), but again… largely nitpicks.
I’m sure the ending rubbed some people certain ways, but it’s also mostly the product of being just part 2 out of 3.
It feels like a lot of other contenders were given a lot of patience and slack, but, for whatever reason, critics were extra tough on Rebirth when it came to GOTY voting time.
@ very well said. I enjoyed reading your point of view. Thank you!
Same. Easily the best.
I'd like to personally shoutout Stellar Blade. While not GOTY material (due to a lackluster story and boring characters), the boss fights, combat and music were *ahem* stellar!. A wonderful game from a studio that deserves all the praise.
my game of the year is Unicorn Overlord, man WHAT A GAME. Excelent strategy/JRPG game, the combat its insane complex
It is? You literally just pick your team and watch them fight
@@via_negativa6183 Agree. It was way too easy? Lost interest quickly.
@@via_negativa6183 yeah, you can have 5 characters in a unity, and every skill and passive interacts im diferent ways, depending on the build of the unity, the combinations are endless. But yeah, it is a tatics game, so you Just control where the unity goes during combat
The combat was novel for a while but it was a mindless slog for the back half - literally no meaningful strategy once units were levelled.
One of my top games too.
Why are you putting spoiler visuals for metaphor bruh
The platinum for Rebirth pushed me to the brink of sanity, but I wouldn’t have it any other way I absolutely love that game.
#1 Rebirth
#2 Wukong
#3 Space Marine 2
Same here, that platinum was a massive challenge but i'm so fckin proud of it
Wouldn’t it be the brink of insanity? Well I guess technically the brinks of sanity and insanity are right next to each other.
@@MisterK-YT Ackchyually 🤓 you got a point haha. Maybe Chadley broke me after all. Regardless happy early new year to you my friend!
I missed out on the plat because of the sit-up mini-game. been over 60 I don't have the eye-hand coordination I used to have
Im doing it on ps5 pro. My GOTY as well. Rebirth is fucking incredible. What a year.. Metaphor is up their too. That game floored me and made me a an atlus fan.
2:57 as soon as I hear that Helldivers 2 theme song, I get chills. FOR SUPER EARTH!!
Sometimes I really can't believe I came to this channel for weekly vendor resets in The Division and ended up watching this channel grow into the best video game review, news, and media outlet in the business. I've loved every minute of it and I can't wait to see what's in store for the channel in 2025. Cheers!
For me its FF7 Rebirth BY FAR...
Thank you for putting this out before the Steam Sale ends
Absolutely agree on your assessment of Rebirth. The game is charm and passion personified. The rest of the list and video was excellent. Keep up the good work team.
So far, you and Gameranx are the only channels that've recognized Rebirth as their GOTY which I find astonishing. An abundance of creativity, craft, passion and heart were poured into the making of this game unlike any other this year of this scale except Metaphor. Sure it's not perfect and while everyone keeps complaining about the game being bloated, the majority of mini games and activities are completely OPTIONAL. I've steadily sunk over 250 hours into Rebirth and I've treasured almost every bit of it. Hands down one of the greatest gaming experiences of my 20+ years of gaming.
Most awards by publications after industry plant, astro bot
I agree. I have never been able to feel the passion of the devs pouring through my screen as vividly as I did with Rebirth. It's clear that a massive amount of love went into this game. How people never lost their minds over the fact that this game came out just 4 years after Remake baffles me. It seems like most studios nowadays would take at least 8 years to develop a game of this scale and ambition. It's truly a remarkable achievement and that alone is worthy of immense praise. But the fact that they stuck the landing on all fronts? One of the best games ever made in my opinion.
Maybe because it's a remake
Ben from Minnmax has it has his #1 as well : )
@@petermobius Just saw that!
Glad to see FFVII Rebirth get some recognition. It was my game of the year for sure. I feel like it was overlooked a lot in the GOTY conversation because it came out so early in the year and people have moved on.
This was an interesting year. While I don’t think there was a true standout like an Elden Ring or a Baldur’s Gate 3, there were A LOT of really good games.
There was literally Elden Ring.
Also we're gonna be saying "not a true standout like BG3" for a long time. BG3 was not a normal game. It was a freak of nature. The people who made it even can't get that lightning to strike a second time.
Stellar blade was better than both them games.
Not every gamer needs a bear sex simulator like Baldurs gate
@ Stellar Blade was solid, but I disagree about it being on that level.
@@mrdee2454 "bear sex simulator" lmao but prefers the jiggle simulator.
@@mrdee2454as someone who genuinely enjoyed Stellar Blade, it was also extremely derivative and its story was bad enough to be detrimental to it. ShiftUp needs to hire some dedicated narrative designers and do something to truly stand out for a sequel if they want people to care about it. Because right now Stellar Blade is basically known as the Nier copycat game for degenerate coomers by most people, and the community around the game doesn’t do anything to shirk that image. They’re more concerned with how many skimpy outfits they can get for Eve rather than whether or not ShiftUp can tell a competent story.
It has great combat, music, and art style, but those alone aren’t enough to make it a cultural behemoth like Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate.
Glad for the small ufo 50 shout out here. Criminally underlooked game. I think Mortol might genuinely be my game of the year, and the fact that it came with 48 other games that range from fun to experience for a bit to genuine great gems is amazing.
Also Combatants was there but lets forget about that.
FF7 Rebirth is the most ambitious game of this year. No other action RPG in history has as much gameplay variety as Rebirth. None.
Some of the Yakuza games come close, but Rebirth is a step up in terms of quality and polish.
Elden Ring still destroys this game
@@spartan_a1176 in some aspects like open world design, yes. Not in combat or enemy variety.
@Koustav_04 combat I'll give you that but enemy variety? There is a crap tone of enemy variety in Elden Ring wym? Lol and that's not mentioning the DLC 😂
@spartan_a1176 just look at ff7 rebirth playthrough on youtube, you'll see what I mean. Elden Ring has 3 types of enemies, Human looking, Ogre looking, and insect looking enemies. FF7 Rebirth has everything you can think of and then some.
As an OG Dragon Dogma fan, I was not disappointed at all. Except I guess from the fact that we don't have very difficult content yet kinda like what Dark Arisen provided. It's beautiful how it's a very improved version of the original and was in fact how they wanted the first game to come out. :D
FF7 Rebirth!!!!My personal as well...Square knocked it out the park. Every new region was an absolute joy to explore. So many sick bosses. Replaying on ps5pro rn. The final set of quests were soooo good and such a nice suprise. Pt 3 is gonna be sick.
Banger year for games again. 2025 is gonna be amazing as well.
Space Marine 2 stands strong as my favorite game of the year. It is _precisely_ the kind of product that I want to see more of in the industry-a complete single-player and co-op suite with a sprinkle of multiplayer to enjoy.
Agree. It went further in that the coop multiplayer missions are still woven into the campaigns story as missions that were happening off-screen. Overall fantastic work.
As someone who was a huge fan of the original Dragon's Dogma and who was very excited for its sequel, I was initially pretty disappointed by Dragon's Dogma 2. It's bugs and performance issues really put a hamper on the experience and I think really accentuated the areas where the game fell short. I played it once, had a novel time, and figured I'd take it for a spin again for a few hours once they fixed it's most glaring issues,
Now that the performance has largely been fixed and the game runs on consoles at a consistent 60 frames, what I thought would be a short revisit ended up being a second playthrough twice as in-depth as the first. It has skyrocketed up to genuinely being one of my favourite games of all time. In a game where so much of your time is spent traversing the environments, romaing and exploring as you soak in the atmosphere before you're thrust into the game's chaotic and frantic combat, it is amazing how much of a difference it makes when the game runs and feels good to play. It really lets you sink into the adventure and the experience in a way I didn't even realise was missing on my first look.
If you're someone who played it on console at launch and wrote it off, I absolutely recommend giving it a second shot. The game shines like an uncut diamond, flawed and unrefined, yet still somehow dazzlingly brilliant.
It really feels sadly destined (like the first) to be adored by the few whilst being missed by the many. I loved it until I got stuck with the Sphynx.
The game desperately needs more content though. New enemies, dungeons or just something to spice it up. Besides performance improvements they haven’t touched anything or improved anything else. Monster variety is boring fighting the same things over and over
Rebirth win... I'm so happy, this wonderful game has been sadly overlooked in the last few months
25:50 hearing you say legend of dragoon along all those other great games puts a big smile on my face I love that game
The production value and quality on this channel is immaculate. Can’t wait to see what’s cooking.
The amount of times I've been played this year I'd be surprised if I wasn't on the list
Hug
Here for the Dragon's Dogma 2 love.
Game has so many flaws but it's my GOTY
I don't see Factorio in the chapters, a whole team and not a single engineer??? Unbelievable.
Happy new year!!!
Hoping to see more in 2025! ❤
❤Factorio and Satisfactory my beloved❤
I love how much you've made the whole team part of the public face of the channel. I know most RUclipsrs have a bunch of smart people behind them but we rarely hear from them or even know their names. Getting to know Austin, Stu and Ed's tastes this year has been great.
Jesus fellas. Whoever is doing the audio mix on your videos should be getting a reward. Kick arse! Happy new year x
Finally! Some RESPECT for REBIRTH!
I'm soo sooooo happy Kunitsu and Thank Godness, you're here are on the list. Underrated games that people didn't talked about it
Shame not seeing Neva on this list. So many people are sleeping on that masterpiece
Very niche
I will always read the word Neva in Geoff Keighley’s voice lol. Cuz I’ve never heard anyone else say it I guess.
I’m actually kinda shocked that Ralph didn’t include it since he loved Gris.
I had the same reaction, I don't think any of them played it
I usually look forward to these videos at the end of the year, but it was awesome to just see the wealth of talent on display between all the guys on staff to help out. Where it might usually feel forced on other channels, the slow and very gradual addition they bring to the content and by extension this video has made this such a fun watch. Cheers
Watching this and hearing about the team's favorite games through the year makes me think it would be nice to get a monthly update in This Week in Video Games on the teams top 3 or 4 games for the month. Especially as I, at least, sometimes forget that you all continue to play the games you review, after you're done reviewing them.
Happy new year and thanks for all the great content in 2024, looking forward to more and better in the year ahead!!
Can I just say Stu has a great voice for videos? We need Stu recommends videos!
For platformers we had Astro Bot, for RPGs we had Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, for action games we had Stellar Blade and for co-op shooters we had Space Marine 2. These and many others showed a year of favorites that are varied and brilliant in their own ways and I hope 2025 will have a similar lineup.
Funny, one of those games was not mentioned in the video…
@Chopzi11a I know. Stellar Blade was another highlight of the year for me and it was absent here.
The whole team really has the skill up accent down. Love it!
For so long after FFX i was uncertain Square could ever grip me again with another Final Fantasy.
Yet, even as a person who hadn't beat the og until the remake's announcement this remake series has me in love.
I didn’t think they could improve upon some of Remake's best elements in Rebirth like OST and combat, but they somehow delivered so damn hard while also improving some of its flaws.
I only hope that the PC version along with the passage of time, will bring the series more respect and fans.
Every single time the Helldivers 2 song plays I get instant goosebumps.
Man, after such an incredibly rough year for the industry it feels so nice to just revel in the beauty of the art for a bit before going back to face those realities again.
Better not get comfortable, big failures layoffs are pretty much assured in the next couple of years.
@@russellcarey3568all that stuff was already happening in 2024 and before, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate the good stuff that happened alongside.
Where is prince of Persia the lost crown???
Yeah they also forgot nine sols amazing indie metroidvania
LOVED PoPtLC. Nine Sols is on my short list.
in the flop-heap where it belongs?
And its review was even a 'Strongly Recommend'...
Can't put every game on thr list
Black myth wukong was MY GAME OF THE YEAR! Its not even on this list lol. Insane in my opinion . Even though dragons dogma 2 had it's issues I did really love it. It was just a fun game, with super fun combat. Wish there was way more emeny/ boss variety, wish the story was overall better.
This is the first list that doesn't have Wukong
These lists are all subjective. Your list can be different. It's okay.
Skill up never made BMW review video, I wonder why. They intentionally ignore one of the biggest games in 2024.
very mediocre game
I adored dragons dogma 2, it makes me happy to see that you enjoyed it as much as I did
I would consider myself a pretty "casual" gamer. This year I played and enjoyed some of the big releases; Space Marine 2, Black Ops 6, and Indiana Jones (with some Destiny 2 always lurking in the background). Despite mainly having time for these bigger games, I always appreciate the thoughtful coverage of games big and small from this channel. I honestly think if I were to stop playing video games all together, I would still watch your videos. Great job in 2024 and I look forward to what's coming on the channel in 2025 and beyond!
SkillUp: Elden Ring DLC is just too good to not include it in games of the year list even though it is a DLC
SkillUp: *lists Destiny 2 DLC on games of the year list*
lol true
Every time you post, it’s a vibe. Keep it up!
1. FF7 Rebirth
2. Black Myth Wukong
3. LAD: Infinite Wealth
4. Prince of Persia: Lost Crown
5. Destiny 2: Final Shape
BMW is overhyped.
@@ryot4204 More like underhyped in the west considering it sold 30 millions copies
Just wanted to say thank you. You're videos have been an absolute gem in my feed, look forward to them and whenever I see that orange and blue logo pop up, I smile. Thank you to you and the growing team. The audience appreciates you all and hoping you all the best in the new year.
Happy that dragons dogma 2 made the list 😁😁looking forward to dlc hopefully summer 2025
Skill Up really is the GOAT. Thanks for being one of my favorite parts of every week this year!
I feel like FF7 rebirth is underrated, considering it should have won GOTY and should have won more accolades. One of the best games I’ve played in the past decade
Agree
Black myth wukong is my personal game of the year. Some of the absolute coolest bosses and cut scenes I’ve ever seen in a video game, may have even surpassed from soft character designs for me. Also the amazing cut scenes with just stellar boss fights that come down to the final stretch with no heals in my flask and still getting a kill has been some of the most rewarding gameplay I’ve ever had.
BMW is overhyped.
Same for me, nothing on this list interests me, maybe Final Fantasy and Space Marines but Black Myth Wukong was easily the best this year. 🙂
This channel has been the best thing to happen to my YT feed in 2024! Shill Up, you’re my channel of the year.
This is the best gaming channel by a long mile! Such an informative, entertaining, and wholesome dose of gaming news every week and reviews that I really trust. This is what the gaming community *should be about. Thanks SkillUp! Keep up the incredible work! 🔥🔥
What a crossover! Nice to see you follow these legends Mr. Adam. Keep up your own good work and good luck with your goals!
Rebirth is my pick too let’s goooo loved Metaphor and Astrobot among others as well SOTE was sooo good toooo
Not even a whisper of Wukong is wild to me.
sshhhhh we not suppose to talk about games from China~
bro, I thought i was in the twilight zone. did he boycot the game? wth
k, he might have other games he enjoys more, but not even a mention, esp after he said the team has played Everything this year...
Thats why you can’t just rely on reviews, you also need to see statistics
Not for nothing but wukong was a very rare example of a product very much centered around a foreign culture that broke those typical cultural boundaries and not even a fucking peep of its name. I think him and others avoided it because of the way it was dragged into the culture wars. Especially after how many of them all gushed about how insanely good it was. Because it is THAT good. VA work was on point. The story was captivating and the chapter cutscenes were jawdroppingly beautifully created by hand which made them extremely memorable. The gameplay was practically flawless. The music score was hauntingly gorgeous and it deserved the praise it got and still gets. I'm really losing respect for some of these reviewers when it really comes time to show you're not full of shit or playing it up for views.
Ok actually upon looking back at his videos to find snippets to quote him from, he didn't ever review it or speak on the game whatsoever. Wtf? How? Yea idk about skillup anymore if his policies or personal beliefs stopped him and his team from going near Black Myth Wukong.
Granblue fantasy relink was one of the best games this year everyone forgot about 😭
I was looking for this comment before I made it myself. It’s like the forgotten game of 2024, and it should’ve been in the conversation for best rpgs this year.
@WillieSlackmer it's such a shame because it has some of the most hype boss fights since ff16
@ it really is. I also listen to the soundtrack regularly, so the game is always on my mind.
Wow that came out in 2024? Yeah that's criminal everyone just forgot about it, great game
You guys have saved gaming for me. I love video games so deeply, but I just have no time to wade through them to get to the gems. I watch your reviews and know exactly what I'm getting into and if it will work for me, and this past year has been banger after banger, maybe the best year for gaming in my entire life. I played Outer Wilds this year, crosscode, Ghost of Tsushima, Persona 5 (I'll get to Metaphor), Pacific Drive... just the fuckin best.
Thank you to the whole team.