Our favorite games of 2024 that didn’t make the top 10

Available on: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

Following the best-selling installment in the Dragon Age franchise was always going to be a challenging act to follow, but piece by piece, I found myself thawing to the story and heart of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While the franchise’s fourth installment wasn’t a blistering return to form, it was a love letter to the missing pieces of the Inquisition, with just enough snappy dialogue and cross-class combat intricacies to keep me coming back for more. Veilguard was more closely related to the Mass Effect formula for BioWare games: build a team of exceptional party members, bond with them one conversation at a time, and hopefully save the world. Trying not to cry when the chips fall where they may was optional, but for me it was inevitable.

Veilguard is a story of grief, loss and redemption wrapped in sometimes cringeworthy dialogue and missions that offer glimpses of years of history, yet it was enough to hold even the weakest moments together. Chooses to tug at the heartstrings of franchise lovers, primarily around players’ relationships with recurring characters like Varric, Solas, and former series lead, The Inquisitor. In many ways, the end of Veilguard was the end of the Inquisition so many of us waited 10 years for, and regardless of the choices you made along the way, it was impossible not to feel the familiar pull of BioWare’s penchant for the dramatic. Solas, The Dread Wolf, is not just a villain, but once again an ally, leading a path of regret right up to the game’s final moments, and Rook stumbles forward, desperate not to join him in his hundred years of grief, created a dynamic I never expected to be the central theme of the game.

Every party member of the titular Veilguard managed to settle into the crevices of my heart against better judgment, and several have even joined the ranks of my personal BioWare hall of fame. When all was said and done, it felt like Dragon Age. While my personal ideals for the title were unattainable, I walked away with one thing confirmed: This game had soul.

— Shelby Reese