The best PlayStation game of 2024

With the shadow of Concorde’s death hanging over the latter part of the year, it would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that 2024 was a rough time for PlayStation. But the past twelve months have been really solid for Team Sony, with a selection of games that really highlight the console’s strength in several areas, be it giant RPGs, slick cinematic action or chilling horror.

It’s a good job there was such a spread too, as 2024 marks the return of our platform awards after being absent for the past few years. We’ve aimed to capture what made each console feel unique this year, and of course that means exclusives or games that feel distinctly “at home” on a particular platform. It was pretty easy for PlayStation thanks to a long list of PS5 exclusives that treated us to Astro Bot’s creative platforming challenges, Black Myth: Wukong’s fierce boss battles, Helldivers 2’s chaotic co-op missions and more.

But only one can be named the best PlayStation game of 2024. What did the IGN team think was the most worthy? Let’s take a look at the results…

The best PlayStation game of 2024

Honorable mentions

2024 has provided a solid selection of experiences on PlayStation, but it’s been a pretty good year for action games in particular. Two in particular stood out: Stellar Blade and Black Myth: Wukong. Although none of them quite got enough votes to climb onto the podium, they came close behind our finalists.

Stellar Blade caught on earlier this year thanks to its excellent combat system, which mixes a bit of Dark Souls (parries, healing flasks and bonfire-like checkpoints) with the stylish flare of Platinum hits like Bayonetta. It does this while also harnessing all the power of the PS5, ensuring it looks amazing whether you’re battling scrap robots in the desert or dueling monsters in a lab.

Just a few months later, we got Black Myth: Wukong, another game that mixed some of FromSoftware’s sensibilities with more traditional character action. Its boss-rush structure means you’re always facing a fun or fascinating new enemy, whether it’s a tiger bathing in a pool of blood or a dragon-headed pig wielding electric maces. Combined with clever combat that can be expanded with all sorts of experimental abilities (such as a gang of monkey clones), Black Myth: Wukong is among 2024’s most remarkable action games.

Number two: Silent Hill 2

The original Silent Hill is a PlayStation 2 classic. Team Silent’s 2001 survival horror is one of the genre’s most celebrated achievements, largely thanks to a grim story that rewrote the rulebook on how to explore meaningful themes through an interactive medium. In these footsteps, Bloober Team has managed to create what will surely be considered a PlayStation 5 classic with its remake of Silent Hill 2 – a game that respects and honors the PlayStation’s role at the pinnacle of survival horror innovation, while with it carefully updating it. for the modern age.

In an era where “remake” can mean many things, Silent Hill 2 treads the most traditional path. It’s a largely faithful recreation of the original game, telling the same story with the same characters, and hitting all the high points fans expect. But the old environments, story beats and encounters are seen again from a new over-the-shoulder perspective, making the exploration even more immersive and the combat a much more intuitive experience. The result is a fresh take on a beloved memory for veterans, and a way for new fans to experience one of the very best survival horror games of all time in a format that’s more enjoyable to play.

Well, we say “comfortable” and refer only to the controls and camera system. 23 years later, the original tale of Silent Hill 2 remains as haunting as ever. Bloober’s phenomenal new coat of paint only serves to enhance it – shadows have never seemed so oppressive, rust has rarely been so grotesque – which is why Silent Hill 2 easily takes the top spot when it comes to PS5’s creepiest game. Finally, we can’t ignore actor Luke Roberts, who brings protagonist James Sunderland to life with astonishing nuance that highlights the character’s struggling humanity in every line.

Runner-Up: Helldivers 2

Back in January, Helldivers 2 was barely a blip on the radar. Fast forward a month, and gamers the world over were spending every spare waking minute spreading Managed Democracy, such was the allure of Arrowhead Game Studio’s masterful co-op third-person shooter.

Helldivers 2 is one of those games that is almost insignificant on paper. A team of four drops into a sandbox map, work together to complete an objective, and then escape via evacuation ship. But instead of feeling like many of the copycat extraction shooters that have landed in recent years, Helldivers 2 feels like a fresh, original vision. That’s thanks in part to the way it balances brutally unforgiving mechanics on a comedic razor’s edge; friendly fire means that one wrong trigger pull will punch a fatal hole through a friend’s skull or drop a killer bomb on your entire squad. Somehow it always feels like a fun punchline rather than an annoying team kill.

The real key to Helldivers 2’s genius is its clever approach to the metagame. Each successful mission pushes you further up the tech ladder, unlocking increasingly outlandish weapons and orbital bombardments with which to obliterate enemies. But mission success also affects the shifting front lines on the galactic map, which sees humanity’s enemies gain and lose ground in their bid to invade Super-Earth. The player-driven stories that this system creates, as planets are liberated and fan-favorite maps fall under enemy control, are the real secret sauce that makes this phenomenal shooter tick. It’s the best multiplayer game PlayStation has delivered in years.

Runner-Up: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Square Enix had already proven it knew what it was doing with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but there was no doubt that the first chapter of this remake of the 1997 PlayStation classic was far too linear and stretched far too thin ( it transformed only five or so hours of the original game into a 40-hour epic). The middle chapter of the trilogy, this year’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, addresses these issues, and the result is a grand, expansive RPG that feels like a thoroughly modern Final Fantasy as much as it is a tribute to an old-time greatness.

As with many RPGs, Rebirth switched to an open world design, but did so in a fascinating way. Instead of one colossal map, its open world consists of multiple hubs that not only represent different environmental biomes, but different methods of exploration. One area’s activities can be accessed through simple running or climbing, while another requires the use of an all-terrain vehicle or a flying Chocobo. All of this means that while Rebirth’s open worlds may be filled with traditional genre fare like pick-ups, turrets, optional bosses, and a truly excellent card game, actually accessing these activities requires you to rethink how you navigate and explores with each new place you visit. .

Of course, these open zones are also the stage for the grand adventure that is Final Fantasy 7. Freed from the dark urban slums of Midgar, the story is able to hit the true highlights of the original game, including a humorous stay at the Gold Underkopper theme park. These are joined by Rebirth’s own original additions, such as a surprisingly dramatic card tournament aboard a ship and many more sequences we dare not spoil. All of this combined with what is arguably the very best Final Fantasy combat system since the days of the ATB meter, and you have Square’s most exciting RPG in a very, very long time.

Winner: Astro Bot

It’s only right that in the year of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, we crown something that celebrates the console’s legacy as the best PlayStation game of the year. Astro Bot is a Mario-matching 3D platformer that excels on all fronts: huge stage design, intuitive movement, fun power-ups and a clever approach to combining all these elements in exciting new ways in each world you visit. It’s emblematic of the creativity that helped define PlayStation’s early years, and something we see all too rarely now on a console largely dedicated to mature, cinematic stories.

A huge amount of joy can be found in Astro Bot’s new approach to playing with PlayStation history. Almost every scene riffs on a Sony classic, from a glittering casino that flashes to the Sly Coopers’ most daring heists, to a mushroom world where characters from The Last of Us hide among the mushrooms. There are a small number of direct homages that brilliantly translate console blockbusters into platformer experiences, including a miniaturized God of War that really captures the essence of Santa Monica Studios’ Nordic beasts. But it’s when Astro Bot flexes its own custom creative muscles that it turns out to be the most exciting. Throwing Kratos’s ax is great, but it’s Astro’s grappling gloves and explosive dog backpack that really shine.

While smart design is what really drives Astro Bot’s instant gratification machine, we can’t help but mention the collectible PlayStation figures. What could have felt like a soulless fire drill is instead perhaps the most engaging collectathon of the generation, with an ever-growing army of classic characters – some world famous, others deep cuts recognizable only to longtime fanatics – coming together in a wondrous diorama , which feels like a digital PlayStation museum.

But you don’t have to be a PlayStation devotee to really get Astro Bot. Whether you care about its homages or not, this is a platformer made with heart that delivers joy in spades. It is undoubtedly the best PlayStation game of 2024.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.