Prices for the best games 2024

Most game awards look at holistic elements, given the best game total, best indie game and best games of different genres. These types of awards are important reflections on the cultural consensus, but they do not tell the whole story – this is where Thegamer Aces comes in.

Voted by staff at Thegamer and our readers, Thegamer Aces is investigating smaller parts of the whole: Which game has the best character design? What was the best level of the year? Was distinguished in Storytelling? Our 15 awards are divided into three segments (character, presentation and parts) and celebrate the best in all forms of play, and in 2024, it was full of games worth talking about.

Best support performance

John Eric Bentley (Barret Wallace, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth)

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth presents a tough audience to stand out in, with so many of its actors who deliver fantastic achievements. But Bentley's turn as the bar is well worth this award, and balances the macho exterior bareman carries with and the tenderness from his fatherly side, all while acting as occasional comic relief and shoulder one of Rebirth's most touching arches.

Best Lead Performance

Troy Baker (Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle)

Todd Howard was probably not alone in rolling his eyes when Baker's involvement in Indiana Jones was revealed. Possibly the most famous voice actor in video games, there was fear that Baker was stunt casting, which promoted the over -saturation of his later career.

An amazing exact Harrison Ford impression later, found Baker deep and lightness in his version of Dr. Jones, and went from being the Albatross who threatened to weigh down the game to the eagle that helped it floating.

• Other nominees: Kaiji Tang (Ichiban Kasuga, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth), Takaya Kuroda, (Kazuma Kiryu, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth)
• Winner of Fan voice: Troy Baker

Best new character

Heismay (Metaphor: Refantazio)

Much like the bar in FF7R, in Metaphor: Refantazio characters must impress to stand out. Heismay, recruited in the middle of the game after a tricky boss fight and wrapped in one of the game's darkest conspiracies, delivers on that front. With an intimate, tragic bow about mourning the loss of his son, Heismay reminds us of what we fight for when we save the world.

• Other nominees: Iris (1000x resist), Yutaka Yamai (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth)
• Winner of Fan voice: Heismay

Best character

Ichiban Kasuga (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth)

Unlike the best new character because this category is open to all characters (although both last year was won by new characters in Baldur's Gate 3), Ichiban Kasuga returned from his debut in Yakuza: Like A Dragon to offer an even more Heart -cut story.

Ichiban is always the optimist, a role model of empathy, kindness and ass kick in one. With his English Va Kaiji Tang also up for best main performance, Ichi had a 2024 to remember.

Best character relationship

Ichiban Kasuga & Kazuma Kirstu (Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth)

Best character relationship is defined by relationships that are romantic, platonic or antagonistic, and this transition of the torch from a Yakuza legend to the face of the future keeps the weight of the entire series in its grip. It works just because the two characters in its center offer a wide emotional range, balances tenderness and masculinity, and remind us that when something is worth fighting for, there is nothing else to do but set up your dukes.

• Other nominees: Cloud Strife & Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth), Indiana Jones & Emmerich Voss (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle)
• Winner of Fan voice: Cloud Strife & Tifa Lockhart

Best character writing

Mouthwash

Mouth water only works if you buy in the trauma and melancholy of the five characters in its core. Without anywhere else to explore than the ship, this two -hour horror play throws you deep into the pain and dynamic of this quintet. They all have to be credible and scary for the game to work, and to bring home Thegamer Ace for best character writing to go alongside their placement on our list of this year's game, mouthwash really works.

Best storytelling

Mouthwash

It's a double header for the scary indie. It wins not only for its captivating history, but also for the way the story is told – non -chronologically and divided into a clear before and after division that builds up excitement in every scene by introducing dreamlike horror and making you guess at each tour. With narrative techniques that only the medium for video games could pull out, Mouthwashing is a story that is experienced, not told.

• Other nominees: Like a dragon: Infinite Wealth, Metaphor: Refantazio, 1000x resist
• Winner of Fan voice: Metaphor: Refantazio

Most unique art style

Lorelei and laser eyes

Most unique art style is not just about which art style looks best, or even the most different, but about which game uses a fresh and imaginative art style to convey the tone. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, with its blurred and disturbing monotonous gray color, which is only interrupted by puzzles and eyes glow in a deterrent neon red, pulls you perfectly into the game's world of thought.

• Other nominees: Neva, thankfully you are here
• Winner of Fan voice: Neva

Most creative game mechanics

Dragon's Dogma 2 (Dragonplague)

Few games were as bold as Dragon's Dogma 2 last year, or so nasty. It is the type of game Thegamer Aces is perfect for – when it is taken as a complete package, it can get lost in a sea of ​​other fantastic titles. But when examining the ingredients, the taste is clear to see. Or taste. Metaphorically.

Dragonplague was a disease that your farmers could get in other worlds from other players, who returned to you red -eyed and corrupt. Uncontrolled, they would explode to a tricky evil that could destroy cities and permanently destroy your entire campaign. It is difficult to imagine that another game that is so big takes such a great risk.

• Other nominees: Astro Bot (Power-ups), Balatro (Jokers)
• Winner of Fan voice: Astro Bot

Best character design

Metaphor: Refantazio

The best character design is on the way away from the characters' writing side and focuses mainly on aesthetics, and combines the game's overall art style with the suit, the character's appearance and how these three work together to give the cast personality. Metaphor must introduce a variety of new breeds, while being both humanized and distinguished from humans, and causes its cast to stand out. With a tough task ahead, it offers one of the most personality -packed fantasy figures that games have ever seen.

Best level

SLO-MO Casino (Astro Bot)

The best level category is open to interpretation, whether it is chapters, areas, dungeons or side assignments. Or, in the case of our esteemed winner, an actual video game level. Astro Bot is based on the noblest of video game traditions and is therefore an extremely worthy winner.

It could have been any of a number of Astro bot levels here, and several more (bubble 'under, downsize surprise, Bathhouse battle) were all mentioned in the long-distance phase-but the technical precision and invention of SLO-MO Casino, with its many Hidden secrets, give them all to the trophy.

• Other nominees: Vatican City (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), Kriegante Castle (Metaphor: Refantazio)
• Winner of Fan voice: SLO-MO Casino

Best soundtrack

Astro Bot

Thegamer's Game of the Year is finally gaining momentum. A bit of an atypical winner of the best soundtrack, Astro Bot does not have a moving orchestral music that can unpack Carnegie Hall. What it contains instead is a soundtrack bursting with originality, with a tone that perfectly matches the theme and pace for each level. It is a return to the golden age of the platform game and a huge artistic achievement.

• Other nominees: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Helldivers 2
• Winner of Fan voice: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Biggest technical performance

UFO 50

UFO 50 is a collection of 50 games by the company UFO Soft developed for the 1980s consoles LX-I, LX-II and LX-III. The catch? Neither the company nor the consoles have ever existed. All 50 games came entirely in order to connect to the ridiculous concept, and the fact that UFO 50 succeeds so well, with such a variety and depth in their playlist, is an astonishing feat of creativity.

• Other nominees: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Astro Bot
• Winner of Fan voice: Astro Bot

Best creative direction

Animal well

Best Creative Direction looks at how a game is built. Not only the final sum of its parts, but those parts individually, how they work together and how they can be put together in new ways to create unique experiences. Animal Well, a game that does not start until it ends and hides a new surprise behind each new screen, is as worthy winner as possible. Nothing in Animal Well is explained, and yet you have to continue.

• Other nominees: 1000x resist, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Winner of Fan voice: 1000x resist

Most effective game

Mouthwash

Where The Game Awards' Games for Impact award specifically reward games with a more socially conscious message, Thegamer Ace for Most Impactful Game is simply for games that left their mark on you. Whether their themes or story hit particularly hard, whether it was a character's journey you related to, or if the game changed how you think about games – it was a game that mattered.

It is no surprise that after winning for both character writing and story, mouthwash was the game that gave the highest echo over Dalen 2024.

• Other nominees: 1000x resist, Neva
• Winner of Fan voice: Neva