2024 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards

Well here we are. This is the hardest category to pick and there are so many factors at play. Do I award the game with the best gameplay, the best story, the best graphics, or only pick a combination of one or two. I actually decide based on value and fun and any game that was brave enough to innovate or revolutionize the genre as a whole.

Astro Bot

How can the cutesy platformer win you ask? Well, by innovating and pushing a platform to do things it pushed back on for so long. For a while, Sony dominated the 3D platformer genre with the likes of Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank, and Jak & Daxter. Astro Bot shows the suits at Sony that people care about their long lost properties and we need to bring them back. The game’s clear inspiration to Super Mario Galaxy is also not lost on Team Asobi. The games use of textures, fantastic physics and interia, and perfect level design create a game that I rarely ever get to experience anymore. A game that makes me not want to put the controller down, lose those couple of hours of sleep before or after work, and spend my entire weekends in front of my TV. Team Asobi did it and it’s something I haven’t experienced in well over a decade.