2024 was a year full of surprise hits and critical flops for Sony and its PlayStation division, as games like Helldivers 2 and Astro Bot launched to critical acclaim, while other projects like Concord released to mediocre reviews and general player apathy.

While there were few first-party exclusives this year, third-party studios came to the rescue with a selection of games that covered multiple genres. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Stellar Blade were two notable examples of PS5-only games released this year – both coming to PC in 2025 – while other studios released must-play titles like Metaphor: ReFantazio (our Game of the Year). ), Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Silent Hill 2 on the Sony system.

Heck, even Microsoft wanted to attract a few PlayStation gamers to its brand, which led to previous Xbox Series exclusives delaying the release of the PS5 Pro console.

Which games were the most popular with critics? Thanks to GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic, we have a comprehensive list of the games that received the highest overall scores as of December 5, and overall, players couldn’t get enough of JRPGs, puzzle games, Metroidvanias, and more.

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