What Is This Year's 'Christmas Game'?

Every year I have a Christmas game. It's not a tradition or a festive treat, it's just that I usually have two weeks off and more free time than I know what to do with. So, I play a game that I've been meaning to get around to.

Invariably, by the time January rolls around and I've finished the aforementioned game, I regret not playing it sooner and putting it on my Game of the Year list. In 2021 that game was Chicory, which probably would have cracked my top five. In 2022 it was Guardians of the Galaxy, a year and a bit late, which would have made the ten in either year. In 2023 I just played more Baldur's Gate 3, but who didn't?

My list this year is pretty stacked and I had plenty of nearlys that could have made the cut, but there's a ton of games I didn't get a chance to check out that I might try over the break. I've just got to pick which one.

Firstly, a reminder of the criteria:

1. The game must have been released this year. I'm not having another Guardians on my hands.
2. It must come highly recommended by my peers. I need people I can trust to steer me in the right direction.
3. It must be good enough to make me regret not playing it sooner.
4. I've got to want to play it. I'm not trying some 4X game because Dave said it was boss.
5. It must include Foom Pie, which Quill eats in Guardians and coincidentally I named my character in Chicory.

Okay that last one is a lie, but I need good games from this year. Hit me.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

The main problem here is size. Not only do I believe that two weeks is not enough time to do this enormous game justice, I need to finish Yakuza: Like A Dragon before I even start. I enjoyed what I played on my first foray into the series - a good 30 hours or so - but I got bogged down in a tedious grinding section and never picked it back up. Infinite Wealth looks great, but I doubt I'll get there.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

See above. Metaphor has everything I want from a JRPG: great characters, a compelling premise, turn-based combat, and even Scouse voice actors. But I haven't got 70 hours to pour into a game these days, so Metaphor will likely remain a miss. However, I reckon its stylised graphics will run better on my Steam Deck and it requires no preparatory gaming, so it's marginally more likely to happen than Infinite Wealth.

Astro Bot

Astro Bot looks like a banger. I loved Astro's Playroom and maintain that it was still the best game PlayStation had to offer on its current-gen console at the time I sold it (circa July 2022), so a fully-fledged follow-up would be so far up my street it'd be parked on my drive and ringing the doorbell.

Unfortunately, unless Father Christmas wraps up a PS5 Pro and places it carefully under my TV cabinet on the 25th, I doubt I'll be playing Astro Bot.

My wife and I 'aren't doing presents' this year, so believing in mythical bearded reindeer-wranglers it is.

Lorelei And The Laser Eyes

This is a game I own, I desperately want to play, and keep putting off. There's something incredibly daunting about Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Maybe it's the laser eyes. Maybe it's the fiendishly difficult puzzles. Maybe it’s Lorelei. Whatever it is, my Christmas game needs to be more comforting and relaxing than this. Something to switch off with after a couple of mulled wines, not something I'll need to break out the calculator in order to solve.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle

This was obvious really, wasn't it? Indiana Jones is the last big release of 2024. I expected it to be a cheesy, Uncharted-style romp through an artifact-grabbing, Nazi-ounching adventure, but the game is closer to Dishonored than Naughty Dog’s adventure fare, with great stealth options or the opportunity to utilise nearly any item in the world to batter your Nazis if they spot you.

Indy did make it onto my Game of the Year list so it’s bucking the trend a little, but I think if I’d spent more time with it, it could have shot further up the rankings. With brilliant locations, epic quests, and this surprisingly deep gameplay to back it up, The Great Circle seems like the perfect game to keep me company in the cold Christmas evenings.

Indiana Jones Is To Xbox What Ghost Of Tsushima Is To PlayStation

Indiana Jones being an old-fashioned game is absolutely fine (and what we need).