Polygon’s Best of 2024

2024 was… a year. But in the end, there was plenty to sink our teeth into.

We were very happy with the platform capabilities in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown And Astrobotand the rich stories of RPGs such as Metaphor: ReFantazio And Like a dragon: infinite wealth. We loved the cooperative fun of it Hell divers 2 And Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2and unlocking the seductive worlds of Animal welfare And The rise of the golden idol. And we really, really loved the breakout success of Balatro and the infinite appeal of just one more run. And that’s just the beginning: 2024 has been full of games that have endlessly captivated, inspired and enthralled us.

Movies like Challengers, Dune: part two, Hundreds of BeaversAnd Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga delighted us at the cinema, and it was a particularly strong year for genre films: horror, action and science fiction all had standout years. In the meantime, Shogun set a new bar for television storytelling that others are still trying to match.

There were many video game adaptations again this year, with varying degrees of success. The second and final season of Arcane we were impressed, Prime’s Fallout show surprised us, and the Borderlands movie has also been released.

Some of the biggest anime series in the world had exciting new seasons, and there were plenty of excellent new shows that quickly grew their own dedicated fan bases. And the great books and tabletop games released this year will keep you busy well into 2025.

Here’s our look at the best of the best that 2024 had to offer in gaming and entertainment. We’ll continue to add stories to this pack through December 20, so watch this space.