Game of the Year 2024: Astro Bot
A joyous five days of podcasting led to that one moment everyone was waiting for here at GodisaGeek HQ, the crowning of the Game of the Year 2024. This year gave us a lot of video games to celebrate together as a team, and although we didn’t always agree, we all decided on one game we wanted to celebrate above the rest. Astro Bot is the GodisaGeek Game of the Year 2024, and I couldn’t be happier about this.
Sometimes the choice for our site Game of the Year is fairly obvious when we’re podcasting, as certain games gather multiple awards along the way to the big decision. This time though there were so many titles that were jumping out as contenders. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and many many more games were getting praise and awards from the team, but none of them quite captured our hearts like Team Asobi’s platforming masterpiece.
I was lucky enough to be the one who reviewed Astro Bot back in September, and it was the easiest ten out of ten I’ve ever given to a game. 3D platformers aren’t necessarily the preferred genre of video game for everyone on the team though, but as more and more of us were delighted by this charming adventure I dared to dream about it becoming our official site Game of the Year 2024.
I have simply never in my lifetime of gaming ever smiled more when playing a video game than I did with Astro Bot. With every single stage featuring something new and inventive, alongside gorgeous visuals and playful environments, Astro Bot is a game that I would replay every single minute of without a millisecond of disappointment. Even the greatest video games of all time generally have “that one water level” that I’d rather not have to go back to, but Astro Bot is simply spectacular for every moment you’re holding the controller.
Alongside being a sensational video game in its own right, Astro Bot also celebrates the video games that came before it in a way that I wasn’t prepared for. More than just a PlayStation lovefest, Astro Bot features collectable bots from such a vast amount of games that it’s impossible not to be impressed. If you’ve been playing video games for more than a handful of years you’ll get to delight in this nostalgia fest, and there are some particularly deep cuts that have to be seen to be believed.
More than anything though, what drove me to experience every single bit of content Astro Bot had to offer was the variety in the stages. Most 3D platformers feature those familiar lava, ice and water levels that have been in our games since the dawn of time, but Astro Bot’s stages are far more creative than that. You’ll go from a stage that features you shrinking to the size of a mouse through a house, to climbing up a singing tree, all the way to the final stages of each galaxy which are inspired by a game from Sony’s past and feature completely new mechanics.
It will likely be a long time before another game impresses me quite as much as Astro Bot, and in a year of gaming wonders it stands out as a beacon of positivity and joy that we all need in our lives. It is truly an honour to declare that Astro Bot is officially the GodisaGeek Game of the Year 2024.
Check out 2025’s release date list, to see what’s contending for the 2025 awards.
