Welcome to PC Gamer's annual Game of the Year awards. It's been an interesting year for PC gaming—a handful of major releases, but many more incredible games that dedicated themselves to satisfying a specific niche. We'll be celebrating that variety through the rest of the month as we run through the best games of 2024, culminating in the reveal of our official Game of the Year on December 30.
To create the list, every member of PC Gamer's 30+ editorial team could nominate up to six games released in 2024. These nominations became our shortlist. From there, we gather on a big global call to talk through our picks and—after some heated discussion and a couple of tiebreaker votes—select 14 games to receive awards, including our overall Game of the Year. Once the games are chosen, we assign an award category based on what we think that game does best. The awards are tailored specifically to the game—that's why there's a slightly different selection of award names each year.
Alongside the awards proper, each member of the team has also picked out a personal favourite of the year—giving some love to a game that didn't make the main list. We'll be updating the list with new awards and new personal picks each day throughout the rest of the month.
The Awards
Best Ongoing Game: Stardew Valley
Creative Achievement: UFO 50
Best Survival: Pacific Drive
Best Tactics: Tactical Breach Wizards
Best Roguelike: Caves of Qud
Best Comedy: Thank Goodness You're Here!
Best FPS: STRAFTAT
Spirit of the PC: Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Best City Builder: Manor Lords
Best Sandbox: Satisfactory
Best RPG: Metaphor: ReFantazio
Best Expansion: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Best Multiplayer: Helldivers 2
Game of the Year: Balatro
Personal Picks
Chris Livingston: Sins of a Solar Empire 2
Jacob Ridley: Frostpunk 2
Robin Valentine: Shogun Showdown
Jody Macgregor: Silent Hill 2
Jess Klinghorn: 1000xResist
Joshua Wolens: Halls of Torment
Morgan Park: Against the Storm
Harvey Randall: Black Myth: Wukong
Shaun Prescott: Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance
Wes Fenlon: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Mollie Taylor: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Lauren Morton: Morels: The Hunt 2
Kara Phillips: Ultros
Lincoln Carpenter: Dragon's Dogma 2
Past Awards
