The Most Technologically Impressive Games of 2024

A Top Ten List and a Whole Lot More

The Digital Foundry team is back with their annual list of the most technologically impressive games of the year. This time around, John Linneman, Alex Battaglia, and Oliver Mackenzie share their honorable mentions and top ten list, highlighting the games that caught their attention. But what really sets this year’s list apart is the intense debate surrounding the top three games.

A Stellar Performance

While opinions are divided on the top two spots, there’s unanimous agreement on the number three position: Star Wars Outlaws. This game brings the “lived in” Star Wars aesthetic to gaming in a brilliant manner, powered by Ubisoft Massive’s state-of-the-art Snowdrop engine. The use of RT reflections, diffuse global illumination, and RT shadows is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the limited ray tracing hardware available on consoles. The PC version also offers a path tracing alternative (RTXDI) for higher-end hardware, making it a standout title.

A Notable Achievement

Star Wars Outlaws is a stunning achievement overall, with only its cutscenes being a slight letdown. The animation in these scenes seems subpar compared to the in-game animation.

Watch the Discussion

Want to hear more about the top ten games and the intense debate surrounding the top three? Check out the 108-minute discussion below:

• 0:00:00 – Introduction
• 0:01:58 – Honourable mentions: STALKER 2, Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor ReFantazio, Nightdive Studios, Tiny Glade, FF7 Rebirth, Power Rangers
• 0:20:46 – Dragon’s Dogma 2
• 0:26:35 – Riven
• 0:30:32 – Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• 0:37:24 – Silent Hill 2
• 0:48:50 – Astro Bot
• 0:54:32 – Penny’s Big Breakaway
• 0:58:05 – Black Myth: Wukong
• 1:08:49 – Star Wars Outlaws vs Hellblade 2 vs Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

A Tale of Two Games

Opinions are divided on the top two games: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. While Hellblade 2 is praised for its astonishing character work and virtual camera, which makes some environments look almost indistinguishable from real-life footage, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is commended for its sheer quality and quantity of objects and environments.

The Winner Takes All

In the end, the team agreed that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle should take the coveted “graphics of the year” accolade. The game’s consistent quality across the experience, scalability, and use of good quality RT global illumination on all console versions make it a standout title. The fact that the game is effectively locked at a perfect 60fps and the PC version running unlocked is a remarkably consistent experience with no stutter only add to its appeal.

A Well-Deserved Win

While Hellblade 2 barely puts a pixel wrong in what Ninja Theory set out to achieve, there are hard limits there – no support for hardware-accelerated RT, for example. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes it to the next level with the “full RT” upgrade, making it accessible even to hardware like an RTX 4070.

More to Explore

Of course, this discussion is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more to explore in the full video (or podcast) where the team discusses a good many games. So, if you have some spare time, do check it out!