Another year comes to a close. This time, I was able to actually plan out and write a lot of things ahead of time, most notably the James Bond reviews. Some of which I had begun authoring years ago, so I had a bit of a head start. I still managed to see and play plenty of other pieces of entertainment in 2024, however, allowing me to sum things up in the usual yearly list of best and worst. Not everything I experienced was worthy of a full review, but there were still some standouts that surprised and disappointed me in their own way.

Best Games I Played

Hitman III | World of Assassination

There is no game that has pulled me in more this year than Hitman III, aka Hitman: World of Assassination. Whatever its official title is, I’ve sunk my free time into this game all year. I started Hitman III years ago when it came to Steam but only made it through the first level at the time. I had made the mistake of playing through the first two entries on the hardest difficulty and getting all the Silent Assassin ranks on each level, and I had worn myself out before giving the third game a chance. Blitzing through the James Bond movie franchise gave me the itch to play something of a skilled assassin in the world of espionage, which this game definitely scratched and more.

The story was already an intriguing and entertaining tale from the first game and it became that much more engaging with each mission. Hitman III concludes the story in a somber but satisfying way that had me thoroughly invested. Important characters are killed off and there are some surprising betrayals. Then, I discovered the Freelance mode and became that much more addicted. Hitman + Rogue-like? Sign me up! It’s not a perfect mode, but it still manages to give you that same satisfactory feeling only Rogue-likes can accomplish when you finish it by the skin of your teeth.

Honorable Mentions

Lies of P

Lies of P made a strong first impression in its trailers and immediately went on my wishlist. It just took a little time for me to get over my fatigue with the Souls-like genre. I’m glad I finally gave it a try because it has been an absolute blast playing through it again and again. It’s a well-balanced, difficult game that gets so many things right and emulates Dark Souls and Bloodborne so well that it’s almost unbelievable this game was not made by From Software. If I hadn’t had so much fun with Hitman this year, Lies of P would take the top spot.

Another Crab’s Treasure

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that you would play two Souls-like games instead of something made by From Software I would have potentially bought the idea. If you had told me that one of the games was a silly budgeted release about a hermit crab trying to get his shell back, however, I wouldn’t have believed you. Nonetheless, I did and I played the hell out of it. It’s not a long game, but it’s certainly challenging and manages to do far more right than wrong. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

Every so often, the Metroidvania bug bites me and I get pulled into yet another game that follows that tried-and-true formula of game design. I’ve played my share and have yet to really experience one I didn’t like. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is yet another entry in the long list of games that follow the format established by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that I played to completion and really enjoyed. In fact, I liked it so much that I was compelled to 100% complete it, which is something I rarely do anymore aside from repeat runs of Bloodborne.

Ender Lilies manages to be a fun and challenging experience that rewards precise timing and specific character builds for the right situation. It is also very rewarding to the player willing to explore its vast map for secrets and upgrades. By the end of the game, my character was far too strong for the final boss with all the familiars and tools I had acquired over the run of the game, but it still gave me immense satisfaction having gotten so powerful through all the hard-fought battles. The art is fantastic and the music is phenomenal. It’s an easy recommendation for anyone who mildly enjoys the 2-dimensional Metroid or Castlevania games.

Cyberpunk 2077

I picked up Cyberpunk almost a year after it came out and played the first three missions before putting it down. Even with the time I had given it to smooth out its edges with performance issues, it was still not a great experience at the time and I was disappointed by how the story began. However, I finally started over again when I wanted to give it another shot and quickly got hooked on it. The overall performance was much better, and while I still have my criticisms about the story, the mechanics of the game and the detail of the world pulled me in. The review is coming in the new year…

Civilization VI

Yes, I am still playing Civilization VI. Yes, I’m excited to see Civilization VII. No, I won’t pick it up on day one because VI is still fun to play.

Worst Game I Played

I almost want to put Mad Max here just to see if it incites more angry “Um, actually…” comments from Mad Max fans, but I didn’t play that this year.

It’s with this particular category that I’m happy I do not do DagonDogs.com for a living. If I had to be a content creator who reviewed video games and movies as a profession, I might have been compelled to play games like Dustborn, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Star Wars: Outlaws, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, or Concord. Thankfully, I can just sit on the sidelines and watch other people complain about them, leaving this section mostly empty, year after year.

I will however mention the games that disappointed me.

Dishonorable Disappointments

Celeste

Celeste is a short and straightforward game. It’s a difficult, tightly controlled, fast-paced, pixelated platformer akin to something like Super Meat Boy. In terms of its gameplay, style, and music, I have plenty of praise to heap on it. In fact, I really liked it as it started out, especially because of the killer soundtrack. Where did it go wrong?

Simply put, I grew to dislike the story. Super Meat Boy avoided this criticism for not having anything other than “save your girlfriend from the villain” to drive the motivation of a character made of meat to jump through dangerous areas with spinning blades of death. Celeste is more ambitious in trying to have the story be about inner fears, anxiety, self-loathing, and finding the will to overcome all of that. On paper, it’s perfectly fine and I didn’t mind the story in the beginning. However, by the time one particular chapter ended with a lengthy session of dialogue between characters that brought the momentum of the platforming game to a screeching halt, my opinion had begun to sour. Had I played Celeste when it first came out, I might not have felt the same way, but I’ve seen too many movies, games, and shows made for the “modern audience” that have plenty of similarities to what occurs in Celeste’s story since its original release. Instead, I wish the story was minimized or in a different game as it’s really the only major criticism I have against it. Unfortunately for me, it was enough to make me eager to finish the game by the last two chapters, and not in a good way.

Monster Hunter: Rise

This is only a disappointment because of how good Monster Hunter: World was. Had this been the first Monster Hunter game I played, I think I would have loved it just as much as World. It controls well with many of the quality-of-life improvements this entry brings to the series. It’s still just as competent as other Monster Hunter games. Where this game fell flat for me was in its presentation. I just didn’t care for the aesthetic. The introductions to the monsters were goofy and uninteresting. The overall look of the gear for your character and others was dull. The music was grating and annoying. The world itself was boring and empty in comparison to what World accomplished. I know that its presentation was hindered by being a Nintendo Switch exclusive at first, but that doesn’t change my opinion of how much the presentation falls flat in comparison to the previous entry. All that being said, it’s still a fun game and should be a satisfying experience for every Monster Hunter fan. It just was a little bit of a disappointment for me.

Best Thing I Watched

Godzilla Minus One

For a while, I was considering putting Puss in Boots as my favorite movie I watched this year. Then I watched Godzilla Minus One and that choice came into question. Then I watched it again and realized that my bias and the quality of the film could not be ignored. Neither film came out this year, but I’m slow to watch things and if you are too and you haven’t seen them, you definitely should!

Having Pussed The Last Wish into second place, there’s not much Minus One does wrong, and not just from the perspective of a Godzilla fan. The main characters and their struggles are extremely compelling and make the movie engaging when Godzilla is nowhere in sight, which is something the franchise has often struggled with in the past. It’s an emotionally powerful film that happens to have the iconic King of the Monsters in it who manages to be just as devastating and impressive as ever.

If you don’t believe me, or if you think that Kaiju movies just aren’t your thing, I have a small anecdote to convince you otherwise. I watched this movie for the third time with friends who had never seen it. I simply put it on while they were hanging out at my place doing their own thing. One was reading, the other was scrolling through their phone and stepping out occasionally, and neither had watched a Godzilla movie from start to finish before, at least to my knowledge. By the end of the first act, the book was still being glanced at but not thoroughly read, and the exits from the room had slowed. By the second act, their occasional jokes became less frequent, departures from the room had stopped, and the book was put away. By the end of the film, many tissues had been used on wet eyes and they had both repositioned themselves on the couch, leaning in with attention. It was reassuring for my opinions to see their interest take hold over the course of the movie and if you’re merely the slightest bit curious, I think Minus One is worth your time.

Honorable Mentions

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I probably would not have watched this movie had I not heard such good things from several popular influencers on YouTube whose opinions I value for being insightful and thorough in their analysis of films and video games. When I heard several of them praise The Last Wish as much more than a “kids movie” and a sequel to a Shrek spin-off, I got curious. When I watched it the first time, I enjoyed it for what it was as an entertaining movie that understands storytelling fundamentals and the importance of set-up and payoff but didn’t go through it with a fine-tooth comb. My second viewing revealed many of the deliberate thematic details that filmmakers put in the background both with the visuals and the audio. It’s a beautiful film with a lot more to dig into under the surface that continues to get better with each viewing.

Machete & Machete Kills

I include both of the Machete movies on this list simply because they are somewhat interchangeable. This would normally be a bad thing, but I think that both have their own benefits that make them on par with one another in terms of quality and entertainment. They’re simple, dumb fun that Robert Rodriguez is so good at delivering. I didn’t and still don’t expect to get a conclusion to Machete’s story in a third movie, but there have been stirrings of it happening and I’m more than willing to see what Danny Trejo will get up to in yet another installment as the machete-wielding assassin.

Best Surprises

Pearl

Despite being a little sour on the first film, X, I was surprised at how much more I enjoyed Pearl. It was a film that was made with the same writer/director as X, with Mia Goth in the titular role as well as a co-writer. Pearl is a more realized and fun film to watch for a number of reasons. Its tone is more consistent. The acting of the cast, especially Goth, is very good. The pacing and plot are far better and more engaging with some great, memorable moments. When I compare Pearl to X, it seems like these are two sides of the same coin in terms of how the films operate, but Pearl just feels like the more realized and nuanced film. You don’t need to see one before the other in any particular order to enjoy Pearl, but I’d recommend watching them in the order in which they were released just to set your expectations.

Fall of the House of Usher

Fall of the House of Usher was a show I was not expecting to like as much as I did. I have always heard good things about the Mike Flannigan Netflix shows, but I was skeptical of one that was using the works of Edgar Allan Poe as its basis. The first episode entertained me as it was the most like the original Usher story. The second episode got me intrigued. The third and fourth, while good, made me a little worried for the rest of the show for one reason or another. Then, the fifth through the rest of the series delivered what I wanted and made me a fan. The writing and acting are solid throughout and the show does not shy away from some truly horrific moments that Poe would approve.

Underwater

Kristin Stewart has come a long way from the Twilight films. Though her acting can still be a hit or miss, and she still has a certain style in her good movies that remind me of her sparkly vampire days, she’s slowly become more of an actor to watch, like her former vampiric counterpart, Robert Pattinson. Underwater, while very far from the term “original,” is a solid horror story at the bottom of the ocean. I’ve seen my share of deep-sea horror films over the years and I would rank this pretty high up there. It’s relatively short by modern standards. It has solid pacing that never lets up. It has some creepy moments and monster effects. It’s a relatively easy recommendation to make.

Worst Thing I Watched

No Time to Die

I didn’t expect to like No Time to Die with how the previous two entries in the long-running James Bond franchise had already irritated me. I didn’t expect to hate this movie as much as I do having finally seen it for myself. I won’t bother saying anything more here as I’ve said plenty in its review and in my list of James Bond films.

Dishonorable Disappointments

X

X’s poster and iconography would constantly come up in my searches through IMDB for one reason or another. It’s a movie I knew next to nothing about before I watched it besides the fact that it had a prequel that came out within a year of X’s release. When I finally sat down to watch it for myself, I was waiting for something to happen to make me like it or feel invested in what was going on. That never happened and I just felt like I had watched a whole lot of nothing. I wasn’t angry, nor did I feel like I totally wasted my time. I just didn’t have any emotion beyond the value of “meh.” Having watched it a second time, my opinion improved slightly as there were certain aspects of it I identified as being pretty good, like the acting and the dialogue. It’s not bad, but its prequel Pearl is much better.

Renfield

Talk about a movie with potential. I’ve been enjoying the over-the-top performances of Nicolas Cage for years and well into the renaissance that he’s been experiencing as of late. So, the trailer for Renfield immediately grabbed my attention as something that could be extremely entertaining. When I finally sat down and saw it for myself, I was entertained…half of the time. The other half was a slog with Awkwafina stiffly moving a dull plot along that really didn’t make sense to include in a movie that was supposed to be about Dracula’s right-hand man having a crisis of conscience and seeking help through group therapy sessions. If you cut everything out that doesn’t include Nicolas Cage or Nicolas Hoult, you have a fun, 45-minute short film.

Other Bad Movies I Didn’t Bother to Review

There were plenty of other movies I saw this year that I didn’t review because I didn’t have time to write them up or I just didn’t have that much to say. Listed here, I’d say the worst of the bunch were probably Ghosthouse and Bloodhook.

Music Choices

Having been in a band for the last twelve years, we’ve played with plenty of talented folks at various shows that were local to the bay. As time has passed, and my music preferences have solidified more and more, I mostly just listen to a handful of big artists and go back to some of the bands we played with over the years. So, I figured I’d just list a few of them here that I think are worth you’re time if you’re into metal.

A Human Costume

Valensorrow

Cyborg Octopus

Lost to the Void

13 Thrones

Deliria

Steaksause Mustache

Mohicans

There are countless others we’ve shared the stage with that are worthy of a shoutout, but I’ll keep the list short for this year.

Closing Thoughts for the Year

A majority of this year on DagonDogs.com has obviously been dedicated to the long-running James Bond franchise. It was a review blitz I had been planning to do for about a decade. Ever since I got my Blu-ray collection that spanned 50 years of the franchise, I was aching for a reason to watch them all again and pen my thoughts about each movie, whether briefly or in detail. Despite the fact that the last few movies sucked, it still managed to be a somewhat therapeutic experience after a rather personally calamitous 2023. I don’t exactly have the highest hopes for James Bond going forward, but if there’s one thing that 2024 has shown, it’s that the general populous is finally getting tired of the overt messaging and propaganda in every piece of media, including movies and television. That gives me hope that by the time the next James Bond film comes around, we might have a return to form with important lessons learned. For once, the longer it takes for the movie to be made, the more potential it has to correct its course and give fans what they want.

There are plenty of other beloved franchises I’d like to go through, even if not all of the movies are very enjoyable. So the long-running review blitz may make a return next year. Who knows? My band might finally have an album to sell after 12 years of being together. We’re approaching Tool levels of delay at this point.

Thanks for visiting this humble site for another year. I hope you all have some great holidays. And I’ll be back next year with more random reviews of movies and games that have been out for a while…