Although my movie viewing habits have shifted over the last few years, there were more this year that I ended up seeing in a theater. Many of these turned out to be well worth it, including a surprising number of well-made robot movies. That said, my gaming habits were affected by both interest and cost, resulting in a low number of major titles that I ended up playing. This is when I began looking into what was available on Steam, where I found a good amount of high-quality free titles on the platform based on personal interest, as well as some new indie developers to keep an eye on going forward.
Each list is presented in no particular order, with links to reviews where applicable.
Top Movies
Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color
I will admit I haven’t seen that many Godzilla films over the years, one of which was the original Gojira, but the reception to Godzilla Minus One caught my interest, enough to catch a screening of the Minus Color version released towards the end of its US run. Despite my inexperience with the kaiju icon, Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color had me genuinely invested from the onset, thanks to a gripping human story that uses Godzilla in a masterful form of symbolism for the protagonist. Godzilla’s appearances are few, but effective enough that I was actually terrified whenever the monster appeared. Although there were some storytelling quibbles, they ultimately were not enough to stop this film from making it on this list.
The premise and visual style of Robot Dreams not only got me interested enough to read the book beforehand, it also got me waiting eagerly for a US release, which wouldn’t come until a limited screening this year (hence its inclusion here). This film adaptation, for which an entire animation studio was formed for that specific purpose, takes the source material and elevates it in a number of creative ways, culminating in a very emotional climax, all told entirely visually. However you are able to see it, I would highly recommend it.
Although I have included many past Transformers films in this list before, I don’t agree with many of those decisions in hindsight. Transformers One, on the other hand, absolutely deserves a spot on this year’s list, thanks to fantastic and emotional storytelling with a fresh take on an old story, namely how Optimus Prime and Megatron went from friends to bitter enemies, as well as some excellent voice casting and animation. Although the film unfortunately didn’t fare well at the box office, for which poor marketing is likely to blame, I would hope that lessons can be taken from this film for any future Transformers media.
2024 turned out to be a great year for robot-themed animated films adapted from an existing property, and The Wild Robot is no exception. Similarly to Robot Dreams, the trailers for The Wild Robot compelled me to read the book out of curiosity and I was blown away by what director Chris Sanders was able to do with it. The unique visual style and emotional story made for a truly unforgettable experience and one of DreamWorks Animations’ best films in recent years. With the shift to outsourcing their animation to Sony, I’m grateful this was the studio’s final in-house feature.
Maintaining consistent quality for three films is no easy task, yet somehow Sonic the Hedgehog 3 manages to pull it off in what is easily the best film in the franchise so far. In adapting Sonic Adventure 2 to the big screen, it puts much of the focus on Shadow the Hedgehog while offering a surprisingly emotional story mixed in with some clever shout-outs to the games. The mid- and post-credits scenes alone have me hyped for the next one, especially since this entry seems to prove that the series is in caring and capable hands.
Top Games
I had not heard about this game until a trailer for it popped up in my YouTube Recommended, but it quickly drew my attention for its visual style and gameplay, enough for me to try out the demo and later buy it on release. While the story and gameplay are simple, the surprisingly clever use of the latter keeps it engaging, in addition to a colorful cast of characters. The game even includes a very subtle environmentalist message by rewarding you for recycling. It also proves to be a nice cat simulator on the side, which makes it perfect for fans of Stray in spite of having the opposite tone of that game.
The Free section on Steam has proven to have some great hidden gems in there, and this one is quite the diamond in the rough. Though short, Sheepy excels in visual storytelling and atmosphere, with minimal dialogue to help carry the plot, with a surprising amount of variety in its platforming mechanics that keep things fresh while somehow managing to not make any of its mechanics feel wasted. This being developer MrSuicideSheep’s debut game makes its quality especially impressive and leaves me wanting to see more from its world.
As a fan of the original Epic Mickey on the Wii, the announcement of a remake for modern platforms immediately interested me, in part because it was my formal introduction to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who quickly became my favorite Disney character. Thankfully, this remake proved to be faithful to the original while adding in some much-needed updates to its gameplay and content, reminding me why I fell in love with both the game and Oswald in the first place. This not only gives me hope Epic Mickey 2 gets a similar treatment, I also hope this opens the door for more Oswald representation in the future outside of cameos.
Top Disappointments
While the original Kung Fu Panda trilogy represent some of the better part of DreamWorks Animations’ output, Kung Fu Panda 4 proves to be a major letdown in comparison. While the animation isn’t bad, the writing certainly is, with weak characters and motivations among other issues, which barely justify the film’s existence in the first place outside of what feels like a cash grab (behind-the-scenes issues explain these issues, but don’t excuse them). Thankfully, The Wild Robot proves the studio still has what it takes to make something exceptional, which is much more than I can say for this highly skippable installment.
IF
When I first saw trailers for IF, my brain immediately drew unfavorable comparisons with the Cartoon Network series Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, which I had grown up with as a child. Curiosity got the better of me when this film made its way to streaming through Paramount+, and while it does admittedly execute ideas from Foster’s a little differently with its interpretation of imaginary friends, I still found it to be an ultimately inferior story. IF does actually have some heart in it, albeit at the very end, but until then it sort of meanders its way there and doesn’t really feel earned.
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