A few games here, a glowing recommendation there… and suddenly, we’ve all been playing games and talking about them for SIX months! We laughed, we screamed, we carried our teams, and now we’re back with even more games to talk about.This month, the usuals Alex, Emi, and Cody are here, along with… someone new?!? Jeremy is here for the first time to talk about what they’ve been playing A new player means an entirely new set of recommendations from a fresh perspective! Read on to see what everyone’s been playing lately and their favorite game of 2024 so far!

The G in August stands for Games. So, what have you been playing in the last month?

I’ve had to play way too much Final Fantasy XIV this and last month, specifically the newest expansion Dawntrail. I was dragging my feet on playing through the main story quests when it first came out in early July, but the newest Savage tier raids came out on July 30th (shoutouts to my raid static) so I had to get through 40 hours of content in a week.

Last month I also went to EVO, so I was inspired to make an attempt at fighting games again and dabbled a bit in the 2XKO alpha, Street Fighter 6, and Guilty Gear Strive.

Another thing I made a return to (I guess Late July - August was the month of returning to games) is Fire Emblem Heroes on mobile. I wouldn’t say I play mobile games that much nor am I a super disciplined daily gacha player, but I pop in every now and then for events or character releases. They just dropped their yearly “vote in your favorite character” release and I had to log back in to pull for Felix from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

I also want to give a special shoutout to LinkedIn Games. If you didn’t know, LinkedIn offers NYT-esque short daily puzzle games now. They’ve actually been really great for me to play before bed or before I start my workday for a little relaxation and focus. The funniest part is the social aspect of the games, where you can see which company has the aggregate highest scores for the day.

We’re over halfway through the year! What’s been your favorite so far in all of 2024?

I picked up Final Fantasy VII Rebirth again to maybe platinum trophy it after I saw the orchestra world tour in LA. So, I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Golden Saucer. Can I choose the mini-games within Rebirth as my favorite of 2024?

But actually, I think the best overall game I’ve played in 2024 has been the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door HD Remake. I think it’s pretty well-known among the RPG Mario fans that The Thousand-Year Door is a fan favorite and objectively “the best” Paper Mario, so it’s not that surprising how enjoyable the game was. But I want to call out how good of a remake it was. They completely reorchestrated the soundtrack (though you can still switch to the original GameCube version by equipping a special badge), colors have been “vibrantized,” and they even added little custom soundbites for when the characters are “speaking” (the bob-ombs sound like bob-ombs, koopas sound like koopas, etc.) It’s just a lightweight but delightful play from start to finish, and I’d highly recommend it for both veteran RPG players and people who usually don’t play the genre.

‍The G in August stands for Games. So, what have you been playing in the last month?

I’ve been traveling and have also had friends visiting, so lately I’ve been playing a lot of BTS Cooking On! It’s a mobile game with TinyTAN, characters created by the music group BTS. You go on a cooking adventure through different countries in a level-based adventure. I’ve made it to Bali in the game, but that’s after playing so many hours immediately after launch. I’m taking it slow now.

I also started playing more of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It was on my to-be-played a couple of months back, so I’m excited to devote some serious couch time to the story. 

We’re over halfway through the year! What’s been your favorite so far in all of 2024?

I know it wasn’t released this year, but Baldur’s Gate 3 is my favorite game I’ve been playing in 2024 so far. I love my own playthrough, I’m having fun watching my friends stream their new playthroughs, and I keep making really good memories with the game. I have to give second place to Call of Duty: Warzone though, as I probably have the most hours played in that game. It was the go-to game for my friend group all winter and into spring! 

Oh hey, you’re new! Who are you?!

Hi! I’m Jeremy, and I’m on Discord’s Consumer Communications team! 

The G in August stands for Games. So, what have you been playing in the last month?

So the inventors of the calendar were gamers?? I knew it… I’ve been playing a lot of great games this month. I like playing multiplayer and competitive games so naturally, I’ve been grinding away on Escape From Tarkov. With the game wiping this week a lot of my time has been spent trying to break through the early levels and get to the Flea Market (IYKYK). 

I’ve also been jumping back into World of Warcraft - not retail because that scares me a little, although I may give The War Within a try - Cataclysm Classic. There’s just something so incredibly nostalgic about that game that makes me reminisce about the many late nights I spent wiping The Lich King boss fight. 

We’re over halfway through the year! What’s been your favorite so far in all of 2024?

Helldivers 2 has been by far one of the best games that launched this year. It has been a breath of fresh air playing a game that has both unique mechanics and a different approach to rewarding players. Admittedly it's fallen off the slate of games that I’ve been playing recently, but it still is a fantastic game.

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The G in August stands for Games. So, what have you been playing in the last month?

I’ve been revisiting an older game recently: LA Noire! I tried to play it back when it was originally released, back in 2011, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the usual things I’d play back in the 360 days. You know, Gears of War 2, Halo Reach… I would play from morning to night! 

Now that I’m older and more into narrative-driven adventures, I’ve been able to stick to it and see what I was missing so long ago. 

We’re over halfway through the year! What’s been your favorite so far in all of 2024?

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Shipwrecked 64 is probably my favorite game released this year. I CANNOT stop thinking about how well done and mind-bending some parts of it were. 

Fair warning: this is one of those indie-made “retro games disguised as horror games.” BOO! 

The in-universe lore is that it’s a mysterious game from the Nintendo 64 era that was allegedly quickly pulled from shelves after release for unknown reasons. An old copy of this pulled was found, and a few people polished it up and released it for everyone to “enjoy,” both the version that was released and a version that wasn’t… for reasons you’ll soon find. 

It’s a game that you should jump into without knowing anything… but if you like being scared and mind-bending, wall-breaking puzzles, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. 

It feels like only yesterday that our Staff Picks lineup was introducing themselves for the first time… they grow up so fast. /sniff. Well, it’s technically Jeremy’s first time, but you know what we mean! 

Now that we’ve got more friends to talk games about, we’d love to hear what you think Jeremy and the others should check out! Send us a tweet and give us that niche game rec that you always tell your friends you should play to get to know you. (They’ll always be called tweets in our hearts.)