The Rodrigues 2024 Best of the Year Award Show
These awards are given to a game, book, movie, or board game that stands far beyond the competition. These media pieces represent my favorites of the year and deserve some special recognition.
Opening Remarks
As I strive to have more fun with these reviews I took some pleasure in adding more awards and some opening remarks to kick us off. Enjoy!
2024 was a tough year. Across the board, there were some amazing pieces of media and there were some so-so.
For gaming, I played a lot of fantastic games ranging from Baldur’s Gate - Marvel Rivals. Overall it was a very gripping year this year with the Steam Deck revolutionizing the way I play indie games and all of the crazy cool things that went down. Destiny 2 ended the light and dark saga, Marvel Rivals killed Overwatch and a company from China won their first-ever game award for the whole country. Which I hope will open the way for more development from other non-English speaking countries.
For Board Games, I recently moved to Sacramento and started my career in Realty. This caused me to move away from my board gaming group and new game hook-up (shoutout to Justin Harris). But with frequent visits, I was able to keep up with most of the games this year. Exposure to Kickstarter helped and I am pleased to say I also kickstarted a lot of board games set to be released in 2025.
Books were probably the most disappointing section this year with very minimal being read. I did get back into comic books so there will be an uptake in 2025 when I start to read those but for now, books remain very empty. I did finish a handful of excellent books including Making It So by Patrick Stewart, Murtagh by Christopher Paolini, and Thrawn Ascendency Part One.
When it came to movies this year I was probably in a theater every other week. From thought-provoking to just straight-up nonsense I saw a ton of projects this year. This is a category I am particularly excited about because there have been some heavy hitters. We’re talking about your Planet of the Apes, your Wicked, and your Godzilla Minus one.
Show of the year this year is a short category that will most likely be clean-swept by Saul Goodman. While I watched a lot of rerun shows this year and a handful of new ones nothing stuck. Some high-caliber shows are coming in 2025 that I’ve been putting off watching with the misses so I’m anticipating next year will be a wild one.
But now to what you’ve all come here for. The one and only… Rodrigues 2024 Best of the Year Award Show or the RYBs (Rubies) for short. Without further ado, let’s jump right in
Game of The Year 2024
And Game of the Year goes to…Baldur’s Gate 3!
And Black Myth Wukong!
That’s right it’s the first-ever tie for game of the year. It was so hard to choose between these two. Both excelled in narrative, gameplay, and visuals. Playing these games brought me nothing but sheer enjoyment. I loved every fight in Wukong and I was so entranced by the mythology I was playing through. Baldur’s Gate brought a role-playing aspect and sense of wonder that made me connect with it. These two games have been battling it out for months now and writing these on New Year’s Eve I am confident enough to grant them both the title of Game of the Year.
Honorable Mention: Stellar Blade
Indie Game of The Year 2024
Indie Game of the Year without question goes to Escape the Backrooms
This was a tough choice that I’m not so sure of myself but the experience I had playing Backrooms was second to none. The horror, the laughter, and the memories I made with my friends gave this game an edge. Without that co-op experience the award would have gone to Balatro for being so addictive and complicated but instead everyone’s favorite card game with have to take the honorable mention and a silver medal.
Honorable Mention: Balatro
PvP Game of The Year 2024
A last-minute award goes to the best PvP game of the year which unfortunately for Black Ops 6 goes to Marvel Rivals.
This late addition is so fun to play and when it comes to PvP that’s all I want. The characters are broken, the maps are cool and the love put into the narrative details is astounding. I’m happy to say that I will be playing this game for years to come.
Board Game of The Year 2024
There are no friends on the open road. That’s right the award for Board Game of the Year goes to Thunder Road Vendetta!
A truly masterful and addictive board game Thunder Road excels in creating a cinematic experience filled with randomness. While I wanted to give it to Descent: Betrayer’s War I felt that the Descent series had its time in the sun and will always stand above the rest. Thunder Road has been an amazing experience. Every game I play is crazy fun and my friends and I just cracked open the Carnival of Chaos expansion so there is a lot more to love there. I hope to play this game for years to come.
Honorable Mention: Descent: The Betrayer’s War
Book of The Year 2024
King of the written word this year goes to… Making it So by Patrick Stewart.
Not a huge category this year but Making it So was and wonderfully written book about Stewart’s life. I felt that he was very honest about who is as a person and didn’t try to hide his mistakes and shortcomings. The book was laced with humor, suspense, and deep emotions. I loved every page. I highly recommend the audiobook as well because it is narrated by Patrick Stewart. While Murtagh was a fabulous book and a return to my one of favorite franchises the book’s slow middle sections dropped it to an honorable mention.
Honorable Mention: Murtagh
Graphic Novel of The Year 2024
For the first time, Graphic Novel of the Year goes to X-Men: House and Powers of X.
A very sparse category with no real conflict but this X-Men comic was the one that started it all this year. A great recommendation from Big Brother Comic here in Sacramento. The art is drawn beautifully with dynamic style changes that suit the narrative and keep things fresh. I’m looking forward to this category in 2025. I’ve got my hands on Invincible, The Spiderverse, and Secret Wars. I think it is shaping up to be quite interesting.
Movie of The Year 2024
Movie of the Year and taking home the gold is… Deadpool and Wolverine.
You know what they say. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Ugh, this year was impossible. There were some fantastic movies this year and Deadpool clashed against Godzilla Minus One hard. For those who know me, I’m a big X-Men guy and a Godzilla super fan. So making this choice was asking me to cut off one of my hands. At the end of the day, both movies meant so much to me and boiled down to the circumstances surrounding how I saw the movies. Godzilla Minus One was a regular theater viewing with some cool behind-the-scenes footage after the movie. Deadpool and Wolverine was a bros night out with my personal Wolverine Brennen (or SenseiX in the channel). I bought us matching Deadpool and Wolverine gear, I promised with a sign. It was a fun core memory that I will look back on. So because of that Deadpool and Wolverine sneak ahead.
Honorable Mention: Godzilla Minus One
Animated Movie of The Year 2024
The winner of Animated Movie of the Year goes undoubtedly to Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim.
This was an easy and unquestionable choice this year. I love lord of the Rings so nothing was going to top the experience of a LOTR Anime. While Inside 2 and Moana 2 made strong cases I would pick an original lord of the Rings story over a sequel any day. Moana 2 will go home with the honorable mention though for bringing back such an entertaining cast.
Honorable Mention: Moana 2
Show of The Year 2024
Another easy pick is our next winner Better Call Saul for Show of the Year.
While I watched a lot of good shows this year like Shogun and X-Men ‘97 it is just impossible to top Better Call Saul. The characters, the story, and the pacing are consistent and fantastic. The end of the show is surprising and fits into the overall themes so well. Unfortunately, no other show stood a chance against this titan.
Honorable Mention: X’Men ‘97
Bomb of The Year 2024
And for this year’s dunce. The lowest of the low. It can only go to Wish. This movie was a flaming trash heap that deserves every negative criticism it got. The characters are sloppy the plot is subpar and even the art style feels forced. The whole movie rubs me the wrong way and I think the cast deserved better. I mean this is losing to Live Action Avatar the Last Airbender Book 1. Wish should be embarrassed.
