How time flies - these are the games I played the most in 2024

I like to take the Christmas period as an opportunity to reflect on my personal gaming experiences over the last twelve months. Which games have particularly inspired me? Which games would I have loved to throw in the bin?

The question I find most exciting, however, is which games I have invested the most time in. This year's top list of my most-played games includes a few titles that I didn't have on my radar.

Place 10: "Unicorn Overlord"

• Playing time: 24 hours
• Played on: Nintendo Switch
• Why did I play it for so long?
  "Unicorn Overlord" is a truly unique strategy game. I command my troops on the battlefield in real time. When two units meet, a turn-based battle begins. The highlight: this battle takes place automatically according to predefined attributes of my and the opponent's soldiers. So I have to think carefully about how to assemble my units well in advance - and how to "programme" their behaviour. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to immerse myself in the material yet. That's why I'm looking forward to the Christmas holidays, when I can really dig deep into the ultra-complex strategic possibilities, hopefully without the distraction of new games.

Place 09: "The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom"

• Playtime: 25 hours
• Played on: Nintendo Switch
• Why did I play it for so long?

In "Echoes of Wisdom" I don't play with Link, but with Princess Zelda herself. She is travelling with a magic wand instead of a sword. She can use it to copy objects and monsters and conjure them up as "echoes". At around 25 hours, "Echoes of Wisdom" is one of the shorter games in the series. By way of comparison, I spent over 100 hours playing last year's "Tears of the Kingdom". The length suits me. With my 25 hours, I saw everything I wanted to and was able to finish the game before the copy-paste gameplay with Zelda's magic wand became too repetitive.

Place 08: "Fallout 3"

• Playtime: 26 hours
• Played on: Xbox Series X
• Why did I play it for so long?

After the excellent "Fallout" series on Amazon Prime, I was really in the mood for the post-apocalyptic retro-future world. Unfortunately, Bethesda hasn't given us a new "Fallout" game for a long time. So I had to travel back in time - to my favourite part of the game series, "Fallout 3". The game shows its age - both graphically and in terms of gameplay. But that doesn't matter to me. It's comfort food that I treat myself to from time to time between current releases. I'm sure I'll play the game for a few more hours, because I'm still a long way from the end.

Place 07: "Paper Mario: The Legend of the Aeon Gate"

• Play time: 31 hours
• Played on: Nintendo Switch
• Why did I play it for so long?

I never played the original game on the Gamecube - so I was really looking forward to the remake of Paper Mario: Legend of the Aeon Gate. Overall, Mario's paper adventure was a bit too long for me - that's why I mainly focussed on the main quests. Despite my efficient play style, I was surprised that I invested over 30 hours in the turn-based role-playing game. Especially because last year's remake of "Super Mario RPG" was very compact at around 12 hours.

Place 06: "Mario & Luigi Brothership"

• Playtime: 45 hours
• Played on: Nintendo Switch
• Why did I play it for so long?

And the second turn-based Mario RPG on the list. And an even bigger surprise in terms of game length. "Mario & Luigi Brothership" offers an entertainingly written but far too long story. Nintendo has also gone a little overboard with the countless side quests. In the second half of the game, I therefore concentrated almost exclusively on the main story - otherwise I would have invested a lot more time in the game.

Place 05: "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6"

• Playtime: 46 hours
• Played on: Xbox Series X, PS5
• Why did I play it for so long?
  No way in hell would I have thought that Call of Duty would be one of my most played games this year. I play the games for a few hours every year and then put them aside, bored. But this year's single-player campaign of "Black Ops 6" thrilled me so much that I completely fell for the "CoD" fever. After completing the missions (around 10 hours), I now shoot around wildly in multiplayer mode every evening. I've even reached Prestige rank - an absolute novelty for me. If you want to play a round with me, my gamertag is "domidomek".

Place 04: "Rise of the Ronin"

• Playtime: 50 hours
• Played on: PS5
• Why did I play it for so long?
  "Rise of the Ronin" is one of those games that kept me glued to the controller despite its many quirks and bugs. The graphics are a bit dated in places, the mission design is repetitive and the enemies are dumb as dirt. But it's simply incredible fun to roam through Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto as a ronin in 19th century Japan. The glider-based locomotion and the brutal (!) combat system are particularly marvellous. The motto is: switch off your brain and just enjoy, then the hours with "Rise of the Ronin" will fly by.

Place 03: "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth"

• Playtime: 69 hours (nice)
• Played on: PS5
• Why did I play it for so long?
  I've never seen a game as packed with extra content as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - perhaps even a little too packed. In addition to the epically long main story and huge, open game worlds, the game also offers countless - and I do mean countless
  • mini-games. I was only really captivated by the amazingly complex card game "Queen's Blood". It is the only mini-game for which I completed all the side missions and spent countless hours on it. I would love to have a standalone version of the game on my mobile so that I can continue playing even after I've finished "Rebirth".

Place 02: "Like a Dragon: Infinite Weatlh"

• Playtime: 82 hours
• Played on: PS5
• Why did I play it for so long?
  The crime drama "Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth" also has an epic story and numerous mini-games to blame for the long playing time. The JRPG in Hawaii includes two gigantic side activities in addition to many smaller ones. "Dondoko Island" is a mixture of "Animal Crossing" and theme park simulator, in which I design my own holiday island. And in the "Pokémon" parody "Sujimon", I catch ex-convicts to pit them against each other in an underground coliseum. Both "mini" games offer extensive questlines, in which I easily invested a third of my total playing time.

Place 01: "Metaphor: ReFantazio"

• Playtime: 90 hours
• Played on: PS5
• Why did I play it for so long?
  The development team Studio Zero is known for its highly complex and very long "Persona" games. In their latest work, the studio applies their tried-and-tested JRPG formula to a fresh high-fantasy setting. The result is a game you can really lose yourself in. "Metaphor ReFantazio" offers one of the most ambitious stories of this gaming year. It is an emotional story about democracy, discrimination and friendships. A story that is not only grippingly told in large main quests, but also in numerous small side missions. I couldn't rest until I had seen them all. The gameplay is also impressive with a sophisticated combat system, numerous unlockable superpowers and huge dungeons in which I can spend countless hours exploring and grinding. In short: "Metaphor: ReFantazio" is one of the best and most time-consuming JRPGs ever.

Bonus place ??: "Balatro"

• Playing time: ?? hours
• Played on: Nintendo Switch, Android
• Why did I play it for so long?

God only knows how many hours I've played "Balatro" this year. That's why the game is only on the list as a bonus entry. I started with the game on the Switch. But I only played about ten hours there before I got distracted by another game. In September, the addictive card game was also released on Android and iOS. With the mobile release, the game has experienced a second spring for me. I play "Balatro" every spare minute - on the train, before going to bed and on the loo. One round is always enough. And one round turns into two. Or sometimes three. Unfortunately, I can't look up my total playing time on my Galaxy S23 anywhere. Maybe it's for the best, because the truth would probably shock me.

Bonus stats: My playtime by platform

Finally, I took a look at which platforms I spent the most time on overall. The results are hardly surprising. My top platform this year was by far the PS5 (505 hours), followed by the Switch (365 hours). I spent comparatively little time on the Xbox (30 hours with Series X and 21 hours on PC). And as a console gamer, I only game on Steam and PC in extreme emergencies (19 hours).

How to get your game times

Now it's YOUR turn - which games and platforms have you spent the most time with?

All major platforms have launched their recaps in the past few days. Click on one of the links and log in with your account. You will then receive a summary of your gaming hours on the respective platform. Please note: Once you have started a recap, newly played hours will no longer be counted.

• Nintendo Year in Review
• Playstation Wrap-Up
• Steam Year in Review
• Xbox Year in Review

The recaps only give you a handful of games you've played this year. If you want to know more playing time, you can check the in-game saves for some games. However, not all games will tell you how much time you have spent playing them.

The third option is to look up the playtimes at the system level of your platforms:

• On the Playstation, you can see your playtime per game in your profile under "Games". There you can filter by playtime, genre and platform.
• On the Switch you can see the hours played in your profile. However, this is only possible if ten days have passed since your first session with the corresponding game. In your profile, you will only see the 20 most recent games in the list. If a game is no longer in your top 20, you can restart it briefly and the game will be reintegrated into the list. Alternatively, you can also use the mobile app for Switch age restrictions. This is available for Android and iOS. It is actually intended for parents who want to monitor their children's gaming time, but is also well suited as a tracking app for frequent gamers.
• On the Xbox, the way to track playtime is a little more complicated. Press the Xbox button and navigate to the "Gameplay" tab in the pop-up menu. There you click on "All achievements". Then select the game for which you want to know your playtime. Finally, click on "Statistics". Alternatively, log in to account.xbox.com and go to your profile. Click on "Achievements" and select a game. Then click on "Achievements" again. Once there, you will see your minutes played.
• In the Epic Games Store you can see your playing time in the library. There, however, you must first activate the list view.
• Steam is the easiest way to do this. The hours played are automatically displayed in your game library.

You can find last year's list of the most played games here: