Nominees for Destructoid’s Best Ongoing game of 2024

As live-service games continue to struggle to find a way to work in modern gaming, there’s a handful of outstanding titles that continue to improve and grow, which servers as the basis for Destructoid’s best ongoing game award.

You’ll notice that while all of these games have received substantial updates, expansions, or DLC content this year, none of them actually released this year. That’s because to be a truly great ongoing game, you need to prove you can continue to evolve and adapt to the industry and your player’s feedback over time.

Here are Destructoid’s nominees for best ongoing game of 2024:

Image via Electronic Arts

Many battle royales have come and gone, but Apex Legends continues to receive hefty updates each year including the most recent one that reworked the long-popular Lifeline character, introduced Rift Relics which are powerful weapons and abilities that can spawn throughout the game, and more.

Further content updates for Apex Legends have included trying out other game modes like Team Deathmatch, Control, and Gun Run, helping push the title outside of just the battle royale formula. None of them have caught on quite as well, but it’s great overall and a promising sight for the over five year old game.

Image via Bungie

Destiny 2

Even though there are certainly arguments to be made about the future and current community feelings toward the long-running online shooter, Destiny 2 had a big year with the release of its Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion back in June.

Not to make you feel old, but Destiny 2: The Finale Shape marks the eighth expansion and eighth year of the shooter, and concludes the first major saga of Destiny called the Light and Darkness saga. Even post-expansion release, Destiny 2 continues receiving episodic updates with a new expansion codename Apollo looking to launch in mid-2025.

Image via Blizzard

Diablo 4

Technically the newest title on this list, with the base game releasing on June 5, 2023, Diablo 4 just received its first full-fledged expansion about two months ago with Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred. The expansion added a new class, the Spiritborn, as well as a whole new area called Nahantu.

But the reason Diablo 4 makes this list is because the game continues to improve with each season with major core gameplay and system changes, including the recent Loot Reborn season that completely overhauled the loot system of the ARPG, a much-needed and requested change that has the game heading in the right direction.

Image via Square Enix

Final Fantasy XIV

It’s no secret that Final Fantasy XIV has one of the most loyal fanbases when it comes to ongoing games. The MMORPG saw the release of its fifth expansion, Dawntrail, earlier this year, which took to the vibrant continent of Tural, a zone inspired by Latin America and Southeast Asia themes.

After re-releasing with completely reworked systems and combat in 2013, Final Fantasy XIV has continued to receive several major content updates each year as well as a full expansion every couple of years. With the Dawntrail storyline heating up at the end, it’s easy to see Final Fantasy XIV continue to be a popular ongoing game for years to come.

Image via Epic Games

Fortnite

Another battle royale on this list, Fortnite continues to grow and add to its universe with frequent seasons and all-new chapters. After a very heavily Marvel-focused chapter that added Doctor Doom, Ironman, Captain America, and more to the shooter, Fortnite launched its Chapter 6 first season just a couple of weeks ago with a Demon Hunters theme.

Fortnite is appealing to all kinds of players as it continues to add unique systems, features, and content not typical of the genre. For example, the current chapter has teased the arrival of Godzilla, which is scheduled to release on January 17, 2025.

Image via Digital Extremes

Warframe

Another 2013 release, Warframe has continued to evolve over the last decade, transitioning from a mostly online lobby-based multiplayer game to having much more traditional MMORPG features including massive open-world zones.

Today, Warframe released its Warframe: 1999 expansion that takes players back to the city of Hollvania on December 31, 1999, as players experience the new solo-only main quest called The Hex. The free update adds unique 90s-style weaponry and environments as well as exciting new gameplay elements like Protoframes and an exciting new open-world that players can traverse with an Atomibike.

Image via Blizzard

World of Warcraft

2024 is a big year for World of Warcraft, with the release of The War Within expansion but also celebrating an impressive 20 years since the release of the original vanilla WoW. Over those two decades, WoW has received ten expansions with at least two more in the pipeline to release over the next few years making it one of the longest-running and still popular MMORPGs on the market.

With the release of World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Edition servers—essentially Classic realms, again—World of Warcraft essentially has three versions of the game live at the moment including retail and Cataclysm Classic. And next year, Cataclysm Classic will progress to Mists of Pandaria Classic, extending the timeline of that version of the game by another year or more.

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