io9’s Favorite Replays, Re-Reads, and Rewatches of 2024

3 weeks ago 25

From commencement to finish, 2024 was packed with a smörgåsbord of caller movies, shows, and books to wax poetic about. But portion trying caller things is each good and good, there’s conscionable nary beating curling up and revisiting immoderate bully kino—meaning, those aged reliable taste touchstones that warrant yearly rewatches and someway negociate to amended upon repetition.

If you see yourself a yearly re-watcher, remainder assured you’re successful bully company. When we’re not engaged raving astir caller movies and recommending underrated shows, we besides indulge successful looping our favourite media. Here’s a database of movies, games, TV shows, and books that the io9 unit revisited this year.

Baldur’s Gate 3

I can’t halt replaying Baldur’s Gate 3, a crippled that easy takes maine a bully 100 hours to decorativeness each clip I’ve hopped backmost successful to rotation a caller character. Am I making caller choices? About which antheral to smooch, sure, but different each my 4 Tavs truthful acold (Dragonborn Paladin, Tiefling Dark Urge Monk, Half-Orc Bard, and a modded Githyanki Artificer) are inactive beauteous bully radical trying to bash the champion they tin with brainworms successful Faerun. Am I bushed of knowing precisely wherever each these quality beats go? Certainly not. Am I bushed of having each these combat synergies and yet inactive pushing radical disconnected of large heights for amusive and autumn damage? Not a accidental successful hell. Send help. – James Whitbrook

Blue Eye Samurai

Blue Eye Samurai is 1 of those animated shows that fires connected each cylinders. Be it done its captivating enactment choreography, engrossing communicative and dialogue, oregon awe-inspiring creation direction, Blue Eye Samurai is swagged retired of its mind. Equal parts Kill Bill (or Lady Snowblood for folks who know) and unsocial successful its ain right, Blue Eye Samurai is yet different animated amusement that champions the mean arsenic indispensable to storytelling. Every enactment of dialog cuts arsenic heavy arsenic a naginata, and each animation framework feels similar a living, breathing painting. It’s nary wonderment fans rallied connected societal media, looping the amusement to support its numbers up and guarantee it wouldn’t go the latest Netflix casualty. Even with a 2nd play connected the horizon, Blue Eye Samurai has been connected platform successful my household whenever I privation to consciousness something. – Isaiah Colbert

Critters (and Critters 2: The Main Course)

The Critters series continued beyond these films, sure. But they are the halfway of this Gremlins-but-meaner 1980s saga of wee abstraction aliens who invade a Kansas workplace and marque a gruesome messiness of things—despite a heroic section kid and a brace of bounty hunters who beam down to assist. The archetypal movie is better, but The Main Course wins points for energetically embracing its Easter setting. – Cheryl Eddy

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Not galore anime companies tin accidental that their occurrence revived the estimation of the video crippled they adapted, but not galore anime companies made shows similar Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Created successful collaboration with CD Projekt Red and anime juggernaut workplace Trigger, Edgerunners serves arsenic a prequel to Cyberpunk 2077 that, successful galore ways, eclipses its storytelling successful 10 memorable episodes. Its characters are provocative, its enactment bombastic; its penning is sincere, and its euphony strikes a chord that echoes agelong beyond the extremity of its credits. While this is conscionable different large anime connected Trigger’s resume, I’d reason that Edgerunners is Trigger astatine its astir subdued and focused, making it arguably 1 of the champion shows the workplace has ever made. – Isaiah Colbert

Destiny 2

Anytime a live-service crippled gets a large expansion, lapsed players find themselves pulled backmost in. The aforesaid was existent for maine with Destiny 2 and its summertime expansion, The Final Shape. While the buildup and contiguous aftermath to this has been acold from perfect, playing was a mostly satisfying acquisition that made brushed investing a decennary of my beingness into this crippled consciousness worthwhile. Who knows what’s successful store for the crippled (and franchise), but Final Shape was a fitting end, and a reminder that nary crippled does Destiny rather similar Destiny. – Justin Carter

Doctor Who

With Disney+ making it easier to ticker caller Doctor Who episodes with simultaneous releases successful the UK and U.S., deciding connected a rewatch to get existent astatine slightest for the Fifteenth Doctor was a no-brainer. So close earlier watching the specials that someway brought backmost David Tennant aft Jodie Whittaker’s bow, it was indispensable to spell backmost and ticker the Tennant years, past the specials starring up to Ncuti Gatwa taking the reins. I whitethorn person leapfrogged implicit the Doctors successful betwixt but I stopped astir Matt Smith years agone and afloat mean to spell back. – Sabina Graves

Dragon Age II

Dragon Age II is the champion one. I’ve maintained this content ever since I played the 2011 original, and with The Veilguard on the mode this year, I decided to revisit the maligned, rushed sequel alternatively than Origins or Inquisition to hole maine for being backmost successful Thedas, and it was good worthy it: DAII’s flaws are each excessively plain to see, the hardly taped cracks of its accumulation rhythm dragging it crossed the enactment into the signifier of a last video game. But its bosom is beating agleam arsenic ever 13 years later—the smaller scope of its story, the intimacy of its enactment of characters, the mode it takes BioWare’s now-patented model of prime and consequences and charts it little crossed the destiny of a world, but the beingness of a azygous idiosyncratic told implicit the transition of years. It’s specified a refreshing thing, afloat of idea, adjacent if the execution is, astatine this point, charmingly imperfect. I played The Veilguard a lot. Liked it a lot, too. Dragon Age II is inactive the champion one. – James Whitbrook

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is an anime that disarmed maine erstwhile I archetypal watched. Unlike astir phantasy anime that spell the way of being yet different rubric successful the oversaturated isekai genre, Frieren is an honest-to-fantasy anime that takes spot aft a hero’s journey. The amusement grapples with what it means for a virtually immortal elf to admit the mundane and magnificent phenomena of quality existence. All the while, she finds anticipation successful forging caller friendships. While its premise is fantastical, its halfway connection strikes location to anyone who ponders whether they should deed up their aged radical chats and speech with a friend. It besides doesn’t wounded that its animation goes harder than it has immoderate crushed to, with immoderate of the champion showcasing of value and physics successful clothes, spells, and surfing the broadside of a rampaging dragon. Frieren made maine outcry conscionable arsenic often arsenic it made maine pump my fist successful the aerial successful excitement. It’s genuinely an anime of the ages. – Isaiah Colbert

Hades

Supergiant’s instrumentality connected the Greek gods was a delightful, punishing deed erstwhile it was released successful 2020. More than the information it exists, that Hades II is specified a implicit Early Access crippled is simply a delightful surprise. Melinoë offers a precise antithetic viewpoint from Zagreus, portion inactive providing a consciousness of familiarity arsenic she crosses paths with returning characters and forges bonds with the formed successful ways conscionable similar her brother. Hades II isn’t a elemental reskin, but it volition punctual you of wherefore the archetypal one’s truthful special, and astir apt spur you to play the archetypal again. – Justin Carter

The King successful Yellow

The rubric portion successful Robert Chambers’ 1895 abbreviated communicative postulation had a pop-culture infinitesimal backmost successful 2014 acknowledgment to True Detective; it’s besides credited with influencing H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos successful the 1930s. But this aboriginal introduction successful the supernatural/“weird fiction” genre is inactive haunting adjacent without immoderate context, informing the scholar that words person the powerfulness to marque a idiosyncratic spell mad. Given the eye-bleeding magnitude of accusation that surrounds america today, it’s a conception that inactive feels wholly plausible. – Cheryl Eddy

The Lord of the Rings: The Extended Editions

I saw the archetypal 3 Lord of the Rings movies astatine midnight connected the time they opened. In the 2 decades since, I’ve watched each of them innumerable times. But erstwhile Fandom rereleased them successful theaters this year, the clip conscionable felt close to bash it again, and wow. I was not conscionable filled with nostalgia and emotion but reinvigorated by the undeniable powerfulness of cinema. – Germain Lussier

Phase 2 MCU Movies

Fans person reminisced astir the aged MCU days adjacent earlier those films deed important milestones. Going backmost to 2014 hits Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, my affection for them has stayed oregon grown successful the decennary since their respective releases, portion besides providing overmuch to deliberation astir however they’ve shaped the MCU and genre films that followed. Even arsenic Marvel works to physique connected those successes, the interaction of some films is undeniable, arsenic is their spot among the higher extremity of the MCU pantheon. – Justin Carter

Mobile Suit Gundam

I often rewatch the first Gundam bid and its successors successful the Universal Century, but successful 2024 the merchandise of the theatrical chopped of the 1979 show—the condensed trilogy that assistance bolster Gundam’s popularity aft the TV bid was chopped short—in 4K for the archetypal clip fto maine revisit a satellite I emotion successful a format that has ne'er quite clicked with me. And yet contempt my penchant for the archetypal TV format, determination was thing singular astir getting to revisit it with caller eyes done the films. It surely helped that I got to spot astatine slightest 1 of them successful theaters excessively for their constricted re-release this fall, and acquisition this amusement I adore with likeminded mecha fans. – James Whitbrook

Repeat Performance

Film noir adept Eddie Muller’s Blu-ray instauration for 1947’s Repeat Performance explains immoderate fans don’t number it arsenic portion of that genre due to the fact that of its supernatural elements, but they’re perfectly woven into a classic, downbeat noir tale. An histrion who shoots her hubby connected New Year’s Eve abruptly finds clip has rewound 1 year, giving her 12 months to effort and forge a caller destiny. The gowns are fantastic; the dread is divine. – Cheryl Eddy

Scavengers Reign

Scavengers Reign is the archetypal sci-fi animated amusement I’ve watched that feels genuinely alien. Every critter and situation successful the show, whether hostile oregon benign, has a spiritual benignant of Eldritch fearfulness documentary benignant to them. The amusement is the epitome of “show, don’t tell” successful the astir transcendent mode an animated amusement tin be. I’ll rage until the extremity of the Earth if specified a peculiar amusement ne'er gets to proceed with a much-earned 2nd season. If you haven’t gotten astir to watching Scavengers Reign and see yourself an animation fan, you beryllium it to yourself to springiness it a watch. – Isaiah Colbert

Shin Kamen Rider

Shin Kamen Rider slaps the hardest of each the Shin-type movies acclaimed manager Hideaki Anno has brought into being. Despite this being my archetypal authoritative foray into Kamen Rider, I could archer from the leap that this movie honors the tone and bosom of its predecessors to a spiritual degree. Somehow, Kamen Rider kicking a dude into chunky smithereens wrong the film’s opening moments was the slightest hype happening Anno had successful store for me. – Isaiah Colbert

Spider-Verse successful Concert

It’s going to beryllium a hold earlier Beyond the Spider-Verse hits theaters, but that’s fine, due to the fact that getting to rewatch the archetypal 2 movies successful performance much makes up for the delay. Seeing the euphony performed unrecorded arsenic the movie plays supra truly underlines however cardinal it is to Spider-Verse successful a mode that can’t beryllium said for astir superhero movies. And thankfully, they’re conscionable arsenic overmuch a brace of crowd-pleasing experiences arsenic their regular versions. – Justin Carter

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The twelvemonth 2024 was important for Deep Space Nine. There were a batch of anniversaries successful its second half, arsenic we dilatory got to large birthdays for the worldly that radical present emotion it for—from the emergence of the Domion, to the outbreak of the warfare itself, and of course, the legendary “In the Pale Moonlight.” But successful re-watching the amusement this twelvemonth to re-acclimatize myself up of those anniversaries, what inactive struck maine this clip astir is conscionable however overmuch that DS9 vigor is determination from the precise opening that astir radical brushwood disconnected arsenic “before it gets good.” It’s casual to beryllium a saint successful paradise, and it’s casual to beryllium a large Star Trek show erstwhile you’re successful the spot everyone tin hold connected is its height. But you’re an unthinkable 1 erstwhile you tin spot those ideas coalesce successful existent time, from the infinitesimal it begins, and that’s precisely what DS9 always was. – James Whitbrook

The Thing

What’s determination to accidental astir John Carpenter’s The Thing that hasn’t already been said advertisement nauseam? This movie is perfect. Its assemblage fearfulness is positively inspired without feeling gratuitous, its plotting is clever and concise, its acting is outstanding, and its vibes are immaculate. As a idiosyncratic connected the eve of my 30s, I consciousness emboldened unironically saying they don’t marque movies similar this anymore. – Isaiah Colbert

Tron and Tron: Legacy

With the quality of Tron: Ares connected the mode successful 2025, I sat down and double-featured the archetypal 2 Tron movies successful 2024. Trust me, that’s the mode to bash it. Tron (1982) is dated and dilatory but filled with truthful overmuch untapped potential. Tron: Legacy (2010) takes that imaginable and beautifully fulfills it successful truthful galore chill and breathtaking ways. It’s astir a movie that’s lone appreciated if you person its predecessor caller successful your mind. – Germain Lussier

The Truman Show

The Truman Show feels little similar speculative fabrication than it did erstwhile it came out—watching it now, we tin spot it was a prediction of what a terminally online manner would inevitably pb to. Only regenerate TikTokers and Kick streamers harassing unsuspecting pedestrians with pervasive ads. I conjecture it is conscionable modern-day YouTube and Twitch, but I digress. This movie flexes Jim Carrey’s versatility arsenic a bona fide histrion and gets to the bosom of what it means to travel into your ain agency. It’s a elemental premise, but that doesn’t halt it from being timeless. – Isaiah Colbert

Wicked

Before the merchandise of the Wicked film, I revisited my teen years wherever the philharmonic was my property successful mentation for the release. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth are the blueprint. And each of a abrupt I was backmost successful my “Defying Gravity” epoch 20 years later. The merch, the aggregate screenings, and that property circuit with Cynthia and Ariana—I’ll ever clasp abstraction for Wicked. – Sabina Graves

X-Men Evolution and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

X Men Evolution Cyclops Rogue Jean Grey Kitty Pryde Nightcrawler

The shows you grew up with volition ever person a peculiar spot successful your heart, peculiarly the superhero ones. Going done X-Men Evolution and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes implicit the summertime was an appreciably nostalgic blast. I don’t cognize that I privation either to travel back, but I would similar much radical to springiness them some a accidental if they haven’t already… and arsenic always, it’d beryllium large if Disney yet released the afloat mentation of Heroes’ taxable song. – Justin Carter

Want much io9 news? Check retired erstwhile to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s adjacent for the DC Universe connected movie and TV, and everything you request to cognize astir the aboriginal of Doctor Who.

Read Entire Article