We hope you’ve managed to find a copy of Spec Ops: The Line and are currently battling your way through the post-apocalyptic sands of Dubai in this month’s featured TA Playlist game, but the time has now come to vote for our final TA Playlist selection of 2024.Every year, twelve exceptional games are chosen for the TA Playlist, but for each featured winner, that leaves three other worthy titles who miss out. Rather than consigning these games to the perpetual backlog of history, we try to have a “Second-Chance” month every now and again in order to give these contenders another shot at Playlist glory.Our last second chance month was back in February, so we decided the final Playlist of the year was a great time to give a few of the also-rans another chance. We looked back at all the second, third, and fourth-place finishers from the previous 12 months of TA Playlist polls and picked four of our favorites who we think deserve another shot. Which of these contenders will you choose for December 2024’s Game of the Month?CupheadOur first pick, chosen by ManicMetalhead, is the 2017 run-and-gun platformer, Cuphead. Developed by Studio MDHR, Cuphead became a surprise hit due to its unique aesthetic and challenging gameplay. Cuphead was previously nominated in February 2024 as part of the “Games with TV Adaptations” theme, where it came in third behind Fallout 3 and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Cuphead is a classic run-and-gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e., traditional hand-drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings. Play as Cuphead or Mugman (in single-player or local co-op) as you traverse strange worlds, acquire new weapons, learn powerful super moves, and discover hidden secrets while you try to pay your debt back to the devil!Cuphead has been played by over 242,000 tracked gamers in the TA community, with only 2% (~5,100 gamers) unlocking all 42 of the game’s achievements, which include 28 from the base game and 14 from the two DLC packs. The full completion is estimated to take 30-35 hours, and the Cuphead Walkthrough, written by RadicalSniper99, will help you plan your strategies for those tough boss fights. Cuphead currently sits at a strong TA community rating of 4.54/5.00.Psychonauts 2Our second nominee for December comes from our resident Wookie, ChewieOnIce, who went all the way back to February’s second-chance month to give this game “another” second chance. Psychonauts 2, the long-awaited follow-up to the original Xbox action-adventure from Double Fine Studios, was published by Xbox Game Studios in 2021. It came in second in the February poll, falling to the legendary Lara Croft in Rise of the Tomb Raider.Razputin “Raz” Aquato, a trained acrobat and powerful young psychic, has realized his lifelong dream of joining the international psychic espionage organization known as the Psychonauts! But these psychic super spies are in trouble. Their leader hasn’t been the same since he was rescued from a kidnapping, and what’s worse, there’s a mole hiding in headquarters. Psychonauts 2 serves up danger, excitement, and laughs in equal measure as players guide Raz on a journey through the minds of friends and foes on a quest to defeat a murderous psychic villain.The TA Community has given Psychonauts 2 an impressive 4.48/5.00 rating, with over 177,000 tracked gamers starting the game and around 9% (just over 16,000 players) going on to get the full completion. It’s estimated that it will take 25-30 hours to unlock all 57 of the game’s achievements, but thePsychonauts 2 Walkthrough from CitrineWorm138 could shave a few hours off that estimate. Psychonauts 2 is currently available on all tiers of Xbox Game Pass.Alan Wake 2Our third nominee, Alan Wake 2, lost its first poll just two short months ago, coming in fourth behind Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Dead Island 2, and Resident Evil 2 in October’s horror-themed poll. Still, it was BetaSigX20 ‘s favorite game of 2023, so he’s promised to keep nominating it every chance he gets. Alan Wake 2 was developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games in 2023, more than 13 years after the original, bringing a new chapter to Alan Wake’s journey in the Dark Place and further expanding the Remedy Connected Universe.Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases, arrives to investigate a string of ritualistic murders in Bright Falls, Washington. Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. Two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?Alan Wake 2 has a fantastic TA User rating of 4.69/5.00, winning the TA Game of the Year Bracket Tournament for 2023 and placing third overall in the TA Game of the Year vote. Almost 47,000 tracked gamers have returned to Bright Falls, with around 2,200 (~5%) earning all 88 of the game’s achievements (66 from the base game and 22 from the two DLC Packs, Night Springs and The Lake House). The full completion is estimated to take 25-30 hours.ManeaterFor our final nominee, ManicMetalhead offered up a “close second choice” with one of his all-time favorites (at least judging by the number of times he’s nominated it!), Maneater. This open-world action adventure, developed by Tripwire Interactive and published with assistance from Deep Silver, has been nominated for three past Playlists, most recently finishing in fourth place behind Lies of P, Far Cry 5, and Jusant in August’s Olympic-themed poll.Experience the ultimate power fantasy as the apex predator of the seas – a terrifying SHARK! Maneater is a single-player, open-world action RPG (ShaRkPG) where YOU are the shark. Starting as a small shark pup you are tasked with surviving the harsh world while eating your way up the ecosystem. To do this, you will explore a large and varied open world, encountering diverse enemies – both human and wildlife. Find the right resources, and you can grow and evolve far beyond what nature intended, allowing the player to tailor the shark to their play style. This is fortunate because to get revenge on the cruel fisherman that dismembered, you will evolve into a massive shark, an apex predator of legends. Eat. Explore. Evolve.Maneater has been played by almost 280,000 tracked gamers in the TA community, with a TA user rating of 3.86/5.00. Nearly 10,000 users (~4%) have unlocked all 44 achievements – 32 from the base game and 12 more from Truth Quest DLC – which is estimated to take 15-20 hours for the full completion. Back in February, Maneater became one of the rare games to return to Xbox Game Pass after having left the service and is currently available in the Standard, Ultimate, and PC Game Pass tiers.So, which game will you choose to close out 2024? Place your vote and let us know your thoughts in the comments! As always, if you have any suggestions for future Playlist games or themes, be sure to drop them in the TA Playlist Game Suggestion Thread for possible inclusion in a future poll! And remember, you’ve still got plenty of time to leave a comment in this month’s Spoiler and Spoiler-free threads to earn your TA Playlist badge for November, even if you aren’t playing Spec Ops: The Line along with us!Which game should the community play for December 2024’s TA Playlist?
Cuphead
Psychonauts 2
Alan Wake 2
Maneater
