From start to finish, 2024 was packed with a smörgåsbord of new movies, shows, and books to wax poetic about. But while trying new things is all well and good, there’s just no beating curling up and revisiting some good kino—meaning, those old reliable cultural touchstones that warrant annual rewatches and somehow manage to improve upon repetition.
If you consider yourself a yearly re-watcher, rest assured you’re in good company. When we’re not busy raving about new movies and recommending underrated shows, we also indulge in looping our favorite media. Here’s a list of movies, games, TV shows, and books that the io9 staff revisited this year.
Baldur’s Gate 3
I can’t stop replaying Baldur’s Gate 3, a game that easily takes me a good 100 hours to finish every time I’ve hopped back in to roll a new character. Am I making new choices? About which man to smooch, sure, but otherwise all my four Tavs so far (Dragonborn Paladin, Tiefling Dark Urge Monk, Half-Orc Bard, and a modded Githyanki Artificer) are still pretty good people trying to do the best they can with brainworms in Faerun. Am I tired of knowing exactly where all these character beats go? Certainly not. Am I tired of having all these combat synergies and yet still pushing people off of great heights for fun and fall damage? Not a chance in hell. Send help. – James Whitbrook
Blue Eye Samurai
Blue Eye Samurai is one of those animated shows that fires on all cylinders. Be it through its captivating action choreography, engrossing story and dialogue, or awe-inspiring art direction, Blue Eye Samurai is swagged out of its mind. Equal parts Kill Bill (or Lady Snowblood for folks who know) and unique in its own right, Blue Eye Samurai is yet another animated show that champions the medium as necessary to storytelling. Every line of dialogue cuts as deep as a naginata, and every animation frame feels like a living, breathing painting. It’s no wonder fans rallied on social media, looping the show to keep its numbers up and ensure it wouldn’t become the latest Netflix casualty. Even with a second season on the horizon, Blue Eye Samurai has been on deck in my household whenever I want to feel something. – Isaiah Colbert
Critters (and Critters 2: The Main Course)
The Critters series continued beyond these films, sure. But they are the core of this Gremlins-but-meaner 1980s saga of wee space aliens who invade a Kansas farm and make a gruesome mess of things—despite a heroic local kid and a pair of bounty hunters who beam down to assist. The first film is better, but The Main Course wins points for energetically embracing its Easter setting. – Cheryl Eddy
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Not many anime companies can say that their success revived the reputation of the video game they adapted, but not many anime companies made shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Created in collaboration with CD Projekt Red and anime juggernaut studio Trigger, Edgerunners serves as a prequel to Cyberpunk 2077 that, in many ways, eclipses its storytelling in 10 memorable episodes. Its characters are provocative, its action bombastic; its writing is sincere, and its music strikes a chord that echoes long beyond the end of its credits. While this is just another great anime on Trigger’s resume, I’d argue that Edgerunners is Trigger at its most subdued and focused, making it arguably one of the best shows the studio has ever made. – Isaiah Colbert
Destiny 2
Anytime a live-service game gets a big expansion, lapsed players find themselves pulled back in. The same was true for me with Destiny 2 and its summer expansion, The Final Shape. While the buildup and immediate aftermath to this has been far from perfect, playing was a largely satisfying experience that made soft investing a decade of my life into this game feel worthwhile. Who knows what’s in store for the game (and franchise), but Final Shape was a fitting end, and a reminder that no game does Destiny quite like Destiny. – Justin Carter
Doctor Who
With Disney+ making it easier to watch new Doctor Who episodes with simultaneous releases in the UK and U.S., deciding on a rewatch to get current at least for the Fifteenth Doctor was a no-brainer. So right before watching the specials that somehow brought back David Tennant after Jodie Whittaker’s bow, it was essential to go back and watch the Tennant years, then the specials leading up to Ncuti Gatwa taking the reins. I may have leapfrogged over the Doctors in between but I stopped around Matt Smith years ago and fully intend to go back. – Sabina Graves
Dragon Age II
Dragon Age II is the best one. I’ve maintained this belief ever since I played the 2011 original, and with The Veilguard on the way this year, I decided to revisit the maligned, rushed sequel rather than Origins or Inquisition to prepare me for being back in Thedas, and it was well worth it: DAII’s flaws are all too plain to see, the barely taped cracks of its production cycle dragging it across the line into the form of a final video game. But its heart is beating bright as ever 13 years later—the smaller scope of its story, the intimacy of its party of characters, the way it takes BioWare’s now-patented framework of choice and consequences and charts it less across the fate of a world, but the life of a single individual told over the passage of years. It’s such a refreshing thing, full of idea, even if the execution is, at this point, charmingly imperfect. I played The Veilguard a lot. Liked it a lot, too. Dragon Age II is still the best one. – James Whitbrook
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is an anime that disarmed me when I first watched. Unlike most fantasy anime that go the route of being yet another title in the oversaturated isekai genre, Frieren is an honest-to-fantasy anime that takes place after a hero’s journey. The show grapples with what it means for a virtually immortal elf to appreciate the mundane and magnificent phenomena of human existence. All the while, she finds hope in forging new friendships. While its premise is fantastical, its core message strikes home to anyone who ponders whether they should hit up their old group chats and talk with a friend. It also doesn’t hurt that its animation goes harder than it has any reason to, with some of the best showcasing of weight and physics in clothes, spells, and surfing the side of a rampaging dragon. Frieren made me cry just as often as it made me pump my fist in the air in excitement. It’s genuinely an anime of the ages. – Isaiah Colbert
Hades
Supergiant’s take on the Greek gods was a delightful, punishing hit when it was released in 2020. More than the fact it exists, that Hades II is such a complete Early Access game is a delightful surprise. Melinoë offers a very different viewpoint from Zagreus, while still providing a sense of familiarity as she crosses paths with returning characters and forges bonds with the cast in ways just like her brother. Hades II isn’t a simple reskin, but it will remind you of why the first one’s so special, and probably spur you to play the original again. – Justin Carter
The King in Yellow
The title piece in Robert Chambers’ 1895 short story collection had a pop-culture moment back in 2014 thanks to True Detective; it’s also credited with influencing H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos in the 1930s. But this early entry in the supernatural/“weird fiction” genre is still haunting even without any context, warning the reader that words have the power to make a person go mad. Given the eye-bleeding amount of information that surrounds us today, it’s a notion that still feels entirely plausible. – Cheryl Eddy
The Lord of the Rings: The Extended Editions
I saw the first three Lord of the Rings movies at midnight on the day they opened. In the two decades since, I’ve watched each of them innumerable times. But when Fandom rereleased them in theaters this year, the time just felt right to do it again, and wow. I was not just filled with nostalgia and emotion but reinvigorated by the undeniable power of cinema. – Germain Lussier
Phase 2 MCU Movies
Fans have reminisced about the old MCU days even before those films hit significant milestones. Going back to 2014 hits Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, my affection for them has stayed or grown in the decade since their respective releases, while also providing much to think about how they’ve shaped the MCU and genre films that followed. Even as Marvel works to build on those successes, the impact of both films is undeniable, as is their place among the higher end of the MCU pantheon. – Justin Carter
Mobile Suit Gundam
I frequently rewatch the first Gundam series and its successors in the Universal Century, but in 2024 the release of the theatrical cut of the 1979 show—the condensed trilogy that help bolster Gundam’s popularity after the TV series was cut short—in 4K for the first time let me revisit a world I love in a format that has never quite clicked with me. And yet despite my preference for the original TV format, there was something remarkable about getting to revisit it with fresh eyes through the films. It certainly helped that I got to see at least one of them in theaters too for their limited re-release this fall, and experience this show I adore with likeminded mecha fans. – James Whitbrook
Repeat Performance
Film noir expert Eddie Muller’s Blu-ray introduction for 1947’s Repeat Performance explains some fans don’t count it as part of that genre because of its supernatural elements, but they’re perfectly woven into a classic, downbeat noir tale. An actress who shoots her husband on New Year’s Eve suddenly finds time has rewound one year, giving her 12 months to try and forge a new destiny. The gowns are fantastic; the dread is divine. – Cheryl Eddy
Scavengers Reign
Scavengers Reign is the first sci-fi animated show I’ve watched that feels genuinely alien. Every critter and environment in the show, whether hostile or benign, has a religious kind of Eldritch horror documentary style to them. The show is the epitome of “show, don’t tell” in the most transcendent way an animated show can be. I’ll rage until the end of the Earth if such a special show never gets to continue with a much-earned second season. If you haven’t gotten around to watching Scavengers Reign and consider yourself an animation fan, you owe it to yourself to give it a watch. – Isaiah Colbert
Shin Kamen Rider
Shin Kamen Rider slaps the hardest of all the Shin-type movies acclaimed director Hideaki Anno has brought into being. Despite this being my first official foray into Kamen Rider, I could tell from the jump that this film honors the spirit and heart of its predecessors to a religious degree. Somehow, Kamen Rider kicking a dude into chunky smithereens within the film’s opening moments was the least hype thing Anno had in store for me. – Isaiah Colbert
Spider-Verse in Concert
It’s going to be a wait before Beyond the Spider-Verse hits theaters, but that’s fine, because getting to rewatch the first two movies in concert more makes up for the delay. Seeing the music performed live as the film plays above really underlines how central it is to Spider-Verse in a way that can’t be said for most superhero movies. And thankfully, they’re just as much a pair of crowd-pleasing experiences as their regular versions. – Justin Carter
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The year 2024 was important for Deep Space Nine. There were a lot of anniversaries in its latter half, as we slowly got to big birthdays for the stuff that people now love it for—from the emergence of the Domion, to the outbreak of the war itself, and of course, the legendary “In the Pale Moonlight.” But in re-watching the show this year to re-acclimatize myself ahead of those anniversaries, what still struck me this time around is just how much that DS9 energy is there from the very beginning that most people brush off as “before it gets good.” It’s easy to be a saint in paradise, and it’s easy to be a great Star Trek show when you’re in the bit everyone can agree on is its height. But you’re an incredible one when you can see those ideas coalesce in real time, from the moment it begins, and that’s exactly what DS9 always was. – James Whitbrook
The Thing
What’s there to say about John Carpenter’s The Thing that hasn’t already been said ad nauseam? This film is perfect. Its body horror is positively inspired without feeling gratuitous, its plotting is clever and concise, its acting is outstanding, and its vibes are immaculate. As a person on the eve of my 30s, I feel emboldened unironically saying they don’t make movies like this anymore. – Isaiah Colbert
Tron and Tron: Legacy
With the news of Tron: Ares on the way in 2025, I sat down and double-featured the first two Tron movies in 2024. Trust me, that’s the way to do it. Tron (1982) is dated and slow but filled with so much untapped potential. Tron: Legacy (2010) takes that potential and beautifully fulfills it in so many cool and exciting ways. It’s almost a movie that’s only appreciated if you have its predecessor fresh in your mind. – Germain Lussier
The Truman Show
The Truman Show feels less like speculative fiction than it did when it came out—watching it now, we can see it was a prediction of what a terminally online lifestyle would inevitably lead to. Only replace TikTokers and Kick streamers harassing unsuspecting pedestrians with pervasive ads. I guess it is just modern-day YouTube and Twitch, but I digress. This film flexes Jim Carrey’s versatility as a bona fide actor and gets to the heart of what it means to come into your own agency. It’s a simple premise, but that doesn’t stop it from being timeless. – Isaiah Colbert
Wicked
Before the release of the Wicked film, I revisited my teen years where the musical was my personality in preparation for the release. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth are the blueprint. And all of a sudden I was back in my “Defying Gravity” era 20 years later. The merch, the multiple screenings, and that press tour with Cynthia and Ariana—I’ll always hold space for Wicked. – Sabina Graves
X-Men Evolution and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
The shows you grew up with will always have a special place in your heart, particularly the superhero ones. Going through X-Men Evolution and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes over the summer was an appreciably nostalgic blast. I don’t know that I want either to come back, but I would like more people to give them both a chance if they haven’t already… and as always, it’d be great if Disney finally released the full version of Heroes’ theme song. – Justin Carter
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