If 2023 was a vintage year for gamers, 2024 is shaping up to be a good one too. Where the last twelve months have given us classics like the new Zelda and Baldur’s Gate 3, those upcoming promise sequels galore, remakes of old favourites and also (just maybe) the long-awaited publication of titles we’ve been waiting years to get our hands on (looking at you, Hollow Knight).
Here’s our roundup of the top releases to look forward to this coming year (though of course, gaming being what it is, these dates are very much subject to change).
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Remember Prince of Persia? Well, it’s finally getting the love it deserves in this stylish-looking upcoming platformer. Ubisoft look to be bringing plenty of their Assassin’s Creed-y expertise to the title, with desert sands, swords and otherworldly secrets very much at play. The developers have also teased that the upcoming game (which is rumoured to clock in at an impressive 40-hour playing time) will be a Metroidvania-type world “full of surprises” – colour us intrigued.
January 15, 2024
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
The game with the strangest advance warning in history, as per the developers: “if you go at it continuously, you'll get sick." Such is the power of the latest instalment of the Yakuza-heavy Like A Dragon series, which promises Street Fighter-style action with lashings of insanity (the trailer features a man riding a dolphin and a YouTube influencer as a villain) as old frenemies Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu take to the stage. Moving the action between Honolulu in Hawaii – sure, why not – and the franchise’s heartland of Yokohama, it’s the perfect antidote to the winter gloom.
January 29, 2024
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
What’s more fun than spreading a little carnage? This upcoming action-shooter is the sequel to the award-winning Arkham Trilogy and looks to be bringing more of the same energy: think visceral combat, a decidedly gloomy aesthetic and hopefully excellent storytelling. As the title hints, the (anti)heroes are the Suicide Squad – Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn and King Shark – who must assemble to save Metropolis from the (also) villainous Brainiac.
February 2, 2024
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Just like Taylor Swift, why leave something when you can remaster it? 2023 gave us the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy XVI remake, but 2024 will see the beloved Final Fantasy 7 (which came out all the way back in 1997) finally brought into the modern age. The trailers are already promising amazing graphics, a gorgeous, massive world crammed with minigames, and some great storytelling: as before, the plot sees the crew unite to try and stop the evil (and hot) Sephiroth from destroying the world.
February 29, 2024
Alone in the Dark
It’s the crossover of dreams: Jodie Comer and David Harbour appearing together in a Stranger Things-style game that promises chills galore. A loose reboot of the original 1992 (!) title, it’s set in the American South and stars Comer as Emily Hartwood, a woman who hires private investigator Edward Carnby to find her missing uncle. Naturally, this search leads them to the ominous Derceto Manor, a home for the mentally fatigued – as well as a fair few paranormal nasties.
March 20, 2024
Rise of the Ronin
As they say, shut up and take my money. This epic-looking upcoming PlayStation game puts the player in the world of war-torn 19th century Japan: after three centuries of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s oppressive rule, the Western world is threatening and an unnamed warrior must set out to forge their own path. Developers Team Ninja have worked on Ninja Gaiden, Nioh, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, but this is their largest game to date – and an open-world one, no less. Time will tell as to whether they manage to pull it off, but it certainly looks promising.
March 22, 2024
Hades 2
It’s what we’ve all been waiting for (or at least, what us nerds have been waiting for): a sequel to the rogue-lite dungeon crawler that took the internet by storm when it released all the way back in 2018. Hades was the perfect blend of edgy artwork, great storytelling and genuinely addictive gameplay, and the sequel looks to offer more of the same, introducing us to new hero, Melinoe, Zagreus’ sister, who is descending into Tartarus to duff up her old grandaddy, the Titan Kronos. And of course, everybody is indecently hot.
Easter 2024
Star Wars Outlaws
Yes, I know: it’s another Star Wars game. But hear me out, this one sounds good. Billed as the first-ever open world game in the franchise, it’s set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Our hero is the not-quite Han Solo, Key Vess, who is trying to start a new life for herself with the obligatory cute companion Nix. Apparently this involves planning a massive heist while trying to stay one step ahead of the galaxy’s crime syndicates – um, yes please.
2024
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was a fascinating look at mental health and loss, and its long-awaited sequel looks to offer more of the same. It’s set in the same dark fantasy-slash-Norse-inspired world as the previous game, but where Hellblade followed Pictish warrior Senua’s quest to Helheim to rescue the soul of her dead lover (metal as hell), the sequel is rumoured to be set in Iceland and features bleak landscapes, lashings of magic and some intense combat.
2024
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The remake machine rolls ever onward: 2024 should see the release of Konami’s upcoming Metal Gear Solid 3 soft reboot. As with the 2004 original, the story is set 31 years before the events of the original Metal Gear game, and follows operative Naked Snake on an operation to rescue Russian rocket scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Solokov and assassinate his defected former boss. So far, so good – and even more impressively, the original voice cast has returned too.
2024
Avowed
Last year gave us Forspoken, the underbaked Square Enix title; this year, we’re getting tentatively excited for Avowed. First revealed back in 2020, it’s a brand new story set in the Pillars of Eternity universe and promises to be rather similar to Skyrim in nature (though, apparently, bigger and more detailed). Our adventurer is sent by the Emperor to discover the truth behind a spreading plague, armed with a sword and some rune-based magic powers.
2024
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
The minds behind indie hit Life Is Strange are back again with a brand-new game that promises to explore many of the same themes: growing up, memory, time. We don’t know much about it yet, but we do know if focuses on four friends, who reunite after two decades to "confront a long-buried secret that made them promise to never speak again." What’s the secret? We’re led to believe it’s either magical or alien in nature – combined with the game’s 1995 setting, this might be the closest thing we get to a Stranger Things game for a while.
2024
ST.A.L.K.E.R 2 – Heart of Chornobyl
Horror is definitely having a moment right now in gaming – in addition to Alone in the Dark, horrorheads also have the long-awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 to look forward to. Set in (where else) Chornobyl (that's the way the Ukrainian developer spells it), in the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear disaster, this promises to be a gruelling slog of mutated enemies, bloody combat and paranormal “anomalies”, all soundtracked by the ticking of your Geiger counter. But the rewards are great, because our hero (or Stalker) is here to salvage valuables from the disaster zone.
2024
Hollow Knight: Silksong
It was promised, then delayed; then promised, then delayed… but finally, 2024 looks to be the year that Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally released. The original game, which was designed and developed by only three people, was a surprise hit, with supercute graphics, a Nightmare Before Christmas-style spooky plot, and excellent music. This time, the first game’s boss, Hornet, will be the playable character – and she’s on a quest to protect her kingdom of Hallownest.
