Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
A new year means a new slate of video game releases to look forward to. 2023 was one for the history books, and 2024 is shaping up to continue that momentum. With a full 12 months of gaming ahead of us, let’s dive into our most anticipated games of 2024.
Goodness gracious, it has to happen doesn't it? Hollow Knight: Silksong has to launch at some point. The world has been chomping at the bit ever since Team Cherry first floored us with soulsborne metroidvania of Hollow Knight in 2017. Since then, Silksong has been in development in what started as DLC and then became a standalone project.
Staring the mysterious Hornet, players will go on an all-new adventure with her that will see her take her own path through dangerous subterranean worlds. Hornet looked interesting from the start because she has her needle and thread weapon, allowing her to do swordplay, but also throw the needle like a grappling hook and pull herself along with the thread.
The last we heard from Team Cherry, the team was targeting a launch in 2023. It has been confirmed for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and even Xbox with Game Pass at this point. However, Team Cherry has also been quiet about news on the game for a very long time. For as long as we've been waiting and as fleshed out as the game looked, this feels like the year for Silksong.... We hope, anyways.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice released back in 2017 and it struck a nerve with players. It’s deep and emotive narrative chilled us all to the core as Senua battled not just the monsters of the world but the demons of her mind as she fought to free the soul of the one she loved. Now, some seven years later, we are on the verge of experiencing the next step in the epic tale with Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
Ninja Theory has drip-fed players snippets of information since the sequel was first announced way back in 2019. Other than being set in Iceland, not much about the game is known. Players will be taking on the role of Senua once more, but instead of a solitary struggle through Helheim, she looks to be accompanied by other fighters who seemingly look up to her as a kind of leader.
Of course, Hellblade 2 will no doubt be a visually striking game, with Ninja Theory clearly flexing its ability to create photorealistic characters and environments. What’s more, the audio design is likely going to be of importance, with the first game being praised for its spatial audio being used in depiction of psychosis and auditory hallucinations.
While there is no release date yet, Team Ninja has finally settled on 2024 as the year Senua’s story continues in Hellblade 2.
Almost two full decades have passed since Princess Peach starred in her own video game. In the interval, she's taken on some more active roles in Mario's adventures, such as Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. However, she hasn't been front and center in her own game since 2005's Super Princess Peach.
Princess Peach: Showtime features the Mushroom Kingdom monarch in a new adventure and there doesn't seem to be any sign of Mario or Bowser to steal the spotlight this time. This story belongs to Peach as she journeys to the Sparkle Theater to take on a whole new set of antagonists.
On top of not having Mario around, Peach isn't even relying on a traditional Mario formula. Instead, she'll take on the mischievous Sour Bunch using melee attacks from her new friend, the guardian ribbon Stella. She'll also debut a new set of powers based on the various theater settings that she'll visit over the course of her adventure.
The fact that Princess Peach: Showtime looks so drastically different from her 2005 title and from any other Mario title, in general, makes it a fascinating title. Can Peach put on a great show without the usual Mario supporting cast? It'll be interesting to find out.
More than 15 years have passed since Ubisoft dove into the Prince of Persia series. Fans were excited to see the publisher revisit this beloved franchise, but the first new Prince of Persia entry isn't going to be the one they necessarily expected.
While many have been disappointed by the multitude of delays announced for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, another Prince title looks rather promising. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown tells a totally different tale, one in which a warrior named Sargon leads a super team of Persian heroes into battle against an increasing number of unknown forces. It's a story of betrayal and mystery, one that potentially puts Sargon and his friends at odds with time itself.
Beyond the many mysterious of Mount Qaf, The Lost Crown scratches a strong 2D Metroidvania itch. Players will explore and backtrack across harrowing environments, using parkour abilities and hand-to-hand combat to move around, fight, and uncover new areas and abilities. With traps around nearly every corner, it's a game that certainly feels like classic Prince of Persia.
This year is shaping up to be the year of fantastic titles with “2” in their name. As far as sequels go, few others come close to being as universally anticipated as Hades 2. The first game flawed critics and users alike as they fought through a brutal roguelike set within a unique take on Greek mythology. And now Hades 2 is almost here.
The sequel introduces a new protagonist, Melinoe, the Princess of the Underworld. As sister to Zagreus, Melinoe looks to have her brother’s appetite for combat and, based on the reveal trailer, will be utilizing all manner of witchy spells and incantations. The main plot of the game, and player’s driving ambition, is to track down and defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time.
It’s rather fitting that the big bad is Chronos, as all we can do now is wait until Supergiant Games releases Hades 2. Players will be able to play soon, as the game will be launching into early access in the second quarter of this year – so anticipate it somewhere between April and June!
When it comes to designing giant men clad in indestructible armor, no one does it quite like Games Workshop. Players have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and 2024 will finally be the year that they get to slip into the precious armor of the game’s namesake.
Space Marine 2 not only ups the bombastic action and explosive spectacle the first game is known for, it also introduces campaign co-op. This is a first in the series that lets three players work through the story together, fighting through a near-endless onslaught of horrific monsters from outside (and inside) the galaxy.
Though slated for release at the end of last year, the developers pushed its launch until September 2024. Gather your allies and offer your penance for abandoning all other responsibilities, because Space Marine 2 is going to demand your attention.
Tekken 8 is a revolution for the series, but it's also supposed to be a closing chapter for one of the longest-running fighting game stories ever. Set to arrive at the end of January 2024, we won't be waiting long for this one, but that doesn't mean we haven't been thrilled to see every little bit of the onion as Bandai Namco peels back the layers.
The Heat System is a star of Tekken 8's show. This time around, every single one of the roster has a Heat State that can be activated at any time in the round. That Heat State empowered some of their moves like Marshall Law's nunchuck attacks or Master Raven's shadow clone abilities. However, it also gives players a big attack they can do to end Heat State for the round.
The new characters are also great. Reina, Victor, and Azucena seem to fit right into the already robust roster for Tekken 8, but the Heat System makes some of our favorites feel nicely different from before as well. With a fleshed out online mode, big story mode, and rollback netcode, Tekken 8 stands to be one of the best things in fighting games this year. We can't wait to see how the final product turns out.
Dragon's Dogma 2 stands to be the start of something big in RPGs for 2024. It's not just about improves systems, new classes and abilities, a new kingdom to explore, and new creatures to topple. It's also about the return of the popular Pawn system.
For those unfamiliar, in the original Dragon's Dogma, you design a Pawn that acts as your bodyguard, aiding you in combat and your adventures. What's more, other players can summon your bodyguard for their party. What your Pawn learns from their encounters from other players, they will bring back to you, becoming able to offer you helpful advice in the heat of battle or insight on a quest you might not otherwise have.
We're all starting from square one with Dragon's Dogma 2, so it will be exciting to grow our Pawns together as we venture through Capcom's new fantasy-fiction adventure and defeat all sorts of massive creatures and foul foes along the way.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a game that fans have eagerly anticipated since the end of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and not just for the obvious reasons that it's the next chapter of a beloved classic. It's also because Square Enix seems to be taking that classic to some unexpected places.
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake project has proven intriguing because while it's telling the story of the 1997 original, the story has ventured just slightly far enough from the source material to raise some big questions. A lot of those questions have to do with Cloud's old partner Zack Fair. For those who aren't totally familiar with his story, we suggest picking up the phenominal Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, which is an excellent remaster of his previously-PSP-only prequel.
FF7 Remake offered an idea of what to expect going forward, but few anticipated the massive scale of the upcoming Rebirth. Square Enix is presenting a massive open world and a story that the publisher estimates at roughly 50 hours to start. It's a game that could potentially entertain fans for over 100 hours. However long it ends up being, it's safe to say that this ambitious PS5 exclusive will far exceed what Square put forward with the PS4-generation FF7 Remake.
If nothing else, we're excited to see what new questions Rebirth will raise between its release and the eventual arrival of the story's big finale.
The Like a Dragon spin-off series has been quite the success for the Yakuza franchise over the last handful of years. Cranking up the zaniness of the main games, the Like a Dragon titles always offer something uniquely hilarious and engaging. This was the case with the first trailer for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which was released last year.
Infinite Wealth brings back protagonist Ichiban Kasuga for a new adventure filled with hijinks and drama. We look forward to seeing what new RPG flavor Sega has in store when Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth surfs onto our screens at the end of January.
A generation of players who grew up in the 1990s were stunned last year when Nintendo announced it was remaking Super Mario RPG for the Nintendo Switch. It was a day few had ever imagined. It's now 2024 and Nintendo is ready for an encore. After remaking one of the most beloved Mario RPGs of all-time, the publisher is now looking to remake the other most beloved Mario RPG of all-time with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Originally released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2004, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the game in which the Paper Mario series truly hit its stride with engaging battle mechanics, novel use of the paper-based world, and a story that stands among the best ever told in a Mario game. Intelligent Systems introduced a new ensemble of characters to go along with Mario's usual supporting cast, offering new wrinkles to the more traditional turn-based combat to complement the raucous humor that would become Paper Mario's signature going forward.
Few, if any, Mario RPGs have even come close to replicating what The Thousand-Year Door has put forward. It's considered by many to be an absolute masterpiece. If it's anything like Nintendo's Super Mario RPG remake, fans have a lot to look forward to later this year.
Homeworld 3 has had a long road in development since production of it first began in 2019. However, a large portion of that time has been spent on listening to fans and crafting the game they want Homeworld 3 to be.
The Homeworld IP has changed hands a few times over the years, but Blackbird Interactive's founding members and many of its staff are veterans of the original Homeworld development teams. One would like to think they know what they're doing when it comes to a Homeworld game, but Blackbird also began a mixed crowdfunding for the game and allowed fans to voice their opinions and share input on what should be in the game.
Homeworld 3 promises to be one of the most robust and interesting sci-fi intergalactic real-time strategy games we've seen. Players will join Imogen S'Jet, the Kushan race, and the Mothership on a journey to find her predecessor, Karan, as well as stop an Anomaly that threatens sentient life throughout the galaxy. Homeworld 3 also features new game modes like the rogue-lite co-op War Games. With so much passion and experience poured into this title, it will be interesting to see if Blackbird sticks the landing with Homeworld 3 this year.
Yacht Club Games has been slaying it in the indie scene for years with the Shovel Knight franchise, but it's about time for the cerulean hero to step aside for another new IP from the developer. Mina the Hollower was announced with a Kickstarter in 2022 and crushed its goals in less than 24 hours.
What is Mina the Hollower? It's a love letter to top-down Game Boy Color adventures like the GBC Zelda games. It also takes inspiration from Castlevania, Gargoyle's Quest, Bloodborne, and more. Mina is a mouse whose job is to cleanse the night of evil creatures. She has all sorts of tools to do that, but chief among them are her whip and her ability to burrow underground and pop out of holes with a big jump. Along the way, you'll find all sorts of townsfolk that need your aid and monsters that need slaying as you collect and upgrade new weapons and abilities.
Mina the Hollower has been chugging along through its crowdfunding state, but we have every reason to believe the game is on track for a 2024 release. With that in mind, it looks like we're set for another grand Yacht Club adventure that will keep both casual players and speedrunners alike busy through 2024.
It's been almost ten years since a small studio in New Zealand called Grinding Gear Games decided to try its hand at dungeon-crawling. Since 2013, Path of Exile has been captivating players for almost a decade. What started out as a small island of Wraeclast filled with exiles gradually grew into a fully fleshed-out world with lore that spanned time and space. What set Path of Exile apart from its contemporaries was not just its frequent updates, but the consistent aim to make those updates significantly different from one another.
Path of Exile 2 looks to keep that idea going. It promises to start a new story that will further expand the lore that players have come to love while also adding exciting new ways to play. With more character classes, landscapes, and an even bigger (which is quite a feat given the size of the original) active and passive skill tree, Grinding Gear is ready to start anew and give audiences both old and new a fresh adventure to embark upon.
While the wait between this summer's beta and the eventual final release could be a lengthy one, at least fans can take heart in knowing that the original Path of Exile will continue to run with updates in the meantime.
Ever since Celeste was released in 2018, we've waited patiently to see what Extremely OK Games would do next. While we've known about the game since 2021, it was during the 2022 Game Awards that we got our first look at gameplay in the upcoming action-adventure games. It's also where we learned the game was targeting a 2024 launch.
Earthblade once again uses a nostalgic pixel art style, with sprites and character portraits that harken back to a golden era of the genre. There was so much to love about Celeste, and it's clear that the studio is putting all the same love and care into Earthblade. Here's to another riveting, awe-inspiring adventure.
We've got no shortage of Soulslike games these days, but there aren't many that revolve around Chinese mythology, with players controlling a large monkey as they take on devastatingly brutal bosses.
Black Myth: Wukong could end up being similar to Lies of P last year, in taking the Soulsborne formula and applying it to a fascinating setting, with competent gameplay systems to back in up and some unique ideas to keep things fresh. It'll headline this summer's release schedule, so here's hoping it can stick the landing.
Announced by Cygames as the latest spinoff of the Granblue Fantasy universe, Relink stands to be something we can all have fun fiddling with for a long time. A new RPG, this game will allow us to go on a brand-new adventure through the Skydom with Gran and his crew mates. A new threat is causing Primal Beasts across the Sky Islands to lose control and go on rampages. With the help of a mysterious guide, Gran will gather his crew mates to help him unravel the mystery.
The best part of Granblue Fantasy Relink is that it can be played solo or with several friends. You can have up to four characters in your party and each of them can be played by AI or a human player. As such, you can level up your favorites and figure out interesting builds and compositions that fit your party in both solo and co-op play.
Granblue Fantasy Relink will also feature a wealth of end-game content. Players will take on some truly bristling quests and be able to amass fantastic rewards for overcoming them hours after the credits on the main story roll. With such an interesting setup in mind, Granblue Fantasy Relink could be an early contender for awesome co-op gaming experiences this year.
The first Helldivers seemed to come out of nowhere and took the gaming world by storm. While it was a smash hit on PlayStation and PC, no one could have guessed that a sequel would be arriving this year, and yet here we are, a month away from the release of Helldivers 2.
While the first game had a top-down isometric camera angle, Helldivers 2 makes it a whole lot more personal with a change in perspective to third-person. With the camera planted firmly over your characters’ shoulder, those giant bugs, robots, and aliens are going to be far more imposing.
For those that need a reminder, Helldivers lets you and three friends blast down to a planet in a pod, spray lead, lasers, and rockets at hordes of monsters, all while you try (sometimes in vein) to complete an objective. With numerous difficulty settings, dozens of weapons and ordnance to unlock, and a huge variety of world and objective combinations, there is hundreds of hours’ worth of gameplay to look forward to in Helldivers 2. Dive headfirst into this sequel on February 8, 2024.
Billed as the first open-world Star Wars game, Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws has a lot to live up to when it arrives this year. Not only because it's based on one of the biggest entertainment franchises, but because it could mark a new era for developer and publisher Ubisoft.
Respawn's Jedi series is currently the undisputed king of Star Wars video games, but Outlaws has a chance to really show the franchise's diversity in the medium. The gameplay reveal that we were treated to last year was a good sign of things to come.
This year is looking to be a field day for gamers that want hilarious 4-player co-op action. The latest offering by the genius of Trey Parker and Matt Stone is South Park: Snow Day! The game revisits the familiar setting of South Park, Colorado, but this time instead of the usual paper-style of the first two games (The Stick of Truth and The Fractured but Whole), Snow Day employs a 3D animation style.
While not a lot is known about Snow Day (the game was only just announced at the end of 2023), it appears as if players will once again be the new kid on the block and will be flung into the fantasy world the boys have created. What’s more, this title has 4-player co-op, letting you and three friends fight through what is sure to be another hilarious experience that ruthlessly satirises modern day life. Expect to get your hands dirty on March 26, 2024.
Ever since the developer went fully independent, Don't Nod has put out some incredible games that helped make it more than "The makers of Life is Strange." Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a beautifully illustrated visual novel. Jusant is a serene atmospheric tale that takes players up a harrowing mountain. The upcoming Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (which narrowly missed making this list) looks like a thrilling action-RPG that weaves in a tragic tale of a ghost-hunting couple both united and separated by death.
With all of that said, the Don't Nod team is at its best when telling coming-of-age stories in the vein of Life is Strange. There's merit in pursuing one's strengths. That's why it was exciting to see Don't Nod announce Lost Records: Bloom & Rage at The Game Awards in December. It looks like it has so much of what made that original Life is Strange experience so memorable: friendship, romance, some kick-ass music, and some weird, slightly-supernatural phenomena.
We're excited to venture back to the 90s and get to know this new cast of characters. We're hopeful that Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will not only hit the heights of Life is Strange before it, but maybe even surpass them.
Atlus has created a juggernaut with the Persona franchise, spanning just about every genre and encompassing all entertainment mediums. With that in mind, the studio's move to introduce a new IP this year is deeply fascinating. Metaphor: ReFantazio clearly has some shades of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, but offers an entirely new cast of characters and universe.
Directed by Katsura Hashino, Metaphor: ReFantazio is currently slated for a fall release. It'll be interesting to see if this latest outing is able to take the gaming world by storm like previous Atlus titles.
Life by You hits our most anticipated list not just because we can’t wait to see how good it is, but because we want to see if it can challenge The Sims 4 for a piece of the life simulation pie. What’s intriguing about Life by You is that its creation involves Rod Humble, former head of The Sims. If anyone would have insight into what works and doesn’t work in this space, Humble seems like the guy. Life by You enters early access on PC starting on March 5, so we won’t have to wait long to find out whether its spot on our list is warranted.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a no-brainer for one of the most anticipated games coming in 2024. Originally planned for release in 2023, GSC Game World, who is both developing and publishing the game, had to temporarily pause development after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Circumstances aside, the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a special place in the hearts of many gamers and has served as inspiration to countless developers. It’s safe to say that the entire gaming world is cheering for GSC Game World and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 when it releases in Q1 2024.
Those are the 24 games we're most looking forward to playing in 2024 (in no particular order)! It was tough narrowing down our list, so let us know what you're looking forward to in the Chatty!