Hello! A new year, a new slate of games to look forward to. Shall we do this all over again? Why not!
In amongst the remakes and sequels, there’s plenty of genuinely new stuff to look forward to in 2024. Naiad promises to take us all wild swimming, for starters, and then Animal Well promises to… actually, we’re not entirely sure, but we’re up for it anyway.
There’s range, oddness, and some pleasant returning faces, then. And the best thing, as ever, is all the games we don’t even know about yet. We hope you have a wonderful 2024, whatever you play, and whatever you get up to.
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
Another Sony remaster, but this one features an intriguing new mode. No Return strings together random encounters offering players a sort of survival roguelike. Fascinating at least to see Naughty Dog giving up just a tiny bit of control.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Besides having perhaps the greatest video game title in recent memory, Infinite Wealth also takes Sega’s series to Hawaii for more turn-based action and mini-games. This one is a very easy sell. We’re in.
Tekken 8
Hopefully they’ll take out the colour-blind option that may cause seizures before this one comes out. Aside from that there are redesigned heroes and a new “heat” system, and we very much enjoyed it in our Tekken 8 preview.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
A love story riddled with player decisions, this is Don’t Nod on home territory. But throw in ghosts and action-RPG elements and you have something that could well offer a few surprises, too.
Tomb Raider 1-2-3 Remastered
Hooray! The classic Core trilogy returns in this remastered collection of some of the best Tomb Raider games out there. Tomb Raider 2 alone is justification for buying this day one. The question is: has it all been treated with care?
Skull and Bones
Ubisoft’s pirate adventure is almost here, after years of haunting E3 and propping up lists of vapourware. Rise through the ranks of piratedom as you explore beautiful ocean vistas. Could be brilliant?
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Nintendo’s puzzley classic gets an update as you use your brain and a collection of wind-up Marios to overcome various complex platforming stages. These games are ingenious and morish, and we doubt that’s changed much here.
Pacific Drive
This is an interesting mix of the familiar and the sort of unexpected. You’re exploring a cursed Stalker-style Zone where odd experiments have muddled with reality in dangerous ways. But you’re also keeping your 80s station wagon alive as you go, hunting for parts, crafting new fenders and bonnets and worrying a lot about the state of your tyres. It’s Roadside Picnic meets My Summer Car and we’re here for it.
Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster
Nightdive is bringing one of the more beloved Star Wars games back to life here. Dark Forces is a first-person shooter set within the Rebel Alliance’s covert division. Parts of the plot were retconned by Rogue One, if memory serves, but it will be a pleasure to play through it again.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Rebirth is the second part of a trilogy that remakes – and also reimagines – Final Fantasy 7. Expect plenty of surprises along with all the familiar Final Fantasy trappings. Lovely combat too, of course – read more in our Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preview
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Autocorrect tried to change the name to Nerdtree, which amused me, but there’s nothing nerdy about the star power of Elden Ring, nor about the prospect of an expansion. We’ve only had scraps of information to go on. It seems to take place in a world where the Erdtree is corrupted, but why, and whose world is it? The date is not concrete either but based on a retailer leak. Fingers crossed.
Homeworld 3
Bertie played Homeworld 3 in 2022 and was really impressed – a legendary space strategy series looked better than ever. But then it got held up in development and missed 2023. Still, good things come to those who wait, and now the wait is nearly over.
Life by You
Paradox does The Sims, promising an open-world and total control of the humans you create. Luckily, the game’s launching in Early Access, so there’s a bit of time to iron out any quirks.
Alone in the Dark
Southern Gothic with an all-star cast, this is also the return to one of the more venerable series in games. Pick a hero, ready your weapons and fight your way through horrible haunted environments. Fingers crossed for this one.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Capcom’s party-based action RPG series is back. It’s bigger, it’s got more monsters, and apparently – according to Ian, who’s played it – Dragon’s Dogma 2 is still as rough and ready as ever. But also: as entertaining as ever too.
Princess Peach: Showtime
Princess Peach hops through different identities and genres in this fascinating looking game set within a series of different stage plays. It’s just the kind of cheerful oddity you’d expect as the Switch bows out itself.
Synergy
Another looker, Synergy applies a lovely pastel palette and Moebius’ scratchy comic book lines to the city-builder genre, but what caught our eye here is the emphasis on understanding your environment. You’ll need to scan plantlife and adapt as you look to protect your citizens on a hostile planet.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Surely one of the most widely anticipated games on this list, Stalker 2 is the follow-up to the cult classic, from Ukrainian developer GSC Game World. Victim of Russian hacks, studio fires, more Russian cyberattacks, a staff going to war, and some good old fashioned development hell, there’s a heck of a story to this game. It’s worth giving Bertie’s wonderful feature a read on the American originally sent to save Stalker.
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley
You had us at Moomins, frankly. This is a musical puzzley adventure for the whole family apparently, though the mention of stealth sections is a little concerning. Here’s what we thought of a recent Snufkin demo.
Hyper Light Breaker
This is the fully 3D rogue-lite follow up to the acclaimed 2016 game Hyper Light Drifter, and it’s one we’ve been waiting on for a while. Early Access is now pinned to begin early this year, at which point we’ll get to see what 3D and co-op bring to the idea.
Europa
For some, you need only get halfway through “Ghibl-” before a game gets added to the wishlist, but this one does have some pedigree, coming from the world art director of Overwatch 2, Helder Pinto, and new studio Novadust Entertainment. Described as a “peaceful game of adventure, exploration and meditation,” this one looks to be all about movement and atmosphere. From trailers alone, it looks like one of the most successful adoptions of that wistful animation style since the first Ni No Kuni.
Manor Lords
Mediaeval city-building, Total War-style tactical battles, and “complex economic simulation” combine to give off some strong Mount and Blade vibes here. Or maybe Banished, or really a few of these all mashed together. It has us interested, and by the looks of things a large chunk of Steam’s user base is too.
Still Wakes the Deep
Still Wakes the Deep is the perfect TikTok game in many ways. It’s horror, it has a distinct backrooms aesthetic, and it’s set on an old oil rig where things are going mysteriously awry. Even without a story or set-pieces this would be a wonderful place to poke around in. Cannot wait.
Harold Halibut
Using genuine, Aardman-style stop-motion sculptures for animation, Harold Halibut looks utterly extraordinary. In fact we just booted up the official site to have a quick read up on it and were greeted by a quote from Elijah Wood saying “Holy shit, this looks extraordinary!”, so there you have it. It’s a narrative game about life on a spaceship stuck under the ocean, and just look at it. Tactile, intimate, sumptuously lit. We can’t wait to play it.
Farthest Frontier
Bertie was impressed with Farthest Frontier when he played it in 2022. It’s a city-building game that’s about striking out on the American frontiers and taming a wilderness to make a new home. What makes it different is that it’s very zoomed in. It’s about individuals and slow progression. And after a year-and-a-half in Early Access, it’s nearly ready to emerge in full.
Animal Well
2024’s Spelunky? Animal Well is possibly far stranger than that, an ingenious and atmospheric game of exploration and discovery, that promises to be riddled with weird secrets.
Dustborn
A road trip across a near-future America is the setting for this story-driven action-adventure. The big gimmick here is that words have power, allowing you to change the course of the story but also smack people around in battle.
Flock
Flock is the next game from Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg, the team behind Hohokum, I Am Dead, and Wilmot’s Warehouse. A multiplayer co-op game about, it says here, “the joy of flight and collecting adorable flying creatures with your friends” – what a delight. Be sure to read Victoria’s wonderful interview with Flock’s Richard Hogg himself.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Despite a subtitle sounding like some kind of horror adaptation of Sesame Street, this is surely the most exciting Destiny 2 expansion since, well, probably the time Destiny 2 came out. This is because it’s about gigantic space triangles (we’re going to assume the final shape is “triangle” off the back of this), which will presumably interact with Destiny’s first shape, Big Circle.
Path of Exile 2
The story of Path of Exile is of a newcomer studio conquering a genre, and now a sequel is on the way – one powered by experience and resources and development time the original game did not have. What Grinding Gear Games has shown so far looks detailed and challenging and deep. This is a studio that knows what it does best, doing what it does best. Expect great things.
Frostpunk 2
Frostpunk 1 remains one of the most thrilling city-building experiences we’ve ever had. It was a race to bolster your city against apocalyptic cold while also not starving and not facing mutiny. It was hard and that was the point, because the temptation was always there to pass tyrannical laws to alleviate the strain. How horrible would you have to be? How far would you go?