HomeFeatures
Our 75 most anticipated PC games of 2024What we’re most excited about playing this year
What we’re most excited about playing this year
Happy New Year, folks! Have you recovered from the all the 100+ hour RPGs that came out last year? Well, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that everyone seems to be taking a bit of a breather in 2024, because (at time of writing at least) the official “big’uns” calendar is looking remarkably slim at the moment. There are still some heavy-hitters coming our way this year, such asAvowed,Star Wars OutlawsandPath Of Exile 2, but 2024 looks like another year where it will be the smaller, independent games that shine the brightest. They certainly make up the bulk of our most anticipated games list for 2024, which the RPS Treehouse has been feverishly putting together over the last few days. The bad news is that there are still loads of great games coming out. So come, join us, and see what’s on our personal wishlists for 2024.
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings
Of course, these are only the games we know about right now. Some of ourfavourite games of 2023didn’t even exist when we put together our most anticipated games list back in January, and I’m excited to see what else 2024 has in store for us as the months go on. For now, though, here are the 75 games we’re most looking forward to playing in 2024.
Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft
Release date:January 18thFrom:Ubisoft Connect,Epic Games Store
Katharine:A brand-newactionplatformer from the devs behind the brilliantRayman Legends? Yes, please and thank you, Ubisoft.EverythingI’veplayedso far of Ubisoft Montpellier’s new Prince Of Persia game has got me very excited aboutThe Lost Crown, and I have every hope the finished game will be equally good and satisfying. Set before The Sands Of Time trilogy, this entry sees young warrior Sargon rescue a kidnapped Prince from the strange realm of Mount Qaf, a fortified forgotten city where time doesn’t flow as expected. With lots of tight, nimble platforming, Metroidy exploration and bigHollow Knight-esque bosses to defeat, The Lost Crown should be a strong start to 2024.
Jeremy:Every five years Ubisoft quietly drops a surprise project that makes me temporarily ignore all of their sins, and this year, it looks like it’s The Lost Crown. This revitalisation of the classic PoP formula got an unfair degree of vitriol when it was first revealed, and while I can understand not liking a standalone 2D Metroidvania if you were looking forward to The Sands of Time remake (rest in limbo), the number of horrid tweets I saw hating on this game for featuring a Black protagonist drove me nuts. I think Sargon is a fantastic-looking lead, and I’m eager to rush him through Mount Qaf and collect a million doodads to save the Prince’s skin. Honestly, I hope the old Prince dies in the end and Sargon becomes the new Prince of Persia.
Roots Of Yggdrasil
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/ManaVoid Entertainment/Indie Asylum
Release date:January 24th (early access)From:Steam
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom
Release date:January 25thFrom:Steam
Katharine:The latter Ace Attorney games may not be quite as beloved as Phoenix Wright’s tenure as chief finger-pointer when it comes to putting baddies behind bars in a court of law, but I do have a real soft spot for Ace Attorneys 5 and 6, and the fact that Capcom havefinally bundled them togetherfor PC along with the eponymous Apollo Justice game (the only one I haven’t played in the series) is excellent news indeed. Andwhat a glow-upthey’ve received since their initial DS and 3DS debuts all those years ago. If you enjoyed the original trilogy or the more recent Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, this will no doubt be a must-play.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Image credit:Sega
Release date:January 26thFrom:Steam
Ed:Better titledYakuza8,Infinite Wealthcontinues Ichiban’s ascent as a Japanese criminal through his big heart, phenomenal batting skills, and his unexpected arrival on the sunny shores of Hawaii. As RPS' resident Yakuza obsessive, I’m excited to reunite with the gang and make some new friends, of course. But also to see how co-protag Kiryu’s final (?) appearance is handled and whether they’ll honour his legacy in a way befitting of a pocket racing champion, a real estate hero, and hostess club magnate. Sign me up for all the bonkers side stories, too. I want everything to do with the Animal Crossing parody that’s Dondoko Island, or the Sujimon battling that’s basically Pokémon with an army of dubious lads. I’m expecting to laugh and weep in equal measure, which should make for an ideal start to 2024.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Image credit:Cygames
Release date:February 1stFrom:Steam
Ed:This makes it thethirdtimeRelink’s been on my most anticipated games list! As I spentsome time with itat Gamescom 2023 and read around last year, I get the sense it’s far more action-oriented with less of a focus on a deep, engaging story than I first thought. Still, I’ve got plenty other JRPGs to give me those things, so all Relink has to do is give me flashy fights and lots of loot to chase. I think it’ll deliver.
Persona 3 Reload
Image credit:Sega
Release date:February 2ndFrom:Steam,Game Pass
Ed:I actually had a chance to playPersona 3 Reloadat Gamescom 2023 and came away thinking, “Jeez, I simply do not see a world where this remake disappoints”. I only played a small portion of the original game, but Reload felt like a proper Persona 5 Royal-ing of the source material in how it modernised story beats or tinkered with Tartarus tediousness to give it a little extra heat. All without, crucially, spoiling the original’s vision. Gimme gimme.
Ultros
Image credit:Hadoque
Release date:February 13thFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store
Solium Infernum
Image credit:League Of Geeks
Release date:February 14thFrom:Steam
The Thaumaturge
Image credit:11 bit Studios
Release date:February 20thFrom:Steam,GOG,Epic Games Store
Jeremy:I saw a trailer forThe Thaumaturgelast year and was instantly intrigued. A Polish-madeRPGfull of creepy vibes that explores the life of a thaumaturge in 1905 Warsaw as he binds creatures called Salutors to his will? I love it. It reminds me of why I was attracted to the original Witcher games back when CD Projekt Red weren’t as big as they are today, including the feeling of a rough-around-the-edges gem that impresses with an amazing story despite slightly janky character animations. We’ll see how the final game turns out, but for now, everything here appeals to me. I also like how this is a proper turn-based RPG with a behind-the-back combat system – if I squint, it almost looks like I’m playing a new entry in the bonkers mid-2000s JRPG Shadow Hearts franchise.
Katharine:I also hada rad timewith the October Next Fest demo of The Thaumaturge, and I’m well up for some Divinity: Original Sin meets demonic Pokémon-ing when it comes out next month.
Garden Life
Image credit:Nacon
Release date:February 22ndFrom:Steam
Alice Bee:I do not have a garden, but I like gardens. If I did have one, I would be very bad at looking after it as a nice place to be. Thus I am drawn to the idea ofGarden Life(I played the demo of it, I think, in a Steam Next Fest). You plant stuff! Tidy up! Put down stones to make a path! I really liked the sort of semi-ritual way of playing it that developed, and I took the path placement very seriously (because if the stones aren’t equidistant from one another, it makes it more stressful to walk along the path). I know it’s not going to be anything like actually having a garden, but it’s more like having a garden than not having one at all.
Nightingale
Image credit:Inflexion Games
Release date:February 22nd (early access)From:Steam,Epic Games Store
Ollie:I am entirely too hyped forNightingale. At this point, there’s no way it can live up to my expectations. Which is entirely my own doing. But when asurvivalcrafting game comes along, with a gorgeous gaslamp fae realms aesthetic, flintlock weapons, and fantastical creatures to fight or run from… Well, I can’t help but get excited. What really caught my eye early on was the realm-hopping system, allowing you to insert combinations of realm cards into portals to procedurally generate new worlds to your specifications. You pick between different biome cards like swamp, desert, and so on; and then you play major and minor realm cards to influence the world that will appear on the other side of that portal. It’s a fascinating way to handle exploration which gives the player a lot more agency when it comes to where they want to go and what they want to contend with at each stage of a playthrough.
Pacific Drive
Image credit:Ironwood Studios
Release date:February 22ndFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store
Katharine:Everything I’ve seen so far of this survival driving roguelike has meintrigued. I love the strange, alt-world sci-fi setting of its mildly cursed (and very Control-like) Pacific Northwest, and I love how much methodical detail developers Ironwood Studios have put into actually operating your beaten-up old station wagon (including remembering to put the handbrake on, shift the gearstick into neutral, turn off the windscreen wipers, and maybe switching off your headlights before exiting the car, lest it scare or alert one of the area’s many strange alien inhabitants, or a gust of wind accidentally rolls your car down a ravine). Combined with ever-changing weather systems, it’s just the right kind of mechanical pressure to place on a player as you go about charting its procedural pathways as you push deeper into its supernatural exclusion zone to unravel the mysteries waiting for you at the end of it. If it can nail the roguelike structure of its cross-country jaunts (and mad, end-of-run death chases to your extraction point), we’ll no doubt be honking our horns aboutPacific Drivefor months to come.
Image credit:Paradox Interactive
Release date:March 5th (early access)From:Steam
Homeworld 3
Image credit:Gearbox Publishing
Release date:March 8thFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store
Edwin:The near-to-medium future teems with new space strategy properties, thanks to up-and-coming publishers like Hooded Horse, but even so, it’sHomeworld 3that I’m most looking forward to. The threequel blasphemously flips the Mothership sideways - I know, it’s outer space and questions of flat vs vertical orientation are fundamentally meaningless, but the new ship is designed to be viewed horizontally – while introducing maps that are full of far larger derelicts and celestial bodies that serve (or so the developers claim) as a cavernous tactical landscape. You’ll be squirrelling fighter formations behind trashed battlecruisers to blindside frigates, and using bits of asteroid as cover against the other side’s heavy artillery, while listening to your pilots chatter about the fortunes of war.
Alone In The Dark
Image credit:THQ Nordic
Release date:March 20thFrom:Steam,GOG
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Image credit:Capcom
Release date:March 21stFrom:Steam
Edwin:Dragon’s Dogma 2isextremely similarto Dragon’s Dogma 1, which is terrible news if you dislike climbing on ogres to stop them eating your mates, listening to crackpot anime dialogue (“tis a troubling foe!”), and exploring the almost imsim-worthy combinatory possibilities of spells of levitation, illumination and, er, setting wolves on fire. Honestly, the build I played last year felt like a glorified expandalone, but there is still nothing quite like Capcom’s action RPG, with its wonderfully zealous AI party-members, toybox class design and Monster Hunter-adjacent brawls. I’m very glad it’s getting another shot at stardom.
Lightyear Frontier
Image credit:Frame Break
Release date:MarchFrom:Steam,Game Pass
Katharine:I would say I’m more of a fair-weather farming game player these days, but add mechs to the equation and you have my attention. I love a good mech, me, andLightyear Frontierputs them front and centre in this chill,farmingexploration game. You’ll need them to gamble about the strange alien planet you crash land on to find resources, and you’ll also use them to plant (aka: shoot) seeds, harvest (aka: vacuum up) crops and build a new life for yourself - and your mates, if you fancy playing together in online co-op. It even hasa touch of PowerWash Simulator about itas well, as you have a hose tool to blast away ominous patches of goop plaguing the environment. After speaking to the devs at Gamescom last year, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what sights and secrets await us when it launches in early access later this March.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
Image credit:Ghost Ship Publishing
Release date:Q1 2024 (early access)From:Steam
Katharine:Hardware editor James is still on holiday this week (the lucky devil), but I know he’d be pumped forDeep Rock Galactic: Survivorthis year, the Vampire Survivors-like spin-off of everyone’s favourite co-op mining adventure. James had agreat timewith a very early build of it last year, and his enthusiasm for it has proven quite infectious, as I, too, am quite keen to give it a go when it launches into early access. I’ve fallen off the Vampire Survivors wagon a bit recently – I have to be careful with my rationing otherwise I’ll just fall down a pit of auto-shooting and never get out of it again – but here’s hoping I’ll be able to show more restraint with DRG’s take on the genre.
Isles Of Sea And Sky
Image credit:Jason Newman and Craig Collver
Release date:Q1 2024From:Steam
Loco Motive
Image credit:Chucklefish
Release date:Q1 2024From:Steam
Katharine:Easily the best and most charming game Iplayed at last year’s EGX, this point and click detective adventure is very much on my radar of ‘Cool Things Happening’ in 2024. Set on a 1930s train that has big Murder On The Orient Express energy,Loco Motivesees you investigating the sudden assassination of wealthy heiress Lady Unterwald - which, thanks to its witty and genuinely funny script, is a lot more raucous than you might expect. Its character animations are properly stunning, too, so if you’ve been hankering after another Monkey Island-like, take note. Loco Motive is the game for you.
Image credit:GSC Game World
Release date:Q1 2024From:Steam,Game Pass,GOG
Flock
Image credit:Annapurna Interactive
Release date:Spring 2024From:Steam
Manor Lords
Image credit:Hooded Horse
Release date:April 26thFrom:Steam
Selaco
Image credit:Altered Orbit Studios
Release date:May 31st (early access)From:Steam
Path Of Exile 2
Image credit:Grinding Gears Games
Release date:June 7th (closed beta)From:Steam
Ollie:Action RPGs like Diablo and Path Of Exile tend to be gigantic time-sinks, the kind where veteran players put literally thousands of hours into grinding the best possible gear to take on the most powerful bosses. I’m not one of those players, but I still feel like I get a lot out of those games for the amount of time I put into them.Path Of Exile 2is shaping up to be possibly the greatest ARPG since Diablo 2, keeping much of the depth of the original POE while also streamlining and improving the experience in a lot of ways. Dodge-rolling, attack-cancelling, and the ability to use WASD to move your character arouaaarrrgh— Sorry, started drooling a bit there. I’ve just been waiting for WASD movement in these games for a long time.
Hades II
Image credit:Supergiant Games
Release date:Q2 2024 (early access)From:Steam,Epic Games Store
Ollie:Hades is one of my favourite games ever. It’s nothing short of a masterclass in roguelite design, metaprogression, music, and weaving character arcs and storylines in and around each run through Hell in a way that no roguelite has achieved before or since. If I knew nothing at all aboutHades 2, it would still be one of my most anticipated games of 2024. But I also know that this time you’re taking control not of Prince Zagreus but of badass Princess Melinoë, who has sworn to somehow destroy Chronos, the Titan of Time itself and father of Lord Hades. Jeez. Even writing it out is giving me goosebumps. Just let me play it please. I want to explore all the gorgeous new biomes and romance all the hot new characters.
Hauntii
Image credit:Firestroke / Moonloop Games
Release date:Q2 2024From:Steam,Itch.io,Epic Games Store
Stormgate
Image credit:Frost Giant Studios
Release date:Summer 2024 (early access)From:Steam
Ollie:I may be godawful at RTS games, but Starcraft and Warcraft III were still very important games of my childhood, and just looking at a couple of screenshots ofStormgatemakes it very clear where their inspirations lie. Frost Giant Studios are looking to create the next modern Blizzard-esque RTS with Stormgate, a game whose design and controls look more and more polished each time they release new footage. On paper it looks and sounds very similar to Starcraft II in particular, although there are some interesting and unique ideas going on within each of the factions and the units and buildings they can use - too many ideas to go through here. But it’s looking very promising to my eyes, and I can’t wait to play properly.
Black Myth: Wukong
Image credit:Game Science
Release date:August 20thFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2
Image credit:Focus Entertainment
Release date:September 9thFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store
Katharine:I’m semi-writing this on behalf of James, but I, too, am quite excited to be aSpace Maureenin Saber’s upcoming hack and slash. I’ve never been much of a World War Z kind of gal, but seeing that zombie horde tech repurposed for swarms of chittering Tyranids looks mighty impressive. If the game can live up to the hefty stomping power of its nu-God Of War-looking combat, I’ll be very happy indeed.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Image credit:Sega
Release date:Autumn 2024From:TBA
Katharine:All I can say about this is: “Get it into my veins now, STAT.”
Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island
Image credit:Whitethorn Games
Release date:Q3 2024From:Steam
Arco
Image credit:Panic
Release date:2024From:Steam
Katharine:I got asmall glimpseof this tactical action adventure at last year’s Gamescom, and cor, it’s just so gosh darn lovely-looking. Comprised of three, interconnected tales that take you to all manner of real and fantastical locations,Arcocaptures the vast scale of its South American-infused landscape with its enormous, zoomed-out pixel dioramas. Your tiny band of travellers will ride across it on tiny little llama mounts as they each work to track down the mysterious Red Company gang, but you’ll also stop to engage in several fights and dust-ups along the way, its mix of real and turn-based top-down combat providing a robust workout for both your brain and fingers.
Avowed
Image credit:Obsidian Entertainment
Release date:2024From:Steam,Game Pass
Katharine:Announced a literal eternity ago in the depths of 2020,Avowednow stands poised to pick up the fantasy RPG baton from Baldur’s Gate 3 and run with it right up to Skyrim’s front moat to blast down its drawbridge. It is, of course, a very different kind of RPG to Larian’s (rightfully) runaway epic - it’s first person, for starters, you don’t (as yet) have an obvious party to help you in battle, and only time will tell if it’s as colossal and reactive as its D&D-based rival. But if there’s any studio that’s going to try and ride BG3’s coattails with any degree of success, it’s probably going to be Obsidian. Still, after being veiled in secrecy for so long, I need to see more of Avowed before I can make a proper judgment call. I’m cautiously optimistic about it, though, and here’s hoping it stays with me longer than Skyrim ever did.
Image credit:Devolver Digital
Release date:2024From:Steam
Crow Country
Image credit:SFB Games
Release date:2024From:Steam
Dread Pilots
Image credit:Klei Entertainment
Release date:2024From:Steam
Earthblade
Image credit:Extremely OK Games Ltd
Release date:2024From:Steam
Katharine:The creators of Celeste are back with a new 2D platformer (or “explor-action”, as developers Extremely OK Games call it), and yep, I don’t need to hear anything else. Yes, please and thank you.
Frostpunk 2
Image credit:11 bit Studios
Release date:2024From:Steam,GOG,Epic Games Store
Ollie:There are plenty of challenging and punishing city-builders out there, but none have the same feeling of being cut off from the world and struggling to survive against all odds that Frostpunk has. It’s a bleak but fascinating story of survival through sacrifice, and Frostpunk 2 looks to continue that story at a larger scale. Not only is your city capable of growing much larger than before, but the scope of Frostpunk 2’s double-edged laws and politics is also much greater, with different factions and ambitious individuals rising up and forcing you to think twice about every choice you make. The first Frostpunk constantly provoked thoughts of morality and philosophy - something no other city-builder has done for me. Here’s hoping Frostpunk 2 can manage the same.
Edwin:The original’s best quality would have been deemed a flaw in any other city builder: ferociously limited scope. Here, all the genre’s resource-mongering has to fit inside a dying circle of firelight, the aiming reticule of an FPS transformed into a construction site. Inevitably, the prospect of adding features worries me a little, but I’m eager to get my hands on it regardless.
Ghost Bike
Image credit:Annapurna Interactive
Release date:2024From:Steam
Alice0:Absolutely I want to ride a supernatural bicycle with the power to travel between the lands of the living and the dead. InGhost Bike, we’ll be exploring a “semi-open” world as we try to repair the eponymous bike, entering races, finding hidden parts, and generally trundling about. Ghost Bike’s blurb says we can expect to “encounter many facets of bike culture, bespoke spokemakers, radical roadies, troublesome tourists, badass BMX’ers, fanatical fans, super fun stunts, intrigue, adventure, and more!” I’m very into how all sorts of people enjoy bikes in all sorts of ways for all sorts of reasons, as I explored inmy 2022 series about cycling in games, so I’m excited to see a game explore some of them.
Grunn
Image credit:Sokpop Collective
Release date:2024From:Steam
Horizon Forbidden West
Image credit:Guerrilla, Nixxes Software
Release date:2024From:Steam
Mewgenics
Image credit:Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel
Release date:2024From:Steam
Pepper Grinder
Image credit:Devolver Digital
Release date:2024From:Steam
Katharine:Pepper Grinderis one of those games that you can instantly feel in your hands, even though you’re only watching a trailer for it - and I’ve been itching to play it for real ever since it was first announced in late 2022. Indeed, if you thought the burrow ability from Ori And The Will Of The Wisps was the best thing about that game, Pepper Grinder is basically that: the game. You know, along with some grapple hooking to help heroine Pepper perform even more daring feats ofplatformingperfection when she’s not rooting for gems underground. We had it on our list of most anticipated games last year as well, but a delay pushed it to 2024, so here’s hoping it emerges in equally spectacular fashion sooner rather than later.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Image credit:Ninja Theory
Release date:2024From:Steam,Game Pass
Kiera:The firstHellbladewas an interesting take on mental illness during the Viking/Pict era. The story followed Senua, a warrior who journeys into Hel to save the soul of her lover Dillion. It was a unique idea that had a profound effect on me when I played it for the first time. The Norse mythology was right up my street, and the use of binaural 3D audio was startingly effective. Having the different voices in Senua’s head give you mixed signals and sometimes outright laugh at your attempts to progress was unnerving - which was exactly the point. The game felt like something out of a fever dream and had a general feeling of oppressiveness that you had to slog through. Thesequelpicks up Senua’s story from where the first left it and promises to feature more set pieces, stunning music and intimidating foes. I’m hoping for more varied character designs and perhaps a little more clarity around solving puzzles as the first game ventured into frustrating territory at times.
Shapez 2
Image credit:Tobspr Games/Gamera Games
Release date:2024 (early access)From:Steam
Ollie:Anyone who knows me knows that when I get stuck into a factory game, it’s all over. I’m dead to the world. All that matters is automation. I’ve previously remarked on what I consider to be the holy trinity of factory games: Factorio, Satisfactory, and Dyson Sphere Program - butShapez 2is shaping up to potentially turn that trinity into a quartet. It behaves in much the same way as the original Shapez - it’s an extremely pure factory-building experience about rotating, cutting, and stitching together different shapes. There’s no lore or story, no world-building, no diegetic items like circuit boards or iron plates. Just shapes, infinite resources, free buildings, and an endless supply of tasks to perform. But Shapez 2 transforms the game into 3D, with its resources spread across floating islands. It looks amazingly pretty considering it’s all just basic shapes, and I can’t wait to give it a try.
Sorry We’re Closed
Image credit:Akupara Games
Release date:2024From:Steam,GOG
Star Wars Outlaws
Image credit:Ubisoft
Release date:2024From:Ubisoft
Ollie:I do love lightsabers, don’t get me wrong. But I’m also quite excited to play my first Star Wars game since Republic Commando that didn’t give you a lightsaber in the first half-hour.Star Wars Outlawsis an open world Ubisoft RPG set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. The game puts you in the shoes of scoundrel Kay Vess, who appears to be gradually pulled from her self-interested outlaw lifestyle into a larger story which seems quite reminiscent of Andor. And that’s a very good thing, since Andor is possibly the best thing to ever come out of Star Wars as far as I’m concerned.
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Image credit:Panic
Release date:2024From:Steam
Katharine:One of the most joyful reveals of last year’s Gamescom, surreal comedy adventureThank Goodness You’re Hereis very much in the same vein as Untitled Goose Game - albeit even more British and bananas than you might expect. As a tiny travelling salesman who arrives in the fictional northern town of Barnsworth far too early for his meeting with the mayor, you’ll be getting yourself intoall sorts of scrapes and weird situationswhile you wait. Stuffed with daft humour, absurd odd jobs and a truly wonderful array of regional accents, I’m very glad for it to be here in 2024.
The Alters
Image credit:11 bit Studios
Release date:2024From:Steam,GOG,Epic Games Store
Ollie:I’m a sucker for base-builders and unsettling sci-fi premises, so The Alters is very much one of my most anticipated games of 2024.
The Mermaid’s Tongue
Image credit:SFB Games
Release date:2024From:Steam
Alice Bee:I loved Tangle Tower, and was immediately disappointed that there wasn’t a whole series of games to binge. If it’s anything like the first,The Mermaid’s Tonguewill be a playful, colourful detective game with easy-to-solve puzzles and a memorable cast of oddballs. The character design in Tangle Tower was one of my favourite things about it, as was the sense of humour and the slightly strange vibe of the mystery itself. The starting premise cast it as an almost magical realist sort of a deal, but it’s got a very ‘once you eliminate the impossible’ vibe to it. Honestly very stoked that there’s a sequel.
Katharine:As a fellow Tangle Tower-liker, you can consider me equally pumped for The Mermaid’s Tongue. I’m well up for another adventure with Detective Grimoire and his assistant Sally, only this time on a submarine!
The Plucky Squire
Image credit:Devolver Digital
Release date:2024From:Steam
Katharine:Thenext gamefrom Swords Of Ditto creator Jonathan Biddle and former Game Freak artist James Turner was an instant yes from me when it was first announced during Devolver Digital’s notE3 showcase in 2022, and I’ve been eyeballing it closely ever since. As you may have seen from its various trailers so far, this delightful adventure-me-do starts as a top-down 2D Zelda-like in a very similar fashion to Swords Of Ditto before it. But then. THEN. Your little squire hops out of his picture book confines into a fully 3D kid’s bedroom scene, and cor, what an absolute blinder it’s shaping up to be. You’ll be dipping in and out of various objects as you carry out your plucky little quest in this game, and honestly, I needed to play this yesterday. Fingers crossed it won’t be subject to another delay.
The Rise Of The Golden Idol
Image credit:Playstack
Release date:2024From:Steam
Katharine:I absolutely adored The Case Of The Golden Idol, so I was thrilled to seethis sequelannounced during December’s Game Awards. Based on the announcement trailer, it looks like we’ll still be solving lots of individual murder tableaus, trying to work out whodunnit, how and why, but this time it’s set several hundreds years in the future, bringing us to the 1970s. I’m a bit sad that it’s moved away from the original’s pixel-heavy visuals, but at least its new cartoonish look and bug-eyed character portraits still have plenty of character to them. What mischief with the legendary Golden Idol bring with it this time? We’ll find out later this year.
Thrasher
Image credit:Creature
Release date:2024From:Steam
Tiny Glade
Image credit:Pounce Light
Release date:2024From:Steam
Kiera:Tiny Gladehas been on my radar for some time now. The game is essentially a cosy building sim without combat, management systems or quests. You simply sit back and build pretty buildings in different glades just for the sake of it. Beyond the whimsical aesthetics that look like something straight out of a fairy tale, the cheery music and clickety-clack sound effects are delightfully satisfying and somehow scratch an itch in my brain that I didn’t know I had. The building is gridless and without restriction, there are different themed glades including a gorgeous orange autumnal one, you can alter walls and terrain seamlessly, and you can pet sheep. What’s not to love?
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2
Image credit:Paradox
Release date:2024From:Steam,GOG,Epic Games Store
Kiera:I loved the original Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. It was janky and pretty much unplayable without the unofficial patch, but there was something earnest about it. I’m desperately hoping thatVampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2takes advantage of the wealth of vampire clan lore out there and provides the goth vampire simulator we all want. Given the tumultuous development history of the project, I’m cautious about getting my hopes up too high. Although I like the idea of skulking around like a true creature of the night, let’s face it - I’ll probably cave and pick the sexiest Kate Beckinsale wannabe class I can.
Alice Bee:[throwing-up-hands-I-GUESS-meme.jpg]
Visions of Mana
Image credit:Square Enix
Release date:2024From:TBA
Jeremy:The Mana/Seiken Densetsu series is near and dear to my heart, from playing Secret Of Mana as a kid, falling in love with Legend Of Mana, and waiting over two decades to finally see an official English localisation of Seiken Densetsu 3/Trials of Mana.Visions Of Manais the first original entry in the franchise (I’m not counting phone games) since 2007, and I’m very happy to witness Square give their finest action RPG series another chance to shine. Info on Visions is sparse at the moment, but the trailer revealed during The Game Awards shows that it appears to be running on the same engine that powered the 2020 Trials of Mana remake, and is replete with all of the features that define the series – storybook visuals, elemental spirits, a Mantis Ant, and loads of cutesy rabbit and mushroom enemies to boink around. Oh yeah, and the iconic furry dragon Flammie appears to be an actual party member in this one! Sign me up to save the Mana Tree all over again; I’ll be there.
World Of Goo 2
Image credit:2D Boy, Tomorrow Corporation
Release date:2024From:TBA
Alice0:I’m rarely super stoked about sequels. Rather than plough on into more of the same, often I’d rather see the developers explore something new. Well, the makers of World Of Goo already did that. After making a phenomenalpuzzle gameabout buildings structures from different types of goo blobs, a game whichis still great 15 years later, they parted ways and made a heap of different games and followed different ventures. Now they’re back together and I’m super stoked.World Of Goo 2! A follow-up to one of the most delightful and stylish indie puzzle games ever made, made after years of extra experience. World Of Goo 2!
Animal Well
Image credit:Bigmode
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Ara: History Untold
Image credit:Xbox Game Studios
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Arc Raiders
Image credit:Embark Studios
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store
An English Haunting
Image credit:Postmodern Adventures
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Jeremy:Postmodern Adventures, a one-man indie company from Spain, has stealthily been releasing top-notch point and click adventures for the last four years that have flown under the radar but deserve all the attention in the world. Their 2022 effort, Nightmare Frames, was a wonderful ode to slasher flicks of the 80s, andAn English Hauntinglooks set to continue this pattern with a gothic tale set in 1907 England. You’re a professor looking for proof of the existence of life after death, and your travels across the pixelated streets of Victorian London and beyond look to be full of occultism, séances, and dozens of well-researched historical references. According to the dev’s Xwitter, apparently there’s just an in-game cinema where your character can sit and watch Georges Méliès films. If you’re anything like me and grew up on a steady diet of LucasArts and Sierraadventure games, you owe it to yourself to check out An English Haunting.
Conscript
Image credit:Team17
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
Image credit:EA
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam,Epic Games Store,EA
Alice Bee:Technically, the new entry in my most favourite EA-owned RPG series is only getting a ‘full reveal’, like a participant in Naked Attraction, this summer, but that could mean a release in time for Christmas. Right? Right? Anyway. This beast has undergone rewrites and BioWare shitcanned a load of staff with decades of standing at the company, which can surely be nothing but good signs for the state this will be in when it finally comes out. Alas, my lot is to look forward to it anyway. The environments in the trailer looked cool, at least.
Kiera:My excitement for the next Dragon Age is tinged with a deep shame. You see, I demolished Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age II but have yet to play Inquisition. Naturally, my homework is to play it beforeDreadwolfeventually comes out. Don’t blame me - blame the awful PC that froze every time I tried to boot it up back in 2014.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
Image credit:Bandai Namco/FromSoftware
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Ollie:I’ve played a good 300+ hours ofElden Ringat the time of writing. I just can’t get enough of its sprawling, strange, untameable world. And anything which adds to that world and gives me new creepy environments to explore and bosses to fell is a definite win. Details ofShadow Of The Erdtreeare very thin on the ground at the moment. Many of us were expecting an update at the 2023 Game Awards in December, but that didn’t happen. But we do know that it’s a pretty massive DLC, enough to be called an expansion. I wouldn’t be surprised if they add a good 30-50% to the map and give us another 80 or so boss encounters. There’s no firm release date yet, but aretail leak suggests a February 2024 release.
Final Fantasy XVI
Image credit:Square Enix
Release date:TBAFrom:TBA
Katharine:Come on Squeenix, you know you want to releaseFinal Fantasy 16on PC this year. Do it for Clive. Do it for Torgal. Do it for all of us. You’ve got the last bit of the DLC expansion pass arriving in the spring with The Rising Tide, that would be the perfect time to release a complete mega Windows edition of it for your friends on PC. Go on. You know you want to.
Leximan
Image credit:Marvelous Europe
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Nightmare Operator
Release date:TBAFrom:TBA
Alice0:I couldn’t tell you much of anything about this one. The four-person Tokyo team behind Nightmare Operator call it “a retro-inspired action horror game”. It appears to be set in a Japanese city. I don’t even know if it’s coming this year. But they posted this clip and oh wow yes I’m in, I’m so in:
Hide and seek✂️#nightmareoperator#screenshotsaturday#indiedevpic.twitter.com/ZVd9wUnToo— DDDistortion (@DDDistortionDev)December 30, 2023
Hide and seek✂️#nightmareoperator#screenshotsaturday#indiedevpic.twitter.com/ZVd9wUnToo
No Rest For The Wicked
Image credit:Private Division
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Katharine:Right now we know very little about what Ori And The Blind Forest devs Moon Studios are cooking up for this online action RPG, but lemme tell you. A new game from Moon that isn’t an Ori game? You have my attention. Its moody visuals and oversized bosses have a very Soulsian air about them, but its top-down perspective and three-player co-op support also puts me in the mind of Diablo. Hopefully we’ll hear more about it very soon.
Phoenix Springs
Image credit:Calligram Studio
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Katharine:I played the demo for this point and click mystery adventure late last year and wowzers, what style! Its stark block colours and painterly textures make every scene look like a graphic novel come to life, but the thing I love most aboutPhoenix Springsis its refreshingly no-nonsense protagonist, Iris Dormer. She’s looking for her brother Leo, but as you poke around abandoned buildings and chat to aloof, tetchy strangers to further your investigation, her dialogue and internal narration take no prisoners. “No point looking at that,” she’ll scoff when you click on something she’s got no use for - and if you keep on clicking, she’ll simply reply with a short, blunt, “No.” I love how abrasive she is, and the demo (which is still available if you’re keen) has hooked me in for the long haul.
Replaced
Image credit:Coatsink
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam,GOG,Epic Games Store, Game Pass/p>
Katharine:I’ve been pumped forReplacedever since I first clapped eyes on it in 2021, and while it may have suffered a couple of delays since (Belarusian developers Sad Cat Studios have understandably had to slow down production due to the ongoing war in Ukraine), it’s looking to be very much worth the wait. Its stylish pixel art, flashy combat animation and dingy, cyberpunk setting all look extremely up my alley, and here’s hoping its tale of a rogue AI trapped inside a human body does it all justice when it (hopefully) releases later this year.
Roman Sands: REBuild
Image credit:Serenity Forge
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Edwin:Roman Sands: REBuildis as loud, bright and agitated as Arbitrary Metric’s previous Paratopic was moody and dour. It’s many things. One of those things is a kind of wildly over-caffeinated tropical resort simulator, with players carrying out errands for mouthy guests against a backdrop of slushwave blue and purple. Another of those things is a meatpunk puzzle game set inside an undersea apartment. Both of those aspects get screentime in the Steam demo – heaven knows what’s next.
Tiny Bookshop
Image credit:Skystone Games
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Urban Myth Dissolution Center
Image credit:Shueisha Games
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam
Katharine:Having shouted about theexcellent Makoto Wakaido’s Case Files Trilogythe other day, I will now take the opportunity to alert you to developer Hakababunko’s next game, the extremely stylish-lookingUrban Myth Dissolution Center. Once again, you’ll be donning your detective deerstalker as you solve strange cases around Japan, but as the name implies, this one is all about occult urban myths rather than hardboiled murders. Its striking pixel art looks fantastic, and I can’t wait to dive in. Here’s hoping the PC version arrives at the same time as its 2024 Switch release.
Zakon
Image credit:Mishanya
Release date:TBAFrom:Steam,Itch.io
Alice0:Maybe it’s because I grew up with Godzilla movies and cartoons like Swat Kats, but I find something inherently cool about jetfighters whooshing between city blocks to fight terrible things. In this case, the city is Krasnogorie, a futuristic Soviet spectacle of skyscrapers and the space between stuffed with statues, glowing signs, cables, struts, and suspension railway lines. The terrible things are towering kaiju. And the fighting is arcadey violence in a special jet. Whooshing between buildings while battling some sort of giant spider crab sounds great fun. And while details are hazy for now, I think perhaps you’ll have the option to rebel and turn on the regime? Maybe? It’s all vague. Zakon hasn’t confirmed a release window yet so fingers crossed for this year, or at least maybe a demo in a Next Fest?
