2024's Most Anticipated Games - Stephen's Picks
2024 has a hard act to follow to live up to the incredible release calendar of 2023. That said, there’s still no shortage of high quality games coming this year. No matter whether you play on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, or the Nintendo Switch and even its upcoming successor, you’re going to have a lot to play in 2024. Given that, we couldn’t simply pool the team’s thoughts into one top 10 countdown of the most anticipated games, so we solicited 10 from each person to discuss. Today, hear what Stephen has to say about his 10 most anticipated games of 2023, sorted from 10 to 1.
10. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
There’s a lot of sequels on this list – wonder if there’s some kind of underlying entertainment industry issue around that involving budgets and visibility? Anyway, Vampire: The Masquerade was an excellent PC RPG title I enjoyed way back when, and fond memories ensure I’ll be happy to fire this one up when it releases, although I harbour some doubts it will live up to expectations given a somewhat rocky development.
9. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
One of the few PC games I’ve actually played alongside V:TM, the STALKER trilogy was a blast and has been well overdue for a follow-up. That said, a lot has changed since Call of Pripyat launched in 2009 and there will be a lot of necessary changes for STALKER 2 to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Comparisons to the Metro trilogy will be inevitable, but here’s hoping atmosphere and compelling environment design can recapture what I loved about the original releases.
8. Star Wars: Outlaws
The pedigree of this game means that there’s no way it will be an outright turkey and yet I still hold some doubts over any licensed title. As a PlayStation fan, Single player 3rd person action RPGS’s are my jam though, so what’s one more on the pile? Provided it can live up to the standards set in the genre of recent years. Actually, thinking about that, if it can come in at a decent runtime without throwing an overly large open world/spoke-and-hub setting at me littered with collectible junk, it might just outshine some of its contemporaries.
7. Rise of the Ronin
I’ve admired what Team Ninja have been doing in the ‘soulsborne’ space with Nioh and Wo Long, so their first attempt at an open-world coming hot on the heels of Elden Ring will be interesting at the least. Exploring an extremely engaging period of Japanese history will be icing on the cake of their strong gameplay systems which made Nioh and Wo Long such successes.
6. Visions of Mana
Bright, sumptuous visuals and a setting reminiscent of YS VII, perhaps my favourite action-RPG of all time, means I can’t wait to see what Square is bringing to the Mana franchise after such a lengthy absence of new entries. With both Kingdom Hearts and Ni No Kuni seemingly on break this generation and YS X yet to be localised, there hasn’t been much scratching this particular itch so fingers crossed this doesn’t make me wait until Q4. Bonus points for an aesthetic style that looks like it will knock 60fps out of the park!
5. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
After thoroughly enjoying Jusant which came out of left field completely (and being a huge fan of Life is Strange) the next big project from DONTNOD has me intrigued as it is seemingly dealing in the same space with, at least from the trailer, a touch of Chronicle for good measure. One thing that wouldn’t shock me is the studio jettisoning the Life is Strange brand name which carries quite a lot of baggage with it at this point, even if Bloom and Rage looks like it could slot comfortably in that particular series. Teen girls in the mid 90’s with weird magical realism shenanigans? Sign me up.
4. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Rolling credits on Remake showed the world that Square were never going to give us a straight remake of the PlayStation classic’s discs two and three, such would be the scope of the game. Having previewed part of Rebirth thanks to Bandai Namco however, I am more than eager to experience the new directions the story and characters are being taken in through this reimagining of Final Fantasy VII which is once again a timed exclusive for Sony. It may not overtake the original in my heart, but it has been great to revisit this setting and characters decades later as the themes of the game ring truer than ever.
3. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Some days it feels like SEGA has Infinite games! Much to the chagrin of haters and the delight of myself and Hewso, there’s yet another entry in the long running series from RGG Studios. Now split across Hawaii and Japan, Infinite Wealth will bring together the protagonist of the previous Like A Dragon title Ichiban Kasuga with Kazuma Kiryu, the famed Dragon of Dojima. Rumoured to be one of the longest titles in the series to date, I can’t wait to get to this, especially as these titles always tide me over in between trips to Japan.
2. Dragon’s Dogma II
A bit janky and weird but tons of heart is how I felt about the first Dragon’s Dogma, alongside it’s 1.5 edition Dark Arisen. It always seemed odd how often it kept getting passed over for a sequel. Lengthy break (and one failed soulsborne later, from what I understand) aside, whether Capcom can recapture that same magic again will remain to be seen given what has been shown so far doesn’t seem like a huge leap forward mechanically from the first game. ADragon’s Dogma is better than no Dragon’s Dogma though, so March can’t come quick enough!
1. Hollow Knight: SilkSong
How the hell is this not out yet? I played it at PAXAUS Pre-pandemic, and it was assumed it would be out the following year – I think a full five years is enough time to wrap things up for Silksong, unless it’s an insidious plan by Nintendo to launch it alongside a Switch successor? Whatever the case may be, surely Team Cherry won’t make me wait until 2025 for more Hollow Knight in my life?
So that concludes Stephen’s list of his most anticipated games of 2024. What are some of yours? Hit us up via social media to let us know what games you are keen on in 2024!
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