2024's Most Anticipated Games - Tim'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 Tim has to say about his 10 most anticipated games of 2023, sorted from 10 to 1.
10. Broken Sword: Parzival’s Stone
I’m honestly a bit nervous about this one, and if it falls on its face then I will mentally swap in the 4K remaster of the 1996 original, I guess. In fact, this is a big part of this, the sixth Broken Sword game’s problem – that first game was damn close to perfect, and the things that held it back were one dumb goat puzzle and a bunch of asset quality stuff that can be fixed with a bit of digital sandpaper.
Still, Broken Sword 5 ended up being maybe my second favourite game in the series, so while I have my reservations of how Revolution’s touted ‘super 2D’ looked in that initial trailer, it’s hard for me to not be at least a little bit excited that this game at least exists. If nothing else, I can’t wait to hang out with these characters again.
9. Dragon’s Dogma 2
I have this weirdly vivid memory of Australian games press legend David Wildgoose tweeting that Dragon’s Dogma was going to catch a lot of people by surprise. Or something like that. It was over a decade ago now.
Somehow, this put Dragon’s Dogma on my map, and it became a game that I… very nearly got into? Maybe the second decade will be the charm? Capcom has been hitting my buttons quite a bit in recent years, and the company seems to have big dreams for this one. If nothing else, my PS5 is still in want of showpiece titles.
8. Jet Set Radio
There is an alternate version of this list where this one sits towards – if not at – the top of the list. As such, if you’re expecting me to be thoroughly mathematical and not at all fickle in what I’ve picked and how I’ve ranked it, then… I’m sorry?
There were only ever two core Jet Set Radio games, and both oozed a vibe that hasn’t really been recaptured since. Except for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, which came out last year… and I guess kind of represents a love letter stealing the thunder from the addressee? There’s also the fact that this is one of five new Sega projects, and questions remain over just how new it will be. Or indeed when it’ll actually come out. 2025 is totally likely. Nonetheless, it’s new Jet Set and I really, really want to play it!
7. World of Goo 2
The second magazine feature I ever got paid for was a piece on the then-emerging indie scene for Hyper back around the middle of 2006. It’s wild to think how niche that seemed at the time now, but it landed me a chance to review a bunch of indie games for a small handful of years afterwards, and of those original generation experiences, World of Goo still stands tall as an absolute standout.
I had let this clever little puzzler with a sublime difficulty (and, somehow, atmospheric) curve become categorized as just a cool little moment in time… but it’s coming back! It has been a long time between drinks. To the point that a person barely old enough to comprehend and play the original can now probably share in the beer. I have no shame in getting my own pint, too.
6. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
2023 has gone down for me as a year where my play habits were weirdy nostalgic for Nintendo’s GameCube. The GCN was my university machine, and I never got a PS2 until the generation was transitioning, so I rinsed the catalog for Nintendo’s (primarily) purple console pretty thoroughly. One slight regret, though, was opting in on Tales of Symphonia over Paper Mario.
That may read as a crazy sentence… but I never really gelled with Tales, and always kind of wished that I had gone with the papercraft RPG instead. Nintendo is giving everyone a second chance now, and as an added bonus, this modern-day release is likely to be much more respectful than Symphonia’s was…
5. Where The Winds Meet
While the above couple of games are fairly certain to release in 2024, this one is perhaps a bit more of a Hail Mary. I’m going to put this particular prayer on a Q4 release, too, as there is no way that my current PC is running this game and I don’t expect to have any meaningful upgrade in my home any earlier than that (if not later, but the end of next year is technically possible).
While I would like to act like this is a wholly original title flexing in my list, the truth is that nobody seems to be buying that this is anything other than Ghost of Tsushima except set in China. It looks quality, though.
Granted, this is a part of why I think it might actually land in 2024 – they probably want this one out the door before Sony starts making too much noise about Ghost’s all-but-inevitable sequel!
4. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
I don’t know if there’s another series out there with such astoundingly workmanlike consistency in its quality. Even the lesser releases are still pretty good by their own rights!
This one, though – this one is unlikely to be a lesser release. The long-awaited proper mainline sequel to Like a Dragon (AKA, Yakuza 8), Infinite Wealth will have everything to prove. Apparently it’s huge, which… sure, I don’t need that, but I can get behind it, especially with a new setting to explore. I just hope that the difficulty curve is handled better this time around, because that alone held the previous game back from being an all-timer.
3. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Wherein Tim is excited for a game he likely won’t be able to play. I really liked the original Hellblade, which I played on my PlayStation 4. I don’t own an Xbox Series console. I didn’t own an Xbox One, either… living in Japan makes it a little redundant. The amount of spare time I have in my life makes it even more redundant.
On the off chance I get a PC upgrade, then this will be a likely first-purchase to show of the overpriced graphics card, though. This one looks spectacular, and has a level of production behind it that is uncommon for something so likely to be so intimate.
2. The Plucky Squire
Look, I just want to play this. It looks so creative and fun and clever and… and… charming! I really hope that it all comes together, because watching the trailer footage reminds me of what it feels like to be nine-years-old, and I really want that wonder not to get shattered by unresponsive controls or questionable design decisions. I am fully bought in and will likely bare teeth when the feeding-frenzy over the review copy begins.
1. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
I guess nostalgia really does rule this list. Final Fantasy VII: Remake was a pretty easy GotY choice for me, personally, back in 2020, and it seems that, astonishingly, Square-Enix has kept the team together and kept the project on track as a result. Everything about this looks absolutely stunning.
Hopefully it will be. There are some moments that need to be recaptured here. Rebirth has to balance properly capturing these while also screwing around with the formula enough to justify this project’s continued existence. I’m a little nervous that things might get a little too Kingdom Hearts this time around, but I’m even more excited to get my hands on it and find out for myself.
So that concludes Tim’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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