2024 has one hell of a mission on its hands if it wants to top last year’s gaming greats. Baldur’s Gate 3, Tears of the Kingdom, and Alan Wake II? It’s like taking on the Justice League of video games, fer flip’s sake. But what’s this? Eight brave new contenders, flexing their fresh mechanics and narratives, ready to front up to the challenge! Yes these are the 2024 video games we’re most excited to play at the start of the year.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
© Ubisoft
Release date: January 18
It’s been over a decade since the last Prince of Persia game released, and even that was a remake. But that long wait is looking likely to have been worth it, based on early looks at Ubisoft Montpellier’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Returning the series to a side-on format, it promises to mix slick combat and exploration with narrative cutscenes and animations.
Unlike previous games, you won’t be playing as the prince here. Instead, The Lost Crown sees mercenary protagonist Sargon attempting to rescue the titular royal after he’s kidnapped by one of Sargon’s own crew. The developer has previously proven its 2D platforming chops with games like Rayman Legends, but we’re eager to see if they can apply those talents to the metroidvania format as well.
Pacific Drive
Release date: February 22
We’ve done more than our fair share of tree punching in survival games by this point, so when Pacific Drive promised to focus the concept around keeping an old car running, we were keen. Add to that a touch of horror and otherworldly events, and we’re already filling up the tank.
Navigating the post-apocalyptic Olympic Exclusion Zone, you’ll need to stash up on fuel and scrap to keep your station wagon in shape as you outrun an elemental storm. Upgrade and outfit your car with new equipment, abilities, and looks as you delve deeper in to the Zone and encounter stranger, more dangerous events.
Unicorn Overlord
© Atlus, Vanillaware
Release date: March 8
Yes, we know, that name. Fortunately, one look at the gorgeous visuals of Atlus and Vannilaware’s upcoming tactical RPG is enough to silence title-driven titters. Unicorn Overlord will see players attempting to raise an army across the land of Fevrith, in the hopes of retaking their captured land. It promises over 60 unique fantasy characters – including humans, elves, beasts, and angels – which can join your forces.
Beyond those visuals, it’s Unicorn Overlord’s combat system that has us most intrigued. Battles over command posts are waged on real-time map before the focus zooms in to show contests between groups of forces. After last year’s Fire Emblem Engage delivered on mechanics but faltered on characters and narrative, we’ve high hopes that Unicorn Overlord will keep strategy RPG fans sated in 2024.
Princess Peach: Showtime
Release date: March 22
The Mushroom Kingdom princess finally gets to take the stage, quite literally, as the lead in her own Switch game. Things get dramatic quickly as Peach partners with the theater’s guardian Stella to take on the nefarious Sour Bunch and save the show and its performers.
Princess Peach: Showtime looks like a joyous experience, with the lead star shifting between outfits to gain new powers. Swordfighter, patissier, detective, or kung fu master – Peach is ready to play all parts as she steals the show back. The debut trailer along was enough to see us book our seats in the audience.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Release date: Fall 2024
Persona 5 developer Atlus has an entirely new story for us to embark on this year with, yes, an even more nonsensical name. What we’ve seen of Metaphor: ReFantazio so far looks every bit as sleekly presented as their famous series. The story sees a fantasy land gripped in a contest to determine its next king. The protagonist travels the land to gather support for their election, building up a team of allies and battling enemies in the process.
Tactical battles return, with the main characters able to magically transform themselves into weapons known as archetypes. Familiar ground for Persona fans, we’re sure. There’s a great deal of intrigue to the story, and we can’t wait to explore its cast and world further.
The Plucky Squire
© All Possible Futures
Release date: 2024
2D and 3D adventures crash together in The Plucky Squire, and the result is far less messy than you might expect. Explore a world on the pages of a children’s fantasy book, then spring into 3D as you escape its pages and wanter the room beyond.
It’s hard not to grin at The Plucky Squire’s dimension shifting effect the first time you see it, but what has us more excited is the inventive ways it looks to be used throughout. Hopping onto the sides of coffee mugs and springing through children’s drawings looks likely to shift us between dimensions and genres together as we aim to overcome the nefarious plot of the book’s villain Humgrump.
Still Wakes The Deep
Release date: 2024 (probably)
The Chinese Room is one of those developers that, after you’ve played any one of their games, you’ll always keep an eye on what they’re up to. Their latest title, Still Wakes the Deep, follows a disaster atop an oil rig in the turbulent North Sea. As an otherworldly horror sparks the total collapse of the station, you’ll need to navigate the crumbling structure in order to save yourself and any surviving crewmates.
The contained and isolated nature of a remote oil rig is a brilliant setting for a horror tale. Limited supplies, numerous potential disasters, and only the churning sea on the horizon. We’ve no doubt that Still Wakes The Deep’s scares will also come paired with an engrossing narrative, provided we’re brave enough to find it.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
© Fromsoftware
Release date: Unknown
We can hope, right? Elden Ring’s first (and possibly only) DLC expansion was announced in the first half of 2023 with little more than a teasing image. That alone was enough to fuel hours of narrative speculation, but we’ve received no official information since. Will Shadow of the Erdtree shed its golden grace over us in 2024? We’re not yet sure. The one thing we do know is that our Elden Ring skills are now so rusty that when it does arrive, we’ll likely spend most of our time in it reading the words “You Died” over and over again.
Whatever 2024 video games you’re looking forward to, make sure you’ve equipped yourself with a HyperX headset for the utmost immersion as you explore each virtual world!
