This year has already been packed with massive titles to compete for your attention, whether you play on a Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox console, or one of the best gaming laptops. Here’s our guide to the best upcoming games for 2024.
Admittedly, some of these titles are ones that we had anticipated last year but got delayed. Nonetheless, after a couple of years of adjusting to both the latest console generation and development challenges brought on by the pandemic, 2024 is when the current-gen is finally hitting its stride.
But whether it’s the start of spring, a stacked summer, or beyond, there are plenty of exciting games coming up regardless of the platform you’re playing on. Read on for our picks of the best upcoming games.
1. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Platforms: PC, Switch, Xbox, PS5, PS4
Made by just a team of three people, Hollow Knight is an indie Metroidvania that has just grown and grown in cult status since first releasing in 2017. Unsurprisingly then, anticipation for its follow-up Silksong has reached fever pitch.
Set in a haunted world of bugs, but presented in a gorgeous hand-drawn style, you play as the nimble Hornet, previously a deadly antagonist in the original game, facing all-new enemies and all-new challenges as you try and making your way up to the top of the kingdom you’ve been imprisoned in.
We still don’t know when Silksong will release, or whether Team Cherry will just drop it out of the blue, but at least throughout all the agonising wait, it’s been confirmed for every major platform, including Game Pass on day one.
Due: TBA
2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S
The fourth game in the Stalker series from Ukranian dev GSC Game World, Heart of Chornobyl will send you back into the exclusion zone around the infamous nuclear power station to survive, shoot monsters, and take on weird radioactive anomalies. The original game, released back in 2007, featured a hive-mind created from seven linked scientists, so who knows what the team has come up with to top that.
A first-person game set in a true open world, Heart of Chornobyl is being developed for the Unreal Engine 5. It should look excellent by taking advantage of the latest graphics technology, including ray-tracing.
Due: Delayed to 2024
3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Solid Snake meets real snake in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a game that sees the brooding mercenary go full Rambo. Coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is supposed to be a pretty true to the title remake of Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece, albeit without his actual involvement.
We don’t have any gameplay footage yet, only a few cinematic shots. We don’t get much from those, either. We see jungle critters being eaten, an anaconda (we think) fighting a crocodile (or alligator), and Solid Snake emerging from a swamp. But if the remaster of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is anything like the original, it’ll be the strongest game in the series.
Due: 2024
4. Alone in the Dark
As if there weren’t enough real world things to be scared of in 2024, here comes the return of Alone in the Dark. Echoing the aesthetics of classic film noir, Alone in the Dark finds its setting in an outright creepy New Orleans in the 1920s. Rather than being haunted by a thousand bead wearing frat bros shouting ‘MARDI GRAS’, this version of New Orleans plays host to all manner of hellish beings and grotesque monsters.
We navigate this intriguing mystery as two detectives, played by Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) and David Harbour (Stranger Things), who must unravel the mystery of how all these monsters ended up in New Orleans (again, we’re not talking about bead wearing frat bros).
Due: delayed to 2024
5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The second part of the trilogy remake of Final Fantasy VII looks set to be even larger than the previous instalment. It’s so big it needs two whole discs. An explosive trailer shows that it’s going to be a spectacular exercise in fan service, as Rebirth takes Cloud and friends beyond Midgar to stunningly realised new locations including military facility Junon and the Gold Saucer.
Besides the companions made in the previous game, including teen ninja Yuffie who showed up in the PS5 expansion, you’ll also have some even more unusual party members including Cait Sith and a sneak peek at Vincent Valentine. Expect tons of mini-games too like Chocobo racing, though really it’s seeing Cloud get around Costa Del Sol on a Segway that’s really got our minds blown.
Release date: 29 February 2024
6. Princess Peach: Showtime
No longer the damsel in distress, Princess Peach finally gets her time to shine in this platforming adventure that sees her on a journey to save the Sparkle Theatre from an evil witch.
She’ll be teaming up with a guardian ribbon called Stella, who does more than just give the Mushroom Kingdom’s princess a ponytail. The big theme is that for each level, she’ll also be able to don new costumes granting her new abilities, from a sword fighter to detective to martial artist to patissiere, and more. It’s like Super Mario Odyssey but with costume changes.
Release date: 22 March 2024
7. Tekken 8
The return of the Iron Fist Tournament is almost upon us in Tekken 8, the latest instalment of the famed beat ’em up series. Jin Kazama, Bryan Fury, Panda, Marshall Law and King all return to fight it out in some of the most impressive looking arenas we’ve seen in a Tekken game. Will it rival the online fun of the super social Street Fighter 6? Given how Tekken has always been more of a serious affair, we’re not certain. But either way, it will certainly pack a punch.
Release date: 26 January 2024
9. Skull & Bones
Pirates are criminally underused in gaming. Sea of Thieves, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and the Monkey Island series are all great. But the genre of ‘pirates’ holds such a wealth of untapped potential that we wish it was more pirate representation was evident in, well, every single walk of life. But we have hope in Skull & Bones, an action-adventure that has you forging a piracy monopoly on the high seas. Everything is there to kill you, from bounty hunters and rival clans to the elements themselves. Throw in some sea monsters, and you have what we hope will be a swashbuckling adventure.
Release date: 16 February 2024
