Best upcoming games: everything we’re excited to play in 2024
Discover what's in store for PS5, Xbox and Switch in 2024
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: 25 September 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 where 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. Batman: Arkham Shadow
Platforms: Meta Quest 3
It’s fair to say that Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad wasn’t the next Arkham game that many fans of the beloved Batman trilogy had hoped it would be, but it turns out that wasn’t the only new entry we’re getting in the series in 2024. Batman: Arkham Shadow is a VR game coming exclusively to the Meta Quest 3 later this year, and serves as a direct sequel to the often overlooked Batman: Arkham Origins, which wasn’t developed by Rocksteady.
Bats will face off against the mysterious Rat King, whose followers have kidnapped a number of high-profile public officials of Gotham, and we’ll get to see the origins of better known rogues like Harley Quinn and and Scarecrow, both of which had starring roles in Batman: Arkham Asylum, which chronologically follows the new game. The narrative intrigue is certainly there, and with the promise of familiar Arkham mechanics such as freeflowing combat, predator encounters and detective sequences all being recreated in immersive VR, this is one to keep an eye on if you’re looking for a flashy new Quest 3 game to show off.
Due: 2024
5. Astro Bot
Platforms: PS5
If you have a PlayStation 5 then you automatically have Astro’s Playroom, the incredibly charming pack-in game that’s pre-installed on all new PS5 consoles. While essentially a fleshed out tech demo for the DualSense controller, Astro’s Playroom is arguably still the best platformer on the system to date, and easily the game that makes the best use of the innovative controller’s various features.
It’s absolutely right, then, that the emerging new mascot for the PlayStation brand is getting a full game, which will see the titular robot exploring more than 50 planets in search of its lost crew. Expect the DualSense to get more of a workout here than it’s had since you first unboxed it, and as a celebration of 30 years of PlayStation (yes, we’re afraid you really are that old), Astro Bot is going to be an easter egg extravaganza. You’ve never seen Kratos look cuter.
Due: 6 September
6. Star Wars Outlaws
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
The first truly open-world Star Wars game. Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Starring an all-new female protagonist who’s giving off big Han Solo vibes. If none of that has pricked up your ears then we’re not sure what else to tell you. After EA and Respawn knocked it out of the park in 2023 with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, this year sees Ubisoft take a crack at the world’s best known space opera, and the recently released story trailer has only got us more excited.
You play as Kay Vess, an up-and-coming scoundrel in the galaxy’s murky underworld. Naturally, it doesn’t take long before she gets caught up in some beef between dangerous rival crime syndicates, in an original story that will take you to both classic Star Wars planets and some brand new ones. Promising varied approaches to combat, game-changing narrative choices and tense dogfights in space, Star Wars Outlaws has the potential to be brilliant.
Due: 30 August 2024
7. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (DLC)
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
You want more Elden Ring? Well, you’d better believe that you’re getting more Elden Ring. The long-awaited expansion for FromSoftware’s hard-as-nails open-world masterpiece is finally coming this summer for those who have made it far enough into the game to access it. Those reacquainting themselves with their battle-scarred Tarnished of choice will follow in the footsteps of the enigmatic Miquella, as you learn how and why he ended up in the Land of Shadow, the brand new area in which the DLC is set.
We don’t dare go any deeper into Elden Ring lore here, but here are the need-to-knows: Shadow of the Erdtree is the largest FromSoftware expansion to date; the new map is comparable in size to Limgrave, the base game’s introductory area; George R.R. Martin wasn’t involved this time (hopefully because he’s busy with, you know, other projects); there are loads of new bosses; you’re going to die. A lot. We can’t wait.
Due: 21 June 2024
8. Lego Horizon Adventures
Platforms: PS5, PC, Switch
The Horizon series has already been Lego-ified in real life, and now Aloy and all the robotic dinosaurs with which she likes to do battle are getting their own Lego game to boot. Decidedly more light-hearted than the mainline PlayStation games, LEGO Horizon Adventures recreates Guerilla Games’ distinctive post-apocalyptic world with Lego bricks, seemingly going back to the start of Aloy’s journey, when she was discovered in a cave as a baby and raised by Rost the huntsman.
LEGO Horizon Adventures is designed to be played in co-op, either online or locally, without the need for split-screen, and as you’d expect from a Lego game there will be plenty of opportunities for customisation as you play – and to smash things, of course. Interestingly, this one is coming to Switch as well as PS5 and PC at launch, which will be the first time a Horizon game has appeared on another console.
Due: 2024
9. Anger Foot
Platforms: PC
A lot of games let you kick ass. It’s often kind of their thing. But in Anger Foot, the ass-kicking is handed out very literally. It’s a chaotically fast-paced FPS that features a variety of weapons, but none of them look more effective, or fun, than your two feet, which you can customise with unlockable new footwear as your progress.
Depending on your play-style, there are different approaches for kicking your way through levels like a cartoonish John Wick, encouraging you to replay them for the perfect run, and all the mayhem is suitably soundtracked by thumping electronic music. It looks fantastic too.
Due: 11 July
10. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
The now Microsoft-owned behemoth that is Call of Duty is back with its annual entry, this year in the shape of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which will come to Game Pass on day one. Co-developers Treyarch and Raven Software are calling the always-online (apparently owing to continuous texture streaming) single-player campaign a ‘spy action thriller’ set in the early 1990s, with the likes of Saddam Hussein, George Bush and Margaret Thatcher all appearing in the game. And before you ask, no, the latter will not be playable.
The big new gameplay addition is being called Omnimovement by the development team, which allows players to sprint, slide and dive in any direction, and should add to the action movie vibe the game is going for. As you’d expect, there will also be a raft of local and online multiplayer modes, as well as classic round-based Zombies for the CoD purists. The game is out on October 25, and you’ll probably want to start making room for it now, as the file size is over 300GB. Yikes.
Due: 25 October 2024
11. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC
The less said about the last Indie movie outing the better, but we still have faith in the renegade archaeologist. His next adventure comes in the form of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a first-person, single-player adventure game. On first impressions, it looks like we’ll following Indiana Jones’ exploits in 1937, when dark forces are taking over the world. Developed by MachineGames, the folks behind of Wolfenstein: The New Order and The New Colossus, expect lots of puzzle solving and nazi punching. All the good stuff, then.
Due: 2024
12. Jurassic Park: Survival
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
You’d have thought people would stop going back to Jurassic Park, given the bad press it always seems to be getting. But you can’t blame the lead protagonist of Jurassic Park: Survival.
Set the day after the events of the original 1993 Jurassic Park, this first-person survival follows InGen scientist Dr. Maya Joshi, who was left behind when sweet ol’ Jeff Goldblum rode off into the sunset in a helicopter. Nice, Goldblum. While movie tie-ins can be pretty hit and miss, even when the film was released 30 years ago, a nice concept has us excited for Jurassic Park: Survival.
Due: 2024
13. Avowed
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC
2024 is a good year if you like fantasy RPGs. We’ve already had Dragon’s Dogma 2, the Elden Ring DLC is just around the corner, and at some point later in the year Xbox and PC players will get their hands on Avowed, the next game from the now Microsoft-owned Obsidian. With its first-person perspective, varied landscapes and abundance of monsters to hit with swords and cast spells at, it’s hard not to to think of Skyrim, but Avowed is no Elder Scrolls copycat.
For one, it isn’t a truly open-world game, with Obsidian opting for a more authored experience akin to the one it served up in its 2019 sci-fi RPG, The Outer Worlds. The companions you pick up throughout your adventure will be key to the story, and from what we’ve seen so far, there’s plenty of depth to the combat. One to watch for sure.
Due: 2024
14. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Fans of BioWare’s fantasy RPG series, Dragon Age, have had to be very patient in their wait for the next installment in the series, but Dragon Age: The Veilguard is real and it’s hopefully coming this year. Sporting an almost Fornite-esque cartoonish art style and announcing itself to the world with a trailer that made it look more like a medieval heist flick than an old-fashioned RPG, this is definitely a different game to its critically acclaimed predecessor, Dragon Age: Inquisition, but BioWare is promising a firmly single-player campaign that draws from the lore and worlds from previous entries.
As Rook, you’ll recruit a seven-strong team of companions, with whom you’ll form The Veilguard that takes on a pair of corrupt gods wreaking havoc on the world. If it’s anything like BioWare’s other RPGs, this one is going to dominate all of your gaming time when it eventually drops.
Due: 2024
15. Silent Hill 2
Platforms: PS5, PC
Arriving, suitably, at the beginning of spooky season in October, the remake of Silent Hill 2 should fill the Resi-shaped hole in this year’s release calendar. Like the modern Resident Evil remakes that have proved to be such a hit with horror fans, Silent Hill 2 will stay true to the 2001 original while modernising the gameplay and massively overhauling the visuals.
Once lauded as the pinnacle of the psychological horror genre, this is a big moment for the Silent Hill series, which hasn’t managed to stay relevant in the way Resident Evil has. If Konami’s remake of the second entry can retain the original’s distinctly creepy vibe, then longtime fans might have a happy Halloween indeed.
Due: 8 October 2024
16. Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Last year’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage was an entertaining throwback to the long-running Ubisoft series’ roots, and one that you could easily work your way through over a weekend, which was welcomed by those who have grown fatigued by the hundred-hour RPGs that previous entries had become. Mirage did feel more like a side dish than a main course, though, and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks set to make more of a splash, with Ubisoft finally taking the series to Japan – specifically 16th century feudal Japan.
The game features two different playable characters, each with a very different approach to assassinating. Naoe is a shinobi who prefers to operate from the shadows, picking off targets quietly without raising the alarm. The classic Assassin’s Creed approach. But you can also play as the newly qualified samurai Yaskuke, who’d rather put on his armour and get straight down to business with a sword. Rather than making you choose which character you want to play the whole game as, Assassin’s Creed Shadows lets you switch between them at will, blending the sneak-focused older games with the more in-your-face combat of an Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It looks great.
Due: 12 November 2024
17. Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Few games do agonising choices better than the Life is Strange series, which is bringing back original protagonist Max Caulfield for its latest entry. The time-manipulating teenage photographer is now at university, but calls on her powers for the first time in years when her new friend, Safi, is murdered.
In a not totally original twist given the current trend in pop culture in general, rewinding time opens up a parallel timeline, with Max able to shift between her own and the one in which Safi is not yet dead, as she attempts to solve and prevent the murder. We don’t know much more than that yet, but the return of Max is a nice surprise for all the OG Life is Strange fans.
Due: 29 October 2024
18. Concord
Platforms: PS5, PC
This upcoming multiplayer sci-fi FPS has some distinctly Guardians of the Galaxy energy, and Sony will be hoping that it can take the team-based PVP crown that Overwatch wasn’t able to hold on to when its disappointing sequel arrived. At launch, Concord will have 16 playable characters, who belong to a group of mercenaries known as the Guardians of t…sorry, Freegunners, who fly around a colorful galaxy on a ship called the Northstar looking for rival crews to fight.
Concord will feature a variety of maps and modes, and according to developer Firewalk is inspired by fighting and strategy games. As a notoriously tricky genre to crack long term, time will tell if Concord has the legs to become the next big thing, but you won’t have to wait long to jump in and find out.
Due: August 23
Jack Needham
With contributions from
