There are so many new games coming out that you could be forgiven for missing a few, and whether you are a hardcore PC gamer, prefer your console, or even just want to play bingo slots on your mobile, 2024 will be a bumper year for gaming. From cutting-edge graphics to innovative gameplay mechanics, there’s something for everyone to look forward to including the highly promised Monopoly Megaways, players can expect a whirlwind of excitement and entertainment like never before.
In this article, we will look at some of the most exiting games coming out – that we have a release date for – and give you an idea of what you can expect.
Life By You
Let’s start with a hotly anticipated PC game that may be the only true rival to The Sims.
The development of this game has been led by the ex-Executive VP of EA Play and the head of The Sims label, so there are big hopes for this game. Designed to be moddable and open in more ways than any other game in the world, you can drop in to control any of the humans in your world – creating objects, driving vehicles, and even riding along on a skateboard.
The game is due to release around the beginning of March and will be in Early Access for at least a year so that feedback from the first 100,000 players can be used to develop the game further and ensure that it ticks all the boxes for the players.
Tekken 8
Consoles and PCs will have access to this latest instalment in the 3D fighter saga that has a history of setting the standard for what a fighting game should be.
As you would expect, Tekken 8 combines a solo story campaign as well as arcade-style fighting for an experience that is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. In the story, you’ll continue to follow the saga of he Mishima family, but with new combat mechanics and greater context.
Hardcore fans of the series will be pleased with the attention to old school detail, while newer players will enjoy the way Tekken balances brutal, over the top action with combat that is somehow actually graceful.
Skull and Bones
Ubisoft might have been delayed in bringing out their open-world pirate game, but for players who dream of life on the open ocean it seems to be well worth the wait.
Released in February, players can expect an ocean-based RPG, where you start your pirate career as a low-level grunt aboard a ship, slowly growing your legacy and your reputation as you get your own ship and crew. Of course, the online open-world aspect of the game is what many people are going to be excited about – you’ll be able to plunder other ships, engage in ship combat, and find all the treasure your pirate heart desires. Just make sure you keep your crew fed and happy otherwise there’ll be a mutiny.
Pacific Drive
A car-based horror game might put you in mind of Stephen King’s Christine, but this is something completely different. You are in a world full of reality shifting experiments, where anomalies are rife and ‘things’ lurk in the shadows. Players rely on their car to get them out of the hellscape they are stuck in, but the realistic driving simulation in the game is also prey to shifting road conditions and often your own bad driving – which means you need to leave the relative safety of the car and scavenge items to fix and upgrade so that you can escape.
This is a game with a weird dual focus – you are safe in your car, cruising around listening to music, but you know that you need to face whatever is out there when you leave the vehicle, and the creep factor comes not from the typical jump scare or lurching zombie, but from the noises you think you hear and the movement you catch in the corner of your eye.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
If you like an atmospheric, emotional game that tugs the heartstrings, then you know you are on to a winner with a game from the developers of Life is Strange.
This is a game that is an interesting combination of action role playing and ghosts – with a winding, intricate and beautiful backstory that might actually break your hardened gamer heart.
The game starts with prelude where you awake in a forest, searching for someone. When you find her, you realise that she is the woman you love – and that she is dead and a spectre. This situation is further complicated because you are a Banisher – tasked with making the dead move on, but how can you force away the love of your life?
Through the game, your perspective changes from the Banisher to the spectre, while you solve puzzles and complete quests in a game that is a ghost detective story where the experience is shaped by the choices that you make.