Here are the games we can't wait to play in 2024

It's a cat. It's a quest. It's Cat Quest. The third installation of one of the cutest indie RPGs of all time will see our feline hero sailing the high seas to hunt for treasures in the "Purribean," fighting his way through the hordes of pi-rats, crawling through dungeons and helping out NPKs (non-playable kitties) along the way. Honestly, it's worth playing for the puns alone.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is one of my favourite RPGs of all time and while Avowed isn’t quite a true sequel, it does promise to provide a fresh first-person perspective on Obsidian’s fantasy world of Eora. Between Grounded and Penitent, it’s clear that the developer behind Avowed has learned a lot in recent years and I can’t wait to see how those new strengths complement the studio’s usual blend of thorny storytelling and memorable characters.

You know how often people say "I didn't know we needed [game/thing] but here we are." I knew I needed a game like Pokémon TCG Pocket... so much it scared me. Some people have a sweet tooth; I've got a tooth for whatever buzz I get from the addictive gameplay loop of Marvel Snap and the thrill of pulling a rare physical Pokémon card. 

Well, if the trailer for Pokémon TCG Pocket is anything to go by, I'd say my time is just about up. Lock me up and throw away the keys. 

Elden Ring was easily my 2022 game of the year, so I’m naturally quite hyped about the premise of the upcoming expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree. Do we know a single thing about it? No. Does that detract from my excitement? Absolutely not.

Shadow of the Erdtree is available for pre-order now. It releases 21 June 2024.

Princess Peach is not your average princess. Not only is she independent and capable, but in Princess Peach: Showtime!, she’s a sword fighter, a rope-slinging cowpoke, a pastry chef, and a kung fu master. While Nintendo has been vague in showing us exactly how the game will play, we assume it’ll change based on what role Princess Peach adopts. This is Miss Peach’s first headline game since the release of Super Princess Peach in 2005, and we can’t wait to see her save the day!

Princess Peach: Showtime! releases 22 March 2024

I'm cautiously awaiting the remake of 2004's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Even if creator Hideo Kojima isn't attached, how badly could Konami screw this remake up? Don't answer that. 

The only thing that frustrates me about this remake is that, while Snake Eater is probably the most critically acclaimed of the series, there are four games preceding it that never got the same treatment. 

How can you not be enthralled by a game set in a storybook, where you have the ability to jump out of said book and enter the real world? The Plucky Squire looks like a charming mixed media experience, and I only hope the gameplay lives up to the aesthetic. 

The Plucky Squire is the first game from All Possible Futures, but the team has some high-pedigree talent from Game Freak. 

While I sunk close to 200 hours into Diablo 4 last year, I also had a lot of notes and caveats about the state of Blizzard’s gothic and gory hack-and-slasher, Simply put, Diablo 4 has plenty of room to grow and if the legacy of previous Diablo expansions like Lord of Destruction and Reaper of Souls is any indication, Vessel of Hatred might well be the catalyst for that metamorphosis.

The Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred DLC is scheduled to drop later in 2024. 

I absolutely adored Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door when it first came out on GameCube, and I can’t wait to play it again. It’s the definitive Mario RPG and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

Nintendo announced on Mario Day (March 10) that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door will release 23 May 2024. 

The man with the hat is back. After a 14-year hiatus since the last Indy game—and 21 years since the last good one—Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is shaping up to be impressive. Built by the Wolfenstein rebirthers at MachineGames, what’s been shown to date promises a mix of action, set-piece spectacle and plenty of puzzling. For me, MachineGames has yet to miss, and if anyone knows how to properly translate melee combat into a first-person perspective, it’s a team comprised of veterans of The Chronicles of Riddick games.

No matter how many times Star Wars burns me, I keep saying: “Please, Disney. I want some more.” In fairness, when it comes to Star Wars games, more wins come to mind than losses, so my Star Wars love feels less one-sided. I have a new hope that the Ubisoft open-world formula will gel beautifully for Star Wars Outlaws. Massive Entertainment did a decent job with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Fingers crossed they saved the excellent stuff—namely, better mission variety—for the first open-world Star Wars game.

The Warhammer 40K licence is more miss than hit when it comes to the apparent quantity-over-quality approach to releases. That said, when a Warhammer 40K game hits, it hits harder than a chainsword to the face. From what’s been shown, Space Marine 2 is poised to offer a brutal mix of melee and ranged combat against massive waves of enemies. I’m less interested in taming Tyranid hordes alone and far keener to immerse myself in co-op play with two other buddies.