7 Console Games We’re Looking Forward To In 2024
2024 is well under way now. January is a traditionally quiet month for game releases, although we have seen Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Palworld, which has become something of a phenomenon already. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Tekken 8 are also slated for release later this month, but things start to hot up in February and beyond. Below are 7 console games we’re most excited about in 2024.
Frostpunk 2
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation, Xbox
- Expected Release Date: 2024
Recently announced for launch on Xbox Game Pass on day one launch, Frostpunk 2 is the follow up to 2018’s dystopian city survival game, Frostpunk. We love the original title. It has a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of the economics screen, it becomes a ton easier. It’s a little lacking in replayability because every playthrough is basically the same, although there are a few scenarios and DLCs to expand.
Below is the only official trailer of the game, which does make it look very similar to the original. But, Frostpunk 2 offers zoned neighborhoods and citizens will join and support different factions, putting even greater onus on society management.
The game is set for launch later in 2024 and will launch on PC first before making its way to console. We’ve listed it in the console games rather than PC games we’re looking forward to, because 11 Bit Studios did a really good job of making it playable using a controller, which isn’t always the case with city management games.
Star Wars Outlaws
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation, Xbox
- Expected Release Date: 2024
Star Wars: Outlaws will be the first open-world Star Wars game, and how can you not get excited by that? It’s also set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and you take on the role of an outlaw.
The gameplay trailer does look good. Using your cute sidekick Nix to assist in stealth maneuvers adds a new element to the usual game. It’s being developed by the team behind The Division 2, which was a great third-person shooter, but there is nary a lightsaber in sight in the trailers released, to date. It makes sense considering the timeline, and the character you’re playing, but a Star Wars game without a lightsaber?
Avowed
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox
- Expected Release Date: Late 2024
Coming to Windows and Xbox, but not PlayStation, Avowed is set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity and is an action role-playing game. The game was teased in 2020, but further details, or any information at all, really, was lacking, until Microsoft’s Developer Direct in January 2024. There was an overhead gameplay trailer in late 2023, but that was about it.
2024’s announcement included 8 minutes about the game, including some gameplay footage. And it looks like weapon combinations will be the order of the day. The world won’t be as big as the likes of Skyrim, but it does look really intriguing and is set for launch in fall 2024.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation, Xbox
- Expected Release Date: March 22nd, 2024
The original Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen launched in 2012, and it had the potential to be an excellent game. It is an open world RPG with good, tight combat. And, for its age, it still looks half decent. But the storyline was lacklustre, some of the jobs and quests were repetitive to the point of being boring, and it lacked direction.
But the potential remains and there is hope that Capcom can improve on what really was a very decent game. It will launch on PlayStation and Xbox as well as PC and is set to hit stores in March 2024, bringing a 12 year wait for a sequel to a conclusion.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox
- Expected Release Date: September 5th, 2024
Stalker 2 (it’s a lot easier than keep typing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) is a sequel to the 2009 game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat and is a horror survival shooter type game set in Chernobyl. Ukrainian producers GSC Game World has boasted that it is one of the biggest open world settings of any game with 60 square kilometers to explore and a game that will take more than 100 hours to work through.
Stalker 2 is set for release in September. Currently, it’s due for release on PC and Xbox, although it’s possible that it will follow in PlayStation 5 sometime in 2025.
7 Days To Die
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation, Xbox
- Expected Release Date: 2024
7 Days To Die is a zombie survival game that offers some of the best building and open-world gameplay possibilities out there. On PC, at least. There is a console version, but it hasn’t been updated since Alpha 15, and the PC is up to Alpha 21 now. On console, it’s still fun for a while but, honestly, it’s lacking any depth and it can get boring very quickly.
The console version has fallen so far behind the PC version because Telltale Publishing, who were responsible for its launch on consoles, went into liquidation not long after the game’s launch on Xbox and PlayStation. Fun Pimps immediately severed ties and np updates were made available. The good news is The Fun Pimps reacquired publishing rights to the game on console and have been releasing development updates since 2023 with an expected re-launch on consoles with Alpha 22, in 2024.
We’ve been waiting a long time for this update and will be jumping on the game as soon as it launches.
Pacific Drive
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation
- Expected Release Date: February 22nd, 2024
Pacific Drive is a sort of horro-survival driving looter game. You will play as a delivery driver in the Pacific North-West after it has been decimated by some weird government experiments. Players have to maintain and upgrade their car while taking on a variety of driving and looting based tasks.
A very early version of the game has been released to a select few, including one of our favorite 7 Days to Die streamers, Glock 9, and you can see his experience with the game below.
Realism looks key. Leave the parking brake off and your car will roll. Open the wrong door, and you’re wasting vital seconds as you fumble with the right door: seconds that could very well lead to your demise. The game is set for launch on PC and PlayStation 5, but not Xbox, on February 22nd.
Conclusion
There are bound to be tons of remakes and remastered versions of games coming out in 2024. In some ways, you might even include 7 Days To Die in that list, but it has changed so much since its initial console release, it feels like a sequel. Also, we wanted to include ARK 2 in the list but, even if the game hasn’t been cancelled, we’re not at all convinced by the latest 2024 ARK 2 release date.
There will also be some surprise hits and a few potentially unexpected releases to look forward to throughout the year, but above are the 7 games we’re currently most excited about seeing.
