The video game industry will generate headlines galore next year if Grand Theft Auto VI is released as planned, but there is enough to keep fans busy as 2024 winds down.
Venerated franchises are granting fan wishes — Assassin’s Creed is heading to Japan, and The Legend of Zelda is focusing on the series’ namesake — and several notable developers are debuting projects. It will be tough, though, for these upcoming titles to compete with Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Hades II, Animal Well and others for game of the year recognition. (Some games will be available before their official launch dates because of early-access programs.)
Fans of the original Nintendo will rejoice, and reviewers with a deadline will squirm. This ambitious project, whose development team includes the creator of the indie hit Spelunky, presents 50 games from a fictional company in the 1980s. (Sept. 18; PC)
In a big twist, Princess Zelda is a playable protagonist in the series that bears her name. To rescue Link, she will rely on a magic rod that can create copies — “echoes” — of beds, rocks, enemies and more. (Sept. 26; Switch)
Expectations are high for a remake of this acclaimed 2001 psychological horror game, which will feature revamped combat and over-the-shoulder camerawork. The character James must confront monsters — yes, Pyramid Head is back — while investigating a letter from his dead wife. (Oct. 8; PC, PS5)
The king has been assassinated in this medieval fantasy role-playing game by the team behind Persona 3, 4 and 5. With the help of a fairy companion, you’ll build a party to take down a royal tournament. (Oct. 11; PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Players will gain the ability to sprint and dive in any direction in this edition of the first-person shooter franchise. Set at the end of the Cold War, it will be the first new Call of Duty on Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service. (Oct. 25; PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)
Max Caulfield could rewind time in the franchise’s original 2015 game. Now she can jump between parallel timelines, hoping to prevent her friend’s death, in this supernatural murder mystery. (Oct. 29; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
BioWare, which created the role-playing games Baldur’s Gate and Mass Effect, is back with its first Dragon Age title in a decade. Players can recruit seven pansexual companions, including a human necromancer and an elf with a young griffon. (Oct. 31; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
After recent remakes of Super Mario R.P.G. (1996) and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004), fans of Nintendo’s role-playing games are getting something entirely new. The fraternal plumbers will explore an island ship and engage in turn-based combat. (Nov. 7; Switch)
From the creator of Silent Hill, this horror adventure game will require players to make challenging sacrifices. The disembodied protagonist takes over passersby to fight insectoid Slitterheads that are disguised as humans. (Nov. 8; PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
This historical action-adventure franchise ventures to Japan for the first time, complete with katanas, shurikens and kunai. Players will swap control of two protagonists: Naoe, a female shinobi who prioritizes stealth, and Yasuke, an African samurai with armor. (Nov. 15; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Surviving the mysterious Zone — a postapocalyptic region based on ideas from the sci-fi novel “Roadside Picnic” — in this first-person shooter franchise requires outlasting both mutants and anomalies. (Nov. 20; PC, Xbox Series X|S)
The protagonist of this single-player adventure, by the studio behind recent Wolfenstein games, looks like Harrison Ford but is voiced by actor Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite). (Dec. 9; PC, Xbox Series X|S)