GAMES PREVIEW

Eight games for your 2024 wish list…

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE LOST CROWN

OUT 18 JANUARY PC, PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX ONE/SERIES X/S

With the perpetually delayed remake of 20-year-old classic The Sands of Time (the game that inspired the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring adap) still MIA, Ubisoft is hoping this fast-paced side-scroller will prove a capable substitute. It’s best thought of as a Metroid Dread-like reimagining of the series’ early adventures, with agile young warrior Sargon leaping and carving his way through a cursed city en route to rescuing the kidnapped prince. It combines traversal with combat to thrilling effect: Sargon’s acrobatic skills allow him to effortlessly flow from fight to flight and back again.

THE ALTERS

OUT TBC 2024 PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES X/S

We’ve all imagined potential futures for ourselves, if we’d made different choices. But what if you were forced to confront all the versions of yourself you could have been? That’s the fascinating question posed by this cerebral sci-fi strategy game from Frostpunk developer 11 Bit Studios. Loosely inspired by Duncan Jones’ Moon, it sees space miner Jan Dolski clone himself to survive on a desolate satellite.

With each clone imprinted with distinct memories and personality traits, Jan faces a struggle keeping his various selves happy as they work to escape a greater threat: an imminent sunrise that threatens to scorch all life on the planet’s surface.

LORELEI AND THE LASER EYES

OUT EARLY 2024 PC, SWITCH

Between Year Walk, Device 6 and Sayonara Wild Hearts, the back catalogue of enigmatic Swedish duo Simogo is already festooned with gems – so it’s doubly exciting to hear industry whispers suggesting the studio’s next might be its finest hour yet. Inspired by Alain Resnais’ Nouvelle Vague classic Last Year at Marienbad, this puzzling adventure follows a mysterious woman as she explores a baroque mansion. It’s simple to get into, yet purposely opaque: straightforward controls mean you can play with one hand, the suggestion being that you’ll need the other free to scribble down notes and solve the riddles that await within.

UBISOFT, SEGA, WARNER BROS. GAMES, PARADOX, SEGA, ANNAPURNA, 11 BIT STUDIOS

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: HEART OF CHORNOBYL

OUT TBC 2024 PC, XBOX SERIES X/S

This long-awaited successor to 2009’s Call of Pripyat has suffered setbacks that would cause most studios to give up, even before Russia’s invasion of its homeland forced developer GSC Game World to relocate from Kyiv to Prague. Despite some of its staff joining Ukraine’s armed forces and a string of cyberattacks over the past two years, GSC remains undaunted, and plans to finally launch its firstperson horror sequel in the next few months. As in the original, it’s a challenge to survive, though you sense the odds won’t be quite so heavily stacked against the player as they have been for its maker.

LIKE A DRAGON: INFINITE WEALTH

OUT 26 JANUARY PC, PS4/5, XBOX ONE/SERIES X/S

Overseas fans of this series once faced a long wait between releases; now it’s a challenge to keep up. Following hard on the heels of spin-off The Man Who Erased His Name, this welcomes the return of Ichiban Kasuga and the protagonist he replaced, as the action moves from Japan to Hawaii. After two unlikely comebacks, a terminal cancer diagnosis suggests this might actually be the end for the stoic Kazuma Kiryu. But he’s not going down without a fight: his special ability allows him to ignore the strictures of the turn-based battle system to go toe-to-toe with opponents.

LIFE BY YOU

OUT 5 MARCH PC

Former Sims head Rod Humble is aiming to not-so-humbly beat the series he used to oversee at its own game. There’s no denying that Paradox Interactive’s life sim is built upon similar foundations to its perennially popular inspiration, but it looks and sounds less cartoonish – no gibberish exchanges or exaggerated gestures here – and promises a greater degree of control over your avatar and their virtual world, from personal interests to furniture designs. Character attributes and environmental factors combine for more dynamic, reactive storytelling; you’ll be able to take control of your character during their more mundane moments, too.

UNICORN OVERLORD

OUT 8 MARCH PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX SERIES X/S

After dabbling in sci-fi with the wildly ambitious 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Vanillaware retreats to a more familiar fantasy setting with this typically handsome tactical role-player. As a banished prince, you’ll gather allies – from elves to creatures to celestial beings – to form an army in the hope of reclaiming your kingdom from a roguish general. Cue turn-based battles that borrow from the likes of Triangle Strategy and Fire Emblem, while benefiting from Vanillaware’s visual flair: the studio’s hand-painted characters and stop-motion animation techniques lend considerable style to these close-quarters skirmishes.

SUICIDE SQUAD: KILL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE

OUT 2 FEBRUARY PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES X/S

That Rocksteady’s action-adventure is set five years after the events of the nine-year-old Batman: Arkham Knight speaks to its troubled development; the departure of co-founders Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker ring further alarm bells. Recent footage has failed to quieten the doubters – its expansive open-world Metropolis is a reminder of the game’s origins as a solo Superman game. But you should never bet against Task Force X, as Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot and Captain Boomerang team up to stop the eponymous heroes who have been brainwashed by supervillain Brainiac. Beleaguered, or in a league of its own? We’ll know soon enough…