Now that we are in 2024, there is likely at least one game on the horizon you are looking forward to. Whether it’s Nintendo bringing back Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door or wrestling inner demons in Senua’s Sage: Hellblade II, there is plenty to be excited about. That being said, there are many games that you either didn’t know about or maybe forgot worth putting on your wishlist. Here are 10 under-the-radar titles you should know about in 2024.
Games you should know about in 2024
The Casting of Frank Stone
- Release: Unknown, but expected this year
The Casting of Frank Stone is a single-player spin-off from Dead by Daylight, with Supermassive Games, developers of The Dark Pictures Anthology, implementing a new story of a killer that will hunt down a group of friends in a steel mill as your choices decide who lives and dies. Dead by Daylight is continuing to expand, and we are excited to get a closer look at The Fog and The Entity and get a deeper understanding of the horrors characters who are pulled into these scenarios must contend with.
Enshrouded
- Release: Early access on Steam 1/24
Enshrouded is a fantasy survival game. You start out with nothing and have to slowly accrue various resources to help you survive the wilderness, with various creatures looking to end your life. Think of a more graphically pleasing Minecraft if you need a simple comparison. Of course, that doesn’t do Enshrouded justice, as it appears that a lot of work has been put into this game to make it feel and act like its own thing beyond being “just another survival game.”
Haste: Broken Worlds
- Release: TBA
Haste: Broken Worlds is made by Landfall, the creators of the very amusing Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and Clustertruck. The indie team has a knack for finding interesting ideas and translating them into games, and Haste looks to be no different. You continuously run through procedurally generated biomes as you try to outpace the world breaking apart behind you. It’s a simple idea that looks to have a great feeling of momentum and could be addicting.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando
- Release: Unknown, but expected this year
We totally understand that there are plenty of people feeling fatigued with zombie games, but we still love them, especially when they incorporate cooperative gameplay. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando looks to be a gory adventure that might not make anyone’s game of the year, but it looks to be a really fun time with friends as you mindlessly mow down hordes of undead enemies. We felt the same about Saber Interactive’s World War Z, so that’s about where our expectations are here.
Judas
- Release: TBA
We are massive fans of Bioshock, so when you tell us that Ken Levine is finally releasing a new game for the first time in over a decade, we are immediately intrigued. When we see the trailer above, and it looks to have all of that creepy and exciting dystopian Rapture essence, we get very excited. It’s not certain that Judas will be released in 2024, but it is being reported to be out by March 2025, so there’s a decent chance of it happening sooner rather than later.
Little Nightmares III
- Release: Unknown, but expected this year
A second game being developed by Supermassive Games on this list, Little Nightmares III, has a new developer and is adding cooperative play this time around. If you haven’t played the previous games, we highly recommend them. They are platforming puzzle games set in a not-too-scary horror world. They can be creepy, but think of them on the same level you would see something from Tim Burton. It will be interesting to see what a new direction for the series will look like.
Penny’s Big Breakaway
- Release: Early 2024
We are of the opinion that there are not enough 3D platformers being made today. Luckily, Penny’s Big Breakaway looks to be one of the better additions to that space in a while. Evening Star and Christian Whitehead are developing the game, the latter best known for being one of the leads on Sonic Mania and the official mobile ports of the original Sonic Genesis games. Penny uses her yo-yo to platform and pull off various moves as she works to escape hordes of penguins trying to arrest her. Hopefully, the platforming feels as good as it looks here.
The Plucky Squire
- Release: Unknown, but expected this year
If you are a fan of the unique games Digital Devolver regularly publishes, The Plucky Squire is just another standout to add to the list. You start out playing in a 2D action world of a children’s storybook but can jump out of that book into the 3D bedroom that book is in. The art style in particular has truly captured us, as we love the cartoony style of the book pages and the jump to a Link’s Awakening remake-like look when outside of the 2D areas. How well it handles the various puzzles and combat areas as you jump between these perspectives gives this game the potential to be compared to A Link Between Worlds on the 3DS.
Rollin’ Rascal
- Release: TBA, Kickstarter starting 2/6
Rollin’ Rascal is a game that instantly brings back memories of the Sonic Adventure games. It’s a 3D action platformer built on speed, with an even bigger focus on momentum than Sonic has. You can bounce, roll, and dash through environments as you pick up speed. Use slopes to increase your momentum quickly, and you can zip through these obstacles. If Sega is never going to bring back this style of game, we are incredibly happy to see others experiment with it.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
- Release: Fall 2024
While we are incredibly excited for every other game on this list, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is the one that raises the most red flags. Many people love the dark underworld of the first game, but after being revealed four years ago, Bloodlines 2 switched developers to The Chinese Room and only recently started showing new content. Hopefully, the game is good and ends up being what so many people have waited decades for, but there is room for this to result in a disaster. Label us as “cautiously optimistic.”
