The most anticipated video games of the year

Key Points	Details to Remember
🎮 New Installments	GTA VI and Dragon’s Dogma 2 redefine open-world standards
🔄 Legendary Returns	Silent Hill 2 Remake and Metroid Prime 4 resurrect cult franchises
🎨 Impactful Indies	Hades II and Replaced prove that innovation also comes from small studios
🌌 Immersive Experiences	Star Wars Outlaws offers the first canonical open-world in the galaxy
🕹️ Technical Exclusives	Hellblade II leverages Unreal Engine 5 for a visual revolution
📅 Busy Schedule	Releases span from February to November without downtime

This year looks like a real fireworks display for video game enthusiasts. Between long-awaited returns of iconic franchises, groundbreaking technical innovations, and unprecedented narrative experiences, publishers seem to have brought out the heavy artillery. It’s hard not to feel this special excitement when browsing the announcements – almost every month brings its share of surprises. We take you on a tour of the gems that will make our controllers vibrate in 2024.

The Blockbusters That Will Shake the Market

GTA VI: The Open-World Behemoth

It’s hard to open this overview without mentioning the elephant in the room: Grand Theft Auto VI. After a spectacular leak followed by an official trailer shattering records, Rockstar Games confirmed a 2025 release on next-generation consoles. The action takes place in modern Vice City, featuring for the first time a duo of protagonists, Lucia and her partner. The footage reveals an unprecedented population density, explorable aquatic environments, and advanced social realism – including social media scenes. What strikes is the obsessive attention to detail: reflections in puddles after the storm, hyper-realistic animal behaviors, dynamic clothing physics. A technical feat that could reshape our conception of open worlds.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: The Action RPG Reinvented

Capcom resurrects its cult franchise with multiplied ambition. Dragon’s Dogma 2 promises a world four times larger than the original, populated by mythological creatures with emergent behaviors. The “Pawns” system evolves into a true collective intelligence where your artificial companions learn from your battles and share their knowledge between sessions. The cherry on top: the RE Engine delivers combat animations with unmatched fluidity, particularly visible during fights against cyclopes or giant griffins. Developers emphasize the absence of procedural quests – each mission is hand-written, a rarity in the genre.

Star Wars Outlaws: The Long-Awaited Galactic Open-World

Ubisoft Massive is tackling the Star Wars universe with a novel approach: a true open-world set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. You play as Kay Vess, an outlaw navigating between criminal syndicates with her loyal meraxan Nix. The particularity? A dynamic reputation system where each faction (Pykes, Hutt, Crimson Dawn) reacts to your actions in real time. Stealing an Imperial ship could open doors with smugglers while putting you in the Empire’s crosshairs. The explorable planets — including Tatooine and Kijimi — seem vast, with seamless space transitions and no loading screens. A fan’s dream made possible by Snowdrop technology.

Returns of Cult Franchises

Silent Hill 2 Remake: The Rebirth of a Monument

Bloober Team (The Observers) takes on the challenge of reimagining Konami’s horror masterpiece. Playable in first-person or third-person view, this remake fully reconstructs the cursed town of Silent Hill with contemporary technologies. The combat system has been completely redesigned for more tension, while monster AI adapts to your playstyle — systematic fleeing or direct confrontation. Early feedback highlights the faithful reconstruction of the suffocating psychological atmosphere, with dynamic lighting sequences that amplify the dread. The performance of James Sunderland, captured in motion capture by actor Luke Roberts, adds new emotional depth to this classic.

Metroid Prime 4: The Long-Awaited Return of Samus

After years of silence and a development reboot entrusted to Retro Studios, the bounty hunter finally returns. While details remain mysterious, rumors mention an expanded non-linear structure with variable gravity mechanics and destructible environments. The artistic direction leans towards an organic style inspired by Yoshio Sakamoto’s original concepts, blending bioluminescence and complex alien structures. Crucially, the game would fully utilize the Switch’s HD Rumble capabilities for haptic feedback during morphing ball transformations — a promising tactile immersion.

Independent Gems and Bold Experiences

Hades II: The Sequel to the Roguelike Phenomenon

Supergiant Games strikes again with this direct sequel focused on Melinoë, princess of the underworld. The “die and retry” approach evolves with lunar magic systems and dynamic social relationships among Olympian deities. The big novelty lies in the “Incantations” — permanent rituals altering dungeon rules each run. Combat seems more tactical with the addition of staffs and magic circles, while Darren Korb’s soundtrack promises to match the excellence of the first installment. An early access is planned for the second quarter, allowing players to influence development.

Replaced: Pixelated Retrofuturism

This Estonian title fuses pixel art and modern techniques in a dystopian 80s cyberpunk setting. You play as R.E.A.C.H., an AI trapped in a human body, navigating a neo-retro city with garish neon lights. The particularity? A realistic physics system where each impact permanently deforms the environment — broken glass, crumpled metal sheets, ballistic impacts. Combat mixes precise platforming and stealth phases, with energy management reminiscent of classic fighting games. The visual style, painted frame by frame, evokes a vintage sci-fi cartoon enhanced by ray tracing light effects.

Technical Exclusives

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II: The Narrative Power of Unreal Engine 5

Ninja Theory pushes the boundaries of interactive storytelling with this direct sequel. Filmed in Iceland with actress Melina Juergens, the game promises an unprecedented representation of psychoses thanks to a revolutionary binaural audio system. But it is visually that the title amazes: the combat sequences against giants exploit Nanite and Lumen of Unreal Engine 5 for natural lighting and mind-blowing geometric details. The developers speak of a “ceremonial experience” where each confrontation would carry the emotional weight of a cinematic climax. A recent technical demo already showed a steady 60fps on Series X.

Avowed: Obsidian’s Fantasy RPG

The creators of Fallout: New Vegas dive into the universe of Pillars of Eternity with this first-person RPG. The particularity? A combinatory magic system where casting an ice spell on a pool of burning oil creates a scalding steam explosion. Moral choices promise to be complex, with factions having ambiguous motivations and consequences on the world’s magical ecosystem. The bestiary, inspired by folklore rather than traditional orcs/elves, offers creatures like xaurips or swamp drakes endowed with intelligent pack behaviors. A fresh breath for the genre.

Schedule and Approach Strategies

Faced with this avalanche of titles, it is better to organize your schedule and budget. Here are the key periods:

• First quarter: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (February) and Dragon’s Dogma 2 (March)
• Spring: Early access release of Hades II and Star Wars Outlaws
• Summer: Avowed and probably Shadow of the Erdtree (Elden Ring DLC)
• Autumn: Metroid Prime 4 and Silent Hill 2 Remake

Publishers adopt varied pricing strategies. While AAA blockbusters maintain their price at €79.99, indie titles like Replaced range between €25 and €35. Good to know: several announced games (including Hellblade II) will be included from the start in Game Pass, an economical option for Xbox players.

The hardware question is crucial. GTA VI will very likely require a Series X/PS5, while titles like Hades II will run on modest configurations. For graphically demanding indies (Replaced, for example), an RTX 3060 card seems to be the minimum. A tip: check the recommended specs before preordering.

FAQ: Your Questions About 2024 Games