There’s plenty of horror in our second selection of upcoming titles. This batch of Most Wanted games coming in 2024 includes impossible moral quandaries in a Frostpunk sequel, straight up narrative horror from the makers of Until Dawn, and the terror of performance anxiety in one of the UK’s best panel game shows…. in VR!
Let’s dive in.
45 – Frostpunk 2
PC – 2024
Following up from the hit survival city builder, Frostpunk 2 leaps ahead from the age of coal to an era of oil extraction. You’d think that would signal a new renaissance for this grim world’s inhabitants, but you would be wrong.
A leading name in the gaming niche of tormenting players with moral quandaries and choices between only bad options, there’s high expectations for this one to expand the setting, the narrative themes and the challenges of surviving.
44 – Taskmaster VR
Steam VR, Quest – 2024
Taskmaster is easily one of the best comedy TV shows around right now, with Greg Davies and Little Alex Horne setting a clutch of hapless comedians weirdly wonderful (and usually very stupid) tasks each week. The results are almost invariably hilarious, thanks in large part to the banter between clips.
There’s been some really nice elements of the show, such as the online tasks set during lockdowns, or the boardgame, bringing the silliness into your home. And soon there will be Taskmaster VR on Steam VR and Meta Quest. Scallywag Games has a real challenge to try and capture the full freedom of what contestants usually get up to, but we’re keen to see them try!
43 – Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
PS5, XSX|S, PS4, XBO, NSW, PC – 23rd April 2024
Announced during The Game Awards, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a game that’s filled with emotion. A personal project by Abubakar Salim – the voice of Bayek in AC Origins – and his team at Surgent Studios, it’s intended as a way of honouring his late father, who first introduced him to video games.
Tales of Kenzera draws upon African Bantu stories, featuring masks that grant Zau cosmic powers in the fight against spirits. There’s plenty of sweeping vistas through the game, which takes the form of a 2.5D side-scrolling Metroidvania.
42 – South Park: Snow Day!
PS5, XSX|S, NSW, PC – 26th March, 2024
It’s kind of wild that the first South Park game came out 25 years ago, a first person shooter for Nintendo 64, PlayStation and PC. There’s been a good few games and spin-offs since then – most notably with the RPG duology The Stick of Truth and The Fractured but Whole – but South Park: Snow Day! feels like it’s going back to its roots.
Snow Day! once again casts you as New Kid, but we’re back to an action-first style of gameplay. Playable in up to four-player co-op, you’ll have to battle through the snow-covered town of South Park using a mix of melee and ranged attacks, as well as special abilities.
41 – The Casting of Frank Stone
PS5, XSX|S, PC – 2024
The Casting of Frank Stone might sound like a rather bland Hollywood audition process, but it’s anything but. A single-player spin-off to Dead by Daylight, this game is coming from they purveyors of horror narratives at Supermassive Games, the makers of Until Dawn, The Quarry and The Dark Pictures Anthology.
But who is Frank Stone? Well, he’s not one of the base characters from Dead by Daylight, but rather a new creation specifically for this game, and potentially a way to expand the popular multiplayer horror game beyond the myriad of crossover events that Behaviour Interactive are constantly cooking up.
Another set of five games in the books, but are any of them tickling your fancy? Come back tomorrow for another fresh collection of upcoming games.
