Most Anticipated Games of 2024 (Indie Edition)

It would be easy enough just to copy our most anticipated games from 2023 and call it a day. Games like Hollow Knight: Silksong were supposed to be out by June 2023, Crowsworn had a tentative December 2023 date, Metal Slug Tactics said see you in 2023 and proceeded to be silent since August 2022, and then Replaced and The Plucky Squire were long shots, but ended up getting pushed out of 2023.

There were so many great games released in 2023, that it was hard to keep up at times and the good news is that there will be even more amazing games to look forward to in 2024. So in addition to those other titles that will hopefully come out in 2024, here are our most anticipated indie games of 2024.

TOP FIVE MOST ANTICIPATED INDIE GAMES OF 2024

Hyper Light Breaker

One of my favourite indie studios is Heart Machine. Their debut title, Hyper Light Drifter in 2016 resonated with me. It was loaded with excellent pixel graphics, tight gameplay, killer soundtrack and most of all, an emotional story that was clearly very representative of the founders experience with heart problems. Their follow up, Solar Ash, didn't land quite the same way with critics and fans as Hyper Light Drifter.

Solar Ash was a big departure and risk for the studio that definitely stepped outside of their comfort zone and while it might not have blown people away like they did with Hyper Light Drifter, it clearly helped them tests their boundaries as developers.

Heart Machine is now ready to dive back into the Hyper Light universe with a game that looks to take the best parts of Solar Ash and smash them together with the best parts of Hyper Light Drifter in a new third person action adventure game with roguelite elements, with a blend of hand crafted and procedurally generated worlds that will be available in solo or co op. HLB gives hints of Returnal, but with a huge Heart Machine flair.

Mandragora

Many have tried to combine the Metroidvania genre with the souls like genre, but most usually put the Metroidvania aspect first. Mandragora looks to be focusing first on the demanding combat, strong atmosphere and RPG elements first.

The classic Metroidvania elements are here including the wall climb, grapple hook and ground strike, but there also appears to be a engaging plot with devastating choices written by Brian Mitsoda, head writer of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.

In the words of the developers they were inspired by the exploration from the original Castlevania games, the combat from Dark Souls, the emotional storytelling from Witcher 3, and the visuals from Ori. The world looks harsh, combat seems calculated, the bosses look epic, the upgrade trees seems daunting, multiple classes, and then you also have a crafting system for weapons, armor and trinkets. Judging from the trailers and the demos, it would look like they nailed what they were trying to achieve. There was a tentative release date of 2023, but at Gamescom, they pushed that to 2024.

Mandragora crushed their kickstarter goals to help aid in development, grew from a handful of people to over a few dozen, and everything looks to be on track for a solid 2024 release date.

Hades 2

It would be an understatement to say that Hades didn’t mark a huge evolution for the rogue genre. Supergiant did something unique and made the story the main catalyst for doing another run. Its effect was immediately felt throughout the gaming industry with blatant attempts to copy what Hades did but also with many games clearly showing some type of inspiration from.

Hades 2 is the first sequel from the studio who have been delivering new IP since their debut title Bastion in 2011, which was followed by Transistor, Pyre and obviously Hades.

This time around, you play as the sister of Zagreus, immortal princess of the underworld, Melinoe, who is based on another ancient diety who was thought to be related to Hades. During the development of the first game, Supergiant found that the lack of information about Melinoe, created a great opportunity to make their first sequel. Based on the trailer, your purpose is to find and defeat Kronos, the greek god of time. More Hades is a great thing, but it’s safe to assume that Supergiant will improve on almost every aspect from the first.

Bo: Path of The Teal Lotus

Looking at the trailers, you could make the reductive assumption that this is just another Hollow Knight clone, but it appears to be much more than that if you look a little deeper. Bo is a 2.5D action platformer inspired by Japanese folklore. Even though Bo is also hand drawn, it features a completely different art style and has stated their inspirations from many other games including Okami, Celeste, and even Paper Mario.

Bo: Path of The Teal Lotus was picked up by Humble Games to help with publishing duties. Not only will that help with budget and allowing the team to take more time to make sure the game is at it’s best possible position before release, but it also means that it should get in front of a lot more eyes as well. As of now Bo is scheduled to be released in early 2024.

Earthblade

When I first saw, Earthblade, I wasn’t as blown away as I was hoping to be, when the first footage was finally shown from the makers of Celeste. EXOK games have created very high expectations due to their first game being a huge success.

Celeste was one of the best games of 2018. It was an extremely challenging platformer with gorgeous pixel art, a mesmerizing soundtrack and the most important thing was that it featured a story centred around mental health, which seems even more relevant today than it was in 2018. The challenge of the game parallels the same challenges associated with managing mental health. Sometimes it can feel like a mountain.

Even though I wasn’t enthralled by the reveal of Earthblade, the studio easily gets the benefit of the doubt after Celeste. It also doesn’t hurt that this time around EXOK games is moving into the metroidvania genre. When you combine the genre change, the quality of their last game and the story that will likely be the focus of Earthblade, it easily gets a spot on the list.

THIS LIST WAS MADE BEFORE THE GAME AWARDS AND NOW REQUIRES THAT WINDBLOWN FROM MOTION TWIN AND NO REST FOR THE WICKED FROM MOON STUDIOS ALSO GET ADDED