[[2024 Cafe Posts]] I'm starting to get hesitant to do these. If you look at [[Games I'm Looking Forward to in 2023|at least year's]], you'll realize that I'm pretty cursed on this front. Oops. I have to look forward to something in 2024, though, because it's an election year and I'll be absolutely miserable otherwise. Luckily it's a year with games that I can be a little more certain of with regards to quality, or at least my personal enjoyment - looking at it optimistically, it feels like 2024 is a year of games made for me specifically. I made a [[Creative Resolutions|Creative Resolution]] to be a bit more in-depth in my writing on games this coming year, but I don't know if I'll actually do that. I might instead use them as a way to escape from what's going to be a miserable year politically. Maybe I'll write about that. Either way, here are the games that I'm looking forward to in 2024. ## Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Ubisoft fucking sucks. But I'll check out anything by the Rayman Legends team. I'm excited for The Lost Crown because it has a Black protagonist with cool hair and who's sexy in a way that women would find attractive. Does that make sense? Is this the rumored "Female Gaze"?[^1] I also am excited for it because it made a bunch of gamers mad that it had a hip-hop song in the first trailer. But most importantly it's a very beefy looking Metroidvania with cool combat and powers by a studio with a big budget. That doesn't happen often - the last Metroidvania I can think of on this scale is Bloodstained. And after [[TEVI (2023)|Tevi]], I'm lookforward to more Metroidvania goodness - possibly the [[Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain|goopiest]] genre in games. ## Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth *Yakuza's* explosion in popularity is enough to make a Mint cry. It makes me feel like this timeline might be the worst possible one. *Infinite Wealth* looks to be the biggest game in the series yet, and I look forward to seeing *Yakuza 7*'s mechanics be polished now that the groundwork has been placed. Also I went to Hawaii recently so I get to pog-face at the ABC stores and shit, so that'll be funny. ## Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes Under Night got me into fighting games. About 24 hours before I wrote this I might have told you that I'm all in on the genre again, but I'm feeling emotionally turbulent at the moment, so I'm not too sure anymore. It's hard to explain without getting too personal, hah. Either way, I'll be getting Under Night II just so I can come home in a sense. It'll be nice to get some matches in with netcode that works properly and half a decade of experience under my belt. ## Granblue Fantasy: Relink Given that everything PlatinumGames puts out is dogshit now, and Yoko Taro seems content to make shitty gacha games, Relink is the closest we're going to get to a sequel to Nier Automata for a while. The fact that it's coming out feels like a little bit of a miracle, given that it got announced in **2016**. I hope it's good. And it'll be nice to engage with the world of Granblue without it needing to be a trash gacha game or a sweaty fighting game. ## Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Looking forward to how much a trainwreck this is going to be. ## Slave Zero X I don't now if this will be any good. I should probably check the demo out. Either way, I'm just happy to see us progress as a species. By this I mean that we're doing less 16bit nostalgia bait, and more 32bit nostalgia bait. Inject this PS1 shit directly into my veins. ## Skull and Bones Looking forward to how much a trainwreck this is going to be. ## Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery of Serpentcoil Island I did this whole script and recording of roguelikes a while back. I trashed the whole thing because I wasn't happy with the quality, but I did mention in it that I really liked Shiren the Wanderer. It's cool to see the series still going to this day, and I'll be picking this up just to make sure it gets to survive a little longer. Can't wait for it to beat my ass when I do. ## Final Fantasy VII Rebirth FF7R proved to me that [[2020-04-15-final-fantasy-vii-remake-and-the-battle-against-entropy|Square Enix still has something left to say]]. Or at least, that it *might*. I believe *Rebirth* will help confirm whether that's true or not. Either way, this series excites me because I have no idea where it's going, and I want to know. I want to see if *Rebirth* can top the end-game that *Remake* had - a difficult achievement, given that it's the best end-game I've experienced since *Kingdom Hearts II*. ## Unicorn Overlord Vanillaware has proven that no matter what they make, I will be there. They simply haven't missed. No, not even with *Dragon's Crown*, you guys are just mean. I'm excited to see their take on a tactical role-playing game. And I'm especially excited to see a game with someone other than George Kamitani in the director's chair. No disrespect to my guy - *13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim* was a straight up masterpiece in my eyes - but it's nice to see some fresh blood calling the shots. ## Dragon's Dogma 2 YEAAAAAAH. RAAAAAAAAH. LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOO. ## Rise of the Ronin Yeaaaaaah! Raaaaah! Let's, fucking go....... ## Princess Peach: Showtime Okay we need to talk. All three of the games I just listed come out on March 22nd. Why would you do this? Why would you fucking do this? You have 364 other days you could pick. Now *Princess Peach: Showtime* might be an exception. But what do you think the overlap of *Nioh 2* lovers and *Dragon's Dogma* fans is? I feel like it's pretty goddamn similar. Someone move, I'm begging. Preferably *Rise of the Ronin*, I just don't feel like it'll survive. Either way, rest in peace wallet. ## Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes The last time I got excited about a [[Sea of Stars (2023)|Kicksrater-backed JRPG]] I was severely burned. Like I'm still applying neosporin to that wound. So I'm tentatively looking forward to Eiyuden Chronicle. But it at least *looks* good, so it has that going forward it. Let's just hope it actually. You know. Is. ## SaGa: Emerald Beyond ![[Games I'm Looking Forward to in 2024-20231230115147356.png]] --- That's all the stuff that has official release dates. Here's a list of what I'm the rest that I'm looking forward to, but with no notes, because who knows if they'll actually come out in 2024: - Another Crab's Treasure - Beastieball - Earthblade - Hades 2 - Visions of Mana - Shantae Advance --- That's everything, at least that I know of. Let me know if you're interested in any of these, or something I haven't listed. Here's hoping 2024 is a good year. [^1]: It's not, that's *Sailor Moon*.