You know, there was once a time when you could make a list like this for just the coming year. There were enough games confirmed for it that you could confidently talk about what you were looking forward to playing within the next few months or so. Now though? Now release dates tend to be rather volitile. It’s to be expected I suppose, considering just how complex major games are these days. Still, it’d be nice to make a more targeted list again. Anyway, there really a lot to look forward to in the 2024-2025 release period; here are some of the ones I’m most psyched for!

Crow Country

I never played any of the original Resident Evil games, and I only have a passing familiarity with the Silent Hill games (I’ve watched a lot, but have only played a little). Yet, I still got an odd sense of nostalgia when I played through the Crow Country demo on PlayStation. Maybe it’s because the game looks and plays (or at least I think it does) very closely to the old PS1/PS2 horror adventure games. Maybe it’s enough that it looks like it belongs from that period.

Anyway, the demo did a great job of setting up the mystery of the abandoned Crow Country theme park, and the puzzles were actually pretty fun to play through. This isn’t looking like is going to be all that long of a game when the full version is finally released, but I can’t wait uncover what all is going on here!

Tormented Souls 2

Tormented Souls geniunely took me by surprise this year, like to the point where I can’t even remember when or how I wound up picking it up. Come to think of it, that’s a bit weird, hmm… Well, anyway, I’m glad I did, because it’s basically everything I like in campy horror. The setting is cool; the music is good; the acting is silly yet played straight; the combat is just clunky enough, and the writers don’t answer every question.

There’s also an absolutely intoxicating sense of mystery suffusing the entirety of the Tormented Souls experience, and plenty of it is still left once the credits roll. I still wanna know more about how this world works, what exactly the cult thought would happen had it succeeded and whether Caroline’s ordeals are truly over. Fortunately for me and every other fan out there, it seems that they are, in fact, not. Now it’s just a matter of playing the waiting game.

Silent Hill 2 (Remake)

As I said above, I haven’t actually had the pleasure of playing Silent Hill 2 to any great degree. I watched my brother play a lot of it back in the day, and I’ve taken in more than a few deep dive videos on YouTube. But yeah, I haven’t actually played it, and I don’t have the necessary hardware anymore either. So for me, this remake represents a chance to finally right this personal gaming wrong. Will it be as good as the original? Probably not, but I really wanna play it all the same.

Animal Well

I had the pleasure of playing a demo build of Animal Well at BitSummit 2023, and I have to say that Dunkey really does know how to pick them! The demo was only about 20 minutes long (if that), but every bit of it was just dripping in atmosphere! Every screen had me combing it for secrets, and I just couldn’t help but stare at the visual style and effects Mr. Billy Basso has managed to pull off here. More than that, it’s a metroidvania based around puzzles rather than combat! How rad is that?!

Pepper Grinder

This is another one that I got to play at BitSummit 2023. However, I’d say that it’s almost the opposite of Animal Well. Where the other game is dark, brooding and mysterious, this one is bright, loud and action-packed! It’s still a puzzle game, but they’re puzzles of motion and momentum: where you have to not only figure out how to drill your way from point A to point B, but also figure out things like switch sequences and enemy attack effects. There’s a lot going on, yet it all folds itself into the gameplay flow without nary a hitch! Seriously, keep an eye out for this one this year!

Honorable mentions: Routine, Hades 2, Jurassic Park: Survival, Alone in the Dark, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

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These are all the games that managed to stick in my head amidst the flurry of cool announcements and such that came flying at us over the course of 2023, so while I am psyched for all of these, I’m pretty sure they don’t represent the complete list. In particular, I know there are some reall cool-looking indie games I’m forgetting right now; hopefully I’ll be able to remember them by the time they come out, eh?

Image from the Animal Well Steam page