It’s safe to say that 2023 was a mixed year for gamers. After all, for every Baldurs Gate 3, there was a Walking Dead: Destinies. As we enter a new year, however, it is time to look forward to the games to come. As such here are 10 of the most anticipated games of 2024.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth – January 26th

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the latest title in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ long-running Like A Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series. Infinite Wealth is the first game set outside of Japan, taking place in both the city of Yokohama and the island of Hawaii.

OD is a new project by auteur video game director Hideo Kojima and sees the gaming icon once again teaming up with Hollywood to provide players with a surreal and unique experience. Here is everything we know about OD so far.

Kojima and Peele

Oscar-nominated horror directed Jordan Peele joined Kojima onstage at The Game Awards 2023 to announce his involvement in the project. What part the director of Get Out and Nope plays in OD is unknown. The title is being described as a film just as much as it is a game with Kojima once again looking to blur the line between the two mediums. Perhaps this is where Peele will contribute.

Where would the video game industry be without Mortal Kombat and its blood-soaked, intestine-wrapped Fatalities? The controversy over the 1992 arcade game was a major factor in the establishment of the ESRB after all. It’s good to see NetherRealm keeping the tradition alive all these years later with some of the series’ most realistic-looking finishing moves yet. Here are 10 of Mortal Kombat 1’s most gruesome Fatalities that we just can’t look away from.

10. General Shao – Spin Cycle

In Mortal Kombat 1 Liu Kang has created a new timeline. In doing so he changed the origins and powers of many familiar characters. One such character was the mighty Shao Khan who, despite losing his God-like strength, is still as fearsome as ever. The Outworld general’s Fatality “Spin Cycle” sees the warrior launch his opponent into the air with his battle axe and jump to meet them. He spins them ferociously by the arm, getting faster and faster as his foe’s skin peels from their body. He slams the remaining skeleton to the ground where it shatters under a shower of blood. It’s a simple, yet effectively gruesome Fatality. The close-up of the Fatality’s victim as their lips, nose, and mouth are ripped off is especially horrible.

The Call of Duty franchise is packed with Easter Eggs and secrets. The Zombies mode has even built questlines around finding objects and solving complex multi-step puzzles. Unfortunately, the urgency of missions and the chaos of gunfights can lead players to miss some of Call of Duty’s best Easter Eggs.

Mannequin Madness

The multiplayer map Nuketown is a staple of the Black Ops sub-series and each incarnation has had its own Easter Egg involving the various mannequins dotted around the map. For example, in the first Black Ops shooting off all of the mannequin heads will trigger The Rolling Stones’ song Sympathy For The Devil to begin playing out of the map’s air raid sirens. Likewise in Black Ops III shooting off all the mannequin heads in under two minutes will make them start chasing and attacking you like zombies.

Call of Duty‘s Zombie mode may have started as an Easter Egg but it has become an essential part of the franchise. The mode is constantly evolving and one big factor is the assortment of powerful weapons available. Here are the 10 best Wonder Weapons in Call of Duty Zombies.

Elemental Staffs – Staff of Ice

One of four buildable elemental staffs available on the Call of Duty: Black Ops II map Origins. Built from Amplification Rods and elemental stones found around the trenches of Northern France during World War I, a base staff does 1000 points of damage, and when fully upgraded can do up to 300,000.

The Tomb Raider franchise is one of the most well-known in gaming, and Lara Croft is one of the most iconic female characters in the medium. The explorer has stylishly shot and back-flipped her way through demons, gods, and dinosaurs. Here is every Tomb Raider game in order of release.

Tomb Raider (1996)

The first Tomb Raider game was released in 1996. Starring adventurer Lara Croft, the game sees her hired to find the Scion of Atlantis. An ancient artifact capable of creating an army of monsters. The game was developed by English studio Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive for the original PlayStation, PC, and the Sega Saturn.

Lies of P concludes with a surprising link to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and teases that another beloved children’s tale will be twisted into a mechanical nightmare. Here are 10 Wizard of Oz characters that should appear in the Lies of P universe, and how.

Dorothy Gale

Starting with the character we already know will be making an appearance. The protagonist of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale is a young girl from Kansas who, alongside her loyal terrier Toto, is swept away to the Land of Oz by a twister.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder introduced the Elephant Fruit, a strong power-up capable of turning Mario and his friends into elephants. As the portly pachyderm, Mario and co. can spray water from their trunks and dash across two-block-wide gaps.

Animal-related power-ups are nothing new to the Mario franchise, for example, Super Mario 3D World had the Super Bell. This equipped Mario with a cat costume and the ability to climb walls, scratch enemies, and run faster. Inspired by both Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s elephant Mario, and the franchise’s more traditional animal costumes, here are 6 more animal transformations Mario should have and what their abilities could be.

EA’s annual football games may have a new name, but EA FC 24 is still much of the same for longtime fans of the franchise. Underneath the rebranding and fresh coat of paint are the same modes, teams, and microtransactions we all love and hate. Each season a small group of teams get 5-star ratings and a significant advantage in game modes like Kick Off.

EA’s football games don’t always feature a team’s best line-up as its default option. It’s frustrating and can often lead to gamers missing out on having a big star in their squad. Whether they’re leaving key players on the bench or summer signings in the reserves, this can affect a team’s Attack, Midfield, and Defense ratings. For an authentic, up-to-date experience I recommend downloading the latest squad updates via the Settings menu when you first boot up the game.

Call of Duty: Warzone‘s scattergun approach to crossovers has seen the battle royale feature operators based on famous figures in other media. While not as exhaustive as a game like Fortnite, which has crossed over with almost every media product under the sun, CoD: Warzone has quietly built itself a catalog of licensed operators and alternate skins since it was first released in 2020. From horror icons to hip-hop sensations and comic book supervillains to the eighth wonder of the world, here are the top 10 weirdest crossover operators in Call of Duty: Warzone.

10. Snoop Dogg

It says a lot about CoD: Warzone’s various crossovers when rapper Snoop Dogg is tenth on this list. Snoop has a history with the Call of Duty franchise, having supplied voice lines for a Voice Pack in CoD: Ghosts, so he’s ranked high on the list. Speaking of things that are “high,” The Snoop Dogg Operator Bundle leans into the rapper’s well-known love of recreational drugs with his “Bong Ripper” sniper rifle, “West Coast Bling” assault rifle, and “Tha Shiznit” SMG firing unique “Green Weed” tracer rounds.