(intro jingle) - [Falcon] 2023 was a huge year for games and why would they want to stop? Of course they don't want to stop. It looks a lot like they're
trying to carry that momentum and we got a lot of big titles hitting us in the first half of the next year. Hi folks, it's Falcon
and today on Gameranx, the top 10 new games of
the first half of 2024. Starting off with number 10, it's Tekken 8 which is a massive big ol' thing. It's the first high profile fighting game to use Unreal Engine 5, it is the first Tekken game to use Unreal Engine 5, and it is a hell of a look. Wowie. Tekken 8 is technically
incredible looking. But it's also a Tekken game, so that means it's probably a very good fighting game. Tekken is fun as hell. Like it's, since its introduction, always been a game that people love. I've always come back to
Tekken whenever they release a new one and I'm never disappointed. At least in how the game feels and plays. Sometimes maybe there's
some issues surrounding it, but these are smooth, fluid fighting games that I really enjoy and
can't wait to dive back into. I won't have to wait too long either. Tekken 8 is landing on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC January 26th. At number nine is Persona 3: Reload. As you know, Falcon the game bird has always been a big Persona fan and I'm quite excited for
a remake of Persona 3. It has been a long time
since I've played Persona 3. I mean I did kind of play the re-release here recently, but I
didn't really beat it. 'Cause I knew this was on the horizon. It's essentially Persona
3 in Persona 5 quality. And I'm there. It takes nothing to get
me in the door on that. I mean they've really done a lot here. Unfortunately, it does
mean some of the content that was added after, like
the female protagonist or the epilogue chapter,
that stuff's not there. But they have redone all
of the animated cutscenes. And it really is like Persona
3 at Persona 5 quality. Apparently there's gonna be a lot more environmental stuff you can do too. They haven't altered any of the dialogue or that kind of stuff, but I mean come on, why wouldn't you want to play
this if you're a Persona fan? or just a fan of these
kind of like weirdo, goofy ass, let's talk about
society, but let's do it through the lens of a bunch of crazy crap. Oh, and also, like, you have to go to school and crap, and it's weird also. I mean everything about
Persona is super weird. It's heightened to a degree where I'm sure it probably turns some people off. But these are interesting
games to say the very least. I'm excited for this. It's coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, and PC February 2nd. At number eight is Alone in the Dark. So what is regarded as
perhaps the progenitor of Resident Evil is being brought back in the very same way that
Resident Evil 2 and 3 were so incredibly successful. In fact the developers,
Pisces Interactive, were brought in by THQ
Nordic to, in a lot of ways, attempt to replicate the
successes of those games. Much like those games, it
takes the fixed camera, tank-controlled Alone
in the Dark and makes it into a third person, over the shoulder, much more modern experience. Now I'm personally very excited for this. If you want to kind of see how it works there's a demo out right now
called Grace in the Dark. It's a prologue chapter. It kind of sets you up with expectations as to what this exactly is gonna be. I think it really does a good job showing that this is going to be a great remake. I'm very excited for it. I think it's gonna be pretty big. It's coming to PS5, Xbox
Series, and PC March 20th. And number seven is Suicide
Squad: Kill the Justice League. Now I absolutely want to note that this is maybe a controversial pick, but we're talking about big games that people are gonna talk about a lot. And whether this ends up a
bad live service style game, even if it's not necessarily
a live service game by the time it comes out, or if it turns out to be very good, I think people are gonna
talk a lot about it. I obviously hope for the latter. This is the last Batman
performance by Kevin Conroy. And it's a dark one from the looks. The game is set in the Arkhamverse. However, it takes place in Metropolis. And all of the real big great superheroes have been taken over by Brainiac. And it's your job to kill all of them. I, like I said, really do hope that this turns out to be a good game. The idea is honestly not something we've ever really been able to play. Like superhero hunting,
that's potentially quite good, but also given Gotham Knights and all of the live service
stuff, there is good reason to be skeptical about
this, so good to note. Great potential. Also potential to be a big flop. Either way, we're all gonna be
talking about it a whole lot. It's landing on the PS5, Xbox Series, and PC on February 2nd. And number six is Skull and Bones. I mean allegedly we're actually going to get Skull and Bones. They've been advertising
it pretty heavily. I've been seeing commercials for it. This game's been in development
hell for a long ass time. This was originally
developed as an expansion for Assassin's Creed Black Flag as a spinoff MMO called
Black Flag Infinite. That was way back in 2013. This project has also been a money hole allegedly costing over 120 million. But over the last year
there have been a couple of closed betas and people have come away from them weirdly
optimistic about the game. A lot of the time this
type of thing happens over a decade and then, you know, you get something like Duke Nukem Forever. But apparently people are thinking that it's actually a pretty fun game. With a surprisingly decent story. Now I can't comment as to the
validity of this information, I did not play the betas, but
I'm not as iffy about this. I mean I've seen a lot of
game footage and it looks fun. I think the reason why we all wanted this game in the first place was because the ship combat in Black
Flag was quite good. And it looks quite good here. Now there is bound to be
some degree of confusion because this game has
existed for a very long time, and there have been a few different ideas as to what this was supposed to be, but it looks pretty straightforward to me from the gameplay, and
it looks pretty fun. I'm excited to give it a whirl. And if it's as fun as it looks, I think that we've got a winner. Skull and Bones is landing on PSS, Xbox Series, and PC February 16th. And number five is Final
Fantasy VII: Rebirth. Disc two of the Final Fantasy VII remake. If you liked the Final Fantasy VII remake, it looks like it's a much bigger, more advanced version of it. For instance, the synergize mechanic is now a part of the main battle system. The main battle system I of course gave a lot of praise for
the first time around. I'm happy they have
retained it rather than attempt some big change in that. I think it's a large
part of remix identity because it does so much in retaining a lot of the elements of the
original turn-based system in what is more or less
an action RPG format. In all seriousness, this
is gonna be a great game. I like what they did with the first game. I like that they kind of made it so you don't really know
what's gonna happen. Because this is some part
of a time loop in some way. And I think that that is
a fun and interesting idea that kind of toys with
the idea of a remake while also allowing us to have a remake. Probably the most interesting
events in the entirety of the Final Fantasy VII narrative are pretty close on the horizon too. So I'm just really interested to see how this version plows through them. Especially given the idea
that things could change. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is landing on the PlayStation 5 February 29th. And number four is Homeworld 3. A direct sequel that happens
after the previous two games. This is a real time strategy game. This series spans back to 1999. There was recently a remaster,
as well as a prequel, and that stuff did really well. And they're like you know what? Let's continue that narrative. Now this, to me, seems
like it may be a good idea. It may not, we'll see. But the game fuses the
RTS gameplay of Homeworld with what they're calling
a rogue-like structure. So ideally, you're gonna get a whole lot of replay value out of Homeworld 3. We shall see exactly what that equates to when it comes out though. Homeworld 3 is coming to PC on March 8th. And number three is
Mario Versus Donkey Kong, a Game Boy Advance Game
that came out in 2004 and is getting the
full-blown remake treatment. I mean Nintendo's been kind
of knocking it out of the park with the remix of their
older games lately. Mario RPG being probably
the best example of that. This is a puzzle platformer
where you got a lot of obstacles and you have to figure
out how to get past them. It's a pretty hell of a fun game. I remember playing it,
but it's been a long time. I'm not gonna lie. Mario's gotta find keys
to get through a door. And he's basically rescuing, and this is the dumbest
story conceit of all time, but mini Mario toys that
Donkey Kong has stolen. This is actually, interestingly enough, very much the DNA of the
original Donkey Kong game where Mario basically
had to traverse upward to basically stop ol' Donkey
Kong from stealing a woman. That's not really the
conceit of this game per se, but Mario Versus Donkey Kong
was a spiritual successor to the Game Boy Donkey
Kong, which kind of expanded on that original Donkey Kong. And now we're back to it
on the Nintendo Switch. And it looks great. Mario Versus Donkey Kong
is landing February 16th. And number two is Rise of the Ronin, and action RPG coming
to us from Team Ninja. In a lot of ways it's kind
of a eastern equivalent of all of the cowboy stories that are about the end of the Wild West. It takes place at the
end of the Edo period. And essentially plops you right into the middle of the Boshin War. A lot of people make a lot of comparisons to Ghost of Tsushima, but Team Ninja is also very well known
for the Nioh games. And I think it shouldn't be understated the amount of Dark Souls influence there probably will be on this. Granted, there's clearly Ghost
of Tsushima influence here. But I think it's worth noting that these are not the same game. Not having the exact same
kinds of expectations. I think it's gonna be a pretty good game. I'm looking forward to it. Keeping in mind there
will probably be a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, it does have to be at least somewhat different
from what that will be. But I kind of expect them to have that figured out having done Nioh. And, well, I'm pretty excited for it. Rise of the Ronin is coming
to the PS5 on March 22nd. And finally at number one,
it is Dragon's Dogma 2. I mean Dragon's Dogma
was pretty misunderstood when it came out, but it grew
to major cult classic status. If you're not familiar, it's an action RPG that you got a lot of hack
and slash stuff going on. You can feel a little bit
of Devil May Cry influence, but it's also its own thing for sure. It's a Capcom game, so
there is a fair amount of expectation for a sequel. And the sequel drastically
expands on the first game giving us a world that's
four times the size. Giving us our nice
customizable pawn system to continue the ideas of the first game. And interestingly enough,
they say that it takes place in a parallel world to the first game. So it's not a direct sequel. It is probably very much a sort of reset because it's been 12 years
since the original game. And I would expect that
it drastically expands on a lot of the concepts
from the original game. The team apparently was inspired by Grand Theft Auto 5's emergent gameplay, so I'm excited to see
exactly where that goes. Dragon's Dogma 2 is
landing on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC March 22nd. I do have a bonus game for you. The Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons remake. This is of course a great game. Many consider it a classic at this point, but it is also kind of a
game that was developed at a time where people weren't really sure what they wanted from graphics. Like some of it's a little cartoony, some of it's reaching for not cartoony, and I think sort of
unifying the visual style and making it look much
better without making it look like not cartoony
anymore, it's a good idea. I'm excited to play Brothers again. I certainly will. It's landing on the PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on February 28th. That's all for today. Leave us a comment. Let us know what you think. If you like this video, click like. If you're not subscribed,
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for watching this video. I'm Falcon, you can follow
me on Twitter @FalconTheHero. We'll see you next time
right here on Gameranx.
