9 new Xbox and Game Pass games you should be playing in January 2024

2023. What a 12 months in Xbox gaming that was. Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Starfield, Remnant II – we might go on. There was even room for some absolute stinkers to hitch the celebration with out ruining issues: in you come Redfall, Gollum and Rise of Kong. 

2024 goes to must go some to compete. If we’re trustworthy, we are able to’t see the way it can probably Fosbury Flop over the identical bar. However we’re optimistic and stay open minded. Maybe January already has a traditional to set the tone. 

We’re going to present it a go together with 9 of one of the best new Xbox and Recreation Cross video games you have to be enjoying in your Xbox in January 2024. 

Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown

We’re not completely certain the place Prince of Persia sits on the hype-train. By Ubisoft’s personal measures, this can be a mainline entry into the Prince of Persia sequence – the primary since The Forgotten Sands. It actually seems attractive, clearly backed by the total weight of Ubisoft’s coffers. 

However it’s additionally a 2.5D entry, not a full 3D Prince of Persia. Ought to we be hyped? Ought to we be tempering these expectations? We’re not completely certain. 

We’re tentatively choosing ‘pumped’. That’s primarily as a result of Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown is being developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, the devs behind the trendy Rayman video games. It’s additionally utilizing the identical energy set as Sands of Time, which provides it some nostalgia factors. 

As with most issues, we’ll simply have to attend and see, however our enthusiasm is restrained and able to go.

Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution

A few years in the past, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion dropped onto Recreation Cross. It didn’t alter the rotational axis of the Earth or something, nevertheless it quietly amassed a cadre of followers. There was simply one thing interesting about enjoying an anti-establishment root vegetable.

Properly, Turnip Boy is again, and his crimes have gone up a notch. He’s partnering with the Pickled Gang to drag off a heist of the Botanical Financial institution. This can be a gig that wants meticulous preparation, as you search the darkish net for supplies, plan traps, after which pull off an operation that will have Danny Ocean nodding his head in turnipy appreciation. 

Extra importantly, Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution takes a bow day-one on Recreation Cross. That is excess of Christmas’s leftover greens. 

Apollo Justice: Ace Lawyer Trilogy

One more half-hearted port of a well-loved trilogy? OBJECTION! Apollo Justice: Ace Lawyer Trilogy guarantees to succeed the place the Metallic Gear and Grand Theft Auto trilogies failed.

We might fill this little portion of the Up Subsequent by cataloguing what’s right here. There are fourteen episodes of “Apollo Justice: Ace Lawyer”, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Lawyer – Twin Destinies”, and “Phoenix Wright: Ace Lawyer – Spirit of Justice”, plus two beforehand DLC-only particular episodes. We are not any mathematicians (we’re budding legal professionals, clearly), however we make that to be a complete of 16 episodes.

That’s an entire lot of pointing and shouting. We might have some kind of rope and pulley system for the arms.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Wait, didn’t this launch already? Nah mate, that was Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Title. This one’s fully completely different. 

We are able to nearly sense the eye-roll from Like a Dragon and Yakuza followers. As a result of that is the true deal: a gathering of Ichiban Kasuga, the Like a Dragon stalwart, and Kazuma Kiryu, who’s going through the final hours of his life. This isn’t the glorified DLC of The Man Who Erased His Title: this can be a full mainline entry. 

We additionally get to discover Hawaii in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, one thing of a deviation for this well-loved sequence. However whereas we’re at a completely completely different latitude, we absolutely anticipate a variety of professions, loads of arcade machines to seek out, and the odd brawl. It could be disappointing if not.

Tekken 8

What a time it’s for Tekken to return. All its combating alumni have made celebrated returns to the ring lately, from Avenue Fighter 6 to Mortal Kombat 1. Can it do the identical? 

The deets? Tekken 8 is about six months after the seventh sport, with 32 fighters within the roster.  The emphasis this outing is on aggressiveness, as ‘Warmth’ and ‘Rage’ states generate as you are taking the battle to the opponent. The transfer units even change as these bars enhance, and well being can solely be regenerated when punching the enemy’s lights out. Clearly sport director Katsuhiro Harada is fed up of individuals hopping across the area to dodge assaults.

Principally, we’re simply blissful to see the likes of Yoshimitsu, King II and Jin Kazama again. It’s just like the Ps One by no means went away. 

Go Mecha Ball

As mash-ups go, we didn’t predict a twin-stick shooter fused to Tremendous Monkey Ball. However that’s what Go Mecha Ball has on supply, and temptingly it’s on Recreation Cross day one. 

The mash-up doesn’t cease mashing. As a result of Go Mecha Ball can be a roguelike, encouraging you to roll and rocket by way of procedurally generated arenas for so long as you’ll be able to keep alive. It seems vastly kinetic, and the genre-bending a minimum of makes us curious, so we now have a tentative curiosity on this one.

The Misplaced Legends of REDWALL: The Scout Anthology

Now this one takes us again: bawling our eyes out as youngsters to a Redwall paperback, someway getting the feels from fictional mice armed with daggers. 

The Misplaced Legends of REDWALL: The Scout Anthology might do the identical to us. It’s a totally new story within the Redwall universe, written by the writing staff of brothers Christopher and Alan Miller. They initially deliberate to make a film, however a meandering path led them to an episodic narrative sport. 

The primary episode, The Scout, launched in 2017, and it’s taken this lengthy for a full launch to hit the black field. It would make you are feeling dangerous for killing a lot vermin in A Plague Story. 

Howl

Let’s stick with the plague theme. However moderately than being rat-based, the plague in Howl comes from wolves. Anybody who hears a howl will get changed into a feral beast, which leaves the deaf heroine of Howl in one thing of a clumsy place. The destiny of the world now rests along with her.

‘Flip-based tactical folktale’ isn’t a phrase we anticipated to be writing on this Up Subsequent, however hopefully you’ll be able to see from the screenshots why we’re enthusiastic about Howl. It’s drawn in a ‘flowing ink’ type, like a grim model of Pentiment, and it’s acquired a daring tackle ways too, as you intend manoeuvres six turns upfront.

This one might nicely get us baying on the Moon.

Pace Crew

In the event you’ve ever sat up with curiosity when a driver pulls into the pits throughout F1 (“ooh, they mucked that tire changeover”), then Pace Crew could also be for you. 

One thing of a non secular cousin to Overcooked!, Pace Crew casts you as rival mechanics, seeking to examine, diagnose after which repair automobiles at pace. In the event you’re all coordinated sufficient (Pah! Like that can occur!), then your happy buyer will usher in additional cash, extra punters and a few renown to your staff.

Appears like exactly the type of sport we’d be pap at.

However there’s extra

Alas, that’s all January has for us. It’s not probably the most stuffed of months, however Januarys hardly ever are. None of us have any cash left for large releases anyway.

February is when issues begin getting fascinating. Persona 3 Reload and Tomb Raider I-III Remastered ought to be good, whereas a few controversial releases arrive within the type of Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League and Cranium & Bones. We’re not wholly satisfied these two video games aren’t a mirage that can fade away as quickly as January thirtieth arrives.

However for now, we want you the happiest of New Years. Might 2024 be type to you.