It’s easy to feel smug as a PC gamer. Where console gamers bicker and squabble over the exclusives to which they have access, PC gamers can usually sit in their comfortable gaming chairs and smile knowingly at the vast library of games available to them.
More and more games are coming along each and every day for PC, too, and many of the “exclusives” that once graced PlayStation and Xbox are also appearing on PC these days, meaning that it’s hard to argue a PC doesn’t represent the best gaming platform out there right now.
January 2024 looks to have its fair share of great PC gaming experiences, too, so let’s take a look at the best PC games coming this month.
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell (January 11th)
- Genre: Adventure
A quick glance at some of the artwork for Momodora: Moonlit Farewell might give you some concerns about the way the game depicts women, and those concerns might well be justified, too.
However, problematic artwork aside, these games are surprisingly accomplished and well-made Metroidvania adventures with achingly beautiful pixel art and plenty of great gameplay to boot.
If you love games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Hollow Knight, as well as more recent Shantae games, then Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is likely to be right up your street.
If you like this one, be sure to go back and revisit previous entries in the series as well, particularly Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, which was many gamers’ point of entry to the franchise.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (January 18th)
- Genre: Action-Adventure
What we’ve seen of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has convinced us that this stylish-looking Metroidvania platformer could be just what the series needs to give it a fresh coat of paint.
Prince of Persia has been struggling for a while now, largely due to the failure of the Sands of Time remake to materialise, but The Lost Crown shows that Ubisoft hasn’t lost interest in the property yet.
Developed by Rayman studio Ubisoft Montpellier, The Lost Crown concerns Sargon, a man who’s sent to the city of Mount Qaf to rescue the kidnapped Prince Ghassan.
What he finds when he arrives kicks off a side-scrolling adventure with echoes of the original Prince of Persia, plus shades of Castlevania and other super-tight side-scrollers.
Enshrouded (January 24th)
- Genre: Action-Adventure
Keen Games’ Enshrouded looks like a ludicrously ambitious game. It’s a voxel-based open-world survival sim in which the world is your oyster; you can build pretty much whatever you like and decorate it how you wish.
Even if building isn’t your thing, though, you can venture out into a vast open world and seek out monsters to slay, dungeons to explore, and other adventures to enjoy.
Of course, Enshrouded also fully supports co-operative play, so you can do all of this alongside up to 15 (!) other players if you so desire. In that way, Enshrouded calls to mind games like Valheim, although it’s arguably even more ambitious than that Viking-flavoured adventure ever claimed to be.
Enshrouded will launch as an Early Access game, so there will likely be a long way to go before the game can be considered “complete”. Still, it’s bound to offer an interesting diversion, even in its nascent stages.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (January 25th)
- Genre: Action
The triumphant return of Ichiban Kasuga to the Like a Dragon franchise already feels overdue, even though it’s only been a few years since we last saw the improbably ripped and impossibly likeable goofball.
An early trailer for this game hilariously showed Kasuga walking naked and nonplussed across a beach in Hawaii, terrifying sunbathers and amusing passers-by as he obliviously attempted to work out what was wrong.
That’s essentially a great way to set the stage for the Like a Dragon series as a whole, which melds comedy and melodrama in a way that just shouldn’t work, but somehow does.
Longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu returns here as well, although in a diminished form that will be heartbreaking to anyone who’s followed the Dragon of Dojima’s journey from day one.
Tekken 8 (January 25th)
Believe it or not, Tekken 8 is the eighth main Tekken game. It’s not actually the eighth Tekken game overall, thanks to the Tag Tournament games and Street Fighter X Tekken, but that number is a real statement of intent.
From what we’ve seen so far of Tekken 8, it fully intends to live up to that lofty goal, too. This is Tekken at its most potent; between returning characters and new fighters, old-school gameplay modes returning to the fore, and an epic-looking story, Tekken 8 promises to be the full package.
Supposedly, this game will offer an end to the ongoing Mishima versus Kazama storyline, in which Kazuya and his son Jin war over their shared family legacy. We’ll have to see whether Bandai Namco makes good on that promise.
Whatever the story does, Tekken 8 promises some truly excellent fighting; the trailers that have been released so far show a weighty and impactful combat engine that allows for some seriously vicious combos, which is what we want from Tekken.
Palworld (TBA January)
At time of writing, developer Pocketpair hasn’t announced when we can expect Palworld to arrive. We just know that the open-world survival crafting sim is due to be released on PC sometime in January 2024.
We wouldn’t be surprised if the game gets delayed beyond that point, but for now, we’re assuming that Palworld will indeed arrive (in Early Access, of course) sometime during this month.
Palworld’s unique twist is that it’s effectively Pokemon, but with the added ability to exploit creatures for slave labour and have them shoot each other with realistic weaponry.
There’s a slightly edgy aesthetic to Palworld that might make it distasteful to some, but if you’ve ever wished Pokemon would reckon with the real-world ways in which animals are often exploited by humans, then Palworld should provide that in spades. Just don’t expect the kind of fluffy, cuddly adventure Pokemon provides.
