Here are 8 Japanese PC games you should be looking forward to in 2024

GamesHere are 8 Japanese PC games you should be looking forward to in 2024When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Endless Shirafu)

Astralbringer shmup

Wow, what a year 2023 was. We hada runaway success in dice rolling,catchy musical numbers in horror games, and—praise the sun—abrand new Armored Coreto play. Beyond Armored Core, Japanese games had a strong year on PC, from Resident Evil 4 early in the year to the latestLike a Dragonnear its end.

But that eventful time is swiftly transforming into a fading memory. Last year’s shiniest games have been all played out, backlogs have been diligently cleared (or completely ignored), and plenty of room has hopefully been made on spacious SSDs, ready to embrace all the storage-hungry big hits that are heading our way. And that’s great—it’s time to limber up for Tekken 8, slap on some winter sunscreen before Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth flies in, and catch up with Final Fantasy 14 in time forDawntrail. But beyond these incoming headline acts there are plenty of other Japanese games worth putting on our wishlists—including these eight underdogs.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

Developer:CAPCOM Co., Ltd.| Release date:22 Mar, 2024

All signs point to this sequel being just as much of a masterwork, so Capcomcan’t go wrong—unless nobody buys it,again.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

Developer:Rabbit and Bear Studios| Release date:23 Apr, 2024

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Whether it really can rebottle PlayStation-era lightning remains to be seen, but between Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising’s positive reception, the inclusion of several of the ’90s classic’s key staff members, and the impressive screenshots shown onthe Hundred Heroes’s website, it looks like it’s in with a good chance.

Penny Blood: Hellbound

Developer:NatsumeAtari, STUDIO WILDROSE| Release date:Q3 2024

Every crowdfunded indie project these days has to offer its backers an even more indie spinoff game to idle away the long months/years between handing over their money and the final release of whatever they were hoping to play, and this one belongs to Penny Blood, a game that will eventually be a spiritual sequel to cult classic PlayStation 2 RPG series Shadow Hearts. Hellbound promises to be an intense action-roguelike with added, um,bloodsurfing, apparently, delivered via an eye-catching art style that mixes the cute with the macabre. It should be an intriguing teaser before the main event, and both of these games can’t come soon enough for my liking.

R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos

Developer:Granzella Inc.| Release date:??? [Steam page still says 2023]

Common sense tells us that R-Type,theclassic arcade shmup, shouldn’t work when reimagined as a turn based strategy game, yet Cosmos easily proves that the series its in its element when its interplanetary shootouts are stuffed with stats and take place on busy hex grids.

This extensive graphical overhaul of the brilliant PSP originals (the latter of which was previously never released outside Japan) was due out last summer, only to be sadly delayed. It doesn’t matter too much. Even if they’re “only” as good as they used to be when we do finally get to play them on our PCs, the quietly unsettling Cosmos will still instantly become one of the best tactical games of 2024.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak

Developer:Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH| Release date:Summer 2024 [Steam page lists initial non-English release date]

As the 11th game in a series that began years ago with Trails in the Sky, it’d be easy to assume there’s an air of “Been there, done that” hanging over Trails Through Daybreak, that anyone who cares already knows exactly who’s in it and how it’s going to play.

That assumption would be wrong. Daybreak is the beginning of another fresh story within an ongoing saga, bringing with it new faces, places, and all sorts of ways to hit all sorts of enemies really, really, hard. It’s due out in English this summer—that might be enough time to catch up on the others, if you’re quick.

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes

Developer:FRENCH-BREAD, Arc System Works| Release date:24 Jan, 2024

“Sys:Celes sinks towards ruination.

For the Immortalize, the collapse of all that is, looms on the horizon.

The curtain rises on the final chapter of the Hollow Night. Catastrophe beckons…”

I may not understand Under Night’s plot, but I do know that this 2D fighter is going to be pretty, it’s going to be intense, and within 10 seconds of online play I’m sure it’s going to make me feel like I should never challenge another human being to a virtual fight again. However much I lose, with 24 characters to choose from and rollback netcode, I’m sure this is going to be a lot of fun.

Blade Chimera

Developer:Team Ladybug, WSS playground| Release date:2024

∀stralbringer -Shaded Arkarium-

Developer:Endless Shirafu| Release date:February 2024

This one just launched on January 2, but only in Japanese—English support is expected to arrive in February or March. A quick dip into the almost untypeable ∀stralbringer’s playable demo throws more bullets on screen at once than some shmups do in entire runs, and the default KB+M control method doesn’t exactly help with survival. This isn’t in any danger of being the most welcoming shmup to casually try out—the demo’s lengthy Japanese language tutorial is required reading, and the weapon/shield systems take some getting used to—but it’s definitely a memorable one, and it feels like something of a breath of fresh air in one of gaming’s oldest genres.

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Dragon’s Dogma 2#

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Penny Blood: Hellbound#

R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos#

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak#

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes#

Blade Chimera#

∀stralbringer -Shaded Arkarium-#