When it comes to new horror games, there are times of feast and famine, and this past year we gorged until our bellies bulged and our mouths dripped with gruesome grease. In 2024, we received a rich spread of dark experiences from solo creators, indie teams, AA developers and AAA studios in a vast array of genres and visual styles. There was a fantastic Silent Hill 2 remake and beefy updates to contemporary classics like Phasmophobia, Alan Wake 2 and The Outlast Trials, and there was also a steady cadence of brand-new horror franchises expanding the genre in unexpected ways. First, let's take a moment to celebrate a sampling of the year's fresh horror universes. This is not a comprehensive list of new horror franchises in 2024, but it's a suitable demonstration of how vast and varied the offerings were this year.

This year may not have been as jam packed as 2023 was for gaming, but there were still plenty of amazing new releases. Whether you love a good indie or a big-budget production, this year had you covered. All you needed to do was look a bit deeper than you might have in 2023. The core of Animal Well isn't that structurally complicated: It's a lock-and-key Metroidvania. You go to places to unlock other places and abilities. Beating the core "story" opens up a couple layers of admirably elaborate and increasingly meta secrets, but let's be real, most people interested in those are just going to look up the answers online. And yet, you play it, and you can't help but think there isn't much like it nowadays. It's the fact that you never learn what your little blob guy is. It's giving you a map to mark up yourself instead of providing any instructions.

What I have always admired about Japanese role-playing games is their unashamed grandiosity. The likes of Final Fantasy, Persona and Shin Megami Tensei don't restrict themselves to the familiar trappings of good v evil, wizards-and-goblins, swords-and-magic; they absorb all of those things, and plenty else besides, from science fiction and mythology and comic books and psychology and classical art and whatever else interests their creators, and construct these absurdly ambitious worlds and narratives out of them. The themes are never small, the playtimes never short. Think of them as the operas of the video game world: a theatrical synthesis of different virtual arts, from storytelling and stagecraft to music and movement. And as something of an acquired taste.

The past is a big deal in the video games industry right now. Hardly a month goes by when we're not being tempted by a new retro mini console, whether that's a cutesy Nintendo or a demure ZX Spectrum (a new version of which is arriving in November, complete with rubbery keys and 48 legendary games). And this year's release schedule is absolutely crammed with remasters of classic titles. In April, the video game news site Kotaku listed 30 old timers being exhumed and revived for 2024, including The Last of Us Part II, Tomb Raider 1-3 and Star Wars: Dark Forces. And the article missed a few! October alone will see updated versions of horror adventures Until Dawn, Silent Hill 2 and Clock Tower, as well as Lego Harry Potter.

After ten years in exile, fans of gruelling psychological horror can finally pack their bags: Silent Hill is reopening to visitors. During a YouTube presentation on Wednesday evening, Konami announced a reboot of the acclaimed sequel Silent Hill 2 and two new adventures, Silent Hill Townfall and Silent Hill F. A new movie tie-in, Return to Silent Hill, and an interactive live stream series, Silent Hill Ascension, were also teased. The remake is being developed by the Polish studio Bloober Team, known for horror titles such as Blair Witch and The Medium. Also involved are key members of the original Silent Hill development team, including the composer Akira Yamaoka and concept artist Masahiro Ito, best known for his creation of Silent Hill's most infamous monster, Pyramid Head. During an interview video shown as part of the presentation, Bloober Team's creative director, Mateusz Lenart, explained that while the studio wanted to stay true to the atmosphere of the original game, certain elements were being modified for the modern era; this would include a move from a third-person camera to an "over-the-shoulder" viewpoint.

The launch of the PlayStation 5 is still running on schedule despite the coronavirus outbreak, according to Sony. The company said that it has seen significant changes to the way it works – but that development is still continuing as expected. Sony said earlier this year that the console was planned for the holiday period at the end of this year, along with the Xbox Series X. And though the outbreak has led to "some challenges", it is still progressing as scheduled, the company said. Sony gave the update in a new results release, which also indicated a rise in the number of people buying and downloading games during lockdowns.

Sony has revealed the PlayStation for the upcoming PS5 – and claims it is a "radical departure" from what has gone before. Named "DualSense", the controller comes with a variety of new features including haptic feedback, new triggers that can make themselves harder to push, a built-in microphone and a whole new redesign. The chief change in that redesign appears to be that the controller is larger and bulkier than the DualShock 4 that came with the PlayStation 4, borrowing a design more akin to the chunkier Xbox One controller. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said the controller marks a "radical departure" from its previous generations, and promised that more about the console – including its design – would be unveiled in the coming months. Both Xbox and PlayStation have taken the unusual step of showing off a variety of details about their new consoles, months ahead of their "Holiday 2020" release schedules.