The year that was in games saw a staggering number of industry layoffs with community-based tracking clocking in over 10,000 people being let go. At the same time, it was a year that saw some of the highest caliber of games released, among them Baldur’s Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Final Fantasy XVI.

With such a striking dichotomy, debate still rages among fans, developers and critics alike on whether 2023 was a good or bad year for games. Time waits for no gamer, though, and 2024’s slated of hotly anticipated releases from studios both within and beyond Japan’s borders is about to get off to a hot start.

If there’s any commonality to be shared among these upcoming titles, it would be legacy. They are all dependable franchises with recognizable faces. Prince of Persia, whose titular acrobatic main character first leapt from the dungeons in 1989, is set to return Jan. 18 in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, a “2.5D” platform action-adventure by Ubisoft. This will be the first major injection into the franchise since 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.