The Brief

It'd take more than a few surprises for the new year to match 2023's deluge of acclaimed games. But while we don't know the precise release date for many of its biggest titles, 2024 will soon grace us with the gargantuan Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, slated to come out on Leap Day, and it'll likely draw to a close with a console sequel to the Nintendo Switch. But there's a lot to look forward to apart from those bookends — here's what we at NPR have our eyes on this year.

Persona 3 Reload, Feb. 2

I fell hard for Personas 4 and 5 but wasn't hooked by 3. I recognize its importance: it set the current franchise template with its edgy teen aesthetic and weave of social simulation and RPG mechanics. Odd as it was in 2006, perhaps this slick new version will entice the part of me that wants to explore a ghoulish Tokyo with fashionable friends. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Skull and Bones, Feb. 16

Swashbuckling piracy was the best part of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag and Skull and Bones is bringing that action to a standalone game, shifted from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean and African coasts. It also promises story-rich quests that give it an MMO vibe as you adventure on your ship. I look forward to seeing how it compares with the more cartoony Sea of Thieves, which was fun to play with and against other players. — Daniel Morgan, systems engineer

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth

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Square Enix

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Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, Feb. 29

2020's Final Fantasy 7: Remake opened the door to a radically new retelling of the 1997 original. The sequel, Rebirth, will likely depart even further, and I'm quivering to find out who'll live, who'll die and how I'll take to its hybrid real-time/turn-based combat after growing fond of the fluid action of Final Fantasy 16. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Life By You Early Access, March 5

In 2015, Paradox Interactive took a wild — but ultimately successful — swing at toppling Maxis' famed city-building franchise SimCity by launching Cities: Skylines. This spring, the Swedish publisher wants to unseat another legendary Maxis franchise: The Sims. Led by former Sims head Rod Humble, Paradox's Life By You is also a social simulator focusing on hyper-customizability. Clothing, furniture, houses, businesses, towns, storylines, quests — seemingly nothing is locked away from players to make their own. Let's hope Paradox's bet on customization makes for engaging gameplay, not analysis paralysis. — Alex Curley, product manager, Distribution

Homeworld 3

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Gearbox Publishing

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Homeworld 3, March 8

Despite high-profile releases, 2023 didn't satisfy my hunger for an all-consuming real-time strategy game. Enter a new 2024 challenger: Homeworld 3, the space combat RTS from Blackbird Interactive. The first franchise title was revolutionary in 1999, and gameplay footage for this Spring's sequel looks just as promising. Apart from battling for galactic dominance over a dozen or more hours in the main campaign, it allows you and up to two other friends to play roguelike missions in its new War Games mode. We'll see how much Blackbird can appeal to less-experienced players while staying true to Homeworld's roots. — Alex Curley, product manager, Distribution

Unicorn Overlord, March 8

While laden with anime tropes, the narrative ambition of Vanillaware's 13 Sentinels blew me away. I hope their upcoming tactical RPG will do the same — and maybe scratch the Fire Emblem itch, too. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Dragon's Dogma 2, March 22

2012's Dragon's Dogma is one of the most unique action RPGs I've played. Often compared to Dark Souls, which came out the year earlier, the game's nearly as hardcore, with flashier class abilities and a unique pawn system that lets you recruit AI party members created by other players. The sequel will need to refine these mechanics to capture a wider audience, but Capcom's been on such a hot streak that I'm optimistic they can pull it off. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Princess Peach: Showtime!

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Nintendo

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Princess Peach: Showtime!, March 22

The date March 22, 2024 has been ingrained in my mind since Nintendo shared the trailer for Princess Peach: Showtime! last year. While I know that this isn't the first time she's led her own game, this feels like the first time Peach is getting the full Mario treatment with fun transformations and powerups unique to her. Kung Fu Peach? Swordfighter Peach? I can't wait! — Rakiesha Chase-Jackson, project manager, Member Partnership

Rise of the Rōnin, March 22

Last year, Team Ninja took us to China's Three Kingdoms era with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty for an enjoyable adventure that struggled to stand out in a crowded field of excellent 2023 games. This year, with Rise of the Rōnin, they're taking us back to Japan and back to the team behind the excellent Nioh and Nioh 2 games. Rise of the Rōnin has reportedly been in development for seven years and the studio says it's their "most ambitious and challenging project" to date. If all that work marks a return to the quality of the Nioh titles, this game will be worth exploring. — Justin Lucas, Senior Director, Communications

Manor Lords, April 26

Developer Slavic Magic has been teasing a gorgeous and intriguing strategy game, Manor Lords, for over three years. Set in medieval Europe, the game is at once a city-builder, tasking you with building up manorial villages from empty fields and a strategy sim, having you defend villages from plundering bandits in real-time battles. With a publish date finally set, I'm excited to don my crown as manor lord and see if the game truly lives up to the hype. — Alex Curley, product manager, Distribution

Black Myth: Wukong

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Game Science

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Black Myth: Wukong, Aug. 20

Black Myth: Wukong looks like a AAA souls-like with slick action and terrifically bizarre character design. The game's impressive trailers and gameplay videos generated a lot of buzz for its relatively unknown developer, Game Science. But it's hard to know what to expect from a studio with no other major releases under its wing. If Wukong lives up to its savvy marketing, it could be a breakout success. But it's also possible that the game and the studio will end up standing out for other less favorable reasons, as reports of a culture of sexism at Game Science could sour many who might otherwise have been interested. — Justin Lucas, Senior Director, Communications

Undated 2024

Avowed

Obsidian Entertainment has commanded respect for RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2. Their upcoming first-person fantasy game set in the Pillars of Eternity universe should be no exception. It wouldn't be surprising if Avowed not only provided a capable substitute to hold players over for the long-awaited Elder Scrolls 6 but also raised the bar for Bethesda as they worked on their follow-up to Skyrim. — Corey Bridges, assistant producer, The Indicator

Baby Steps

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Devolver Digital

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Baby Steps

The ever-brilliant Bennett Foddy (of QWOP and Getting Over It fame) is back with another impish physics game. Billed as a "literal walking simulator," Baby Steps has you independently control each of the player character's legs, forcing you to think through locomotion you'd normally take for granted — to what I'm sure will be hilarious results. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Camper Van: Make it Home

Camper Van: Make it Home looks like the quintessential cozy game — chill music, a calming color scheme, and a simple premise that offers so much space for customization and control. I don't know about you, but I've always dreamed of just unplugging and traveling the world in my own personal camper van, and soon, I will be able to do so from the comfort of my couch. — Rakiesha Chase-Jackson, project manager, Member Partnership

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

We've seen little about this upcoming expansion to 2022 masterpiece Elden Ring, other than that it appears to feature Miquella, a character shrouded in mystery so deep it makes the game's obtuse lore look transparent by comparison. But FromSoftware has a reputation for incomparable DLC, so I'm confident it'll give me more than enough reason to return to the Lands Between. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Frostpunk 2

Developer 11 Bit Studios is upping the scale of their award-winning city-builder with Frostpunk 2. Set 30 years after the apocalyptic events of Frostpunk, the meager colony of the first game has grown into a full-blown metropolis, shifting the focus away from mere survival and ensuring its stability. It's a change that will transform gameplay mechanics critics fell in love with to something more akin to Tropico 6 or Civilization 6 — a notable risk for a franchise with a winning formula. In any case, I'm excited to return to the outskirts of nuclear winter London to test my mettle again. — Alex Curley, product manager, Distribution

Hades 2

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Supergiant Games

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Hades 2

Will 2024 be the year we actually get Early Access to Hades 2? Supposedly! It's hard not to be impatient as I write up my most anticipated games blurb for the same game two years running, but honestly, I'll wait however long it takes. From indie studio Supergiant, Hades 2 promises to bring the same enthralling romance and combat as its 2020 predecessor, Hades. This time, we'll join a new hero in Melinoe, our de-facto princess of Hell, as she embarks on a mission to kill Chronos, who is technically her grandpa. But while I love some Greek mythology, what made me really fall in love with the series is Supergiant's commitment to a gorgeous style that drips out of every conversation and combat arena. Early access release is set for Q2 2024, but whenever it drops, I'll be here ... waiting. — Megan Lim, All Things Considered Producer

Hollow Knight: Silksong

There's more discourse than news about this sequel to indie darling Hollow Knight, which was also one of our most anticipated games of 2023. Team Cherry's social media pages haven't been updated in a long time, but I'm still hopeful. Game development is tough, and I'm content to wait while the studio takes its time to make Silksong as beautiful and visceral as the first game. — River Williamson, Software Engineer

Last Time I Saw You

I'm a huge fan of publisher Chorus Worldwide. The trailer for Last Time I Saw You brought back such fond memories of 2023's A Space for the Unbound that I immediately wishlisted it on Steam. I'm looking forward to gorgeous artwork, a mesmerizing soundtrack and an emotional rollercoaster of a story. — Rakiesha Chase-Jackson, project manager, Member Partnership

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

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GSC Game World

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

After many delays, the latest in this Tarkovsky-inspired shooter series may arrive by the first quarter of this year. It is made by Ukrainian developers who have kept at it despite the encroachments of a very real war. — James Mastromarino, NPR Gaming lead and Here & Now producer

Star Wars Outlaws

While the Star Wars brand is reaching the point of oversaturation, I'm admittedly excited about the prospect of a truly open-world Star Wars game where I'm not playing as someone with force sensitivity (at least as far as I know). If Ubisoft can pull off what's looking to be a grounded single-player adventure game and provide a captivating story, it has a chance of being one of my favorite pieces of Star Wars media ever. That's a big if, but I hope Star Wars: Outlaws lives up to the hype. — Corey Bridges, assistant producer, The Indicator

Stormgate

We already knew about Stormgate before this winter's Game Awards. But it felt much more real when actor Simu Liu appeared onstage on Dec. 7 to tease his role in Frost Giant's upcoming competitive real-time strategy game. It's obvious that Stormgate's developers, which include Starcraft veterans, are trying to position the game as the next big esports RTS in a market where decade-old titles have stagnated. With the promise of more responsive gameplay and modern netcode, I'm curious to see if they'll actually succeed. — Alex Curley, product manager, Distribution

The Casting of Frank Stone

I'm a sucker for the kind of interactive horror movies that Supermassive Games makes in titles like The Quarry and Until Dawn. I was pleasantly surprised that they're now teaming up with the studio behind Dead by Daylight for a new horror mystery story. I'm looking forward to putting in multiple playthroughs and seeing how the story can play out. — Corey Bridges, assistant producer, The Indicator

The Wolf Among Us 2

The Wolf Among Us 2 was on my most anticipated games list for 2023, and Telltale Games has indicated that they're now targeting a 2024 release. Ten years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but I'm a huge fan of the Fables comics and can't wait to return to Fabletown. — Rakiesha Chase-Jackson, project manager, Member Partnership

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.