After a bumper February in which future classics like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Persona 3 Reload were released, the PS5 is gearing up for an equally busy March.
Major releases from Team Ninja, 2K and Visual Concepts, and THQ Nordic are on the way this month, with smaller independent titles from the likes of Red Barrels and Annapurna Interactive also shoring up the PS5’s list of games in March.
If you’re looking for a way to entertain yourself while the delights of spring settle in, then you could do a lot worse than March 2024’s PS5 slate. Here are some of the best PS5 games heading your way this March.
The Outlast Trials (March 5th)
The Outlast Trials has already been on release on PC thanks to Steam’s Early Access program, and it’s garnered “very positive” reviews during that period.
Heartening, then, to see the game heading to PlayStation 5 in March, where it’ll no doubt proceed to terrify gamers just like it has on PC.
This is a fundamental reimagining of the Outlast formula; you’ve got significantly more defence against the horrors that stalk you than you have in the first two games. Imagine this as Outlast’s Amnesia: The Bunker and you’re not far off.
WWE 2K24 (March 8th)
The WWE 2K franchise was arguably in slow decline for quite a while before WWE 2K20 arrived and prompted a major rethink on the part of developer Visual Concepts.
Thankfully, that rethink proved successful, and Visual Concepts is now on the up and up, as demonstrated by last year’s WWE 2K23 and, hopefully, by this year’s WWE 2K24 as well.
With a plethora of wrestlers, gameplay modes, and options available for you to enjoy, as well as a career mode based around the iconic WrestleMania event, WWE 2K24 promises to improve on WWE 2K23’s already-excellent template.
Unicorn Overlord (March 8th)
The PS5 has no shortage of great strategy RPGs, with the likes of Tactics Ogre Reborn, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and arguably even Baldur’s Gate 3 contributing to a strong showing for the genre all around.
Into that mix comes Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord, a game that looks like a sort of amalgamation of the studio’s work with games like GrimGrimoire and Nintendo’s work on Fire Emblem.
It’s a relatively grounded and political affair; you take control of an exiled prince who swears to take back control of his kingdom from a rogue general, gathering allies and taking part in real-time strategy combat as you do so.
Outcast: A New Beginning (March 15th)
There is a gaming genre that both fans and detractors like to refer to as “Eurojank”. The term affectionately refers to games that boast a lot of promise and ambitious systems, but extremely shonky execution.
That term looks like it’s going to apply to Appeal Studios and THQ Nordic’s Outcast: A New Beginning, which looks to revive the cult classic open-world property after several years in the wilderness.
The openness and freedom of Outcast: A New Beginning looks impressive indeed, but it remains to be seen whether Appeal and THQ can capture that same janky lightning in a bottle again.
Alone in the Dark (March 20th)
It’s arguable that Alone in the Dark was the first true survival horror experience; it popularised many of the tropes we’ve now come to associate with the genre, including exploring a large non-linear mansion a la Resident Evil.
Many, many years and several failed reboots later, along come Pieces Interactive and our old friends THQ Nordic to try and make some sense of the property by taking it back to its roots.
If you’re a fan of classic survival horror, Alone in the Dark looks like it will satisfy your cravings thanks to its key-hunting puzzles, creepy enemy design, and focus on resource management over high-octane combat.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 (March 22nd)
The first Dragon’s Dogma is often either loved or loathed by gamers; there aren’t many who can claim to be genuinely on the fence about whether they like it or not.
On the positive side, the game had some fiercely ambitious RPG systems and an impressively non-linear world to explore, as well as some very solid combat.
Negatives included a weak story (although it did get pretty insane by the end) and flat, boring voicework, so hopefully, Dragon’s Dogma 2 can modernise the franchise and iron out the issues that made the first game such a curate’s egg.
Rise of the Ronin (March 22nd)
Also out on March 22nd is Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin, an open-world action RPG set during Edo-period Japan. If you’ve played Like a Dragon: Ishin!, you may even recognise some of the characters on display here.
You’ll get embroiled in conflicts between the various factions vying for control of Japan, including the shogunate, anti-shogunate forces, and even the West.
Unlike some of Team Ninja’s other recent works (Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty spring to mind), Rise of the Ronin isn’t a Soulslike; it looks to share more in common with Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin’s Creed than it does with Sekiro.
Open Roads (March 28th)
Many of the games on this list are fairly high-octane affairs, inducing either terror or surges of adrenaline in their players. Open Roads has a markedly different goal in mind.
This is an emotionally-driven narrative adventure from the fine minds at Annapurna, so you know what to expect: lots of angry recriminations between the teenage girl protagonist and her mother as they travel on a road trip.
They’re out to uncover the dark secrets hidden beneath their family’s facade, and over the course of the game, you’ll get plenty of chances to see their dynamic unfold and evolve.