Multiplayer games are great, and crossplay makes them better. Thanks to crossplay, friends, families, and partners don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars just to play the same game, or stick to old titles that may have overstayed their welcome.
Late 2023 and 2024’s slate of cross-platform multiplayer games have varied gameplay. There’s a game for everyone: casual experiences for parties, time commitments perfect for weekly hangouts, soothing environments to make a home in, and harried fights for survival. With these crossplay-compatible games coming out in October and beyond, gamers have time to think about their next group game or even opt for upgrades.
6 Just Dance 2024 Edition
- Release Date: October 24, 2023
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
Ubisoft’s wildly popular dance game will release its 15th entry in October 2023. Players must still dance along the actions of their selected characters on screen using their JoyCon for the Nintendo Switch or smartphone for other consoles.
What’s new, aside from the visuals, are the 40 songs and “Danceverses” featured in the cross-platform game. Players can expect updates with new music and rewards throughout the year. They can even play with friends who own the 2023 Edition online, and go through the songs included in that edition. New players also receive a free 1-month trial for Just Dance+, which unlocks a vault of more than 200 songs.
5 Lords of the Fallen (2023)
- Release Date: October 2023
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
PlayStation are running high for the 2023 reboot of the 2014 game. Executive producer Saul Gascon was quoted by Edge Magazine as saying that they “want to be the second reference” after Dark Souls studio FromSoftware.
Fans, meanwhile, want the customizable combat CI Games and Hexworks promise it would have. Magic is quick release, parrying is a well-timed button press, and melee blends seamlessly with its other systems. Combat also plays into the game’s theme of duality, as enemies can pull players into either one of its two dimensions.
Co-op players can have fun exploring these dimensions together. Through co-op, players can find armor, items, and other unlockables in environments and after certain points in the story. Moreover, crossplay won’t be an issue, as the game will run at 60 FPS on the PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
4 Palia
- Release Date: Holiday season 2023 (Nintendo estimate)
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
Palia began its closed beta in August, but will have its full release during 2023’s holiday season. Nevertheless, farming and life sim fans are already settling into the planned free-to-play, cosmetics-only game.
While players can only play as humans, they co-exist with elfs, golems, and grimalkins as they build their home, by themselves or with friends through Windows or on the Switch. Players can interact with their new neighbors as they do what they must to build up. NPCs are also important quest givers and guide players as they learn the game’s mechanics.
Although the game has a story mode, these game mechanics are the true stars of Palia. Like Story of Seasons and Animal Crossing, players can catch bugs and fish, forage for goods, garden and make furniture, mine for rare ores, cook, and hunt. They could even woo an NPC.
3 Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
- Release Date: February 2, 2024
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
With the game delayed until 2024, fans hope Rocksteady will use the time to polish its four-player crossplay co-op mode, among other things. If they do, DC fans and gamers looking for a Triple A co-op narrative game have a lot to look forward to. Suicide Squad follows the titular villain team as they try to undo the damage that Braniac unleashed on Metropolis. What follows are stages full of huge set pieces and mooks that players can dispatch or dodge using grappling hooks.
Ultimately, the game isn’t a strict shooter. It’s a looter-shooter where style and fun take precedence over lore accuracy or traditional shooting mechanics. Fans hope that the delay means the combat will have more weight and dimension to it, while keeping the fun potential shown in early trailers.
2 Ark 2
- Release Date: 2024
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series X|S
Ark 2 is a stunning sequel to the critically lauded fan favorite. Putting Vin Diesel’s appearance aside, fans are hyped for the gameplay upgrades promised on the game’s Steam page. Mantling, free-climbing, parkour, sliding, and swinging are apparently in the books for the third-person only sequel.
Melee will feature blocks, dodges, combos, staggers, and special attacks. Crafting will be component and module based, complemented by an upgraded build system. More importantly, taming dinosaurs will have a new tilt to it thanks to the new Creature Management system.
If the release date seems far away, there is plenty left to do in the first game despite being eight years old. PC and Xbox will have first dibs on the title before the PS5 gets a shot. Ark 2 will also start out as an early access game.
1 Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland
- Release Date: Late 2023 or Early 2024
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One
Heartland is still in development following the closed beta, yet there’s still excitement for the standalone survival game. It’s ostensibly free-to-play, which interests players despite any misgivings about Ubisoft’s monetization practices. The game also has separate PvPvE and PvE modes, a plus for gamers who prefer strictly no PvP.
In either mode, players have to deal with dangers in the fictional town of Silver Creek, where hostiles and the deadly virus from The Division lurk. Players must manage their needs while finding supplies such as breathing filters, which they can use to infiltrate Contamination Zones. Enemy AI also gets sharper at night, as well as players hunting for supplies or a good fight.