There have been plenty of games announced for release in 2023. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best ones to look forward to!
As someone who has created some small-scale indie games in the past, I can attest to the grueling process of game production. Add in millions of dollars, departmental teams, and stakeholder pressure and the time only increases. Add in community feedback, marketing, and all of the advertising materials necessary and time only increases. Add in press events, distribution, and accessibility options and time, yet again, only increases. I think you get my point: a good game takes a long time and a lot of effort from many moving parts.
Due to that, many games get announced a year (sometimes multiple) before the actual release date. As of now (early 2022), there have been a notable amount of games announced for 2023 with even more coming as the year progresses. We have hand-picked a few titles that were particularly interesting to us based on previous titles in the series or intriguing reveal trailers/announcements. In no particular order, here are some of the best games to look forward to in 2023:
First up on the list, we have The Wolf Among Us 2. This is a sequel to the original Wolf Among Us released all the way back in 2013-2014 (came out in episodes). In development for a couple of years now, this game has similar gameplay mechanics to Until Dawn. If you haven’t played that before, it is essentially a graphic adventure game where the player gets to choose the way the protagonist interacts with the environment. These choices compound and can have a drastic effect on how the story progresses. Think of it as one of those old interactive Goosebumps novels but in a more modern form.
The series itself is based on Fables, a comic book series written by Bill Willingham. This series is essentially a collection of fairy tales and folklore giving the developers a wide range of characters, plots, and drama to choose from to ensure their game is engaging. If it is anything like the first installment, I’m sure it will be! Their original game received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam with over 20,000 people leaving a review.
“Telltale did it again. Great voice acting, amazing music, the music hits different, the way it's used here is unreal, the story is so f*cking good, it's actually a shame TWAU 2 is so far away... unless?” - brustu on Steam about the first Wolf Among Us
With Tom Holland and Zendaya’s public reception rising day by day, the Spiderman series has become one of the most popular series in the US. Even more relevant, the first installment Spider-Man is still currently the third highest sold Playstation 4 game in history. Unfortunately, Sony has still maintained the rights behind Spiderman and thus the game will only be released on Playstation 5. This is sad news for a PC user like myself, but I’ll be sure to watch a playthrough of it online as the narrative was the best aspect to the original (imo).
In terms of gameplay, the original played quite similarly to the GTA series (without online) in terms of mechanics. It is an open-world game in which the player has a main list of quests to complete to finish the game, with a ton of optional side quests to learn more about the world, upgrade characters, and obtain new suits.
Information-wise, there have been a few golden nuggets dropped hinting at how this game will play out. First of all, Peter Parker will be the main playable protagonist, but Miles Morales will also be tagging along. I do not know exactly how this will be implemented, but I am hoping it will be a system like Never Alone’s fox that players can and have to take control of at certain points to progress. Also, Venom was seen in the reveal trailer but it is still unclear as to whose team he’ll be on. Finally, there are *supposedly* symbiote variant versions for every single suit in the game!
Moving on to one of the most exhilarating genres in gaming, Alan Wake is returning for a sequel in the survival horror genre. The original came out over a decade ago, but it is important to remember just how positively it was received back then as it received Time magazine’s top spot in the top ten video games of 2010. The original was more of an action-adventure game meaning that this turn towards survival horror could predict a massive change in the game’s style and themes.
Despite the original game being released exclusively on the Xbox 360, Alan Wake II will be available on just about every major modern console. There has not been much information released yet, but the reveal trailer has been released. It was announced at the 2021 Game Awards and, judging by the comments on the trailer, has a huge amount of hype for those who played the original over a decade prior.
“Alan Wake is a great psychological horror game with a brilliant storyline. Onslaught of enemies and lack of ammunition, despair. Nice mountain scenery, pleasant radio and television stations. "Filmness" and climate pours out of the screen - and is still a great audio track at the end of each chapter.Feels like you are playing through a Stephen King book. The game mechanics are good and everything is so pretty! Worth recommending.” - Nexiu on Steam about Alan Wake
Perhaps my most anticipated game on this list, BitCraft seems to be a combination of WoW, Minecraft, and Valheim. It has one of the most intriguing art styles I have seen in a long time (since Gris), which is only further exacerbated by the fact that its world is procedurally generated. It has MMORPG elements such as working together to take down bosses found throughout the world.
For those who just enjoy Minecraft elements like crafting, exploring, and farming, BitCraft has all of those to offer! I’m really hoping that the game has a similar building system to Minecraft as it quite literally allows you to build whatever you want. I was relatively disappointed with how limited Valheim’s building mechanic is in terms of ‘blocks’ available to use.
The website itself mentions ‘becoming a leader’ of the town and playing a slightly political game. This could be really fun if it was implemented well, but I worry that the game simply has social mechanics built in and they are assuming players will lean towards a political, land-dominating system. Hopefully, there are actual political powers built into the game to allow these political leaders to actually enact power and make these positions a desirable goal for players.
The pre-alpha for the game has been released, but I have sadly not received a pass to play. If you’d like to sign up for the chance to get into the pre-alpha, just follow this link and fill out the survey to increase your chances.
This last inclusion is one of the coolest concepts I have heard of in a while. Essentially, War of Dragnorox is a MMORPG similar to World of Warcraft in terms of overall gameplay and design. However, there is some heavy referencing to Dungeons & Dragons in that there are ‘staff dungeon masters’ who can dictate the way your dungeon goes to enhance the story. As far as moderator abilities, the trailer mentions “can spawn mobs, add treasures, unlock areas, put a trap in front of your group, change the layout of the dungeon you are in.” This sounds like a pretty sick concept behind an MMORPG. My struggle with games in this genre is that whenever the story lacks it feels like you are grinding for no reason. Hopefully, this mechanic would address that with each dungeon being a unique feel.
However, I do have some worries about the implementation of said mechanic. Based on the quote from the trailer, it does not sound like (in the current state, this is pre-alpha) the moderators have any ability to actually add depth to the story. Sure, they can add in mobs, but so can a spawning mechanism. Just about all of the abilities mentioned could be done with regular mechanics except that it is a human choosing which ones activate. If they were to add actual storytelling mechanics with a skilled staff of writers, this could end up being a really cool game. Ironically, the inclusion of skilled writers garnering new players would only cause more trouble for the developers in terms of staffing. Either way, it’s definitely still a title to look out for upon release!
Even though there were only five games mentioned on this list, there are a ton more games out there set to be released in 2023 that are worth looking forward to. These games will be in development for, at the very least, a full year hopefully attesting to the time and dedication being put into their creation. This is especially true for games like The Wolf Among Us 2 that have been in development for many years.
Heading image courtesy of marvel.com
Which of these are you looking forward to the most (if any)?
