2022 was, for many people, a fairly whatever year when it comes to big-name AAA video games. Sure we had God of War Ragnarök and Game-of-the-Year Elden Ring, but beyond that, it was pretty lackluster. Not so, it seems, for 2023. While we obviously can’t know if any of the hotly anticipated titles will be good, we do know we’re very excited for some huge games to hit shelves this year. From superheroes to street fighters, these are the video games, so far, that have us ready to spend hours and hours glued to our PCs and consoles.
Here they are in order of when they’ll (probably) come out.
Dead Space Remake – January 27
Survival horror games are coming back in a big, bad way thanks to a bevy of high-profile remakes from the ’90s and ’00s. Add to that list Motive Studios and EA’s much ballyhooed remake of 2008’s seminal space horror game, Dead Space. This would be the first Dead Space game since 2013’s Dead Space 3, a critical disappointment coming off of the stellar first two parts. (See what I did there?)
The game is said to follow the original’s plot. You take control of Isaac Clarke, an engineer on a deep space repair vessel who finds himself seemingly the lone human survivor onboard a massive derelict mining ship full of zombified and mutated creatures. The developers plan to utilize “uninterrupted sequence shot“, absent of loading screens, akin to God of War. They also promise no microtransactions, which was one of Dead Space 3‘s most hated features.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – March 17
To say that people were happy with 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an understatement. For the first time under EA, fans got a single-player Star Wars game with elements of the beloved Dark Souls series. Those elements, including unlockable looping paths, challenging combat, and massive boss battles, worked incredibly well in the Star Wars universe. A sequel seemed all but assured.
For Jedi: Survivor, players will pick up with Jedi-in-hiding Cal Kestis five years after the first game, roughly placing it at the time of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series. Cal has an even harder time dodging the Empire now that he’s on their radar.
The devs promise to have more customization in terms of lightsaber styles and combat than the first game. This includes several new dedicated “stances” and an opportunity to use a Kylo Ren-style crossbar saber.
Resident Evil 4 Remake – March 24
After a good long while where the preeminent survival horror franchise got way too bloated with weird gameplay and lore, Capcom reinvented Resident Evil in two distinct ways. One was the new first-person games Resident Evil VII and Resident Evil: Village, two of the most lauded games in recent years. The second has been remakes of beloved second and third games. Updating much of the presentation, and ditching the fixed camera, Resi 2 and 3 made people remember why they loved that franchise in the first place.
Now we add to that Resident Evil 4. It was the first game to feature over-the-shoulder, third-person combat with a larger focus on action. For many, 4 is the best game in the franchise. Seeing it updated for current console generations will be great. While it’ll keep the inventory and merchant system from the original, Capcom says it will “reimagin[e] the storyline of the game while keeping the essence of its direction.” Presumably this means, while president’s daughter Ashley Graham will still need escorting, she’ll be less of a major annoying load. Hopefully anyway.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – May 12
Oh, it’s only a sequel to one of the most popular and beloved games ever. It only launched Nintendo’s most popular console since the N64. But even if neither of those things were true, a new Legend of Zelda game will always be cause for excitement. Tears of the Kingdom will reteam Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi with Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma.
Not a ton else is known about the game at this point. However, in 2019 during the initial announcement, Nintendo said the sequel exists because they had too many ideas for downloadable content for Breath of the Wild. One of those is islands in the sky high above Hyrule. Link will be able to travel between them like in Skyward Sword.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – May 26
This one, like a lot of games, seems like it’s been about to come out for ages. We first saw a glimpse of it during FanExpo 2021, if you can remember that. This will be a single- or four-player co-op game where people can control Harley Quinn, Capt. Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark in a campaign where they have to fight against evil versions of the Justice League. This game comes from Rocksteady Games and takes place in the Arkham universe, but in Metropolis.
One thing we learned recently is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will feature the last performance of the late Kevin Conroy as Batman. That alone makes it a must-play for us.
Street Fighter 6 – June 2
We continue with sequel central come June with the first new mainline Street Fighter game since 2016. The trailer for this one looks wild. Vibrant colors, hilarious minigames, and tons of customization. The game features 18 fighters, six of whom are entirely new to the series. Capcom also promises two control types: the “classic” control scheme has a six-button layout that functions similarly to previous entries, while the “modern” control scheme assigns special moves to a single button combined with a directional input. That means button-mashing will be a viable strategy rather than a hindrance!
Diablo IV – June 6
The action-RPG franchise that began in 1997 is back with its latest numbered outing. Procedurally generated dungeons and loot-focused upgrading that have been hallmarks of the series will return for this game. It will also add new wrinkles like an open world and player-versus-player combat. That latter was something the devs promised for Diablo III back in 2012 but couldn’t deliver. What’s 11 years between friends?
As you can see, this game is very bright and upbeat and full of happiness. Just kidding! It’s a literal hellscape. Fight in a war against the evil Lilith, daughter of Mephisto. (No, not that Mephisto. Not technically for legal reasons.) After the events of previous games, the forces of demons and angels have been depleted, allowing an opening for Lilith to establish power. Presumably, she’s not going to work on her memoir, Angels, Demons, and Me.
Final Fantasy XVI – June 22
Seeeeeeeequellllllllls! Square Enix is back with yet another in the exceedingly long-running Final Fantasy meta series. For those who aren’t super up on their Roman numerals, that’s 16. Official synopsis is as follows:
Valisthea, a world divided between six nations who hold power through access to magical Crystals and Dominants, humans who act as hosts for each nation’s Eikon. Tensions between the nations escalate as a malady dubbed the Blight begins consuming the land. Clive Rosfield, guardian to his younger brother Joshua, witnesses his kingdom destroyed and goes on a revenge quest in pursuit of the dark Eikon Ifrit.
The game will feature both melee and magic-casting combat elements, and characters with awesome, wispy hair. As per. Final Fantasy XVI will be a timed exclusive for the PlayStation 5. Like previous installments, however, it will make its way to other consoles afterwards.
Starfield – First Half of 2023
Bethesda, the studio behind the Elder Scrolls and recent Fallout games, will bring their brand of role-playing to space with Starfield. The studio announced the game all the way back at E3 2018 and will be their first new intellectual property in over 25 years. However, it’s not too far out of the norm; director Todd Howard described it as “Skyrim in space.”
The story will take place about 20 years after a massive war between various factions in the Settled Systems, an area of space roughly 50 lightyears outside of our Solar System. The major factions enjoy an uneasy peace, while the player takes control of a customizable character who is a member of the Constellation, a space exploration group. Getting involved in petty squabbles between outland factions? That’s the Bethesda bread and also butter.
Spider-Man 2 – Fall 2023
2018’s Spider-Man was one of the biggest successes of the late-PS4-era. Insomniac Games gave players a massive open world version of Marvel’s Manhattan with tons of sites to see, characters with whom to interact, and baddies to fight. This was followed by the Miles Morales DLC in 2020 which expanded the mythos and the roster of characters. Now, Peter Parker and Miles will team up for the official sequel, which will have both Kraven the Hunter and Candyman himself Tony Todd as the voice of Venom.
Alan Wake II – Sometime in 2023
Remedy Entertainment had themselves a major hit in 2019 with Control, a Weird Fiction extravaganza all inside an ever-changing, unending office building in New York. We learned throughout that game, and especially in one of the DLCs, that Control wasn’t a one-off. It took place in the same universe as Remedy’s earlier Twin Peaks-meets-Stephen King game Alan Wake. Now, with hype for the shared Remedy-verse at an all-time high, the devs are taking players back to Bright Falls for a 13-years-later sequel to Alan Wake before giving us a Control sequel. You sneaky sausages.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
