The 15 most anticipated games of 2023

A remake of Electronic Arts’ 15-year-old sci-fi survival horror classic, Dead Space aims to retain the terrifying atmosphere, gore-soaked action, and tense, twisty storytelling of the original. More than simply recycling that reliable formula though, this ambitious do-over is fully leveraging next-gen tech to ratchet the immersion and cinematic presentation. Best of all, brave fans needn’t wait long to board the Necromorph-infested USG Ishimura, as Dead Space lands — like a limb-lopping Plasma Cutter blast — later this month.

An open-world action-RPG set at the titular wizarding school, this ambitious fantasy adventure promises to pack enough spell-casting, potion-making, and magical monster encounters to please even the most discerning Harry Potter fans. But it’s also not a simple retelling of the boy wizard’s Voldemort-vanquishing days, as fans will instead don the robes of an original, customized character in a brand new tale set 100 years before the events of the book series.

Capcom’s recent remakes of Resident Evil 2 and its direct sequel have proven these survival horror classics are well worth revisiting. The upcoming Resident Evil 4 — arguably the series’ most beloved entry — looks to continue this trend with all the force of a zombie canine crashing through a window. Sporting modern, re-imagined gameplay and a new, cinema-rivaling presentation, this updated take on Leon S. Kennedy’s living nightmare should deliver one of the year’s best, adrenaline-spiking rides.

Launched alongside the Nintendo Switch in 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild not only ensured the system’s success, but re-defined one of the medium’s most adored series to deliver its best entry yet. Its long-awaited, direct sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, looks to duplicate that achievement, retaining and refining its predecessor’s vast open world gameplay, but also evolving it with a number of fresh features. You’d have more luck slaying Calamity Ganon with a stick than scoring details on those new elements, but we do know the game will encourage more vertical gameplay via a series of islands floating above Hyrule.

Long before Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man swung into claim the superhero-game crown, Rocksteady Studios had already done the genre proud with its acclaimed Arkham series. With that trilogy wrapping in 2015, Bat-fans have been anxiously awaiting the British developer’s return to the DC universe. It finally arrives this year, inviting players to unleash the mayhem-making shenanigans of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark. In addition to building on the Arkham games’ sturdy foundation, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League adds 4-player co-op to the mix, ensuring the good guys — who’ve apparently been corrupted by Brainiac — don’t stand a chance.

Anxious fighting game fans will get to unleash their feet and fists when one of the genre’s biggest franchises finally returns to flex its muscle in an all-new, numbered entry. Street Fighter 6 will feature an 18-strong launch roster of fresh and familiar brawlers, duking it out online and locally across a trio of dedicated modes – Fighting Ground, World Tour, and Battle Hub. Toss in evolved gameplay mechanics and an enhanced visual presentation, and the high-kicking sequel should hit like a match-winning Hadouken when it lands this summer. 

It’s been over a decade since Diablo III saw fans hacking, slashing, and spell-casting, but brave dungeon dwellers will soon be invited back to Sanctuary. While the franchise’s free-to-play Diablo Immortal might have scratched that demon-demolishing itch, the mainline Diablo IV — positioned as a return to the series’ thumb-blistering roots — promises to rub it raw. On top of looting, leveling, and laying waste to ugly beasts, the wickedly anticipated sequel will also treat fans to a long-awaited reunion with legendary love-to-hate baddie Lilith.

Square Enix’s enormously popular, long-running RPG series has spawned more sequels, spin-offs, and remakes than you can shake a Buster Sword at. But while the franchise keeps fans busy with these regularly released world-expanding offerings, brand new mainline entries are a much rarer beast. That makes Final Fantasy XVI a pretty big deal, one that will no doubt deliver — and evolve — the series’ rock solid blend of stunning visuals, thoughtful combat, and original, epic storytelling.

Following a 20-plus year wait, RPG fans will finally return to the Forgotten Realms of the popular Baldur’s Gate franchise. But the Dungeons & Dragons-based sequel has much more going for it than players’ long-brimming anticipation. Developed by Larian Studios — the team behind acclaimed RPG series Divinity — Baldur’s Gate III represents that rare, dream pairing of a beloved property with the studio best suited to adapting it. Toss in the fact that this hotly anticipated PC game has been honed over two years of fan feedback-fueled early access, and we can’t wait to party-up and teach those ugly mind flayers some manners. 

The long-running Assassin’s Creed series has mostly maintained an annual release schedule, but it’s been nearly three years since the viking-themed Valhalla sunk its hidden-blades into us. Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will not only see the series return in 2023, but also find it significantly altered from its last few entries. While recent chapters have featured massive open-worlds, branching narratives, and an action-RPG focus, Mirage is promising a return to the franchise’s throat-slitting roots, with sharper, more linear storytelling and stealthier gameplay.

Redfall’s titular island town is a quaint New England getaway that wouldn’t look out of place in a travel brochure…save for the blood-craving creeps roaming its streets. Thankfully, the open-world, first-person shooter arms players to the teeth and pairs them with up to three vampire-slaying survivors. Its concept might sound similar to other online cooperative fraggers, but coming from Arkane Studios — the talented team behind the acclaimed Dishonored series — we’re hopeful it’ll pack more than mindless, trigger-squeezing action.

Starfield’s wildly ambitious scope and scale is matched only by the massive expectations fans have for Bethesda Game Studios’ first new universe in a quarter century. And while plenty has been revealed about the sci-fi action-RPG — including the impressive/daunting ability to plant your flag on 1,000 planets — just as much remains a closely guarded secret. We hope it’s out of this world, but even if it only matches the quality of the studio’s Fallout and Elder Scrolls entries, we’ll happily spend hundreds of hours among the stars fulfilling our space cowboy fantasies.

A cult-horror classic released in 2010, Alan Wake seemed an unlikely candidate for a sequel. But thanks to its recent remaster finding a new audience — not to mention its developer Remedy Entertainment significantly growing its fan-base off the success of spooky sci-fi entry Control — the titular, haunted novelist is indeed making a return. Details on his new supernatural-tinged tale are scarce, though Remedy has revealed the game will feature more of a survival-horror vibe than its action-focused predecessor.

DC’s villains will also face some stiff competition from the aforementioned web-slinger, as Insomniac Games is due to deliver the next numbered entry in its popular, PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man series. Following the stellar 2018 title that kicked off the franchise — and 2020’s excellent Miles Morales-starring spin-off — the newest wall-crawling entry is easily one of the year’s most anticipated games. The sequel puts fans beneath the spandex of both Peter Parker’s and Morales’ Spideys, while pitting them against a rogues gallery of unsavory sorts, including iconic Marvel menace Venom.