After a quieter year than expected due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2023 looks set to be a blockbuster gaming year. From the sweeping landscapes of Breath of the Wild’s follow-up to the mysterious world of Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s plenty to be excited about.
Plus, there’s a return to form for the Stalker series in Atomic Heart’s take on hulking nuclear exclusion zone and unhinged robots.
Star Wars: Fallen Order
Star Wars fans have been pretty spoiled with new content since Disney bought the franchise. Between the Vader Immortal VR game, Bad Batch animated series, Cassian Andor show and Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series, there’s no shortage of new projects to fill in the gap between the Prequel Trilogy and the Original Trilogy.
While Fallen Order wasn’t perfect, it showed that Respawn Entertainment was able to take on a huge project and still deliver a solid experience. With its cast of characters and deep themes, it’s a great way to introduce new audiences to the Star Wars universe.
This sequel picks up five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, as Cal Kestis is hunted by the Empire. The first trailer hints at a similar story, but there’s also plenty of new elements to be excited about. From the looks of it, the sequel will be bigger and more robust in terms of gameplay. The game promises to have more Force abilities, more lightsaber styles and more locations for players to explore.
Redfall
The open world of Redfall, set in a picture-book coastal town overrun by vampires and cultists, looks promising. With an Arkane studio (of Dishonored and Prey fame) at the helm and backing from juggernaut publisher Bethesda, expectations were high.
Sadly, Redfall fails to deliver on all fronts. Its seemingly colourful characters lack personality and its story is drab, repetitive and forgettable. Meanwhile, the game’s loot-shooter elements feel tired and uninspired.
There’s also a ton of bugs at launch, from the hilariously annoying (players staying in one place or gliding) to the flat-out game-breaking (lack of late asset load-in, text pop-up and more). It’s a shame that such a talented team couldn’t make Redfall shine. Perhaps 2023 will bring us another chance with Control, the anticipated sequel more than a decade in the making from developer Remedy Entertainment. The sci-fi survival horror is part of a larger Remedy Connected Universe and will debut on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Rocksteady Studios’ long-in-development DC villains-doing-good shooter finally has a release date. The purveyor of the Batman Arkham series has shifted its focus from the Caped Crusader and set up Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Deadshot to take on Brainiac’s brainwashed line-up of superheroes in a ruined Metropolis.
This four-player co-op game was shown off during Sony’s State of Play event and marks the final performance of late voice actor Kevin Conroy as Batman. The trailer showed the four antiheroes fighting alongside each other in a style that smacked of Destiny 2 and Anthem inserted into the DC universe.
Each of the four playable characters (Harley, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, and Deadshot) have their own unique moveset and enhancements for traversal. They are tasked with taking down members of the Justice League that have been brainwashed by Brainiac. The squad is rounded out by Wonder Woman, who is the only superhero to resist Brainiac’s control.
Hogwarts Legacy
For more than a decade, Harry Potter fans have dreamed of playing an open-world game that allows them to live out their fantasy of attending Hogwarts. Finally, in 2019, that dream comes to fruition with Hogwarts Legacy, the first game set within the Wizarding World since a few rushed movie tie-ins and Lego games.
The game’s surprisingly fun combat is well-tuned for the setting and features a variety of cool spells such as Lumos to light up the wand, Protego to parry enemy attacks with a magic shield, and Revelio, used to locate objects or enemies in the environment. Unlike other games that often overdo the loot system, Hogwarts Legacy uses it sparingly and effectively.
It’s worth noting that, based on how some of the game’s trailers have been portrayed, there are some sinister themes to the story. This is especially true if players are tasked with casting Unforgivable Curses on fellow students, which would skew the game away from the wholesome nostalgia that many of its trailers imply.
