Top 12 new video games to play in 2023

After years of delays, gamers can look forward once again to an exciting year packed with long-awaited titles

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  Forspoken is created by a team of developers who worked on Final Fantasy XV. Photo: Square Enix

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  Company of Heroes 3 pairs a Total War-style grand strategy map with action-packed battles. Photo: Sega

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  Star Wars Jedi: Survivor follows the next chapter of Cal Kestis’s story, 10 years after Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. Photo: Electronic Arts

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  Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League places players in control of the Suicide Squad as they try to save the world from the evil Brainiac. Photo: Warner Bros

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  Final Fantasy XVI pits players in a medieval-style quest for revenge, infusing European history with fantasy. Photo: Square Enix

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  Street Fighter 6 sees the return of Dee Jay alongside several fresh characters. Photo: Capcom

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  Diablo IV offers a variety of character classes to choose from, with a range of powers and abilities. Photo: Blizzard Entertainment

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  Baldur's Gate 3 is a classic party RPG game modelled after the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game. Photo: Larian Studios

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  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes the action to the skies high above the land of Hyrule. Photo: Nintendo

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  Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is set to bring back the immersive open-world gameplay and addictive combat. Photo: PlayStation

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  Assassin's Creed Mirage takes players to historic Baghdad, where they are faced with the task of refining a young street thief into a master assassin. Photo: Ubisoft

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  Starfield, the first new universe from Bethesda in 25 years, takes the beloved open-world role-playing game formula to outer space. Photo: Bethesda Softworks

Delays have always been a part of games development, but this year, the pandemic and various other challenges escalated the issue, making for a relatively quiet year – with even Ubisoft unable to churn out the new Assassin's Creed on its usual schedule.

Come next year, however, things are gearing up once again, with enormous titles, including the sequel to Nintendo's 2017's blockbuster The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Bethesda's long-awaited “Skyrim in space”, Starfield, set to drop.

Here's a list of some of the most eagerly anticipated video games slated for release in 2023.

Forspoken

The debut adventure game from Luminous Productions is a fantasy action adventure centred on Frey, a New Yorker who finds herself stuck in the beautifully wicked realm of Athia.

Infused with special powers, and a striking knack for parkour, she has to defeat an array of monsters and creatures to find her way home. Created by a team of developers who worked on Final Fantasy XV, the game could just be the dawn of a new hit franchise.

Company of Heroes 3

After five years of development, Company of Heroes 3 is finally scheduled for release. Pairing a massive Total War-style grand strategy map with action-packed battles, the title is already on many a military historian's wishlist.

Set during the Second World War, the game features Italian and North African campaigns, with four playable factions on launch – the British and American armies, or the German Wehrmacht and Afrika Korps.

Players can unlock new abilities as they go along, such as supply drops or carpet bombing, adding depth to the campaigns as they go along. There is also a chaotically destructive multiplayer mode, with several players pitting tanks, infantry and artillery against one another in manic battles; buildings collapsing all around.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Set several years after Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen, Survivor follows the next chapter of Cal Kestis’s story, 10 years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, as he links up with a small droid.

Players have the task of surviving what looks like a darker chapter, with the galaxy controlled by Order 66, after its decision to execute all Jedi warriors.

Armed with new lightsabres and animal companions, Kestis is set to propel himself deeper into the Star Wars universe.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

This open-world narrative-driven game places players in control of the Suicide Squad – Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot and Captain Boomerang – as they try to save the world from the evil Brainiac.

With the antagonist using mind-controlling powers to control the Justice League, players have to take down heroes such as The Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman. The game features both solo and co-op modes, allowing players to team up and change characters at will.

The fifth game in the Batman: Arkham Knight series, the game follows the events of Batman: Arkham Knight. It is the first to not star Batman as the main protagonist – though he does make a cameo, voiced posthumously by Kevin Conroy in his final appearance as the caped crusader.

Final Fantasy XVI

The latest instalment in the beloved Final Fantasy RPG franchise pits players in a medieval-style quest for revenge. Brimming with intrigue and politics, it infuses European history with fantasy, sending gamers on a quest across the continent of Valisthea.

The main character, Clive Rosfield, is determined to bring down the mysterious being known as Dark Eikon Ifrit. The game features fast-paced action, with players alternating between swordplay, magic and other powers to take down monsters.

Final Fantasy XVI will also feature a range of difficulty levels, including story-mode for casual gamers, and action-focused mode, for veterans seeking a new challenge.

Street Fighter 6

Fighting game fans all over the world rejoiced earlier this month when Capcom announced a June release date for its latest Street Fighter title.

Dialling up the colour with a new art style, the latest game has the character Dee Jay returning, alongside several fresh characters, including supermodel judoka Manon, the fighting Chinese dancer Jamie and muscle woman Marisa.

With a new control scheme to welcome back those who haven’t played a Street Fighter in years, the game should be a great jumping-in point for novices keen to try out the notoriously complex fighter.

Diablo IV

The legendary Diablo action RPG franchise returns with a new title, crammed with evil beings and hellish dungeons to defeat, with loot tucked in the darkest corners.

Set over an open world spanning five distinct regions, Diablo IV offers a variety of character classes to choose from, with a diverse range of powers and abilities.

Asides from solo and co-ordinated party play, the game will feature PvP elements, allowing gamers to hunt one another down – ganging up along the way, if need be.

Baldur's Gate 3

After two years in early access, Baldur's Gate 3 has finally been granted a final release date for August. Modelled after the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game, it is the third main title in the storied series, set to release 25 years after the original.

Gamers must navigate the nightmarish world of the Forgotten Realms, desperately trying to shake off psychological parasites implanted by the mind flayers.

The classic party RPG game lets players toggle between real-time and turn-based modes, allowing them to play through either as good or evil teams; alone or online with up to four players.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Six years after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild set fire to the gaming landscape, its long-awaited sequel is finally expected to arrive in May next year.

Following up on the open-world masterpiece that catapulted the Nintendo Switch, which has sold almost 30 million copies, the title takes the action to the skies high above the land of Hyrule.

Though details remain scant, if the teaser is anything to go by, fans can expect more fine-tuned takes on the mechanics of the previous title.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Featuring both Miles Morales and Peter Parker as Spider-Man, this title looks set to capture everything that made 2018’s Spider-Man and 2020’s Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales so beloved.

Celebrated for raising the bar on comic book games, the franchise is renowned for its instinctive web-slinging, unlockable gadgets and abilities – rounded off with immersive open-world gameplay and addictive combat.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will hope to build on these mechanics, rewarding players not just for their superhero brawling abilities, but strategic use of their Spidey-senses too.

Assassin's Creed Mirage

Assassin's Creed Mirage takes players to historic Baghdad, where they face the task of refining a young street thief called Basim into a master assassin.

Originally advertised as a small-scale stealth game titled Assassin's Creed Rift, the entry faced numerous delays – disrupting Ubisoft's standard development cycle of one Assassin's Creed game a year.

With more than two years since the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Assassin's Creed Mirage seems to be a return to basics for the series. Centred on one of Valhalla's favourite characters, it is believed the game will refix its focus on players sneaking and parkouring their way into mischief and murder.

Starfield

The first new universe from Bethesda in 25 years, Starfield takes the company’s beloved open-world role-playing game formula to outer space.

Described by Bethesda Softworks's executive producer and director Todd Howard as “Skyrim in space”, the game has been among the most highly anticipated in recent years.

With 1,000 planets to explore, space flight, base building and a dynamic character customisation system, the game looks set to build on the company’s past successes – and learn from its mistakes (Fallout 4’s voice acting).