Our 2023 hopefuls: These are the 23 titles we”re most looking forward to

(Genre: Action-Adventure – Release: Mar 17, 2023 – Developer: Respawn)

I sometimes forget how much Star Wars can enchant. The newer series, after all, usually push me nose down into the dirt, imperial grey everywhere, rusty industrial factories, scuffed backyards, yes, that”s Star Wars too, no question about it. But Star Wars is also the magic of discovery!

When Luke wades through the swamp on Dagobah, when Leia meets her first Ewok in the deep jungle, when the mighty gates of Jabba”s palace open, when the skeleton of your dragon weathers in the dunes of Tatooine, when it rumbles in the maw of an asteroid or when unexpected creatures lurk even in rubbish compactors. And that”s exactly what Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2019 had figured out.

I just recently played through Cal Kesti”s first adventure again, and even three years later I thought to myself: gosh, what a well-rounded Star Wars experience this is, with spectacular combat, magical locations, a beautiful soundtrack, and the most heartwarming companion since Wall-E: BD-1. But Fallen Order was also a prototype. All the unlock and explore stuff felt like filler at times, I had to revisit old planets too often, and the story of a surviving Jedi Padawan has been told quite a few times in the Expanded Universe.

But a sequel? I have no idea what direction Jedi: Survivor is heading in – and that”s what I find so exciting about it! What new manoeuvres does Jedi Knight Cal Kestis bring to the table? Who are the new adversaries? How does the new blaster play? Which locations am I going to turn upside down? You can tell from every corner of Fallen Order that this was a team that really got it right in Star Wars – and it”s precisely with teams like this that it”s incredibly exciting to see what the sequel has up its sleeve.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

(Genre: Metroidvania – Release: 2023 – Developer: Team Cherry )

One wrong jump, one wrong input, and I”ll get smacked over the head with full force. It only takes a few moments before I come to my senses sitting on a bench. I shake my damaged limbs, cover up the bruises and cry only inwardly so as not to show weakness to my enemies. A long walk to the scene of my failure follows, only to wake up again moments later on the bench. What a blast I hope to have again soon! 

Hollow Knight: Silksong will finally be released in 2023! After hoping for a release date over the last few years almost mutated into a running gag among die-hard fans, it seems that this year they finally want to put their money (haha) where their mouth is. And you know what? I can hardly wait to fight my way through the once again breathtaking looking game world piece by piece. What nasty bosses are waiting to torment me? How many sad, creepy or just plain hilarious characters will I meet? The brave and mysterious warrior Hornet was already my undisputed favourite character in the first novel, and now I get to play her myself.

I”m scared too though. Hollow Knight: Silksong so far gives the impression of doing everything quite a bit better, like its predecessor, which was already almost perfect in my eyes. But can you top this Metroidvania titan by taking the same ingredients and just throwing double or even triple the amount into the cooking pot? It would be far from the first game to fail because of too much ambition. I hope that Team Cherry, for all their passion, continues to think about quality assurance. Hornet deserved it – and so do I after all this waiting!

Starfield

(genre: RPG – release: 2023 – developer: Bethesda)

I love space games, I love open worlds. But I can”t name you off the top of my head any space open world (Is it actually called Open Space then?) that I”ve ever loved. No Man”s Sky I find too generic despite all the improvements, I fell asleep flying in Elite: Dangerous (no joke), and even Freelancer – a game I more than adore – didn”t fully pick me up with its freely explorable solar systems because there was nothing to discover in them apart from artefact weapons and the Hispania.

Well, and now comes Starfield a game that is supposed to transplant the virtue of Bethesda role-playing games into space: the freedom to go or rather fly where I want and do what I want there. That excites me so incredibly! Like Captain Kirk at the end of “Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country”, I want to point somewhere into the sea of stars and say: We”re setting course for the second star from the left. And then I just want to see what there is to find there. That discovery is the crux of Starfield for me.

I know from Skyrim that Bethesda can really stuff its worlds with wonderful and loving details. I want that back: handcrafted adventures and stories instead of randomly generated randomness à la No Man”s Sky. I want to find unique places, hidden quests, secrets. I want to explore a cosmos worth exploring. And therein lies a potential problem: randomness will also play a role in Starfield, the engine will randomly place quests on the planets.

For example, I encounter the occupants of a moon base complaining about a crew member kidnapped by pirates. At the same time, a privateer base is placed on another planet and I am allowed to set off on a rescue mission.

That may be nice once, maybe twice. But if I”m supposed to thwart a pirate kidnapping on every other boulder while exploring space, it”s going to get on my nerves harder than Wesley Crusher. I want to feel love in role-playing games, not systems. And I just hope I feel love in Starfield. Otherwise, there”s always Homeworld 3.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

(Genre: Role Playing Game – Release: Winter 2023 – Developer: Square Enix )

I love space games, I love open worlds. But I can”t name you off the top of my head any space open world (Is it actually called Open Space then?) that I”ve ever loved. I find No Man”s Sky too generic despite all the improvements, I fell asleep flying in Elite: Dangerous (no joke), and even Freelancer – a game I more than adore – didn”t fully pick me up with its freely explorable solar systems because there was nothing to discover in them apart from artefact weapons and the Hispania.

Well, and now Starfield is a game that is supposed to transplant the virtue of Bethesda role-playing games into space: the freedom to go or fly wherever I want and do what I want there. That excites me so incredibly! Like Captain Kirk at the end of “Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country”, I want to point somewhere into the sea of stars and say: We”re setting course for the second star from the left. And then I just want to see what there is to find there. This discovery is the crux of Starfield for me.

I know from Skyrim that Bethesda can really stuff its worlds with wonderful and loving details. I want that back: handcrafted adventures and stories instead of randomised randomness à la No Man”s Sky. I want to find unique places, hidden quests, secrets. I want to explore a cosmos worth exploring. And therein lies a potential problem: randomness will also play a role in Starfield, the engine will randomly place quests on the planets.

For example, I encounter the occupants of a moon base complaining about a crew member kidnapped by pirates. At the same time, a privateer base is placed on another planet and I am allowed to set off on a rescue mission.

That may be nice once, maybe twice. But if I”m supposed to thwart a pirate kidnapping on every other boulder while exploring space, it”s going to get on my nerves harder than Wesley Crusher. I want to feel love in role-playing games, not systems. And I just hope I feel love in Starfield. Otherwise, there”s always Homeworld 3.

Forza Motorsport

(Genre: Racing Game – Release: 2023 – Developer: Turn 10 Studios )

It”s not easy being a motorsport enthusiast. I am often ridiculed, sometimes mockingly, sometimes full of pity, as if my passion is a heavy burden. In almost every group constellation, I”m the outsider as soon as the conversation turns to sport. “Remember 2017, when Toyota”s LMP1 cars were on the verge of their big triumph at Le Mans…hey, where are you all going?” Not so in Forza Motorsport, this is where my racing heart feels right at home! In 2023, the next part of Microsoft”s popular PS-Gaudi is on the starting grid.

As usual, the title skilfully drifts along the fine line between uncomplicated arcade racing and sweaty simulation. As a racing fan, I meet like-minded people among whom I don”t have to be ashamed of getting goose bumps all over my body at the sound of a V10 engine.
What I would like to see in the new series? A more interesting career, less thuggish AI and more realistic tyre wear and fuel consumption. On the other hand, I”m not too worried about the tried and tested strengths of Forza: thrilling racing action, a gigantic fleet of cars, excellent controls, all wrapped up in beautiful graphics. That”s all I need to be happy.

All right, I still have one wish in my heart. But let”s keep that between us, shall we? Otherwise I”ll just be laughed at in the editorial office again. I would like a special Le Mans mode in which I can compete against the entire starting field from the previous year”s race, in real time! 24 hours, including day-night cycle, onset of rain, accidents, technical breakdowns and more. Then I can finally break the record of 397 completed laps that is still valid today, which was set in 2010 with the Audi R15 TDI … yes, I”m stopping already!

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

(Genre: RPG – Release: 2023 – Developer: CD Projekt Red )

Yes, Phantom Liberty will be an addon and cannot be started without Cyberpunk 2077 as the base game. Send the Tyger Claws my way for that. But while they”re on their way to me, I”ll tell you why I”m so excited about Phantom Liberty.

For me personally, the story of Cyberpunk 2077 could easily have been twice as long. I would have loved to spend more time with my NPC friends! The DLC finally gives me more stories about V, Johnny and hopefully other old acquaintances. And Idris Elba as mysterious agent Solomon Reed already looks totally exciting in the teasers – a very cool idea to focus more on the detective aspect of the cyberpunk genre.

Let”s be frank and honest: Yes, I also have some worries about the DLC. It will be the only story expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, according to CD Projekt Red, and it needs to really pop to drown out the eternal aftermath of the release debacle. The fact that PS4 and Xbox One are being left out this time will hopefully ensure that technical problems are kept within narrow limits. In any case, I”ll keep my fingers crossed and watch the teaser a few hundred times until the release, from which I have long since picked out all the details.

Street Fighter 6

(Genre: Fighting Game – Release: June 2, 2023 – Developer: Capcom )

Instead of raving about Fighting Games, I might as well stick toothbrushes in my ears, because brawls have a damn hard time getting anyone interested here. But that won”t stop me for a second from putting  Street Fighter 6 at the top of my personal list of hottest favourites in 2023. Like many kids of the 90s, Street Fighter unleashed my love for the genre in the first place. And what I”ve played of the sixth installment so far feels so, so good!

I don”t give a damn about the new quasi-open-world mode where I freely walk around a huge city area; I want to brawl! I want to step into the arena as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and co, trim enemies and finally climb the ladder in a fighting game online. Street Fighter 5 made that impossible for me in its broken, unfinished launch version, but this time it”ll work!

I think the fact that Street Fighter 6 also focuses on beginner-friendly mechanics is the right way to go: the more people who find their way to fighting games, the greater the chance that this great niche will stay alive.

Final Fantasy 16

(Genre: Role Playing Game – Release: June 22, 2023 – Developer: Square Enix)

After finding my happiness last time in the MMO Final Fantasy 14 I am even more delighted that also in Final Fantasy 16 Producer Naoki Yoshida and Director Hiroshi Takai hold the reins, who already proved in the online role-playing game what a fantastic story and atmosphere look like. Instead of flying cars and royal boy bands, Final Fantasy 16 already focuses on dark high-fantasy and a lot of drama in the first trailers. In other words, exactly what I loved about previous Final Fantasy games.

This time we go to the world of Valisthea, whose population depends on the magical Mother Crystals. However, their ether is slowly running out, which drives the resident nations into a battle for resources. As you can imagine, conflicts are mushrooming as a result, with danger lurking around every corner. Especially when we have to protect our younger brother Joshua in the shoes of Clive Rosfield.

Fighting is, as in Final Fantasy 15 extremely action-heavy and with the series-typical mix of melee and magic attacks. The summoned Bestia (here they call themselves Eikos) also play a role again. If Clive defeats the elemental monsters like Shiva or Ifrtit, he receives new attacks that match the respective Eikos. Only the so-called dominants, such as Clive”s brother Joshua, can summon themselves.

All in all, Final Fantasy 16 so far promises an exciting mix of dark fantasy with political intrigue and lots of atmospheric battles. This time there”s even a story mode for all the JRPG sourpusses, so you (hopefully) won”t have to deal with the genre-typical grind for hours on end. Yay!

Robocop: Rogue City

(Genre: First-person shooter – Release: June 2023 – Developer: Teyon )

A sequel to the 87 film, developer Teyon? And Peter Weller as the voice of Alex Murphy? As a devoted fan of Paul Verhoeven”s action classic, I couldn”t be more excited about the June 2023 release of Rogue City in light of these circumstances. But wait a minute. Why developer studio Teyon of all people? They were the ones who made that lousy Rambo rail shooter. Sure, but in my eyes the team has more than redeemed itself thanks to Terminator: Resistance.

Clearly, Resistance is anything but a AAA shooter with corresponding qualities and I don”t expect that from Robocop: Rogue City either. For that, Teyon”s 2019 Terminator game has proven what fan service can look like with just the right amount of flair. Terminator: Resistance is bursting with cinematic atmosphere, affectionate allusions to the original and smart ideas that make it possible to get over the shortcomings that cannot be overlooked.

My anticipation for Robocop: Rogue City is correspondingly great. Because Teyon getting to tackle one of my all-time favourite films in game form makes me feel more confident than if it were a AAA studio heavyweight. Murphy, I”m counting on you.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

Steffi Schlottag: I don”t really want to have any hope about the release of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at all. Lalala, I don”t care at all if I have to wait until 2025 for it, I have infinite patience, no problem – that”s what I tell myself in front of the mirror every morning. But I lie to myself in the process. Because there”s no other game I need as badly as the next Bioware RPG.

I saved my beloved DA: Inquisition especially for myself, only ever playing up to the penultimate mission and saving the DLCs like particularly precious morsels on a plate. Until the reveal of the next title came along, then I finally dared a complete playthrough and lost myself in Thedas for another 60 hours. Couldn”t be too much longer before Dreadwolf came out, I thought with naive confidence. And now it”s 2023, I. Need. Supply.

What is my former lover Solas planning? How is my best friend, the Tevinter mage Dorian? And who will be the new heroine in whose skin I will once again save Thedas? My head is buzzing with a thousand questions that get louder and louder the longer we are fobbed off with little teasers. Besides, I so desperately hope that this time there won”t be any MMO collecting mania in it, but fewer, but lovingly written side missions again. The feedback from the community has been loud enough. Come on, Bioware, finally redeem me this year!

The Wolf Among Us 2

(Genre: Adventure – Release: 2023 – Developer: Telltale)

It”s been ten years since the first episode of The Wolf Among Us was released. The really disappointing thing is that not only has no second part been released since then, but no other game in the Fables universe has been released either! An absolute cheek, if you ask me.

This world is full of exciting stories that could serve a wide variety of genres. In the Fable comics, all kinds of well-known fairy tale characters – such as Snow White, Prince Charming, Pinocchio or the old witch from Hansel and Gretel – have fled to New York City after a terrible war in their worlds.

In The Wolf Among Us, we play the dreaded Bigby Wolf – that is, the big, bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, who embodies the role of sheriff for the so-called Fables in human form. In typical Telltale fashion, we mainly have to make dialogue decisions and explore the environment a bit. Nothing challenging, but the story is and remains flawless.

The Wolf Among Us 2 is now supposed to tell a new story, six months after the first part. What exactly it”s about, however, is still unclear. The only trailer so far remains rather vague, just like the release window: the adventure game is supposed to be released in 2023, that”s all we know yet. But no matter when it comes out, I can”t wait to bring justice again as the big bad wolf. And maybe, just maybe The Wolf Among Us 2 will be so successful that more studios will consider making a game in the Fables universe. I”d just be jumping for joy for weeks on end.

Resident Evil 4 Remake

(Genre: Action-Adventure – Release: Mar 24, 2023 – Developer: Capcom )

With Resident Evil 4 Remake, Capcom has given the best Resident Evil and one of the best horror games of all time a makeover. Whether it really needed it remains to be seen, after all, the original still plays absolutely wonderfully today.

Be that as it may. If the new edition ensures that even more people can enjoy one of my favourite games, I won”t complain at all. In fact, I envy almost every newcomer who gets to try Leon S. Kennedy”s rescue of the president”s daughter with an open mind. Of course, I hope that the remake will be more like the Resident Evil 2 remake and less like the third part. But what I have seen of it so far makes me optimistic. The remake of the horror classic could make one of the best games ever even better.

Jagged Alliance 3

(Genre: Turn-based Strategy – Release: 2023 – Developer: Haemimont Games )

Finally, finally, finally a team has got what the mercenary epic Jagged Alliance is really about – and is getting it spot on. That”s why I”m looking forward to reuniting with old pals like Scope, Fidel and my initial namesake MD.
Jagged Alliance has been imitated so many times in the last 25 years that I don”t even want to list the many bad, average, sometimes quite nice clone attempts. But with Haemimont Games, a team is now working on Jagged Alliance 3 that brings experience and resources to the table.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, the Bulgarians rely on the tried and tested three elements: cool mercenaries with personality who grow on us (again) and comment on the combat with pithy one-liners. Realistic gun battles where every bullet, every grenade is calculated individually – with ricochets, friendly fire, splintering cover and everything that goes with it. And all this embedded in a liberation campaign through an oppressed fictional country, in which we conquer, secure and defend sector by sector. Just the way we want it!

The trappings are also nicely coherent so far: The good old laptop is back, this is where we manage our teams, hire fresh mercenaries via voice chat, order equipment. I”m always cautious about praising things in advance, but what I”ve seen so far makes me smile all the time!

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

(Genre: Action-Adventure – Release: 26 May 2023 – Developer: Rocksteady Studios)

One last time Kevin Conroy as Batman. For that alone, as a long-time DC fan, I can”t get around Suicide Squad . All the more exciting that Rocksteady Studios is giving the infamous Task Force X its own game, after Warner Bros. Montreal announced it in 2013 with Arkham Origins. Without Deathstroke, but with Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang and King Shark, Kill the Justice League will – unsurprisingly – be about the Justice League.

In order to keep up with the top superheroes such as Wonder Woman, The Flash, Superman and Batman, the titular Suicide Squad even gets one or two upgrades that are not necessarily known from the comic book. Captain Boomerang, for example, becomes a teleporter, while sniper Deadshot darts around with a jetpack. Will that be enough? Let”s see. Even in the world of comics, that always depends on the author.

At least one thing is certain: After the fantastic Arkham series (yes, that includes the controversial Knight), Rocksteady is only releasing a new game after a full eight years. And Suicide Squad looks both familiar and unfamiliar. Familiar, because Kill the Justice League more or less continues the story of Arkham Knight. Unfamiliar, because with Task Force X we not only get a completely new perspective, but also a new gameplay focus: Four-player co-op instead of lone avengers. We can be curious.

Tempest Rising

(Genre: Real Time Strategy – Release: 2023 – Developer: Slipgate Ironworks )

I admit it: in no game did I get 2022 wrong so often as in Tempest Rising. I constantly typed “Tiberium” instead of “Tempest”. And I”m afraid that will happen to me again in 2023. But hey, it”s the game”s own fault! Because you can”t get much bolder with the classic Command & Conquer: The wildly proliferating alien resource Tiberium was unceremoniously turned into Tempest, and the faction Global Defense Initiative (GDI) simply became Global Defense Forces (GDF), which I”m sure I”ll mistype someday.

Tempest Rising also delivers a lot of other C&C feeling: an EVA-style interface, video snippets with real actors, familiar units like harvesters and double-barreled tanks.

This all makes Tempest Rising the cheekiest, but also most self-aware C&C clone in ages – and that”s exactly why I”m looking forward to it. Better copied well than invented badly myself, right? Besides, Tempest Rising looks really good thanks to ray tracing and Unreal Engine 4, especially the fire effects, rocket smoke trails and the obligatory exploding petrol barrels. Here could finally come the proper classic RTS I”ve been waiting for since the golden Westwood and Blizzard years.

Frostpunk 2

(genre: building strategy – release: 2023 (hopefully) – developer: 11 Bit Studios )

I know, it”s pretty cool and punk of me to pick a game that might not even come out in 2023. You could almost say … Frostpunk. Because as an old builder, of course the sequel to one of the best city builders of all time is my highlight of the year – even if I can only cling to hope. 

Of course, I”m first excited about anything that”s “supposed to be bigger and better than its predecessor in every way.” And then when oil plays a big part! Boy, did I love the oil in Anno 1800. (No, of course not, I”m not crazy.) But it”s about time my effeminate and pampered building mind was really challenged again. Time pressure! Decision-making pressure! Scarcity of resources! Your inhabitants are dying! I love it.

I can”t wait to experience a real build-up story again in Frostpunk 2 – and be faced with the consequences of the tough decisions I made in Part 1. 

Atlas Fallen

(Genre: Action Role-Playing Game – Release: 2023 – Developer: Deck13 )

2022 was the year that finally reconciled me to the Souls-like genre thanks to Elden Ring. I always wanted to love Dark Souls, Bloodborne and co. but never lasted longer than 15 hours because at some point there came a point where I felt my free time was no longer respected. Elden Ring, on the other hand, I devoured skin and hair for over 140 hours. For good reasons.

Why am I telling you this? Because I”m hoping for something similar from 2023 and Atlas Fallen. Because really, I should love Deck13”s action role-playing games. Art design, setting and combat system basically appeal to me, but both Lords of the Fallen and The Surge 1 and 2 I abandoned after a few hours each because the cycle of die, learn, repeat no longer felt rewarding to me. And I am hopeful that Atlas Fallen could change this.

On the one hand, because the developers have already promised in our preview of Atlas Fallen that it will be more accessible than previous titles. On the other hand, the areas should also be more open and invite more exploration than the rather haggling areas of the quasi-predecessors. And these were precisely the factors that made Elden Ring a Souls-like breakthrough for me.

Apart from that, I am fascinated by the desert scenario and the possibility to summon my weapons from sand. It opens up so many exciting possibilities for the combat system, monster design and storytelling!

Of course, I don”t believe that Atlas Fallen can even begin to match the successes of Elden Ring; the relatively small team from Deck13 is simply fighting with unequal weapons. But for me it is one of the most exciting AA titles of this year, according to my forecast it will become much more relevant.

Baldur”s Gate 3

(Genre: RPG – Release: August 2023 – Developer: Larian Studios )

I”m ambivalent. On the one hand, I would have hated to wait any longer for Baldur”s Gate 3, which has been in Early Access since October 2020 (!). On the other hand, it sometimes feels like the big thunderclap has now already faded away. I mean, this is Baldur”s Gate 3 (!) which came out almost three years ago! Baldur”s Gate 3! A sequel that I”ve actually been waiting for for probably 20 years. The successor to one of the best role-playing games of all time. And yet it often seems to me that some people shrug their shoulders when I tell them about the release in 2023.

 For most people, this game has already been released without making too many waves. But dear people, I tell you not to let that fool you. Whether or not Baldur”s Gate 3 now feels more like D&D Divinity than a bona fide sequel. What we”ve seen of this game so far is only a fraction of what Larian has yet to pull out of its never-ending bag in August.

 A 20+ hour fraction, mind you. For even the act playable in Early Access is as long as some other games offer in total scope. And in the meantime, Larian is quite openly teasing that there is still a lot to come. Recently, a lot of old acquaintances were revealed, who finally gave the game even more of the flair for which we loved the predecessors.

I for one can”t wait to finally experience the full story and advise you not to think that you already know Baldur”s Gate 3. Something big is waiting for us, believe my words.

The Expanse: A Telltale Series

(Genre: Adventure – Release: 2023 – Developers: Telltale Games, Deck Nine Games)

My The Expanse addiction really started with the sci-fi novel “Leviathan Awakens” by James S.A. Corey, which I read through in a frenzy after the first season of the TV series of the same name. From then on, there was no stopping me: knowing full well that I would spoil myself forever for comfortably watching, I simply had to read everything that had anything to do with the fascinating universe of The Expanse, and from then on I annoyed my better half with gloomy predictions about the series” progress whenever we watched a new season together.

The authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write together under the pseudonym James S.A. Corey, have really hit it out of the park with The Expanse, as their hard-SF world-building presents a thoroughly believable version of the future. Humanity could develop in such a way, should there ever be advanced propulsion for spaceships and other planets be colonised, it could fight and exploit each other in the way described, it could react so mindlessly and greedily to alien life forms and much more. The excellently written characters put a big cherry on top of the rousing story in this well done world. 

The fact that there is now to be a Telltale game about one of my favourite heroines (the feisty, strong, yet vulnerable and deep Camina Drummer) has me running up the walls inside. On the one hand, I can”t wait until I get more fodder from one of my favourite franchises with a Drummer hopefully directed just as well as in the series. On the other hand, the last few Telltale games have been such loveless, slapped-together, assembly-line fare that I”m terrified of sitting in front of a like-for-like, license-milking piece of work for The Expanse. 

Meet Your Maker

(Genre: Shooter – Release: 4 April 2023 – Developer Behaviour Interactive )

Meet Your Maker is exactly the game I”ve been waiting for for over 20 years – because finally the multiplayer mode from the 90s shooter The Wheel of Time, which is legendary for me, becomes its own title. Here, each player has to build their own fortresses, which are then raided by other players who want to steal your valuable genetics. And after spending countless hours in the beta, I can tell you: building new bases is enormous fun.

The building mode is a huge playground and already in the beta offered countless possibilities to make life hell for the attackers with a mixture of twisted architecture and treacherously placed guards and traps. But the shooter part was also convincing, although at first I was sure I would only want to build new bases.

My tip: All traps can be modified so that they only appear when the enemy has looted the genetic material. A platform above the material full of guards that only dissolves when the raider has looted it caused an enormous number of deaths in the beta – and thus also loot for me. For the release at the beginning of April, I guarantee that no one will be expecting this!

Star Trek: Resurgence

(Genre: Adventure – Release: April 2023 – Developer: Dramatic Labs )

As a Star Trek fan, you”re actually living in a golden era right now. There have never been so many series, films, books and games from this universe as there are today. “Actually” because the fan opinions on “Discovery” and “Picard” are quite divided, “New Worlds” can only be watched with an expensive Paramount subscription and for many the excellent animated series “Lower Decks” and “Prodigy” don”t count.

The people at Dramatic Labs, the makers of Star Trek: Resurgence, also know all this and set their adventure five years after the Dominion Wars (i.e. shortly after “Deep Space Nine”). On the USS Resolution we alternately control Commander Jara Rydek and the engineer Carter Diaz. The former works as Number One on the bridge, the latter toils in the engine room.

As ex-Telltale employees, the developers also want to tell a gripping story in Resurgence, which should feel like a long episode of “Next Generation” or even “Deep Space 9″. As diplomatic mediators, we try to reconcile the Alydians and the Hotari in their dispute over dilithium. Great: Good old Mr. Spock is at our side during the negotiations! Depending on how we behave in the many dialogues in the game, there will be different endings.

But we are also allowed to do typical Trek things and shoot with the phaser, scan by tricorder, fly a shuttle or crawl through Jefferies tubes. Dramatic Labs works closely with Paramount so that everything really fits into the Star Trek setting. Good thing, because I”m sensitive to mistakes like that, especially in my favourite sci-fi universe!

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

(Genre: Shooter – Release: 2023 – Developer: GSC Game World )

When I played through all the games in the Stalker series in a short time about ten years ago, I knew right away: I want more of that! However, nothing was seen or heard of a Stalker 2. Since then I”ve been waiting patiently for a sequel, and it seems that this year the long wait is over.

Stalker 2 doesn”t excite me out of nostalgia, though: just a few weeks ago I reinstalled Shadow of Chernobyl and started another playthrough. No, the shooter remains unique to this day with its eerie and mysterious world, the anomaly and artefact mechanics and the dense atmosphere.

Despite the now clearly outdated technical basis, it is still incredibly fun for me to wander through the irradiated zone, explore abandoned buildings and the nature altered by the zone, hide from radiation storms or carefully navigate through deadly anomalies and collect valuable artefacts. In between, I rest around the campfire with other stalkers and listen to their conversations.

And how fresh and good will it all feel with Part 2? Trailers already show that the developers want to retain qualities of the series (atmosphere, inventory system), but at the same time modernise a lot. Of course, we don”t yet know how well Stalker 2 will really play, but I”m almost certain to enjoy another trip into the Zone.

Diablo 4

(Genre: Action Role-Playing Game – Release: June 6, 2023 – Developer: Blizzard )

What are you actually looking forward to in 2023, Fabiano? Well, what am I looking forward to? I admit it, I really struggle to proudly and uprightly shout “Diablo 4!” to the world when asked this question. But if I”m honest with myself, I really should. I can”t help but look forward to this action role-playing game. Even the version that was thrust into my hands in December 2022, I actually didn”t want to let go.

Because it actually seems exactly like what I wanted from a new Diablo! This game combines the greatest strengths of all the games that came before it. Diablo 4 is really, really dark and manages to give me even scarier goosebumps than even the first one. At the same time, it offers much more than the basement of a cathedral, but numerous regions with completely different monsters, which I can process into grapefruit with one of five enormously different classes. Even the builds could become as complex as they once were in Diablo 2. And then the battles also play as massive as they have since then only been known from Diablo 3. That”s all praiseworthy!

And yes, I didn”t need always-on or Shared World, which already annoyed me in Diablo Immortal, even if that wasn”t the game”s worst sin in the end. But I have a little hope that all this won”t be as intrusive as I feared. And yet: I am a little annoyed about this anticipation. Because Blizzard simply didn”t deserve any more anticipation. Too often we as fans have been punished by this studio for it and so everything can still go wrong with Diablo 4. But if I ignore Blizzard”s mistakes – then yes, I”m looking forward to Diablo 4.

Now it”s your turn: Tell us your personal game of hope that will be released in 2023! Are you waiting for the big blockbusters or are you excited to see what AA titles have to offer? Let us know in the comments!