The new year is looming on the horizon, and the most anticipated games on PS5 and PS4 for 2023 already have a lot to live up to. Three of the six Game of the Year nominees at TGA 2022 were PlayStation exclusives, and another two of them were available on PS5. While Nintendo and Xbox attempt to play catch up, Sony hopes to continue the momentum with several multiplatform games as well as the launch of the PSVR 2. Here is a list of the PS5 and PS4 games that we’re most excited to play in 2023, with honorable mentions to Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, and FF7 Rebirth (if that isn’t delayed from its “next winter” release window):
Hogwarts Legacy
Despite the controversy surrounding Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Hogwarts Legacy remained one of the five nominees for Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards 2022 for good reason. Many Harry Potter fans have dreamt of entering Hogwarts School as a student, having the Sorting Hat put them in a House (I’m a Ravenclaw), riding a hippogriff, and going on their own magical adventure. And Hogwarts Legacy promises players to do just that.
Avalanche Software has confirmed that the PS5 and PS4 versions of the game will have a PlayStation-exclusive quest. The PS5 release date is February 10, 2023 (those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition can start the game earlier on February 7 with early access), while the PS4 release date is April 4, 2023.
Final Fantasy 16
As a timed PS5 exclusive for six months, Final Fantasy 16 (or Final Fantasy XVI, if you prefer) looks to be one of the most significant PS5 releases in 2023. We already know quite a lot about the game, including its release date of June 22, 2023, and the PS5 will allow the game to “flow at a breakneck pace.”
Following its predecessor, it features action-based combat in open environments, though this time around the familiar Crystals are tied to humans called Dominants who can summon their nation’s Eikon. So if you’ve ever thought about which Final Fantasy summon is the strongest, FF16 will play that concept out to its fullest extent. The Brazilian age rating description for the game also revealed that it will focus on darker themes like hate crimes, drugs, and prostitution, potentially making Final Fantasy 16 one of the most mature games in the series.
Resident Evil 4 Remake
It was generally understood that the Resident Evil 4 remake was where Capcom was heading ever since the developer decided to remake the classic games in the series. With both the Resident 2 and 3 remakes under its belt, Capcom has hopefully learned all it needs to know to modernize RE4, which many consider to be a masterpiece in the horror genre, with shinier graphics and tighter controls. (I’ve actually had a chance to play a PS5 demo that showed off the first 20 minutes of the game, and it already looks amazing.) This revamped version of Leon’s adventure is slated to arrive on PS5 and PS4 with a release date of March 24, 2023.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor has been one of the worst best-kept secrets in gaming this year. Leaks of the game’s release date were reported multiple times in 2022, from the PSN database in July and even Steam earlier in December. From the roughly four-minute trailer of the game shown at TGA 2022, we know that this sequel to Fallen Order will release on March 17, 2023.
It will continue the story of Cal Kestis and his robot buddy BD-1, feature new characters like Bode and Cere Junda, and include the ability to dual-wield lightsabers. The trailer didn’t show any blaster combat, though this has been teased in leaks of the Obi-Wan DLC. With any luck, strong sales of Star Wars Jedi Survivor will convince EA to continue publishing single-player games, or at least games that don’t require a live service.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
While Armored Core 6 was announced as a surprise at TGA 2022, it wasn’t nominated in the show’s Most Anticipated Game category. Perhaps host Geoff Keighley didn’t expect that the game was going to release in 2023 or that the reveal trailer would rack up over 4.4 million views (at the time of this writing) on Bandai Namco’s YouTube channel.
We don’t know that much about the project quite yet, apart from FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki saying that it won’t focus on “Soulsborne gameplay” and that it will have multiplayer with custom mechs. But given that Armored Core 5 was released literally a decade ago in 2012, the fact that Armored Core 6 is even in development is a minor miracle.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
We’ve pretty much heard crickets as far as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is concerned throughout the year, with the exception of Insomniac confirming that it was coming in 2023. Then, seemingly due to a writer for the game accidentally sharing this month that the game would be coming out in Fall 2023, Insomniac verified the leaked release window with a quick confirmation through an official PS Blog post.
The developer also confirmed that it will feature both Peter Parker and Miles Morales in a blockbuster action game, and we already know that Tony Todd is the voice actor behind Venom in the upcoming game. In addition to Forspoken and Horizon Call of the Mountain, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is one of the few Sony console exclusives in 2023 that we can confirm so far. That’s a lot of pressure, but if anyone can handle it, Insomniac can.
