Here is the game Øystein is most looking forward to in 2023

Then the time was there again. New year, new game, new possibilities. Such lists are always challenging, not only because there are so many snacks to choose from, but also because it is so uncertain what actually happens. Many of the games I am most definitely looking forward to right now are games I have no idea when they will be released. Are they coming this year? Maybe, maybe not, definitely not.

We therefore have to include some games that were not included in the list. Gone, but not forgotten. Fable is probably the game I’m looking forward to the most right now, and Avowed from Obsidian makes me drool after what they did with Pentiment. Furthermore, it is quite likely that a remake of one of my absolute favorite games – Final Fantasy IX plus Final Fantasy Tactics – is on the way. It must be mentioned, just in case there is a minimal chance of these games appearing this year.

And then there was something about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II and Dragon’s Dogma 2. We can hope.

But now, on to what will most certainly, or at least hopefully appear in 2023.

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Final Fantasy XVI

Platform: PlayStation 5
Out: June 22

As a lifelong Final Fantasy fan, I’m now looking forward to chapter 16 with little anticipation. Naturally, it’s with a slight touch of uneasiness. The series has been somewhat uneven in recent years, and the name Final Fantasy is not for me the hallmark of quality it once was. In addition, I have to say that it is with a small tear in the corner of my eye that I see how the great turn-based battles are erased in the big game.

That said, there are a bunch of very talented people behind this game, and it seems to finally be a game that has come our way without major development challenges and other technical problems. It is a game that offers a whole new world, and finally a proper fantasy world. Here there will be swords, magic, large beasts, chobocos and moogles.

Final Fantasy XVI looks to be perhaps the darkest and most serious game in the series, and we can hope it delivers a story as memorable as the ones we got in the series’ heyday.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Platform: PlayStation 5
Out: Q4 2023

I’m not going to claim that I was the biggest fan of Final Fantasy VII Remake. All in all, it was a good game, but there was certainly a lot of nonsense with it. It was a really unnecessarily long game, with a lot of crappy filler like looking for cats when you actually have far more important things to attend to, and this endless milking of Sephiroth that has removed all the mystery around him has gone far enough.

That said, Rebirth has so much potential that it’s easy to get dizzy. Now a whole world is to be explored, and here it is so easy to expand the game without having to resort to pointless filler that we can quickly end up with an extremely engaging game that takes us from one fascinating location to another while we get to know even more characters, and get to experience how Square Enix has interpreted the many different events from the original game.

Hogwarts Legacy

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
Out: February 10

This is what many have been waiting for. Finally a game where we not only get to play in the fascinating world of JK Rowling, but get to become a student at Hogwarts and get to run around and explore the world with great freedom. We get to create our own student, take part in teaching, build friendships, and of course take part in an adventure that is guaranteed to offer a lot of drama.

My only real complaint is that we start as 5th graders. I’ve always thought that Harry Potter was best when the focus was on children and the subject matter was more light-hearted and humorous, so I really hope this game manages to hold on to the charm and joviality which is strictly speaking an important part of why the series became so popular.

Octopath Traveler II

Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Windows
Out: February 24

Octopath Traveler was a wonderful game with a completely unique atmosphere. The beautiful music mixed with the then rather unique style that mixed old-fashioned pixel graphics with a 3D environment created something completely unique. The fantastic battle system made it a true joy to play. What the game primarily lacked was a really engaging story. We got eight individual stories that actually never came to be.

This is exactly what will be improved in Octopath Traveler II. We still meet eight different characters, and in a completely new setting, but this time their stories will intertwine, and this will be the game’s most exciting development. Beyond that, I’m looking forward to more great music, nice pixel graphics and a battle system that once again proves that turn-based battles can be at least as engaging as pure action systems.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Switch, Windows
Out: 2023

A few years ago, the creators of the Suikoden series decided they wanted to make a new game. They cooked up a plan together, threw it out on Kickstarter, and three hours later the success was in the box. I’ve been waiting for this game since that day, it seriously looks like exactly the game I need right now. It is a traditional, old-fashioned Japanese role-playing game, with a visual style inspired by the Japanese role-playing games on the PlayStation One.

Here we get a hundred heroes, music from Motoi Sakuraba who is currently in great form, and a large and comprehensive story. What perhaps gives me the most faith in this game is the fantastically pleasant taster Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising that came out last year. This game is also available on Game Pass, which should make it very easy for those who are just curious to check it out to take the plunge.

Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Windows
Out: 2023

While we’re talking about Suikoden, here is The Sui Code. After many years in slumber, Konami has finally woken up and realized they have a whole catalog full of wonderful games to play. Fortunately for those of us who like Japanese role-playing games, they have chosen to bring back the Suikoden series. In this package we get both the first two games in the series, and it’s not just an old game for new platforms.

One or two changes have been made to make everyday life easier, but primarily the visuals have been given a boost. Instead of making radical changes, they have refurbished what is needed. Backgrounds in higher resolution, better effects on attacks and such, as well as some new special effects to bring the world to life. If you have never tasted these classics, there is no better time than now.

Resident Evil 4

Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
Out: March 24

Sitting here 18 years later and waiting for the new version of a game I myself tested for Gamer.no is a bit of a strange feeling. Resident Evil 4 wasn’t just a Resident Evil game, it was a game that turned most things upside down. It created fear and horror in a completely new way, and the unique control system, which has certainly seen its changes since then, had an enormous amount to say for the industry.

For example, the Gears of War series could have been something completely different without Resident Evil 4, since the gameplay and camera in that game took a lot of inspiration from Resident Evil 4. Enough of that, now the focus is on the new version, and that It will be insanely exciting to go through this experience here one more time, in a completely new costume. I haven’t actually played this game since the first time I played it, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all turns out with today’s fantastic graphics.

Redfall

Platform: Xbox Series S/X, Windows
Out: 2023

So I’m a big fan of the gameplay in the Borderlands series, but I’ve long since had enough of the adolescent humor that only gets worse with age. It was good, once, not anymore. Now it’s just stupid. When I heard that Arkane’s new game about vampires is a co-op shooter more easily inspired by games like Borderlands, I knew with that that the game must be quite old so that I won’t devote time to it.

Vampires have always, with the exception of Twilight, fascinated me, and I hope this game can be good entertainment between each episode of Vampire: The Masquerade: New York by night, and the next season of Interview with the Vampire. Now I just hope the developers know enough to include couch gaming on split screen so I can kill vampires with my wife.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Platform: Windows, Mac
Out: August 2023

I still remember when I downloaded the first trailer from Baldur’s Gate with the ancient 56k modem we had at home. That trailer, gritty and ugly, was still one of the most spectacular things a young Dungeon Master had ever seen. A somewhat older Dungeon Master is now really looking forward to playing with mechs own characters and go on adventures in Faerûn. Finally it is my turn to play!

I’ve stayed far away from all Early Access so as not to spoil the experience, and know nothing about what’s in store because I’ve had a complete media blackout, something I’m almost a little proud of having achieved. I’ll probably come up with something very unoriginal like an elf with long hair, but maybe I’ll get creative and put together a barbarian who later becomes a bard and thinks he’s a rock star.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Platform: Switch
Out: May 12

It kind of has to go with it. Ever since The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, I’ve been a big Zelda fan. For me, that game is still not the best, and it has something completely unique about it that is unshakable. Breath of the Wild was a good example of something that could have been fantastic, it was just a bit too much bullshit. A little too much dead landscape without anything exciting, a little too many weapons that only broke if you looked extra hard at them, and a little too little of the wonderful caves and puzzles the game is otherwise known for.

With a few more of these elements, I think Tears of the Kingdom can easily become one of the very best games of the year. The world is there, the gameplay is there, Nintendo just needs to fill it with the right kind of content. And more music. Help me, more music Nintendo, not for me with yet another vast landscape with the occasional piano stanza as my only company. With all of this in place, Tears of the Kingdom can get crazy.