The most anticipated RPGs of 2023

Three of the nine The Game Awards ceremonies that have been held have resulted in RPGs winning “Game of the Year” awards (Dragon Age Inquisition, Witcher 3, and Elden Ring). It is a good testament to the power of a genre that also inspires many others with its ideas, which try to learn about the power of interaction with other characters, the satisfaction of creating a character that is the result of your own decisions, and the power of allowing different characters and approaches to the problems posed by the game. This year is looking particularly interesting in the genre as well, with several games of undeniable stature on the horizon.

Final Fantasy XVI

For a while, there was a particular narrative about the decline of Final Fantasy and its loss of international impact compared to the times of PlayStation. Installments such as the XIII or XV were also not considered at the level of the saga's peaks, contributing to this feeling. But a particular change of trend is noticeable: the Final Fantasy VII remake has been a success that has restored prestige to the franchise, and Final Fantasy XIV, despite being an MMO, has become a great standard-bearer for everything the franchise represents. Now, its development team is responsible for repeating this feat in an "offline" installment that redraws the present and future of the saga. A lot of responsibility, but in good hands and with an increasingly promising aspect.

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Starfield

After almost having it at our thumbs in 2022, where it had a concrete release date and everything, a delay took Starfield to the "first half of 2023". And the truth is that they are quite reserved with the information and public exposure of the game, considering that it is the first major RPG "offline" since the launch in 2015 of Fallout 4, that there is a huge interest in seeing how Bethesda's main studio makes the leap to the new generation and how the studio behind Skyrim has evolved at a technological and creative level this time. It will be one of the great role-playing events of the year without a doubt.

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Forspoken

Called to be one of 2023's first protagonists, Forspoken is a new Square Enix bet with a completely new world in which a New Yorker is dragged into a magical world. There are certain technical and visual expectations and an interest in a combat system focused on magic but with a lot of mobility and a wide range of resources.

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Diablo IV

Diablo as a brand no longer has that halo of "safe value" due to the controversies related to Diablo 3 and Diablo Immortal. But the fourth entry looks like it will begin the redemption path with a game that promises to elevate the Hack'n Slash formula it originally put on the map to new heights, adapting it to an open world that will continue to grow and offer new challenges and rewards on an ongoing basis.

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Hogwarts Legacy

A dream come true for Potterheads and an example of the ambitious approach that should be applied to the video game adaptations of popular franchises: creating the opportunity to immerse ourselves in their world and create our own story in it. With an open approach and all of Hogwarts, along with its surroundings, at our disposal as students, the possibilities for adventures (properly seasoned with nostalgia) are unbeatable.

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Baldur’s Gate III

Larian remains faithful to the formula that brought it fame and fortune in recent times with its Original Sin: a purely tactical approach to combat, emphasis on the possibilities of cooperative play, and a long Early Access period to refine the game for all to see. The shadow of Bioware's Baldur's Gate is long and the challenge of living up to it is complex, but with the positive reception that the trial period is having, there is hope that it will be another great role-playing adventure.

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Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

There's no doubt that we miss the Bioware that didn't leave Mass Effect and Dragon Age, before getting caught up in Electronic Arts' identity crises about the kind of games it wants to make and how it wants to make them. Thankfully, it seems that the success of Jedi Fallen Order has opened the company's eyes to the desirability of having great individual adventures without the need for them to be "games as a service" and Dreadwolf could be the studio's return to its best.

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Avowed

Very little is known about Obsidian's new project to create a first-person role-playing title within the Pillars of Eternity universe. Officially announced in 2020, before Microsoft took over Bethesda, many consider the studio's attempt to create its own "Skyrim", applying its talent for storytelling and its undeniable mastery of the RPG as a medium to create something with its own flavor but massive reach. Obsidian always makes interesting games (as we've seen recently with Pentiment), so we're always on the lookout to see what they have in the oven.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

The times when great Japanese productions stayed in their native country are long gone. It was so for Falcom, one of the most established companies in the history of video games. Fortunately, those times are now behind us, although the iconic and small studio that created Ys cannot afford to make simultaneous global releases and they tend to arrive a few years apart. The chapter that concludes the arcs of Crossbell and Erebonia in Legend of Heroes and bridges Kuro no Kiseki will arrive next July.

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Octopath Traveller II

On February 24 we will have the sequel to one of the best RPGs for Switch (although it also has versions on PC and Xbox One). Eight new adventurers, with eight new fates for a game whose predecessor revitalized the idea of the traditional JRPG with modern techniques, creating a hugely attractive game without giving up the aesthetics of the golden age. Aside from improving on the weaknesses of the original (which it has), let's also hope that Yasunori Nishiki remains equally inspired to have created another equally memorable soundtrack.

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Sea of Stars

Inspired by their love for Chrono Trigger, the studio behind The Messenger prepares their very promising love letter to Square's masterpiece for this year. With the stellar collaboration of Yasunori Mitsuda on the soundtrack and a truly superb and imaginative visual aspect, the Canadian studio will have many eyes on them these months.

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One Piece Odyssey

One Piece if it were Dragon Quest, is the simple but effective approach of this production, which will have Luffy and his crew traveling down memory lane through some of the franchise's most memorable moments. Games based on One Piece are of varying quality, but Odyssey looks quite promising and ambitious, so let's hope this JRPG does justice to Eichiro Oda's magnum opus.

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Broken Roads

There's no doubt that fans of the original Fallout will experience pleasant feelings when they see the trailer for this Broken Roads. This RPG set in a post-apocalyptic Australia seems to be taken from a parallel world (a better one than this one) in which Black Isle would not have disappeared. Of course, to make a memorable game in this genre, attractive graphics alone are not enough, but it's hard to resist the scent of hope when you see these images.

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Rogue Trader

Another title that fans of classic role-playing games should look forward to is, without a doubt, Rogue Trader. Owlcat Games has proven with their Pathfinder to be one of the most in-form RPG studios of the moment. They have ambition, good ideas, and a clear respect for the licenses they hold, something perfect for a work revered for being the original edition from which the Warhammer 40,000 universe was born. In the name of the emperor and with a power like few others within the Imperium, we will explore the most distant regions in search of profitable agreements, hidden knowledge, and unimaginable treasures in Rogue Trader.

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The Wayward Realms

Directed by three of the top people behind Elder Scroll before Morrowind (Julian LeFay, Vijay Lakshman, and Ted Peterson), The Wayward Realms aims to be a modern and updated reinterpretation of the ideals that created Daggerfall with a gigantic procedural world in which to get lost and run colorful adventures on our own terms, and with our own goals.

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Crimson Desert

What was originally going to be a new MMO sequel-prequel to Black Desert has morphed into something else: a third-person single-player action RPG with online elements. It's a pretty radical change and it remains to be seen if Pearl Abyss can pull it off, though it certainly looks spectacular.

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Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

Two ghost hunters and lovers, Antea and Red, face the test of their lives. After a disastrous mission, Antea is fatally wounded and seems destined to become the thing she hates the most if both of them don't embark on a desperate adventure to save her from an eternity as a wraith. As is a trademark of the renowned studio DON'T NOD (Life is Strange, Vampyr), you will have to make significant and morally ambiguous decisions that affect the story, the world, and the fate of all characters, living or dead.

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Gothic

The original Gothic is a full-fledged cult game. Despite its innumerable technical and interface problems, the game became a classic for its emphasis on interaction with other characters, each with their own agenda and routines, as well as for its elaborate world. This remake, developed by the Barcelona-based studio Alkimia Interactive, has the chance to celebrate a game that remains current in its values and innovation.

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Nazralath: The Fallen World

There is always a more or less constant flow of "dark fantasy" games with a strong influence of Dark Souls, but Nazralath certainly stands out in the audiovisual aspect for its setting inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński's work and by influences such as Lovecraft or Planescape when creating a universe far from our reality. It has no release date and it is possible that it might miss this year, but it is still an interesting promise to keep in mind.

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Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Cyberpunk's first and, in theory, only paid expansion looks set to be much more ambitious than previously thought. Intended only for the current generation of consoles and featuring Idris Elba as a leading figure, it will be an opportunity to put the finishing touch to a spectacular game, which has succeeded in overcoming the problems of an intergenerational release that should not have been done in the first place.

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Blue Protocol

Bandai Namco and Amazon Games' MMO is one of the interesting promises of 2023 for fans of the genre. Its anime aesthetics is attractive and has a combat system as dynamic as spectacular, which will undoubtedly attract the attention of action lovers. One of the most eye-catching massive online games of the coming months.

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Without a doubt, another of this year's big release dates will be the sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, which will take us to explore new aspects of the original story and explore the world that awaited us after leaving Midgar. It will also do it exclusively for PS5, so the team will have more power to bring back the classic as we could never have imagined.

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More? much more

The games discussed are just a part of what is cooking in the genre. Many developments, big and small, may come out in the next few months, or projects in the works that could pop their heads up at any time. For example, we'll always be on the lookout for when Atlus announces news about the future of its franchises, whether it's a new Persona on the horizon (Persona 5 is already 7 years old) or Katsuhiro Hashino's Project Re Awakening, which we haven't had fresh news about in years.

We also expect this year to see news of projects such as the eternally in-development Granblue Fantasy Relink (supposedly already this year) and to see if the expected Eiyuden Chronicle from the original Suikoden team can really appear this year. We’ll also be keeping an eye out for promises like Darkest Dungeons II, which will come out of Early Access at some point this year, or if there’s news on the long-awaited Deltarune. Plus there’s a whole universe of indie productions in the works that could play a role in the next 12 months.