Most Anticipated Game of 2023 - Article
by Lee Mehr , posted on 23 January 2023 / 5,295 Views
2022 was an odd year for select game releases, especially with regards to our previous Most Anticipated list. While we did see the release of God of War Ragnarök, Elden Ring, Bayonetta 3, and more, our top two contenders that had either promised release dates or windows were delayed. That’s not to forget other potential contenders, such as Hogwarts Legacy and Forspoken, which were also delayed. I highly doubt we need to worry about triple-dipping though; the vast majority of contenders that filtered past the preliminary round seem like surefire locks for 2023.
With that backstory out of the way, here’s what the VGChartz staff & community are most excited to play in the next 12 months (knock on wood).
The Shortlist:
Final Fantasy XVI
Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Starfield
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
The Runner-up:
Starfield
Look familiar? With Starfield’s push from the clean 11/11/22 release date to a promised release window in “the first half of 2023,” it shouldn't be long until we get our hands on Bethesda’s latest RPG. After the info blowout during Microsoft’s last quasi-E3 conference, there’s a reason why the hype has remained so high: over a thousand planets to explore, promised divergent questlines, deep crafting timesinks, and on and on it goes.
Granted, I think some trepidation is warranted given how much Todd Howard & co. have hyped up the vastness of this universe. But perhaps some of the hype stems back to that challenge of managing worthwhile content across so many star systems. There’s a lot riding on this, especially for Bethesda’s reputation, so hopefully it reaches the stars.
The Winner:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Look familiar? The only difference between the top two in this anticipated list compared to last year’s is a proper subtitle. But when you consider how Breath of the Wild was VGChartz’s 2017 GOTY, how can you not expect the staff & community to maintain their collective enthusiasm too? Even the scant details shown in its latest trailer make you hungry to learn more. What’s on the horizon for us with Link traveling above the clouds? Will Skyward Sword play a significant influence in its world design? Perhaps I’m just spit-balling too much with these questions, but you get the point.
2023 looks to be a stellar year across every platform (Stadia excluded) and a multitude of genres. Here’s hoping Tears of the Kingdom lives up to – even exceeds – the tremendous hype.
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I'm only 10 hours in BOTW and I'm loving every moment of it, so tears is already my most anticipated game!
2023 is looking like a GOATED year for gaming!
Definitely. I haven't been this excited about a gaming year in quite a long time. There are like 20+ games releasing this year that I want to play, including 5+ that I would put on my highest or 2nd highest hype tier.
Starfield and Zelda are going to keep me stupidly busy for a long time. Can't wait.
Top 2 games makes sense, I'm would have Diablo 4 and Resident Evil 4 on this list over Fire Emblem though.
Spider-Man 2 by far for me. But I am definitely looking forward to Starfield as well
Weird to see FE on this list. I love that series as much as the next guy but RE4, Hogwarts Legacy, Diablo IV, Star Wars game, should all easily have ranked higher than Fire Emblem. Other than that, not surprised Zelda is the most anticipated. RE4 and FFXVI are probably my most anticipated games for this year.
I think it may have been the hype with Engage being already so close when people voted.
In our recent poll spiderman 2 has taken the lead with 460 votes followed by tears at 430,
Last I checked tears was leading by miles away
That poll was rigged. In the last two days Spider-Man 2 went from 100 votes to 460 whereas TotK was already close to 400 at that point. Clearly not normal and Spider-Man 2 ended up fourth in this voting here even behind FFXVI (Machina told me).
Zelda and Starfield were the obvious picks. Zelda to see how Nintendo iterates on one of the greatest games of all time, and Starfield to see if it can live up to the hype.
Fire Emblem is a very weird pick for this list. That Harry Potter game coming out this year definitely should have made the list instead. Fire Emblem is a fairly small franchise, and didn't the game already come out now before this list came out lol.
The voting was done last year. Did you forget?
Not surprised by this result at all. Both games I fully expected to be runner-up and winner, Breath of the Wild was beloved by Nintendo fans and this site is mostly Nintendo fans, while Starfield has both the Xbox fanbase and a huge fanbase of PC gamers who love Bethesda games rooting for it.
I am a bit surprised that neither Hogwarts Legacy nor Jedi Survivor made the shortlist though, from what I saw both did very well on other website's user voted most anticipated awards, Hogwarts Legacy made the final 5 at The Game Awards Most Anticipated, while on IGN's Most Anticipated voting Jedi Survivor came in 3rd and Hogwarts 5th.
Can't wait till the marketing rollout for ToTK starts. It was a long wait but it is soon coming to an end and i'm sure it will be worth it. Can't believe the game is releasing in less than 4 months
Really not sure how much I'm anticipating Starfield. It sounds intriguing, but I'm not really a fan of Bethesda games so I'm not sure I'll like it.
I'm just waiting for Succubus (if Sony don't butcher the game) and maybe the remake of Lollipop Chainsaw. I don't have a WiiU2 so no Zelda for me.
Hello Mr Bean
