7 Games I Want To See More Of In 2023

DokeV feels like the “everything” video game, and it almost looks too good to be true. This delightfully colorful title is, among other things, part MMO, part open-world sandbox, part Pokemon, part Ghostbusters, and part llama-riding simulator. Name something that’s fun, and DokeV probably has it. The project has been in the works for at least a couple of years by Pearl Abyss, best known for its popular MMO, Black Desert Online, and I’d hoped we’d hear more of it this year after it stole the show at Gamescom 2021. That sadly wasn’t the case, so here’s hoping DokeV pokes its head up in 2023 with a big update, preferably one that rhymes with “Elise Lindo.”

2023 will mark a decade since I first laid eyes on this alluring sci-fi horror game. Its premise of surviving malevolent AI-powered machines on a dilapidated space station may not be the most original, but I’m a sucker for a good eerie jaunt through space. Routine resurfaced during Summer Game Fest this year after years of silence, though with the bittersweet revelation that development had been restarted after years of work. That means it still isn’t likely to release soon, but hopefully, we’ll get more frequent updates about its progress going into the new year. 

What happened to this game? Seeing thousands of digital humans crashing into each other and pouring over cliffs like (the culturally famous but scientifically inaccurate version of) lemmings sold me on the experience back in 2018, even if I still don’t know what the actual game is underneath those masses. Do you control these mobs directly or manipulate their surroundings in order to herd them any which way? That’s still unclear, and it’s been years since Humanity had a meaningful update. In fact, the game’s website still bills it as a PlayStation 4 and PSVR game, two platforms that now have hardware successors. I’m not one to lose faith in Humanity, so I’m confident this mysterious title reemerges from the shadows in the coming months.

Watching Nintendo Directs in hope of a Silksong sighting has become akin to hiking in a remote forest searching for Bigfoot. Each time it doesn’t appear, I walk away unsurprised but disappointed all the same. 2022 only brought news that Silksong is coming to Xbox Game Pass, so maybe, just maybe, 2023 ushers in another, single update: a release date.

Surely now that Tears of the Kingdom is (hopefully) out the door in May, Nintendo will have the bandwidth to say, “Now that our long-awaited Zelda game is out the way, let’s chat about our long-awaited Metroid game,” right? I hope so. Nintendo has a habit of revealing big projects and then launching them mere months later, and part of me suspects that it will pull the same stunt with Metroid Prime 4. After all, 2023 is, for now, relatively light on big Nintendo releases. Zelda, Fire Emblem Engage, and Pikmin 4 could carry a year on the first-party front, but two of those titles are slated for the first half of the year. Nintendo’s holiday slate could potentially use a Samus-infused shot in the arm.

Somehow, we went an entire year without receiving an update on Little Devil Inside, the obscenely charming action-adventure game last seen in October 2021. There’s not much left for me to say about it, as Little Devil Inside occupies the exclusive camp of games I was sold on a long time ago. I just need a release date. In the meme-ified words of a saliva-spewing Dave Bautista, give me what I want in 2023. I don’t need another trailer. That’s not what I want. Give me a release date. Please? 

The Last Night has been MIA for so long that another game with a similar vibe and aesthetic, Replaced, has come along and kind of eaten its lunch. However, I’m not complaining about potentially getting to play two cool 3D pixel cyber-dark future-ish things. A year ago, creator Tim Soret promised the game would make a “comeback” in 2022, but unless I missed something, that definitely didn’t happen. Let’s see if 2023 bears any fruit.