With each passing year, we witness incredible advancements in graphics, compelling storytelling, and cutting-edge gaming mechanics, as we approach the end of the first half of 2023, gamers excitedly expect a variety of magnificent games, whether new instalments from old franchise or entirely new titles, to push the boundaries of gaming experience. So far video games are concerned, it is shaping up to be an enormous year.
By definition, games that have been released this year are relatively new. Thus, the purpose of this article, to bring us up to speed on the latest games to grace the year 2023.
Here are the top newest games released so far this year:
1. Dead Island 2:
Dead island 2 is a 2023 action role-playing game and was created by Dambuster Studios and released by Deep Silver. It is the third main entry in the Dead Island series and a follow-up to the video game Dead Island from 2011. Dead Island 2 distinguishes itself from its predecessors by taking place in the metropolis of Los Angeles, which has been quarantined due to a zombie outbreak. Dead Island 2 is set about 15 years after the events of Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide. The game was made available on April 21, 2023, for Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X/S. The game, which was announced in 2014, was stuck in development for more than eight years as a result of several changes with the firms producing it.
It is an action-adventure video game that is played in first person. In the middle of a zombie apocalypse, Los Angeles is the setting for Dead Island 2. Players must choose their player avatar from a list of six playable avatars at the start of the game.
2. Company of Heroes 3:
Developed by Relic Entertainment and released by Sega for Windows, Company of Heroes 3 is a real-time strategy game in February 23, 2023. The game, a follow-up to Company of Heroes 2, has new mechanics and game types and is set in the Italian and North African theaters of World War II.
Players in Company of Heroes 3 assume control of Allied Forces during the invasion of Italy and Axis Forces during the campaign in North Africa.
The game includes series-first elements including the Tactical pause system, which enables players to halt a fight and put commands in a queue to be executed when the game is resumed. Company of Heroes 3 also boasts a revamped destruction mechanism that provides the game with more granular destruction, such as individual tiles and bricks falling off buildings. Italian Partisans are friendly NPCs that can be employed on the battlefield or summoned beforehand.[6] The narrative is dynamic, and the player’s interactions with the several commanders in the game might influence how it ends. Company of Heroes 3 is available on Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S platforms.
3. One Piece Odyssey:
ILCA and Bandai Namco Entertainment worked together to create the role-playing video game One Piece Odyssey in 2023. It was made available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on January 13 and is a part of the One Piece series.
In One Piece Odyssey, Players take control of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates in the turn-based role-playing game. Each playable character has a special skill related to their power that can be used for movement, gathering things, and resolving puzzles. The game switches to the battle screen after confronting an enemy on the battlefield, where menu commands are used to manage the activities of the characters. The "Scramble Area Battles" system, in which battles are divided into many sections, is the centerpiece of the combat system.
4. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an action-adventure game released 25th May of this year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, while a Nintendo Switch version is scheduled for release later in 2023. The game received generally unfavorable reviews mainly because of the adaptation of the storyline and the game mechanics. The game takes place between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring's events in the fictitious Middle-earth established by J. R. R. Tolkien. While battling himself and evading Sauron, the player takes control of Gollum as he travels through a number of places, including Cirith Ungol, Barad-dûr, and Mirkwood, in an effort to locate Bilbo Baggins and reclaim the One Ring.
5. Destiny 2: Lightfall
This game was developed by Bungie and was a first-person shooter game. After being delayed from its initial fall 2022 release due to The Witch Queen expansion, it was finally published on February 28, 2023. The plot of Lightfall centers on the exiled Cabal emperor Calus, a recurring figure in Destiny 2, who is now a Disciple of the Witness. He and the Witness, along with their army of Shadow Legion Cabal and Tormentors, attack the covert, technologically advanced human city of Neomuna on Neptune in order to acquire a mysterious being known as the Veil that will signal a second Collapse. It is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and and Xbox one.
6. Diablo IV:
Blizzard Entertainment created and released Diablo IV in 2023. It is an action role-playing game for online multi-player.. In the Diablo series, it is the fourth main entry. The game, which was revealed at BlizzCon 2019, was made available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and Microsoft Windows on June 5, 2023. Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, or Sorcerer are the five classes from which characters can be created. Players employ these characters’ abilities to carry out objectives by engaging in combat.
7. Dead Space:
Dead Space is a 2023 survival horror game developed by Motive Studio and published by Electronic Arts.
On January 27, 2023, it was made available on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It was a sequel to the 2008 game of the same name, which was created by EA Redwood Shores. After Dead Space 3’s release in 2013, this is the first entry in the Dead Space series. The player takes control of engineer Isaac Clarke as he navigates the starship and battles the Necromorphs while battling a developing psychosis, same like in the original game, which is set on a mining spaceship that has been taken over by dangerous monsters called Necromorphs. From the first game, Dead Space has undergone a number of alterations. Isaac now gets voice lines of his own, as opposed to the original when he was a silent protagonist. Isaac has also been added to earlier voice lines and dialogues that were modified for the game. Isaac will now talk and even dispute with the other characters. Additionally, the game has more gore than the original thanks to the addition of a “peeling” mechanic that lets players rip apart and obliterate Necromorphs’ bodies. There are some weapons that are better suited to amputating limbs than others, and vice versa. The remake further enhances the zero gravity aspect of the original by giving Isaac rockets to move freely across specific regions of the Ishimura.
8. Resident Evil 4 (2023)
Resident Evil 4 was created by Capcom. It is a remake of Resident Evil 4 from 2005. The US agent Leon S. Kennedy, who is controlled by the players, has to protect Ashley Graham, the president of the United States, from the shadowy Los Illuminados cult. Updated gameplay, revamped aesthetics, characters, and cast are all features of the remake. The game was released on all platforms on March 24, 2023.
With the first half of the year almost over, it is safe to say that best is yet to come.