Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – 2023’s most wanted (pic: Nintendo)
Readers discuses the games they’re most looking forward to this year, from Starfield to the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Since this is the first Hot Topic of 2023, the subject for this weekend’s Inbox was an obvious one, and it wasn’t too surprising to find that Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom was the most popular game. Although Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy also had a lot of interest.
Everyone seemed optimistic about the new year though, with plenty of new titles to look forward to and for once they’re fairly evenly distributed across the months to come.
Obvious choice
It’s got to be Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, hasn’t it? As GC pointed out, Zelda games aren’t always classics but after the incredible Breath Of The Wild how could you not be excited about its sequel? Well, I guess the lack of details could put you off, but this is Nintendo and to be honest I don’t really need to know anything else to know I’ll be getting it.
If I had an Xbox I’d been interested In Starfield but beyond that I can’t see myself not getting the Resident Evil 4 remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, if it comes out in time. I haven’t heard a bad word about the Resi remake and I was very impressed by Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so those will likely be bought without knowing anything more.
With everything else I’ll be more cautious but if it reviews well I’ve also got my eye on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Bayonetta Origins, Pikmin 4, and Spider-Man 2. So far it seems a good year, I just hope that the second half, which was the real disappointment in 2022, is better, now we’re a bit more distanced from the pandemic.
Oarfish
Task Force X
My most anticipated game this year is Zelda but I want to give a shout out to Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. I’m not sure why, but people seem pretty down on this game. I’m not sure if it’s the lengthy development time or the Avengers and Gotham Knights game flopping critically and commercially but I don’t expect the same fate of Suicide Squad.
The reason for my anticipation is that I have full faith in Rocksteady. In my opinion they have made nothing less than great games, even Arkham Knight, which was my least favourite of the Arkham trilogy, was still my game of the year when it came out. I think the trailers have looked great so far in both gameplay and cinematics. From what I’ve seen so far, I think they’ve nailed the interactions between the characters, even more so than the films. I can’t wait!
Angry_Kurt
Now playing: Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope (Switch) and God Of War Ragnarök (PS5)
GC: We think it’s simply that the game has been in development for over seven years and so far they’ve only shown 30 seconds of gameplay.
Personal best
I’m getting a sequel and a remake of two of my favourite games ever this year in Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and Resident Evil 4, respectively, so I’m going to cheat and nominate both.
As GC pointed out, Resident Evil 4 is looking mighty fine and seems like a great compromise between the original game and more modern game design. I still love that game, but I’ll admit that its controls take a while to readjust to, while things like having to go into a menu to change weapons feels awful nowadays. The graphics are amazing too and I’m sure it’ll be a great showcase for the fancy new consoles.
Tears Of The Kingdom’s a no-brainer, as I usually try and play at least one Zelda every year and a new entry’s always an event. My open world fatigue has gone through the roof since Breath Of The Wild though, so I’m a bit concerned my enjoyment of this follow-up will be diminished. Breath Of The Wild took over my life in 2017 though, so I wouldn’t bet against this one doing the same.
To be completely honest though, I’m so far behind on last year’s games that I don’t know when I’ll get caught up. I had no time when Elden Ring released and no money when God Of War Ragnarök came out. Then there’s the heap of smaller, indie fare like Signalis, Sifu, and Neon White that I want to sink my teeth into as well.
The only things I played were Shadow Warrior 3 near the start of the year and a wee bit of Bayonetta 3, which I still intend to give proper attention to.
I’m not complaining, mind you, as I had a great 2022 in terms of my career and personal life, but hopefully life won’t get in the way quite so much this year and I’ll get to play at least some the great games coming out.
ANON
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Scary sequel
I was going to write in earlier this week about Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, but time got away from me. So yeah, that’s my most anticipated title by far for this year. And this year will also include Street Fighter 6 and the Resident Evil 4 remake!
Now, I recently realised, that of the enemies that didn’t make it into Breath Of The Wild, the scarier ones were pretty much all missing. Oh sure, the Molduga is no Care Bear and those Lynels (Ritchie or Blair?) are intimidating – but no spiders. No ReDeads (or mummies or Gibdos), Stalfos, Wallmasters, or Dead Hands. I really miss the spooky monsters. Oh my god, its scream just froze the poor little guy in terror and now it seems to be taking bites out of his neck! What? A giant, disembodied hand that drops from the ceiling and can throw you out of the dungeon?
Then there was the giant spider with the big eyeball on its back. Eurgh. And how you killed it. Just nasty. And who can forget the instant psychological trauma of the Dead Hands found at the bottom of Kakariko Village’s well and in the catacombs of the Shadow Temple? There were kids in the audience, Nintendo!
More of that, please and thank you.
DMR
Good and bad potential
For me the two games I’m most looking forward to in 2023, that we know about so far, are Starfield and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor pretty evenly.
I’ve played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order multiple times, with my most recent playthrough just last year with the current gen update. I picked it up for a measly £8 in the PSN Christmas sale, as I’ve recently got a PlayStation 5 and plan to play it again on it at some point.
I’m very much looking forward to the current gen only sequel Jedi Survivor when it launches on 17 March, or I believe I’ll actually be able to start playing on 10 March due to having Game Pass Ultimate with the EA Play trial, which usually allows you to play a week early. Everything they’ve shown looks like it’s going to be a great sequel.
Starfield, I’m hoping, like most people that have been looking forward to the game, that it is the next epic Bethesda role-player up there with the studio’s best like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 3. What they’ve shown and the information they’ve given certainly looks very promising and I’ll be very much looking forward to its dedicated show that Xbox recently announced, that will take place sometime after the Xbox Developer Direct on January 25.
Bethesda’s role-players are among my favourites of the genre, with The Elder Scrolls being one of my favourite game series ever. So I am very excited for this new IP and also really like sci-fi and space travel games, so it should be right up my alley. It has the potential to be one of the generation’s best and also the most potential for disappointment! Obviously, I’m hoping for the former!
Big Angry Dad82 (gamertag)
Nothing planned
What games am I looking forward to in 2023? At number one is the board game I keep promising myself I’ll make but never do. At number two is Final Fantasy whatever number it is now. I didn’t instantly like the last one, but it grew on me and as a lifelong fan I feel I have no choice but to buy it.
At number three is the Xbox exclusive Starfield that I will never play as I don’t have an Xbox.
TommyFatFingers
Happy new year
Two games initially spring to mind, starting with Hogwarts Legacy, which makes me want to check out how far titles from this series have improved since the GameCube days.
I am hoping for a good character creation system and one that involves making them unique to you! The school and grounds are to be explored in its entirety, like the forest, lake, and Hogsmeade, etc. Hopefully the graphics and textures are spot on, and the immersion is perfect for nostalgia reasons. Hopefully the story can be good for unique playthroughs, with branching scenarios and big decisions changing the plot for you in big or small ways.
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is my next hopeful, after thoroughly enjoying Breath Of The Wild over the Christmas and New Year period. So much exciting gameplay and the best tricks of the trade which only Nintendo can do. I can maybe imagine another large world with a bunch of environments suitable for a sequel to the awesome Switch original.
Proper underwater locations, other dimensions or the cosmos, even the sky in general! Even then the developers will still have room to surprise us all. 2023 is looking great in general and with Bethesda’s Starfield looking so inviting, it’s just the tip of a very good looking iceberg, going by The Games Awards show in December.
I believe The Forest 2 is also being released soon, which was enjoyable to see Twitch streamers getting excited with whilst playing the original game on their channel.
As the games I choose are usually expansive and take a while to do, I feel as though the year will be filled with new content without me crazily buying too many titles. So I hope GameCentral and their viewers had a great holiday season and new year and here is to a great 2023 gaming year.
Alucard
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Readers discuses the games they’re most looking forward to this year, from Starfield to the Resident Evil 4 remake.
