2023 is here and as is the tradition at the start of a new year, we are looking ahead at what is coming to our PCs and Consoles in the coming months. As always this is based on what we know is coming, not unannounced titles that will surely get released during the year, and don’t hold it against us when some of these titles get delayed into 2024.
It is now time for Matt to get lost in 2023’s biggest and brightest open worlds.
The Most Anticipated Open World Titles for 2023
Wild Hearts
It is a mighty ballsy move to tackle the might of Monster Hunter head-on, but that is exactly what Wild Hearts is doing. Published by EA (in what looks like a part of a bigger focus on single-player games) Wild Hearts seems to be set in an Eastern-fantasy style setting with a stunning art style and Asian influences.
The game looks to take on a lot of what makes Monster Hunter great but adds its own spin at the same time. This means that fans of MH should be able to get a new experience out of Wild Hearts and not just find themselves playing an inferior clone of the original classic.
Wild Hearts is due for release on the 16th of February for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series.
Assassin's Creed Mirage
It is no secret that I am a fan of the Creed games. While there have been some misses along the way, I generally have a good time with each entry in the long-running franchise. But at the end of Valhalla, I was craving something a little more contained, a little more focused. It was like Ubisoft heard my prayers because along came Mirage.
Mirage is set in Baghdad and is said to stick much closer to the feel of the original Ezio and Altair Creed games. This is such welcome news to me because while I really do enjoy the scope of the larger recent titles, it is undeniably nice to play in something more contained and directed.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming to PC, Xbox Series/X and PS4/5 this year sometime, though I wouldn’t expect it to land until the second half.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
We haven’t really seen anything of Spider-Man 2 but do we really need to see anything to know it is going to be great? Insomniac are masters of their craft and the last two Spider-Man titles had the best movement system in an open-world title bar none. Spider-Man 2 is sure to follow that tradition and provide a wonderful web-slinging experience.
What is exciting to me is that it looks like there will be three playable characters this time around. Peter, Miles and none other than Eddie Brock aka Venom. It should add a nice dynamic to the story as well as provide some variety over what is likely to be a very large game.
Spider-Man 2 is a PS5 exclusive (though at some point down the track, it will likely come to PC) and you can expect it to land in the busy October/November period.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Look, Breath of the Wild wasn’t for me. I tried, I really did. There were just too many things that rubbed me the wrong way. That being said, I am certainly in the minority there so having its sequel in this list is a bit of a no-brainer.
Any Zelda game brings a huge amount of prestige with it and rightly so, but I feel like there is a lot resting on this one. The biggest concern I have is the hardware itself. Is the aging Switch up to it? It is a huge question, especially considering how recent releases have performed on the system.
Apart from that though I expect it to be another well-loved Zelda title, Nintendo doesn’t release any other kind. Zelda fans get excited for the 12th of May if there are no more delays.
Skull and Bones
Boy, this one has been a long time coming, hasn’t it? What started as a spin on the naval combat from Assassin’s Creed Black Flag has turned into an epic, seemingly endless development cycle. That being said, what I have seen so far has me keen to check it out and live my best pirate life.
The promise of exploring the seas, looting and pillaging and and expanded version of the previously seen naval combat could be an absolute winner and something players haven’t really experienced since the excellent, but very old, Sid Mier’s Pirates. I really hope that Ubisoft can pull this one off.
Oh and there had better be sea shanties!
Barring any more delays, Skull and Bones should be out on the 9th of March for PC, Xbox Series and PS5.
