Upcoming Xbox Exclusives We Can't Wait To Play In 2023
The history of video games is almost as much of a rollercoaster as the games themselves. Video games have gone through periods of popularity and periods of obscurity verging on extinction, but the medium has emerged as one of the most diverse and popular creative outlets ever invented.
Today, the video game industry is thriving with mainstream production houses pumping out games with cutting-edge graphics and immersive storylines. Moreover, there are countless independent productions with lower budgets and smaller creative teams which are, nonetheless, delivering incredible games to the masses.
In 2021 alone, thousands of games were released and you'd be forgiven for being a little overwhelmed (via Gamespot). It can be hard to know what games to be excited about and which ones to play when there are so many to choose from. We're anticipating some incredible games in 2023 (check out our list of most anticipated 2023 Nintendo Switch games), and the Xbox is no exception. Microsoft has a solid lineup of exclusive titles planned for its flagship console in 2023.
Forza Motorsport
"Forza Motorsport," the upcoming eighth installment in the "Forza" series, returns to its roots with a true track racing game, five years after the last installment. That's after Turn 10 Studios, the creative team behind the game, turned their attention toward open-world gaming in "Forza Horizon."
Made by Xbox and Bethesda, "Forza Motorsport" presents a stunning world surrounding the tracks, which almost makes you feel like you're actually driving there. At least, that's what it looks like from the trailers. At present, the game doesn't have a firm release date and details are limited, but it is planned for release in 2023 (via Tech Radar). The title could be a placeholder, destined to change between now and release, but there's some indication it will stick, perhaps as a nod that the game is a reboot of the series.
According to the creative team, the driving experiences have been completely redesigned, including a physics upgrade 50 times more accurate than previous iterations. It will even incorporate realistic driving conditions which will change with the environment. Things like temperature change and weather conditions inside the game will impact the way you navigate courses.
By all accounts, "Forza Motorsport" will be the most ambitious and realistic racing game ever created, and we can't wait to get behind the wheel.
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
In 2017, game studio Ninja Theory gave us "Hellblade: Sanua's Sacrifice," an action-adventure game inspired by Norse and Celtic cultures and aesthetics. You play as Senua, a warrior on a quest through the underworld to rescue the soul of your lover from the goddess Hela. It was nominated in five categories at The Game Awards 2017, and took home three.
Now, five years later, the next chapter in the "Hellblade" series is set to arrive on Xbox Series X. "Senua's Saga: Hellblade II" returns players to the Norse setting, complete with monsters, including incredible stalking giants who are seemingly impervious to your rudimentary weapons. The visuals are stunning, with the game and the trailer having been built using Unreal Engine 5. While details are sparse, "Senua's Saga" promises an immersive tale with gorgeous (and sometimes terrifying) scenery.
The "Hellblade" sequel was first announced at The Game Awards 2019, but full production was delayed until at least 2021 (via Games Radar). While the original "Hellblade" was released on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox, the sequel will be exclusive to the Series X, thanks to a studio acquisition back in 2018. A release date has yet to be confirmed but players are hopeful it will arrive in the coming year.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
In 2007, Ukrainian developer GSC Game World released the survival horror game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." which takes players into a secret secondary exclusion zone around the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear reactor. In the game, a bunch of secret labs were constructed following the disaster. The experiments carried out there led to a second disaster in 2006 and, as a result, the exclusion zone becomes a menagerie of strange mutations and bizarre phenomena which you must survive.
Now, 15 years later, we are on the precipice of a return to Pripyat in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl." The game was originally set to release on April 28, 2022, but earlier this year we reported that the game had been delayed until December. Since then, things have changed again (in large part due to the circumstances in Kyiv, where the game's developer was founded) and the game was, understandably, further delayed.
Now, it's targeting a 2023 release and from the looks of it, it will be well worth the decade-and-a-half wait (via Digital Trends).
State of Decay 3
Now that "The Walking Dead" has joined the legions of the dead itself, zombie fans may be looking for something else to sink their teeth into. The third installment of the popular "State of Decay" franchise just might satisfy your hunger in 2023.
The game was first announced in a cinematic trailer during the Xbox Games Showcase in 2020, something the developers felt pressured to do before they felt ready, according to Digital Trends. As a result, the game has been slow in coming and details remain scant. We know that the game is being made with Unreal Engine 5, and that it's being published by Xbox Game Studios, making it a console exclusive. Everything else we know comes from the trailer.
It opens on a lone survivor sitting beside a fire, sharpening bolts for a crossbow when something appears in the woods, white eyes gleaming in the low light. Then the woman screams, high and loud, and blood-curdling. It's not the scream of someone who is afraid, it's the scream of someone who has had enough. The creature stalks away. As for actual gameplay, we'll have to wait to see that, but there's reason to believe it's going to be a terrifying ride. Later in the trailer, our hero follows a blood trail through the woods and finds a zombie deer chowing down on the corpse of a dead wolf. It screams, too.
Age of Empires
"Age of Empires" is a beloved and long-standing real-time strategy game, similar in some respects to "Warcraft," "StarCraft," and the tower defense games you play on your phone. Historically, "Age of Empires" has been enjoyed on a PC, allowing players to maneuver their forces using a keyboard and mouse.
Attempts at expanding the series to other platforms have been intermittent and with varying success. "Age of Empires II" offered a version for the PlayStation and "Age of Empires III" offered a mobile version, but those are exceptions to the PC rule. "Age of Empires IV" launched exclusively for PC but in 2023, we're getting a console version exclusive to the Xbox, for the first time (via Xbox).
In addition to a console port of the most recent game, Xbox players will also be getting a console version of "Age of Empires II." Microsoft has published the series for more than 25 years, so it makes sense that it would eventually make its way to the company's console, but this marks the first concerted attempt to push the franchise to the Xbox.
A little skepticism about successfully translating the game to the Xbox's user interface is reasonable and Microsoft has thought about that. If you find that using a controller just doesn't feel right, the console release will support inputs from a keyboard and mouse, allowing you to maintain the classic "Age of Empires" gameplay experience from the comfort of your couch (via Polygon).
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
From Plot Twist Games, a Polish studio whose prior contributions include "Tacticool Champs" and "Drift Zone," comes something totally different and exciting. "Tacticool Champs" is a top-down competitive shooter, and "Drift Zone" is a racing game with a focus on drifting, as the name suggests. "The Last Case of Benedict Fox" takes the studio into uncharted territory with a 2D platformer through a haunted mansion.
Details about the game are limited to some still images and a short trailer, courtesy of Xbox. It opens on a stormy night and a dark city. A car careens around corners, racing through the pounding rain until it reaches its destination: a mysterious mansion. Immediately upon entering, Benedict Fox is beset upon by a nefarious purple spirit and things appear to only get worse from there.
You play as the titular Benedict Fox, a sleuth investigating the mansion's many rooms and levels. Along the way, you'll encounter ghosts and ghouls, solve puzzles, encounter secret organizations, and possess the consciousness of murder victims in your search for clues. You'll be accompanied through this Lovecraftian nightmare set in 1920s Boston by your demon companion, and we're sure that's some comfort.
Everwild
From Rare, the same folks who brought us "Battletoads," "Donkey Kong Country," "Golden Eye," and more recently "Sea of Thieves," comes the next surefire classic, "Everwild." The developers haven't exactly spilled the beans about how the game is played, but a short trailer does reveal the world and it is gorgeous. Not to mention, Rare has been pumping out hit after hit for decades, so they've earned a little presumptive positivity.
According to Games Radar, the developers recently released some commentary that confirmed a few more details about the game. The playable characters are called Eternals and are more or less humanoid, but they live in a world filled with diverse creatures. Some of them are peaceful, others not so much, and those creatures range from almost totally recognizable to the truly unusual. That much is evidenced by the trailer alone.
It shows a beautiful and magical world filled with familiar animals who are all off slightly, in one way or another. What looks like a deer, for instance, has something resembling flower petals where its antlers should be, and the bunnies leap from the grass before gliding away.
It's unclear precisely what the game mechanics will be, but the creators did indicate that at least some elements won't be combat based. They referenced peaceful "symbiotic" relationships with the other creatures in "Everwild." It sounds like "Everwild" will mix cozy environmental sim with fantasy combat adventure and, honestly, that sounds incredible.
The Outer Worlds 2
In 1901, then-President William McKinley was shot and killed at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He became the third U.S. president to be assassinated and was succeeded in office by his Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt (via History). Roosevelt then went about breaking up the large business trusts that existed at the time. In "The Outer Worlds," the 2019 game from Obsidian Entertainment, that never happened. Instead, the corporations became more and more powerful until they controlled every element of society. The upshot is, in this alternate reality, space exploration kicked into high gear earlier and humanity is exploring distant star systems.
Now, Obsidian is following up its successful action RPG with a sequel, appropriately titled "The Outer Worlds 2." It promises to pick up where the last game left off, with the tagline "New solar system, new crew, same Outer Worlds" (via Laptop Magazine).
Otherwise, details are few, but you can expect more of the same alien action you got the first time around with updated hardware, new characters, and never before seen settings. The official release date is listed as "Coming Soon," but the next flight to the Outer Worlds is expected to take off sometime in 2023.
Redfall
Announced at E3 in 2021, "Redfall" is the next game from Arkane Studios, the same folks who brought us "Dishonored," "Prey," and two 2019 "Wolfenstein" games. In an official gameplay reveal from Xbox, a character investigates a church filled with blood splatter and a missing pastor. Every door they open reveals more carnage and there are malicious noises and voices coming from elsewhere in the building.
As the POV character foolishly walks toward the source of the blood, they discover too late they're surrounded by vampires and have to blast their way out or die trying. The game takes its name from the fictional town of Redfall, Massachusetts, and offers a story-driven shooter filled with colorful characters and terrifying monsters. The aesthetic merges horror with the sort of pop art style familiar to players of "Fornite."
Players are tasked with ridding the island of the vampire scourge, something you can do alone or with up to three friends in four-player co-op. In your quest to rid the world of the vampire menace, you'll utilize a wide array of weapons and a diverse selection of characters, all of whom you can customize with learned traits and abilities. This cooperative vampire-hunting shooter is sure to keep your blood pumping in the new year. It's slated for release in the first half of 2023 (via PC Gamer). We predict many late nights and mornings spent cursing the rising of the sun.
Ark II
The first "Ark" game has carved out a comfortable little niche among fans of crafting and adventure games. It has sold millions of copies across PC and consoles since release, and a sequel has been hotly anticipated by fans (via Gamespot).
That sequel, simply titled "Ark 2" was announced at The Game Awards 2020 with an intended release date of 2022 (via Games Radar). As is often the case with video game development — especially during a global pandemic — that original timeline fell through, things got moved around, and "Ark 2" got pushed to 2023. So far, most of what we have to go on is in the trailer that accompanied the 2020 announcement. It promises an expanded world and more intense combat.
Other than that, fans of the original game know more or less what they're going to get, an exploratory crafting and adventure game in a world filled with prehistoric creatures. The trailer doesn't reveal much information, but it does establish the vibe and re-introduce familiar creatures and settings, as well as an animated Vin Diesel riding an armored T-rex. It practically sells itself.
Fable 4
The "Fable" series has been a long-running staple in the Xbox's arsenal. It has been a console exclusive since the first installment launched on the original Xbox back in 2001. For most of the intervening years, "Fable" was the creative endeavor of Lionhead Studios, but the studio closed its doors after 15 years with the series in 2016.
Shortly thereafter, the scuttlebutt around the gaming community water coolers was that a new "Fable" game was in development from Playground Games. In 2020, those rumors were confirmed when the fourth installment in the fantasy video game series was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase (via PC Gamer). It's set to release some time in the relatively near future — relative being the operative word.
To date, we've been given a cinematic trailer that's heavy on aesthetics and light on details. The current title is simply "Fable," but there's no telling if that will stick between now and publication. What is clear, is that the game will return us to a world filled with magical creatures, incredible landscapes, and deadly challenges. There's also some suspicion that we might be getting a prequel, set considerably earlier than the other games in the series (via Tech Radar). If the game gods are feeling friendly, we'll find out soon. "Fable" is expected in 2023 at the earliest, but it could be considerably later.
Starfield
In 2023, gamers will get the next addition to Bethesda's collection of action RPGs, with the release of "Starfield." The powerhouse game studio behind "Fallout" and "The Elder Scrolls" brings us on a new adventure set in deep space. Instead of a fantasy realm or a barren nuclear wasteland, "Starfield" takes players precisely where the name suggests, the potentially infinite collection of worlds in the cosmic deep.
Despite the change in setting, the rest of Bethesda's tried and true formula appears to be present. Like the other games in the studio's portfolio, "Starfield" will largely leave the player free to explore the heavens according to their whims and progress through the main storyline at their own pace, all while enjoying an impressive selection of alien worlds. And there are a lot of them.
According to the game developers, there are roughly 100 star systems in the game with a total of about 1,000 planets. All of them are different, all of them can be explored, and all of them are deadly. If "Skyrim" or "Fallout 4" are any indication, "Starfield" promises to be the sort of thing you could sink months or years into if you were of a mind. And given that you're always only one ship's jump away from an entirely new world, there's bound to be plenty to see, study, and shoot in Bethesda's version of that final frontier.