'New Year, New Me!' I scream as I charge headfirst into all my worst habits once again. It's another 12 month cycle of hype, dreadful discourse and art at the whim and mercy of glorious impenetrable capitalism.
While I have always rallied against the idea that any year has been a 'bad year for games' I certainly can't hide just how few titles I was actively excited for in 2022. I had a lot of pleasant surprises for sure, but nothing on the horizon that kept me awake at night.
2023 is undeniably looking a lot stronger on this front, especially for fellow weebs (We've certainly got some big hitters on the way). There’s also a slew of really cool looking offerings from smaller studios that I’m absolutely gunning for.
So here's a few things I'm looking forward to this year:
Final Fantasy XVI
Despite its flaws and troubled development I ended up really liking FFXV, the eternally ironic series has continued to strike a unique tone in the JRPG sphere and I'm interested to see what this new one does with its world and story to set itself apart.
Final Fantasy has always been a series more than willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater in terms of its visual and mechanical design, each entry offering something different yet strangely familiar. No doubt FFXVI will offer up beautiful visuals and an interesting take on a mediaeval setting.
My one concern is whether the clear lines of inspiration from recent prestige TV trends will impact just how 'Final Fantasy' the game will eventually feel. There’s a very big case of the ‘we see you Witcher’ about the game’s tone and presentation, even with all those massive eidolon battles being centre stage.
Still, very excited to go on a big adventure with my main man Clive this summer!
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Breath of the Wild was a game I unsurprisingly really liked, full of really great ideas, an excitingly vast world to explore and a beautifully playful set of sandbox rules that made every encounter fun.
I suppose my excitement about what comes next is metered by the concern that it'll become 'the same but more', an experience at risk of offering diminishing returns should it come across as more Master Quest than Majora's Mask. You simply cannot tell from the trailers released so far. It could very well be a game that takes all the neat stuff from the original and improves where it needs to, but doesn't rock the boat otherwise.
Should it slot itself neatly into that archetype I'm sure many of us will still be overjoyed. There were certainly opportunities for further exploration of Breath of the Wild's core systems. But I'm not so quietly hoping that it will be something more.
Octopath Traveller 2
I'm just as surprised as anyone that I'm excited for this, another sequel, and in this case one to a game I wasn't all that in love with. Great visuals and fun combat aside, Octopath Traveller was an RPG I felt really lacked in many areas. There wasn't much to do outside of fighting, the character action system was extremely one note and the writing was a struggle to get through.
The news of a second entry was expected but not that anticipated until I saw the recent trailer. It looks cool! It looks like there's more going on in it, that those basic systems in the original have been expanded upon. The HD-2D art looks really lush. I am cautiously optimistic, and I think because I'm already familiar with the basic underlying structure now even if it doesn't quite wow me it'll still be a cosy little JRPG to get us through into Spring.
Season: A Letter to the Future
I'm forever in awe of what smaller studios are able to craft, visually stunning interactive experiences that rival even the most triple of A. Season: A Letter to the Future looks gorgeous, and based on the demo that was available during a recent Steam Next Fest, has a really satisfying gameplay loop.
Collecting sights and sounds to document the world as it once was, exploring these beautiful mediterranean-esque locales as you attempt to make sense of what could very well be the end of everything. Curated storytelling met with a fun and creative journal system. A chill experience with an underlying current of 'oh, this isn't quite all it seems'. It's a strong contender for a Static Canvas video this year, that's for sure.
Terra Nil
I'm not 100% certain that I'll end up getting on with this game. I'm not a big strategy lad, and my time with the demo last year has me cautious about some of the game's more fiddly elements but it's definitely the kind of thing that will drive a lot of interesting conversation about the intersection of technology and environmentalism. A game that is explicitly about removing humanity from the equation as you resurrect a lifeless planet is a bold and clear statement of intent.
It has a lot going for it, as a driving force of examination of the way we treat our environment and the truly impossible task of bringing back something long thought dead Whether or not the final release lives up to the promise of its previews and demo, I don't know, but I've certainly got something in the works for it and I’m excited to see where it goes from there.
Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name
Mostly due to the demands of my day job and the fact that my PS4 sounds like a bloody jet engine, I've struggled to find the time to get properly stuck into Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I'll be honest, from what I've played so far, I get a lot of the criticism aimed at it (Some dodgy representation of marginalised groups in the gameplay being at odds with the more considerate tone of the main story, and a slightly shonky combat system that feels like a bit of a chore at times).
Having said that, I am an avid fan of the series, and in particular everything it does that flies in the face of modern big budget game design. Reusing assets, heavily story driven sidequests, reiterating and reinventing what came before it to craft a believably evolving world. I’m looking forward to finally seeing what the fuss is about this long yearned for localisation of the Edo era spin off and whatever this new bridging game set between Like a Dragon and its new sequel will be.
The latter I'm conflicted about, however. I don't really *need* another Kazuma Kiryu game, I felt that The Song of Life wrapped things up really nicely, that his story is done. Also, for how iconic he is, the man has the personality of a brick wall, and especially now we've been exposed to new kid on the block Ichiban Kasuga, I think it's time we moved on for good.
I’ve still not played Lost Judgment, I should probably get on that asap.
Assassin's Creed Mirage
Ubisoft's greatest asset, the Assassin's Creed series is one full of surprisingly great writing, interesting scenarios and absolutely hogwild science fiction nonsense. I love it. I even love the modern day stuff that everyone else seems to hate. I made a video about it, you can watch it here:
Mirage, from what little has been said, is allegedly a return to older formats, a smaller scale thing that eschews the rpg elements that had quietly crept into recent entries (I won't defend them, but I also don't mind them). Given who the protagonist of Mirage is, Basim Ibn Ishaq, and where that character ended up at the climax of Valhalla's main story, I'm very excited to see how they approach this one.
If nothing else, a return to the denser cityscapes of the early games is more than welcome. These were present in some regard in Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla but due to either the setting or the scope of the world they didn't quite have the same claustrophobic detail of especially games like Unity, where it often felt like climbing over rooftops was your only way to avoid being crushed by the crowds below or getting lost in the winding alleyways and narrow streets.
As much as I like the new Creeds, I'm hoping that Mirage brings us more of that good stuff.
Dordogne
Dordogne just looks really nice. A sort of French Boku no Nasuyatsumi that has you explore a village as both your adult and child selves. Slow, ponderous experiences like this are always welcome in my house, and I'm particularly curious about the studio making it, as their background seems to be more experimental theatre and animation than game design.
I don’t really know what that means for the game, but I’ve always felt like introducing folk from outside the conventional industry has the potential to produce some interesting results. I recently played Cuccchi, which is by a multimedia artist named Julian Gechtman, which does some fascinating things with perspective and expectations around world design.
I'm not so sure about the 3D characters on painted backgrounds as a look, but I'm just going by one trailer, and playing a game feels wildly different from watching a game being played so maybe it makes more sense in practice than it does in presentation.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising was a really nice surprise for me early last year. A sort of bridging experience for those eagerly anticipating this spiritual successor to Suikoden, that had some great character art, a really fun gameplay loop and all the base building trappings of its grandfather series. There's a samurai kangaroo. He's an absolute beast in combat.
Hundred Heroes, the main course of this whole venture, looks great, a full on retro style JRPG with that Suikoden 1&2 style sprite work laid over some really nice looking 3D environments. Suikoden 2 is one of those games I came to later in life and was absolutely blown away by how complete a role playing experience it was, and how intimate its story's main source of conflict felt considering how big the cast is. I hope the same is true for Hundred Heroes. It certainly looks the part.
Mineko's Night Market
I don't really know much about this one, or the background of its creators. I just liked the look of the trailer. I played a fair few games in 2022 that were really nice even if they didn't necessarily blow my socks off. Stuff like Beacon Pines where the tone, characterisation and story kept me gripped from start to finish. I don't want to make every game I look forward to this year be simply Static Canvas fodder. Not everything has to change my life. Sometimes what I really want is a complete experience that lives up to what it's selling itself as.
This looks like it could be one of those games, a sort of town building experience akin to Animal Crossing with some lovely art and a background of interesting folklore. The name alone evokes mystery and a supernatural quality, the style feels very A Night in the Woods. Could very well be a great time.
Tactical Breach Wizards
What do you want me to say? It's called Tactical Breach Wizards. It's by Tom Francis, the developer of Gunpoint and the excellent Heat Signature. If you don't know him, I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel, https://youtube.com/@Pentadact, he does a lot of let's plays of strategy and puzzle games where he talks through his cognitive process, as well as a fair few dev logs that showcase that he's absolutely the right person to be making a game like this.
It's strategy in the vein of Into the Breach, all about positioning, linking attacks and tactically moving your foes around the map and also there's an enemy type that can summon ghost trains. There's a very funny Hot Fuzz-esque feel to the character designs too. The quintessentially English take on Hollywood conventions is something I have a lot of time for so long as it's done right, and Francis strikes me as the sort of person who would shy away from snark and looking at the camera in favour of something more earnest. Could be a winner!
Sea of Stars
Because I'm an utter ape who has no concept of hand-eye coordination I bounced off The Messenger, but I could see clearly that it was the product of a more thoughtful and less rosy tinted version of nostalgia, both in terms of how it plays and how it looks. Taking the elements of older generation hardware but with more modern design sensibilities is absolutely the right way to honour the past in this sense. Sea of Stars looks to be that same loving eye turned towards the not so humble JRPG, and what I've seen of it looks very exciting.
This kind of game never went away, certainly devs like Zeboyd have been holding the torch alight all this time, but it's really great to see more of this stuff take what was great and modernise it in a way that benefits both the past and the future.
Also, if you like the look of this you should probably play last year’s Chained Echoes, which is an excellent ensemble JRPG that feels very Final Fantasy IX to me.
Birth
Birth looks wonderfully macabre. A story of loneliness told through a series of bespoke puzzles as you attempt to 'make' a friend, bone by bone. An already impressive venture from a largely solo developer, I have no doubt that while a lot of fun, this will end up being a surprisingly profound and poignant experience too. Sometimes it's hard to convey just what it is about a game that makes it special, but from even the first five seconds of watching the trailer for Birth, seeing that art style and understanding perfectly what kind of experience we will be getting, I knew that this is one to watch for sure.
And Beyond!
What are you excited to get your hands on this year? Let me know in the comments, and happy gaming everyone!
I’m very intrigued by Season. I didn’t play the demo but the visuals are my jam plus cycling in the Med? Goals.
Mirage is set to be a big time sink for me. I really enjoyed Odyssey but Origins and Valhalla didn’t click with me. I am excited to see what new hardware can do with dense cities.
Other than that I’m hoping 2023 will allow more tabletop gaming away from the screen. The pando took that away and I’d like it back.