After a historic year featuring games like Horizon Forbidden West and God of War: Ragnarok, PlayStation 5 has a lot to live up to in 2023. The early part of the year will be driven by third-party exclusives and the launch of PlayStation VR2, while the latter part of the year will rely on another sequel to a critically acclaimed PS4 game. It looks like Xbox and Nintendo will only step up their competition next year, so Sony needs to deliver a lot of great PS5 exclusives to stay relevant.
Ahead of the New Year, we’re rounding up the 2023 PS5 exclusives that should be on your radar. We’re only including games with confirmed release windows, so don’t expect to see Marvel’s Wolverine, Death Stranding 2, or the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake on this list. Still, from Forspoken to Stellar Blade, these seven titles should provide plenty of diverse entertainment on PS5 next year.
Forspoken–January 24th
Forspoken Deep Dive | Athiya’s quest
Forspoken was one of the first PS5-exclusive titles we learned about, and we won’t have to wait much longer to finally get our hands on it. This magic-based action RPG follows a New York girl named Fray (played by Ella Bulinska) who is transported to the magical world of Athia. Although there are some concerns with the game’s story, its colorful magic-based combat and fast-paced exploration look like a lot of fun. Although we’ll have to wait until January 24th to play the full game, a demo for Forspoken is actually available now on the PlayStation Store.
Season: A Letter to the Future – January 31
Season: A Letter to the Future – Release Date Revealed Trailer | PS5 and PS4 Games
Seasons: A Letter to the Future looks like the coziest upcoming PlayStation console. It looks like a casual game about riding a bike around, recording sounds and taking pictures of a beautiful world that’s about to end, so it looks like it could be one of the first indie darlings of 2023. Unfortunately, its development has been rocky, with reports of workplace abuse surfacing mid-season: a note for future development. If that doesn’t bother you and the concept intrigues you enough, consider checking out its demo on the PlayStation Store ahead of its January 31 launch.
Mountain’s Horizon Call – February 22
Horizon VR: Call of the Mountain – Official Gameplay Trailer | playstation state of play 2022
While next spring may seem a little quieter for PS5 owners, that’s when Sony will launch PlayStation VR2 on February 22nd. The crown jewel of its launch lineup is Horizon Call of the Mountain, a first-person VR game that lets players explore and fight. Cybernetic-infected enemies of the dystopian, sci-fi world of Horizon. There are also several other PlayStation VR2 launch titles to look forward to, including Fantavision 202X, the sequel to an iconic classic PS2 puzzle game, as well as Dawn: Rush of Blood’s on-rails horror spiritual successor The Dark Pictures: Switchback. we are. Still, due to its impressive graphical fidelity and first-party developer status, Horizon Call of the Mountains on PS5 is the only PlayStation VR2 title we currently know about.
Final Fantasy XVI – June 22nd
Final Fantasy XVI – Revenge
The next mainline Final Fantasy game will be a PlayStation console exclusive at release, and it’s looking great. Final Fantasy XVI follows a man named Clive who seeks revenge in the war-torn world of Valistia and can summon Eikons to aid in battle, based on the summons from the Final Fantasy series. This entry looks darker than previous mainline Final Fantasy games, reflecting the dark fantasy and political turmoil popularized by Game of Thrones. Its real-time action RPG gameplay also looks pretty exciting, so we can’t wait to get our hands on Final Fantasy XVI when it finally comes out on June 22nd.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Fall 2023
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – PlayStation Showcase 2021: Trailer Revealed | PS5
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the biggest first-party PS5 game, coming in 2023. Its 2018 predecessor is one of the most entertaining superhero games ever made, thanks to how satisfying it is to walk around New York as Spider-Man, and the 2020 follow-up focused on Miles Morales tells a more contained and emotional story. It’s just as fun. We can’t wait to see what Insomniac Games does with the new Spider-Man game where both Peter and Miles are playable as well as what they do with new characters like Kraven the Hunter and Venom. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will likely be the standout PS5 game of the year when it launches in fall 2023.
Pacific Drive – TBA
Pacific Drive – Coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in 2023
Described by developer Ironwood Studios themselves as “road-like”, Pacific Drive is a supernatural roguelike survival game where players try to survive harsh storms and supernatural threats while driving their car through the Pacific Northwest. Upgrade continuously. While Forza Motorsport will provide high-fidelity racing gameplay on Xbox, Pacific Drive is having a lot more fun playing around with what could be the game’s premise about driving a car. Due to its weirdly charming premise, Pacific Drive is on our radar in 2023, even though it doesn’t have a specific release date or window within the next year yet.
Stellar Blade – TBA
Stellar Blade (formerly Project EVE) – State of Play September 2022 Story Trailer | ps5 games
Stellar Blade is a fast-paced action game that made a strong impression on PlayStation’s game announcement livestream. It is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction game based on a girl named Eve who is trying to save the Earth from aliens. Invader For fans of action titles from developers like PlatinumGames, Stellar Blade looks like it will scratch that same intense combat itch. It also features exaggerated characters and world designs that fans of the manga and anime will love. There is no specific release date, but we do know that Stellar Blade will release for PS5 sometime in 2023.