The Second Half Of 2023 Is Jam-Packed With Games All Of A Sudden

Just last week, the gaming world was living in what many had thought would be the peak time of the year. With Summer Game Fest around the corner, millions of players making their way through Hyrule, Hell, and Metro City, and with Valisthea on the horizon, excitement and enjoyment filled the air in every pocket of the industry. Things were busy--the beginning of the year was stacked, after all--but outside of a few releases sprinkled around the summer and fall, there was a light at the end of the tunnel to take a breath and play at our own pace.

Now though, as the dust settles and the fallout from Summer Game Fest comes into focus, one thing is abundantly clear. 2023 isn't over yet: not by a longshot. And with the June 2023 Nintendo Direct having now aired, the situation is even more extreme.

Autumn abundance

As announcements rolled in and we began to take stock of everything being thrown at us, we noticed a 10-day period in October which now contains five of the most-anticipated launches of the year:

• Forza Motorsport - October 10
• Assassin's Creed Mirage - October 12
• Alan Wake 2 - October 17
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - October 20
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder - October 20

That list leaves out smaller-yet-popular games like Lords Of The Fallen (October 13) and Endless Dungeon (October 19) which fall in the same window. If we expand the calendar further in both directions, we run into games like Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless (October 3), Cities Skyline 2 (October 24) and the Alone In The Dark reboot (October 25).

October alone is loaded, but if we continue to branch into the surrounding months, there's little room to breathe before or after. September starts off with a galaxy-sized game in Starfield (September 6), and then eight days later we have a preview of October's 10-day gauntlet with The Crew Motorfest (September 14), Lies Of P (September 19), and Mortal Kombat 1 (September 19). Hack-and-slash/dating sim Eternights (September 21) hits shelves two days after that, and there are two potential hits with vague "September" release windows in Monster Hunter Now and Robocop: Rogue City.

November and December are currently not as busy, but there are four games worth consideration. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (November 9) gives Yakuza fans a new chapter to chew on. Persona 5 Tactica (November 17) injects a bit of Fire Emblem into the Persona franchise, while Nintendo's June 21 Nintendo Direct unveiled a remake of Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars for the same day. Finally, as revealed at Ubisoft Forward, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora drops December 7, which will put a blue Na'vi bow on the year (we think).

Phew.

Sizzlin' summertime

There may be some questions about what we're going to do between now and September, and the answer is simple: Play video games! If you think the summer is going to be silent, that's simply not the case.

The following is a small sample of games that are scheduled to launch between this article publishing and the end of June:

• F1 23 (June 16)
• Park Beyond (June 16)
• Crash Team Rumble (June 20)
• Final Fantasy XVI (June 22)
• AEW Fight Forever (June 29)
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (June 30)
• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code (June 30)

The rest of the summer shows no sign of slowing down, either. July starts with a highly anticipated sequel in Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals (July 12), which is followed by Exoprimal (July 14) two days later. We then find ourselves in another eight-day barrage, with Immortals of Aveum (July 20), Pikmin 4 (July 21), Remnant 2 (July 25), and Disney Illusion Island (July 28) all launching before the end of the month.

August, meanwhile, is for the indies, with eight anticipated titles from independent studios filling out the final summer month:

• Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (August 3)
• WrestleQuest (August 8)
• 30XX (August 9)
• Atlas Fallen (August 10)
• Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (August 18)
• Blasphemous 2 (August 24)
• Goodbye Volcano High (August 29)
• Sea Of Stars (August 29)

That's not to say the big names are resting, however, as Bandai Namco is making a splash with mechs in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (August 25), while Larian Studios fully--and finally--launches the massive RPG Baldur's Gate 3 on August 31.

Challenger Approaching!

Everything you read above was written before Nintendo decided to bless us with a new Nintendo Direct on June 21, and it's truly impressive how much chaos a 40-minute video was able to inflict on the schedule above. The Direct introduced six more heavy hitters which are scheduled to drop between now and the end of the year. That list looks like this:

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a brand-new 2D side-scrolling platformer starring Mario and his friends, was unveiled for a October 20 launch--which is the same day as Spider-Man 2.
• Super Mario RPG, a remake of the classic turn-based RPG from the SNES days, will launch on Switch November 17--which will go head-to-head with Persona 5 Tactica.
• Detective Pikachu Returns, a new mystery solving adventure with Detective Pikachu and his partner Time, is coming October 6.
• Star Ocean The Second Story R, an HD/2D remake of the PlayStation-era RPG, is set for a November 2 launch.
• WarioWare: Move It introduces 200+ more microgames and co-op play to Switch on November 3.

Along with those, the Direct also confirmed the release date for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1, and it's coming October 24--as if October needed more activity.

Start budgeting now!

Whether it's money, time, or both, there are a lot of games coming between now and December 31 to budget for. Of course it's impossible to play everything here--unless cloning technology or the ability to freeze time is invented--so, if we could offer some advice, it's not to let this list intimidate you. It's easy to see all of these names, get overwhelmed, and be frozen in the paralysis of indecision, but all you have to do is select the games most important to you, focus on them, and then go back to some you might have missed in the future… but let's not even think about 2024.