Some of the most exciting titles might not be on your radar yet.
Red Candle Games
Major publishers and first-party studios already have a huge lineup for 2023, but some of the most exciting games of the year are coming from indie developers.
A spiritual sequel to Jet Set Radio, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is all about skating, painting graffiti, and looking cool as hell doing it. With Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma on the soundtrack, it seems like a worthy successor
Nine Sols draws inspiration from Sekiro for its parry-based combat, set in a world that fuses cyberpunk with Taoist fantasy.
Red Candle Games
It’s a huge change of pace for Red Candle Games, developer of the psychological horror masterpieces Detention and Devotion, but the studio’s track record makes it even more intriguing.
Planet of Lana stars a young girl and her alien cat sidekick navigating a world full of hostile machines and territorial creatures.
Wishfully
The debut game from Swedish developer Wishfully Studios is a puzzle-platformer with beautiful hand-drawn art. It’s already confirmed for Game Pass this spring.
Sea of Stars’ soundtrack is composed by Chrono Trigger’s Yasunori Mitsuda, if there was any doubt about where it’s drawing inspiration from.
Sabotage Studio
As strange as it sounds, turn-based RPG Sea of Stars is a prequel to the 2018 action platformer The Messenger. It features timing-based combat and gorgeous SNES-inspired pixel art.
Venba is a game not just about cooking, but also what cooking means. Playing as a woman who moves from India to Canada with her husband and son, you’ll restore old recipes as you play through the story of one family’s ups and downs.
Visai Games
That’s all accompanied by actual Southern Indian recipes and some of the best-looking food this side of Studio Ghibli.