E3 may not be happening this year, but that doesn’t mean you’re not getting your fair share of major announcements. Thanks to Summer Game Fest and the inexhaustible efforts of Geoff Keighley, publishers are queueing up to reveal the games they’re currently working on, and 2023 (as well as 2024) is shaping up to be a banner year for gaming. Here are the best PS5 games, release dates, and other curios announced during E3 2023.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
We’re kicking off our list with this “surprise” announcement from the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase (that technically counts as E3, right?). We didn’t get to see much of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater besides a cinematic trailer showing Snake emerging from a muddy river, but we’re still excited to see what Konami does with this beloved title (although the absence of Metal Gear Solid auteur Hideo Kojima is a little worrying).
Assassin’s Creed Mirage release date
Depending on your views of the Assassin’s Creed series, you may either be excited or apprehensive about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which is promising to bring the increasingly bloated series back to its basic roots. Mirage has you sneaking around Baghdad as Basim, who made a memorable appearance in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and promises a more grounded, stealth-based experience than the more RPG-focused recent series entries. It’s heading to PS5 on October 12th.
Alan Wake 2 release date
It feels like we’ve been waiting for Alan Wake 2 for an absolute age, but it’s finally almost upon us. At the PlayStation Showcase in May, we learned that Alan Wake 2 is heading to PS5 on October 17th, so you’ll finally get to see the continuation of the tale that ended on a somewhat unsatisfying cliffhanger back in 2010. We also got to see a brief snippet of gameplay for the game, which looks to continue the first title’s agoraphobic survival horror approach.
Marathon
Retro shooter fans will be well aware of Bungie’s Marathon franchise, which predates Halo by several years but which features some of the same sci-fi themes and concepts. The series is making a triumphant return, albeit in a very different form; rather than a single-player FPS, Marathon will be a PvP extraction shooter, so if you were hoping for a continuation of the admittedly rather arcane narrative of the original trilogy, you may be disappointed by Marathon’s new coat of paint.
Phantom Blade Zero
Sometimes, it’s the games that come from leftfield you really need to watch. Such appears to be the case for Phantom Blade Zero, a hack-and-slash RPG created by the rather mysterious S-Game. If you’re into Sekiro, Tenchu, and Ghost of Tsushima, then you should find lots to love in this wuxia-inspired Soulslike, and although we don’t have a release date or any idea of when the game is coming, the debut trailer gave us lots to look forward to.
Spider-Man 2 release date
After an extended gameplay trailer during the May PlayStation Showcase, Sony took to the stage at Summer Game Fest to announce a Spider-Man 2 release date. We’re getting the webslinger’s newest adventure on October 20th, which is exciting news; we’ll finally get to face down Venom and Kraven the Hunter, and paired with some of the new additions to combat and exploration, these two villains should make Spider-Man 2 a thrilling experience.
Sonic Superstars
Sonic is finally returning to the world of 2D (well, 2.5D, at any rate) with Sonic Superstars. After a group of fans and external developers got together to make the well-received Sonic Mania, Sega is taking a stab at returning to what made the Blue Blur so popular with Sonic Superstars, a sidescroller created in the vein of classic Sonic titles. This one’s heading to PS5, as well as PS4, sometime later this autumn, so keep an eye out for it.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
We already knew that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth existed, but at Summer Game Fest, we got to take a close look at the game for the first time, and it looks exciting indeed. The iconic world of Final Fantasy VII looks breathtaking at full scale, with Junon’s cannon rising imposingly over the land and Bugenhagen’s cosmic demonstration taking on new interplanetary significance. Of course, the plot looks like it’s full of weird curveballs and Tetsuya Nomura diversions as well.
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown
Ubisoft seems to be trying to forge a redemption arc of its own, and Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is part of that arc. It’s a sidescrolling Metroidvania adventure that takes the Prince back to his roots, blending puzzles with platforming and parkour in a way that harks back to the old-school Prince of Persia that helped to forge the cinematic platformer genre. Unlike the upcoming Sands of Time remake, this one has a solid release date, too: January 18th.
Star Wars Outlaws
The Ubisoft Forward showcase gave us a look at Star Wars Outlaws, an open-world game set in arguably the most famous sci-fi franchise in the world. You are the scoundrel Kay Vess, and you’ll navigate your way through a massive, beautiful open world – both on the ground and in space – in search of the biggest score you can find. It looks like a great tribute to the Star Wars universe and a super-enjoyable game in its own right, too.
