The best action games for 2023 –

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Release: 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
In the summer of 2010, GSC Game World announced the sequel to the action role-playing game Stalker. 13 years later (!), we finally got to play it, and many of us here at Gamereactor are eager to crawl around the radiation-damaged Chornobyl, looking for supplies, taking down other Stalkers and watching out for the mutant monsters roaming the dark forests. From what we’ve seen so far, the graphics and atmosphere at least seem capable of cracking most of what’s currently on the market, and of course we hope the playability will maintain a similar quality.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
Release: 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
Former Doom/Quake creator and one-time key player at Id Software Tim Willits is stepping in as creative director and lead producer for the upcoming sequel to 2011’s Space Marine. Captain Titus is back and, as before, he gets caught up in brutal, massive battles against space monsters, from a classic third-person perspective and rendered with Unreal Engine 5.

Atomic Heart
Release: Feb. 21 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
Ever since we saw the first of the Bioshock-inspired Atomic Heart, we’ve been looking forward to it immensely. Graphically, it looks to be a real treat and the dystopian Soviet Union looks to be an incredibly musky environment to experience. But most of all, it will be really exciting to experience an action game that feels like Bioshock and allows you to beat the crap out of your enemies with solid superpowers. We just hope the story will be as interesting as the game as a whole seems to be.

Wanted: Dead
Release: Feb. 14 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki is back in February with Wanted: Dead, a third-person action game in which we take on the role of Hong Kong-born Lt. Hannah Stone. The developers’ previous work on Ninja Gaiden is evident in the fluid gameplay, which involves constant shuffling around and attacking the vast array of enemies from unexpected angles. Here, however, firearms are more important than katanas in what promises to be a messy adventure, filled to the brim with minigames and an East Asian atmosphere that can hopefully be a return trip to the finale for Itagaki (whose colorful PR spiel we’ve frankly missed here at the editorial office).

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
Release: May 26 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
The team behind Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City is back with another licensed DC game steeped in stone-cold, breathtaking action. This time it’s the Suicide Squad we’re sending around, chasing an insane Superman whose intentions have gone from good to downright murderous. There’s a fresh attitude, interpretations of comic book characters that are true to the original work and collaborative third-person action with the same DNA as the Arkham series.

Dead Island 2
Release: April 28 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
After years of being in limbo and experiencing delay after delay, it’s almost time for us to bash zombie skulls again. It’s been a little over a decade since we set off on a wonderful vacation, but where we found ourselves in anything but a relaxing environment, and while Dead Island may not have been the phenomenal game we were hoping for, the sequel seems to be much more interesting. More colorful, brutally beautiful, fun and hilarious. It certainly seems like it was worth the time in limbo and all the delays.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Release: Autumn 2023 / Platform: Playstation 5
In 2018, Insomniac finally managed to deliver a strong Marvel competitor to Rocksteady’s Batman series. When Marvel’s Spider-Man launched, it proved to be one of the absolute best superhero games we’ve ever played and absolutely the best Spider-Man game. Ever. Insomniac continued to deliver with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and we are terribly excited to play both Peter and Miles in the sequel and put an end to Venom’s evil plans. So far, we haven’t seen anything at all from the game except for a trailer that gave us only a small taste. For now, let’s hope that the mundane crimes are not as repetitive as in the previous titles and that the battles have been refined a bit to make it even smoother. Otherwise, Insomniac just needs to give us more of the web-slinging excellence.

The Division: Heartland
Release: 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
No, Heartland is not a DLC pack for The Division 2, nor is it The Division 3, instead it is a lush title developed by Red Storm Entertainment, which founded Rainbow Six and developed the first two titles in that series. Heartland was announced three years ago, but has been in development since 2018 and is now rumored to be rolling out this fall. The focus of Heartland will be on the Storm Operations game mode in which 45 players compete against each other as well as computer-controlled enemies in the city of Columbiana, Ohio.

Aliens: Dark Descent
Release: 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
It was a long time since we were introduced to Xenomorphs in game form, but soon it will be time to face the terrifying creatures again. We still haven’t seen much of Aliens: Dark Descent and thus know very little about it, but since it’s the gang behind Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, it is impossible not to build up high expectations. Unlike Alien: Isolation, it’s not about hiding from the terrifying first-person space monster, this is all about shooting holes in them in a top-down, strategic mode. If that doesn’t sound like an excellently promising setup, we don’t know what does.

Hyenas
Release: 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
Creative Assembly is the studio behind the best-selling, long-running and widely acclaimed Total War series. But now they have shifted their focus almost entirely, and this year they are rolling out their own competitor to Valorant, Apex Legends and Overwatch. Hyenas is a colorful, temporary, design flaw free-to-play shooter where humanity has started gladiatorial games on Mars after colonizing the planet. It looks like five teams with three players each will compete in each match, and it seems to be very fast-paced and attitude-soaked.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
Release: 2023 / Platform: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
Those who helmed the fourth game in the Armored Core franchise are the same guys who put together Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring, which initially led most people to believe that Fires of Rubicon would be a “Souls-esque” action game, with everything that implies. But that won’t be the case, as Fromsoftware has promised to stay true to the game series, with all that implies. We don’t know much more than that at this point, but it’s enough to get us excited nonetheless.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
April 28 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
As with its critically acclaimed predecessor, former God of War series design boss Stig Asmussen is stepping in as producer for the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which will be released in a few months. We once again get to control Jedi warrior Cal Kestis as he travels to the planet Coruscant this time to eliminate a particularly evil commander within the Empire.

The Finals
Release: 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
When The Finals showed last fall, we sat in front of our screens with our mouths wide open. Sweat started pouring down our bodies and then we sat there in a little puddle of sweat. Because The Finals looks insanely awesome. Both visually and gameplay-wise. Helsinki-based Embark Studios seems to have created a mind-bogglingly chaotic action game with explosions and collapsing buildings all around you while you have to take potshots at other players and dodge their bullets. We wait patiently to see more of the spectacle and sincerely hope it won’t be too long before we get it.

Robocop: Rogue City
Release: June 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, PC
When someone only mentions Robocop, we ask how much money we can pay. Because Robocop is sacred. That’s just the way it is. Game studio Teyon certainly doesn’t have any notable titles on their resume in the past, but judging by the trailer shown last summer, it looks like they’ve really managed to capture the aesthetic of the first film. From the design to the violent battles, it looks promising and we can’t wait to get our hands on Robocop: Rogue City in our hands. The fact that Peter Weller is also returning to lend his voice to the game certainly doesn’t make it any worse.

Redfall
Release: May 2, 2023 / Platforms: Xbox, PC
The team behind 2017’s Prey is behind the Xbox title Redfall, which will be released on May 2 after being delayed last fall. Here, four players, each with their own character classes, will take on computer-controlled vampires who have taken over the fictional town of Redfall. In terms of design, it looks like a mix between Fortnite and Scooby-Doo, and the action bits look fast and fun from what we’ve seen so far.