Video game sequels are a chance for fans to revisit favorite worlds, dive into new stories with familiar characters, and use beloved mechanics a second time around, usually (and hopefully) with many improvements. 2023 is peppered with some highly anticipated sequels to popular series, including but not limited to The Legend of Zelda, Hollow Knight, and Yakuza.

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We here at TheGamer all have our individual tastes and gaming calendars, but each and every one of us is looking forward to at least one game sequel next year (even if the release date is not yet set in stone). Read on to discover what sequels have us the most excited!

Updated December 24, 2022: The approach of 2023 grows ever nearer, and with it comes a tidal wave of sequels to some of our most favorite series of all time. Check out more of our most anticipated video game sequels releasing next year. Hurry! Quickly! Before the new year rolls around! (Just kidding; you can take your time and browse.)

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Josh Coulson

Despite repeated attempts to force the issue, no Final Fantasy game since 7 has appealed to me. On the flip side, very few games full stop hold a more special place in my heart than the original Final Fantasy 7 and now Remake. I'll likely be playing the Crisis Core remaster as you read this, and once that's done, I'll be sat around twiddling my thumbs until Rebirth.

Well, not really, as there will be other games to play and Rebirth won't be here until the very end of 2023. It'll occupy a significant and sizeable part of my mind for the whole year though, and once it finally launches, every time I turn on my PS5, it will be to play it until I finish it too quickly and have to wait an undetermined number of years until the third and final part.

Alan Wake 2

Amanda Hurych

There are a decent amount of sequels coming out next year, but the one I’m most pumped for is Alan Wake’s. The first game came out over ten years ago, and if you replay it now, it definitely shows its age. Despite that, I remember scaring myself as a kid by turning the lights out in my house and playing Alan Wake alone in the dark, with nothing but my couch for company.

Flashlight-burning all those shadow monsters and running around the darkened streets of Bright Falls is cemented in my memory as one of my favorite chilling ways to spend an evening. The fact that this sequel is doubling down on the scares and making the game even more of a horror experience has exponentially increased my anticipation for it.

Street Fighter 6

James Kennedy

I have always had a pretty deep appreciation for Street Fighter. And in spite of its famously rough start, I also thoroughly enjoyed Street Fighter 5. However, there were some important lessons to be learned from that title, which, amazingly, Capcom has seemingly taken to heart.

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The more aggressive streamlining from Street Fighter 5 appears to be completely gone here. In its place, the characters come loaded with the most comprehensive movelists we have ever seen! On top of that, this is the first Street Fighter game since Alpha 3 that is set to be content-rich on launch! Needless to say, I am extremely excited for Street Fighter 6. Not only does Street Fighter 6 feel like it is going to be a big moment for the series, I think it may be a big moment for gaming as a whole.

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Quinton O’Connor

Here’s something of a paradox about me — almost all my favorite video games are RPGs, but my all-time favorite is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Now, let’s avoid getting into the perennially popular debate over whether to classify the Zelda series as RPGs. The point here is that I’m talking about your Final Fantasy, your Xenogears, your Tactics Ogre, your Dragon Age. Stuff that can’t be mistaken for the more action-adventure fare that makes Link’s saga so singularly iconic. I’ve got stars in my eyes for plenty more RPGs to come, but to say Breath of the Wild left me speechless a few years back would be an exercise in understatement.

The scope, the breadth of content, and most importantly, the single best traveling experience I’ve ever had outside of the real thing; I get shivers just reminiscing. This is my Hyrule, solemn though it is. Multiple times, I had to set my controller down to avoid tearing up over how well Breath of the Wild was working for me, so when the title of its long-awaited sequel was finally unveiled, I couldn’t help but chuckle over how fitting it all feels. Whatever comes next for the Link and Zelda of a ruined — yet beautiful — world, I know I’ll be bawling all over again.

Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

James Troughton

I still have yet to play Yakuza: Like a Dragon, but I’m unbelievably excited to play a new Yakuza when it comes out, sharing that excitement with the rest of the community, rather than the catch-up I’ve been playing this past year. I’m a little annoyed that Kiryu is back — especially since his send-off in 6 was so beautiful — but it’s still Kiryu, the no nonsense badass who every dad should look up to.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Sam Hallahan

Hollow Knight is a game that excels in just about everything it sets out to do, and goes beyond in almost every capacity. The gameplay has an unparalleled quality for a Metroidvania, the world presented comparable in scope and lore to the biggest triple-A games out there, and the masterfully orchestrated music outdoes nearly every other soundtrack I have heard.

It's been a long wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong, but 2023 is the time. A journey into a new land with more lore to discover; A deeper look at the character of Hornet, as well as the ability to play around with the skills she used to beat our poor knight in the first game; and oh, so much more amazing music to get absolutely lost in. What's not to love here?

Insert Square Enix RPG Title Here

David W. Duffy

I love RPGs. They’re my comfort food, and I play them far more than any other type of game. Square Enix has three big ones coming out in 2023 that are at the very top of my wanted list, and quite honestly, I can’t decide between any of them. Octopath Traveler 2 comes first, and as I’m currently working through the original, I’m entirely enamoured by everything. The systems are great, the style is beautiful, and there are multiple stories to follow.

Then there’s the twin threat of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy XVI (perhaps cheating here), two games that promise to be so different, yet in a way represent the future of the entire series. Exciting times indeed, and several hundred hours of my life reserved without question.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

Andrew King

Who knows if Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will ever come out? Not me. The game was initially planned for a 2020 release, but has been pushed back repeatedly due to internal strife, including losing key team members and, even, switching development studios. It currently has no release date and expecting it to launch in 2023 is likely a pipe dream. But, I'm dreaming!

The original 2004 RPG is one of my favorite games of all time, a perfect combination of moody atmosphere and a complex, choice-driven narrative. If publisher Paradox Interactive (we still don't know what team is actually developing the game after the exit of Hardsuit Labs) manages to get it off the ground, there's a good chance the sequel ends up as one of my favorites of 2023.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Ben Sledge

Space Marine is a hugely underrated third-person shooter that feels like it was largely ignored due to it not being from a ‘cool’ IP like Halo or CoD. Comparing it to two of the most successful first-person shooter series ever may feel disingenuous – and for what it’s worth, Space Marine isn’t as good as either – but there’s loads of fun to be had with Captain Titus and co.

Multiplayer was unbalanced and the hordes of mindless greenskins could get a little old, but decimating daemons with a Thunder Hammer never gets old. Neither does rolling over Grots to squash them. An updated and improved sequel could be the most fun double-A shooter of 2023.

Company Of Heroes 3

Justin Reeve

Company of Heroes rocketed to success after launch, becoming one of the most influential real-time strategy games of all time. The sequel, Company of Heroes 2, didn’t do quite as well, but I for one have high hopes for the upcoming Company of Heroes 3.

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I mean, I’ve played these games a lot over the years, returning to the expansion for Company of Heroes 2, Ardennes Assault, on a practically annual basis. The game has become something of a winter warfare classic for me to the extent that I can’t make it past Christmas without playing through the campaign at least once. Company of Heroes 3 will be taking us to North Africa and Italy, so who knows, maybe I’ve got a new summer game.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

Stacey Henley

I resisted tempting fate by putting Dragon Age 4 as my most anticipated RPG because I’m not convinced it will see 2023, but I’m running out of options. I don’t like to repeat myself in these lists, and I’ve already written about The Wolf Among Us 2 and Layers of Fears, and there aren’t many other confirmed sequels that I’m looking forward to.

I don't think Fire Emblem: Engage counts, and I’ve already written about that too. In any case, Dragon Age is one of my favourite series and heading to Tevinter to take on Solas is an enticing proposition — it’s also going to be massive and therefore likely delayed. I look forward to writing about it this time next year.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2

George Foster

I’m absolutely tempting fate by putting Spider-Man 2 (a game from a studio with about eight million projects that we’ve seen only one trailer for), on this list, but I loved the last two games so much that I’m going to do it anyway.

Insomniac’s first go at Spider-Man was so close to perfect that a second fully-fledged attempt that irons out the boring side missions and brings all of the style and flair that Miles Morales had seems like an instant winner. Mix that potential with the fact that both Peter and Miles will be up against juggernauts like Venom and Kraven, and oh boy is my web fluid.

Pikmin 4

Axel Nicolás Bosso

Yes, we all laughed/cringed when Shigeru Miyamoto appeared on that Nintendo Direct to show a shirt and too much info about a mobile game that you maybe didn’t even know existed before that, only to then bring a pretty short and shallow teaser. However, the legend did it. After way too many years, we are finally getting Pikmin 4, an entry in a series that is usually unfairly overlooked. Will it really launch in 2023? I highly doubt it, but I’ll wait for it while replaying the fantastic previous title.

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