23 New Upcoming PVE Games of 2023

Many games try to “up the ante” in a variety of ways and means, and it doesn’t always mean making the AI together or new modes of gameplay. It sometimes means putting you against the environment as well as other players and seeing who survives.

#23 Wild Hearts

Platform: PC February 16, 2023
Release Date: PS5 XSX|S February 17, 2023

Steam | Playstation | Xbox

In the world of Wild Hearts, there are beasts known as Kemono that went from being docile to being aggressive. You’ll play as a hunter who can take them down via ancient technology. But that doesn’t mean you have to fight them alone!

You can join other people’s hunts or have them join yours through cross-play! That will give you more freedom to battle these beasts in a meaningful way because the monster won’t likely be focusing on you all the time.

You can also craft strategies to help take these massive monsters down. So don’t be afraid to hook up with others to get the job done.

#22 Ripout

Platform: PC XSX|S PS5
Release Date: 2023

When humanity is on the last limb, a safe haven is the only thing that matters. So players will be going through this FPS horror game in search of a better life. Alien mutated creatures roam the galaxy, and our protagonist seeks any resources to help them last a bit longer. To do so, players will need to venture through seemingly abandoned spaceships. Collect loot and fight off whatever mutated creature pops up along the way. Will you be able to survive the nonstop onslaught of attacks as you seek a sanctuary for the last of our species, or be another victim of this alien plague?

#21 Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Platform: PC
Release Date: 2023

If you enjoyed Deep Rock Galactic, an upcoming spin-off game is in the works. This is an auto-shooter where players go through Planet Hoxxes, blasting away at all the different bugs and enemies that come scurrying your way in search of precious goods. Here you’ll be completing a series of missions and carefully plotting out your route to reach an extraction point with your loot safely intact. So far, we know that it’ll be available through early access when this game comes out initially. But it does look like there will be quite a bit of content available right out of the gate. For instance, this includes over thirty weapons, ten enemy types, three bosses, and up to five biomes. But as the developers continue to work on the game, more content and features will be implemented. So get ready for this top-down PvE shooter when it drops later this year. 

#20 Synced: Off Planet

Platform: PC
Release Date: August 2023

Synced: Off Planet puts players into a post-apocalyptic world where a region of this world has been sealed off with deadly creatures roaming within it. However, the riches found within it might prove too significant to ignore. Players will venture into this wasteland in search of fortune in this third person shooter. However, you’ll deal with deadly beasts and potential rival squads seeking to obtain whatever goods might be uncovered. Fortunately, this game will be free-to-play, so you can, at the very least, give this roguelite shooter a chance when it launches later this summer.

#19 Payday 3

Platform: PC XSX|S PS5
Release: 2023

You thought you had put up your thief mask for the last time. But now, Payday 3 is here to make you put it back on. Why? Because you have a job to do.

The follow-up to one of the best multiplayer games ever, the third entry in the beloved thief series, will have you pulling off heists like never before. All the while hunting down the person that forced you out of retirement.

Work together with three allies or friends to pull off each heist and get the most money possible. Then, after you escape the cops, load up and do it all over again!

#18 Under a Rock

• Developer: Nordic Trolls
• Publisher: Nordic Trolls
• Release date: TBA
• Platform: Microsoft Windows

You are an explorer whose air balloon gets ripped out of the sky and crash lands them on an island. That would be enough of an adventure, but Under a Rock takes it a step forward by revealing that the place you landed on is a “lost world”.

One where the evolutionary path of the island is much different from the world we’re from. For example, you’ll find Neanderthals, you’ll find curses, and you’ll find lots of dangers.

Now, you must explore the island, see what it has to hold alone or with up to 9 other players, and then strike out to stop a curse and get through the storm that brought you here!

#17 Dungeons 4

• Developer: Realmforge Studios
• Publisher: Kalypso Media
• Release date: 2023
• Platform: Microsoft Windows

So, ready to be the bad guys? Because in Dungeons 4, that’s what you’re going to be. In the previous game, the bad guys won, and now you get to flaunt it in this new title that’ll have you minding over the forces of evil to ensure that the “good people out there” understand exactly who is the boss, and it’s not them.

The dungeon won’t just be for you, you’ll need to use it to take care of your monstrous army, and then send them out to do missions to help cement your rule.

A grand, and evil, adventure awaits you, don’t miss out.

#16 Projekt Z

• Developer: 314 Arts
• Publisher: 314 Arts
• Release date: TBA
• Platform: Microsoft Windows

You ever notice how a LOT of World War II games talk about things such as the occult and zombies? It’s because there were people trying to make it happen in their own way.

Projekt Z is a title that’ll put you on an island where the German forces not only found zombies, but wanted to turn them into weapons for their war effort.

Now, you’ll have to go to the island yourself, survive it and its habitants, and learn more about the projects that were going on in this cursed place. Play with your friends or online allies and see if you can last, it’s not a guarantee though, so make sure you’re ready.

#15 Blackout Protocol

• Developer: Ocean Drive Studio, Inc.
• Publisher: Ocean Drive Studio, Inc.
• Release date: TBA
• Platform: Microsoft Windows

What could possibly go wrong with a situation where you work at a secret facility that is trying to make humanity better by tapping into the unknown and the paranormal? Oh right, EVERYTHING!

Case in point, in Blackout Protocol, you’re part of one such organization who finds out that their experiments went a bit too far, obviously. Now, you and your co-workers must survive in a blackened out facility and work together to wipe out the monsters that are all around you.

You have to learn to communicate and ensure you don’t do friendly fire on one another. Plus, you must use your flashlights carefully because while they will expose monsters, they also expose you.

#14 ARC Raiders

• Developer: Embark Studios
• Publisher: Embark Studios
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5
• Release date: 2023

ARC Raiders will definitely be a fun test for you and other players as you try and tame a world that is trying to kill you both on the land and in the sky above.

You will be a group of Raiders that are trying to not just scavenge across the lush world you find yourself on, but also endure the mechanical enemies that rain down from above. This isn’t just about killing enemies though, it’s about outthinking them as they learn themselves.

Every wave you’ll have to be smarter, stronger, and you’ll need to use the world to your advantage, as well as your partners, in order to live.

#13 Shatterline

• Developer: Frag Lab LLC
• Publisher: Frag Lab LLC
• Release date: September 8, 2022 Early Access, Full Launch TBA
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, GeForce Now

Shatterline is an FPS dream project for the team behind it in Frag Labs. As you can read on their Steam Page, they went through a lot to try and get this game made, and the results will hopefully speak for themselves.

In the title, you’ll be able to do various kinds of modes, including that of FPS and roguelike elements where you can co-op with other players in order to get certain tasks done. Part of the fun though will be choosing both your operative, and the weapons that you’ll use. You’ll be able to wield 25 different weapons that you can customize with great detail.

So load up and see where the game takes you when it comes out.

#12 Imbalance

• Developer: Play Shard
• Publisher: Play Shard
• Release date: 2023
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows

Welcome to Imbalance, a shooter that likes to throw in some unique roguelike and deck-building gameplay to ensure that you are always on your toes and thinking about the next bit of combat that you’ll be doing.

For here, you’ll be making a deck that’ll help unleash a vast variety of weapons and abilities. So you’ll want to tailor that deck to make sure that it fits you and what you like to play as. This also means that the replayability of the game is well and truly through the roof as you’ll be able to do different runthroughs with different decks to see just how far you can go with erach.

#11 Wildmender

• Release date: 2023
• Developer: Muse Games
• Publisher: Kwalee
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5

In Wildmender, you’re actually going to be doing things a bit differently than certain other titles. In this case, you’ll be in a land that is both arid and has a fallen civilization to it. Your role is simple, you must make the land an oasis of life once again.

You and your friends will be able to travel throughout the land and find out not only what happened to the civilization, but make friends with the local wildlife, fight off corruptive wraiths, and more!

What will the land look like once you are done with it? You’ll find out soon enough.

#10 Overprime

• Developer: Netmarble F&C Team SoulEve
• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Publishers: Netmarble F&C, Netmarble
• Release date: TBA

Overprime is totally not an Overwatch clone, not at all. It just HAPPENS to have a lot of similar things to it, we promise.

Overprime for example is a MOBA title that has you picking various champions to wild as you go and battle on the planet known as Prime and seek to defeat your enemy and capture their base. See? Totally different.

Plus, you’ll actually be able to upgrade your champions over time in order to make it so you can master the game in your own way. Then, make sure you team up with other players so you can do various strategies to help your team win no matter what!

#9 Dysterra

• Release date: TBA
• Developer: Reality MagiQ
• Publisher: Kakao Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows

When the world is dying all around you, how far will you go in order to ensure your survival?

Dysterra is going to ask you that for on the surface it’s “just another futuristic shooter”. But when you dive deeper, you’ll see that survival is very much on the menu, and how you survive is up to you. Such as how you can choose to work with other players that are out there, or, you can choose to build yourself up and yourself alone to be one who doesn’t have to worry about anyone else.

Find the items in the game that’ll boost you even further and then you’ll be able to survive no matter what happens!

#8 Inkbound

• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Developers: Shiny Shoe, Shiny Shoe LLC
• Publishers: Shiny Shoe, Shiny Shoe LLC
• Release date: 2023

Welcome to a world that is infinite, and the stories that are put within it are merged together to become something that is truly special. Inkbound will give you and your friends a roguelike adventure where you can choose whom you want to be, and then, go out and create your own story.

Will you go and find the fabled Inkbound and protect it at all costs? Or, will you go and try to figure out the truth behind your own creation?

Be who you want to be in the game, and work together with your friends to see what you can get up to together in this very unique world.

#7 ARK 2

• Release date: 2023
• Publisher: Studio Wildcard
• Developers: Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games
• Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Yep, it’s time to go back to the island again. Though to be fair, this is a different island, and the stakes are a bit different this time.

In ARK 2, you’ll wake up on an island mysteriously and have to survive within it. But not just that, you’ll need to learn the reasons you’re on the island in the first place! Get the resources you need to make items and tools in order to survive. Then, seek out some of the legendary heroes of the island so that you can survive for longer.

Fear the other players who make it clear they’re not on your side. Oh, and if you can get a dinosaur to ride on? Do it.

#6 Destiny 2 Lightfall

• Release date: February 28, 2023
• Developer: Bungie Inc.
• Publisher: Bungie Inc.
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, Google Stadia, PlayStation 5

Destiny 2 as a whole has been one of the games of the current generation that truly embodies all that is PVE gameplay. Because players can go and dive into the story of the title, they can go and fight other players on a dime, or they can team up with them and partake in raids. There’s a lot to do in here.

With the upcoming Destiny 2 Lightfall DLC though, you’ll have even more to do as you explore new places like a Cyberpunk city over on Neptune, and deal with threats both old and new as you try and stop the war that is coming.

Or, is it already too late?

#5 Sons of the Forest

• Release date: February 2023
• Developer: Endnight Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Publishers: Endnight Games, Newnight

It was supposed to be a simple job. A billionaire had gone missing on an island, and you were sent with others to try and find him. But when you arrive, you realize really quick this island isn’t what it was billed as.

It was full of dangers, not the least of which is cannibals! Now, you’ll have to find resources, build, craft, and survive the dangers that are out there.

The island is alive in all the ways that matter, and just as important, it changes with the seasons. Whether alone or together you’ll need to endure and find a way off the island without getting killed, eaten, or both.

#4 Exoprimal

• Release date: 2023
• Developer: Capcom
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5
• Publishers: Capcom, Capcom U.S.A., Inc.

Show of hands, how many of you would like to go and kill some dinosaurs? How many of you would like to do that while also embracing state of the art exosuits that’ll allow you to do incredible things? If you raised your hands, be ready for Exoprimal, it’s the game you’ll want to get.

In the title, you’ll be a group of fighters trying to save the universe from dinosaurs who keep popping up in random locations. You’ll need to go to certain spots, complete a set of objectives, then head out to the next one.

Oh, one twist, your team isn’t the only one out there! The first team to get the objectives completed wins. Good luck!

#3 Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland

• Release date: 2023
• Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5

Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland was detailed a bit more just recently, and now we know more about this new entry in the expanding franchise.

This time around you won’t be in a big city area like New York or Washington D.C. Rather, you’ll be in a small town in the middle of America known as Silver Creek. This place is being corrupted by various forces who wish to rot the United States from the inside out. You CANNOT let that happen.

So team up with your fellow Division soldiers and then strike out against these foes. Expose them in various modes of combat and then showcase why The Division truly goes wherever they’re needed.

#2 Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

• Release date: 2023
• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Rocksteady Studios
• Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5

While not your typical PVE game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be putting you to the test no matter what, especially if you decide to team up for a co-op run in this DC Comics universe gone made.

Made by Rocksteady, the team behind the Arkham Trilogy, the world has been terrorized by the Justice League after they’ve been brain controlled. Now, the only ones to stop them are the four main members of the Suicide Squad. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this, right?

As Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot or King Shark, you’ll go through waves of enemies and even the Justice League itself to try and bring “peace” to the world.

Good luck with that.

#1 Dune Awakening

• Release date: TBA
• Publisher: Funcom
• Developer: Funcom
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Dune is one of the most beloved universes ever, and it’s been created in a variety of ways over the years, including in video games.

But with Dune Awakening, you’re going to truly get to experience the planet of Arrakis and its people like never before. You’ll great your character and then partake in a struggle for survival, power, and spice as you do whatever you want on this world.

Will you vie to be one of the true rulers of the world? Will you try and make yourself one of the strongest warriors around? Or will you try and survive the desert planet in order to see what it contains?

Fear is the mind killer, so see what you can do in Dune Awakening without it!