16 New Best 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.

#16 Risk of Rain Returns

Platform: PC Switch
Release Date: November 08, 2023

Steam | Nintendo

When it comes to certain titles, getting a remaster may not seem like the most important thing. But in the case of Risk of Rain Returns, it’s a chance for players to play the best version of one of the rogue-lite games you’ll find on the market.

We don’t just say that because of the visuals, though; those have been improved. The team behind the game did everything they could to improve gameplay, multiplayer, players’ options, and more! You’ll have numerous new survivors you can control and have so many loot combinations you could play the game thousands of different ways! So why not try it out?

#15 ARK: Survival Ascended

Platform: PC
Release Date: October 26, 2023

Steam

If you enjoyed Ark: Survival Evolved, then check out Ark: Survival Ascended. This is a remake of the 2017 release. Developers have used Unreal Engine 5, so the game looks better than ever. However, the base game is very much the same. Players are trying to survive on a mysterious island full of hostile dinosaurs and other players. It’s an MMO, so you may be against a group seeking to take your precious resources away. Overall, you’ll want to seek resources, craft helpful gear, and make a tribe. It’s a dog-eat-dog kind of world, and you never know who or what will be just around the corner. 

#14 Diablo IV

Platform: PC PS5 Xbox One XSX|S PS4
Release Date: June 06, 2023

Steam | Playstation | Xbox

It’s been many years since fans of Blizzard’s beloved hack-n-slash franchise had the chance to dive into the struggle between heaven and the underworld.

Plus, the last game in the franchise, the console/PC title, not the mobile knockoff, wasn’t as enjoyed as the publisher likely hoped.

But with Diablo IV, things have changed for the better. The gothic feel is back, and every action you take will be crucial as you attempt to stop Lilith from taking control of the underworld.

Whether you play alone or with a friend, you’ll venture deep into enemy territory and participate in a struggle for life itself!

#13 Starship Troopers: Extermination

Platform: PC
Release Date: May 17, 2023

Steam

No one ever said reclaiming a planet from creepy-crawly aliens would be easy. But that’s the mission you’ve accepted in Starship Troopers: Extermination. The game will put you as a member of the Mobile Infantry who has been dispatched to Valaka in an attempt to retake the planet you’ve lost.

You and other co-op players you bring with must fight off the bugs as you traverse the map, build back up old bases and outposts, and re-stake your claim on the planet.

But be warned! The more you do on these missions, the more the Arachnids will appear. So pick the proper class for your playstyle, and see if you can take them out!

#12 Remnant 2

Platform: PC PS5 XSX|S
Release Date: July 25, 2023

Steam | Playstation | Xbox

When you’re tasked with saving a world and saving the very existence you live in, it’d be nice not to have to do it alone. In Remnant II, you have the power to save reality on your own, or you can bring in a friend to help tag team things.

As you explore the game’s many worlds, you’ll find yourselves going up against bosses that few can beat on their own. In these times, call upon other players and work together to vanquish them.

To ensure you’re a team player, go and upgrade your character and blend classes together to unlock new abilities and potential.

#11 The Outlast Trials

Platform: PC
Release Date: May 18, 2023

Steam

The Outlast Trials offers a new take to the hit survival horror franchise experience. Within the game series, we’re tossed into the Cold War era. Here players are taking the role of a citizen imprisoned by the Murkoff Corporation. Forced to partake in various unethical experiments, the only means of freedom is completing a series of objectives. Here players are taking on a wide variety of nasty monstrous enemies. Just like in the previous games, there are no real means of attacking an enemy, but you will find some useful items to help buff your character or potentially slow down an enemy. Best of all, the game features multiplayer support, so you and a team of friends can work together to complete objectives and fight for your lives when fleeing these enemies.

#10 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.

#9 Ripout

Platform: PC XSX|S PS5
Release Date: Oct 24, 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?

#8 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 is free-to-play, so you can, at the very least, give this roguelite shooter a chance.

#7 Payday 3

Platform: PC XSX|S PS5
Release: Sep 21, 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!

#6 Dungeons 4

• Developer: Realmforge Studios
• Publisher: Kalypso Media
• Release date: Nov 9, 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.

#5 Blackout Protocol

• Developer: Ocean Drive Studio, Inc.
• Publisher: Ocean Drive Studio, Inc.
• Release date: July 19, 2023
• 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.

#4 Wildmender

• Release date: Sep 28, 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.

#3 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.

#2 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.

#1 Exoprimal

• Release date: July 14, 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!

Disclaimer: This article was updated on 11/7/23 as we continue to adjust this list with new entries or remove games due to delays or failure to captivate audiences.