If you thought you had a mid-year break from gaming, you might have missed out on Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 16, Pikmin 4, Street Fighter 6 and most recently Remnant 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 (PC)…

Eh, who are you kidding? You’re probably still finding time to make it past the first area in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

For your increased stress (and enjoyment), I’ve included some of the big upcoming release dates here as well.

• Quake 2 is back…again; and, it’s enhanced (again). Honestly, 120Hz 4K fraggin’ sounds pretty good right now. The 1997 genre-defining FPS is now available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Bethesda even enhanced the AI and brought back the N64-exclusive stuff as well. If you’re keen, you can read all of the details.

  • Note: The new upgrade is available now on PC and Xbox Game Pass.

• Lords of the Fallen finally got some hands-on from the press. Dark Souls fans, it’s sounding pretty good. After two-hours of gameplay, both IGN and GameSpot say it feels pretty good.

  • “There's a great fluidity to Lords of the Fallen's combat.” - IGN, Mitchell Saltzman

  • “‘Familiarity’…music to the ears of those looking for the closest possible thing to another Dark Souls--because reservations and all, Lords of the Fallen seems to be doing that kind of game really, really well.” - GameSpot, Michael Higham

  • “Combat feels really good…it’s very responsive. It’s probably some of the closest you’ll have to the Souls games…but it’s not as good." - FextraLife

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reveal date is actually, officially August 17th. It will take place in the game mode, Warzone. The game releases November 10th - early access on Nov. 2nd.

• Red Dead Redemption (along with the Undead Nightmare DLC) is finally being ported to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on August 17th. It’s listed for $49.99 USD, with physical editions available October 13th. (Sorry PC fans, no currently announced plans. And Xbox fans, remember, it’s already been available thanks to backwards compatibility.)

• Overwatch 2 got review bombed again, thanks to its new platform release on Steam. You can see my extensive X/Twitter thread on it, but despite nearly 100,000 negative reviews — making it the worst-rated Steam game ever right now (~10%) — the game is performing well in terms of players and live-stream viewers for the new Season 6, which includes PVE content.

• Rockstar Games acquired mod-maker Cfx.re who makes GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 mods. The community tools are massive in the role-playing (RP) communities — 100,000s of players use the mods — and it’s likely Rockstar is getting ahead of things for Grand Theft Auto 6, which could come as soon as later 2024.

• Stalker 2 might finally have a release date: December 1, 2023. Wccftech spotted a store listing on the German store PLAION, which apparently leaked a release date for Darksiders 2 in the past.

2023 Games: Big Upcoming Release Dates

• Red Dead Redemption + Undead Nightmare DLC | August 17 |  PS4 Switch

• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon | August 25 | Xbox Series X/S + Xbox One PS5 + PS4 PC

• Starfield | September 6 | Xbox Series X/S

  • (*Sept. 1 with early access, Premium Edition and above)

• Baldur’s Gate 3 | September 6 | PS5 PC (out now) 

• Lies of P | September 19 | Xbox Series X/S + Xbox One PS5 + PS4 PC

• Mortal Kombat 1 | September 19 Xbox Series X/S PS5 PC Switch

  • (*Sept. 14 with early access, Premium Edition and above) |

• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty | September 26 | Xbox Series X/S PS5  PC

• Assassin’s Creed Mirage | October 5 | Xbox Series X/S + Xbox One PS5 + PS4 PC

• Forza Motorsport | October 10 | Xbox Series X/S

• Lords of the Fallen | October 13 | Xbox Series X/S PS5  PC

• Spider-Man 2 | October 20 | PS5

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder | October 20 | Switch

• Alan Wake 2 | October 27 | Xbox Series X/S PS5 PC

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | November 10 Xbox Series X/S + Xbox One PS5 + PS4 PC

  • (* Nov. 2nd campaign & open beta early access with pre-order)

• Hogwart’s Legacy | November 14 | Switch

• Super Mario RPG Remake | November 17 | Switch

South Park: Snow Day - Reveal Trailer

A new 3D, four-player co-op game is coming to Colorado. Available in 2024 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox X|S and Nintendo Switch.

TMNT: The Last Ronin - Game Reveal

From the Destroy All Humans developers, Black Forest Games. No current release date, but is set for release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

New Overwatch 2 Hero - Illari

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Makarov Reveal Trailer

Quake II Enhanced - Official Trailer

Starfield-Themed Limited Edition AMD Graphics Card

Well, great, now I want an entirely themed Starfield PC.

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Otherwise, no worries it’s free. I’m just trying to keep up with all this news, too! You can follow me on X/Twitter for all the latest (and, hey, look at that: I also turned on tips on my profile if you ever want to fund my caffeine supply or PC graphics card power bill). http://www.twitter.com/FranMirabella