When I reviewed PGA Tour 2K21 a couple of years ago I had a great time with the game, it was a great golf game however there was certainly room for improvement in some areas, so when PGA Tour 2K23 was announced it immediately got my interest as I really wanted to see what changes HB Studios could make to the game. Thanks to 2K and HB Studios I recently got my hands on a beta build of the game and it looks like golf fans have a lot to look forward to this year! Will it stay true to their tagline of “More Golf. More Game’? Or will it end up in the deep rough?

I have no interest in the real-life sport of golf, either watching it or playing it, oddly enough though golfing games are something I have always played dating back to PGA Tour 98 and Everybody’s Golf on the original PlayStation. There is just something relaxing about golfing games and I find them to be a nice change of pace from mindlessly grinding away in World of Warcraft or from trying to amass kills in games like Call of Duty. This year HB Studios looks to refine their original game and also add a bunch of new features with the release of PGA Tour 2K23. MyCareer mode was my favourite mode in the original game as I love creating a new player and working my way up the ranks to become a legit golfing star, so it’s no surprise this is the first place I navigated to upon installing the game.

The player creator seems to have undergone a bit of an overhaul and thankfully there are now a lot more options for you to stylise your player the way you want to, something which was a bit lacking in the original game, new to player customisation are player archetypes and skill trees which allow you to further customise your golfer to your preferred playstyle and also be able to earn upgrades to your skills as you play through games, this is a great addition to the series as it makes you feel like you always have a reward that you can work your way towards, build diversity was sorely lacking in the original game but this has been fixed with the addition of these new systems. You also now have your own caddie who follows you around the course handing you clubs and doing the things that caddies are paid to do, you can also customise the look of your caddie which is a nice touch.

Presentation has also been stepped up this year and the game now even further resembles a TV broadcast; instant replays also seem to happen more frequently when you make a great putt, and the commentary team has been expanded with the addition of former professional golfer Henni Koyack who adds colour commentary throughout your time out on the course. The controls have also been refined this year, not that they needed much improvement as I felt the analogue swing method from 2K21 was the best control method I had ever experienced in a golf game, this year for though HB Studios have also added a more traditional 3 click swing method for players who are more comfortable with this play style or don’t own a controller, speaking of controllers the analogue style way of controlling the game felt smoother than ever in the few games I played through.

Topgolf is the all new game mode that PGA Tour 2K23 brings with it this year, this is both a multiplayer and single player mode where you play from a driving range and try to hit as many balls as you can out of 20 into the massive circular and square targets strewn over the field, I had a chance to play this mode single player and it seems to be the perfect mode to step into if you only have a couple of minutes to play and don’t have the time to play through a full course, I can imagine this mode will be an outright blast when played with friends or other players online.

With the expanded roster, including golfing legend Tiger Woods, the new additions to player progression and customisation and the new Topgolf game mode HB studios have proven they have been hard at work adding features that players have been asking for since the release of 2K21, after spending some hands on time with the game I am really excited to get my hands on the full release of the game, if you are a golf fan or even just a golf video game fan you should be excited too.

PGA Tour 2K23 is swinging to release on October 14 for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. If you order the Digital Deluxe or the Tiger Woods Edition of the game, access will be granted three days earlier on October 11th.