PGA Tour 2K23 is bringing simulation golf to next-gen consoles, and Tiger Woods is making his return to golf video games as the cover athlete for the latest installment of HB Studios' franchise. Woods isn't the only big addition to the game, however, as PGA Tour 2K23 has added new modes and made some tweaks to others that give the new game a different feel and look than previous games.
The opportunity to live the life of a professional golfer and play through the PGA season is always alluring to golf fans, and PGA Tour 2K23 delivers, with many of the iconic stops on the tour included in the game. With 20 licensed courses included in PGA Tour 2K23 at launch, gamers will be able to play at destinations like TPS Scottsdale, TPC Sawgrass, and Bay Hill, with more courses like Pebble Beach coming in free post-launch DLC.
Compete on the PGA Tour
PGA Tour 2K23 will have the MyCareer mode as its centerpiece once again in this iteration, as gamers will create their player and hit the links to compete on the tour and try to win the FedEx Cup at the end of the season. Players can start in either the Korn Ferry Tour to try and qualify for the PGA Tour, or jump right to the PGA Tour to begin, but achievement and trophy hunters should be aware that there's a reward for qualifying from the Korn Ferry Tour.
Once on the PGA Tour, players will compete in many of the events from the actual tour, on the true-to-life courses those tournaments take place on during the season. Gamers won't find The Masters or Augusta National in PGA Tour 2K23, but they will be able to play in the Waste Management Open, The PLAYERS Championship, and FedEx Cup Playoff events on their home courses, as well as many of the other events on the tour.
Everything New in PGA Tour 2K23
The popular golf experience Topgolf is also making its way to video games for the first time in PGA Tour 2K23 with its flagship Las Vegas location as the venue in the game. Topgolf is an arcade-style mode where players alternate shots and racking up as many points as they can, with more points being awarded for closeness to the target and for how far away the target is. Topgolf can be played solo or against up to three other players online.
Every new sports game introduces new pros in the sport, and Tiger Woods isn't the only famous athlete appearing in PGA Tour 2K23. Alongside the 14 PGA and LPGA professionals appearing in the game, two basketball legends are also making the jump from NBA 2K23 to PGA Tour 2K23, as Michael Jordan and Stephen Curry are both playable pros in the game. Michael Jordan is a pre-order bonus for fans who get the game early, and Curry will be DLC after launch.
Online Multiplayer
PGA Tour 2K23 looks to build on a somewhat disappointing multiplayer suite in PGA Tour 2K21 with what is hopefully a greater focus on the online part of the game. Match Play and Stroke Play are both returning in this year's game, and they are the cornerstones of the online multiplayer experience. In Match Play, each hole is won by the player with the best score on that hole, and whoever wins the most holes by the end of the round wins the match. In Stroke Play, a running total of shots is kept across all nine holes, with the player with the lowest amount being the winner.
PGA Tour 2K21 featured the opportunity to play online with a friend in team play, and that looks to be returning to PGA Tour 2K23. To keep the player pool from splitting too much, team play functions on a rotating basis, with each new day featuring either Best Ball, Four Ball, or Alternate Shot. Whichever one is featured that day is the only team mode players can play that day, as there is no way to select any of the others until they return to the rotation again.
Multiplayer in PGA Tour 2K23 also features Divot Derby, a fun and chaotic mode where up to 20 players compete at the same time in a race to the finish. Players shoot simultaneously, with other players' shots appearing on-screen as different colored lines, and the winner is the first player to hole out on the 9th hole.
Join Or Create An Online Society
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Think of PGA Tour 2K23 Online Societies as a club that a player can join and take part in, with various events and competitions to keep them for the season. Online Societies are a feature that has carried over from the days when the franchise was known as The Golf Club, and are about as close as players will get to seeing online leaderboards in PGA Tour 2K23.
Within Online Societies, players can find full schedules of competitive events to take part in and compete against everyone else in the society, seeing how they stack up against the competition. Not every PGA Tour 2K23 Online Society is the same, some are run a lot better than others, and it's important to think about the level of commitment when selecting one to take part in, as some will require daily interaction while others are designed for the more casual fan.
Course Creator Returns
For the players that have a strong creative sense and enjoy building maps in Halo's Forge or huge structures in Minecraft, PGA Tour 2K23's Course Creator gives players the opportunity to build courses from scratch. HB Studios creates a handful of fantasy courses using it as well, which adds to the total number of courses available for players.
The biggest benefit of Course Creator is that courses can be shared and downloaded by the community, allowing all gamers the opportunity to play on others' creations. These courses typically range from utterly obnoxious to the hardest courses in PGA Tour 2K23, in a very good way, and add a lot more life to the game while keeping it from getting mundane.
PGA Tour 2K23 is scheduled to release on October 14 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
