My favorite games of 2023
Let’s talk about video games released in the year 2023! I’m way behind on this because I wasn’t quite feeling like writing about games (or anything else) at the end of last year, but I figured I’d eventually get this posted for the sake of archiving my thoughts on the best games 2023 had to offer.
As always, thanks for reading, and here’s the list!
Honorable mentions:
- Super Mario RPG
- El Paso, Elsewhere
- A Space for the Unbound
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- Gravity Circuit
- Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
- Venba
- The Making of Karateka
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
My favorite games of 2023:
Jusant makes a game entirely almost solely about climbing exciting for its 5–6 hours without getting frustrating or tedious. That alone makes it one of the better games released this year, but what really made it sing for me was the final section and the ending. It’s beautiful and might be my new favorite from the team at DON’T NOD.
Cocoon is now on the very short list of puzzle games that made me shout “holy shit!” as I realized the solution to one of the game’s deviously clever late game puzzles. That alone makes it one of the year’s best.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is more of the same, sure, but when “the same” is one of the best open-world traversal and combat systems ever made, it’s hard to be upset about that. This felt like the culmination of the best elements from Spider-Man 1 and Miles Morales. I don’t know how Insomniac will top this, but I’ll be there day one regardless.
Baldur’s Gate III really is as amazing as everyone says it is. While I had a lot of issues playing due to numerous crashes (primarily due to playing on PS5 with local co-op), that wasn’t enough to drag the experience down as a whole. I’ll always treasure when a game will let me experience a grand adventure like this with my partner.
Season: A letter to the future is a game I hadn’t heard too much about after it launched in January as it seemed to fly under the radar completely. Although I am part of the problem as I didn’t play it until close to the end of the year, once I finally did get to it I realize it was something special. I’ll keep my words on this to a minimum and just hope that it gets more attention in the future because it’s something special.
Hi-Fi Rush came out of nowhere and managed to leave a strong impression right from the start. I was worried the gameplay might get stale or the characters may get on my nerves after a while, but it never happened. It was consistently fresh, with a fantastic and memorable cast of characters. It kept me engaged from start to finish.
Octopath Traveler II is probably the most pleasant surprise of the year. I found the first game to be dull and didn’t live up to the excellent premise. The sequel, however, is everything the first game should have been and then some. Each character’s story is brilliant from start to finish, and the ways in which they intertwine makes for some of the game’s best moments.
Alan Wake II What else is there to say about Alan Wake II at this point?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxs_HYw_mLk
Resident Evil 4 is a remake I felt was completely unnecessary considering just how much the original RE4 holds up. It has some weak points that are hard to return to, but as an overall experience it’s still top tier. While I don’t think I like this remake as much as the original, it’s damn close and really goes to show just how Capcom can take an experience I’ve already had over a dozen times and still manage to surprise me throughout. This is right next to the Resident Evil 2 remake as one of the best modern horror games.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom nestles right next to Breath of the Wild on my top ten favorite games of all time list. That’s really all you need to know about this masterpiece.
