It’s safe to say that 2023 was the best year we’ve had in video games for a long, long time! So many incredible games dropped that it’s honestly hard to keep track of them all! From action games to RPGs to platformers, just about every genre you can imagine has had some massive hitter drop!
Today, I wanna rant about all my favorites! The best of the best from what I played this year! And boy howdy, do I have a lot to say!
But first, some honorable mentions. These are games that I either haven’t played yet, or haven’t finished. Games such as:
- Tears of the Kingdom: It’s a great game, but it felt too similar to Breath of the Wild and I loss interest
- Super Mario Bros Wonder: I’ve only played a few levels with my siblings, and that was a pretty wild and fun time; still, I’d need to play it more before forming any firm opinions about it
- Lies of P: Bloodborne but with Pinocchio; definitely need to play it at some point
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon: Another banger by FromSoftware; the only reason I didn’t finish it is because I got distracted by other games
- Alan Wake 2: I haven’t played it or the first game, but the hype is insane, and from what I’ve seen, brief as that is, it does seem like the kinda game I’d enjoy
- Dead Space Remake: It was either this or Resident Evil 4 for me, and I’m much more biased towards the latter than the former; from what I’ve seen, this game is certainly impressive
- Sea of Stars: Love indie RPGs and this one looks great; I just wish they didn’t patch Jirard out, because it would be hilarious five years down the line to see him begging for donations again
- Mortal Kombat 1: Not normally a fan of NetherRealm fighting games, but this one looks really cool; plus, it’s got Omniman and Homelander
- Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty: This expansion finally made Cyberpunk the game it was promised to be at launch, and it deserves all the praise it gets; glad to see this game finally get its No Man’s Sky moment
And now, onto the main event! In no particular order, these are my favorite games of 2023!
Hi-Fi Rush
I’m still mad at how overshadowed this game ended up being in this insanely stacked year. Microsoft really shadow-dropped the only good game they’d release all year. Meanwhile, half-baked garbage like Redfall and Starfield got the entire multi-billion dollar gas-guzzling smoke-spewing global-polluting marketing machine behind them. It ain’t fair, man.’ released year. Meanwhile, half-baked garbage like Redfall and Starfield got the whole marketing machine behind them. It ain’t fair, man.
Boy howdy, can’t wait for the Starfield fans to flood my feed with copium. Sorry dudes, but you deserve better. If you won’t say it, then I will.
Hi-Fi Rush felt like a GameCube game I’d have played as a kid, and I mean that as the highest praise! This game is a blast from start to finish! Charming, colorful, goofy, and exhilarating, it was hard to put it down!
The aesthetic is definitely the strongest part of the game. The fact that literally everything moves in rhythm to the music, the level, the enemies, your attacks, EVERYTHING, is insane! And it certainly helps that said music was a jam, whether you’re listening to the Streamer-safe soundtrack or the full thing.
I loved the story right from the start. Chai and the team were incredibly fun and memorable! The bad guys were awesome, and their boss battles were some of the best we’d get all year! All the robots were hilarious, from the enemies to the janitor bots! It’s a great anti-corporate action plot, and I love it! Especially with that ending; very few games have ever made me feel so warm and happy as this one did! I really hope we get a sequel; I’d love to revisit this world and see what else it’s got to offer!
Any other year, this would have been my GOTY. But this is 2023. This was just the appetizer!
Resident Evil 4 Remake
The original Resident Evil 4 is one of the most important video games of all time. As such, many people firmly believed that this remake didn’t need to exist. How do you improve upon perfection?
Capcom’s answer: don’t. Do your own thing instead. Celebrate the past and pave the way for the future.
I had a blast with RE4 Remake from start to finish. So much so that it became a bit of a problem. I finished three playthroughs in just as many days, I was that addicted!
Of all the games on the list, this one had the most satisfying combat. All the weapons feel great, parrying is awesome, and the enemy variety is insane! Depending on how quickly things escalate – which tends to be very quickly – this game can devolve into delightful madness!
I especially appreciate that it didn’t try to ‘replace’ the original version. Capcom didn’t try to pull a Warcraft 3 Reforged moment. You can play both versions of RE4 right now and have just as much fun with both. Neither game is going anywhere anytime soon.
Incredible how the same game can be amazing and blow everyone away twice in almost just as many decades.
Spider-Man 2
Compared to the other games here, Spider-Man 2 is kind of underwhelming. Insomniac took the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” approach. The result: one of the safest sequels I’ve ever played.
Is that bad? Not at all! I wanted more Spider-Man, and I got more Spider-Man!
Swinging around as the web head never stops being fun. Especially not now with the wingsuits! Even with instant fast travel, I never wanted to use it. Simply traversing this game’s world was the most fun part!
The story is definitely the main draw here. Peter and Harry’s friendship, Kraven and Venom, Miles’ coming into his own, MJ telling JJJ to kiss her ass, it’s all great stuff! It’s a fantastic follow-up to the first game and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.
*Side note: justice for Insomniac after that recent hacking attack. Fuck that noise. If you can do shit like that with hacking, how about you harass and blackmail rich people and politicians, not video game developers.
God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
Did I really just include a free expansion to an already existing game? Fuck yeah I did! Have you seen this shit?!
The gameplay loop of this DLC is simple. Kratos goes into Valhalla, fights some enemies, gets some upgrades, dies, repeat. It’s a rogue-like. Which, as it turns out, is really fun when you’ve got God of War combat attached to it!
It also expands on the story of Ragnarök in an interesting way. Kratos must now face the ghosts of his past. Quite literally. It’s time to put his nightmares to rest once and for all. It’s great stuff!
Also, it’s actually rewarding to play. It’s fun, that’s for sure. But there are also some extra unlocks you can take back into the main game, including a skin for young Kratos! And again: free! Everything here is completely free to people who have the base game!
God bless you, Santa Monica.
Street Fighter VI
Hey, uh, Capcom? Can you stop trying to ruin the best fighting game you’ve made in a decade with all these microtransactions? Please?
Street Fighter 6 is everything I wanted it to be. Fast, stylish, exciting, accessible yet challenging, and just plain fun. Not to mention the online play was actually good! It’s one of the most enjoyable fighting games on the market right now!
It’s future, however, is looking a bit rocky. Sure, the new characters look great and will undoubtedly be a lot of fun. But those microtransactions are starting to get out of hand. Hopefully it’ll be dialed back before this game does a Destiny and the in-game purchases overtake the actual gameplay experience.
If all you want is a fun fighting game to compete in with your friends, then this is by far the best release this year. Ignore the in-game shop, head into versus mode, and have a great time. And that’s enough for me.
That, and Dan Hibiki. Where’s my pink clad loser, Capcom?!
Final Fantasy XVI
Yeah. I’m sticking with my guns. I loved this game. I’d argue it’s one of the best Final Fantasy games.
Most FF fans who dislike this game will argue that it’s bad because it ain’t an actual RPG. To which I say: yes. They never said it would be. This is an action game through and through. It’s Devil May Cry with an FF coat of paint.
And I fuck with DMC. And Final Fantasy. Square handed me peanut butter and chocolate; I ain’t gonna complain!
I can see why people don’t like this game. But fuck it, man, I loved it! The main story was phenomenal, the music was some of the best in franchise history, and those boss fights were jaw-dropping! Clive, Torgal, Jill, Joshua, Gavin, Cid, them and the rest are among my favorite characters of Final Fantasy! It was everything I wanted it to be!
But it wasn’t the peak experience of the year. Far from it. That honor belongs to:
Baldur’s Gate 3
What were you expecting?
Everyone and their grandma has sung their praises for Baldur’s Gate 3 by now. It’s already reached the highest peaks of Metacritic. Hundreds of thousands of players are still online every day, even months after it’s release. It was so good that other game developers became afraid it would raise the industry standard!
So why is everyone always talking about this game? Simple. Because it really is that good.
It is insane how open this game is. You can create just about any kind of character you can imagine. No single quest has only one ending. Every single choice you make matters. Combat perfectly translates the tabletop Dungeons and Dragons experience into a video game, and practically every encounter had unique mechanics or challenges.
On top of that, the post-launch support by Larian has been beyond insane! They’ve taken the community’s feedback to heart and improved upon the game in every way! Not only have they fixed bugs and implemented quality-of-life additions, they’ve added whole new difficulty options with extra rewards, new dialogue, new animations, and even new endings!
But we all know that by now. Again: the hype behind this game has been insane! It’s practically inescapable at this point! It’s an absolute monument to video games that will stand the test of time for years to come! It’s a modern classic in every sense!
Conclusion
God damn, dude. This year was crazy! I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the amazing releases we got!
Even the bad games were amazing. Albeit for completely different reasons. Lord of the Rings: Gollum was impressive with how pathetic it was. Then Skull Island: Rise of Kong came along and was somehow even worse. But then The Day Before rolled up it’s sleeves, tried to scam its audience, then vanished in less than a week!
Good, bad, either side has been incredible. Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.
2023 was not a good year for me personally. But if nothing else, I’ll remember the games it gave me fondly. Thanks for being there for me at my lowest points, 2023 video games. I won’t soon forget it.
Now, it’s time to look to the future. Here’s hoping 2024 can reach the bar set this year. Monumental as that challenge is.
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