There hasn’t been a “bad” year for new-release videogames in recent memory, and so many of the darn things are coming out all the time always that it’s hard to see a dud on the horizon as long as civilisation remains intact. And yet, maybe two or three times a decade it still feels like the major hype-magnets clump up together and conspire to form a mega Voltron of a year worth writing into the gaming history books as a truly “great” year for videogames. 2023 was unquestionably one of those, but the plaudits needn’t stop there.
Unfortunately 2023 may have been one of the worst years in history for games industry layoffs, but it was without a shadow of a doubt the best year for game releases since at least 2017.
In my opinion, it was the best of all time.
Throughout the whole year, it felt like every week brought a new game pushing above 85 on Open/Metacritic. Playing Fantasy Critic with friends was an absolute nightmare as hits kept coming from all directions. The pre-release hype-to-quality ratio over the whole year was higher than any I can remember. For the first time ever, all fifteen of the games on my list this year were nominated for at least one category at The Game Awards – and eleven of them were winners.
We’ve already covered the sheer strength of the DLC expansions in 2023, many of which can stand head and shoulders above most full games released in the last few years. But 2023 also gave us quality potential rabbit holes just waiting to ensnare, like Wild Hearts, Diablo IV, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Hogwarts Legacy, and Dead Island 2; some of the best “souls-likes” ever in the form of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Lies of P, and the reborn Lords of the Fallen; huge online multiplayer offerings like Counter-Strike 2, Remnant II, and The Finals; and great signs for families without Nintendo consoles thanks to Sonic Superstars, Lego 2K Drive and Party Animals. 2023 was also the year that Fortnite completed its fascinating metamorphosis from a game into a game launcher.
The year also brought a deluge of small-budget standouts like Venba, The Talos Principle 2, Jusant, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, Darkest Dungeon II, Tchia, Humanity, Blasphemous 2, and A Space for the Unbound, each of which mopped up critical praise like it was going out of style, and none of which deserved to come out in a year this stacked with quality big-budget fare. Of the fifteen games on my list, just two are what I would classify as indie games – and this appals me.
Five hours of playtime is the minimum requirement for list eligibility (unless the game is shorter, has no perceivable end, or is primarily multiplayer in nature), and that sadly disqualifies Fire Emblem Engage, Mortal Kombat 1, Cassette Beasts, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, Wargroove 2, Planet of Lana, Persona 5 Tactica, Pizza Tower, and most upsettingly Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, despite the fact I was having fun with all of them before outside factors (usually other games) interrupted me. Also, I’ll be dead-honest, I have no idea how to classify Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line, but it’s amazing and you should play it if you’re even a little into Square Enix RPG soundtracks.
With that extremely long introduction out of the way, it’s time for my wordiest Game of the Year list ever, so strap in (parentheses indicate where I played each game):
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VR BEST OF 2023 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you agree with me 100%, go buy a lottery ticket. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.
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15. Street Fighter VI (XSX)
Capcom’s absurd hot-streak of great new videogames is now long enough that the chatter around them centres less around whether a new release will actually be good and more about what will be the first game to break it. And yes, we’ve talked about Exoprimal already, but I maintain that the game is a ton of fun to play, not to mention technically rock-solid, and is just hamstrung by some baffling online multiplayer restrictions. You know what Capcom game doesn’t need a bunch of asterisks when you talk about how good it is? Street Fighter VI.
History is littered with examples of videogame sequels that take the wrong lessons from poorly-received predecessors and over-correct, but the extraordinarily meaty single-player offering that the sixth main SF has to offer is no mere apology for the bare-bones Street Fighter V; it is yet another shrewd utilisation of perhaps gaming’s most impressive publisher-internal game engine. Running around the full 3D environments of Metro City feels so natural you’d swear you were playing a different game at moments during the World Tour campaign.
But even if you don’t want to engage with any of that, Street Fighter VI boasts one of the most in-depth and impressive tutorials I’ve seen in a fighting game; it wants you to feel like you could rise up the ranks and become a genuinely good player, and it works. On top of all of that goodness is the best presentation in SF’s three-dimensional history, bringing together fantastic character art with fluid personality-packed animations, ribbons of colourful paint effects to highlight the benefits of the new Drive System, and a fresh level of commitment to Street Fighter’s, um, fighting on a street aesthetic that enlivens everything else around it.
14. Cocoon (PC/XSS)
Leave it to a bunch of ex-Limbo/Inside developers to make you feel like a genius again and again, even though all you did was follow their brilliantly gentle guidance through visual context clues and a you’re-getting-warmer musical feedback system that works like if the classic Zelda puzzle chime took a month off to study music theory at the most zen retreat ever. Cocoon‘s central premise sounds like it would either break immediately or become untenably complex as soon as you tried to take it beyond its first iteration, but Geometric Interactive turns a wordless adventure where you pick up entire worlds and use them to activate mechanical switches into a taut masterpiece that makes a five-hour run feel like an epic odyssey through cosmic possibilities beyond humanity’s wildest dreams.
Each moment the weird cicada alien thing at your fingertips leaps beyond the boundaries of yet another world to reveal an even bigger one is worth the time Cocoon took to develop all on its own. The bosses are extraordinarily fun to take on with little more than a single contextual gimmick and your wits. The secrets are rewarding and seamlessly integrated into the world(s) around them. The puzzles in the final third of the game are deviously tricky. The minimalist animation work is outstanding. The alternately booming and almost non-existent electronic score is a vibe and a half. Long may Geometric continue on their new development path, because on this form I would eat their next game on day one.
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