2023 Ranked

A top-tier year for games. A bottom-tier year for worker's rights.

https://www.gameworkersunite.org/

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Sequel to peak. The Peak-quel. It takes a genre-defining sandbox and makes it look like a test run. Incredible music, visuals, and moments that make this game so moving.

Tears of the Pizza when he finally made that catch at the end.

1

Dead Space
Dead Space
Dead Space may be my favorite game depending on the day. This took Dead Space and gave at a QOL once-over. Praying that we get a Dead Space 2 and 3 from Motive

2

Sea of Stars
Sea of Stars
Pure joy. I love these simple little characters and the world they fought to save. Garl of the year goes to Garl

(okay gotta play Chrono Trigger I guess)

3

Alan Wake II
Alan Wake II
Art. I can't succinctly describe why this game works in the ways it does. The best FMV game ever made

4

Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4
Peak just got peaker. Loved my time with this game (except for maybe the island at the end). Done with it after a single playthrough though. I got what I needed out of it

5

Remnant II
Remnant II
Such interesting ideas! The gameplay isn't the best ever but it's strong and varied enough to carry through a playthrough or two. Gotta play the DLC eventually

6

Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush
We don't deserve you. Just a real musical Shonen anime delight.

Parrying never felt quite right though.

7

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
Highest ratio of "didn't expect it" to "loved every minute of it" this year. I love the last two God of War games and this puts a bow on those with some thoughtful consideration of gameplay and franchise history

8

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Better than the first entry and the first one was great. Technical troubles at launch aside, this is a strong game for Souls-like and Star Wars fans

9

Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Clean clinical quality. Nothing bad to say about it but nothing too surprising here either

10

Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Good not great Mario which makes it a great not exceptional game. A fun time to 100% but it never hits the highs of some prior entries

11

Lethal Company
Lethal Company
2023 Multiplayer GOTY.

The incidental comedic timing in this game is second to none. Run don't walk

12

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Oh shoot! Gun made a VIDEO GAME this time. A real blast. Hopefully it gets support in the longterm to give reasons to really stick around and grind the game. I'll probably pick this up again next fall

13

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Cyberpunk got the soft reset it deserved along with an interesting story and cast to propel it. Still good not great but it makes me interested to see what's next for the franchise

14

Party Animals
Party Animals
A party multiplayer treat. I laughed more playing this game than any other this year... save one.

15

Cocoon
Cocoon
Pretty neat! Mainly iterations on a single impressive idea. Doesn't overstay it's welcome

16

Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2
Better than I ever expected it could be. Better than that with friends.

17

Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy XVI
Gorgeous spectacle and lovable protagonists held back by a hollow world and middling combat system

18

Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void
Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void
It came out on Xbox in 2023 so it's on this list dammit.

More of the same but the base game is peak so it's more peak.

19

Diablo IV
Diablo IV
Great campaign that gave me no reason to continue on in the post-game.

20

Mortal Kombat 1
Mortal Kombat 1
Okay fighting game!

21

Crash Team Rumble
Crash Team Rumble
Doing weird stuff doesn't always result in a knockout success. This game is better than it could have been but it's not good enough to convince me that "live service Crash Bandicoot game" is a good idea

22

Exoprimal
Exoprimal
I don't know who this is for but most people I talk to like it a lot more than I did.

A game about shooting dinosaurs where shooting dinosaurs doesn't feel that great

23

Destiny 2: Lightfall
Destiny 2: Lightfall
It's Destiny with neon and grappling hooks. Wee!

24

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
DNF

Pretty much Nioh

25

WarioWare: Move It!
WarioWare: Move It!
DNF

Didn't realize at the time that I was buying an exercise game. That's on me

26

Starfield
Starfield
DNF

Fine game in a vacuum, but it's made by a studio that's done everything it tries to do better like a decade ago

27

Atomic Heart
Atomic Heart
DNF

Bioshock Infinite but bad

28

Sonic Dream Team
Sonic Dream Team
DNF

Fine but not good enough to bother playing on a phone

29

Rocket Racing
Rocket Racing
Racing game made to sell Fortnite skins

30

LEGO Fortnite
LEGO Fortnite
Minecraft game made to sell Fortnite skins

31

Payday 3
Payday 3
DNF

The tutorial teaches the controls and that's about it. All systems are left to your imagination. The multiplayer was unusable at launch

32

Redfall
Redfall
DNF

Absolute mess of a game and black spot on Arkane's record of otherwise peak quality

33

3 Comments


Good list

26 days ago

Agree with the parrying being off on hi-fi rush. Still a great game though, feels like a breath of fresh air for a game to be presented like that nowadays.
@Poet Absolutely. I'll take something new and weird feeling less than frame-perfect over sterile AAA "excellence" any day.


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