My 2023 Ranked

Notable games I played the majority of during 2023!
A great great year. I think it marks the beginning of my turn-based RPG honeymoon, playing quite a few, both older and modern. The highlight of this in particular are the fantastic Trails games which I never would have got into if it wasn't for the friends I made this year (shoutout).
I also spent a lot of time addicted to two particularly standout rogue-likes, slay the spire and necrodancer. These two games alone took up more than 500 hours of time for me this year and it's all thoroughly deserved.
Finally it's a massive year for visual novel-esque games as I played a fair few, 3 of which becoming some of my all time favourites: Ghost trick, VA-11 Hall-A, and Umineko (which I hadn't even finished).

Umineko When They Cry: Question Arcs
Umineko When They Cry: Question Arcs
So unbelievably fantastic and it's only one half.

1

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
I really liked it, then I replayed it and it became an all time favourite. Jill Stingray is my favourite character ever.

2

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Probably the best JRPG I've played up to this point.

3

Slay the Spire
Slay the Spire
This deckbuilder will never be topped.

4

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
So charming, completely blew my expectations out of the water.

5

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
Didn't think it was as good as the first but still sits right next to it, this world is amazing.

6

Crypt of the NecroDancer
Crypt of the NecroDancer
So uniquely addictive, loved grinding for aria low% then kinda said goodbye.

7

River City Girls 2
River City Girls 2
Awesome improvement on the first game in many aspects, absolutely rocking.

8

OneShot
OneShot
It hit me quite hard, really knows how to connect to the player.

9

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
A decent story with an amazing and charming atmosphere given the clear budget constraints.

10

Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
A true classic that I'll always appreciate.

11

Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
I didn't love the main story of this yakuza entry but surprisingly everything else made up for it big time.

12

Slay the Princess
Slay the Princess
Amazing art, a HUGE amount of decisions, absolutely delivers what it promises.

13

God of War
God of War
Despite a bit of an underwhelming story that's very clearly setting up a sequel, this had lots of fun to offer with great attention to detail in many aspects.

14

Cocoon
Cocoon
I don't give a rats ass about the story that's being told but these puzzles are exquisite and, in some places, mindblowing.

15

Vision Soft Reset
Vision Soft Reset
Good game, just didn't stand out.

16

A Year of Springs
A Year of Springs
More of an insight than a game, but is well written and eye-opening.

17

Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal
Coming hot off persona 4 golden this felt fairly lackluster in comparison but still a very good time overall. Gameplay was great but there was loads of boring filler and the characters just weren't all that.

18

Viewfinder
Viewfinder
Very awesome puzzle concepts that ultimately felt under-utilised. The world and themes were still enjoyable.

19

Jusant
Jusant
Extremel innovative gameplay and some beatiful scenery.

20

Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider
It's aged horribly but I still had a lot of fun with it as a lara croft fanboy.

21

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
Rare return to soulful Sonic writing, but it is just a meme game in the end.

22

Refind Self: The Personality Test
Refind Self: The Personality Test
Honestly, way cooler than it looks.

23

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
The first playthrough wasn't very fun, all subsequent playthroughs were much more enjoyable.

24

Pocket Mirror: GoldenerTraum
Pocket Mirror: GoldenerTraum
Great presentation, good themes, story and gameplay (for an rpgmaker walking sim). Just a shame that personally I find storytelling through symbolism very difficult to engage with.

25

Mirror's Edge
Mirror's Edge
Fun game. Can see how it was a classic, it's aged alright but playing it for the first time in 2023 didn't hit very hard.

26

Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk
Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk
I really have no clue what this was but it was creepy and I liked it for that at least.

27

A Dance of Fire and Ice
A Dance of Fire and Ice
Cool rhythm game, just extremely short and the user made stuff didn't look as good (could be wrong but I didn't feel that compelled to investigate).

28

Muse Dash
Muse Dash
It's alright, too horny.

29

Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider II
I spent more playtime on this than tomb raider 1 and I didn't even get 70% through the game (I then dropped it), it was so much less fun, needed to look at guides constantly.

30

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