This is the one for me; the one FromSoft game that truly gets me in a way that I'm really delusional about it that I never experienced with the other games they've released so far. The gameplay is so smooth and so tight along with a sick amount of customization available, even if I kept a very similar high speed mech build for most of the time. It's still difficult as hell with some bosses and caught me off guard at times but it never felt too overwhelming, especially with the balance just completely out of the roof with some builds and weapons. The story rules and continues like this into new game plus runs as well. Yeah yeah it's not perfect and possibly might not be the best AC game, but AC6 really stole my heart and I have a whole new series to dive into and learn more about. Easily my favorite game of the year and the best action in a video game released in 2023.

Really don't know what to even say besides that I loved this game when it came out and still love it so many months and a wonderful DLC addition later. My controversial take is that this is my easy favorite of the modern RE remakes and it makes the earlier two feel like they could have went a bit further when it came to handling content and mechanics in the original game and the new one. I'm not too passionate when it comes to how remakes handle this since some of these are of games I haven't played before originally (except RE4 here), but I like the remix approach Capcom did with this one, though it makes me even more disappointed with the way my fave (RE3) got treated in the remake fashion.


Even though I love RE4make, I can't help but miss the atmosphere and tone of the original at times as that's what in part made the original so special, and the remake does go for a more grounded and horror approach, but it feels like it didn't fully commit enough to the more horror-esque direction and sits at a weird middle ground with where it's at. Can probably chock this up to not being too radical with the changes since the original is so beloved, but that didn't stop them with the other two remakes so who knows. Also Leon moves slow as hell here what's up with that? That and other nitpicks aside, RE4R is amazing as expected, though it might have been a bit more cooler if it was more adventurous with its new take considering how radical the original game was. Still the best new RE game and raises my expectations for RE9 even more, hopefully in a new direction for the series since they are starting to get a bit stale.

This still might be the best survival horror game I've played in YEARS. The narrative is so compelling and commits to so many big swings that landed so well for me and kept me interested until the close of the game. I wouldn't even call myself a Remedy fan but Alan Wake II might have made me one and it just blows the rest of their catelogue and many other recent games (looking at you Resident Evil) out of the water with the stuff it does. The weakest link is the gameplay which, while the best of their recent games, still lacks in execution and polish and can get downright frustrating alongside other parts of the game, which is unfortunately really obvious with the excellent work done with RE4R earlier this year. Even with that downside, this game's amazing and an achievement for a new AAA survival horror series. We've never been more back than before.

Nintendo announcing this last year gave me a heart attack and it's still weird to see that this game exists and it's as great as I expected to be after all these years, almost.

Still think it's like a 9 and Peakmin for sure, but time away from it and trying to play it again recently has made some of the shortcomings even more noticeable like the decreased difficulty with Oatchi, some less than stellar aspects of the worlds, and how the characters never really shuts up and let me do my thing. Already put it in my log for the game months back but even with the issues...it's still Pikmin and it's still so amazing and fun. I love the caves and (some) dandori battles. But also, why is the lock on so terrible???

Ada's voice still hasn't grown on me but that's alright because this was sick. Continues the same level of quality from the remake while also including other og material that didn't make the main campaign in such a spectacular fashion. They even have the original dress as well and it is glorious.

My first reaction to this was low key ruined by leaks that said this was getting released, but still seeing it happen and playing it again shocked me away with the amount of detail that went into updating this. Nintendo is actually giving Metroid the respect it deserves unlike another series.

As someone that's never played Dead Space before, this remake of the first game was a good time on all fronts. While I enjoy RE4R's action-focused horror and Alan Wake II's intriguing and phenomenal survival horror world and storytelling more, Dead Space '23 stands strong on its own with a foreboding atmosphere, unique dismembering approach, and sickening creature design that honestly outclasses even those other two mentioned. Dead Space is still very enjoyable in other ways, though not to a crazy degree for me, but future playthroughs will probably grow my enjoyment with it in time. EA are still bastards.

It's persona 3 portable with a (questionable) port. Rip the femc fans b/c this is it and she ain't getting into reload unfortunately.

2023 must be a year of puzzle games or something. Didn't finish it but have put in a decent amount of time to rank it on the list. Sony releasing this ps1-like puzzle game is still very bizarre but I won't knock it as it is a good time and offers some puzzles that stumped me at times. The later puzzles do lose some quality and the 'story' is a little corny, but Humanity was worth the time digging into it.

Still getting through this and I would technically not rank this but it's grabbed me for a few months now. No thoughts outside of wow these games can get pretty repetitive despite loving the systems and battles here.

The demo hyped me up for this, only to put in like 10-20 hours into it and put it down because I'm bad at these games. I can't recall the name of the single-player story mode but it was decent albeit repetitive.

I really loved this game when it first released but my opinion of it has fell off over the past few months while slogging through Final Fantasy mode. The Eikon battles are still the most next gen thing ever and the music and Ben Starr are exceptional in their own rights, but this doesn't save the lackluster gameplay and the meandering narrative that I could overlook in the first playthrough with some hesitation with how attached I was to the cast and some story events, but really could not the second run through. The slog is even more obvious now which has slowed down my Final Fantasy run, but it's almost done. I don't see myself ranking this lower than a 7 but FF16 really could have been so much better, it's as frustrating as the stinky politics lol

Tears of the Kingdom unfortunately didn't work for me that much and my opinion on it hasn't gotten better with time either. It's still a good game and carries on the quality (and issues) of Botw, but the package overall felt too same-y after waiting quite awhile for it to release and this problem felt way bigger for me since exploration and discovery is the key thing that blew me away and kept me coming back to botw over the years. Not to mention even the new additions with the sky islands and depths feel underdeveloped when compared to the land of Hyrule.

The story is kinda dire too and makes me appreciate botw more...like how does that even happen? Ultrahand is dope but not for me and the "dungeons" are still pretty disappointing. The final battle is great at least and I love having Ganon back, despite being a slightly weak villain. Really hoping the next mainline Zelda game reigns in on the world and issues here and doesn't do the same thing again, but I also had that expectation going into totk.

Possibly the most forgettable game for me this year. Not sure if it was because of how much the Yakuza fanbase hyped this up when it was still not localized or it's just my slight fatigue with the franchise right now, but Ishin hasn't really stayed with me much. Cool to see and experience the gang in this historical tale and wild dancer alone makes the gameplay worth it alone, and yet I don't really feel like going back and playing this again or putting more time in it unlike 0 and the Judgment games. The side missions blow here too and calling this a 'remake' is a little questionable with how poor the game runs.

Actually scratch Ishin, Sea of Stars might be the most forgettable game for me this year if not for the discourse around it and rpgs made today. Don't even recall putting 30 hours into it and finishing the campaign, but it happened and the game is just okay, which is a bit bad with the influences it constantly evokes and never stops nudging about.

Unhinged ass update. My opinion has soured more in the months on this expansion tbh. Not the worst thing ever as I liked having to play around with the cast finally in a 3D game after ages of not getting that again, but the execution is so baffling. They all control okay but I expected a bit more, especially with Knuckles being worse than his outing in the Adventure games. The new story is fine and a bit more complete, not better or worse than the original one. At least the cyberspace stages are san absolute delight and clears all of the main game ones and the climbing the towers with Sonic's busted physics are fun (unlike the challenges that wait above). Interesting gift to celebrate Frontiers' one year of release.

Opinion hasn't really changed much since I played it back in January. Still find it to be pretty awful in its writing, characters, narrative, and just overall direction. The gameplay is genuinely a lot of fun and I can't knock the campy feel I get seeing the characters transform with the rings and demolish...but actually playing on the maps felt like 30% of my time with Engage when not going through several menus/loading screens, being thrown into the Somniel after every battle and its activities, and watching the story and supports. This game desperately needs some kind of new game plus mode as I wouldn't mind returning to it (and skip every single cutscene) but Engage is so tedious and a grind to experience that it's not really worth it over the other games in the series. Hopefully the next Fire Emblem game isn't a clusterfuck????

Lol