[Editor’s Note: Authors were told to approach their game of the year lists however they wanted, including listing their favorite games they personally played this year regardless of release year.]
2023 might well be remembered as one of the best years ever for games. That makes compiling a top ten list quite the challenge. Unlike past years, it means a lot of smaller games got squeezed off the list. Still, the big games that did make it brought innovation to their respective genres and we’ll undoubtedly see innovators playing off them for years to come.
Honorable Mentions
- Dredge
Setting a horror game at sea is always a fun idea, but if you going full Lovecraftian with it it’ll be hard to beat this game. Not my favorite sea game of the year, but could easily be for another. - Hitman Freelancer
Hitman: World of Assassination (which combined the entire recent trilogy) was already maybe the best game of the decade. Adding in a roguelite mode on top of that? It’s hard to beat—even if just DLC. - Jusant
A common complaint against the Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted franchises is they make climbing too easy. So, what if you made the climbing the main mechanic with a healthy dose of acrophobia? - Thirsty Suitors
What if you took Scott Pilgrim and remixed it with a skateboarding and a south Asian protagonist, then sprinkled in a heavy helping of RPG fights? Oh yeah, it’s about cooking, too. - RoboCop: Rogue City
There’s never quite been a good RoboCop game. Maybe the arcade one comes closest. Rogue City isn’t an amazing game, but it delivers on everything you want to see the ‘ole tin can do.
10. Street Fighter 6
I’m not a huge fighting game fan. I want to like them more than I ever will. I’m just bad at playing them, which sort of gatekeeps a lot of the fun story and lore many have. But I did love Street Fighter II. I still remember playing it for the first time in the breezeway between a SuperRX Drugs and Kroger. No sequel has ever recaptured that feeling of accessibility and joy until now. From its open-world exploration to the new simplified control scheme, everything about this is made to recapture old fans like me and new ones, alike. The fact that it innovates new systems for the hardcore players is a testament to what an achievement it is.
9. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
I wish I would have played more of this. It’s one that I’ll be playing into 2024. Mech games usually fall into one of two categories—dumbed down and overly simplistic or hyper-detailed simulations. The latter category I have no interest in and the former rarely holds my interest. Leave it to From Software (Elden Ring) to construct something that is arcade fast but with the depth that keeps you going. My biggest gripe is that like their other games, it can at times be punishingly difficult.
8. Dave the Diver
As I’ve gotten older, the importance of a solid gameplay loop has become more and more important to me. Don’t get me wrong, it always was important, but as a kid I could force myself to plow through a game that was uneven at best. As an adult I find myself often addicted to simpler games that nail that loop. Last year, Marvel Snap did that for me. Dave the Diver manages that same balance where yes, you’re going out spearing fish and then coming back and serving them at your restaurant—fairly simple. In that simplicity, however, is a wildly addictive game that kept pulling me back for one more day in the game world long after I thought I would be done. It’s maybe the most pure game on my list this year.
7. Hi-Fi Rush
I love rhythm games. Much like with fighting games, I’m pretty terrible at them, but I long to be good at them. Here’s a rhythm game where my lack of rhythm doesn’t matter too much, and for me that’s at least half its brilliance. Hi-Fi Rush is a fairly traditional beat-em-up in many ways that has you tackling waves of punchable enemies, but the joy is in a world that rewards you for doing so in rhythm without punishing you for missing. Add on top of that a layer of style that has maybe nailed the Jet Set Radio aesthetic better than anyone since its original release and you have a game that came out last January but managed to stay in my mind the whole year out.
6. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
As a kid I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World. Not because it was the most exciting ride, but because it (along with the Haunted Mansion) dropped you into the most exciting world you knew little about. When the first Johnny Depp film released it brilliantly expanded that world into a fully swashbuckling adventure meets supernatural horror universe. Shadow Gambit is a spiritual successor to all that taking the world of pirates and mysticism and molding it around a squad strategy game. Each level feels like a new diorama you want to explore in the way you did action figure playsets as a kid. The mechanics are well honed, and it kept me coming back for one more round.
5. Pikmin 4
Pikmin has been a Nintendo franchise in search of itself. It’s been fun since the original GameCube title, but it’s never felt like it completely came together in a way to make it one of Nintendo’s premiere franchises. Pikmin 4 feels like the franchise finally getting over that hump. A refined control scheme, simpler gameplay rules (mostly ditching the timer), and a Switch-level graphical polish all make this the best the franchise has ever been. Oatchi is a great addition as your dog-like friend and one sure to charm many first-time players into trying the series.
4. Sea of Stars
There’s been a huge retro push in new games in recent years. Developers find a forgotten genre or period of games and try to recreate the feel and aesthetic in their wholly new title—see the parade of titles trying to recapture N64-style platformers. One particularly popular area has been retro-JPRPGs. Most of these have focused on the 16-bit era of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, as does this title. But Sea of Stars, besides actually being more 32-bit in nature, does something that most of these have aspired to and failed—it’s actually a fantastic game worthy of the titans of that time. I’m not sure how well that nostalgic feeling will gel with younger players who didn’t play those games in their original era, but for me it was fully firing on all cylinders. Almost enough to be the best RPG of the year.
3. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
There’s no surprise when a Mario game is great. It’s perhaps the most consistent quality franchise in all of gaming (maybe even ahead of Zelda), but that consistency can breed undervaluing in the broader fanbase. When Nintendo first announced a new Mario 2D title many viewed it slightly suspiciously. The 2D titles have stuck in the New Super Mario franchise for years and while quite good, I like most players feel they’ve grown a bit stale. So, a new graphical look that focused heavy on the animation certainly excited me, but it still didn’t prepare me for playing Wonder. Quite simply, this is the best 2D Mario since Super Mario World, a game I commonly answer when people ask what I think is the best game ever made. The Wonder Seeds introduce playful new mechanics into just about every level. It’s astonishing how much creativity is on display here and alongside Super Mario Odyssey shows this marquee franchise isn’t showing any signs of aging.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
I loved the last Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. I wasn’t sure it was possible for them to make substantial improvements on it. And yet, had you asked me back in May I would have told you there was no way Tears of the Kingdom could be topped by any title for game of the year. It improves upon Breath of the Wild in just about every way imaginable. The sky islands and below areas vastly expand the game world. The Ultrahand and Ascend abilities vastly rethink how you play the game, and Ultrahand specifically feels like it could be spun off into its own franchise at Nintendo. The story is richer and more interesting. And while the Switch can at times chug when too much is happening, it’s pretty shocking to remember this is all still running on seven-year-old mobile hardware. It’s the second of Nintendo’s masterpieces this year—games that will stand the test of time among their best.
1. Baldur’s Gate 3
For most of the year Zelda was my game of the year. Then, I played Baldur’s Gate 3. I wasn’t new to the franchise. I played the original Baldur’s Gate years ago. I assumed this would be a similarly very good computer RPG. What I didn’t expect was a title that so fully embraced its Dungeons and Dragons roots. The fun of any pen and paper RPG is the dungeon master and what they will and will not let you get away with. Baldur’s Gate 2 offers a virtual dungeon master who simply doesn’t say no. Want to try setting something on fire? Your virtual dungeon master more often than not will simply shrug and say, “Sure, let’s see what happens.” It’s this kind of freedom that opens this game up into an experience that feels both familiar and yet unlike anything you’ve played before. Add in the top notch voice acting and bear relationships and you have a game that simply must be experienced. Like Hitman before it, this is a return to an old franchise that redefines the openness we should expect in games going forward. I can’t make a stronger argument for a game being game of the year.
