The following are my favorite gaming experiences of 2023. These games may not have necessarily been released in 2023, but I played them in 2023 and enjoyed them tremendously!
Honorable Mentions:
Like a Dragon / Yakuza / Judgement Games
Starting around October I binged on Yakuza-like games, finishing Yakuza 6, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and Judgment. I started down this path to prepare for Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth coming out in late January 2024. It turned into me repeatedly saying, “I love these games so much!” As I wrapped Like a Dragon Gaiden, I went into Judgment, which I also really enjoyed, and purchased Lost Judgment. Ryu Ga Gotoku is a special studio with a place in my heart for their games.
Hogwarts Legacy
This game almost made my top 10 the way it was lovingly crafted to bring the Harry Potter universe to life in a video game. This year in particular, a middling open-world game, while great as an adaptation, wasn’t able to hold on to a top 10 spot. Exploring the Hogwarts grounds and hallways, Hogsmeade and combat were all very well done. The game mechanics were standard open-world fare. The writing strived to be impactful but honestly did not capture me in the way I think was intended. Hogwarts Legacy was a good game and I’m happy with the 20 or so hours I spent with it. I actively recommend it to anyone who is a Harry Potter fan, and I’ll be there if the studio chooses to make a sequel.
Diablo 4
I’m conflicted by Diablo 4. On one hand, the grim writing, graphics, music, and great combat were thrilling to me. They strove and generally accomplished an impactful story with an atmosphere for the player to help the story land. I enjoyed Diablo 3 which had a very different feel, and both landed for what I felt the developers were going for. My largest personal gripe with the game is based on the level scaling for monsters that is in place, which is pushing me away from the franchise in general. I understand that the level scaling is in place so you can keep playing the game forever. The level 5 wolves you fight as you exit the cave in the entry moments of the game keep pace with your level so they continue to be a threat when you’re level 100 and nearly a god in the game to keep you on ‘the treadmill’ and keep playing. I do not buy into the thought that a game needs to be able to be played forever (or… live service games in general), it’s a trend of the current/modern gaming business I don’t enjoy or agree with. I enjoy a gaming experience like a movie, I love a story well told, is immersive, and has a definitive endpoint. I have read (and continue to read) articles complaining that a game in a live service category is only 100 or 200 hours. I suppose that’s fair criticism for people who want a never-ending game, that’s just not for me. Diablo 4 has edged a little too close to that Destiny live service model of endless repeatable gaming loop ‘treadmills’ which has me respectfully stepping off. I enjoyed the story, but that’s all for me on this game.
Top 10:
Baldurs Gate 3
I played over 40 hours of early access for Act 1 and loved it. The rest of the game does not disappoint. What Baldur’s Gate 3 does for production values in the CRPG genre is thrilling to see. At this point, I have about 100 hours and I am still enjoying playing the game, which is pretty rare for me. The performances, motion capture, player agency, over-arching story, small character interactions and large story moments, tactical combat, and general approachability are all top-tier. I love this game and is my game of the year.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Being a nearly lifelong fan of Spider-Man, the 2018 Spider-Man game was a revelation and what I had always wanted a Spider-Man game to be. The follow-up is great as well. The second entry didn’t hit as emotionally as the first did, which is fine. This was a great game and to me was the second-best game of the year. If you haven’t played Spider-Man 2018, you should. And then you should play this.
Star Trek: Resurgence
This title has the production values of an AA title and is a telltale-esque game with story decision-making. This title is among the best of the Telltale-style games I’ve played and captured the heart of the Star Trek Next Generation series. Capturing the heart of that series is not a throw-away sentiment and is incredibly rare (making me think it’s really hard to do). I don’t know if it’s my favorite Star Trek video game, but it’s definitely top 3. I’d recommend it to anyone who was a fan of the Next Generation.
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
After Jedi: Fallen Order this game is a great follow-up. I unfortunately played at launch and hit the launch issues. Other than that, I loved the story and am curious where it will go from here. The developers streamlined most of the issues I had with the previous entry (as most great sequels do) and I’m very much looking forward to the next entry!
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
I’m about 25 hours into Rogue Trader at this point and am absolutely loving it. Owlcat Games make great CRPGs. I have one big piece of feedback (and a few smaller ones) that I wish they would address, but other than that their games are among the best in the industry. My biggest area of feedback is the character management pieces. I honestly feel there’s a valid middle point between the arcane and incredibly challenging to parse, 50+ line entry of options to upgrade your character with little or no guidance versus the BG3 approach of removing choices and streamlining to a ‘this is what you get for hitting level 3’ or ‘choose between these 2 or 3 options’. I love that Owlcat gives the player the option to make the character whatever you want, though an unsorted, not alphabetized list of 50+ items of deep mechanic choices is just frustrating and has poor UI design. The choices don’t even get rid of what you’ve previously selected, they’re still listed, just locked. It feels very rushed, poorly constructed, and rules-centric approach when it should be a user-centric approach. The smaller frustrations are the lower production values, I could let go of everything except the spotty voice acting. One piece of dialog will have voice acting, but the very next line won’t. I get it’s a financial issue, though man it’s immersion-breaking. I’ve loved nearly everything else about the game. Learning the combat system has been a blast, smiting evil has never been so fun! The music is stellar, art design is great. I’m having a great time with this game!
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Midnight Suns came out in late 2022, as a comic book fanboy I bought it, and loved what I played. Unfortunately, I hit a bug in the game that stopped me from progressing. Firaxis patched It in early 2023 but I had bounced off and moved on. I picked the game back up at the end of October 2023 and started a new run. Not only did they patch the bug I hit, but they also significantly improved performance for the sanctuary wandering sections, and all of the DLC was released so I got to play all of those missions as well. The writing was geared toward… honestly children – as a lot of the characters in the comic books are. This is a bit off-putting as a 40+-year-old who has enjoyed the movies over the last decade that could be enjoyed by most aged audiences. There’s a Persona-like hang-out simulator with the Marvel characters that was a bit juvenile. The combat is the shining star of this game – tactical turn-based, but with cards. I honestly have no idea why they chose to introduce a card system, feels unnecessary but they made it work. Midnight Suns is definitely one of my favorite games this year, warts and all.
Final Fantasy XVI
What do you get when you combine ‘Game of Thrones’ elements and a new Final Fantasy game? You get Final Fantasy 16 of course. While not a perfect video game, there’s so much to love here. The voice performances – especially standouts Ben Starr and Ralph Ineson were top-notch. The music was an amazing iteration of the Final Fantasy themes that made me smile throughout the game. The cinematic tentpole moments of major battles and summons are amazing. The critiques I have of the game include lack of character depth outside of the main character, questing is a bit rudimentary and the combat system – while approachable – got a bit boring by the end of the game. None of these stopped me from finishing the game, I truly enjoyed my time in the game. I did keep thinking how amazing a Final Fantasy 17 would be if they shored up these issues.
Mortal Kombat 1
‘How are they ever going to top this?’ is the question I’ve consistently asked myself for the last 3 or 4 Mortal Kombat releases. Considering the last one ended with Liu Kang ascending to god-hood and essentially recreating the universe, I was very curious where they would go next and MK1 did not disappoint. I’ve loved Mortal Kombat since the original Mortal Kombat in the 90s, this entry with the single-player ‘movie’ like story was so much fun and so tongue in cheek that it earns its spot in one of my top 10 favorite video game experiences of the year.
Super Mario Wonder
A beautiful, modern-day take on a side-scrolling platformer. Super Mario Wonder has great music, master-crafted animations with great attention to detail, and is laser-focused on fun and whimsy. Anyone who has any nostalgia for Mario and the fun times of Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World I think will love this. It dives a bit into the weirdness as you turn into an elephant and have sequences that appear to be drug highs. This is no more weird to me than a feather turning you into an animal with a tail or grabbing a flower which allows you to throw fireballs though! Great time and a great game, number 3 on my overall favorite Mario games list!
Everspace 2
Similar to Chorus which came out a few years ago, I love this type of space adventure game. The production values place it in the AA territory as a title, though it’s a solid title with fun combat mechanics, great voice performance from one of my favorite voice actors (Ray Chase), and an all-around great time. Freespace or Wing Commander fans I think would enjoy this game quite a bit if Chorus is too recent of a reference!
