Games I Played In 2023 That Released In 2023
It's an ugly title but I'm pretty sure there's no better way to convey what this article is about
31 Dec 2023This year I played 12 video games that released in 2023, and I would love to talk about all of them. There’s a lot of good games that I just want to gush about, and some that are not so good that I want to… trickle about I guess? So here it is, all 12 games ranked from worst to best, featuring my Game of the Year at the end. No peeking, it’s meant to be a surprise!
As a quick aside, I think the two most repeated phrases this year for video games has been “2023 was a really good year for video games” and “2023 was a really bad year for the video games industry”. The games have been really, really good but so many of the people who actually make them have been dealing with mass layoffs so that the companies can have slightly higher return on investment while their execs get paid millions. It’s gross as hell dude. As a consumer, I don’t know if there’s much I can do but I wanted to at least acknowledge it, you know?
Cypher 007 (iOS/Apple Arcade)
The first James Bond game in 10 years and it’s a pretty disappointing game. There’s something resembling a good stealth game here but there’s just so many things working against it. A slow start with limited gadgets makes the opening levels pretty boring, and by the time you start to get more equipment and the game opens up, the levels take a turn for the worse. Combat becomes an inevitability rather than a fail state, which isn’t bad in theory but anything you have offensive wise just sucks and does so little damage that you’re doomed to die unless you run around. And to top it all off, the game’s not even done yet - halfway through the story it hits you with “more updates coming”, it’s so abrupt and sudden you can almost get whiplash from it. They don’t tell you this is incomplete anywhere, it just happens. At least I could stop playing it though. 4/10
Sonic Dream Team (Apple Arcade)
This is such a 5/10 game. Usually the score goes at the end of these reviews but there’s no better way to describe this game. The highlights are pretty easy to discus - the look of the game is kinda cool with it being almost a Sonic Lost World vibe, it’s fun to have Cream playable again, and it’s only like 4 hours to play so it never really overstays it’s welcome. The lowlights are also easy to discuss - so many levels feel the same because there’s only like 3 different types in the entire game, playing as anyone other than Sonic or Amy does not feel as good because of awkward flying/gliding mechanics, the sound design is an unbalanced mess where sometimes cutscenes were super quiet but levels would then blast your ears out. Like I said, the game’s roughly 4 hours so you can put up with it the flaws and enjoy what it is, but I also don’t know if anyone who isn’t a Sonic fan with an Apple Arcade subscription would ever even want to play this game. 5/10
Stray Gods (PC)
A fun concept really awkwardly executed. The story was a cool murder mystery but the actual writing didn’t really land for me. I love the voice cast but I can’t say their singing performances always landed which is a big shame for a musical. The songs were fine but any time you changed what “personality” you were going for during a song, it felt like a gearbox crunching as it had to pivot to the alternate track. The use of just still images for character art is awkward in execution with all the fading between art they did, as well as just the lack of variety in the art made - the latter of which really stuck out to me because there’d be scenes where a character would be looking at another character, but in a wide shot it would switch to another art which had them looking/facing the opposite way. I hope the studio can get a second shot at this concept because their first one missed for me. 5.5/10
Skator Gator 3D (PC)
A short and cute platformer. Despite the small length, there’s a fair bit to do with time trials for each level, letters to collect a la Tony Hawk, and a hidden jukebox that plays the very 90s cartoon sounding theme song. This isn’t some kind of game changing release but it’s definitely a good way to spend a night. 7/10
En Garde! (PC)
A really solid swashbuckling action game! The vibe of this game is so good, with the great soundtrack and visual style help to really engage you. The combat would probably count as the focus of the game, and I think it does a pretty decent job of keeping you engaged throughout the short-ish runtime of about 4 hours. Even though combat’s pretty simple overall, there’s a lot of fun to be had especially as the battles scale up and you’re dealing with multiple enemies which forces you to use your environment to your advantage. There’s some overly long battles with some rough checkpointing that can be a bit of a hassle, and not all jokes always landed for me personally, but for a first time game dev to put something out this cool is super exciting to see. 7.5/10
WORLD OF HORROR (PC)
A fantastic game with a really cool presentation, fun short stories to play through and spooky art which is borderline plagiarism of Junji Ito’s work. The double sided blade of the rogue-like genre is ever present here - it’s got high replayability and it’s super fun to play with different builds but you can also be left wanting more after you’ve played the same mystery for the tenth time in a row while trying to unlock something that has arcane conditions. 9/10
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
Is this just Breath of the Wild again but even more refined and with a lot of cooler mechanics on top of it? Yes. Did I care? Nope. God bless the item dupe glitches for making the game way less grindy 🙏🏻 9/10
Hi-Fi Rush (PC)
This is the sleeper hit of 2023, and I think that’s exclusively because it released in January. Everything about Hi-Fi Rush rocks dude. The cel shaded graphics, the way that the rhythm plays directly into everything going in the game from combat to the level design, the writing, the character and enemy designs, and just the overall vibe. It’s all so good. The game soundtrack is pretty good but not terribly catchy by itself, like I wouldn’t be able to hum any of the songs for you right now if you asked me to. In fact, for the first time in my life, I have the complaint of “there’s not enough licensed music in this” - it’s a clear highlight and it feels wasted to not have it appear more throughout levels. I’d love to see a Hi-FI rush sequel but I’m also extremely happy if Tango Gameworks decides to switch up the style of game yet again for their next project. I love seeing companies taking risks like this and changing it up for projects they’re excited about. 9/10
Street Fighter 6 (PC, PS5)
Street Fighter 6 inspired me to play a grappler for the first time, and also inspired me to learn how to do 360 and 720 motions. I will never forget the feeling of pulling off my first 720 in a real match. For that, it will always hold a special place in my heart. Coming off the weak launch of SF5, I’m so glad that SF6 feels as good as it does. So many characters feel strong, the systems feel really well balanced and designed, and this time it actually launched with a real story mode. It’s got some flaws, like the sloppy input interpreter and the fact that I don’t win every single game, but it’s still just so good.
In other words, I’ve been a failure, I’ve been a success etc. 9.5/10
Baldur’s Gate 3 (PC)
A tour de force of the RPG genre and a game I can see myself playing multiple times to just see how differently things can play out. I didn’t think two of my final thoughts on the game were going to be “Wow this feels like a Bethesda game moment” (pejorative) and “Man I wish they did this thing like Bethesda does”. As much as I enjoyed Act 3, it definitely needs some more polishing, which Larian is doing, but I think some things go beyond a bit of rebalancing or a couple new lines here and there. Still, Baldur’s Gate 3 is just such a cool game and it’s great to play D&D 5e combat with an actual concrete ruleset for once. 9.5/10
And now, for my GOTY…
Resident Evil 4 Remake (PC)
The first time I parried an attack, I thought this game is good. The first time I perfect parried an attack, I thought this game was great. The first time I perfect parried a projectile from across the map that I only heard get shot, I knew this game was perfect.
One of the best feeling games I’ve ever played, it absolutely blew away my expectations. I can gush about it endlessly, from how good it looks to how it improves characters like Ashley who was already a good character. Everything about RE4 Remake just hits right for me. Playing through on Hardcore on my first run was such a fun time - sequences like the cabin assault, the lead up to the final boss area, or even just the opening village section, are all just such high adrenaline action moments that really engage you and make use of all the mechanics you’ve got.
I don’t think RE4 needed a remake, but I’m glad it got one since this was the result. I’ve thought about it all year and I’ll keep thinking about it for many years to come. 10/10