2023 is one of my favorite years of gaming, ever. With nearly 100 total reviews for games and hardware under my belt I’ve never played more than I did this year. The quality of the titles was consistently high with some astounding experiences that somehow topped how great 2022 was for me. I didn’t always get close to the Metacritic, hello Redfall, and Armored Core VI, but damn this year was fulfilling professionally.
Unrivaled success in the industry was met with… layoffs. It’s tough to bask in the glow that are gaming’s greats this year when so many talented individuals were let go because of stupid bets by their bosses. I cheer the hard work of the individuals who create our entertainment, and hope the future sees more stability for them as they bust their asses to keep us entertained.
I played too much to keep things to only 10, my list could easily hit 30 if I tried to talk about every game I enjoyed this year so I’m going to start with 10 honorable mentions before getting into my personal top 10 games of the year.
Honorable Mentions (In no particular order)
- Redfall
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- Assassin’s Creed: Mirage
- Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
- Dead Island 2
- Dredge
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
- Atomic Heart
- Wild Hearts
I’m sure many of you know my history with Redfall. I am one of the handful that genuinely enjoyed it at launch. Hell, I’m not even the highest score, there are at least 2 or 3 higher! Going down the list it’s clear I like my open-world shooters/action games, what can I say? On to the top 10.
#10. Lords of the Fallen
A truly wonderful Soulslike that I fell in love with. Styling itself after Dark Souls 3, one of my favorite games of the last gen, this reboot of the franchise is criminally underrated and well worth playing through if you love the genre.
#9. Forza Motorsport
I’m normally a Forza Horizon super-fan, but this year’s track racer hooked me hard. Gyozo did an excellent job breaking it down in our review and while I know it has rough edges and lacks features the more hardcore love, I just want to race in this game all day long. It looks incredible and feels so damned good.
#8. Asgard’s Wrath 2
The only non-Xbox game on my list, Asgard’s Wrath 2 is the Quest’s killer VR app. It is a massive, deep RPG with a solid variety of physics-based gameplay. Sword swings and ranged attacks feel good, it looks far better than any mobile-chipset-driven game should, and never once made me feel queasy despite its constant movement.
#7. STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor
Survivor improves in every single area over its predecessor. While performance can be rough it plays great and has a story that resonated with me. Respawn has done an excellent job of finely threading the needle of being their own story and fitting into the greater STAR WARS lore.
#6. Diablo IV
Diablo IV is an incredible game. One that kept me entertained for nearly 200 hours this year. While they need to work on the Nephalem Rift & Gear Set equivalent to keep me coming back I can’t complain about the insanely good campaign that was so nice I experienced it thrice.
#5. Lies of P
The version of Lies of P that I played through was one of the toughest games ever made, and I wanted more. I don’t mind the nerfs post-launch, because this is the best Soulskiroborne-like ever made. It rivals FROM’s early offerings, with better visuals than they’ve ever achieved. Taking such a weird IP and giving it a game like this, with promises of even crazier shit to come? I can’t wait.
#4 Hi-Fi RUSH
When the Xbox & Bethesda Developer Direct shadow-dropped this one I spent the next 15 hours straight playing, beating, writing, and video editing one of our most successful videos of the year. Hi-Fi RUSH is a delight. It’s gorgeous, plays great, has incredible music and it’s just damned good fun.
#3. Alan Wake II
You know it’s a tough year when one of my favorite gaming experiences in recent memory is somehow only third on the list. Alan Wake II is a perfect sequel, taking the oddness of the original and Twin Peaksing the hell out of it in the best way possible.
#2. Dead Space (2023)
The original Dead Space trilogy is one of my favorite franchises ever, yes even 3. The job that EA Motive did with remaking the original title is a stunning achievement. It improves every minor issue I had with the 2008 version and adds in content to help build the world that 2 & 3 created seamlessly. It’s terrifying, beautifully gorey, and I love it to death.
#1. Starfield
The dialogue around this game is some of the worst I can remember. I pumped roughly 100 or so hours into the game pre-launch and enjoyed every second. I have loved Bethesda since first encountering their style in Morrowind on the OG Xbox. Starfield takes all the learnings of those previous games and puts them into my dream package. I’m not the exploring/modding type, so the moment-to-moment gameplay & story were what I was mainly interested in. Starfield features their best writing, and one of my favorite new game plus systems of all-time. I cannot wait to find the time to go back and play through it all again on stream, over and over.
