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Superharman

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Game of the Year 2023

I went back to read my top 10 from last year to refresh myself and found it amusing that the first line mentioned how the general consensus from those I was getting my gaming discussion from was that it had been a dire year for games from the actual game release perspective and how outside of that opinion I felt. This year is actually the opposite with many ready to mark this 2023 as one of gaming’s great years where I’m looking around going, “really?” Which isn’t to say there wasn’t fun to be had, there was a lot, I just don’t know how many of my top 10 will actually be remembered as my favourites of all time. It’s entirely possible that had I got to Baldur’s Gate III, that might have changed but even some of the bigger releases left me a bit wanting, might just be a personal thing but I still had about 15 games that were on this list at a certain point, so there was a lot to choose from.

Previous Year Lists: 2008 (Braid), 2009 (Dragon Age: Origins), 2010 (Mass Effect 2), 2011 (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), 2012 (Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward), 2013 (The Last of Us), 2014 (Dark Souls II), 2015 (Bloodborne), 2016 (Inside), 2017 (NieR Automata), 2018 (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life), 2019 (Outer Wilds), 2020 (Final Fantasy VII Remake), 2021 (Psychonauts 2), 2022 (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Disappointments:

Final Fantasy XVI – At a certain point in FFXVI, I thought I must have been going crazy because all anyone could talk about was how deep and grand this dark adult fantasy was and I just kept waiting for the game to become anything resembling that. As a relatively recent fan of the franchise (I played through all the games after I finished FFXV in 2017) FFXVI was my first day one main line game and it turned out that all the initial issues I had with the trailers translated to the main game. Thankfully the discussion seems to have turned on the game since release, there is an especially great review from Imran Khan that perfectly sums up my thoughts. I can’t think of this game as anything but a big miss.

Robocop: Rogue City – This feels a little harsh but it just kind of missed the mark for me. Earlier in the year I had been told about Terminator Resistance and with it being on sale and it also being a slightly quiet period, I decided to give it a go and had a blast. A game from that developer combined with RoboMitch causing me to revisit the film franchise earlier in the year had me set for this one and in the end, it all just felt a little off. That being said, I appreciate what Teyon is doing here and hope they get a shot at some other fun 80s franchises.

Didn’t get to it: Baldur’s Gate III – the point at which I would have finished Starfield and gone into this game, I was in Japan for over two weeks, looking at the current release schedule, I may not get to this till about March or April.

Honourable Mentions: Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed, Cocoon, Lunark

List items

  • I must have watched my final shot on the last boss (NG++) about 50 times, I’m just glad I remembered to record it because when I hit it, I jumped out of my chair and pumped my fist then quickly composed myself as I the possibility existed that there was another phase. Thankfully there wasn’t, the win stood and I had got the ending that, after finishing the game the first time, I didn’t think I had it in me to try getting.

    It’s been nearly 10 years since I decided to follow the lead of Patrick Klepek and give Dark Souls a try, I got it for under $10 in sale and then became obsessed with the game to the point that I am happy to call it my favourite game of all time. Since then, every major release of From Software has been a day one purchase and I’ll often pony up for the special editions, I have statues for Dark Souls III, Sekiro and Elden Ring. So it may surprise that Armored Core VI wasn’t that for me. Again, it was weird timing, I’d invested in Starfield and given my trip to Japan, didn’t want to spend money on a game I wasn’t going to play for a couple of months. Funnily enough it was that trip to Japan that made me buy it once I got back, I was in a store called TorchTorch that sold From Software themed T-shirts and I picked up an Elden Ring design, at the counter they then proceeded to give me a bunch of AC6 postcards and from that, I was in, the day I got back I picked up the game and started playing it once I was done with Starfield.

    Like I said at the start, when I finished the game for the first time I looked up how to get the true ending and it felt overwhelming, but I started to pick at NG+ saying to myself I’d do one or two missions a day which then became more until I ran through NG++ in a single day. It also took me a long time to find my playstyle with this one and it wasn’t until some point into NG+ that everything started to feel right. Once it felt right though, there was no going back, I was obsessed with this game and I’m happy to say that the mech design I had remained largely unchanged from about the end of the first play through right to the end of NG++.

    Games will often say they’re cinematic when they have a lot of cut scenes, in AC6, the cinema is the battles. Really, take game footage from a boss battle in this game and watch it back, it can be beautiful, doing so made this, without a doubt my lock for Game of the Year 2023.

  • Recent discourse on Starfield has worked hard to convince me that it is a bad game and that I’m either wrong or an idiot for liking it. That’s fine, it’s just how these things work I guess, but you aren’t going to change my opinion on this game that I put 100 hours into and don’t regret a single moment. I had my chance too, I played this game every day from the 1st of September but had to stop on the 18th as I was flying to Japan for two weeks. When I got back, I found that this discourse had changed somewhat drastically and I got hit with a patch so it took me over a week after I got back to actually start playing the game again but even with the negativity surrounding the game, I jumped back in and started to have a great time again.

    I figure that this is just me again chasing the dragon that is Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday, a gold box tactical RPG set in space that I played when I was younger that left indelible impression on me. There was something about the illusion of freedom in that game where you would planet hop and follow the main mission, or you’d go off and start a fight in a bar on an asteroid or have a random encounter with a ship, disable it and then board it. The first time I disabled a ship in Starfield and docked with it to take out the crew, I just couldn’t help but smile.

    I have so many great stories and memories from my 100 hours with this game, this wasn’t a case where it took me time to find the fun either, this was catnip for me, it all just immediately worked. I get that it won’t work for everyone and I’m more than happy to listen to others problems with the game (and boy have I heard a lot) but for me, it all just landed and I’m not letting the current discourse take that away from me.

  • This is usually the type of game that I either play in the last week of the year and quickly push onto my list or play in January and regret that it wasn’t on my list. Thankfully I started playing this in November and despite working my way through it in a weekend, feel very strongly about placing it high on my list. Making this game must have been a pain, so the fact it all feels so effortless and beautiful to work through is just such an incredible achievement.

    I love a good puzzle and I think the moment this really all came together for me was when I had just finished the very abrasive second area (which has a lot of stealth) and came into a bright and friendly new area that also came with the overwhelming sense of dread that I was really going to have to do this again for the third time. By the time I got to the fourth area, I was relishing the opportunity to get to work translating and discovering a new language again.

    I do think the ultimate message of the games conclusion is a little…saccharine, especially this year and everything that’s happening in the world. My read that if we just learn to communicate and find common ground, we will get along with each other…including with people who had previously oppressed us (the warrior’s language literally labels the first group you encounter as impure) doesn’t quite work for me. It was issues like these though that kept the game on my mind and gave me a lot to think about in regards to communication as a tool, that’s the sign of good art.

  • Final Fantasy XVI was my biggest disappointment of the year and I honestly think a big part of that was due to the Pesta’s Nightmare boss sequence in this game. For all the bombast that FFXVI had with its over the top giant Eikon fights, after finishing one I was largely left cold. Playing Bramble: The Mountain King almost immediately after finishing FFXVI made it all clear with the Pesta sequence being a perfect encapsulation of a well-structured and built boss battle. You find hints of this woman who brought a plague to a village you had just stumbled through only to then confront her in the most dramatic fashion. Seriously, if you aren’t interested in playing this game and don’t care about spoilers, look it up on YouTube.

    Bramble is very much an indie game, the controls are a little floaty which results in some wrongful deaths and that can be a little rough, but the atmosphere this game builds is just on another level, it’s worth the minor frustrations to keep delving into what starts as a light Nordic fairy that quickly gets dark, real dark.

    A recurring theme for this list is games I couldn’t stop thinking about, I still think about big moments in this game and genuinely wonder if it should have been higher on my list.

  • It’s odd to me how much I wasn’t exactly buzzing for Alan Wake II and I’m trying to really consider why that is. I was a huge fan of the first game and invested a lot of time and energy into that world and story. At the time, it was exactly the type of game I wanted and when it became clear that no sequel was coming, I probably moved on from the franchise a little. Times change and so do people, third person action adventure games are a dime a dozen now and the Sony style of game has actually worn me out there in a lot of ways, you need to be something pretty special or different to get my attention in that genre now.

    Thankfully, Alan Wake II decided to take on a genre that in recent years, I have become a big fan of, that being survival horror and that methodical style helped me to immediately sink back into this world. It has everything I’ve loved about Remedy games but even takes a lot of it to another level with incredible world building and fun new characters. This is a game I still think about and I can’t wait to revisit these characters either in a sequel or in other adventures in Remedy’s universe.

  • TotK was a game that dominated my life for a good couple of weeks in May, it really was a game that I was constantly thinking about and wanting to get back to. I loved the return of the more detailed dungeons including the often complex lead ups and I enjoyed unlocking all the story elements, discovering the Master Sword and finally, saving Zelda…and then I just kind of moved on. I tried to go back to it to wrap up a few things, maybe take on some quests I hadn’t thought about but ultimately it just wasn’t the same once I’d finished the game and I think that’s why it’s so high on this list, at this point, while this might be the best game released this year in a lot of ways, I need it to stick with me.

    Having said all that, this is still a phenomenal game and one that, while it stuck with me more, is better than its predecessor. There is so much to see and do in this world and it was often a joy to just wander off the beaten path and discover something or, better yet, see something in the distance and follow it using the various abilities the game offers. Very few games can do that, this game does it with ease.

  • I don’t quite recall when my Dad brought home an Apple IIe or even if there was any lead up excitement to it, I just remember it one day being there and that there were games I could play on it. Thinking back, there are about four that I can distinctly remember, Conan the Barbarian, Castle Wolfenstein, Lode Runner and Karateka.

    Those last two games are the important one because while I like Lode Runner, my Dad was obsessed with it where I personally found more interest in the slower more methodical Karateka. In a lot of ways, The Making of Karateka helped me to understand this and was able to encapsulate why I was drawn to it while directly linking it to the types of games that I would go on to love. On the other side of things, the game also made me tear up as I watched Jordan Mechner interact with his father. It’s been nearly 17 years since my Dad passed, I was 25 at the time so I never had the opportunity to have these reflective father son conversations that Jordan is able to have with his father so seeing that hit me hard.

    This is a great package from a series I will continue to support, even if I don’t have such a connection to the game being covered. I should also note that there is also a genuinely fantastic modern adaptation of Karateka in here.

  • Hi-Fi Rush released just as I got COVID for the first time. I think I got a couple of levels in before I was slammed on my ass for a good amount of time. I link the game to that time quite a bit because I remember playing it during my recovery, I could tell I was slightly off, timing wasn’t right not to mention I was overly frustrated at the fact my throat felt like it had razor blades in it every time I tried to swallow. But I pushed through and then the game presented a magical moment towards the end with a sequence that played to Whirring by The Joy Formidable and everything just felt right with the world.

    It’s just a cool old school action game to the point that I was actually a little bummed that there wasn’t more of this world to explore as it’s such a visual feast that I want to dig into every corner of. It will forever kind of bum me out that this year was so busy with everything for me that I didn’t get to go back and play this one again like I wanted to, hopefully I’ll get that chance again in the future.

  • While I’m not the biggest visual novel guy, I often laugh at the fact that when I do play one, it’s pretty likely that it’ll end up on my top 10 list. This has been true for the games of Kotaro Uchikoshi and turns out its true in this instance too. When it was revealed at the Nintendo Direct, I was immediately drawn to the visual style and despite the fact I’d never played a Danganronpa game I was willing to give it a shot.

    What I got was a game that scratched a lot of itches for me, a heavily anime infused story mixed in with a detective mystery that has a unique case solving mechanic. There was also a great cast of characters to latch onto with this one too that made getting through it that much easier. It also bummed me out that when I was in Japan and found some merch for the game, they didn’t have the characters I wanted (because they were too popular) so I had to settle for some others.

    I saw a few memes from others who’d actually played this game that this was secretly their game of the year, I wouldn’t go that far but I’m happy to include it on the list.

  • There are a few strange things at play here, I’m neither the biggest Warhammer 40k fan nor am I someone who seeks out boomer shooters and yet as soon as I saw footage of this game, I knew I needed to play it. Thankfully, the game held up to my expectations with a good, heavy on the action, crunchy shooter. I originally had this much higher on my list but I’m not sure what else I can say about it, it’s just a damn fun game that doesn’t outstay its welcome. Once I started on this one, I just couldn’t stop and it never got boring.
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