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GOTY 2023

What to say? I echo for those that are following the video game industry that it’s been an incredible year for games yet shit for the thousands of employees who lost their jobs due to the company's unrealistic expectations. Personally, I’ve had a terrible time dealing with numerous internal family issues that have hampered my ability to play games in my current residence. I also did my best to refrain from buying too many games as I am preparing for a goal to move out of my current residence to an apartment. In terms of games I played that were released this year, it was a very slow start but then I picked up the pace as much as I could in the second half of the year.

2023 Games - Not Purchased, Interested

Baldur’s Gate 3
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (western release, too hard to catch up with series)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure (western release, too hard to catch up with series)
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Pikmin 4
Robocop: Rogue City
Sea of Stars
Star Ocean: The Second Story R

2023 Games - Acquired/Purchased, Not Played

Dead Space Remake (lower in the totem pole in games I wanted to get to)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (still haven’t played Breath of the Wild)
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (April Fools freebie)
Octopath Traveler II (bought in late Dec 2023)

2023 Games - Played, Not Made Top Ten

Cocoon
Humanity
Planet of Lana
Street Fighter 6
Suika Game
Yeah! You Want “Those Games”, Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let’s See You Clear Them!

List items

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

#10 (Played on PC Steam)
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk does a lot right in mimicking what made Jet Set Radio a Sega fan favorite: the cel-shaded graffiti inspired art, smooth rollerblading/biking/skateboarding action, animations, and tricks, and a soundtrack that bumps and grooves like no other. As much as Bomb Rush does it right, it doesn’t quite fully deliver in its overall package. It’s not fun when I have to push myself to get through the story missions to finish it. Nonetheless, Bomb Rush does enough in getting all of the stylistic aesthetics right to rush its way onto my list this year.
If you were looking for a game that oozes a particular style, look no further than Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Despite being a clear facsimile to Jet Set Radio, Team Reptile did an incredible job matching the JSR look and adding their artistic chops to give it their own identity. I particularly enjoyed the numerous graffiti arts and the soundtrack is equally as groovy and impactful as JSR. I also liked the option to play the game on a skateboard or bike instead of being on rollerblades at any time. But boy the game’s story and mission structure almost deflates all the good in the presentation department. The story just isn’t interesting throughout along with the rinse-lather-repeat of the dull missions that runs along with it. While there are opportunities to free roam the areas at your leisure, it’s really annoying to deal with the cops constantly after just spray painting a few places. The gameplay is sufficient with the characters controlling pretty smooth and tight with a simplified trick system. While I don’t hate BSR’s graffiti system, it becomes sloppy especially if there’s a specific graffiti art you want to paint. I did not enjoy playing through BSR’s combat sections.
In the end, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk ended up being a frustrating experience. I adore the effort and admiration put into the presentation but major missteps in the storytelling, mission content and structure, and certain gameplay choices dampened what I hoped would be an excellent JSR clone. It’s definitely a game to check out if it was offered as a Game Pass/PS-Plus game but wouldn’t recommend purchasing for those who are curious.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line

#09 (Played on Switch)
Square Enix could have taken the easy way out with this release as a repackaging of the two 3DS games, but they made some smart decisions to make Final Bar Line fresh and distinct from the Curtain Call games. All of the cute presentation and charm remains intact and the immediately includes an enormous library that covers all the mainline and some side titles of the Final Fantasy franchise. The main draw is the newer note charts inspired from the Carnival arcade version with simultaneous buttons and tricky charting that’ll give previous fans something new to chew into. While the game doesn’t delve too deep into each game’s soundtrack and fans may complain why certain songs are missing from certain FFs, it doesn’t diminish Final Bar Line’s strengths of delivering an fun, challenging, and massive rhythm game package.
The two areas that make Final Bar Line a fresh take from the Curtain Call games are its new note charts and series quest mode. The newer charts include double taps and double arrow inputs, notes with a simultaneous tap and arrow input, and holds where taps and arrows are thrown in and other holds are timed in and out of it. It took me a while to get used to the newer notes and patterns but with time, they were easier to execute. Final Bar Fine’s Series Quest mode includes a bonus challenge for players to pursue and acts as a summary journey of each Final Fantasy game featured. It’s a neat touch though it may disappoint folks who were looking for more FF experience tied in with the rhythm gameplay.
There were other subtle changes made in Final Bar Line from Curtain Call that I felt didn’t make too much of a difference in my enjoyment, such as the mechanic changes in journey songs and the more defined roles for the large FF character roster. Final Bar Line isn’t a game that’s going to provide the WOW factor that other games may offer, but it’ll provide something for FF and non-FF/rhythm game fans to dive into. The game exceeded my expectations by providing something more than just a Curtain Call repackaging. It’s an engaging rhythm game with tons of songs that’ll easily rack up the hours if you can get into its hooks.
Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising

#08 (Played on PC Steam)
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising release is reminiscent of the old school fighting game release where an updated version was released separately. It’s hard to excuse needing a separate release for an update in the current video game landscape where updates are constantly patched on. Luckily, Cygames and Arc Systems Works didn’t rest on their laurels and made some meaningful additions and adjustments along with making the game free-to-play for anyone to check it out. It would’ve been cool to have an update like this work a la Cyberpunk’s Phantom Liberty so that it all works under one hood, but there’s enough meat and changes in Rising that justifies its own release from the original.
The main reason why a new release was needed for GBFV was the inclusion of rollback netcode. It’s reported that it’s extremely tough to reprogram an existing game that’s built online with delay based to rollback based and that it’s easier to build a new game with rollback built on that instead. If all Rising got was rollback, it would be welcome though reception would likely be cool if that was the only change it got. Thankfully Rising got a lot done on top of the original to basically make the original almost obsolete. There’s new characters added (with more on the way via DLC), increased uses of meter, new combat mechanics added, and a Fall Guys like mini-game along with some nice subtle quality of life additions such as frame data and more tutorials and guides included in the game’s training mode. There are some misses with Rising with the lack of internet connection indicator (wifi vs. ethernet) and the story mode largely remaining the same from the original.
In the end, GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rising’s fighting retains its excellent fighting gameplay that was already laid in the original and only got better with the new mechanics and expanded character cast to give the game more action and another layer of strategy. Having it Free-to-Play is another smart choice for those wary of wanting to double purchase a game they previously paid for, albeit with a limited rotating cast of characters to play online with. GBFVR may not grab the numbers and headlines compared to the heavy hitters of Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rising was the fighting game that I easily connected with the most.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder

#07 (Played on Switch)
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is that game where I enjoyed playing and had no real fundamental or operational issues with what it offered, yet I still felt a bit of wanting more out of it. Wonder’s core gameplay remains a blast to play with the level design, neatly designed badges and power-up items that makes most stages fun to play at your own style and pace. I was having a breeze playing through the levels, finding secrets, figuring out how to complete all the stage’s checklists sans the secret world stages. While I felt very satisfied with what I played of Wonder to date, the Wonder Flower stage transitions and replaying stages to complete the checklists lacked the special punch that I felt playing other Mario games.
Mario Wonder easily executes on its core platforming gameplay, especially over the oddity of the New Super Mario Bros. games. Controlling the character, running and jumping are smooth and tight where it both makes getting through a level for the first time a breeze and providing a good challenge on tougher sequences and stages. The Wonder Flower stage transitions were wonderful in multiple facets that it not only adds an additional sequence to every stage and boldly adding a psychedelic bent that’s cohesive and tasteful with the bright, clean Wonder presentation. I loved playing through the game, enjoyed what each Wonder Flower transition would entail, and went back enough to 100% the main world stage checklists, but none of it made me want to gush over what Wonder is doing.
There’s not much to complain about Wonder’s total game package. I agree with the complaints about the main Mario characters not having the same assists that the Yoshis and Nabbit have in terms of having younger players enjoy the games with those characters. Otherwise the game functions with no game breaking bugs, the presentation is great and the gameplay is sharp. I hate to leave Wonder as another excellent 2D Mario platformer to play, but that’s my final judgment on it. It’s great and fun, simple as that! I just wish I resonated more with it.
Super Mario RPG

#06 (Played on Switch)
This release is a rare instance of having played the original version and curious to see what the Remake does to it. Luckily outside of the obvious Remake overhauls, the breeziness, presentation, and charm that made the original great remains intact here. There’s some neat quality of life additions that are nice for both who previously played and newcomers alike alongside new battle gameplay mechanics and additional post-game content to give it a bit more value than just a straight up one-for-one content that’s just being remade. Despite the release being mainly the same, the fact that it’s out of whatever hell to be released on a modern platform and still delivers the same awesome experience goes to show how strong and revered Super Mario RPG is.
One of Mario RPG’s strengths is streamlining the Japanese RPG experience into a breezy, concise journey that doesn’t waste anyone’s time with grinding and backtracking. You start up and just go where you want to do and do what you want to do. The main story beats are straight to the point and never need too much set up or include silly missions midway through to fill in more story or dialogue. The battle system also follows the streamlining formula with four basic functions, simple prompts, and normal battles taking merely seconds and boss bottles not taking over twenty minutes to grind through to triumph. The quality of life additions such as fast travel and showing prompts of when to hit the button to strengthen an attack and to block an enemy attack are nice. The new triple attack mechanic is nice but isn’t a quality addition to a game that’s already pretty easy to play.
I’m not the biggest fan of the Remake’s graphic overhaul compared and font choice to the original SNES pixel art and I wish there was a toggle to flip between the two versions, but that’s a personal nitpick that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of playing through Mario RPG again. The newly arranged soundtrack from original composer Yoko Shimomura still rocks, adding a bit more lavish yet still retaining the original’s amazing composition. Super Mario RPG Remake may not be my ideal version of getting this game out in the open, but I’m glad to report the game retains its charm and brilliance and that it’s finally out there for others to experience after 27 years.
Hi-Fi Rush

#05 (Initially played on PC Game Pass)
On paper, Hi-Fi Rush’s take on the character action game of adding a musical rhythm mechanic on its combat gameplay and comic book cel-shaded look was destined for a game to be out and forgotten. Credit to Tango Gameworks for hunkering down and delivering their scope of this game to its full potential. I came away surprised at how well everything the game delivered: excellent gameplay in tune with the rhythm, great presentation all around, fun cast of characters with a decent story, and the story can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. In spite of a few personal quips, I was quickly amazed at how much I enjoyed rocking with the game filled with so much personality that was equally fun to experience and play.
Hi-Fi Rush pops in the presentation department. The cel-shaded art is striking and clean throughout, both in the game’s various area environments down to the character designs. I enjoyed the small touches in the stage and with the characters and enemies that their actions are always tied to the 4/4 beat. Tango could’ve delivered a standard action gameplay experience and I likely would’ve still enjoyed it with the presentation bursting with so much personality. Instead, they flexed their creative muscles by having the combat all tied in with the beat. Thankfully you don’t need to be musically inclined to play through this game as you can still attack freely without any repercussions. There are incentives to attacking and defending on the beat and it gives players who are into the intricate depths of character action games something to learn and strive for as a neat challenge. My only major complaint is that toward the final third of the game, the numerous enemy hordes and boss battles became tough to deal with so many attacks and bodies to be mindful of. The only minor complaint I’ll levy on this game is that Tango laid it thick with their writing and portrayal of Chai, but I understood it came with the territory with his dialogue with the other characters and they were able to clean him up by the end.
Even with that tough stretch where I ended up having to replay portions and the final boss fight numerous times, I still enjoyed clawing my way through the game. There were secrets that I missed and additional content added after the fact that I’m interested to delve into if I find the time and in the mood to return to. Nonetheless, the mixture of the neat combat concept, great cast of characters, a decent story, that consistently looks and sounds great, and is a POLISHED product with no severe bugs to report results in a game that’ll I definitely hark for years to come.
Metroid Prime

#04 (via Remastered version played on Switch)
Metroid Prime Remastered is a prime example that you can still develop an excellent search-action formula game in a 3D space, first-person perspective. The highest achievement of the Remastered release is remapping the controls to modern standards that help make Prime’s movement and combat easier and more exciting to play compared to how it was engineered back for the Gamecube. Prime still retains the highs and lows of the Metroid trappings, yet the adventure feels satisfying to play through for the most part. This release shows that not all classics require a full scale reboot. Instead, just an important tune up and along with slight visual touch ups is all that’s needed as the game already speaks for itself.
It’s amazing how well Prime maintains the classic Metroid gameplay in a first-person, 3D world from its 2D side scrolling origins. The planet contains five areas of distinct characteristics of setting, enemies, platforming puzzles, and secrets that are well designed and take advantage of what they can design in a 3D environment. I love how the interactivity with the same environments increases as the player acquires new suit power-ups with ball boosts, grappling hooks, etc. The combat is solid and most boss battles have unique methods and patterns to learn and exploit. Scanning is oddly a satisfying endeavor and has some gameplay uses in activating doors and platforms along with intel on how to defeat enemies and bosses aside from reading the game’s lore. Some of the franchise trappings dampened my enjoyment a bit with the backtracking to get to the game’s final act, the constant enemy respawns, and viewing the map to try to navigate where to go.
In spite of the minimal altercations worked into this version outside of the remapped movement control scheme, Metroid Prime retains all the fun of the genre it pioneered and is named after. All of the pieces synergize well with each with new power-ups opening up new territory in often explored areas many hours in and does enough to overcome my personal complaints to still deliver an exciting adventure.
Resident Evil 4

#03 (Played on PC Steam)
Capcom continues to churn out the remake machine for its storied Resident Evil franchise and so far they continue to produce great projects with their projects thus far. The RE remake presentation is still strong though feeling a bit stale after seeing it done twice over, it’s still a clean UI that’s pleasing to see and navigate. The hordes of actions are always frantic and tense as you’ll be running around, parrying, and utilizing whichever weapons in your arsenal would best tackle the situations. While the game does take a good amount of time to finish, there’s rarely any instances where the game has included any glut to prevent it from feeling the game is stretching itself out for unnecessary content. All in all, RE4 Remake is an excellent product that delivers what everyone expects.
Having never played the original RE4, I came into the Remake relatively fresh outside of already knowing a few plot points through streams. RE4 leans heavy into the action and makes that message clear during the village skirmish at the start of the game. That action whenever it sprouts up never lets up, which prompts the player to be quick with their actions and decision making. I enjoyed having to be quick on what weapons to constantly flip back and forth to deal with the situation at hand. The puzzles are designed well, easy to figure out, and provide a nice brief respite to the relentless action. The controls feel pretty tight and responsive, which is important in this game where speed is of the essence during combat. The game throws plenty of side quests that are fun to pursue along with a variety of weapons to choose to carry within your briefcase. There’s a good amount of common enemy variety and each chapter has their own area which makes navigation feel fresh even if it’s linear.
RE 4 Remake delivers an excellent product providing what it’s set to deliver, an all out horror action spectacle. However, it is just that. I admire the high quality of work that’s presented, but it doesn’t do anything above and beyond to give it the WOW factor that sets itself apart from other games of high caliber. There wasn’t anything wrong that I could largely fault the game that I would highlight. My few complaints are the different highlights and layering when viewing the map and the boss fights being hard to get the camera to see with how aggressive and frantic they are. The story is adequate, it’s nothing to write home about but does enough to carry the game through its paces.
I liken RE 4 Remake to Terminator 2. It’s your all thrills no frills action flick that gives you what you want. It’s a really well done one at that. I definitely enjoyed my time playing through the game during a really tough period of my life. It just didn’t have that something to stamp a significant lasting impression that my favorite games of all time does. Nonetheless, this game is no slouch and folks who just want to shoot a bunch of zombies will find their plates full here.
F-Zero 99

#02 (Played on Switch)
Who knew making an old SNES racing game into a battle royale would be my most played game of the year? I’m a big fan of the F-Zero franchise and the first game released on the SNES was one of the first video games I ever played in my life. I was intrigued when Nintendo announced doing a 99 on that version of the game. Just like the other 99 games, having other human competitors to play against in a classic game adds another element of learning and strategy that will provide the extra juice that some may get out of these games. Not only did I get that extra jolt of excitement of playing SNES F-Zero against numerous other humans, it became my go chill out game since it’s release. That alone is why I ranked F-Zero 99 so high on my GOTY 2023 list.
What made F-Zero 99 resonate with me so much is that it feels like playing an arcade racer with an online multiplayer aspect attached. F-Zero already felt great to play on its own with each car having their own unique characteristics with well designed tracks of varying difficulty and ways to attack. The 99 developers wisely tweaked the SNES formula to try to give the four vehicles and players an equal chance to win at any track. The additions of specialized funneled starts of the race, boosts from lap one on ward, the skytrail, the spin for offensive and defensive purposes, extended and refilling of the health bar depending on the type of KOs were all well thought of to keep the competition fast and tight throughout the four laps. There’s also a limited scope of customization based on meeting certain game milestones that allows players to change the look of the car and customize their player card that adds a small nice touch.
What prevents F-Zero 99 being an excellent package is the way they handle the rotating modes and what courses are available to race on per mode. Outside of the main 99 mode which is available at all times, the secondary modes currently run are a mixed bag. The Grand Prixs are the highlight as you race through the five courses set from the SNES and it’s a race for survival as each race the field trims from 99 down to 20 at the last course. There’s also a Mini Prix where 99 players race through three randomly selected courses that’s equally as exciting. The other modes end up being lame: Team Battle is nice to play for a few times but becomes instantly dull as it’s only one team versus another while the recently added Classic mode isn’t quite the one-to-one copy of the SNES and is limited to 20 racers. The splitting of courses between 99 and Pro Courses is frustrating as 8 courses are assigned to 99, 4 are tied to Pro Courses, and the 3 ending courses of each league are regulated to Grand Prix mode only. It would be nice if they were able to reorganize the modes and course rotation to have all 15 courses available to play, we’ll see if a possible future update makes that possible or not.
In the end, F-Zero 99 still won me over in being that game where I can jump in a race to pass the time. It’s one of those easy to learn, hard to master games that makes it easy to sink in minutes at a time. Each race provides their own set of challenges as you’ll never know what type of competition you’ll face. While I wish the modes were better fleshed out and the player base dwindling where bots are filling out the rest of the field, I still can’t get enough of just getting in a few races here and there and see where I end up.
Alan Wake II

#01 (Played on PS5)
You son of a gun Remedy. The different methods on how they wanted to express and unveil Alan Wake II’s story is something to admire. Their craft of mixing in certain gameplay elements and blending between game graphics and FMV to deliver their storytelling was consistently mesmerizing to view. The story and characters are no slouch as they never hang onto a thread longer than it needs to be and immediately make their marks whenever they appear. The combat and certain gameplay items don’t quite match the high marks AWII attains elsewhere, but they are solid enough to not hamper the experience. I had fun playing through all of the games that made my GOTY list. Remedy's creativity on what you can produce in a video made it an easy choice for me to pencil in AWII as my number one game this year.
Alan Wake II bombards you in its visual and auditory presentation that while it can be overwhelming for some, it perfectly hits for me in conjunction with the horror story it's telling. From the drudgery Pacific Northwest setting to the carbon copy of New York City’s urban architecture, there’s always something to look out for in the cracks in both settings. The seamless transitions and interactivity between gaming and FMV visuals are exceptionally done. While sound isn’t always at the forefront, it still strikes through and makes its mark from the ALAN WAKE moans from the shadow enemies to the bombastic We Sing segments and the little ticks in between. The dialogue is top notch and always pleasant to listen to with each voice actor providing excellent performances that tops off Remedy’s excellent production work.
I’m glad Alan Wake II excels in so many fronts as the gameplay leaves a bit to be desired. The change from an action oriented to a slower, RE2-esque combat is a nice change of pace though the execution falls flat. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I had issues switching back and forth between equipping and employing weapons from inventory back to gameplay and felt the dodge mechanic doesn’t quite work out as intended and I felt the boss battles toward the end of the game were a pain to get through. Luckily combat isn’t a huge component to the game. The checkpoints are frustratingly few and far between and the lack of any fast travel makes any backtracking a slog. I do admire the neat small gameplay touches and presentation flairs from Saga’s Mind Place and Alan’s Dark Place.
It’s a marvel that such a game exists, a game that defies what a video game can and should be. Alan Wake II’s TV/movie-esque presentation with impressive visual interplay between game and FMV, excellent performances with mo-cap and voice actors and great sound engineering from the effects to the song choices. The focus on the characters and storytelling with combat sprinkled around here and there is a great choice that plays to Remedy’s creative strengths. In a world where big budgeted games are mostly playing it safe, Alan Wake II takes a big chance on itself and to me, it paid off really well.