Top 5 games (that I played) of 2023

This year was a wild one for me. And you might be thinking, “Pff, yeah man SO MANY good games came out!! What a wild ride!” And I would agree with you on that 1,000%, but I ain’t really talkin’ games (yet).

Basically every year I’ve recorded my thoughts about games I’ve played (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), I have talked about how I just don’t have enough time to game anymore mannn. Which I recognize is a standard complaint of many of my Adult Gamer Peers. However, this year I had a lot more going on than the last couple, and therefore alongside a lack of time came significantly decreased headspace for games in general.

It continually made me sad to think that I was willingly putting my hobby I love on the backburner, but that’s life sometimes baybee. 😔

And it’s not so bad! Aside from playing games, I got to:

• Go to 3 countries on 3 continents other than my own. Technically 4 continents if you let me count the Portuguese island of Madeira, which is politically Europe, but geographically Africa, and 100% worth a trip for the bananas alone. Not kidding.
• Find out with my wife that we’re expecting a baby in spring 2024…!
• Pursue some professional development to hopefully propel me into the kind of career I want to have in the future. Maybe even like, in video games? *Tries not to think about the endless devastation in the industry that 2023 wrought*
• Have a social life! Friends are important, y’all.

So yeah, pretty big year for me. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish, even if a lot of it felt like treading deep water while I was in the midst of it.

On the other hand, gaming. Which I thought a lot more about than actually did. Part of how I kept games on the brain despite not playing as much of them myself were all the game-adjacent things I got into throughout the year.

My Top 5 Game-Adjacent Things of 2023

Psych Odyssey

Holy crap you guys what a THING this is. And by thing I mean the most enthralling docuseries since Hades: Developing Hell for me personally. And may be the best I’ve ever seen period. Watch the trailer and tell me you don’t want to watch or rewatch it right now. I’ll wait.

Okay, now that you’ve watched that (you did, right?), you can see it’s about the development of Psychonauts 2 from start to finish. And boy what a journey it is. It’s a massive achievement in game development transparency. I hope more game studios take time and effort to document their process like Double Fine and 2 Player Productions did. From the first I heard about it, it sounded like a herculean effort and all while I watched I couldn't help but feel so lucky to witness something that felt so honest and sincere.

Oh yeah, did I mention I’ve only ever played 30 minutes of Psychonauts and haven’t even started Psychonauts 2? This series is so good you don’t have to know ANYTHING about the games to enjoy it! Insane!

Noclip documentaries and podcast

I love everything Noclip does. As a patron of theirs since 2018, I’m a natural mark for those kids over there, brother. The Vampire Survivors documentary is easily my favorite of theirs from the year, but I also loved their stuff on Noclip Crew, which is more laidback and scattershot, but I love seeing the unexpected show up there. And let’s not forget the best podcast in gaming, the Noclip Podcast! You HEARD ME. Come for the chill, but focused atmosphere and stay for the out-of-left-field indie game recs like Mosa Lina. Shout out to my boy Jesse Guarascia who had a hand in most of my favorite stuff from them this year!

Playing games with my wife

Over the years, I've regularly played some form of Mario Kart or Jackbox with my wife, but this was really the first time that we earnestly attempted to play anything else together. And what did she decide on first? The Last of Us. Coming from someone who’s never so much as touched a third person action game to wanting to complete this one really pumped me up. Of course this was brought on by the phenomenal HBO show, which we also enjoyed together immensely. We also started playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which weirdly also started us on a pattern of games set in a post-apocalypse? Guess we have plenty to choose from!

Into the Aether podcast

Speaking of great video game podcasts, this one is it, dude. I was introduced to it by one of my good friends, and even though I don’t really have any more bandwidth for podcasts, much less video game-related pods, I gave ‘em a spin. And I LOVED it starting with the first episode I listened to all the way through: their Animal Crossing: New Leaf bonus cast. This episode was so good it got me to subscribe, download a ton more episodes, and start playing New Leaf again myself. Remarkable stuff. I will definitely be tuning in for the foreseeable future and checking out the huge bank of episodes I have to catch up on.

Retro game collecting

This is last on the list for a reason. In fact, I’m a little mad at myself for even rekindling my love for physical games. Mostly because people are starting to assign higher value to things I grew up with to the point of absurdity in some cases–an inevitability that I am unable to reconcile just yet. I am just not the “collector” type, generally. I used to collect stuff when I was a kid until I came to the conclusion that, for me, it’s just stuff taking up space. I prefer things being more curated and, well, digital. However, I have a soft spot for GameCube, Wii, and Game Boy stuff, so I’ve decided to try my hand at finding good deals on the things I would cherish most and make the Little Kid me proud for having on-hand as an adult. So far I've only bought back a couple games from a friend I sold to a couple years ago and I've been gifted some killer titles like The Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition, Metroid Prime, No More Heroes 2, and Okamiden. All of which I still need to play! Exciting!

But seriously, overall? Cannot recommend. Don’t do this to yourself. Not worth it unless you’re an absolute sap like me.

Games I really wish I had more time with/for this year

Now, before I get on with my top 5 games (that I played) in 2023, I want to shout out the games that easily could have made it to the top if I either spent more time with them or played them period.

Dredge

This is a great game. As you’ll hear from many who’ve played it, it has a super strong gameplay loop. And I’m certainly an apologist for the fishing minigames trope, so a whole, super unique game centered on fishing is made for me. However, I just didn’t go back to it as much as I thought I would, but do plan to play more of it this coming year.

Chants of Senaar

I only played the demo for this game, but I could tell immediately that the language-learning aspect of it was super intriguing and mind-bending for me, a monoglot. I spent some time learning Portuguese this year, so I employed similar neural pathways and immediately had fun learning the first few phrases in the game. Would love to finish this game someday.

Return of the Obra Dinn

I bought this game on sale for $10 which felt like a steal given the consistently high praise it’s received over the 5 years since its release. It is a delight for the eyes and the brain, but I put it down and haven’t picked it back up due to time constraints, but I can assure you I’ll bulldoze through the rest of this game the moment I pick it back up. Even if that means hitting my head against the wall a few times while I try to sort out some of the mysteries.

Alan Wake II

I did not play this game. I do not know if I will ever actually play it, in fact. For I am a scaredy cat who does not know if I will ever let myself try to play this. I fell in love with Control and desperately want to see more of that universe as Alan Wake 2 promises to deliver, but it also promises more scares from what I understand. Control had an overwhelming sense of dread, which I can actually handle, but jump scares and true horror are typically where I draw the line. Just not for me. So I’ll be considering how to consume this game, which ultimately may be me watching a long play of this game so I can pause or skip anything that makes me uncomfortable and just enjoy the parts that I’ve heard make this game so special.

Roundup of every 2023 release I wish I could have played if I had infinite time

Baldur’s Gate 3, Dave the Diver, WarioWare: Move It!, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Pikmin 4, Sea of Stars, The Finals, Jusant, Spider-Man 2 (gotta play the others first tho!), Pizza Tower, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Hi-Fi Rush, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk… and probably a lot more I’m just not thinking of right now or have no idea about!

Now, onto the main event.

5. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

Wow! This is great! I mean, I loved Smooth Moves for the Wii, which was basically my only exposure to this franchise before going all the way back to the beginning with this one. It's a fantastic and weird concept from Nintendo and I love the spirit of it. So much so that I’ve unofficially made it a goal to collect all the WarioWare games in their physical forms! Especially because I’ve learned some require the original hardware (like WarioWare: Touched! or WarioWare: Twisted!) to play them properly. Plus Mega Microgames has a game where you spray a "pink flower" with a bidet nozzle. Tell me that isn't just PEAK gaming. Go ahead. Try.

I’m so glad this game was put in front of me via the Nintendo Switch Online’s new Game Boy Advance offerings. Speaking of which… I’m gonna take the rest of this spot on my list to talk about how much I loved the premiere of Nintendo Switch Online's Game Boy and Game Boy Advance channels. As a kid who grew up adoring both of these handheld systems, I only ever had a handful of games for each at home and knew very little about all the other games that came out like I do now. It was a true delight for me to have a ton of beloved titles at my fingertips officially.

I played a little of a lot of titles within a short period of time and was just so taken with the color shading and emulation of the original hardware’s screens you can do on each system channel. I played some of The Minish Cap, Mario Kart: Super Circuit (terrible MK game, but it was ON THE GAMEBOY OKAY. Still cool.), Kuru Kuru Kururin, and most significantly The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. I started playing this with a friend who has played it before simultaneously and had a blast sharing my experience with him. What a cool game! I definitely plan to dig into a few more of these titles and it’s awesome to finally have them available officially and more accessible (for those that can pay a subscription fee).

4. Cocoon

This game looked sick from the get-go and is sick. I thoroughly enjoyed carrying orbs to my other orbs and going into the next orb all while combining orbs to do some mind-melting orb juggling that made me feel like I was either tripping over the solution to every puzzle or was simply just too dang good at this game. This game is confusing to explain and is far better experienced, but I loved it from start to finish. One of the few games that I felt truly driven to complete in 2023 and I am glad I did.

The setting of the game was enough for me to be bought in on sight, cause I love ruminating on the worlds inside our world that make the world go ‘round, ya know? All the microbiomes inside microhabitats inside regular habitats inside this great big ole sphere called The Earth. Cocoon really taps into that vibe in a cool way that I love thinking about.

3. Venba

I love cooking. I love it more than video games. I believe, like many, that cooking and eating with others is one of the most human things there is. Food carries meaning and stories that are immeasurably valuable. These same sentiments are communicated through both Venba’s touching story and its gameplay.

A large portion of the game is visual novel-style, reading character dialogue and making micro-decisions that don’t impact the story. But the most engaging gameplay comes in the form of cooking minigames a la Cooking Mama that walk you through various recipes from the characters’ family recipe book as they struggle to maintain their Indian identity in Canada. The story is expertly crafted, just like the many recipes you follow to create beautiful dishes with or for your family in one way or another. I don’t really want to say anything more about the game, as it’s worth seeing yourself if you haven’t. But I will say I cried twice. And it’s only an hour long. Go make some tear-salted biryani already.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

For me, Breath of the Wild started with a bang and just kept on going, and going, and going with surprises, engaging combat, and incredibly fun exploration. Tears of the Kingdom delivers all those things to you again, just with less surprises if you’ve already played the first game. So, BotW 2.0 = great game, right? Yes! Absolutely. But it’s all the new stuff they added that made me fall so hard (😏) for this game right off the bat. Launching into the sky or plunging into the depths was immediately invigorating. All the new powers are mind-bending and made me feel like I could accomplish anything I wanted to do and more.

Because I knew the drill, when I started the game I decided to take the path I wanted to most rather than listening to the NPCs tell me to go to the Hebra region, so I went straight to the Gerudo desert. All throughout my time in the desert I was just eating this game up. Exploration felt novel with each new cave system discovery and my first encounter with the mega-intimidating world boss Gleeok in Gerudo Canyon. The Lightning Temple was very fun and had so much more atmosphere compared to the previous game’s temple substitutions. I went back to the central town outside Hyrule Castle and fought my way through the underground cave system that took me all the way to the depths under the castle itself, which was riveting! And let’s not forget the sky islands! Incredibly cool way to kick off the game.

The ways in which they altered the landscape from BotW to TotK are interesting and groundbreaking (😏😏). However, after my time in Gerudo, things started taking a turn for the monotonous. Having completed most quests I could in the region, I started making my way to the next region, stopping to do some great quests along the way–here’s to my second favorite new character of 2023, Penn!

CRITICISM ALERT: As I continued clearing shrines and adding regions to my map via the scattered towers and lightroots, I started to burn out on the game. Despite how genuinely shocked and enamored I was with them at first, the depths sorta became a joke to me. So much wasted potential. To me, there was way too much empty open space where they could've made a handful or two of bespoke, well-designed zones underground and I bet people would have eaten it up! Despite the more engaging (but flawed) plot, some great new quests, and fun use cases for the new abilities, I found myself getting fed up with doing many of the same exact tasks I’d done in the previous title. And on the same map as well, albeit with many changes.

With 3 temples down, I took an intentional break from the game when I realized I was no longer super looking forward to playing it and that was a BUMMER. And that break has persisted until today. I know I will finish it, but I'll prolly just follow the primary quest and wrap it up. I still want to see what the rest of the main content has to offer! I think there is still a lot of joy to be had with the game, but my feeling is that if it were like 50% smaller it would be a massive improvement while still providing a large enough open world experience. And the storytelling was a huge mixed bag for me. Like, you're really gonna tell me there's ANoThEr secret, even ancient-er civilization who made robots even longer ago?????? Oy. CRITIQUE END

But, the characters and the way they interact are incredibly solid and charming in the best Zelda-y ways. I love hanging out with all of them. This was the game I spent the most time with by far at over 100 hours and for plenty of good reasons. I will eventually make even more time for it, which is more than I can say for most games I’ve ever played. Despite this game being too much in some ways, the Zelda seal of quality continues.

1. Super Mario RPG

This surprised me, even though it probably shouldn’t have. I’ve known forever that the original Super Mario RPG for the SNES was a bonafide classic and figured I’d at least enjoy it, but I loved every bit about this game from start to finish. This game is all meat! With fat! But like, the really good, rendered fat on the side of a steak that just melts in your mouth, ya know? What I mean to say is that the gamey part of the game (combat mechanics, straightforward story with genuinely funny writing, and classic, but simple JRPG mechanics) is the near-flawless meat and the updated, but true-to-form visuals and reorchestrated tunes are the delicious fat that complete the package.

My only real exposure to the Mario RPG lineage of games prior to this was Superstar Saga for the GBA, which remains my favorite and one of my all-timers. But playing this made me realize that I’ve been sleeping on a dependably great franchise for far too long. And I’m more energized to play the likes of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, which I happen to own on GameCube!

I’ve already mentioned the phenomenal music, but please do yourself a favor and go listen to the music from Booster Tower THIS. INSTANT. I promise you won’t regret it. Something about how groovy that music is juxtaposed with the character of Booster himself brought me a megaton of joy. Best part of the game for me by far. He's easily my character of the year. What a wackjob, proto-Wario-lookin’ ass. I love him.

Genuinely, I feel a drive to make a Booster FMV like, yesterday and I've never even done that before.

Final note: As a soon-to-be dad, I really connected with this lil moment I encountered on the left. Not important to the silly story, the mechanics, or anything else. Just a beautiful moment I shared with this fake character’s made up wish on Star Road. 🥺

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BONUS: 2024, what’s in store?

I’ve seldom given myself formal goals or resolutions when it comes to the games I play, but I have also come to the realization that informally/subconsciously, I have had a primary goal every year in recent history: play as many new games as possible. Pretty normal, right? New, quality games are coming at us faster than ever, with 2023 being a standout year in that respect.

It’s only natural that we won’t play tons of games in the year they release. But something I’ve found frustrating as the new years roll over is that I tend to prioritize new games vs better games each time I sit down to game. Strictly because a game is new, I will choose to play it over something that I’ve got in my backlog that has the potential to be even more fun for me.

This is a direct result of my own mindset and the culture of games coverage I willingly submerge myself in. And in many ways, I enjoy it! It’s fun to feel part of the culture of cutting edge games and support game makers I love. It feels incredible to get hyped with my friends about new releases, since it’s guaranteed that we’re both seeing it for the first time and we can share our first impressions that are mostly, if not fully unmuddied from public opinion. It's a genuine connection over a mutual interest.

However, in 2024 I’ve decided to change it up. In an attempt to reclaim my own sense of direction and joy for games, I’m planning not to spend a penny on 2024 releases or any other games.* I want to stick to my guns on this for 3 primary reasons:

1. Having a kid. I will have less time (and money) as I learn how to be a loving dad and remain a loving and supportive partner to my wife. ♥️
2. The Backlog. With so many great games every year, I’ve got a backlog of titles that I would love to just chip through this year. And a few that were added to my library at the very end of 2023. I’ve easily got enough games to last me years without buying anything new. And I want to allow space to re-play a few titles like I did with New Leaf in 2023–something I rarely do.
3. I want to read more books! My wife is an avid reader and has been encouraging me to get back into reading, which I’ve done lately. I really like having it as an alternative to screen-based media.

Another way I see this as a huge perk for me is that there are a ton of amazing games that I haven’t played that close friends love and I’ve assured them I’ll play “someday.” Just a few Friend Faves I can think of immediately that will take some priority in 2024 are Celeste, Metal Gear Solid, Majora’s Mask, Okami, and God of War (2018). Who knows, those might be my Top 5 for 2024 right there!

Anyway, I don’t usually talk about the next year at the end of these GOTY posts, but 2024 is gonna be way different for me full of unknowns (good and bad, realistically). It’s kind of nice to take charge of my hobby and be intentional in this way. I’ll have the chance to prove to myself that I’m not fully beholden to the hype cycle of modern video game marketing and allow myself time to reassess what games I choose to spend my time with and why. I’ll surely feel the FOMO to some degree, but I’ll have my own goals for the year in gaming that I've deemed more valuable.

So, no matter what, I can practically guarantee my 2024 GOTY list is gonna look absolutely nothing like other lists getting published, and that makes me kinda excited. Happy New Year everyone. May we all enjoy our gaming.

*Except Hades II early access. Nothing will stop me from getting my hands on that for obvious reasons if you know me. And retro games at the right price for bad/dumb/not smart reasons stated above.