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2023 GOTY List

2023 was a wild year for the video game industry. While the year marked massive releases, one after another, the human cost of game development felt like the more substantial and more pressing storyline. We saw dozens of game studios shuttering, and the frequency of layoffs was unprecedented. If anyone impacted by these closings and redundancy orders is reading this, know that you deserve so much better. Your passion for making new and empowering experiences should not come at the cost of your physical and mental health, and you deserve to work in an industry that does not force you into a parasitic and dysfunctional relationship. May the calls for unionization and worker empowerment continue into 2024 so we may have a year as strong as 2023 in terms of the quality of video game titles, but with a workforce of people in the industry fully respected and mentally and physically flourishing at every stage of video game development.

List items

  • Paranormasight appears to be nothing more than another exhibition of the visual novel medium honed to its most potent form, with memories of The House in Fata Morgana still fresh. However, Paranormasight knows the importance of making a solid first impression, especially with biases against the visual novel medium usually apt to suggest a lack of interactivity as an impediment to making truly memorable experiences. The VHS-like graphical filter is complimented by cinematic transitional scenes and wide-frame camera angles that make exploring environments incredibly dynamic, lending to the sense of uncovering and interacting with a grim mystery. On top of that, the game features possibly the most potent opening act in any game to grace 2023, with you falling deeper into a sordid adventure of magic, murder, and Japanese folk tales. Discovering what character deaths and mishaps it is willing to turn the odds in your favor is a puzzle that captivates you at every conceivable turn. Some parts of the story are variable, and others are very much not, but you need to find out what major events fall into each category. Does the game possibly "peak" during this opening act? Maybe, but the game forcing you to live with the consequences of your actions during its opening hours is part of what makes it so incredibly special.

  • Occasionally, it is not about a game rocking the boat that catches my attention but one that hones its craft to a science. In Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew's case, it also does not hurt that you can set the boat on fire as you pillage it for loot. As the staff so eloquently explained during the GOTY podcasts, Shadow Gambit's improvements to the tactics formula might not seem revolutionary on paper. Still, in execution, they feel like a complete revelation. A tactics game letting you have "take backsies" seamlessly means you can freely explore your options and alternate outs during its squad-based stealth missions. Compared to previous Mimimi Games titles, the perspective change took some adjusting on my part, but once I adapted, picking off night watch guards as I bobbed and weaved out of their sight cones felt intuitive and rewarding. The apparent tragedy with Shadow Gambit is that it represents the end of an incredible run of strategy games from Mimimi Games as the studio announced its shuttering shortly after its release.

  • Once again, Capcom proves that what was once old can always be reborn into something new. With new characterization that breathes new life into Leon Kennedy, Ashley Graham, and even the goddamn Merchant; the world of Resident Evil 4 is both a trip down memory lane AND a unique experience with plenty of surprises and tricks up its sleeve. I was initially skeptical of the inclusion of new core mechanics like a crafting system or weapon durability, but having now played the game, I realize that these assisted the current team at Capcom in striking a better balance between action combat and survival horror; a balancing act that the original occasionally, but not always, fumbled. The new parry system also leads to fewer frustrating moments where you get pinned into corners and feel like you have no outs, a common issue I had with Resident Evil 4 and 5. From top to bottom, you can more freely enjoy the atmosphere and interspersed character moments without weird gameplay hiccups or interruptions. It also seems entirely unfair to lop in DLC to a game's GOTY case, but Resident Evil 4's Separate Ways DLC is as incredible as the base game as it boils all of its exhilarating highs into a single package but in a bite-sized chunk with none of the lulls.

  • I had a rough go with Baldur's Gate 3 when I first had a crack at it. As someone who played it at launch, the game's third act was a complete and utter mess, with my characters occasionally spawning at my campsite nude or in their underwear, regardless of whether they were in inclement weather. I oscillate on how it railroads you into a few viable choices during its conclusion when, previously, it felt much more open to the player's interpretation. I also don't know how many more of these 50+ hour CRPG ensemble cast epics where every character has a personal trauma that needs uncovering through hours of brownnosing I have in me anymore. Nonetheless, what Baldur's Gate 3 gets right, it gets incredibly right. There is no D&D-like out there with its production values, sense of scale, and narrative ambition. The characters you meet and even add to your party feel entirely genuine and the ways you can react to their traumas and backstories is a wild rollercoaster at times. It also does a masterful job of blending complex D&D into a game that still feels accessible to those with an introductory level of understanding with traditional CRPGs and table-top roleplaying games. It's an incredible intermediate step into a treasure trove of classic titles, and seeing Larian work in their lane but with a budget has sometimes warmed my heart. The sickos that started by making Divine Divinity and Ego Draconis have come a long way. Also, fuck Astarion. I backstabbed that asshole the minute I had a chance, and I don't regret it for a minute.

  • Hi-Fi Rush would stand as my "Best Styyyyyyyyyyyyle" award recipient. As things stand presently, Hi-Fi Rush represents a blending of familiar but welcomed gameplay along a unique world with emotive characters that speak for a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The city you perform stylish tricks and aerial maneuvers is the game's best character in many ways, as it breathes life into every mission and task. The silky smooth controls manage to represent the core heart of the Jet Set Radio series without falling prey to frustrating or clunky arcade-like sensibilities. Its writing also deserves credit for injecting waves of humor to lighten the mood when needed without ever feeling forced or cringey. The levels repeat more often than I liked, and the soundtrack, while popping, recycles what feels like one leitmotif a dozen times regardless of the narrative's ever-evolving stakes. All that aside, it is a visual and mechanical ride worth having and one of the most robust cases for a Game Pass subscription in 2023.

  • Little Goody Two Shoes is a video game with an Achilles heel. One-third of it is a complete pain to play: its puzzle dungeons. Those dungeons represent a throwback to horror visual novels of yesteryear (i.e., Corpse Party and Ao Oni) and sometimes feel downright malicious with their trial-and-error format. Despite that, the game remains a masterclass in art direction, and its sheer volume of visual variety carries the entire experience. The game graces your eyes with anime portraits that pay homage to classic 90s anime like Slayers. It has a smattering of cutscenes that are expressionist storybooks while it directs you into dungeons that utilize claymation. There are even a few musical bits with puppets and marionettes. No game embodies every conceivable branch of the 80s and 90s eras of animation quite like Little Goody Two Shoes. Also, the game is unabashedly gay, with you assisting its female protagonist in pursuing one of three relationships with female acquaintances while ducking suspicion they are guilty of witchery, which they are. Its core mystery is riveting, and when it pulls its many disparate parts together during its conclusion, even if you unlock one of its melancholy ones, it is an absolute tour de force of art direction and design.

  • All hail the video game Comfort Food King of 2023, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line! After Nintendo shuttered the 3DS shop and Square Enix pulled its support for Theatrhythm's mobile port, things were looking grim for those who wanted to go on whimsical adventures with chibi-like representations of their favorite Final Fantasy characters while listening to BANGERS in the series' massive catalog of music. Luckily, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line came to the rescue with what can only be called the definitive Theatrhythm experience and package. The game sports 104 characters, each with their own unique playstyles and abilities, and over 500 songs to explore and hum along to. Having such a diverse assortment of ways you can tackle its songs means that it is a game for Final Fantasy veterans and those who love rhythm games with no love for characters like Cloud Strife or Terra Branford. It's, simply put, a good game. The game also sports characters from Kingdom Hearts and even Nier and feels like a proper celebration of the highlights of Square Enix's long list of new and old gaming classics.

  • Some of you might call me out for slightly undervaluing Remedy Entertainment's latest video game effort. However, for better and worse, Alan Wake II feels like Remedy perfecting its craft and honing it to its most potent form. I know that sounds ripe coming from someone who just praised Shadow Gambit and Mimimi Games for doing exactly that, but with Remedy, they are quickly becoming the Wes Anderson of video games. They are uniquely quirky, commit to a handful of repeating aesthetical choices, and court a mix of arthouse enthusiasts whenever a work of theirs comes out. There's nothing wrong with that, obviously, and Alan Wake II ferries you across the most rewarding series of set pieces from the year. The cat is slightly out of the bag about its best moment and the way that it blurs the lines between its use of FMV, but even if those are spoiled to you, you still need to see the context in which they are used to truly appreciate why the internet wouldn't shut up about them for weeks. The larger-than-life characters you come to expect in any Remedy-based adventure are here as well, but maybe the most fully realized they have ever been. It's wild and wacky, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

  • Hey, the person who sometimes gets on this site to complain about adventure game puzzle design has something nice to say about a modern puzzle-based adventure game! Chants Of Sennaar is one of the most thoughtfully designed games of 2023, with characters speaking in a logographic language and its puzzles requiring you to pick up on subtle context clues in intricately designed environments. No adventure game is free from the common complaint that one or two of its puzzles err towards the "frustrating" label, and Chants Of Sennaar is no different. Nonetheless, with its minimalist art design and stark environmental backdrops, you always feel motivated to leave no stone unturned and largely don't feel frustrated in doing so. The game's evolving conceit, and its storytelling ambitions are also praise-worthy as it accomplishes so much with so little. It is an academic adventure game thanks to its use of language and cipher-based puzzles, but don't let that discourage you. Its world is far more in-depth than it appears from the onset.

  • I'm far from being a fan of the works of from Software. Yet, I cannot help but applaud Lunacid's moxie. The game has a wide assortment of settings that allow you to play it as if you are playing a classic King's Field game on original hardware. Did you want to play a modern reimagining of Fromsoft's pre-Dark Souls RPGs at 15 FPS at the slowest possible turning radius? Then Lunacid is the game for you! The game has had a long development and has been spearheaded by a single person, but 2023 marked its official release, and I cannot help but applaud it for being the best "vibes game" of the year!
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