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Game of the Year 2023
- Thread starter 4-So
- Start date
It really is a lot better than it was judged to be. It's not an all-timer but it's solid.
Okay. With some effort, I was able to remember some games I played this year:
Game of the Year - Super Junkoid
"Trapped in a twisted dream where she is revered as a goddess, Junko must face the horrifying serpent that worships her."
Genuinely excellent Super Metroid hack. As the sequel to 2022's Junkoid, it shares that hack's visual and thematic creativity, as well as its elegant and sensible design (both on a room-by-room and a game-world basis). The fanciful theming and cute protagonist belie a game that is haunting, chilling, and dreamlike. Top marks all around from me.
Best ZZT Game - Chicken Shock
"Alex needs your help getting into his unusually fortified chicken coop. You just need to buy some wire cutters."
The ZZT community's annual "Oktrollberfest" jam had a healthy showing this year, and Chicken Shock here was a surprise hit. While it is nominally a trollgame owing to the jam it was submitted to, in practice it is silly yarn told via the structure of a traditional ZZT adventure game, with a hilariously mean streak throughout. Now, anytime I feel like some basic commodity is stupidly hard to find, I can't help but think of this game.
ROM Hack the I Feel the Most Chuffed to Be in the Credits of - distressCall
After spending hundreds of hours in 2022 building a complete disassembly of Metroid 2, I can't express how nice it feels to see the most idiosyncratic SM hacker of the modern age, moehr, take his skills to another game and produce something with all of his idiosyncrasies intact (warning: very idiosyncratic).
Best Game that I Played for a Week and then Dropped - F-Zero 99
sorry zeldo
Best Old Game I Finally Finished After Years of Dabbling - Super Mario Land 2
While this isn't as dynamic or athletic as any of the home console Marios, it's design sensibilities are smarter than I expected, while the aesthetic remains unmatched in the "mainline" Marioverse (i.e. excluding Yoshi's Island, and pending a playthrough of Wonder).
Best Old Game I Finally Played After Years of Meaning to Do So - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
it's good. idk what else to say
Game of the Year - Super Junkoid
"Trapped in a twisted dream where she is revered as a goddess, Junko must face the horrifying serpent that worships her."
Genuinely excellent Super Metroid hack. As the sequel to 2022's Junkoid, it shares that hack's visual and thematic creativity, as well as its elegant and sensible design (both on a room-by-room and a game-world basis). The fanciful theming and cute protagonist belie a game that is haunting, chilling, and dreamlike. Top marks all around from me.
Best ZZT Game - Chicken Shock
"Alex needs your help getting into his unusually fortified chicken coop. You just need to buy some wire cutters."
The ZZT community's annual "Oktrollberfest" jam had a healthy showing this year, and Chicken Shock here was a surprise hit. While it is nominally a trollgame owing to the jam it was submitted to, in practice it is silly yarn told via the structure of a traditional ZZT adventure game, with a hilariously mean streak throughout. Now, anytime I feel like some basic commodity is stupidly hard to find, I can't help but think of this game.
ROM Hack the I Feel the Most Chuffed to Be in the Credits of - distressCall
After spending hundreds of hours in 2022 building a complete disassembly of Metroid 2, I can't express how nice it feels to see the most idiosyncratic SM hacker of the modern age, moehr, take his skills to another game and produce something with all of his idiosyncrasies intact (warning: very idiosyncratic).
Best Game that I Played for a Week and then Dropped - F-Zero 99
sorry zeldo
Best Old Game I Finally Finished After Years of Dabbling - Super Mario Land 2
While this isn't as dynamic or athletic as any of the home console Marios, it's design sensibilities are smarter than I expected, while the aesthetic remains unmatched in the "mainline" Marioverse (i.e. excluding Yoshi's Island, and pending a playthrough of Wonder).
Best Old Game I Finally Played After Years of Meaning to Do So - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
it's good. idk what else to say
My games of the year: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line and Zelda: Breath of the Wild
..... what do you mean that's the wrong Zelda? I definitely played most of it this year and am... almost done.
On my plate for next year are Mario Wonder and FFXVI. .....and maybe TotK if I get to it.
..... what do you mean that's the wrong Zelda? I definitely played most of it this year and am... almost done.
On my plate for next year are Mario Wonder and FFXVI. .....and maybe TotK if I get to it.
Games I was compelled by or enthused the most over this year. I.E. the "Real Deals."
Pizza Tower - A new Wario Land and contender for one of the best. Total aesthetic delight and innovative in the genre. Fantastic "next step" or reinvention or whatever you want to call it. I played it on my ageing underpowered laptop where it stuttered a bit and unfortunately this is a game where performance impacts the spectacle. Eagerly anticipating a silky smooth console release.
Sackboy - The most corporate game but regardless a pretty good DKC-alike. And the musical stages were great fun. Hard to fault a game that synchronizes a stage to a King Gizz tune.
Theatrythm FBL - Whadda delight, and totally sincere celebration of Final Fantasy. Has that Smash World of Light vibe where each stage is themed appropriately to the song. There's a limited number of assets the game has for its backgrounds and enemies and it uses them creatively to gesture at elements of the original games in a referential or metaphorical way. Makes for great spot-the-reference fun.
Tiers of the Kingdom - Totally compelling for a hearty 35 hours then I burned out hard. It's just too jampacked full of Content to try to swallow at once. I look forward to coming back and finishing off the game piecemeal over a long time.
Battle Network Legacy Collection - What a fantastic compilation of a fascinating and singular style of game. This anthology is neat because it illustrates clearly how Capcom iterated and refined the gameplay design over a short span of years to end up with something nuanced, intricate, and... competitive?! Just wild stuff, and online functionality breathes new vitality into the--it feels insane to write--competitive Mega Man Battle Network esport scene.
Queen's Wish - Not from '23 but I got into it hard this year. I find Spiderwebs to be the most compelling and interesting of WRPGs and they constantly surprise me with the depth and nuance that lie under their simple surface aesthetics. This applies both to their mechanical and narrative aspects. I found myself deeply invested in that type of roleplay WRPGs are noted for: the navigation of shades-of-grey moral scenarios, and I feel like Queen's Wish did it with an elegance that a lot of bigger named games pretend towards but don't often reach.
Sea of Stars - Went into this pretty cynical and came out a true believer. Nails everything: combat, exploration, spectacle, story. Sure why not? Crowns it Chrono Trigger 2.
F-Zero 99 - Never really played any F-Zero before but really got into this one. It went down easy in a just-one-more-race sense and there was a satisfying feeling of accomplishment as I gradually got more skilled at the game. Peak design for one of these big community games IMO. And free too!
Dragon Warrior 7 - The last pure Dragon Quest. Still going on this one. I've sunk some 70 hours into it but you know in this game that's just a slice of the pie. Super compelling revisit though, especially from a 2023 vantage with knowledge of everything that came after.
Mario Wonder - Does that last level redeem all sins, or does it go too far? The GOTYness of this one might hinge on the question.
Dave the Diver - Still working on this one but its a real charmer and I feel deserves a mention on the list. Very surprising game! I won't say more for spoilers but I didn't expect some of the avenues its turned down. It's a game that keeps unfolding.
Pizza Tower - A new Wario Land and contender for one of the best. Total aesthetic delight and innovative in the genre. Fantastic "next step" or reinvention or whatever you want to call it. I played it on my ageing underpowered laptop where it stuttered a bit and unfortunately this is a game where performance impacts the spectacle. Eagerly anticipating a silky smooth console release.
Sackboy - The most corporate game but regardless a pretty good DKC-alike. And the musical stages were great fun. Hard to fault a game that synchronizes a stage to a King Gizz tune.
Theatrythm FBL - Whadda delight, and totally sincere celebration of Final Fantasy. Has that Smash World of Light vibe where each stage is themed appropriately to the song. There's a limited number of assets the game has for its backgrounds and enemies and it uses them creatively to gesture at elements of the original games in a referential or metaphorical way. Makes for great spot-the-reference fun.
Tiers of the Kingdom - Totally compelling for a hearty 35 hours then I burned out hard. It's just too jampacked full of Content to try to swallow at once. I look forward to coming back and finishing off the game piecemeal over a long time.
Battle Network Legacy Collection - What a fantastic compilation of a fascinating and singular style of game. This anthology is neat because it illustrates clearly how Capcom iterated and refined the gameplay design over a short span of years to end up with something nuanced, intricate, and... competitive?! Just wild stuff, and online functionality breathes new vitality into the--it feels insane to write--competitive Mega Man Battle Network esport scene.
Queen's Wish - Not from '23 but I got into it hard this year. I find Spiderwebs to be the most compelling and interesting of WRPGs and they constantly surprise me with the depth and nuance that lie under their simple surface aesthetics. This applies both to their mechanical and narrative aspects. I found myself deeply invested in that type of roleplay WRPGs are noted for: the navigation of shades-of-grey moral scenarios, and I feel like Queen's Wish did it with an elegance that a lot of bigger named games pretend towards but don't often reach.
Sea of Stars - Went into this pretty cynical and came out a true believer. Nails everything: combat, exploration, spectacle, story. Sure why not? Crowns it Chrono Trigger 2.
F-Zero 99 - Never really played any F-Zero before but really got into this one. It went down easy in a just-one-more-race sense and there was a satisfying feeling of accomplishment as I gradually got more skilled at the game. Peak design for one of these big community games IMO. And free too!
Dragon Warrior 7 - The last pure Dragon Quest. Still going on this one. I've sunk some 70 hours into it but you know in this game that's just a slice of the pie. Super compelling revisit though, especially from a 2023 vantage with knowledge of everything that came after.
Mario Wonder - Does that last level redeem all sins, or does it go too far? The GOTYness of this one might hinge on the question.
Dave the Diver - Still working on this one but its a real charmer and I feel deserves a mention on the list. Very surprising game! I won't say more for spoilers but I didn't expect some of the avenues its turned down. It's a game that keeps unfolding.
I don't think it was ever not going to be Alan Wake II for me. I was already very hyped for that game, and it exceeded all my expectations. They got excessive freedom and money to make a sequel that shouldn't have existed and really went for it.
Baulder's Gate 3 is the easy runner up. I spent a lot of time with Tears of the Kingdom, too, which I liked much more than Breath of the Wild, but I still don't like as much as the classic Zelda format. That was always going to be against it, at least for me and my admittedly weird tastes. Alan Wake II beating BG3 probably says a lot about my tastes already.
I don't if The Making of Karateka counts as its a different kind of thing, but it's an honorable mention regardless. Same for Super Mario Wonder, Super Mario RPG, and Spider-Man 2 (which I just wrapped last night). I'm also going to be checking out Venba and Thirsty Suitors soon as well and while not official runners ups, I imagine I'll have a good time with those too.
Baulder's Gate 3 is the easy runner up. I spent a lot of time with Tears of the Kingdom, too, which I liked much more than Breath of the Wild, but I still don't like as much as the classic Zelda format. That was always going to be against it, at least for me and my admittedly weird tastes. Alan Wake II beating BG3 probably says a lot about my tastes already.
I don't if The Making of Karateka counts as its a different kind of thing, but it's an honorable mention regardless. Same for Super Mario Wonder, Super Mario RPG, and Spider-Man 2 (which I just wrapped last night). I'm also going to be checking out Venba and Thirsty Suitors soon as well and while not official runners ups, I imagine I'll have a good time with those too.
Unreservedly including Enjoy the Diner on my list.
ACTUAL BEST GAMES
TEARS OF THE KINGDOM is the obvious super winner supreme. No other game comes close. Absolutely destroys everything else.
BOMB RUSH CYBERFUNK would have been my GOTY if it had come out in any other year than this one. It's a beautiful case of a throwback game perfectly nailing exactly what it's going for. Your continued failure to play it has you added to THE LIST.
GAMES THAT WERE PRETTY GOOD BUT NOT GAME OF THE YEAR
SONIC SUPERSTARS is a very nice Sonic Game! I liked it a lot!
MARIO WONDER is a pretty good Mario Game! I liked it less than I liked Sonic Superstars, because I like Mario Less than Sonic on the whole.
FUCK THESE GAMES LOL
BALDUR'S GATE 3 receives the PERSONA SERIES AWARD for a game you all say is good because ALL OF YOU ARE FUCKING LIARS. Fie upon your dungeons and your dragons and your in-game-engine fucking! Fie I say!
STARFIELD receives the coveted FALLOUT 76 AWARD for it's incredible advancements in the field of LOL EAT SHT TODD HOWARD. There are few things that bring me more joy than watching hapless Bethesda employees haplessly arguing with steam reviewers in the steam review comments. Fuckin beautiful.
HOGWARTS LEGACY receives my highest anti-honor, the LMAO WHAT IDIOT BOUGHT THIS AWARD for bringing our society a quantum leap forward in the field of STUPID JUSTIFICATIONS TO GIVE BIGOTS MONEY. Dipshits around the globe spent months justifying that "they just wanted to support the devs" or "they couldn't ignore an obvious game of the year contender". And then it came out and was just Dark Souls for Mormons. A witless gutless ugly and unfun piece of slop that did nothing but make it's defenders look like stupid assholes, which they were. Fuck Hogwarts Legacy. Fuck the Books it's based on. Fuck the devs that made it. Fuck JKR for inflicting her wretched bigotry upon our world. And fuck anyone stupid enough to buy it because they couldn't live without such important cultural touchstones as "A big school" and "Teens wearing color-coded robes."
TEARS OF THE KINGDOM is the obvious super winner supreme. No other game comes close. Absolutely destroys everything else.
BOMB RUSH CYBERFUNK would have been my GOTY if it had come out in any other year than this one. It's a beautiful case of a throwback game perfectly nailing exactly what it's going for. Your continued failure to play it has you added to THE LIST.
GAMES THAT WERE PRETTY GOOD BUT NOT GAME OF THE YEAR
SONIC SUPERSTARS is a very nice Sonic Game! I liked it a lot!
MARIO WONDER is a pretty good Mario Game! I liked it less than I liked Sonic Superstars, because I like Mario Less than Sonic on the whole.
FUCK THESE GAMES LOL
BALDUR'S GATE 3 receives the PERSONA SERIES AWARD for a game you all say is good because ALL OF YOU ARE FUCKING LIARS. Fie upon your dungeons and your dragons and your in-game-engine fucking! Fie I say!
STARFIELD receives the coveted FALLOUT 76 AWARD for it's incredible advancements in the field of LOL EAT SHT TODD HOWARD. There are few things that bring me more joy than watching hapless Bethesda employees haplessly arguing with steam reviewers in the steam review comments. Fuckin beautiful.
HOGWARTS LEGACY receives my highest anti-honor, the LMAO WHAT IDIOT BOUGHT THIS AWARD for bringing our society a quantum leap forward in the field of STUPID JUSTIFICATIONS TO GIVE BIGOTS MONEY. Dipshits around the globe spent months justifying that "they just wanted to support the devs" or "they couldn't ignore an obvious game of the year contender". And then it came out and was just Dark Souls for Mormons. A witless gutless ugly and unfun piece of slop that did nothing but make it's defenders look like stupid assholes, which they were. Fuck Hogwarts Legacy. Fuck the Books it's based on. Fuck the devs that made it. Fuck JKR for inflicting her wretched bigotry upon our world. And fuck anyone stupid enough to buy it because they couldn't live without such important cultural touchstones as "A big school" and "Teens wearing color-coded robes."
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Truer words, and so this may change, but I don't expect it will change much, so here goes.
Game of the Year
Tears of the Kingdom
Other Very Good Games I Played this Year
Baldur's Gate 3
Spider-Man 2
Super Mario Wonder
Resident Evil 4: Remake
Diablo 4
Kingdom: Eighties
Games I'm Sure I Will Love When I Get Around to Playing Them
Octopath 2
Sea of Stars
Pizza Tower
Dave the Diver
Dredge
Lies of P
Rusted Moss
Super Mario RPG: Remake
I bought Hammerwatch 2 and assumed me and my buddy would be able to play it. Not so; I'm on PS5 and he is on PS4 and we can't play it multiplayer until it releases on PS4 in 2024.
Anyway, we picked up Hammerwatch to play multiplayer instead. Not finished with it, but as a lifelong Gauntlet fan I can say Hammerwatch is a treat! I'm eagerly looking forward to the next time we can play it!
If your a Gauntlet or multiplayer game fan, put it on your list as a nice stocking stuffer!
Anyway, we picked up Hammerwatch to play multiplayer instead. Not finished with it, but as a lifelong Gauntlet fan I can say Hammerwatch is a treat! I'm eagerly looking forward to the next time we can play it!
If your a Gauntlet or multiplayer game fan, put it on your list as a nice stocking stuffer!
Let me take a look at my Deku Deals collection and see what all I acquired this year:
Fire Emblem Engage: Honestly, probably the GOTY, and it came out in January. A game obviously and proudly made both by and for people who love how Fire Emblem feels to play (both when you're looking at a grid and when you're not), and it shines through at every moment. At the same time, it still innovates in interesting and cool ways and has a vision for the future of the series instead of being purely backwards-looking as was e.g. Awakening. The more recent backlash against the game in FE enthusiast circles is completely baffling to me; it's a wonderful experience unless, apparently, you're a hardcore number-cruncher. A problem that contains within it its own solution. (The DLC sucks though.)
Metroid Prime Remastered: Port/remaster; doesn't count.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe: Port/remaster; doesn't count. Probably wouldn't have bought this if not for Nintendo vouchers; not that it's a bad game, but I played it when it was new and never really felt a need to revisit it in the intervening decade.
Octopath Traveler II: Fine. Better than the first one, for sure, but still nothing that really captured my imagination, as evidenced by the fact that I put 50 hours into it and didn't finish it or feel bad about not doing so. The nonlinear nature of these games hurts more than they help, as both the story and the gameplay balance are harmed by the fact that you can potentially be doing it in just about any order.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Last Demon: Quite charming and with quite a few memorable moments. I got bit by completionist brain here and wasted a lot of time rubbing against walls looking for collectables, but a normal person would have a perfectly nice 10-15 hours with it. You kind of have to wonder who the audience for this was, though. Bayonetta fans were probably not generally in the market for a pastel storybook Zeldalike spinoff, and people who would love a pastel storybook Zeldalike are probably trained to ignore the word Bayonetta.
Resident Evil 4 Remake: Christmas gift; haven't played yet.
Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remasters: Port/remaster; doesn't count. I only played V this year, but I went ahead and bought the whole collection for Switch anyway. Kind of itching to revisit these -- maybe 2024 will be the year of FF.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog: An April Fool's joke, and you could tell. Fine for what it was; could have used at least another editing pass.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp: A ground-up remake, but one that came out when I was still working my way through Octopath and Bayonetta Origins, so I put it off -- and then Zelda came out. I'll get back to it some day. This apparently flopped, but I did my part.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: I put 90+ hours into this, so I can't say I didn't get my money's worth, but it also... I don't know, it just didn't grab me like Breath of the Wild did. I knew I was going to have some trouble when they announced the Ultrahand -- I've never been able to get into physics manipulation or build-your-own-fun kind of games, so I knew this was going to be the sort of thing that inspired some amazing YouTube clips but weren't going to be the sort of thing I ever did myself. And, indeed, I interacted with that aspect of the game as little as I could get away with, which wasn't little enough. I didn't like the underground or the sky, I didn't like that the map was reused, I didn't like the new tools as much as the old ones, I just didn't have as good a time. I was starting to get burned out, so I set it aside fully intending to come back it it... and I never did. Unlike Octopath II, I felt bad about never returning, but the prospect of having to transport another damn Korok or slink my way through the underground for a few more fruitless hours always dissuaded me from doing it. A game that's for other people, but not for me.
Street Fighter 6: Speaking of games that are for other people. Every five years or so I'll get the idea that I'm finally going to teach myself to play 2-D fighters and will buy whatever the new hotness is for just that purpose. Capcom did everything they could to draw in people like me, and it worked, but I'm still one of nature's spectators when it comes to fighting games.
Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection: Port/remaster; doesn't count. Man do I hate the button controls for mapping.
Final Fantasy XVI: I bought this at launch fully intending to play it right away, and the disc is literally in my PS5 right now, but I still have not booted it up beyond the demo. Someday! Year of FF, 2024!
Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE: Christmas gift; haven't played yet.
This Way Madness Lies: Bought on sale; haven't played yet.
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster: Port/remaster; doesn't count. I've long been a huge Baten Kaitos fan, so I was happy to see this get a push, and the ports are all right if not ideal. Origins still holds up as one of the great underappreciated RPGs of the aughts. It's a shame they weren't able to include the dub for Origins, though, as it's quite good.
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails: Port/remaster; doesn't count, and Christmas gift; haven't played yet. Soon, though. I've been interested in this one for close to a decade.
Silent Hope: Loot treadmill from the Rune Factory folks; you know what you're getting. The moment-to-moment gameplay is solid, but the overall game feels fairly slight for something you're intended to do over and over -- each character has a basic attack string, nine special moves, and that's it, and the monster roster is fairly tiny and relies on recolors a lot. I unlocked all the classes and felt done, the hardest difficulty untouched. I bought this because I liked the demo, and had a fun enough time, but I can only recommend it for people who want a brainless grind to occupy their hands while they listen to podcasts or whatever.
Sonic Superstars: Christmas gift; haven't played yet.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder: I devoured this game the weekend it came out and had a grand time. It's wonderful (lol) to see the 2-D Mario games experimenting once again after a decade of radio silence and six years of workmanlike New Super Mario Bros. games before that, but it felt like a lot of the gameplay ideas it was messing with were underdeveloped and I wonder (lol) if it'll hold up to replays after the wow(ie zowie) factor wears off. I've been playing Mario for thirty years, yes, but the only level in this game that challenged me was the final one, and I wasn't stumped by a single secret either. This one begs for an expansion or a sequel, something For Super Players.
Little Goody Two Shoes: Very cute, although it's too big for its britches in some aspects, which expect you to do some action-y things with greater precision than the engine merits. The minigames are a hoot. While reading up on this game after the fact, I discovered it's a prequel to some other game I've never heard of, and I'm trying to decide if I care.
Super Mario RPG: I can't tell you if this game is good; you might as well ask me if breathing is good. The original has been carved on my DNA for literal decades, and every change -- good, bad, or indifferent -- was like a record scratch on my soul. Normal people will have a time with it, and who knows, if enough people buy this and the Thousand-Year Door remake next year we might actually get a real new Mario RPG of some variety. Maybe even one that doesn't suck! Fingers crossed.
Persona 5 Tactica: A very fun gameplay loop marred only slightly by its lack of enemy and stage variety. This is a game that would go from "pretty good time" to "all-time classic" if it just had more Stuff in it. It's also extremely easy; play on Merciless if you've got any experience with tactical games at all. Some people are over the Phantom Thieves by now, but I'll confess to loving this cast; I'm the mark who would have played the Thieves fighting a new target a month until Joker was 40 if they made them. That being said, this is purely spinoff zone; the Thieves are decidedly secondary to the original generation characters in this one, unlike Strikers which is more of a sequel. The DLC is inessential, but it's there if you want more of the game.
Soul of Sovereignty: The first chapter of GGDG's new project came out a few weeks ago, and it's great. It's a pure visual novel -- by its own admission, don't expect Gameplay (TM) -- but if you like their stuff, you'll like this. It almost makes me sad that it'll probably be two years or more before we see any more of it.
I'll Get To It Someday
Sea of Stars
Dave the Diver
30XX
Arcadian Atlas
Jusant
Tchia
It's New To Me
I have owned Valkyria Chronicles for about a decade and have bounced off it every single time I've attempted to play it, but after finishing P5T I was still in the mood for more tactical gun RPG action and booted it up -- and I had a blast. So much so that I still hadn't shaken the urge, and picked up VC4, which I'd owned for years and never played -- and that's been fun too. It's gratifying to finally be able to worm your way into experiencing something you've known all this time you'd like if only your stupid brain would let you enjoy it. Maybe someday the Souls games won't be off the table.
This Year In Hearthstone
How am I still playing this stupid game? This year wasn't as fun as last year, but it's still a damn sight better than 2021, so let's count our blessings here. On balance they've gotten better at card design, but this largely serves to make their huge misses (Thaddius, Monstrosity; Yogg-Saron, Unleashed; Blindeye Sharpshooter) even more egregious and fun-ruining when they do show up, because they're overwhelming everything else you could potentially be doing. Here's hoping their New Year's Resolution is to cut back on the one-card combo engines.
Looking Forward To 2024
Persona 3 Reload
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Unicorn Overlord
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Hades II
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake
Ys X
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Fire Emblem Engage: Honestly, probably the GOTY, and it came out in January. A game obviously and proudly made both by and for people who love how Fire Emblem feels to play (both when you're looking at a grid and when you're not), and it shines through at every moment. At the same time, it still innovates in interesting and cool ways and has a vision for the future of the series instead of being purely backwards-looking as was e.g. Awakening. The more recent backlash against the game in FE enthusiast circles is completely baffling to me; it's a wonderful experience unless, apparently, you're a hardcore number-cruncher. A problem that contains within it its own solution. (The DLC sucks though.)
Metroid Prime Remastered: Port/remaster; doesn't count.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe: Port/remaster; doesn't count. Probably wouldn't have bought this if not for Nintendo vouchers; not that it's a bad game, but I played it when it was new and never really felt a need to revisit it in the intervening decade.
Octopath Traveler II: Fine. Better than the first one, for sure, but still nothing that really captured my imagination, as evidenced by the fact that I put 50 hours into it and didn't finish it or feel bad about not doing so. The nonlinear nature of these games hurts more than they help, as both the story and the gameplay balance are harmed by the fact that you can potentially be doing it in just about any order.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Last Demon: Quite charming and with quite a few memorable moments. I got bit by completionist brain here and wasted a lot of time rubbing against walls looking for collectables, but a normal person would have a perfectly nice 10-15 hours with it. You kind of have to wonder who the audience for this was, though. Bayonetta fans were probably not generally in the market for a pastel storybook Zeldalike spinoff, and people who would love a pastel storybook Zeldalike are probably trained to ignore the word Bayonetta.
Resident Evil 4 Remake: Christmas gift; haven't played yet.
Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remasters: Port/remaster; doesn't count. I only played V this year, but I went ahead and bought the whole collection for Switch anyway. Kind of itching to revisit these -- maybe 2024 will be the year of FF.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog: An April Fool's joke, and you could tell. Fine for what it was; could have used at least another editing pass.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp: A ground-up remake, but one that came out when I was still working my way through Octopath and Bayonetta Origins, so I put it off -- and then Zelda came out. I'll get back to it some day. This apparently flopped, but I did my part.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: I put 90+ hours into this, so I can't say I didn't get my money's worth, but it also... I don't know, it just didn't grab me like Breath of the Wild did. I knew I was going to have some trouble when they announced the Ultrahand -- I've never been able to get into physics manipulation or build-your-own-fun kind of games, so I knew this was going to be the sort of thing that inspired some amazing YouTube clips but weren't going to be the sort of thing I ever did myself. And, indeed, I interacted with that aspect of the game as little as I could get away with, which wasn't little enough. I didn't like the underground or the sky, I didn't like that the map was reused, I didn't like the new tools as much as the old ones, I just didn't have as good a time. I was starting to get burned out, so I set it aside fully intending to come back it it... and I never did. Unlike Octopath II, I felt bad about never returning, but the prospect of having to transport another damn Korok or slink my way through the underground for a few more fruitless hours always dissuaded me from doing it. A game that's for other people, but not for me.
Street Fighter 6: Speaking of games that are for other people. Every five years or so I'll get the idea that I'm finally going to teach myself to play 2-D fighters and will buy whatever the new hotness is for just that purpose. Capcom did everything they could to draw in people like me, and it worked, but I'm still one of nature's spectators when it comes to fighting games.
Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection: Port/remaster; doesn't count. Man do I hate the button controls for mapping.
Final Fantasy XVI: I bought this at launch fully intending to play it right away, and the disc is literally in my PS5 right now, but I still have not booted it up beyond the demo. Someday! Year of FF, 2024!
Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE: Christmas gift; haven't played yet.
This Way Madness Lies: Bought on sale; haven't played yet.
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster: Port/remaster; doesn't count. I've long been a huge Baten Kaitos fan, so I was happy to see this get a push, and the ports are all right if not ideal. Origins still holds up as one of the great underappreciated RPGs of the aughts. It's a shame they weren't able to include the dub for Origins, though, as it's quite good.
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails: Port/remaster; doesn't count, and Christmas gift; haven't played yet. Soon, though. I've been interested in this one for close to a decade.
Silent Hope: Loot treadmill from the Rune Factory folks; you know what you're getting. The moment-to-moment gameplay is solid, but the overall game feels fairly slight for something you're intended to do over and over -- each character has a basic attack string, nine special moves, and that's it, and the monster roster is fairly tiny and relies on recolors a lot. I unlocked all the classes and felt done, the hardest difficulty untouched. I bought this because I liked the demo, and had a fun enough time, but I can only recommend it for people who want a brainless grind to occupy their hands while they listen to podcasts or whatever.
Sonic Superstars: Christmas gift; haven't played yet.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder: I devoured this game the weekend it came out and had a grand time. It's wonderful (lol) to see the 2-D Mario games experimenting once again after a decade of radio silence and six years of workmanlike New Super Mario Bros. games before that, but it felt like a lot of the gameplay ideas it was messing with were underdeveloped and I wonder (lol) if it'll hold up to replays after the wow(ie zowie) factor wears off. I've been playing Mario for thirty years, yes, but the only level in this game that challenged me was the final one, and I wasn't stumped by a single secret either. This one begs for an expansion or a sequel, something For Super Players.
Little Goody Two Shoes: Very cute, although it's too big for its britches in some aspects, which expect you to do some action-y things with greater precision than the engine merits. The minigames are a hoot. While reading up on this game after the fact, I discovered it's a prequel to some other game I've never heard of, and I'm trying to decide if I care.
Super Mario RPG: I can't tell you if this game is good; you might as well ask me if breathing is good. The original has been carved on my DNA for literal decades, and every change -- good, bad, or indifferent -- was like a record scratch on my soul. Normal people will have a time with it, and who knows, if enough people buy this and the Thousand-Year Door remake next year we might actually get a real new Mario RPG of some variety. Maybe even one that doesn't suck! Fingers crossed.
Persona 5 Tactica: A very fun gameplay loop marred only slightly by its lack of enemy and stage variety. This is a game that would go from "pretty good time" to "all-time classic" if it just had more Stuff in it. It's also extremely easy; play on Merciless if you've got any experience with tactical games at all. Some people are over the Phantom Thieves by now, but I'll confess to loving this cast; I'm the mark who would have played the Thieves fighting a new target a month until Joker was 40 if they made them. That being said, this is purely spinoff zone; the Thieves are decidedly secondary to the original generation characters in this one, unlike Strikers which is more of a sequel. The DLC is inessential, but it's there if you want more of the game.
Soul of Sovereignty: The first chapter of GGDG's new project came out a few weeks ago, and it's great. It's a pure visual novel -- by its own admission, don't expect Gameplay (TM) -- but if you like their stuff, you'll like this. It almost makes me sad that it'll probably be two years or more before we see any more of it.
I'll Get To It Someday
Sea of Stars
Dave the Diver
30XX
Arcadian Atlas
Jusant
Tchia
It's New To Me
I have owned Valkyria Chronicles for about a decade and have bounced off it every single time I've attempted to play it, but after finishing P5T I was still in the mood for more tactical gun RPG action and booted it up -- and I had a blast. So much so that I still hadn't shaken the urge, and picked up VC4, which I'd owned for years and never played -- and that's been fun too. It's gratifying to finally be able to worm your way into experiencing something you've known all this time you'd like if only your stupid brain would let you enjoy it. Maybe someday the Souls games won't be off the table.
This Year In Hearthstone
How am I still playing this stupid game? This year wasn't as fun as last year, but it's still a damn sight better than 2021, so let's count our blessings here. On balance they've gotten better at card design, but this largely serves to make their huge misses (Thaddius, Monstrosity; Yogg-Saron, Unleashed; Blindeye Sharpshooter) even more egregious and fun-ruining when they do show up, because they're overwhelming everything else you could potentially be doing. Here's hoping their New Year's Resolution is to cut back on the one-card combo engines.
Looking Forward To 2024
Persona 3 Reload
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Unicorn Overlord
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Hades II
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake
Ys X
Metaphor: ReFantazio
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Ludendorkk
(he/him)
Void Stranger has a few more days to stick the landing and convince me it can hold the weight of its praise, otherwise Pikmin 4 is going to take the prize
Purple
(She/Her)
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I really wanted to like this, but like you said it really lacks variety. I had just finished the Mario Rabbids DLC and it's just way more fun to play. Glad it was on Gamepass and I tried it though.
I think I like Valkyria Chronicles 4 better than 1 for both characters and tactics, but both games are gems that more people need to play.
Also if you like tactics games and have not played the XCOM Enemy Unknown, you need to give it a try. Strangely, I have not played XCOM 2. I heard it was, at least on release, significantly harder than XCOM EU which caused me to pass over it.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I think I'm going to go with a tie between Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 and the Ghost Trick Remaster for my game of the year. They're both just so dang good, heartfelt and tight experiences they're the things on this lists I really want to recommend to people the most. Fire Emblem Engage, Octopath Traveler II and Sea of Stars are all right behind but I have some gripes with all of those.
Rene's GsOTY
1. Street Fighter 6. No contest. Still completely mesmerizing. My boy Honda and I are going straight to the lower middle!
2. Resident Evil 4 remake - the game didn't need to be remade, or so I thought. Capcom on fire this year
3. Halo Infinite - it's a few years old, but IDGAF. Keeps improving. Playing husky raid and filling the spawn area with cindershot blasts = non stop hilarity
Hall of woof:
Starfield - ye gods is this a boring slog that completely misunderstands the very appeal of the Bethesda style RPG.
Sea of Stars - ye gods is this a boring slog... Beautiful though
1. Street Fighter 6. No contest. Still completely mesmerizing. My boy Honda and I are going straight to the lower middle!
2. Resident Evil 4 remake - the game didn't need to be remade, or so I thought. Capcom on fire this year
3. Halo Infinite - it's a few years old, but IDGAF. Keeps improving. Playing husky raid and filling the spawn area with cindershot blasts = non stop hilarity
Hall of woof:
Starfield - ye gods is this a boring slog that completely misunderstands the very appeal of the Bethesda style RPG.
Sea of Stars - ye gods is this a boring slog... Beautiful though
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
2. Baldur's Gate III
3. Resident Evil 4
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Alan Wake II
6. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
7. Armored Core VI
8. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
9. Hi-Fi Rush
10. The Talos Principle II
2. Baldur's Gate III
3. Resident Evil 4
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Alan Wake II
6. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
7. Armored Core VI
8. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
9. Hi-Fi Rush
10. The Talos Principle II
2023 games I enjoyed in 2023: Zelda TotK, RE4 Remake, World of Horror, Stray (on Xbox), Armored Core VI, The Invincible
2023 ports I enjoyed: Xanadu, Hydlide, Relics. Keep the EGG CONSOLE coming!
2023 games I still wanna get around to: Baldur's Gate 3 (Will buy literally tomorrow), Star Ocean: The Second Story R, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Hi-Fi Rush.
Biggest Disappointment: Starfield
2023 ports I enjoyed: Xanadu, Hydlide, Relics. Keep the EGG CONSOLE coming!
2023 games I still wanna get around to: Baldur's Gate 3 (Will buy literally tomorrow), Star Ocean: The Second Story R, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Hi-Fi Rush.
Biggest Disappointment: Starfield
ok well it's finally not possible for me to beat any more games in 2023
2023
my favorite game (and soundtrack) released this year: void stranger
probably my second favorite for both of those things: armored core vi
honestly it was really good and impressive but not even my favorite game in its series i played this year: tears of the kingdom
best visual novel release in english (it helps that i probably won't finish the other one i started reading this year till 2025): witch on the holy night
best game i haven't bought because i'm still hoping it'll get an english release: yumeiro yuram
maybe i'll play them this year: alan wake 2, little goody two-shoes, baldur's gate 3?
before 2023
my favorite game i played this year, period: resident evil 2 (1998)
i really thought this might take that spot for most of the year though: the legend of zelda: skyward sword hd
old games i played i thought were basically flawless: resident evil: director's cut and king's field (1994)
somehow, shockingly, my favorite ff-in-every-country i beat this year: final fantasy ix (that's not a slight against stranger of paradise though)
still thinking about how i accidentally re-enacted my real life mental health challenges in a game with: atelier marie plus
2024
the first games i'm going to beat this year (i'm pretty sure): hi-fi rush, final fantasy legend ii
not as confident i'll succeed in finishing them but i'm really going to try because they've been basically pretty cool so far: xanadu (with egg console save states), death stranding, einhander
definitely i'll play them this year (this doesn't preclude the concept of failure. i just, as of the first week of this year, really really intend to): resident evil: code veronica, nemesis, and 4, final fantasy viii, threads of fate, ys 1 & 2 chronicles, pentiment, lunacid, endless ocean
what i'm most excited about this year: i'm sure everyone already knows that it's saga emerald beyond
please be real: saga frontier ii hd remaster
2023
my favorite game (and soundtrack) released this year: void stranger
probably my second favorite for both of those things: armored core vi
honestly it was really good and impressive but not even my favorite game in its series i played this year: tears of the kingdom
best visual novel release in english (it helps that i probably won't finish the other one i started reading this year till 2025): witch on the holy night
best game i haven't bought because i'm still hoping it'll get an english release: yumeiro yuram
maybe i'll play them this year: alan wake 2, little goody two-shoes, baldur's gate 3?
before 2023
my favorite game i played this year, period: resident evil 2 (1998)
i really thought this might take that spot for most of the year though: the legend of zelda: skyward sword hd
old games i played i thought were basically flawless: resident evil: director's cut and king's field (1994)
somehow, shockingly, my favorite ff-in-every-country i beat this year: final fantasy ix (that's not a slight against stranger of paradise though)
still thinking about how i accidentally re-enacted my real life mental health challenges in a game with: atelier marie plus
2024
the first games i'm going to beat this year (i'm pretty sure): hi-fi rush, final fantasy legend ii
not as confident i'll succeed in finishing them but i'm really going to try because they've been basically pretty cool so far: xanadu (with egg console save states), death stranding, einhander
definitely i'll play them this year (this doesn't preclude the concept of failure. i just, as of the first week of this year, really really intend to): resident evil: code veronica, nemesis, and 4, final fantasy viii, threads of fate, ys 1 & 2 chronicles, pentiment, lunacid, endless ocean
what i'm most excited about this year: i'm sure everyone already knows that it's saga emerald beyond
please be real: saga frontier ii hd remaster
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My cheating answer: Sky: COTL (can’t shut up about this game), which had 4 major expansions this year
My actual answer: Fire Emblem Engage, incredible Fire Emblem experience with one of the best graphics on the Switch
My close to actual answer: Tears of the Kingdom, which would probably be better for a new Zelda fan
My funny answer: Vandal Hearts (got bored halfway through and never finished)
My funnier answer: Clash of Clans (downloaded it this year)
My actual answer: Fire Emblem Engage, incredible Fire Emblem experience with one of the best graphics on the Switch
My close to actual answer: Tears of the Kingdom, which would probably be better for a new Zelda fan
My funny answer: Vandal Hearts (got bored halfway through and never finished)
My funnier answer: Clash of Clans (downloaded it this year)
hell yeah