If you’ve heard me on the TechRaptor Podcast throughout 2023, you probably already know what I think about the year. It was a massive, huge year for games, for both good and bad reasons. Every sector of gaming got some representation with fantastic new titles, from indie to AAA and everything in between. However, it was also a lamentable year rife with corporate layoffs in studios large and small.
For now, we’re looking to celebrate the good that came out of 2023. It was a year of surprising beat drops and horny Astarion memes on main. Smaller, high-impact stories might have been missed throughout the busy year, but I can only hope my esteemed colleagues and I can cast a wide as net as possible to give these games the visibility they deserve.
After all, we’re all just humans. Most of us write about games as a side gig, with a usually irrelevant day job to pay the bills. We only have so much time to play games, think critically about them, and write meaningful, insightful commentary that goes beyond “it feels good to press the X button.” There are likely great games we’ve all missed, but that’s only a testament to how monumental 2023 was.
10: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
While it suffers a bit from sequel syndrome, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 still takes that web-slingin’ thrill that Insomniac nailed back in 2018 and somehow dials up the fun factor to 12. The web wings feel like the perfect evolution to the breezy locomotion that gives players freedom of movement that still makes the urban jungle feel small, even with the larger map. The story feels a little rushed in the last act, but it sets up a lot of interesting dominos that might make Spider-Man 3 fall higher on a future top 10 list.
9: Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush is 100% surprise and 100% delight. It’s not the first game to bend the rules of rhythm games, but it does so in a delightfully engaging way. The licensed soundtrack only has a few highlights for me, but the use of “The Perfect Drug” by Nine Inch Nails made me revisit that fight multiple times. Timing parries and attacks to music feels so natural that once you hit a flow state, you could play parts of the game blindfolded and just feel the rhythm.
8: 30XX
I grew up on a diet of Mega Man X and Zero games, so I’m always down to sample any action platformer that leans into that sort of fluid, speedy adrenaline. Chris King, developer of 30XX, also has a huge interest in Mega Man X games; you can tell just by playing his game (or watching my interview with him). It beautifully blends roguelike mechanics with wicked-fast action. Nothing beats getting a broken build and blitzing through levels at breakneck speed.
7: Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Despite consuming less than a third of all the Like a Dragon content out there, I’m an unabashed fan of these games. The melodrama is stupid, the side quests are stupid, the finishing moves are stupid, and the mini games are brilliantly stupid. Like a Dragon Gaiden is no different, but it’s in a more bite-sized, digestible chunk you can get through within 20 hours, which I highly recommend you do. “The end of Like a Dragon Gaiden will make you cry” was not on my 2023 bingo card, but it should’ve been.
6: Spin Rhythm XD
The name always makes me giggle, but Spin Rhythm XD is a wonderful rhythm game, especially if you’re into electronic music. I never played DJ Hero, but this feels like a spiritual successor to it. It’s deceptively simple, where you just spin a wheel to match the color to the notes. The controls are versatile and work with joysticks, mouses, and other peripherals. For my money though? If you own a Steam Deck, grab this game, at least on a sale. The touch pads are the perfect way to lose yourself to the beat.
5: Cocoon
Cocoon was so good that it made me write a review I didn’t plan to write. It’s a brilliant series of puzzles that makes you feel so smart for figuring out its solutions but also so dumb for not immediately solving them. When you look back, the logic of the world is so obvious; there’s only one way to solve every puzzle. You have to train your brain to speak the game’s language, and learning its ways is as intuitive as it is exciting.
4: Venba
I’m a Filipino-American who grew up in Korea, so stories about handling multiple cultures really resonate with me. Venba is about a Tamil family in Canada, and the son is pitted between the two cultures. Most of the gameplay happens when you’re cooking food from grandma’s tattered recipe book. The story beautifully showcases how food is a universal vector where cultures, family, and heritage intersect. If you’re someone who grew up in a multicultural household, you owe it to yourself to sit down with Venba.
3: Resident Evil 4 Remake
I played Resident Evil 4 so many times as a kid on the GameCube. I thought as an adult with responsibilities and rent, I would probably play the remake just once and move on.
I have rolled credits on it three times. Capcom took an already pretty great game and somehow made it better, all while retaining that campiness that makes the original so fun. The treasure hunting, the boss fights, the surprises—it’s a video game through and through, with tons of reasons to explore, experiment, and replay.
2: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Nintendo Switch may be showing its age, but The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has made that irrelevant. It’s beautiful, engaging, and constantly surprising. The powers give players ultimate creative freedom, but with clear goals to work toward, you’ll always be able to realign yourself if you get lost. All eyes were on this sequel, and it more than delivered, cementing itself as an essential Switch title that defines a generation for Nintendo.
1: Baldur’s Gate 3
Honestly, Act 3 is too long. I was complaining about it for all 50 hours I spent on it. The second I rolled credits, I reloaded my last save to see a different ending. And then I started a new Dark Urge playthrough just to see what happens. Even now, in January 2024, I think about loading up that character and continuing my adventure to the mountain pass in Act 1. (It’s the prime suspect as to why Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty isn’t on my list.)
Baldur’s Gate 3 is honestly just that good. Much like the mind flayer tadpoles, it stays in your brain, constantly wriggling, pestering you with “what ifs” and “try thats.” From the battle system to the story, it delights you by saying “yes and” instead of “no don’t.” The urge to live with consequences of your actions is just as strong as the urge to unfurl all of the game’s secrets with time-traveling quicksaves.
It’s a simple save-the-world story wrapped up in a complex web of character motivations, where keeping your party members content can be just as difficult as the BBEG. It’s the emotional catharsis of the entire Mass Effect trilogy wrapped up in one epic, with party members that most other RPGs can’t even hold a candle to.
And that’s a wrap on my personal list of games in 2023. Some are my favorites, some I spent a lot of time in, and others I just wanted to highlight simply because. The top 3 shouldn’t come as a surprise to lots of people who followed games last year, but I hope you found some things here that you might want to add to your 2024 backlog.
Here’s to another exciting year in games! I’ve already got my Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review up and gave it an enthusiastic 8/10. I’m also looking forward to diving into Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
