What a complicated year it has been for someone who loves video games (presumably all of you fine people reading this).
As has been mentioned repeatedly by the likes of Geoff Keighley, 2023 has been one of the best years for games of all time. But what Geoff, and sadly many others, fail to mention is the devastation occurring in the background.
The quality of this year’s new release games may have been at an all-time high, but when you see that thousands of jobs have been lost, largely to greed or gross mismanagement, it becomes that much harder to celebrate such grand experiences.
Nevertheless, 2023 saw the release of some truly exceptional titles. I’ve still not been able to play them all because there are so damned many S-tier games, but these are my Top 5 games of the year.
Final Fantasy XVI
I won’t shy away from it: there are numerous biases contributing to the prominence of Final Fantasy XVI in my list. First and foremost is a nostalgia for the series that stems from playing Final Fantasy VI at the spritely young age of six. No less significant is the fact that Final Fantasy IX is definitively my favourite game of all time. Thirdly, I interviewed Ben Starr recently for my podcast Dev Diary, and it was perhaps the most enjoyable 90 minutes of my year.
All of that aside, though, Final Fantasy XVI stands strong on its own two feet. Some will debate whether it could even be considered an RPG anymore. I’m sure there’s a genuinely insightful conversation that could be had there, but it honestly doesn’t matter — however you slice it, Final Fantasy XVI is excellent. With the recently launched Echoes Of The Fallen DLC, and more to come in 2024, this is the Square-Enix package that keeps on giving!
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2 doesn’t necessarily reinvent the foundations set by its predecessors, but what it lacks in inventiveness, it makes up for in technical spectacle. The game looks gorgeous, and I was fortunate enough to also go hands-on with the hidden DLC, the Spider-Cube – I know… you’re all jealous!
Given its comic-book history, Spider-Man 2 cannot surprise me in ways that other games in their own universes can; however, Insomniac did an exceptional job of giving me moments to pause and consider the possibility that things might not play out the way I had expected. It is no mean feat to accomplish that, and I’m really appreciative of what they did narratively, atop incredible moment-to-moment web-slinging.
Dredge
The little Kiwi team that can, and did. It has been a joy to see the praise that has been heaped in the direction of both Dredge and, of course, developer Black Salt Games this year. Speaking to the team pre-launch for Dev Diary, the passion that they had for the idea, one that prompted them to leave established development jobs to form a studio, was immense. There’s not a pocket of Dredge‘s world that doesn’t drip with their energy, enthusiasm, and love.
Through its beautifully serene world and engaging fishing gameplay, Dredge has a way of lulling you into a false sense of security. Then, it suddenly flips the script, besieging you with Cthulhu-influenced monstrosities who can leave you in despair within seconds. Dredge also gives you so much to explore and conceals engaging narrative beats in ways that are subtle and inventive. It asks you to think deeply about the events it throws at you.
The crazy thing is that this is Black Salt Games’ first game as a studio! Insane! The sky is the limit for this wonderful team
Octopath Traveler II
I think Octopath Traveler II gets lost in the shuffle a bit due to its early 2023 release date and because many associate the game with its gorgeous HD-2D art style rather than its narrative and gameplay. So many get swept up in the visual flair of the Octopath Traveler II book that they feel like they’ve consumed all they need, and consequently missed a game that is full of depth, and phenomenal, classic JRPG gameplay.
Not all of Octopath Traveler II’s core cast of eight protagonists will capture your heart. However, one of the most exciting things that I’ve learned this year is that each person who plays it connects with a different set of heroes for different reasons. It’s an incredible testament to the work of the writing and localisation teams, and honestly, I just want to find more opportunities to immerse myself in their world. A truly fantastic, though oft-forgotten title of 2023.
Pikmin 4
I know that most fans of Nintendo are losing their minds over the big two exclusives of the year in Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but honestly, they’re not even the best games that came out of Nintendo this year! Pikmin 4 is the culmination of years of iteration and player feedback, combining it all into a single package with enviable skill.
The world is vast but still super easy to traverse, the underground and night-time elements provide much-needed gameplay differentiation, and the world design is superb and diverse. Through it all, Pikmin 4 never loses the charm present in previous entries. Often, games that expand their world lose the personality that made them unique. But the massive conceptual growth of Pikmin 4 presents Nintendo for greater opportunities to leave a smile on player faces. Pikmin 4 was everything I had wished it would be when it was announced, and then so much more as well.
Anyone who has ever claimed that the process of writing these kinds of lists has clearly never tried it. Narrowing the collection of truly brilliant games of 2023 down to just five was an incredibly difficult exercise. All we can do now is hope that each and every developer who helped make the wonderful games of 2023 finds secure and sustainable ways to stay in the industry. May they create much more wonderful art in the future.
To any game dev who is reading this: I love what you do. I love the art you create, and I only hope that you will continue to feel loved, supported and cherished by those you work with, the community who you make these games for, and that you can continue to work in this space for as long as you want to. Thank you for all you do.
To 2024, if you could just lay off the bangers for a minute so I can catch up on the 2023 games I missed… that would be grand!
Thanks everyone for hearing me out!
Paul James is a games journalist and podcaster at Player2.net. You can find him on his many and varied podcasts, like Dev Diary, Patched and Behind the Play (for the Geelong fans). Follow him on Twitter @PaulJamesGames.
Image: Square Enix, PlayStation, Nintendo, Kotaku Australia
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