I’ve gotta level with you. 2023 has been the longest decade of my life (aside from 2020-2021, obviously). I jumped at the chance when David asked me to write a GOTY list, and then immediately forgot every game I have ever played. I’m shocked to go back over my notes and read about what I did play this year. Did you know Forspoken came out in 2023? I could have sworn 2018, or maybe 1902.
It turns out that 2023 has been an incredible year for games, which is perhaps why it felt like so many years in one. So, here is my list of games (both video and board) that I loved this year. Sure, some of them did not come out this year, but time is just a funny joke the gods play on us, and I only discovered them this year.
Super Mario Bros Wonder
I am a sucker for 2D, side-scrolling Mario. I will never get enough of these games, and somehow they always manage to surprise and delight me. Do I love Super Mario Bros Wonder purely based on its own merits? Or because it reminds me of being a little kid staying up too late to play Super Mario Land on my GameBoy Pocket? Is any love purely based on its own merits, or are the things we love just something we feel comfortable unpacking our baggage into to make a cosy and welcoming home? That’s a question that is too deep to ponder this close to finishing work for the year.
Either way, Super Mario Bros Wonder managed to bring new things to the world of Mario games, while still maintaining everything long-time fans love about the franchise, which is such an incredible feat that it deserves to be game of the year.
Gubbins
Gubbins is a simple game executed to perfection that managed to be a free-to-play mobile game without leaning into dark patterns or any of the other nonsense that other mobile games fall into. It is a unicorn, that frequently causes hilarity in addition to just being a genuinely enjoyable word game. If you haven’t played it yet, you must.
Racoon Tycoon
Sure, Racoon Tycoon is a 5-year-old board game, but it was new to me this year and is now a cherished part of my regular board games rotation at dinner parties and with my wife. It has cute animals engaging in brutal capitalism. It’s what would happen if Monopoly and Ticket To Ride had a sensible, animal-themed baby that learned from the mistakes of its father (Monopoly) and embraced some of the better aspects of its non-binary parent (Ticket To Ride). It’s a game your 8 year old niece could enjoy as much as your 90-year-old mentally agile grandmother.
Disney SpellStruck
Is Disney SpellStruck good? No. Any words that might upset Mickey Mouse have been banned, which has cost me many games. I once would have been able to place FART for a game-winning 60 points and couldn’t because The Mouse abhors flatulence. I couldn’t place TWERK yesterday because The Mouse can’t handle culture. But I also play it almost daily because it’s become A Thing in my family, which I think means that it has earned a place on this list. It has certainly been a game that has defined sections of my year, and that’s good enough for me.
The King’s Dilemma
The King’s Dilemma has been my first proper foray into Legacy games, and I genuinely can’t tell if it’s the game I love, or merely the regular company with close friends that keeps me coming back. But I’m so curious about what will happen next in the game, how the many, many problems we have caused (slavery, bleeding prisoner’s dry to create gold, demonising prostitution while also profiting handsomely from it, and other things that seem normal in America) will be resolved. The story and mechanics are engaging, and having a group of friends willing to throw themselves into it has made it even better. We still haven’t finished the campaign, because trying to wrangle the schedules of 5 people in their 30s is hard, so I can’t say it has a satisfying ending. But we have been playing for more than half the year and are coming close to the end, and so I feel comfortable recommending it for the journey, even if I am uncertain of the ending.
Lego 2K Drive
This game was aimed at an audience much younger than me, and at times that made it difficult to fully wade into it. But it is also essentially a Lego version of Forza Horizon that my wife actually enjoys playing with me (a Christmas miracle, she normally hates racing games), and so perhaps this game makes the list less for the pure quality of the game (though, it is very good for the target audience), and more for the experiences it facilitated for my family. Then again, if the game wasn’t as good as it is, we wouldn’t have been able to have so much fun in it. So maybe it is the game. Either way, I had a good time with it, and you might too.
Ticket To Ride Legacy: Legends of the West
This is another legacy game I have not yet finished, but would feel remiss if I didn’t mention it on this list. I will probably also mention it on next year’s list, just because I can. It’s that good. We’ve nearly finished the campaign (and you can read my full review on Kotaku AU early next year), but I am absolutely loving it so far. It is everything I love about Ticket To Ride, plus new mechanics that I also love and don’t want to spoil. I’m sad that there’s only roughly 13 games in this, because I would like to keep playing it for much longer. It’s that good.
Stray Gods
OK, if I was going to do a proper review of this game, it would not score well. The music has clearly not been written by musical theatre people, so it doesn’t quite come across as a genuine musical. However, it’s a queer musical video game and it’s so impressive and I love the concept so much that I’m going to put it on the list. I want to see more (with more of a musical theatre focus on the writing) in this world. It’s the kind of game that people should experience, even though it’s not perfect.
Forza Motorsport
This is a game that I did not review well. Forza Motorsport was not what I wanted it to be, nor do I think it’s the game that the developers set out to make. However, purely looking at the racing sim parts, it is excellent. I am extremely impressed with the technical improvements, the way the cars drive, and the fact that they managed to put a blind mode in. It’s an incredible skeleton of a game, and when it’s inevitably fleshed out more next year, I’ll put it on next year’s list again.
Jackbox Party Pack 10
The Jackbox Party Pack games are some of the best games that everyone can get involved with, no matter their technical skill. It’s such a good way to close out a night with friends. I know some people were disappointed that this wasn’t an all new game, I was disappointed that it didn’t update any of the games from the first party pack. But playing it again over the weekend, I fell in love with the series all over again. It’s the Christmas cracker of games, in that none of the scripted jokes are really funny, but the bonding comes from you taking the not-funny jokes and adapting them to the humour of your group. It’s a game I’m going to bring out at Christmas. TKO 2.0 with the right group is one of the funniest things that has ever happened.
Image: Xbox, Summerfall, Horrible Guild, Kotaku Australia
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