Hello! While we might be looking forward to whatever 2024 has to offer, it’s also important to recognize and appreciate the past. In particular, 2023 was a HUGE year for game releases, in a way that we rarely see. That is to say, there was a LOT of good games released. That’s why today I wanted to share a few of 2023’s biggest game releases. As a note, some of these games I have yet to play, in fact (here’s a fun fact about me) I rarely play games the year they’re released, with a few exceptions for games that are super important to me, of course. With that small tangent aside, here’s a look at what 2023 offered to the world of video games.
I’ll be sharing the Instagram accounts, so if you find a game that interests you, click on the account and you’ll find more stuff from them!
To start, we have to be what I consider to be the most defining game of 2023, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This game had a lot to live up to, being a follow up to the industry-defining Breath of the Wild + having the longest wait between mainline Zelda entries (6 years) means that Tears of the Kingdom was fighting an uphill battle of expectations. And it somehow exceeded expectations?!?! (At least for me). While the most obvious approach would be to just make Breath of the Wild again with a new map, Tears of the Kingdom does something different—it embraces the old. What I found fascinating was its deliberate use of previously used assets merged together with what’s possibly the most ambitious set of abilities ever introduced to the series—Ultrahand, Fuse, Recall, and Ascend. I know I’m rambling here, so I’ll just stop but I can’t help but gush about this game.
On the other side of consoles, Sony released Spider-Man 2. While I have played the Remastered version on PC, I’ve yet to play the sequel. From what I’ve heard it’s a more refined take on the formula established in Spider-Man, but taken to the next level, leveraging the PS5’s stronger hardware to its advantage. I will keep my eyes on this game… When they make a PC port.
Capcom comes swinging in with a remake of arguably the most popular Resident Evil game—Resident Evil 4. I’ve already talked about this game, but I’ll mention it oonee more time. I think this is a fantastic recreation of Resident Evil 4 that sometimes is afraid to break from its roots in more meaningful ways. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Resident Evil 4 is as high quality gaming as you can get, especially in the horror genre, Resident Evil is kind of one of the last standing, high-production, consistent, survival-horror experiences you can find in the gaming sphere.
Nintendo hits us with the classic double-punch of Mario and Zelda this year, and I’m a total sucker for it. It’s the two Nintendo series I KNOW they won’t F up, and hold a high bar for quality, when it comes to mainline installments at least. So when I saw what seemed to be a revival for 2D Mario, that bursts with creativity and freshness, it quickly became my most anticipated release of the year. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was the reinvention of 2D Mario that I was waiting for, combining 2D Mario gameplay, with the open-ended structure of 3D Mario. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a lot more experimental than it lets on, trying on new ideas for how to manage difficulty, playable characters, abilities, world structure, progression, power-ups, level gimmicks, presentation, so on and so forth. The brilliance of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is its ability to seem so effortless.
Very rarely do we see a one-entry cult classic get a sequel with a high budget and production values. Most of the time we just think remaking a game first, and THEN getting a sequel is the only way a dormant series/game gets brought back. Which makes Alan Wake 2 all the more surprising. And I haven’t played it yet. darn. I do have my sights on it, but that’s for another time. Alan Wake 2 is a lot less, well, “gamey” than a normal game, but it uses its status as a video game to elevate to the story in a more unique way. Again I haven’t played this is just what my friends told me I have no idea what goes here.
Here it is. The Game of the Year winner. Baldur’s Gate 3!!!!!!! I dunno what to say man. I mean, I’ve DABBLED in Larian’s previous work, specifically Divinity Original Sin 2, before, so I imagine Baldur’s Gate 3 has to be somewhat similar. But regardless it’s impressive that what seemingly seems to be a “niche” genre of game actually proves it can become hugely popular and successful of off its quality alone. Such a huge quality that I’ve yet to play. Though, based on the accolades alone, this seemed like a shoe-in for Game of the Year, with a SMALL chance that Alan Wake or Zelda could somehow overtake it. Regardless, it’s a Baldur’s Gate 3 sweep!!!!!! Also I wasn’t able to embed Larian Studios’ official Instagram, because for some reason it just didn’t allow it, so I’ll just link it here
A new mainline numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series is more likely than me waking up tomorrow. Joking aside, It is alarming just how much the production for numbered Final Fantasy has slow down. I imagine FFXIV and the FFVII remake play a part in that, and the countless spinoffs that are produced each year. Regardless, a Final Fantasy XVI actually came out this year, and it’s a PS5 exclusive whyyyyyyy. Guess what haven’t played it. Weirdly enough, though, I didn’t a lot of talk about this game?? Don’t know why, maybe I wasn’t actively searching for it, but it also never passively popped up for me. With that in mind, FFXVI continues to push the series into more of Action RPG beast than anything. I think it’s for the better, as its kind of necessary for the series to evolve and keep up with the times.
Now THIS is where it’s at. New Pikmin babyyyyy!!! This doesn’t happen often so I ecstatic. I plan to talk about this game in the future, but until then I wanna give a few brief thoughts. Pikmin 4 is the logical extreme evolution of the classic Pikmin formula. It smooths out the game tremendously, focusing and embracing the core of Pikmin gameplay—Dandori. Dandori today, Dandori tomorrow, Dandori… any… time. The fact that game pushes this philosophy so aggressively to the player motivates them to want to do better. It’s ingenious I tell ya. One of my favorite games I’ve played this year.
My actual game of the year belongs to Hi-Fi Rush. Gosh, what a CONFIDENT game. It knows what it is and plays its cards masterfully delivering an experience that’s funny, fast-paced, and overall pure joy. Reminds of the era of PS2 games, where each game felt completely unique and bold. If you haven’t noticed, ALL of the games I’ve listed thus far are sequels, remakes, etc. of some kind, so to have a new IP come out and be THIS good is nothing short of brilliant. It’s gameplay, aesthetic, story, characters, humor, voice acting/direction, EVERYTHING comes together to deliver an incredibly charming experience.
So The Other Day I Played 
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