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2023 was a pretty good year for games, As of late I feel like there are less quality games to play, and I'm glad I really didn't have that problem in late 2023.
Without further adue, these are my favorite games from 2023:
TOTK was a great game from the start. It almost improved on everything from the first game I didn't know I actually wanted. At first I was quite worried at the re-using of the original Breath of the wild map, but this was quickly dispelled after jumping into the expansive depths for the first time. I was also pleased at just how much different each location on the surface was. For example, Tarry Town is much more expansive and has new locations, some towns in the game even need you to take them away from pirates and rebuild them.
It's story was also vastly improved, the end boss in particular and his threat throughout the game. In Breath of the wild, the bosses where almost an afterthought to all the new systems that where introduced. In TOTK, there are different themed bosses and temples for each region, as well as a completely full fledged main boss fight at the end.
The systems are really the shining star of TOTK though, the fact that Nintendo has such experienced developers who they retain starts to really show. The new tools you get are somehow better than the orginal tools in Breath of the Wild, and the physics and systems that play with each other are a delight to discover while playing.
The game is not without faults, the established lore has mostly been retconned with this new release, meaning any of the things from the old games are really just curiosities, not anything deeper. Some of the new systems also put a hamper on play. For example, having to attach something to an arrow everytime you shoot is unintuitive and disrupts immersion.
The long anticipated sequel the the cult classic Alan Wake did not dissapoint. It may be my favorite game of 2023, and experiments so well with the story it is telling and the gameplay. The story is the real shining star, and is clearly just the epitome of a decades worth of hard work.
The gameplay itself is very similar to something like RE, though on the lower difficulties I definitely didn't worry about inventory management as much. It's a joy to shine your flashlight on enemies, and then take them down with weighty feeling guns.
I did find myself enjoying playing as Saga more than Alan himself, though this may just be because she has room to breath in the real world and Alan's gameplay is primarily done in the Dark Place nightmare dimension. I think doing a daul split between two protaganists was a good idea in this case. When Alan's environment and gameplay begins to feel to overbearing and claustrophobic, you can easily switch over to Saga and get some breathing room.
The horror of the game comes in a few different forms. I tend to find horror games not too scary, so ymmv. There are some well timed jump scares that don't feel cheap to me, as they tie in with the overall story. Most of the unease for me came during Alan's Dark Place segments. In the Dark Place he is fighting literal shadow figures that are sometimes an enemy and other times just a figment. This lead me to constantly be paranoid that any of these shadows could be a legit enemy and attack me, but 85% of the time it isn't. Not only that, you find many tapes of Alan loosing his mind, and this is particularly scary in a Lovecraftian kind of way.
I don't want to talk to much about the story because it's truly a delight to unravel on your own, whether through playing the game or watching someone else play it.
Since three feels like a good amount and I've already written more words than I thought I would I'll end this with Phantom Liberty. I've always been a fan of Cyberpunk in general, and played the many different versions of the game. From release it always had a really excellent story and immersive quality to the game. The first person choice is truly great for this game, as I rarely have been enthralled into a game like I am with cyberpunk. I've beat the main story many times and gotten all endings, and did the same with the expansio pack Phantom Liberty. Since the base games 2.0 release, it's gotten itself to a place that aligns with CDPR's original vision of cyberpunk
Phantom Liberty adds an entire new area to Night City, the combat zone Dogtown. Combat zones in cyberpunk are areas of the city run by gangs, with no official oversight from any form of government or corperation. There are various lore factors into why this combat zone exists in the city, but for our purposes just know it's basically a city within a city.
V, the mercanary protagnist of the game, get's contacted by the NUSA's FIA to save the president. After doing so, you get thrusted into an increasingly complicated pulpy spy thriller. Idris Elba is one of the main characters of the expansion, and just like Keaunu Reeves does an excellent job of really fitting into the universe and making their character come to life.
The expansion itself is fantastic, and truly twisted around the concepts of "right" and "wrong". On my first playthrogh, I would constantly make what I thought was the right choices. Only to later learn that I totally screwed someones whole life up. I adore when games really explore the murky areas of morality, and I'm happy to report that Phantom Liberty really does dial those kinds of tough choices to 11
There are a couple games I also missed playing this year for one reason or another. I have to play Baldur's Gate 3 as I heard player choice is unlike any other game. I also have to play the Resident Evil 4 Remake as I never actually played RE4 and have heard nothing but good things. I also enjoyed the other remakes and new Resident evil games.
I'm hoping we hear more about the Elden Ring Expansion this year, and more about Kojima's projects. I'm not sure what else is coming out this year, hopefully something will surprise me.
Also hoping to hear more about Ken Levine's new game, Judas.