Youâve heard it time and time againâ2023 was a huge year for game releases, which made the battle for game of the year (GOTY) at sites and award shows across the globe hard-fought and difficult. Baldurâs Gate 3 won at this yearâs Game Awards, other publications have handed the crown to Tears of the Kingdom, and Kotakuâs site-wide list may do something completely different. But what about our staffâs personal GOTY lists, the games that delighted us that maybe werenât all brand-new titles or big-budget blockbusters, but also were fun little mobile games or shooters that got a second life?
For me, 2023 was a year of branching out. Despite still plunging hundreds of hours into Overwatch 2 comp, I forced myself to try and get better at The New York Timesâ Connections word game, and challenged myself to give turn-based RPGs a go for the first time ever. I dabbled in horror, in humor, in learning some hubris. Some of these games are expected, some may surprise, but they are all my top games of 2023âin no particular order.
New York Timesâ Connections
A few months ago, the daily New York Timesâ Connections puzzle was a consistent hit to my self-esteem. Back then, I constantly wasted my finite chances to arrange the sixteen words into four different buckets based on their linguistic connections, and it irked me to a point where I seriously questioned my own intelligence. Was I, actually, a dumb-dumb? But after a week or so of struggling, I started to make important connections (eh? eh?) in my head, and the daily puzzle became a fun way for me to wake my brain up every morning. Now, I look forward to sending my sister a text featuring beautifully organized, colorful squares, and noting how often we figure out the groups in the same order. It took some time, but Iâm proud to say Iâm a Connections girly now.
Overwatch 2
Despite everything Iâve been through as an open-queuing Overwatch 2 competitive player (who is also a healer main), I could not quit Blizzardâs hero shooter in 2023. Just call me Jack Twist. Blizzard gave us some pretty solid in-game events and collaborations this year, and the new heroes added more spice to the game, which made it easy to consistently return to it again and again and again, even when my rank never made any sense. No matter how much I hate on Overwatch 2 and the powers-that-be at ActiBlizz, itâs still my most-played game of the year by a country mile
Alan Wake 2
Once in a while, a game comes along that is so vibey, so incredibly curated, that itâs apt to call its creator an âauteur.â Sam Lake, Alan Wake 2âs writer and director, gave us a horror game imbued with the anxieties of a creative, dripping with blood from occult rituals, and bathed in the eerie neon glow of an alternate-reality Manhattan. From the opening sequence to the pitch-perfect ending and the surprise musical number in-between, Alan Wake 2 is perfection. Itâs a game that will be remembered for decades to come, a beacon of beauty in what can too-often be a sea of sameness. Or more simply, as the kids say, this game fucking whips.
Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite had massive Spartan boots to fill, and it struggled to do so at launch. But two years later, the FPS has earned its flowers, offering a full-fledged Forge builder, new maps and modes, and consistent upgrades that keep it fresh. Halo Infinite is my go-to âbrain offâ shooter, a frustration-free FPS that lets me feel, briefly, like Iâm in college again. The silly physics, the absurd weapons, the over-the-top announcersâit all offers up a low-stakes, high-fun experience thatâs like snacking on a bag of Sour Patch kids (watermelon, of course). Kudos to 343 Industries for providing so much communication and support to a game that we were all so hard onânow I just wish weâd get some more campaign contentâŠ
Diablo IV
This year was a really big one for me when it came to branching outside of my genre comfort zone, and it started with Diablo IV. Iâve never really played top-down RPGs, but the moment I saw the hellish, moody landscape of Blizzardâs latest game in the franchise, I was hooked. The hack-and-slash combat, the sexy devil lady, the endless quest for better loot, it all scratched an itch I never really knew I had. Sure, I eventually stopped playing as other games released and drew my attention, but the future promise of more content for an already-great game means I will inevitably return to Sanctuary.
Marvelâs Spider-Man 2
No, Spider-Man 2 never wowed me, but it did keep me pleasantly, blissfully entertained for a couple dozen hours. Maybe itâs because I wanted to find every New York City landmark with ease, swinging from Rockefeller Center to Madison Square Garden so fast Iâm almost angry at the memory of how many times Iâve schlepped through the city on foot. Maybe itâs because Insomniac has perfected how their Spider-Man world looks and feels, making for a virtually unimpeded gaming experience that goes down like a well-chilled shot of mezcal. Whatever the reason, whenever I needed a break from the highs and lows of first-person-shooting, I turned to Spider-Man 2 for a palate cleanser.
Viewfinder
I first tried out Viewfinder at this yearâs Summer Game Fest, and I was floored by its beautiful approach to puzzles. As a very impatient person, I often shun puzzle games, as I canât brute-force my way through them, but the brilliant visual tricks Viewfinder plays were like a balm for my jittery nerves. Its forgiving rewind feature let me fix my mistakes without punishing me for them, which only gave me more runway when it comes to my dwindling patience, as I felt like every fuck up was a gently teachable moment (despite what you may think, I was a pleasure to have in class). Viewfinder is a work of art as much as itâs a game, with each frame feeling like it could be hung on a wall. I adored this game.
Starfield
Starfield isnât the future of video games. It doesnât reinvent the Bethesda wheel, nor does it offer something that feels so demonstrably novel that it was worth all the incredible hype it was getting in the years leading to its release. It is, however, a solid-ass game to get lost in for hours at a time, and Iâm incredibly grateful for that. In a year where I lost my grandfather and my dog and where the world felt more cruel than usual, I find solace in mindlessly completing silly little side-quests or trudging across distant, barren planets. Starfield allowed me to get lost when I most needed it, to disconnect from the noise of social media or my own grief for a little bit so I could return to both semi-refreshed, ready to take on another day. Like Skyrim, itâll always be there when Iâm looking for a little free serotonin, and thatâs worth a place on this list.
Baldurâs Gate 3
It took me a few months to get onto the Baldurâs Gate 3 bandwagon, and it only happened because I was violently sidelined by a winter cold that whooped my ass. But once I booted up Larian Studiosâ award-winning RPG, I was immediately lost to it, spending 25 hoursâ worth of time scouring FaerĂ»n within just a few days. By now youâve undoubtedly heard the reasons why BG3 is a once-in-decade kind of gameâit has a fantastic cast of characters that rivals Mass Effectâs, it offers incredible immersion that makes combat and traversal a delightful playground, its world envelops you like a hand-woven tapestry pulled from the stone wall of a castle. Itâs been years since Iâve felt so wholly taken by a game and its universe, but Baldurâs Gate 3 has done it.
There you have it, my personal list of the best games of 2023. What do you think?
