- 2023 was a landmark year for games - but, if you weren't a games journalist paid to play games for a living - it could all feel a little overwhelming. I mean, 2023 saw the release of huge, massive, open-world adventures like Starfield, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty, and more. How could anyone possibly play through all of those games in one year's time?
Personally, I spent a lot of time catching up in 2023. With Tears of the Kingdom set to release, I decided to finally go back and finish the previous Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. I'm still working on that ... Meanwhile, I also spent a good chunk of time playing through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (which I did complete!), because I wanted to be all caught up for its sequel (which I'm currently in the middle of). I went through a similar exercise with one of my favorite games of recent years, Control - revisiting it so that I could play the remastered Alan Wake (which I'd never played, and is now, apparently, part of a shared universe of games from developer Remedy), so that I could play the new Alan Wake 2 (which I've yet to play, but really want to!) ... which perhaps would have made my Games of the Year list had I gotten around to it in 2023. I also played more of Spider-Man: Miles Morales so that I could eventually jump into the new Spider-Man 2. But alas ... one man can only do so much, and today's videogames are too big, too long, and too all-encompassing. It's why I still value more contained experiences (hello, Super Mario Bros. Wonder) and the indie games scene. It's a lot to simply go from one 100+ hour epic to another, ya' know?
As for the games industry, it was another year of corporate consolidations, mass layoffs, massive leaks, and many questions about how sustainable this all is and where it's all going. The PS5 chugged along as the market leader in consoles - and I still love my oversized Sony wonderbox - even if Sony's first-party offerings seem a lot slimmer than in years (and eras) past. XBOX has been innovating with Games Pass and making moves with continued developer acquisitions. And I admit I was jealous of a few XBOX exclusives this year, notably Hi-Fi Rush (which sounds like a total blast). But Microsoft still seems to struggle with its tentpole releases having the same sort of fan appeal as Sony or Nintendo's big titles. Starfield, from Bethesda, was this year's big hope to lure new users to the XBOX ecosystem, but the lukewarm reviews kept it from being a needle-mover. As we head into 2024 though, all eyes will be on Nintendo, as their successor to the Switch is likely to be revealed soon. The Switch got a lot of playtime from me this year, but I'm definitely curious to see Nintendo games with true next-gen (or current-gen, I suppose) graphics. It's going to be interesting to see to what extent Nintendo tries to innovate with their next console vs. stay the course. Finally, it does feel like Valve's Steam Deck is continuing to change the game. It's ability to deliver high-end PC gaming on the go makes it an attractive option, and the fact that so many big games (as well as a thriving indie scene) are playable on it adds to the mass-appeal.
E3 ended this year, officially. I grew up reading about E3 and dreaming of going one day. And somehow, I did get to attend for several years in a row via my work - and it was always exciting and exhilarating. I get that it was becoming semi-obsolete in recent years, but still, it's kind of sad. E3, at its peak, brought with it a level of hype and fan enthusiasm that other media industries would kill for. The Game Awards have sort of taken E3's place as the source for new content reveals and such. But it's not quite the same. E3 pitted each major company against each other in real time. Show us what you've got, Sony. Nothing else can quite match that.
Where I sometimes worry about the games industry is that it feels like it can be alienating to people who aren't the hardest of the hardcore. Like I said, the big games now are so big and so time-consuming and in many cases so complex ... that playing through them is not feasible for many. At the same time, those same games are incredibly expensive and resource and time intensive to produce. So why are these games now the bread and butter of the industry? I continue to believe that the industry needs to take a step back and assess what the consumer - across various demos and levels of dedication - really wants. And I think there should be more medium-level experiences that are fun and challenging but also easy-to-grasp and contained. Games that take the same time to play as the average Netflix TV season takes to binge-watch.
I'm glad I'm still into games though and that I try my best to make some level of time for them. There are few activities more relaxing and mind-clearing than playing a great videogame and getting into some sort of flow state. Of feeling immersed in this other world. It's a feeling you just can't get with more passive entertainment, and it's an experience that's helped me greatly through these crazy years of the pandemic and Long COVID and <waves hands> all of this. I still believe, also, that the storytelling possibilities of games are endless. We're only just scratching the surface. And I can't wait to see where we go from here.
DANNY'S FAVORITE (NEW) GAMES OF 2023:
1.) Baldur's Gate 3
- On the surface, Baldur's Gate 3 didn't feel like "my kind of game." I've never been a CRPG player, nor a D&D player. I tend to shy away from games that feel overly complex in terms of their systems. But I got caught up in the BG3 hype and wanted to give it a go. And what's true here is that this game is ultimately made great - and accessible! - because of the writing and story. The world, the characters, the dialogue, the voice-acting - they're all so top-notch that they make you want to immerse yourself in this world and challenge yourself to learn the systems so that you can see more of this game. In that sense, it's a monumental achievement.
- I was a big fan of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and spent a lot of time earlier this year playing through it. I gave myself some breathing room, and then finally got started on its sequel, Survivor. And yeah, it pretty much rules - building on the first game's formula but with smoother controls, improved (and often mind-blowingly cool) graphics, better storytelling, and an overall more polished feel. There are still little things that annoy me (those difficult to decipher maps!), but overall this is about as good as a Star Wars game can be.
- At first I was only moderately excited for this one, given that Nintendo's more modern forays into 2D Mario have been only-okay (ex: New Super Mario Bros). But, this is something different, and it's something special. Wonder took me right back to the magic of playing Super Mario World as a kid. The creativity, ingenuity, level design ... and that music! All off-the-charts good. And Elephant Mario rules.
- I never had the chance to play Metroid Prime upon its original release, so I was eager to finally give it a whirl all these years later. And man, it still holds up! Which is saying something, because I'm not typically huge on first-person games in general. But this one has that Nintendo magic, bringing that classic Metroid exploration, sense of discovery, and foreboding alien atmosphere to glorious 3D life.
5.) Final Fantasy 16
- I grew up on Final Fantasy, and each new numbered release in the series was, for a long time, a seismic event. It's been a while since I've felt that way, but I was curious about FF16. Building off the success of recent FF spin-offs, this one eschews the series' traditional RPG trappings, instead going full Devil May Cry-style action. Somehow, it works. You still get a big, sweeping, Final Fantasy story - but paired with fast-paced hack-n'-slash combat that's a lot of fun and suitably epic-feeling. Something different and surprisingly cool from a long-running, beloved franchise.
6.) Street Fighter 6
- I've been a fan of Street Fighter since the Super Nintendo days, and it's been fun to see Capcom really revive the series over the last few years and get its newer entries back to a place of prominence and respect in the gaming world. SF6 is very, very solid. Crisp controls, fun new characters, lots of modes and customization options, nice graphics, and an overall top-tier fighting game experience.
7.) Slay the Princess
- I'm always fascinated by the narrative possibilities of videogames. Slay the Princess is a uniquely constructed mind-trip that hearkens back to old-school text adventures, with a similarly arch sense of humor that reminded me of classics like the Zork series - while also taking a page from modern narrative faves like Disco Elysium. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but suffice it to say this is a really unique, fun, and smart narrative adventure.
8.) Sea of Stars
- If Final Fantasy 16's foray into action-based combat left you yearning for some good, ol'-fashioned JRPG adventure, then Sea of Stars had you covered (note: I didn't have a chance to play Octopath Traveler 2, another old-school RPG that got great reviews in 2023). Sea of Stars features amazing retro-style pixel art and gameplay reminiscent of classics like Chrono Trigger. Anyone feeling nostalgia for that era should 100% give it a play through.
- For whatever reason I never played Super Mario RPG upon its initial release, despite being a big Mario fan and a big Final Fantasy / Square fan at the time. But now, with Nintendo's new remaster, I was excited to finally check out the game. It's definitely another nostalgia rush for a simpler time - and yet, all the craftsmanship that went into the game is still very much evident. Square during that era could do no wrong, and this one, despite the cutesy characters and world, is very much a top-notch Square RPG.
10.) AEW Fight Forever
- This one got pretty middling reviews, and I can definitely acknowledge a lot of the game's flaws. The graphics feel last-generation and clunky, the controls don't always work like they're supposed to, and a lot of key wrestlers from the vast AEW roster are missing. But hey, I love wrestling games and I'm a huge fan of AEW - so I still got a lot of fun out of this one, and found it a nice change of pace from the increasingly hard-to-love WWE2K series. If you want some simple, fun wrestling action (or just really want to kick ass as Danhausen, which I do!), it's worth a look.
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