Tech Your Top 5 Games of 2023

[Valhoven]

Brothers of all platform mothers,

Now in 2023's twilight, the time has come for Zazen and I to ask you to rank your top 5 games.



List criteria:

1. Proof of play: You must have at a minimum personally played (but not finished) each listed entry
(If you get called out for otherwise and can't provide proof of play (trophy data, screengrab etc), your list will be barred)

2. Pick freely: Your games can range from indie to AAA and anywhere in between

3. Formatting: Your list will be formatted in descending order from 5 to 1 – with 1 being your personal GOTY

4. Formatting: If you played less than 5 published titles, not a problem: Fill your empty list slots with x

5. Discussion: In-post game write-ups, remarks, and discussion welcome​

 

[Valhoven]

5. RoboCop: Rogue City

- Just picked up and haven't beat obviously but you feel like Robocop from go without breadcrumbing the power fantasy over the course of the game – respect; I spoke briefly to developer (Teyon) and they said the title will see a small sale coming up for the New Year so keep an eye out if interested and pick up.

4. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

- While largely derivative of studio output predecessors, Team Ninja has both their aesthetic and combat style locked down and personally thought the elemental counteraction subsystem very neat (albeit underutilised).

3. The Finals

- New arrival in the competitive online F2P, MP space and Sweden's Embark Studios crushed it; this scratches the Call of Duty itch without Call of Duty baggage and have been playing every day since launch two weeks ago; I could see this blowing up but we'll see.

2. Lords of the Fallen

- New studio HexWorks publicly says they aim to be the European FromS/w and they did not disappoint with their freshman outing, IMO; beautiful game and beautiful combat for a beautiful journey with Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne vibes.

1. Remnant II

- Fun, fun, and fun; killer graphics, latitude for play is crazy-broad, and smart co-op MM system for dynamic group play.

 

[Hitman81]

5. Dead Space. Dug the atmosphere and the gameplay was solid but I found the enemies design laughably bad and the repetitive jump scares lazy.

4. Resident Evil 4. Lifelong RE fan but wasn't the biggest fan of 4 when it came out and still don't love it. Looked amazing but I thought the gameplay in RE2make was better.

3. Forza Motorsport. Just solid. I still think I prefer Gran Turismo overall but i enjoyed the way the career mode just tells you what to do and upgrades your car automatically, made it an easy one to pick up and play.

2. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the Wild is one of my absolute favorite games of all time so I was really anticipating this. I found it a little too deja vuey exploring a slightly modified Hyrule and I didn't think the islands and the Depths added much worth exploring. I could admire the crafting as an amazing achievement but I hated doing it.

1. Spider-Man 2. Just an absolute blast. The transition between webslinging through a beautiful city straight into fluid intuitive combat felt even better than the original. Still hated the MJ bits but thankfully they were short.

 

[Zer]

I've been working on my Steam Backlog so I actually haven't really played many games released in 2023, but here are my fav games I first played and completed this year

5. Robocop: Rogue City
- pretty basic but satisfying shooter but one that nails the feeling of playing as Robocop and captures a lot of the nostalgia and atmosphere of the movies

4. Control
- I slept on this for a long while but it turned out to be a really satisfying shooter with an intriguing story and fun telekinetic powers

3. Turbo Overkill
- super fun Cyberpunk themed boomer shooter that emphasizes fast movement and fast combat. Really great aesthetics, satisfying weapons and well implemented gimmicks like the chainsaw slide and wallrunning

2. Guardians of the Galaxy
- idgaf about comic books or their movies and I haven't seen the Guardians of the Galaxy films, but heard good things about this so decided to give it a go. I was super impressed with it, especially in how useful it makes your companions and how they develop the plot as you go with passive dialogue. I thought all the characters were really well voice acted and endearing, Drax in particular

1. Dave the Diver
- very likeable game that starts off simple but develops a surprisingly eventful plot, while introducing a surprising number of gameplay mechanics. It has a really likeable cast of characters, a good sense of humour and exploring the ocean while managing a Sushi restaurant is very rewarding

 

[Zer]

1. Spider-Man 2. Just an absolute blast. The transition between webslinging through a beautiful city straight into fluid intuitive combat felt even better than the original. Still hated the MJ bits but thankfully they were short.

I'm late to the party but I just started the first Spiderman game yesterday and am experiencing the webslinging through the city for the first time as well. It's pretty exhilarating and impressive, and I am always a fan of Batman: Arkham style combat. I also have the Miles Morales game, and so I'll end up on SM2 eventually

 

[Zazen]

5. Wo Long - Most people probably forgot this game even came out this year but I remember really enjoying it when it came out back in March. They also added three DLC expansions to keep me coming back to it over the year. It ended up being my second most played game of the year and I'm sure if I had the time to get to the third DLC it would have taken over the number one spot in time played.

4. Final Fantasy XVI - This game probably would have taken the number one spot but there were a few main quests in the game that really felt like they were added to lengthen the game's overall completion time. In particular, one quest involves finding a lost ticket/passport for someone and another is a tedious line of quests involving you find materials to build necessary parts for a ship. Now having said that this game has incredible highs that stuck with me more than any other game this year. Those moments are truly incredible and make the game worth playing. The boss fights and incredible soundtrack helped push this game up into my top 5. Easily the best FF game since 12 for me. It was also most played game of 2023 because I went for the platinum which requires two playthroughs.

3. Spider-Man 2 - This game is just really fun, there wasn't a single boring moment. Venom is terrifying in this game and feels like Lovecraftian horror at times which is a great departure from the anti-hero depiction we usually get. Traversing through NYC never gets old and it's so enjoyable that I never wanted to use fast travel.

2. Resident Evil 4 - Not much to say about this game other than it's an incredible remake that actually made the game better than the original. The last section in the original is very weak compared to the rest but in this one they've added some nice surprises to make it a lot more enjoyable. Nothing can beat the village section though. I originally had this game in the number 3 spot swapped with Spider-Man but the PSVR2 release made me place it higher.

1. Lies of P - Biggest surprise of the year for me. I expected a game from a somewhat unknown developer to be buggy, janky just like with so many other Soulslike titles. What I never expected is to get a Soulslike that somehow manages to surpass some of From Software's games. Yes, I just went there! For me, this game is better than the Dark Souls games and Demon's Souls but not as good as titles like Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Sekiro. I love the lore in this game, the enemy design and variety, the superb selection of weapons that you can mix and match, and of course the gameplay is very sold. Game was so good I even went back to do a new game plus right as a I finished it which I don't often do.


Oh, and I also voted that 2024 will be better. That's just a personal preference since I love JRPGs and action games most. I could see 2023 being better for most people but if you are a fan of titles coming out from the East then 2024 has a lot of potential.

 

[mb23100]

5. Aliens Dark Descent
Solid story and tense unique gameplay that is a perfect fit for the Alien franchise. I really didn't know what to expect so this was a surprise hit for me.

4. Lords of the Fallen
This one would be higher if it didn't have so many performance issues. It has one of the best worlds I've ever seen in a game and there is so much variety I am looking forward to doing more playthroughs which is rare for me. The dual world mechanic was something I thought I'd hate but it was so well executed it really made this game standout.

3.WoLong
I put the most hours into this one this year. My first Team Ninja game and I just really enjoyed the combat and pace of this game. Still have to finish the third DLC.

2.Lies of P
Well polished game with a great story and combat that was as difficult as anything ive ever played. I'm amazed I was able to finish this one. Only Sekiro has giving me such a rewarding feeling when I finally beat a boss lol.

1.Armored Core VI
This one was just all around amazing. Perfect example of quality over quantity. The relatively short campaign was welcomed especially since the NG+ was so great. Maybe I've just played too many 60 hour+ RPGs this year but this one just felt like a complete breath of fresh air.

 

[Zazen]

I've been working on my Steam Backlog so I actually haven't really played many games released in 2023, but here are my fav games I first played and completed this year

5. Robocop: Rogue City
- pretty basic but satisfying shooter but one that nails the feeling of playing as Robocop and captures a lot of the nostalgia and atmosphere of the movies

4. Control
- I slept on this for a long while but it turned out to be a really satisfying shooter with an intriguing story and fun telekinetic powers

3. Turbo Overkill
- super fun Cyberpunk themed boomer shooter that emphasizes fast movement and fast combat. Really great aesthetics, satisfying weapons and well implemented gimmicks like the chainsaw slide and wallrunning

2. Guardians of the Galaxy
- idgaf about comic books or their movies and I haven't seen the Guardians of the Galaxy films, but heard good things about this so decided to give it a go. I was super impressed with it, especially in how useful it makes your companions and how they develop the plot as you go with passive dialogue. I thought all the characters were really well voice acted and endearing, Drax in particular

1. Dave the Diver
- very likeable game that starts off simple but develops a surprisingly eventful plot, while introducing a surprising number of gameplay mechanics. It has a really likeable cast of characters, a good sense of humour and exploring the ocean while managing a Sushi restaurant is very rewarding

Guardians of the Galaxy flopping the way it did made me sad. Truly a great game that had the unfortunate timing of releasing after the massive disappointment that was that live service Marvel game. The characters in that game I honestly thought were better than their movie counterparts. Don’t really care for Gamora or Mantis in the MCU but they were great in this one, especially Mantis.

 

[Dizzy]

5. Super Mario Wonder
Probably the closest I’ve seen any side scrolling Mario come to the heyday of SMB3 and World. Incredibly tight controls, challenge if you’re looking for it, beautiful visuals, banger of a soundtrack.

4. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Just an incredible journey from start to finish. I loved the continuation of the story, the added depth to combat and exploration, incredible graphics that were hindered a bit by performance but a lot of that has been smoothed out. Excellent follow up to the first game and I can’t wait for the next one.

3. Spider-Man 2
Took everything the original did and made it better just like a good sequel should. The combat was so much better with the parry mechanic. Visuals are obviously amazing, the tech they implemented with being able to swap characters instantly and fast travel to any spot on the map was incredible. An amazing showcase for the PS5, Insomniac continues to crush it.

2. Armored Core 6
This was my first AC game and I am 100% hooked. The combat is so incredibly satisfying, it’s crisp, responsive, and gives you a ton of variety of how you want to play. Best combat in a From game since Sekiro imo. I dug the world, the lore, the multiple endings, the mech building and customization, everything about it just got its hooks in me.

1. Resident Evil 4 Remake
Goddamn I was absolutely addicted to this game. Exploring the reimagined Village with the REngine behind it was mind blowing. To me this is the best example of a remake done right since probably the original REmake. It took everything the original did, made it look and play better, didn’t drop crucial content, and added new content. The speed run aspect was addictive, I wanted to unlock and do absolutely everything possible and it didn’t once feel like a chore because the game played so well. I can’t wait to back through again in VR. No other game came close for me this year like RE4 did.

 

[SaiWa]

5. X (no other 2023 game deserved this spot based on the criteria of the thread).

4. Diablo IV: The game is terrible as a service game but for a solid 1-2 month I had a great time playing it. It brought a bunch of people I had not played games with in a while together (made a few new friends). It didn't live up to the expectation and the QoL (Quality of Life) features that were painstakingly introduced over a decade in Diablo III didn't make it in the game. it eventually broke me into quitting the game entirely. Maybe I'll go back to it but for now I have no desire to play it again.

3. Lethal Company: Quirky ass game. You run around with your buddies and pick up to salvage. It's only fun if you have friends but it can be a blast due to all the bumbling and mistakes you can make running around.

2. Remnant II: Bigger and better than Remnant I. Enjoyed it a lot but ended up dropping it way too early. Busy life got to me (and my buddies) and we ended up not continuing from where we left off. A damn shame. We had clocked in a good 50 hours before we stopped. Hopefully we will pick this back up in the future.

1. Spider-Man 2: What can be said that hasn't been said. This game rocked and I had a blast. I spent a measly 39 hours to platinum/beat it but it was a great fun time. Well deserved!


NOTES

Other games I played (or tried to play) in 2023:

Starfield: Bad enough to not even make my top 5 list. I initially thought it was fun but it was the nostalgia of its Skyrim roots. I managed to log in 100-hrs chasing for "something fun" and finally had enough. This was a disappointing one for sure. Maaaayybe with future DLCs, mods and upgrades this game might improve but I doubt it. There is something fundamentally wrong and seriously wrong with this game IMO. Just not fun at ALL.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: As a huge Zelda gaming fan I am surprised that I didn't find time to play it. The best I managed was playing for 20 mins during a flight. I was way too tired though and had to sleep. Never got around to playing it again. It has been more of a watching (shows/anime) and reading for me this year I think. I will eventually put some proper effort into playing this but for now I didn't feel like putting some real time into it.

Other 2023 games I want to play but never found the time: Lies of P, Wo Long, Armored Core VI, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Super Mario Wonder, FF 16, Robocop: Rogue City, Dead Space Remake, Baldur's Gate III, Street Fighter 6, CyberPunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

I cannot recall a year where I was interested in so many games. Just don't have the time to play all of them (typical of me). I generally favor games I can play with my buddies most of the time. And when I do have time I have a bad habit of playing games I've already beaten REALLY enjoyed. This year I logged in even more hours with Returnal (total of 500+ hours now), played a bunch of Icarus, and just bought Hades again a week or two ago. I think I also played Yakuza Like a Dragon early this year as well.

 

[KaNesDeath]

3. NFS Heat: Did all the Heat races for component upgrades last year. During the Spring completed nearly all challenges/collectables on the map along with the story mission. Got 70 hours out of the game for a $3.49 price tag. *Side note; when my four year old niece comes over she loves playing this game : )

2. Battlefield 2042: Thanksgiving of last year the update it got finally made it 1.0 version. Played a good amount the remainder of that year and starting months of this year. Sadly the last time i played it during Summer seems like EA downgraded servers to save costs.

1. CS2: While missing modes they'll come over time. 5v5 mode functionality is miles ahead of CSGO. Hitreg is vastly better than 128tick, utility usage being universal across MM clients is a godsend and i can select to only play on Northeast servers at 15ms. For me Premiere and Competitive have made FaceIT obsolete.

 

[MeatWagon06]

No specific order and these span quite a bit of genres as well.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Jedi Survivor

Resident Evil 4 remake

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew

Lies of P

 

[Valhoven]

No specific order and these span quite a bit of genres as well.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Jedi Survivor

Resident Evil 4 remake

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed

Lies of P

Don't think I'd heard of Shadow Gambit. What genre?

 

[MeatWagon06]

Don't think I'd heard of Shadow Gambit. What genre?

Tactical Stealth. It’s made by Mimimi games whom also produced Shadow Tactics and Desperado 3. I highly, highly recommend you check them out if you like tactical games, there’s a reason they all 3 have 10/10 Steam scores. Start with Shadow Tactics though, it’s a Shinobi/Samurai stealth game and has the best story of them all.

A fellow Sherdogger recommended them to me several months ago and I got hooked. They became one of my favorite developers, unfortunately Shadow Gambit was their last game.

 

[Valhoven]

Tactical Stealth. It’s made by Mimimi games whom also produced Shadow Tactics and Desperado 3. I highly, highly recommend you check them out if you like tactical games, there’s a reason they all 3 have 10/10 Steam scores. Start with Shadow Tactics though, it’s a Shinobi/Samurai stealth game and has the best story of them all.

A fellow Sherdogger recommended them to me several months ago and I got hooked. They became one of my favorite developers, unfortunately Shadow Gambit was their last game.

I looked into these titles and liked what I saw. Are these games where aggro triggers mission-fail or is there some latitude in play there?

 

[Minnja]

5. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - This game is practically a scam in that it's released as a "new" game but it very obviously is just an expansion to MW2. They don't even really try to hide it. It's COD. Like the recent years CODs this is dragged down by SBMM imo and also this one somehow managed to pick a ton of lame maps from older games and not include actual good ones. Despite all that, it's fun with friends. It gets a place on here because as a casual multiplayer game it still is one of the most fun and accessible to just pick up and play. (6/10)

4. Fire Emblem Engage - Played on Maddening (hardest mode) right away and raged a lot lol. The game was very fun for the first 2/3 or so of the game. Some of the extra chapters were very difficult and tedious but manageable. But around the 2/3 mark of the game every mission became extremely tedious and enraging. The game made some big improvements over Three Houses when it comes to FPS, graphics, animations etc. and there's some good QOL in there. But the plot is BAD and there weren't too many characters that I actually liked. Three Houses had a much more immersive plot and lots of great characters it makes it jarring to then play Engage which is much more light-hearted and campy. Overall a good addition to the series but damn it was frustrating as hell. (8/10)

3. Diablo 4 - Started off really strong but fell off a bit in the endgame. I prefer the Diablo 3 rifts endgame more and generally I have more fun with the craziness of fighting and killing tons of mobs. Blizzard seems to want to stray away from a mindless DPS fest by instead making... a slower mindless DPS fest. Season 1 was ok and Season 2 has been better. I had a lot of fun playing the game and likely will keep returning for more seasons. It is fun to get a build fully running but as mentioned it seems a bit like Blizzard is trying their best to not let us have as much fun as we want. (8.5/10)

2. Final Fantasy XVI - Amazing game. Have a tough time not putting at #1 and might even put it at that if I think some more. I enjoyed the story a lot although it seemed to get a bit slow in the middle. The beginning is very cinematic and sets a pace that is hard to keep going throughout the game so I can see how that can make people lose interest. I enjoyed the characters as well. The gameplay was very fun although I do wish there was a bit more emphasis on obtaining more gear. The music was amazing. Very minor gripes with the game such as side quests being a slog and some FPS issues but they are forgivable due to the whole experience. (9.5/10)

1. Spider-Man 2 - Amazing game. Does just about everything the first game did but better. As a Spider-Man fan I am happy with how they handled Kraven and finally gave him a big spotlight and with how they handled other villains. Even with their changes to the 616 lore it felt like Spider-Man and I still believe it is the best Spider-Man universe out there. Great gameplay, plot, graphics, music and everything really. Very minor gripes with some bugs causing me to reload a couple times and still not a fan of the MJ missions even if they were a bit better than the first game. (9.5/10)


Other games:

Starfield - Man.... I wanted to like this game but the first couple hours are boring. I wanted to push through but couldn't. Maybe one day.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - I actually debated over putting this in over MK1. It's a COD game... and the laziest one of all time. SBMM still takes away alot of the potential fun in these games. But despite this just being a severely overpriced expansion to MW2 that's sold as a "new" entry, it is still fun to play with friends and something we likely will continue to play.

Mortal Kombat 1 - A good game that had potential to be great. The game started off very fun but the kameo mechanics and character balance has created a stale meta and fairly uninteresting tournament scene at the moment. The game has a good story mode but fails in a lot of aspects such as customization, casual modes and overall polish that NRS typically does a great job of. As a Reptile fan, I'm super happy and impressed with how they designed him aesthetically and with his new lore, gameplay wise I think he needs some work but ultimately really happy with him being in the game and looking his best. The online has issues and NRS seems to be getting worse and worse over time when it comes to communication and dealing with things. Yet they have no issue with releasing paid DLC.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Currently playing and not too super far in (I don't think). Overall really fun and great game. I'm only playing multiplayer and with friends so it's a bit difficult to get "into" the game as we are goofing off a lot. I would probably need to do a single-player playthrough to really immerse myself but even with just goofy multiplayer it's a great game and I'd probably put it at #3 or #4 but I'm a bit too early into the game to feel like I can add it to top 5.