Your Game Of The Year 2023

[Dang117]

What was your personal favourite game of 2023, doesn't have to necessary something that came out last year, just something that made your gaming experience better.

My personal favourite new game that came out was Spiderman 2, I just really enjoy what Insomniac have done with the licence and swinging/flying around New York, is still so fun, whilst the story wasn't as good for me personally as the first game, I did enjoy Kraven and Venom as villains, I am already looking forward to the DLC and the inevitable sequel.

Also I haven't played Baulders Gate 3 yet but that is on my list so playing that may change my opinion and vote for my GOTY.

Another game I really enjoyed that I played last year having not played before was The Artful Escape, I had such a blast playing it

[Mick]

I was introduced to Dead By Daylight this year, and, well...

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Baldur's Gate 3. By a mile.

[Ruki]

Welp, here's the list I posted in the 'games completed' thread!

Spoiler

1. Baulder's Gate 3- An absolutely special, one of a kind game. I am so glad that it is catching on with so many people because Larian Studios deserves all the praise in the world. 

2. Octopath Traveler 2- In any other year, this would have been my game of the year. Classic HD2D graphics, amazing music, stellar combat, job system,... everything I could want and more. So good and I hope we get a third!

3. Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom- Built on the great foundation that Breath of the Wild laid. Fun combat, really cool puzzles and a touching story. 

4. Spiderman 2- Sony is really the kings when it comes to top notch, blockbuster storytelling. The only annoying thing for me was the Carnage tease with no payoff.

5. Like A Dragon: Gaiden- Probably the shortest Yakuza game, but still pretty beefy! This game made me full on bawl at the ending to the point where I had to pause it to collect myself. THe next one is going to wreck me...

6. Final Fantasy 16- A good game, but probably my biggest disappointment of the year. I had such high expectations for it. But the drastic change to action combat, the garbage side content.... what could have been!

7. Persona 4- I was glad to get back to this after 10ish year. Originally I lost my save data on the second last dungeon and I couldn't be bothered to go back and finish it. 

8. Persona 3- If I knew that Reloaded was going to be a thing, I wouldn't have played this! Still, a great game. The quality of life changes were huge. 

9. Like A Dragon Ishin- A fun Yakuza AU storyline! It was great seeing them reuse the models from other games here to be like "Oh, it's that motherfucker!"

10. Chained Echoes- If you're looking for a retro-style JRPG with some modern twists, this is the game for you! I had a lot of fun with this

11.  Marvel's Midnight Suns- Superheroes! XCOM style combat! Card game? It works better than it sounds. 

12. Final Fantasy 6- A classic!

13. Final Fantasy 5- A classic... with a job system!

14. Final Fantasy 3- It has a job system, so instantly one of the best. 

15. Final Fantasy 2- What a fun, dumb, experimental thing this was!

16. Final Fantasy 1- A classic!

17. Final Fantasy 4- Not sure why I enjoy 4 so much less than everyone else... I just don't get it

18. Spiritfarer- I cried.

19. Starfield- Ugh, Bethesda. You are supposed to be better than this!

20. Fire Emblem Engage- Great combat, terrible story. Not what I was looking for as a follow up to Three Houses. 

21. Persona 5 Tactica- Fun to see the P5 gang again, but I feel like we are scraping the bottom here. It's time to say goodbye. 

22. Zenki Zero- The story, music, and aesthetic are all top notch! The actual gameplay could use some refining. 

23. Saints Row Reboot- Do crazy things, shoot things... I had fun with it!

24. Resident Evil 3 Remake- Jill Valentine is a gaming queen. 

25. Resident Evil 2 Remake

26. Thirsty Suitors

27 Fuga Melodies Of Steel 2

28. Unpacking

29. Catherine: Full Body

30. Final Fantasy Strangers Of Paradise

31.Star Ocean Second Story R (So disappointing)

32. Pony Island (Really great experience... the first time through)

33. The Big Con

 

[C-MIL]

I played this game a lot.

Otteretto

[9 to 5]

5 hours ago, gunnar hendershow said:

Baldur's Gate 3. By a mile.

Yes.

[King Ellis]

I didn't play too much that was new in 2023 so, as I think has been common in these kind of threads over the years, the game I've had the most fun with is FIFA/FC 24 purely down to Clubs but I can't in good conciencse describe that bug ridden and predatory mess as 'Game of the Year'. It's a toss up between HiFi Rush, Lies of P and Mario. Whilst the latter 2 are still good, I'm still relatively early in Mario so I'm picking HiFi Rush. I think in Yahtzee's game of the year episode he summarises it as a highly polished quirky 3rd party game you'd get on the PS2, which is very fitting. It's an interesting blend of action and rhythm game where you need to fight to the beat of the music, the characters are fun and it's an immediately striking game with it's colour and art style.

List below for reference, I don't think I'm missing any:

Monster Hunter Rise
HiFi Rush
Lies of P
FC 24
FM 24
Mario Wonder

[Bobfoc]

I think the 2023 release I've been enjoying the most is Dave the Diver. I'm a fan of games that let you alternate between action and shop management (Recettear and Moonlighter come to mind), but this game keeps adding more and more odds and ends to keep you engaged. It's reasonably calm without skimping on player agency and varied without being overwhelming.

[Ruki]

19 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I think the 2023 release I've been enjoying the most is Dave the Diver. I'm a fan of games that let you alternate between action and shop management (Recettear and Moonlighter come to mind), but this game keeps adding more and more odds and ends to keep you engaged. It's reasonably calm without skimping on player agency and varied without being overwhelming.

Oh... well that's dangerous for me. That sounds delightful!

[Chris2K]

From a gameplay standpoint I suppose it would be Spider-Man 2, although I did enjoy Starfield more than most.

But my actual favourite 2023 game, based on both enjoyment and time played, is Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator. And I make no apologies.

[K]

On 14/01/2024 at 02:11, Mick said:

I was introduced to Dead By Daylight this year, and, well...

 

you played one game non stop for more than two months in a single year?

[METALMAN]

How is that possible? That's more hours than I work in a year. And I do a full-time job.

[Mick]

You only work 38 days a year?

[Colly]

Nah, Metalman is right, it's more than I work too.

[Bobfoc]

Maybe the game is idling in the background for long periods of time and that contributes to the recorded time.

[K]

1700 hours is 71 full days, or 213 working days

[Your Mom]

And I thought the 150 hours I played BG3 was a lot!  

[Chris2K]

My NBA2K24 playtime is well over 1000 hours, mainly because I often leave it playing CPU v CPU games when I'm doing other things to get some extra VC.

I have a feeling that a lot of Xbox games are still keeping their playing clocks running if the game is left in auto-resume. 

 

(I checked when I got home, it's 1274 hours)

[Mick]

1 hour ago, K said:

1700 hours is 71 full days, or 213 working days

Yeah, my bad, I meant weeks.

[Bobfoc]

I remember when my Medieval II Total War playtime figures were much higher than they should have been because I didn't realise that the launcher application stayed active when you quit the game. That meant that Steam still counted it as being played.