Game Of The Year Editor’s Pick, 2023

2023 has been one hell of a year for gaming, with absolute bangers streaming in till the very end. These are my top ten of th🌱e games I managed to play, but there are countless more that I didn’t have the time to touch that I’m sure deserve just as much lo♈ve. I’ll eventually get around to them, but by that time nobody will care what my favourite games of the year were, so you’re just going to have to accept the ranking I have now. Enjoy!

10. Dredge

Dredge: The Fishermans Boat Sailing Near Calm Shores

Dredge was a bit of a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:sleeper hit, garnering quite a bit of buzz despite being a debut indie game. It’s astonishingly fun, appropriately scary, and has a great gameplay loop that makes it far too easy to keep going back for more. I had quite a lot of fun picking up weird, mutated fish and selling them to upgrade my boat, and navigating 🔯ter🐻rifying, dangerous waters.

9. Dave The Diver

Dave the Diver - Dave dodging a Hammerhead shark

Another nautical game? Damn, it’s a really good year for fishermen! Or bad, depending on how you see it. This one is a double-whammy of both a restaurant management sim and a deep-sea exploration roguelike. It’s stupid fun, with a🌼 gameplay loop that can keep you locked in for hours and story missions that keep you focused. I love 𝐆to pop a podcast on, settle in on the couch, and play it on my Switch while my partner watches TV.

8. Venba

I cried playing Venba, quite 🎶a bit in fact. This beautiful visual novel (with cooking puzzles!) about the immigrant experience hit home for me, and many others from immigrant families who feel like they’ve lost touch with their culture. It also convinced me I could make biryani if I really set my mind to it.

7. Diablo 4

Elias from Diablo 4 conversing with Lilith in a cinematic.

I spent many hours gossiping with friends and loved🉐 ones in Diablo 4 in the early part of the year. While the💟 sheer number of great games in 2023 that I wanted to play derailed me from my journey to level 100, who knows? I might go back and chec🌳k out the latest season in 2024 if Lilith so compels me.

6. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

Patrice leans against a counter with a folder in front of her

I love games with strong messages, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood’s is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:brazenly political and women-centred. What I th🌄ought would just be a witchy deckbuilder turned out to be so much more than meets the eye, an🐻d it moved me far more than I thought it would too. If you go into it with an open mind, it’ll give you more than you expect.

Honourable Mentions

5. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

Like A Dragon Gaiden, Turn That Frown Upside Down, Clown, Kiryu taking a selfie with a family while wearing clown makeup

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like A Dragon Gaiden: Theꦆ Man Who E🍬rased His Name was always going to be on my GOTY list, because I love the series. If Ryu Ga Gotoku had used the same formula the Yakuza games have always used with no changes, it probably would’ve still given us a good game, but it does a great job of tacking on extra combat elements and tying this side story into the larger game’s universe. I have a feeling ⭕the next game in the series will be higher🌱 on my 2025 GOTY list.

4. Chants of Sennaar

chants of senaar a robed figure looks over a vast desert

I picked 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Chants of Sennaar up to try out specifically because I knew it had made the GOTY lists of some of my colleagues, and it didn’t♊ disappoint. This narrative puzzler has you playing a traveller who tries to reunite different castes of people – the problem is, you can’t understand the languages they speak, so you have to puzzle it out from signs, speech, gestures and context. It’s thoughtful and extraordinarily satisfying.

3. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Cal Kestis walks through a barren planet with his lightsaber

Killing Rick the Door Technician was one of my favourite gaming moments of the year. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Also, Turgle.

2. Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake 2 Saga Anderson sat at a desk in red lighting

Show me the Champion of Light and I’ll show you the Herald of Darkness! This dark, creepy, twisty game didn’t grip me at first, but the more I chipped away at 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Alan Wake 2, the more I found to love. That musical level tꦡruly is one of the great marvels of 2023, and the game’s wins at The Game Awards in Narrative and Ar༺t Direction are very well deserved.

1. Baldur’s Gate 3

Three characters from Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3 talking

I do not need to defend this choice – there are a hundred good reasons this CRPG is dominating GOTY lists this year, and it’s an easy pick for the top of mine. In fact, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a shoo-in as one of the best games of the decade, and it’s now one of my favourite games of all time. I haven’t had the chance to play as much of it as I want to, but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:now that it’s dropped on Xbox, I’m going to spend most of my holiday season finally working my way out of Moonrise Towers and into Baldur’s Gate itself. I simply can’t wait, and this game dese𓆉rves all the love and praise it’s gotten.