2023

This was the best year for video games in quite some time. Not only were the a solid number of great games, even DLC had a good year. I played a lot of new releases this year, but two of the biggest misses for me were Baldur's Gate 3 and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, they will possibly be done in the new year.

So this year the usual awards are back and because I don't always get to talk about some games that deserve it, there will be some summaries on a few games I'd like to mention.

Best DLC: Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways 

Resident Evil 4 Remake was great, like all the RE remakes so far, so any extra content was more than welcome. Despite what the Internet says, I really liked Ada and her no nonsense persona. I thought the voice actor was good and enjoyed being thrown back in and a side story alongside what was a great game.

Worst DLC: Assassins Creed III: Betrayal

I don't really like Assassin's Creed 3 and that probably explains why it took me so long to play all three parts of the DLC. They're interesting ideas but the execution is just no fun at all. It's all one story split into three and this is the one that got on my nerves the most with all the usual mishaps that occur when playing AC games.

Best Co-op Game: Powerwash Simulator 

This game is fun, cleaning in real life is not. It was just addictive, every time you said you were getting off, you would see something you wanted to clean first and suddenly twenty minutes have passed and you cleaned it all.

There were so many levels, maybe too many, but lots of fun ones. Plenty of different ways to clean and tools at your disposal. Coop is the way to go, cleaning together is fun and for the really big levels, quicker too.

Most Surprising Game: Vampire Survivors 

I heard none stop praise about Vampire Survivors and when I looked it up and saw what it is, I pretty much ignored it. The hype just wouldn't go away and I ended up giving it a try. Never have I been so addicted to something, I don't even know how to explain it.

For a game that largely plays itself, it's just fun. So many different characters to play as, lots of effective weapons and the excitement to fully upgrade each one to see how powerful theu can become. For me it's tons of fun, addictive and is yet to get old. Keep adding the extra content.

Most Disappointing Game: Redfall

"It's not like Left 4 Dead, it's more like Far Cry". Way to make your game sound bland and boring before it's even out. That quote alone is probably all I have to say really. 

Redfall should've been so much better, it's made by a strong company and had a great art style, but they jusy didn't have any creativity in mind for this.

A dull coop shooter with uninteresting loot, forgettable characters that repeat themselves throughout the story, still images as the cutscenes for the main story showing just how lazy and cheap this was. Even the skills to upgrade your character, I looked at every skill possible I could upgrade and I genuinely didn't want a single one.

The story was poor, so many missions were doing the same thing and running around aimlessly looking for some small hard to find item with no real indication of where to go. So many 'interact with this and we'll play you a drawn out chat between people you don't care about while you just wait for it to end'. The game was a snoozefest and only saving grace was coop, it didn't make it fun, it just made completing it doable.

Most Anticipated Game of 2024: Avowed

Obsidian are one of my current favourite companies, Fallout New Vegas one of my all time favourites, The Outer Worlds was a great new RPG and now their take on their own brand new fantasy game. The small look we have seen so far has me intrigued and looking forward to dive into their next RPG.

Worst Game of the Year: Gotham Knights

My God have RockSteady dropped. The once great developer of Batman games made a solid quartet. So what did they decide to do after moving on from Batman? Gotham Knight and Suicide Squad, two disasters by the looks of it. The question I keep asking myself is why didn't they just stick with Batman.

So Gotham Knights at least took the amazing combat system from the Arkham franchise right? Well if monotonous button mashing is what you consider freeflow combat then yes. Everything sucked about this borefest. The character models and voice acting, the story, the combat, the repetition, all of it.

Never have a played a superhero game and felt so weak. Any grunt off of the street was a worthy opponent for Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing or Red Hood. The reason being was this was an RPG you're supposed to grind and level up your gear. Well why not just make a new game or make me a new vigilante character, where it would make sense for me to be a weak little bitch.

Suicide Squad had great looking cinematics, but the original gameplay trailer released looked really poor, so poor the game had a massive delay. I'm not sure there's going to be much in improvement, but for RockSteady's sake, they need a big win.... One I think only Batman himself can bring.

Best Game of the Year 2023: Marvel's Spider-Man 2

There really was tight competition here, but the foundation set by the Spider-Man franchise so far is solid. More and more villans added, great characters and gameplay, new suits and abilities.

This is a joint story between Peter and Miles, we get to see them together throughout which was a great choice after they have had a game each. Not once did I not want to play as who I was made to play with, I loved playing as both, they are both as important and likeable as each other.

So many villians, some of my favourites too. With Kraven being a main villain in the story I was a little disappointed with all the great options they could've taken, but I can't lie, he fit in perfectly. As always, doing the side missions offer surprises so don't miss out.

I'm not sure what the plan will be in the future, Miles 2 or Spider-Man 3, but I'll be playing as whatever webhead they give us and be happy to do so.

2023 belongs to Spider-Man 2, but let's have a look at some other games that deserve a mention, not always for praise too.

High on life was a something I was very hyped up for, exactly my kind of game. There's is lots of fun to be had and a tons of humour to go with. I enjoyed it and where I was heading next, the only downside was I thought the combat was a bit frustrating, but overall a solid game and I'd like some more.

Resident Evil 4 is another amazing remake from Capcom. I have complete faith for them to remake every Res game and hope they do. This practically doubled in length and by the end of playing this great game for 20 hours, I coulda played a lot more.

Dead Space is a remake of the original game released in 2008, I didn't want it, I didn't think it was needed. The original still looks and plays good, but you know what? I just couldn't help myself and, well I loved it so much it was a goty contender for the whole year. I don't think a remake of Dead Space 2 is necessary, but I really really want it too.

Alan Wake 2, I never thought I would see it. They stepped it up here massively, I really like the original, but there is so much creativity, amazing graphics and voice acting, a shift in gameplay and the mechanics. It's just really well made. It had one of the best levels I've played this year and it was an out of place surprise that just fit so perfectly.

Hogwarts Legacy was stunning, the castle, the world, the customization. They got everything right, the broom flying felt great, the combat was really fun and had a smooth way to switch between spells. There's so much content that the only obvious thing that was missing was Quidditch. The only fault I can give it and it's pretty big really, is the story. There were too many boring missions or ones that forced you to do side activities. But they got everything right and this is just the beginning, the next game can put a lot more story focus in and really make it one of the best games around.

The Callisto Protocol was a little disappointing but I still liked it overall. It was sold to me a Dead Space 4, so there were always high expectations. Without a doubt it has some of the best graphics I've seen and I did enjoy the story. The melee combat was really odd, but I didn't mind it at first, but the more I played, the less it grew on me.

Halo Infinite was a complete bore. I don't remember what happened in the story, I didn't really care either. Did the just move on from the Cortana plot for Halo 5 or did they just reboot her to be normal again? Either way Cortana annoys the fuck out of me this game too, I don't understand how people can say she is an amazing character. 

Halo goes the strange route of making it open world, or a least a big exploration area. You know what that means then, a big empty area with repetitive boring side missions to flesh out the game. This isn't Infinite, it's Halo: Far Cry, the cross over nobody wants, and two games that shouldn't exist beyound 2023.

Metro Exodus completes a trilogy of Metro games making it for me one the most underrated and best trilogies I've played. I don't know what the future lies with the franchise, but I want more. A story focused game that keeps moving forward with your base as a train. You'll stop in about three open world areas throughout, where, get this, there's things to do and reason to explore! It was a great way to freshen up the franchise, because they actually tried and but in the effort, unlike developers of games with big budgets who don't use them.

Judgment is the first in a new franchise set in the Yakuza world and even in Kamurocho. Practically every Yakuza game I've played has been set in the same place, but it doesn't get old. The world is so imaginative and unique, the characters are always interesting and it's always a mysterious story full of twists and combat. Beautiful looking cutscenes and great voice acting in a language I don't understand, but refuse to change. I'll take subtitles over bad English dubs. I look forward to both more Yakuza and Judgment.

Bramble: The Mountain King definitely a shout for Indie of the year. A dark story about Nordic tales, each one was frightening and a blast to play. Being unfamiliar with the tales, I couldn't to see what was next. The section with Nacken, who has his victims dance to death as he plays his violin was also a contender for level of the year. Each fairy tale was beautiful or terrifying to look at, each mythical creature was well designed and a nightmare to come up against. The final battle was tense, but featured a head bopping version of In the Hall of the Mountain King. A quietly released title more people need to try.

Undertale may not be much to look at, but all the praise it gets is rightly deserved. It's much more than what it seems, it gives players a choice, one they may not realise they have for so long or just simply don't think about. It teaches you about morality and that not everything is as it seems. It has some great scenes and characters, some moments that are just too hilarious to explain and need to be played, and one hell of a soundtrack.

Elden Ring, oh Elden Ring. I'm still pretty new to Souls games but I really love Dark Souls, and I really love this. The vast openess of the world, a huge improvement and a lot more exploration. Great bosses, areas, weapons, abilities, so much goodness it'd be exhausting to say it all. The world you exist in is so well designed, from the gorgeous yellow flowery scenery to the darkest red misty swamp. The game is very active by other players so recruiting friends and strangers is simple, there's so many ways to play I was constantly evolving. I can't wait for what's next from FromSoftware, but in the meantime I'll catch up on the older Souls games.

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor was the runner up this year. A great improvement on what was already an amazing game. Much better character customization, more amazing scenes and tough boss battles, more to explore and extra things to do. I still have so much to go back and do, I can't wait to head back.

More unique ways to play adding a blaster and the cross saber. Cal Kestis is worthy and he's easily the best character introduced in the Star Wars universe in the past decade, I hope we get some sort of canon cameo for him because he deserves it. And BD-1 is the best droid to ever exist, I love and treasure him, he better be with Cal in that cameo too.

Starfield was the big one of the year. Everyone hates it or loves it. It's really not one of those games. You can like it and accept there's flaws, like me. I expected great things, but my expectations were levelled when I saw the No Man's Sky approach, but I'm happy to say it didn't stay that way. It got the Fallout like RPG I was hoping for.

That being said, it is NOT on Fallout or Elder Scrolls level. For a game as big as it was, I genuinely didn't have many major incidents related to bugs. The engine was good and the character models look great, as is the voice acting. There is a number of companions and a fair few I'd like it was hard to choose who to back me up. Ship customization is a strong option too, but the lack of in game tutorials make it a chore, it's something you have to get into yourself.

The story was unfortunately very weak, I was never invested in the groups mission like my colleagues, I enjoyed working with them as there were many likeable characters, but it just wasn't exciting. Going to the temples and collecting powers was laughably bad, floating into numerous glowing lights for what felt like hours only to be rewarded with powers that felt so week, I stopped bothering. Nothing like the useful powers earned in Skyrim.

The side missions were ok, some were really interesting and there's a few faction questlines you can get involved in. The perk system is clunky and awkward at first, but once you get to grips with it, it's really good. Ship flying and combat isn't too bad, far from my favourite thing, but not much of a chore.

Now my biggest gripe, which I had from the moment Todd Howard said how many planets there were. It's way too big. Imagine flying to a planet, getting a quest and somebody asks you to buy them a rare comic. Ok so I have to go to another planet now because that's where it's in stock. Great, I got the comic... I guess it's back to my ship and fly back to the other planet. Sounds ridiculous right? There's too many planets with barely anything or what seems like nothing to do. I would've prefered ten really detailed planets with different regions on each on to go to.

For me, Obsidian did a much better job for a Fallout game set in space. It was concise and detailed. Everywhere I went there was somthing to do or well designed areas. Starfield is not a bad game, it's a good game with potential. Improve the story, make it smaller and more detailed and you have a winner.

I can only hope for another year this good. The last year I can think of that had ten potential games that could've been the best of the year was 2008. These are big shoes to fill for the following year, hopefully there's less delays and less disappointments for it to compete.

Happy 2024.