Game of the Year 2023: Nominations

[RedRooster]

Well, this may or may not work, but let’s give it a go. 

As I mentioned in the What Play You? thread, I thought it might be fun to have a proper Game of the Year thread, with nominations and then a poll.

The rules:

1. Nominate up to five games. Goes without saying, but they all MUST have been released in 2023.

2. Remakes and remasters do count - so Metroid Prime Remastered, Super Mario RPG - all good.

3. Early access games count. I realise this is a contentious one, as theoretically, the game could win again during its full release, but if an early access game is your GOTY, who am I to dispute that?

4. Once the nominations are tallied, I’ll create a poll - you have until Christmas Eve to make and edit your nominations. 
 

My nominations:

1. Final Fantasy XVI

2. Super Mario RPG 

3. Spider-Man 2

4. Hogwarts Legacy

5. Dave the Diver

[Dr. Alan Grant]

1 - Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

2 - Lies Of P (Xbox)

3 - The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom (Switch)

4 - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)

5 - Resident Evil 4 Remake (PS5)

Spider-Man was an absolute joy to play from start to finish. A few honourable mentions to Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and Hogwarts Legacy. I found that the stuff in the castle was infinitely more appealing than being out in the open world. The game lost some of its appeal for me then. I tried and failed to get on with Baldur’s Gate 3, and I haven’t played enough of Lords Of The Fallen or the Dead Space Remake to put them in my list. I spent a lot of time on Diablo IV, but it did get boring after a while. I’m also a Call Of Duty player, but I can’t justify a placing for it, since the campaign was horseshit and the base game is same as it ever was. 

I really need to play my Switch more often, especially more Mario and other platform games. I mainly play third person action/adventure games now, not a whole lot of variety in my habits anymore. Might treat myself to Mario Wonder or the RPG for Christmas. 

[RedRooster]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

I spent a lot of time on Diablo IV, but it did get boring after a while.

This is exactly what happened to me. I was really enjoying it at first. The storyline was solid, the world felt suitably bleak - but then I realised how much level grinding was involved. The optional sidequests are anything but optional, and if you’re looking to prioritise the story, tough shit. I really love Diablo III, so it’s a shame this game panned out that way.

[TildeGuy~!]

Ooof tough one as I’ve just been playing titles from last year mainly but I’ll give it a go.

1. Spider-Man 2 

2. Final Fantasy XVI

3. Resident Evil 4 Remake

4. Like A Dragon Gaiden

No, can only come up with 4, the only other new games I played this year off the top of my head were Street Fighter 6 and Eternights and they’re not worthy of a nomination 

Edited December 10, 2023 by TildeGuy~!

[Mr_Danger]

1.Peggle Nights 2023. Same game but you play it in 2023 instead of 2022. I’m looking forward to the 2024 edition.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Mr_Danger

[CAREBEAR LUVVA]

1. Alan Wake 2

2. Ghostrunner 2

3. Resident Evil 4

4. Spider-Man 2

5. Dead Space

[Merzbow]

1: Armored Core VI

2: The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

3: The Expanse: A Telltale Series

4: Warhammer 40K: Boltgun

5: HROT

AC6 is just a masterpiece in action gaming, it won't be remembered in the same way as Dark Souls, Elden Ring or Bloodborne but it might just be FromSoft's tightest game. I've never replayed a game three times in a row (and many odd mission replays outside of that) with no breaks before...

[Dr. Alan Grant]

38 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

AC6 is just a masterpiece in action gaming

Definitely going to pick this up in the New Year. Along with FF16, Alan Wake 2, Mario Wonder & RPG, they’re some of the bigger titles that I just didn’t get around to playing. Hopefully there’s no big releases for a month or two so I can catch up on.

[Nexus]

1. Baldur's Gate 3

2. Diablo IV

3. Powerwash Simulator

4. Dredge

5. Sea of Stars

[Keith Houchen]

40 minutes ago, Nexus said:

3. Powerwash Simulator

Would’ve been my number one but it was out last year. 
 

My nominations are

MLB The Show 23.

Forza Motorsport

Not sure if I played any other new games this year except Like A Dragon but that wasn’t very good. 

[Fog Dude]

1. F-Zero 99

2. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

3. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

4. Octopath Traveler II 

5. Pikmin 4

Yeah, I don't play many new games and am a cheapskate so it was a stretch to get to five, but I think I managed to find about a dozen that came out this year which I've technically played and these brought me the most joy.

One of the above is free on Steam, one is available at no extra cost if you're a lower-tier Switch Online subscriber, one was a birthday present, one I was lucky enough to playtest last year and the other I've included based on having played the free demo alone. 

Have ended up playing way more F-Zero 99 than Tetris or Pac-Man even though they've been out for longer and I loved the vanilla versions of both as a kid, whereas I was more of a Super Mario Kart guy on the SNES, and didn't get into futuristic racers until the next console generation with the likes of Wipeout and Extreme-G. This twist on F-Zero is addictive, however, and sits alongside Duolingo as something I try to check in on daily. Plus it was only released a few months ago so they're still adding stuff to it every couple of weeks. 

An April Fools joke murder mystery title that's actually the most accessible and entertaining - or at minimum the least frustrating - Sonic title in decades? Don't mind if I do! Craps all over yet another release of shoddy Game Gear emulations later in the year, and is more intuitive than the Chaos Emerald sections seem to be in Superstars. 

Wonder is a new 2D Mario platformer, and that's all it needed to be. It's fine but hasn't enthused me to get very far in the seven and a half weeks I've had it. Yes, one new elephant-shaped power-up, and the central gimmick of the Wonder flower, are neat and welcome additions, but not the ground-breaking leap forward that some have made it out to be like SMB3, SMW, 64, Galaxy and Odyssey were. The animations aren't as generic as NSMB. Oh, and at least the plot doesn't involve rescuing a damsel in distress anymore. 

Octopath 2 looks gorgeous, and the combat is decent. The eight eventually converging storylines are ridiculous but you just have to shrug and occasionally chuckle at the voice acting taking them all so seriously for the most part. And yes, there really ought to be two Ls in 'Traveler'. I really think they missed a trick by not calling the sequel Nonopath too but that would've meant adding an extra character. 

I'm a bit of a latecomer to the Pikmin franchise but I can see what the fuss is about. The characters are cute and the gameplay's inoffensive. Not sure I'd want to fork out upwards of forty quid for hours more of it but the demo is a good introduction to the series. 

[Ironic Indie Lad]

1. The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom

2. Mario Bros Wonder

3. Robocop - Rogue City 

4. Resident Evil 4 Remake

5. F-Zero 99 (shout out to @Fog Dude for mentioning this and jogging my memory)

 

Couple of Caveats here for me. This is probably the year where I have spent the least amount of time gaming in recent memory. I've mentioned in other threads but I've only been able to play games in short bursts here and there due to having my daughter in the summer. In any other year I would have played Armored Core, Spidey 2, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy XVI, Octopath Traveler 2, Pikmin 4 etc. There is every chance my list could have looked completely different if I had a bit more time.

From what I did play, Zelda was the clear number 1. It was the only game that I was thinking about when I wasn't playing it, playing it for hours at night, losing entire weekends to etc. I already loved the world established in BOTW but I feel like the new mechanics improved it to the point where it would be impossible for me to go back. Just endless joy, discovery and invention. 

Mario was never going to miss. 2D Mario is always good but it definitely felt like a fresh coat of paint was needed and that's exactly what this is. Beautiful style and charm and a perfect game to sit down and do a couple of levels of an evening. One of the very few games where I finish it and feel sad because I want more.

Robocop is just a fun ultra violent gory shooter that perfectly nails the world and vibe of the first movie. It's not big or clever but its a joy to play if you love Robocop (which I do)

Resi 4 on the Gamecube is probably top 5 games of all time for me. I'd struggle to think of a game I have completed more times. I've probably never gone 2 years without playing it since it came out. Thankfully, they didn't fuck the remake up whatsoever. They nailed it, although they should have had an option to turn off the yellow paint constantly making it clear what you can interact with. 

I've been crying out for a new F-Zero for so long now. It turns out we didnt need a new one, we needed this! Hopelessly addictive. Has that "ok just one more quick game..." factor but before you know it its been 4 hours. 

[Onyx2]

It seems to have been a great year for releases (pent up COVID backlog would be my guess) but true to form I've played nothing released in 2023 😆 I've played shitloads of Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Streets of Rage 4, Disco Elysium and Symphony of the Night but none of them count. So here I am clogging up the thread unnecessarily anyway.

Looking forward to getting around to the Resi 4 remake and Baldur's Gate 3 myself once they are bargain basement.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I have bought just 3 new games this year. And just seen Bayonetta 3 actually came out last year. So in that case:

1. Super Mario Wonder. An absolute treat of a game even if some of the time levels are super frustrating.

2. AEW Fight Forever. A great demo, I hope they eventually release the rest of the game as a download as it's emptier than TNA Impact and that was shallow. Missed opportunity.

[Nexus]

So it was. Feel free to remove Powerwash Simulator then.