Game of the Year 2023: Nominations

[Keith Houchen]

10 minutes ago, Nexus said:

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

Never, and I mean NEVER, remove Powerwash Simulator. 

[textonly]

1. Baldur's Gate 3
2. Fire Emblem Engage
3. The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

FEE wasn't quite as good as Three Houses, but I still really enjoyed it. Crazy that it's one of the shorter new games I've played this year at 60+ hours. Honourable mention to Midnight Suns from the end of 2022. December releases get a bit overlooked in lists like these,  and I played that game a lot this year. I'll still pop it on sometimes just to play a few missions. Eventually I'll get around to another full playthrough with the DLC that came out this year.

[Nexus]

15 hours ago, textonly said:

Midnight Suns

I loved this. It took the things I like from games like Fire Emblem and XCOM, but adds in superheroes. 

[FLips]

1. Pikmin 4

A beautiful game and what I would consider the pinnacle of the Pikmin idea. Fun exploration, a true sense of depth and size, and just a joy to play.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom

Everything I wanted Breath of The Wild to be, other than still missing dungeons and having breakable weapons. The Colgera Boss fight and accompanying music is arguably in my Top 5 Zelda moments of all time. I still yearn for a return to linear games with no crafting but if this is what we have, it's the best we can get.

3. Robocop Rogue City

Dumb run and gun fun that stays faithful to the source. It dragged it's feet a little bit at times but it's good to have games like this available rather than everything having to be 100 hours open world. It took about 25-30 hours and I enjoyed it all.

4. Like a Dragon Gaiden

Similar to Robocop where it keeps it nice and short but doesn't give up any of the content. In fact I'd argue this is the perfect length for a Yakuza/LAD game because it gives you the same amount of open world optional stuff but doesn't needlessly pad the story chapters out by relentlessly shoving twists and turns in. Nice to-the-point story and I could still play in the arcades. Lovely stuff.

5. Metroid Prime Remastered

Nothing fancy. Just a brilliant game with improvements made. The ambient music and weirdly chill atmosphere make it surprisingly relaxing to play at times, especially compared to Dread which I thought was unnecessarily hard and quite shit.

Honorable mentions: Resident Evil 4 Remake would have been 6 if we were doing a top 10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was my 2nd most played game of the year (on Xbox at least) but once the launch period passed it went the way of DBD where the try-hards blasted all the game's bugs and exploits your way until it wasn't fun any more.

Games I was most disappointed with were Sea of Stars, Dave The Diver and Atomic Heart. All of them falling into a category of "genre that's done to death but this time it will be different babe I promise" until the cracks show and you realise you're playing worse versions of other games like Chrono Trigger, Stardew Valley and Prey. All good for the first couple of hours but I grew bored of them very fast once the gameplay loop became evident.

[RedRooster]

Ooh, interesting that you disliked Dave the Diver, @FelatioLips - I feel like our tastes in games are, more often than not, similar - what was it that you didn’t like? I’m playing it right now, and I’m enjoying it. I liked Sea of Stars well enough, but I think it’s been enormously overrated. I don’t understand why it’s getting talked about in some quarters as a GOTY contender.

I’ve not played Pikmin 4 yet, but I bought it  a few days ago, meaning I’ll be giving it a try soon. 

[FLips]

26 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Ooh, interesting that you disliked Dave the Diver, @FelatioLips - I feel like our tastes in games are, more often than not, similar - what was it that you didn’t like? I’m playing it right now, and I’m enjoying it. I liked Sea of Stars well enough, but I think it’s been enormously overrated. I don’t understand why it’s getting talked about in some quarters as a GOTY contender.

I’ve not played Pikmin 4 yet, but I bought it  a few days ago, meaning I’ll be giving it a try soon. 

I wouldn’t go as far as to say I disliked it, moreso just similar to how you felt about Sea of Stars (as did I). It got rave reviews across the board that it never lived up to in my eyes. Once I got into the main gameplay loop it didn’t do anything unique enough to keep me hooked (no pun intended). If I’m playing a pixelated sim game with adventure elements then Stardew is still the peak and for me it never came close to that.

 

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, FelatioLips said:

I wouldn’t go as far as to say I disliked it, moreso just similar to how you felt about Sea of Stars (as did I). It got rave reviews across the board that it never lived up to in my eyes. Once I got into the main gameplay loop it didn’t do anything unique enough to keep me hooked (no pun intended). If I’m playing a pixelated sim game with adventure elements then Stardew is still the peak and for me it never came close to that.

 

Stardew has definitely ruined that genre to an extent for me, it was so good that it made me want more. Problem is, nothing comes close to living up to the standard it’s set. I don’t really consider Dave as being of the same genre as Stardew, although, I suppose, when you break it down there’s probably an argument to be made that it is. I find the gameplay loop pretty enjoyable, but the minigames and extra strands to it don’t do much for me. I can totally see why you wouldn’t like it, and actually some of what you say applies directly to why I found Dredge a snore.

[Loki]

I’ve only played 2 “new” games this year, so by default

 Metroid Prime Remastered

 Starfield 

are my games of the year.  I feel I have fallen out of love with games in recent years as there’s very little innovation any more and the big titles generally involve an investment in time that I simply don’t have.  

 

[RedRooster]

9 minutes ago, Loki said:

I feel I have fallen out of love with games in recent years as there’s very little innovation any more and the big titles generally involve an investment in time that I simply don’t have.  

A lack of time is definitely an increasing issue for me, and can dictate what I choose to play. 

What kind of effect does working in the industry have on your enjoyment of games, if any? Is it harder to feel immersed in a gaming world given that you’ll have a good understanding as to how that world was made?

[Keith Houchen]

23 minutes ago, Loki said:

Starfield

Oh shit, I forgot about that. So I’ll add that to my list as it’s a new game I’ve played!

[Loki]

52 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

What kind of effect does working in the industry have on your enjoyment of games, if any? Is it harder to feel immersed in a gaming world given that you’ll have a good understanding as to how that world was made?

It definitely affects how much I look forward to playing games in an evening, if I've been staring at a game all day.  Knowing how the sausage is made isn't really an issue, it's more just wanting to do something other than games.   Watching tv or a movie is passive and takes almost no input so that's all I have the energy for usually.

I think if anything, working on games makes me appreciate games more than some fans do.  As an example, Starfield has been shit on by a lot of fans but it's a technological marvel and does so much well that is incredibly hard.  Comparisons to No Man Sky are unfair - that game's not trying to tell a story on the scale of Starfield, with all the character choices etc.  Dialogue and narrative are super hard particularly if the player can be anyone rather than, say, Alan Wake.

30 hours of any game is about my limit though, that takes me months to play and my enthusiasm usually wanes at about that point.  Apart from Battlefield 1943.

[CleetusVanDamme]

1. Resi 4:

On 4/30/2023 at 8:31 PM, CleetusVanDamme said:

Resi 4 remake was superb. It's nice to have The King back, what a ride! Close to perfect pacing, never lets up, yet never feels like overkill either. Loved nearly every second. 10/10.

Still prefer the original. For reasons that are both unfair: (it's impossible to replicate the feelings the OG gave me at 16/17 and how big a leap forward it was) and fair: I feel less precise in the remake, both in aiming and even getting the contextual melee prompts reliably, the rythm and ammo balance feels off. I'm comparing a game I've mastered over 18 years to one I've played once though, so this part might change in time. Mercenaries is as addictive as ever. I need that Handcannon before I jump into new game plus.

No big spoilers here, mostly just comparisons and what is/isn't in...

  Reveal hidden contents

Del Lago was crap and too easy. I didn't even get knocked out the boat once. Salazar and Saddler about par.

Not getting free ammo everytime you upgrade weapon capacity now is a boo. Getting all/most of the money you've invested into a weapon back when you sell it is a big yay. I'm definitely more willing to experiment with other guns now.

No U3 or hell in a cell was disappointing. Hopefully in the Ada dlc. I did miss the sublime ridiculousness of being chased by the Salazar statue too.

If the decision to have no explodey head suplex was out of respect for Musawa then fair play, that's classy. If not, unacceptable.

The new Krauser fights, mine cart bit and the cabin defence were amazing. Much prefer the Island portion in this one.

Hey, that dog is still in!  

The (re)introduction of the Regenerators was perfect. I bricked it.

Expanded story was good. Ashley's much less annoying now. I like new Luis too (it's okay, I said the line for him at the cabin).

The formerly rubbish Punisher handgun has been redeemed. I first just stuck with it out of hatred for most of the better handguns not having laser-sight now, but that exclusive upgrade (shooting through 5x enemies) made it super useful by the end.

Am I going to end up buying DLC just for the sake of doing the T2 shotgun swirly reload thing?

Yes, yes I am.

With no due respect to 5 and Chode Veronica, if Dino Crisis isn't next in line for a remake we riot.

 

 

And I still haven't got around to the DLC yet!

2. Metroid Prime remastered: It feels quite cheap listing something that just had a resolution bump, but it's a 10/10 game, what am I supposed to do?

3. Dead Space remake: As above!

4. Trepang2: It plays like F.E.A.R.

5. Spidey 2: I can't lie, I was sick of it by the last few hours, I don't think I can stomach swinging around New York ever again, but before I got to that point I'd had 15+ hours of great fun. The proper Venom reveal was an amazing moment.

I'm nowhere near as up to speed as I should be though. I'm still to get to at least Alan Wake 2, Robocop, The Expanse and Teardown.

Edited December 24, 2023 by CleetusVanDamme

[Version1.0]

No love for Super Mario Bros Wonder?

Also, how hard is it to release Peggle 3?

[RedRooster]

4 hours ago, Version1.0 said:

No love for Super Mario Bros Wonder?

I liked it, but it didn’t quite stick with me in the same way recent 3D Marios have, or even in the same way the challenges in Mario Maker 2 did. I can’t quite put my finger on why. I didn’t feel motivated enough to complete it, even though I was enjoying it while I played it. It might have if they’d removed the collectibles and focused more on the craziness of the wonder powers. Knowing I have to find coins or tokens to fully complete a level takes away from fully taking in what’s going on around me, as I’m constantly looking for the collectibles I need as the level progresses.

[FLips]

4 hours ago, Version1.0 said:

No love for Super Mario Bros Wonder?

Also, how hard is it to release Peggle 3?

I never got around to playing it, but funnily enough found time in between calls at work to finish New Super Mario Bros 2 and Super Mario Bros 3. I don't think I can nominate either of those though.

What I did see of Wonder looked fantastic though and I'll likely get around to it next year.