Some say 2023 was a great year for games. For me, personally, I'd say it was above average. There was a handful of good (or at least good-seeming) games but nothing obviously superb -- and then few disappointing ones as well.
The biggest fumble was Arkane Studios' fall from grace. I wonder if they're trying to salvage Redfall -- they haven't released the two heroes for its hero pass yet, which makes me think that there is going to be some big update that maybe makes the game good or something. Just creating two player characters shouldn't take this long.
If that redemption fails, the next release from Arkane (Lyon) will probably be Marvel's Blade. Blade's not the worst possible comic book character, or at least the one portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the New Line films was pretty cool. A game from the third person perspective will be a first for Arkane, however, and who knows what kind of depiction their Blade ends up being. A lot of unknowns and the game is still years away from release too. Announcing it this early maybe wasn't necessary.
2023's game of the year by consensus is Baldur's Gate 3, no doubt, although Alan Wake 2 did challenge it. I'm not myself that hyped about BG3; I just see Divinity all over it. Larian's style is simply too whimsical for me. Due to its Forgotten Realms/D&D setting, I'm not averse to actually playing it, though.
Bethesda's Starfield turned out offensively mediocre and Deck 13's Atlas Fallen wasn't as good as one maybe could've expected from The Surge developers. STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor suffered from performance issues (and still does?).
Dead Space remake is at least gameplay-wise worthy of the original, and the same goes for System Shock remake which finally actually came out. Lies of P was well received but the other big soulslike of the year, Lords of the Fallen (which dropped the definite article), people didn't seem to like as much -- a repeat reception of the first game's reception -- but I think it looks good. Cyberpunk 2077 got its comeback with the release of its Phantom Liberty expansion. Unfortunately the game's system requirements went up with it quite a bit too.
Returnal and Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart got PC ports and I look forward to playing those. The surprise of the year for me was En Garde!. It's a fairly short indie game but it sure appears to be an extremely fun action adventure.
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| 4 more perfect games and +1% from last year |
The achievement highlight of the year was getting Rise of the Tomb Raider to 100% finally by beating its Endurance Co-op challenges just by myself. That adventure was almost a worth a post of its own. Crystal Dynamics had added Epic Online Service integration to the game with its Epic release, meaning that I could play my Steam copy on one PC and the Epic freebie copy on another. However, the EOS integration was (and is?) far from stable -- many sessions ended in a disconnection -- which combined with the around 40 minutes taking (as I recall), 10-day Master and Apprentice achievement being glitchy resulted in some serious frustration. But I did get it eventually. It's still a mystery what exactly prevents the achievement from unlocking. I tried everything suggested around the internet yet the run I got the achievement on was identical to one of the previous, supposedly successful attempts.
The games beaten this year
Great -- top tier fun; worthy of replays
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition [post] Played on: GOG
Isometric fantasy roleplaying game. Easy spot in the top tier by being an absolute classic and one of my all-time favorite games, even with unwanted Beamdog additions in the EE.
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition [post] GOG
Isometric fantasy RPG. Another classic game. The enhanced edition brings Icewind Dale's lacking implementation of AD&D to the level of Baldur's Gate EEs, which is great.
Fine -- interesting or exciting enough for one thorough playthrough
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Post-release content [post] Ubisoft+
Third person action adventure in Viking-era England (and other places). Ubisoft added a lot of stuff atop the base game. It is of varying quality but generally from average to great. Very much worth playing through if you were already invested.
Atomic Heart [post] Game Pass
First person scifi shooter set in an alternative Soviet Russia. Leans heavily on BioShock but does stand on its own gameplay-wise. Writing is questionable at times.
Control: AWE & The Foundation [post] GOG
DLC for the third person shooter/action-adventure in a 'new weird' setting. Both DLCs are great in their own right: AWE may be of particular interest if you're into Remedy's Alan Wake games.
Jusant [post] Game Pass
Third person platformer-climber. Pretty straightforward and easy, yet gripping and has a handful of cool mechanics that action-adventure games should perhaps copy.
Shadow Warrior 3 [post] Game Pass
First person shooter/action game with fantasy elements. Short but sweet. The protagonist's new voice actor may rub a fan the wrong way.
Mediocre -- generally entertaining but has something that hampers the overall experience; average
Everspace 2 [post] Game Pass
Space shooter. One of my most anticipated releases of the year -- that ended up being disappointing. Long and tedious. All the concentrated fun of the first game stretched thin over the vastness of space. Still beauteous though.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War [post] Steam
Third person action-adventure in Middle-earth. Doesn't feel very new despite its additions; would probably be tiresome to play right after Shadow of Mordor. No longer has the real money lootboxes it had for the first year post-release.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker [post] Epic
Isometric fantasy RPG. Ambitious and bloated. Would have been better without the extraneous management elements. Unity continues providing a bad experience as the engine for games of this genre.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary [post] GOG
Third person action-adventure. Second game of the first reboot trilogy; a remake of the very first Tomb Raider. Can be quite challenging at times.
Tomb Raider: Legend [post] GOG
Third person action-adventure. The first game of the trilogy. Has definitely aged by now but still has certain charm.
Tomb Raider: Underworld [post] GOG
Third person-action adventure. Trilogy finisher with a great final boss fight. Slightly more advanced engine allowed slightly better visuals.
Bad -- games I would have been better off without playing; not a good time
Amnesia: The Bunker [post] Game Pass
First person survival horror. Couldn't help but compare this to Alien: Isolation due to the similarities and The Bunker just can't compete with such so much bigger of a production.
Far Cry Primal [post] Ubisoft+
First person action-adventure in 10,000 BCE. A Far Cry without fun (i.e. guns and explosions).
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy [post] Game Pass
Third person comic book action-adventure. Linear and shallow, with a lot of inconsequential yapping. The game's vibes did not resonate with me.
Redfall [post] Game Pass
First person co-op shooter with vampires. Buggy and uninspired. Before release I had maintained a sliver of hope that it wouldn't be bad but... yeah. Amazing that Arkane Austin went from Prey to this.
Upcoming games of 2024 include:
- Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn from A44 Games got delayed all the way to Q3 2024
- Same with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 from Saber Interactive
- Avowed from Obsidian Entertainment is supposed to be a 2024 release
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 from The Chinese Room finally got a release window (and a new developer studio who seem a bit suspect for a title like this)
- Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is supposed to come out next summer - time for a good BioWare game for a change? Anyone?
- Alone in the Dark from Pieces Interactive
- Outcast - A New Beginning from Appeal Studios (not entirely sure about this but seems interesting)
- Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden from Don't Nod
- Assassin's Creed Codename Red (Japan) from Ubisoft Quebec might be a late year release
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