You’re Not Seeing Things — It’s Been a Great Year For Video Games Thus Far
While the politics of video games are still heavily under discussion and some companies just don’t “get it” when it comes to capturing what players really want, let’s be honest — 2023 has been a stupendous year for video games.
We’ve seen a fair share of outrageously great releases, and that’s well before Baldur’s Gate 3 came along and changed the game even further. Over the past few months, we’ve seen some hard-hitters from the likes of Nintendo, Warner Bros. and others. And it sets the tone for what should be a great second half.
Let’s just do a quick rundown of games that really shook things up for2023.
There Were Some Real AAA Gems
First off, obviously, we have to bring up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The long-awaited follow-up to Breath of the Wild didn’t disappoint, even with its visual shortcomings. The game scored big with players, selling over 18 million copies; and it ranks at 96 on Metacritic, with only Baldur’s Gate 3 ahead of it.
Close behind it was the remarkable remake of Metroid Prime Remastered, which has sold quite well and sits at 94 on Metacritic. Don’t be surprised if we see the other two chapters of the game follow closely behind, along with some other GameCube remakes. I need me some Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II, dang it.
It was also the year for blockbusters to shine. Despite a heavy cancellation campaign against it, Hogwarts Legacy thrived with players, selling 12 million copies and scoring a solid 85 on Metacritic, meaning that people didn’t mind going back to this magical world after all.
Remakes of Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 did incredibly well on the market, thanks to the solid polish provided by dev teams and a little bit of retweaking to make them more playable than ever before. It doesn’t hurt that they brought the scares either.
And wow, did Street Fighter 6 come out of nowhere to conquer the, ahem, streets. Not only is it a big hit with the online community, but casual fans love it as well; and its hub is dialed in to nearly everything that a Capcom player would want (super expensive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DLC not included).
Other notable games for the quarter include Activision Blizzard’s well-received Diablo IV; the surprise Bethesda hit Hi-Fi Rush, which is one of the most original games in years; the out-of-nowhere smash hit Remnant 2; and Final Fantasy XVI and Pikmin 4 picking up slack.
2023 also marked an excellent year for indie games, too. Pizza Tower, a hilarious little Wario-inspired platformer, won us over with its level design and sheer wackiness; Tron: Identity told a compelling new tale that we weren’t expecting from the team behind John Wick Hex; Dredge’s amazing mechanics and storytelling really went a long way; and Everspace 2 is doing really well with its console launch this far.
Not Everything’s Rosy
That said, 2023 has also seen its fair share of bad games. Granted, not nearly as many as good ones, but there are some noteworthy losses out there.
One big one that’s hard to ignore is The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. It’s just…miserable. Its stealth mechanics are so broken and its world is so poorly designed that it practically scared the publisher from developing any games internally ever again.
For that matter, Nintendo also surprisingly had a dud. Everybody-1–2-Switch was supposed to be a party favorite, but failed to catch on with people — even with devoted fans of 1–2-Switch. Maybe the company just tried to go back to the well instead of, I dunno, giving us a new F-Zero or something. Can’t win them all.
Not to mention whatever the hell Crime Boss: Rockay City was supposed to be. It’s got an all-star cast that includes Chuck Norris and Kim Basinger, but wastes them in a poor playing first-person romp that’s trying desperately to be a cross between PayDay and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. And, surprise, it tried both directions and didn’t work.
Where’s That Lead Us For the Rest of the Year?
Wow, we’ve got a lot of games that are still sure to win us over. WrestleQuest drops in a couple of weeks and looks exciting; Sea of Stars will finally arrive and I’m sure traditional RPG fans will love it; and, of course, Armored Core VI and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are sure to please their diverse set of fans.
That’s just this month, too. We’ll see other big releases soon, such as Starfield, Mortal Kombat 1, The Crew Motorfest, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Detective Pikachu Returns (give us DeVito!), Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Forza Motorsport, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection, Flashback 2, the new Modern Warfare III from Call of Duty land (ehhh), Super Mario RPG Remake, and, yes, a new Avatar game, though we’ll have to see how it fares.
But, man, is this year loaded. And we’ve already seen an impressive bump up in quality thus far, for the most part. I’m eager to see where it all ends, and then compile which games are the best of the best.
Have a great week, all!
