What were the best and worst games you played in 2023?

burnso@lemmy.world to Games@lemmy.world – 96 points –

The title of this post made me think about the best and worst I’ve played this year.

The best:

  • The Case of the Golden Idol. Short and sweet mystery game in the vein of Return of the Obra Dinn. Not quite as good IMO but I still liked it quite a bit.
  • Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Don’t let the IP fool you, this is a really solid turn based strategy game, occasionally with really solid writing. The “dating sim”/downtime parts were surprisingly fun at best and dragged down the pacing at worst.
  • Death’s Door. Really cool, minimalistic, take on a Zelda-like game. Similar to Tunic in a lot of ways. Funny, cute and probably the best game about death I’ve ever played.
  • Moving Out. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much while playing a game as I did with Moving Out. It will always hold a special place in my heart for allowing me to connect and laugh with people I love but don’t get to see very often.

Generally I mostly play games a while after release and based on recommendations I trust. As such there aren’t many real stinkers I can think of (plenty of games that I found overrated though). With that said, here are my worst:

  • Doki Doki Literature Club. With the way this game is set up it’s all about the twist. The problem is that the game it pretends to be until then is incredibly boring. Maybe it would have helped if I wasn’t somewhat aware of what is really is but generally I found this game to be a slog.
  • Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. Games that rely heavily on humor are always hit or miss. Unfortunately this one wasn’t for me in and the actual gameplay was incredibly bare bones.

Thanks for reading! What is your list?

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Favourites, not really ordered

  • Street Fighter 6 - Really really good fighting game, definitely a recommend if you want to play one.

  • Baldurs Gate 3 - It is BG3, what more needs to be said?

  • Octopath Traveler 2 - It is more of the first, but more refined and better at tying the characters together.

  • Dead Space Remake - If you like the original, you should really play this, it is incredible.

  • Remnant 2 - Great game, a good refinement of the first remnant, and fantastic in co-op.

  • Last Epoch - I really like the leveling systems(Character and also Skills). Not perfect, but fun and chaotic.

  • Crab Champions - Crab goes BRRR. Not many games I go out of my way to 100% but this games feels incredible to play.

  • Spiderman & Miles Morales - Finally pick up on the cheap, if you enjoy the Batman Arkham formula, these two are fantastic. Miles Morales definitely feels like a large DLC though.

  • Driftwood - Longboarding Sloth, super chilled out and relaxing. Just enjoy carving down the hills on sticks of butter.

  • Lumines - The best game on the PSP, and still love it(picked up for cheap with Tetris, but prefer Lumines)

The not so good.

  • Ghost Runner 2 - I want to like this more, I loved the first game, but the wide open levels and bike traversal just don't feel good or fun.

  • Diablo 4 - Play Last Epoch instead, D4 feels boring and bland and uninspired after finishing the story.

  • Blasphemous - Didnt click with me, the combat felt good and the movement was good, but never stuck with it, will probably try again at some point.

  • Hyper Light Drifter - I have tried a few times, and I keep bouncing off it.

  • Ori and the Blind Forest - I also want to like this game, but bounced off it again.

While Street Fighter 6 is my Favourite game of the the year, Baldurs Gate 3 is definitely the GOTY. I would strongly recommend any game from the favourites list. I haven't played any really bad games this year, Diablo 4 is probably the worst I have played, do not recommend it. Unlike the other games which I would be tempted to suggest under certain circumstances.

On Ori and the Blind Forest - if you generally enjoy platformers, I would encourage you to give the sequel a shot, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I played BF years ago and like you, I bounced off it. Then a couple of years back I tried WotW and loved it.

I subsequently went back and retried BF, and I realized that every issue I had with the gameplay had been fixed in the sequel.

The story of the first game only factors into the second game in minor ways, so you'll be fine if you skip it.

I will give it a try, pretty sure it is in the steam library, but probably be a couple months til I get round to it now (Granblue is being an absolute blast).