Don’t believe anybody who says 2023 was a great year for videogames. Yeah, a lot of good games came out this year, across the whole spectrum of the industry, but the big story of 2023 has been the near-constant layoffs and studio closures that have left thousands of developers out of work, even as companies continue to make billions of dollars. It feels hollow to celebrate the work these developers do and the games they create knowing that so many of them are currently out of the industry, with a significant portion unlikely to ever work professionally in games again. And then there’s also the huge number of games journalists who lost their jobs this year, too, amid the larger contraction of media sites and positions that also defined 2023. This wasn’t a good year for games; it might actually be the worst in a good 40 years or so.
Still: the artists and designers who are endlessly exploited by this bullshit business deserve recognition. If you avoid the real world and only focus on what exists inside your computer or gaming consoles, you probably enjoyed yourself this year. The games business might be miserable, but the games? The games are good. Sometimes, at least, and more so in 2023 than usual. Between excellent new entries in some of the most beloved series, new benchmarks in major genres, poignant and inventive personal games, and the mind-bending metanarratives of our top two picks, 2023 gave us a wealth of enjoyable and smartly designed videogames, even as the industry shed jobs at an alarming pace. Here are the best of the bunch.
30. Goodbye Volcano High
It isn’t easy surviving high school—or an extinction-level event. Goodbye Volcano High, a story-driven adventure game from the designers of 2017’s charming interactive toy box Gnog, charges its teenage ennui with the threat of Armageddon, as its cast of anthropomorphic dinosaurs are fully aware an asteroid is coming to destroy their civilization. These lizards share our human frailties, grappling with anxiety, indecision, questions about their identity, romantic hopes and failures, and the chasm of uncertainty we all face as we enter adulthood. Oh, it’s also a rhythm game, where you help its lead character write songs for their very 2020s-sounding indie band. (It turns out songwriting is just as hard as high school and impending doom.) Goodbye Volcano High is more of a visual novel than a traditional game, but its well-told emotional story will resonate with anybody who has ever felt depressed and confused—so pretty much everybody. Also there’s a cute triceratops who won’t shut up about bugs. She’s cool.—Garrett Martin
29. Chants of Sennaar
Imagine if Journey was explicitly about the Tower of Babel. Chants of Sennaar doesn’t follow too directly in the footsteps of thatgamecompany’s modern classic, but it’s just as cryptic and beautiful, with a similarly red-garbed lead character. As its Biblical inspiration suggests, you adventure up a tower whose residents speak a different language on every floor. They can’t communicate with each other, and at first you can barely understand them. You have to puzzle out what their words mean through context, conversation, and repetition, while also contending with occasional stealth sections that can ruin your journey if you’re not careful. Sennaar isn’t perfect, but it’s a unique, fascinating game that sets you loose in an unknown civilization and trusts you to learn your way through.—Garrett Martin
28. Laika: Aged Through Blood
Over the last decade, there’s been no shortage of videogames about sad dads, but we’ve been deprived of similar stories following gruff, melancholic moms. Laika: Aged Through Blood , the latest from the Madrid-based developer Brainwash Gang, fills this gap. Laika is a canine gunslinger tasked with protecting her daughter and village from the encroaching imperialistic might of the Birds, a quickly expanding military force that seeks to dominate all non-beaked life. Amidst a Western-tinged wasteland that is bracing for the end, our hero is forced to rely on her six shooters to shield those she cares about from impending doom. Although it has some rough edges, between its slow-mo motocross shootouts, grim but not overbearingly nihilistic backdrop, and thoughtful exploration of imposed sacrificial motherhood, it blends its inspirations to create something tonally unique. Despite its extreme violence and unapologetic bleakness, Laika is defined by a surprising emotional range thanks to its compelling protagonist and her brutal quest to save those she loves.— Elijah Gonzalez
27. Tchia
Tchia‘s depiction of the unique Melanesian culture of its developers’ homeland, one rarely seen in mainstream global entertainment, is what makes this Zelda-inspired game so special. Although based in a fictional setting, Tchia underscores the importance of New Caledonia’s traditions through the emphasis on the “coutume,” a customary greeting gift that drives much of the game’s collection. Tchia’s most vibrant moments come after you earn the trust of a village, which often leads to a post-dinner celebration with music and dancing. These elaborately choreographed and directed dance numbers double as rhythm mini-games, with Tchia playing along on a ukulele or various percussion instruments while you try to tap buttons according to the onscreen prompts. And although rural settlements are found throughout the game’s many islands, it also goes out of its way to show that small Oceanic countries like New Caledonia have developed urban centers filled with cars and tall buildings. Tchia doesn’t just want to share New Caledonia’s traditions, but flout whatever stereotypical expectations players from larger countries might have about the archipelago. You can file the unrealistic, sci-fi trappings of the story under that latter goal; instead of relying simply on mysticism and folklore for its more fantastical elements, Tchia mixes that up with a spot of sci-fi to subvert expectations. New Caledonia might be a small country in the middle of the Pacific, the developers at Awaceb seems to say, but that doesn’t mean it stories have to remain stuck in the past.—Garrett Martin
26. Pikmin 4
The passion and splendor behind Pikmin 4 is underscored by its horrors. Castaways, including young children, are besieged by nasty carnivorous creatures and forcibly mutated by deranged leaflings. To save them, you must venture out at night when the already horrifying creepy-crawlies of the world go berserk and charge your base. Pikmin 4 would not be as gorgeous of an experience without the brutality faced within; to watch 10 or so Pikmin be impaled, eaten, or flattened in less than a second to absolutely no fanfare is to realize these moments, too, possess a certain serenity. The uncomfortable pain and sadness of Pikmin counterbalances an appreciation for my own toil and the nuance of approaching problems not only creatively and cleverly, but as perfectly as possible.—Austin Jones
25. Super Mario RPG
Super Mario RPG comes as yet another installment in Nintendo’s crusade to remake and remaster its past titles. But, with its Square Enix flourish, Super Mario RPG is also possibly the most unique, most polished product of this crusade. Square Enix original characters bring a new flavor to the standard Mario cast and pushes those usual characters into new roles—with Bowser as a protagonist and Princess Peach as a healer, for example. While the game can drag at times between battles or cinematic moments, on the whole Super Mario RPG is a good example of the videogame remake genre.—Maddie Agne
24. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
More characters and conversation options fill in the gaps of what feels like a slimmer and tighter sequel, and are smart ways to build on the fairly grounded and simple foundation laid out by the original without bloating the sequel. Camena comes across much more believable than Edwards Island (a tourist trap with zero tourists) without filling the screen with bustling towns and scores of characters that would’ve felt out of place in this story and world. Importantly, none of it really bogs down the experience, which satisfyingly runs its course in about six to seven hours and delves further into what’s been going on in and around this town before the events of the games and since the original title. Oxenfree II, despite its proclivity for confusing jumps and skips in time, loops, and detours into other dimensions, is as direct a sequel as you can make to one of the most impactful games of my life, and I’m glad for it.—Moises Taveras
23. Baldur’s Gate 3
Much has been made of how the Dungeons & Dragons-based videogame Baldur’s Gate 3 adapts its tabletop origins, but what’s most interesting about it comes from its videogameness. One of the things that is so thrilling and strange about tabletop to me is that it is negotiable. We can discuss everything, the course is far from set. A videogame, by nature, is bound to its code. There’s unpredictability, sure. But even in a game as big as Baldur’s Gate, there is a single course that all players must chart. There may be hidden secrets, oft-discarded paths, but the general arc of the game is recognizable and familiar to every player. It’s unwise to characterize Baldur’s Gate 3 as a tabletop sim for exactly that reason. It has limits that friends around the table do not have, but that also means it cannot be negotiated with.—Grace Benfell
22. Jusant
Don’t Nod’s mountain climbing game Jusant feels like a full body experience. The triggers, which in any other game are defined by verbs like “punch” or “aim” or “shoot,” instead control the grip of your corresponding hands. Climbing isn’t as simple as pressing forward on a vertical surface, it’s rhythmic and full of split-second decision making and considerations. This rhythm entranced me, blurring the lines between realities in my head as I squeezed the triggers for dear life, wholly believing I’d actually plummet from the couch in my living room in Brooklyn if I let go at the wrong time. You know how sometimes you’ll be playing a tense game, need to peek around a corner, and find yourself mimicking your character and craning your neck around the TV? I had a similar experience the entirety of my time playing Jusant. Lunging from one handhold to another, I reflexively found myself pulling back and then jumping forward in my seat. In one of the later chapters, one particularly long, beautiful and harsh climb basically left me winded, though the reality was that the palpable tension of the sequence subconsciously made me hold my breath until I hit a checkpoint.—Moises Taveras
21. The Making of Karateka
This interactive documentary painstakingly tracks the design of the classic 1984 computer game Karateka. It shows, in exacting detail, how Jordan Mechner created the kung fu fighter, exploring Mechner’s work on both Karateka and his unpublished earlier games through contemporary video interviews, original design notes, correspondence, and multiple iterative prototypes. It reveals the give-and-take between Mechner and his publisher while showing how the then-college aged Mechner’s vision and mindset changed throughout development. Originally released for the Apple II in 1984, Mechner’s game was a bestseller that broke ground for cinematic technique in games, with a clear storyline, cut-scenes, an original score (written by Mechner’s father, Francis Mechner), and editing and cinematography inspired by films. It’s also an early influence on the fighting game; it consists of a series of one-on-one karate fights, similar to Karate Fight and Yie Ar Kung-Fu, which were also both released in 1984. Karateka is like a playable ‘70s kung fu flick, complete with a shocking twist ending if the player isn’t careful. This playable documentary is a brilliant piece of work, and a must-play for Karateka fans and anybody interested in game design.—Garrett Martin
20. A Space for the Unbound
One of the best trends in the modern videogame industry is that it feels like works from all over the world are finally getting their due, allowing developers to tell stories about their own specific cultural experiences. An excellent example is A Space for the Unbound, a narrative-focused adventure game from Mojiken Studio set in ‘90s Indonesia that uses gorgeous pixel art and a cast of sympathetic characters to paint an achingly particular picture of this time and place. We follow Atma and Raya, two high schoolers who uncover a strange phenomenon that threatens their small town. Over the course of this story, it’s hard not to internalize every corner of this neighborhood, from the local arcade full of Street Fighter references to a bridge foregrounded against an impossibly vibrant sky, these backdrops dripping with nostalgic details that make them feel pulled from memory. However, more than just delivering an idealized vision of the past, this well-rendered setting ties us to the emotional journey of its cast, building towards reveals about the dark feelings lingering in their hearts. It may be a slow burn early on, but it all culminates in a powerful climax that thoughtfully handles depictions of mental health issues like depression, making for one of the most moving finales in recent memory.—Elijah Gonzalez
19. Sea of Stars
Sea of Stars taps into heaps of the nostalgia for a bygone era of RPGs, conjuring and bottling this magic that made me fall in love with the genre to begin with. For me, it’s the next Golden Sun, but to others it could be the next incarnation of a Breath of Fire or Chrono Trigger. At the end of the day, this ultimately means that it’s a tale of friendship featuring an eclectic cast of playable characters (spanning the pair of Solstice warriors, an assassin and more) set in an isometric RPG with a kinetic battle system. It’s literally colorful, with wonderfully intricate pixel art that puts the biggest games’ artistic direction to shame. Its story, a humdrum coming of age blown up to world-ending proportions, is sweet, if basic. And then Sea of Stars does what its developer, Sabotage Studios, does best and zag where everyone else would zig.—Moises Taveras
18. Final Fantasy 16
Final Fantasy 16 isn’t short of reasons to be hesitant about it, but despite them, it sings better than you might think. The story may suffer from the classic Final Fantasy dilemma of tackling a lot of characters and trying to find a time and place for them all, but also holds nothing back in regards to its main themes along the way. The developers may stumble on their way to realizing a fully diverse cast, but that cast is also hugely talented and commands their scenes when needed, bringing layers to characters that could’ve been afterthoughts or simple fodder. Even when Final Fantasy 16 turns away from most of the systems that would make it a compelling and tactical RPG, it embraces a deeply rewarding combat system that lets it be expressive in its own way entirely. It’s a button-mashing, occasionally awkwardly sexed-up and mature action game that seems at least a bit ashamed to fully be an RPG, opting instead to fill the space those systems would occupy with timed button prompts a decade out of touch and endless spectacles. It is, at once, this cosmically confused product on one hand, and the most self assured thing on the other. In other words, it’s an RPG fitting of the era, and one of the best games of 2023 so far.—Moises Taveras
17. Dredge
Dredge is over before you know it, in part because it’s genuinely a short game, but also because it kind of wraps you in its eldritch tendrils and doesn’t let go until you’re done with it. I’ve rarely played a game with a more satisfying and simple loop in an intriguing and dubious world I just wish I could’ve seen more of. Between the cults (yep, this game has got those too) and the sort of unexplained nature of Why This Stretch Of Sea Is Like This™, I think it’s actually a world ripe for even more exploration. But even if nothing more should come out of it, Dredge is a wonderful experience in smooth sailing over choppy (maybe even supernaturally charged) waters.—Moises Taveras
16. Metroid Prime Remastered
I’m usually reluctant to put remasters and remakes on lists like this, but this year’s surprise release of Metroid Prime Remastered deserves recognition. The original is one of the two or three best Metroid games ever made, and an all-time Nintendo classic, and the fact that the remaster only needs to make a few minor changes to upgrade it for the modern day only underscores how excellent its foundations are. This is a vital piece of gaming history that has barely aged a day in over 20 years, and one of the best games of 2023 for the Switch.—Garrett Martin
15. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 feels like the best of the three games Insomniac has managed to put out in this series, and this especially helped me explore the game’s nook and crannies to the extent I managed. Web-swinging feels as seamless and kinetic as ever and, to sell a completely different fantasy, Insomniac has given players wings to sort of fly with. It’s more like a glide, but frequent wind tunnels and rooftop vents make it so that you can essentially fly through the city and even into other boroughs with relative ease. In spots like Astoria, which are mostly residential suburbs and thus close to the ground, it feels nice to have the alternative option, which pairs well with a super jump either Spider-Man can now use. Miles has a slight edge in that his Venom lightning powers include a jump and dash forward that especially give him momentum. These powers also help Miles stand out in combat, emerging as the lither of the two protagonists, whereas Peter and his Spider-Arm tech and Symbiote powers clearly hold more of the brute force. While they stand apart, people will gravitate towards their favorite and will largely find they play them very similarly, especially since they share half their abilities and all their gadgets. It’s a largely commendable sequel, building on what’s come before it in smarter ways than I’d expect from most AAA titles.— Moises Taveras
14. Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush is my dream game come true. I’ve always been a sicko for action and rhythm games, but have admittedly only excelled at the latter since music was a significant part of my upbringing. And though I’ve always heard the analogies about combos in action games being rhythmic, few games have ever taken the actual step towards visualizing that in the way Hi-Fi Rush does, or made it as simple to understand. That is just the first in a long string of things that the game gets right. Setting players up against a metronome that’s brought to life in the world around you makes the game feel magical, and by extension you are magic for harmonizing with it. I loved, for example, during one particular combo that needed me to hit the light attack four times with a rest breaking it up into two segments, that the rest was realized in the character model, clearly delineating when it was time to continue. Because of the constant visual and audio aids, slapping enemies with your magnetically assembled impression of an electric guitar to the beat has never made it simpler to execute short but satisfying combos, only made better by many of their flashy finishes, which also demand accuracy to land most efficiently. I swear the game will have you counting beats, and I often caught myself head banging ever so slightly to Hi-Fi Rush’s impeccable score while wailing away at enemy encounters.—Moises Taveras
13. Pizza Tower
If you love doing possibly offensive New York-Italian impressions as much as I do, then I have a game for you. Or if you love, I don’t know, Wario, then Pizza Tower, which is lovingly inspired by the Wario Land games, might just be for you. Pizza Tower’s protagonist, Peppino Spaghetti, is damn near invincible as you slam him full speed into brick walls and enemies in this side scroller. Your mission is to help Peppino save his pizzeria from the evils that would seek to destroy it, and with a limited set of both precise and deranged controls and attacks to operate with, Pizza Tower will keep you engaged in fulfilling that mission. Peppino both owes to and borrows his insanity, his invincibility, and his ability to scroll left and right from earlier Wario Land games. Do you know what he doesn’t have to borrow from Wario? A gun.—Maddie Agne
12. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
One of Super Mario Bros. Wonder ’s major new additions to the Mario canon is the Wonder Flower. It’s a big blue bouncing flower that triggers a psychedelic hurry-up state called a Wonder Effect that warps the level and its characters in weird and unpredictable ways. Wonder Flowers can incite some of the most hallucinatory and memorable sequences in recent Super Mario history, which help make Wonder one of the most unique games in the series’ long history. A perfect example: in one early level, the Wonder Flower turns a legion of Piranha Plants—those Venus Mario-traps that pop out of vines in the Mushroom Kingdom—into a veritable chorus line right out of musical theater, with an elaborate song- and-dance routine that’s one of the most unexpected and charming things I’ve seen in a game in years. Moments and details like these have made Wonder an unpredictably refreshing new spin on the most basic Mario-isms, and the first side-scrolling Mario game that could be considered genuinely revelatory in about 30 years.— Garrett Martin
11. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
Most of what happens in From’s mech game Armored Core VI happens because something needs to. This is not a complex story, the themes are direct and unadorned. There are bits and pieces, information is withheld, endings leave room for speculation. But this is not a game for deep epistemological work. Etymology is explanatory, but not revelatory here. Rubicon has meaning in that From Software has at least done cursory reading of Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars. One of the first real challenges you’ll face is an unhinged, violent AC pilot named Sulla. Does this have any deep hidden meaning? No, not really. You can google it and learn all about Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix if you want. But it won’t truly deepen your understanding of Armored Core VI like every other piece of media, there is no “unlocking” done by understanding the origins of every term. Mostly things are named what they are because it suits a general theme, things need names, and some names just sound more badass than others. Rubicon, for instance, has plenty of historical significance, but mostly people invoke the word “Rubicon” (a truly uneventful river named because of the iron saturation of the riverbed) when they want to either let you know they think they’re being hard as a motherfucker, or they want to call upon the YOLO or Live Más mentality. You know what also sounds pretty hard? “Let us go where the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. The die is now cast.” That last sentence is actually the translation for the third ending achievement. There. Saved you a trip to Fextralife.—Dia Lacina
10. Saltsea Chronicles
In its portrayal of a society based on mutual entanglement, Saltsea Chronicles resists the temptation to sever its beautifully drawn post-disaster world from reality and make it pure fantasy. Instead, mentions of the world before — our world, it turns out — drip through. Throughout it echoes the philosophies of anarchist and socialist thinkers, as well as existing and pre-existing collectivist societies. In linking the Saltsea archipelago to our world while also making it meaningfully distinct, the game resists becoming an allegory and becomes a story in and of itself. It extends beyond being a mirror for contemporary society and instead becomes an illustration of an alternate path forward, another way we could approach the same issues of climate change and environmental devastation that make up the characters’ pasts and presents. In the same vein, Saltsea Chronicles is interested in the injustices that arise when you attempt to construct a wholly non-hierarchical society. It chooses not to structure post-Flood Saltsea as a perfect utopia, instead noting repeatedly and often the ways it fails. In my time with the game this was what impressed me the most: its commitment to realistically presenting the challenges that would be present in a society that’s nominally about fairness and mutual input. People get greedy and claim power anyway, people leverage non-hierarchy to be in control. And less maliciously, people are forced into a controlling role despite their wishes, because of other people’s expectations and desires. —Emily Price
9. Resident Evil 4
Where do you start when remaking a classic? For many, Resident Evil 4 is the quintessential survival-horror game. Time has proven that the game’s shift to action was ultimately the best move. Resident Evil 4 has long been considered an immutable text, and yet at the same time, a large enough contingent of its adorers have clamored for a remake, something that’d necessitate some degree of change to validate its costly existence. The answer, even if it sounds sacrilegious, has been to remix and refine what’s there for a modern crowd .The best possible thing you all could’ve hoped for did come true: The Resident Evil 4 remake is a smashing success. It’s both scary and thrilling, and clears up that not only was its initial success no fluke, but that few titles have properly challenged it ever since. Whether this is your first or most recent trip through its wacky Spanish cult-fest, I’m positive you’ll find lots to love in this game that seems built to last.—Moises Taveras
8. The Banished Vault
Much of The Banished Vault plays out on a map that resembles an Atreides’ war table one might expect to find in early concept art for David Lynch’s Dune. Everything vibrates with a dull warmth. Dimly glittering starfields are inscribed with precise and ritualistic Utopian geometry. The pathways between planets themselves are marked with scalpel-straight alloyed-gold lines that break with efficient angles. At the bottom of every map, a giant throbbing star, and at the top the Auriga Vault, her four Exiles, and their interplanetary transports, which resemble little brass plumb bobs as much as they do spacecraft.
Between maps, Exiles hibernate through an occult ritual with a substance called Stasis, a rare resource that must be produced (not extracted) from more common extracted resources. Each map is its own puzzle to first determine if it is even possible to produce Stasis with the available planetary resources, and then to do so efficiently by navigating your Exiles to build little micro-settlements, ferrying resources between them, while avoiding hazards (narrative crises which play out with skeuomorphic dice rolls based on each Exile’s dwindling Faith stat), within the 30 turns allowed. It looks very easy, it sounds very easy, and it is absolutely a fucking nightmare. Few games have made us this sweaty-frustrated in a long time, but The Banished Vault is the brutality of space simulator we needed.—Dia Lacina
7. Cocoon
Beyond its visual strengths, one of Cocoon’s most fascinating aspects is how its mechanics amplify the mind-expanding qualities evoked by its aesthetics. Just as you’re getting a read on certain repetitive, game-y patterns, such as when a monster encounter or additional power are likely to materialize, things veer off course as the puzzles become increasingly interesting. As its challenges become more complex, they also become increasingly based around cosmic proportions, causing us to feel the odd metaphysics of this space slide around in our gray matter as we undergo a miniature metamorphosis. It’s a genuinely cool effect that feels like the underlying purpose of this endeavor.—Elijah Gonzalez
6. Venba
This short, bittersweet visual novel / puzzle game hybrid examines the immigrant experience through the crucial cultural bedrock of cooking. Set across three decades in the lives of an Indian family who’ve resettled in Canada, Venba is yet more proof that games have the unique capacity to engage us emotionally in ways that other mediums can’t. Like the best meals, Venba ends too soon, but it’s so rich and fulfilling that it’ll leave you satisfied.—Garrett Martin
5. Street Fighter 6
All long-running games eventually have to figure out how to attract new players without disenchanting their fans. It’s even tougher with fighting games, and especially one as old, beloved, and rich in history as Street Fighter. Street Fighter 6 has figured out how to cater to its massive following while still welcoming new players, and then providing both with the innovation of a surprisingly deep RPG on top of the core fighting game. Whether you’ve been mixing it up in those streets for decades or never even reeled off a single hadouken before, Street Fighter 6 should be on your fight card. It’s the new standard in fighting game excellence, and one of the best games of 2023.—Garrett Martin
4. Thirsty Suitors
Thirsty Suitors is a rich narrative that carefully and truthfully deals with culture, family, LGBTQIA+ issues, relationships, and self-expression. You meet and interact with a diverse range of characters in terms of race, personality, and gender and sexual identity, and each are developed and dealt with in their own unique ways. The plot introduces a number of different stories for Jala Jayaratne to unearth and resolve. When you’re trying to repair familial relationships, save Timber Hills’s skateboarding scene, and reconcile with exes, it’s hard for each of those stories to develop in complex and evenly-paced ways, but Thirsty Suitors does its best by giving every story its own focused element that defines it and supports the other stories.—Maddie Agne
Jala is the cool and alternative skater girl I dreamt up when I was younger and wondering what my type was. She’s a vision. She also eschews many of the tropes of romantic characters in games, who are sometimes flattened by the need to be appealing to players by being the multi-faceted protagonist of the story. Sometimes Jala is even unlikeable, lending her dimensions that make her feel like a real person. Rather than turn me away from her, it only solidifies the crush I’ve developed on this character who skirts the line between reality and fantasy wonderfully.—Moises Taveras
3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Tears of the Kingdom looks like Breath of the Wild, sounds like Breath of the Wild, and even plays like Breath of the Wild, and yet it’s so fundamentally different that it’s almost impossible to confuse the two. The sequel to our favorite game of the last decade expands greatly on the original’s map, introducing both upper and lower levels to trek through, and also introduces an Erector Set-style construction toolset that gives you an extreme amount of freedom to experiment and explore. Many love it more than Breath because of that freedom, while others (uh, like me) think it overcomplicates the elegant, immersive beauty of Breath just a little too much. Still, it’s an absolutely amazing Zelda, one of the best games for the Switch, and a clear-cut favorite for one of the best games of 2023.—Garrett Martin
2. El Paso, Elsewhere
El Paso, Elsewhere does something exceedingly difficult: it’s an action-first game that still focuses heavily on its story, and pulls everything off with a consistent level of care and quality. It’s an intentionally “weird” game that doesn’t owe too much to overly referenced cultural touchstones like Twin Peaks or hoary conspiracy theories, and it’s also blatantly indebted to turn-of-the-century gaming without feeling cliched or unoriginal. (Think Max Payne or PS2-era shooters—that’s what El Paso yearns to evoke.) It invites all manner of comparisons and references, and yet defies almost all of them across its 50 chapters. It stirs a lot of echoes, yet makes a sound that’s entirely and unmistakably its own. It does the job and does it well, with the kind of cohesion you rarely see in games: an expertly calibrated suite of mechanics that interconnect flawlessly, combined with a smart, well-written story and an intricately interwoven soundtrack.—Garrett Martin
1. Alan Wake II
Sam Lake reaches the apotheosis of his postmodern kick with this sequel to one of 2010’s most interesting videogames. The Remedy Entertainment head has long tried to break down the barriers between games, film, and literature in a knottier, more avant-garde fashion than the many major studios making “cinematic” games, influenced as much by Pynchon and Twin Peaks as noir or horror movies, and with Alan Wake II he’s crafted another impressive combo of commercial blockbuster and trippy experimentalism. A survival horror game that explores notions of free will, destiny, authorship, and ownership, Alan Wake II doesn’t come close to answering all of the questions it asks, but it raises them with such style, confidence, and confusion that you’ He’ll realize the answers don’t matter. It’s far from a perfect game —the investigation mechanics are inelegant, and Lake’s big narrative swings don’t always connect—but Alan Wake II does more than any other game to undermine the bullshit dichotomy between “AAA” and “indie” games. Just because a game has a budget and a large team doesn’t mean it has to be a safe, hackneyed, overly familiar genre workout.— Garrett Martin