Our personal top-five games of 2023
You’ve probably already seen Eurogamer’s top 50 games of 2023, but we didn’t leave our end of year thoughts there. Big lists can sometimes feel impersonal, and as you know, individual tastes in games are anything but. So, we wanted to cobble together our collected thoughts on the games we felt shaped 2023.
This brief series of articles will, then, collect the top fives of a handful of different Eurogamer writers each day, and run for four days. The top fives aren’t ordered because ordering is not what’s important here – it’s seeing which games were special to people this year, and hearing about why. And please, feel free to share yours.
Ian
Alan Wake 2
I’ve been playing video games since the tape-loading days of the ZX Spectrum so it takes a special kind of game wow me nowadays. One little wow moment is good enough but then, at an age where I feel like I’ve seen it all, Alan Wake 2 comes along and oozes originality out of the screen. I’ve not even completed the game yet – I’ve been taking it slow, drinking it in and savouring every unexpected surprise, be it story-based, a piece of mend-bending visual trickery or even a whole damn [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS]. Sure, it’s a bit slow for some people, but it’s worth playing just for the way that it plays with you. I doubt we’ll see a game this inventive and well-produced for a long time to come.
Super Mario Wonder
Super Mario Wonder is such a joyful game – a piece of sunshine trapped in a Nintendo Switch that never fails to make me smile (except for the level Fluff-Puff Peaks Special Climb to the Beat. That can get absolutely stuffed). Super Mario Wonder reminds me so much of Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo and how I felt when I used to play that game as a child, and really, that’s a totally Nintendo thing to do.
Synapse
The way Synapse works with the tech afforded by the PSVR2’s headset and controllers, to make you feel effortlessly cool and powerful, is unlike anything else I’ve ever played, and its only downfall for me is the fact that it’s rather short. The shooting and cover mechanics are great, the black and white visuals punctuated by bursts of colour are super stylish, and the Force-like telekinesis mechanics that are controlled using the PSVR2’s eye-tracking technology are intoxicating to say the least. Synapse is a game that deserves to be played by everyone who owns a PSVR2.
Robocop: Rogue City
Sure, Robocop: Rogue City may be super faithful to the movies and be a Robocop fan’s dream come true. And sure, it has gorgeous graphics and some excellent moments of skull-popping ultra violence. But all of that fades into the background when you get into a firefight with some nuked-up creeps and an explosion sets off a chain reaction of detonating spray paint cans. The bright clouds of colour blooming out of fire and flesh look stunning, and as soon as I found out that the paint cans could burst in such a satisfying way, I never passed one without popping it.
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Making a game I’ve played through multiple times interesting to play through again is quite the feat, but Capcom managed it with the Resident Evil 4 Remake – and then some. But the main reason this one is on my list is the sumptuous VR mode that allows you to see its grey and gory world through the eyes of Leon Kennedy. It works so well in VR it feels like a brand new game. It looks insanely detailed and, combined with the physical reloading of weapons, it’s incredibly immersive. In my opinion, the PSVR2 mode is the best way to play through the game.
Marie
Apex Legends
Kicking off my list is Apex Legends. Yes, it wasn’t released this year but its ongoing updates, new season content and limited-time events made it feel new each time I dropped in over 2023.
Apex Legends has always given depth to its characters through intriguing and often heart-wrenching backstories, alongside developing them in real-time through events. The Uprising event marks the final chapter in a story about my personal favourite Legend, Revenant. Kill Code has been a story that’s brought mystery, peril, and fear to the Outlands, and seeing it wrapped up in what can only be described as one of the best events of the year – where you take on a Simulacrum Army and failure results in you becoming one of them – is the reason Apex has taken this spot.
Hi-Fi Rush
Chai! Chai! Chai! It’s been a few months and I still can’t get that chant out of my head. I can’t think of another way to describe Hi-Fi Rush other than it being pleasantly addictive, thanks to its audio design and cheeky humour. The way Chai moves to the beat of the music in the background of each level, while you try to attack enemies to the same beat, combines wonderfully. The beat is there and you soon find that you are instinctively trying to follow it.
Also, the art style masters that classic comic look while silkily side-stepping motion sickness – something I often struggle with in games like this. Even though I’ve completed it several times, I always end up going back for more.
Spider-Man 2
My teenage years were the same time as the peak of the MCU, and playing Spider-Man 2 thrust me back there, to the time where heroes battled villains and we watched the emotional turmoil of our heroes as they teetered on defeat. This was a big theme in Spider-Man 2 with both Miles and Peter, which was a big reason I felt compelled to finish it so quickly.
