2023 Games Review

2023 Games Review

2 Star Games

Sky Children of Light. Very disappointing pseudo sequel to Journey

 

Snowrunner. Frustrating controls

 

Lumistice. Unforgiving platformer

 

Minecraft Legends. Very hard to get into, poor real time strategy.

3 Star Games

Garden Story. I was hoping this would be more like Turnip Boy

Monster Sanctuary. Too many high difficulty spikes

Mutazione

Lets Build A Zoo. I found It annoying that you couldn’t just buy animals for your zoo.

Minecraft Dungeons. Good for what it is but a bit boring

Citizen Sleeper. I liked the idea but found it difficult to proceed in the story due to random chance. What did I expect from a dice rolling game

The Wandering Village. I liked it and it’s a clever idea but playing in early access meant there was little to do.

Temtem. I don’t know why this is considered a Pokemon killer. Every good idea is buried under layers of frustration.

Steamworld Build. This seems like it would be perfect for me but I couldn’t get into it.

Cassette Beasts. A strong start just leads to mundane side quests

Get A Grip Chip. Short but enjoyable platformer

4 Star Games

Beacon Pines

 

Nexomon. Nexomon is the cloest any game has come to Pokemon and while this game is not as good as it’s sequel, I enjoyed it.

 

Journey To the Savage Planet

 

Death Stranding. What a weird game. Too many online elements to make it a 5 game for me

 

Super Kiwi 64

 

Solos. Originally an achievement game

 

Agent A Under Fire. Originally an achievement game.

 

Grapple Dog

 

Lumini. This was meant to be an achievement game but it was so realzing and interesting, I played it in full twice.

Pac Man World Re Pac: Decent platformer remake

 

Venba

 

MxPixel 3

 

Lil Gator Game. I wish this game has some signposting or a better radar.

 

Polyroll. Pity the later parts of the game were gated by lack of progressd

 

Persona 5 Tactica. Gameplay was good but story was a bit dull.

 

5 Star Games

Ayo the Clown

 

Lego Star Wars. Excellent return to form for Lego Games

 

Animal Crossing New Horizons. Spent so many years developing the perfect island

 

Subnautica Below Zero. Just not as good as the oriingal but still an excellent game.

 

Triangle Strategy. Great story and strong characters added to fantastic tactical strategy

 

Quarantine Circular

 

Stray. Play as a cat. Brilliant.

 

Two Point Campus. I got on very well with this game, completing every campus to at least one star.

 

Fuga Melodies Of Steel. Sad story with tragic implications. Fun combat gameplay

 

The Quarry. Played this game so many times, I’ve seen almost every story twist

 

Live A Live. Brillliant remake of a unique RPG.

 

Return To Monkey Island. Another funny enjoyable Monkey Island game. That ending though..

 

Toree 2

 

Blanc. Short and sweet co-op game.

 

The Spirit And The Mouse

 

Sonic Origins. Combining the first four Sonic games into one story is a great idea. The challenges are brilliant

 

Kao The Kangaroo. Very reminiscent of early era Playstation games.

 

Powerwash Simulator. For a game where you just wash things, its surpisingly compelling

 

Far Changing Tides. Excellent sequel which just doesn’t quite meet the emotional stakes of the first game.

 

Sackboy. Strong co-op adventure

 

Tinykin. While it has a superficial similarity to Pikmin, it’s does a lot different and is an excellent game in its own right.

 

High On Life. Found this funnier and with a more interesting story then I was expecting. Gamepay was good and varied.

 

Starfield. Not as good as Elder Scrolls or Fallout that I’ve played. However, it does come into it’s own with a compelling story as it goes on with a clever ending

 

Frog Detective. Such a nice game

 

Sea Of Stars. Excellent old school RPG.

 

Stardew Valley. So much more then a Harvest Moon rip-off, I really enjoyed building up my farm.

 

Goat Simulator 3. An impressive open world map with plenty to do.

Suika Game. Simple puzzle game

 

Top Ten Games of 2023

Planet Of Lana. Excellent 2D platform adventure game

 

Deathloop. Surprising addition to my top ten as it was a game I played on Game Pass. It is a clever game and getting the good ending and breaking the loop feels earned and is satisfying

 

Hardspace Shipbreaker. For a game involving work and also space ships, it’s such a simple pleasure to correctly dismantle and dispose of a ship. I really liked the story as well.

 

Cocoon. My brain is still having a hard time figuring out the mechanics towards the end of Cocoon, the fact that it all works so well and it’s hard to get lost only makes this more impressive.

 

Vampire Survivors. At first I dismissed this as a bullet shooter but the more I played, the more I appreciated the depth and variety.

 

The Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog. What was announced as an April Fools joke is a surprisingly decent mystery adventure game.

 

The Great Ace Attorney. It took my years to get through both of Ace Attorneys games but what a journey it was.

 

Good Life. For what was meant to be a casual club game. This just completely hooked me. It was so corny but it completely charmed me. Goddamn hellhole.

 

Pikmin 4. So much more to this then previous games but every addition feels worthwhile

 

Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom. Struggled to get into this at first when I realized it was the same Hyrule as the first game, but the more I played, the more I saw how the new mechanics made everything so new and frest.

 

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