Ian's Top Ten Games of 2023

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

9.7

0 Want

MetroidvaniaSci-fiActionRPG

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is packed with so many spectacular, acrobatic stunts that simply listing them all would take up all the space I have for this top ten list. If we know anything about developer Respawn, it’s that they know how to do momentum—well, that, and how to make a sequel that blows the doors off an already great first game (Titanfall 2 still holds a very special place in my heart). The dreadful technical state Jedi: Survivor arrived in keeps it from being a higher entry on this list, but fortunately it’s in much better condition now and is definitely one of my favorite games of 2023.

Ultimate General: American Revolution

0

0 Want

Tactical4XGrand StrategySandbox

When I first started out writing about games, strategy and wargames were my bread and butter, so I was thrilled to finally get my hands on Ultimate General: American Revolution, which launched in early access in November. I’m having a blast taking it to Johnny Redcoat in the tactical battles of course, but this game’s strategic campaign has me hooked in a way that Ultimate General: Civil War never quite managed. There’s a kind of RPG aspect to starting out as newly minted General George Washington and going town to town looking for new recruits to help recapture the city of Boston. Expect to see this pop up on Steam sometime in the spring.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

8.9

0 Want

GoreHistoricalDifficultAction RPG

Combining the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with Evil Dead was a good idea on its own, but there are plenty more good ideas in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Exploring levels and raising battle flags creates a per-mission progression system and rewards exploration, and the most powerful technique in the game is also its simplest: deflection. Using an enemy’s own attacks against them opens up opportunities for spectacular killing blows, even against kaiju-scale bosses. As a bonus, this game also offers an unforgettable hands on lesson in why it is a bad idea to pursue Lu Bu.

System Shock

10

0 Want

Action

System Shock is one of those super influential games from the ’90s that’s effectively impossible to play now—and even if you can get it running, the effect is lost thanks to three decades of modernization and innovation. Nightdive’s stunning remake is a completely new presentation that’s nonetheless faithful to the original game, restoring the sinister atmosphere of its haunted space station for today’s audiences. The balance between faithfulness to the source material and modern accessibility seems almost impossible to strike in the case of System Shock, but Nightdive knocked it out of the park.

Lords of the Fallen

8.5

0 Want

ActionRPGSouls-likeCo-op

When I saw that the trailers for Lords of the Fallen were using songs by Danzig and Iron Maiden, I knew they were speaking directly to me. It worked! I’ve had a blast with the new Lords of the Fallen, which wears all its influences on its over-greebled sleeve. It has some great ideas of its own too, though: The umbral lantern lets you peer beyond the veil into the realm of death, but beware, because there are things in there that will peer back—and sometimes reach out to grab you and pull you in. In a year of multiple surprisingly strong Soulslike games, Lords of the Fallen was my personal favorite.

Against the Storm

10

0 Want

SandboxColony SimSurvivalStrategy

Don’t sleep on this fantastic survival city builder from Eremite Games, because it’s the freshest take on the genre I’ve ever played. Each town you build is its own little expedition with unique starting conditions and resources, and so every session of Against the Storm presents a new set of challenges, as well as a new path to victory. There’s a wonderful sense of improvisation, too: If the land doesn’t support wheat, I can make flour out of something else and use a different bread recipe in the bakery. Speaking of which, should I let humans handle the baking, or do we give the job to some of the lizards? They’re awful at baking, but being warm makes them happy. I love these kinds of decisions, and Against the Storm is packed with them.

dotAGE

0

0 Want

Another survival city builder, DotAge is nonetheless an entirely different experience from Against the Storm—and from everything else in the genre, come to think of it. One way to describe it is as a turn-based worker placement game with a roguelite meta-progression system; another way would be that it’s about cute little pixel people with a prophecy problem. Catastrophes will strike, and the only question is how your people will face them—can you build your town’s sense of community and preparedness, or will your community succumb to fear, cold, and starvation because you didn’t think to transition away from berry-picking in the spring?

Alan Wake 2

9.4

0 Want

DarkHorrorSingleplayerEditors' Choice

There’s nothing predictable about Alan Wake 2, which starts off like a gritty Netflix FBI procedural and quickly moves into the supernatural before letting reality collapse entirely. The references to Twin Peaks are easy to spot, but Alan Wake 2 treats that David Lynch inspiration as a jumping-off point rather than a destination. It’s a masterfully made game on every level, up to and including the live action video sequences and dance numbers. No, I will not explain that any further, you’re just going to have to play the game.

ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™

9.8

0 Want

Post-apocalypticRobotsFast-pacedMechs

The more I play Armored Core VI, the more I love it. Like all of FromSoftware’s games, it’s a brutal teacher. The lessons are worth learning, though, because when properly piloted, an AC is a weapons platform like no other, capable of long-range bombardment, vicious close-in strikes, and balletic spins and pirouettes through the air. It’s a game that demands every ounce of mental bandwidth I can scrape together, and the payoff is always magnificent—besting a particularly ferocious opponent is a glorious feeling every time.

Baldur's Gate 3

9.9

0 Want

RPGFantasyStory Rich

I’ve already written a lot about why Baldur’s Gate 3 is an important game, so I think I’ll take the opportunity now to say that it’s also a hell of a lot of fun. I’ve never played another computer RPG that so fully understands and captures the energy of a tabletop campaign. There’s always that player at the table who wants to get creative with the rules for Mage Hand or Misty Step, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is the dungeon master who’ll bend over backwards to try to make it work. As I’ve said elsewhere, this is the new high watermark for video game RPGs, and I’m very thankful that it exists.