Photo: Alex Haney / Unsplash
This has been a great year for gaming, with more than 50 major games released in the last 12 months - including big names like Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Here are the ones that stood out for me.
Friends vs Friends
Windows & Linux
I made a point of avoiding multiplayer-only games in this list, but this one slipped through the cracks. Friends vs Friends is an FPS (first-person shooter) game where two to four friends battle each other, and the first player or team to three points wins.
It sounds simple, but there's a refreshing twist; for each round, you can draw from a deck of cards with varying abilities to add another tier of frenzied chaos and fun. Will you distract your opponent with smoke bombs? Or rush them with a katana? Whatever you do, don't take too long to decide, or it'll be over before you know it.
Friends vs Friends is a simple game that doesn't require a lot of thought. It's a palate cleanser, like a piece of ginger between bites of sushi. Play this when you're being destroyed in those other multiplayer games and just want to feel good about yourself again - and make sure you bring a friend.
Viewfinder
Windows & PlayStation 5
This is a puzzle game where your perception can quite literally change reality. It does so with an innovative game mechanic, and each level encourages you to explore its limits.
The objective is simple - reach the teleporter and get to the next puzzle. You have a Polaroid camera at your disposal; use it to take photos, place it in the air and change the space in your field of view. If you're struggling to find a path, you might just need a change of perspective.
Viewfinder is set in a world where all plant life has disappeared, but you don't have to engage with the grim setting to enjoy it. The soothing art style, music, and the sense of accomplishment from getting the perspectives right is akin to the feeling you get when playing Superliminal, Antichamber or Portal.
Hi-Fi Rush
Windows, Xbox Series X/S
Chai can't play an instrument to save his life, but he's always felt the need to rock. He jumps at the opportunity to sign up for an experimental procedure for a cybernetic enhancement, hoping to become a decent guitar player. He's initially ecstatic to wake up with a robot arm, until he quickly realises that his MP3 player is surgically implanted in his chest - marking him as faulty and scheduled for disassembly. Now able to feel the rhythm of the world around him, he must fight back against the evil corporation responsible.
If you've ever felt Guitar Hero or Rock Band weren't stimulating enough, this might be the game for you. In this rhythm-based action fighter, you are rewarded for timing your attacks to the beat of the world, but it doesn't punish those who are rhythmically challenged.
The comic book aesthetic and high-energy beats make this game an audio-visual treat for all ages. The euphoria of clearing a level by perfectly landing each attack to the beat is what I imagine Neo felt like seeing the Matrix for the first time.
Resident Evil 4 (remake)
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation VR2, PlayStation 4, Windows, Mac & iOS
This is the Resident Evil series' and the survival horror genre's magnum opus. I never played the original due to its clunky mechanics, so it was a pleasant surprise to experience this polished remake.
You play special agent Leon on a mission to rescue the president's daughter from a rural Spanish village seemingly taken over by a cult. RE4 throws you in the deep end right off the bat, with little to no guidance as you navigate stuffy corridors with diminishing weapons and ammo. It then proceeds to rush you through a series of intense action scenarios that will have you at the edge of your seat. You can't afford to make any mistakes (keep moving or find a chainsaw sticking out of your torso).
RE4's fast-paced and unforgiving nature, paired with its tight focus on combat and survival, keeps the tension ramping up and up, making this remake a splendid example of what true survival horror should feel like.
Baldur's Gate 3
Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Mac & Windows
You wake up on an alien-like ship after being infected with a parasite that will turn you into a hideous monster. Before you can even come to terms with your new reality, you must make your escape, gathering others like you so you may live to fight another day. Upon escaping, you find yourself in a vast world filled with adventure - pick any direction and any companion as you venture forth. Will you embrace your fate and join the oppressors, fight to save the world, or forge your own path? In Baldur's Gate 3, your options are almost limitless.
This party-based RPG (role-playing game) set in the Dungeon & Dragons universe won the TGA Game of the Year award and has topped practically every 'best of 2023' games list. I'd go one step further and call it my game of the decade.
BG3 set a new precedent for the gaming industry thanks to a near-perfect launch ahead of schedule. It showed studios that you can provide a full experience at a single price point and still turn a profit, all while retaining a concurrent player base and looking after your employees. Larion Studios delivered on all their promises, and that gave me hope for the future of the games industry.
It was hard to whittle this list down to just five games - other noteworthy titles of 2023 include Cocoon, Laika: Aged Through Blood, and Connections, the alleged usurper of Wordle.
- Pratik Navani is a seasoned video game enthusiast and lover of all things tech.
