I think 2023 may have had even slower gaming output from me than 2022 or any other previous year. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of titles out this year; this current generation looks to finally be hitting its stride. I am trying more and more to play games that have actual endings rather than open ended gameplay. And for the open ended games, I have been trying to avoid getting distracted with every side mission. I had a lot of fun with Cyberpunk 2077 though which made it hard right out the gate and I think I put something like 50 hours into Horizon: Forbidden West.
I was able to get some good online time in with friends and the games that I did play I enjoyed and got plenty of hours out of. Looking at my list, no real clunkers for me this year. The outlook for next year is bright with Super Mario Wonder ready to be started on 1/1/24. Have a great year everyone who reads this!
January 2023
Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5) – 1/6/23
Toem (PS5) – 1/9/23
March 2023
Minecraft Dungeons (PS4) – 3/16/23
Huntdown (PC) – 3/21/23
April 2023
Gorn (PSVR) – 4/2/23
Horizon: Forbidden West (PS5) – 4/4/23
Creed: Rise To Glory (PSVR) – 4/22/23
Superliminal (PC) – 4/29/23
June 2023
Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) – 6/8/23
Trek To Yomi (PS5) – 6/25/23
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (PS5) – 6/30/23
July 2023
Halo 2 – Halo MCC (PC) – 7/2/23
The Case of the Golden Idol (Mac) – 7/15/23
Call of Duty: Cold War (PS5) – 7/16/23
August 2023
It Takes Two (PS5) – 8/29/23
September 2023
Mortal Kombat 1 (PS5) – 9/19/23
Dave the Diver (PC/Mac) – 9/20/23
October 2023
Lake (PS5) – 10/7/23
December 2023
We Love Katamari Reroll (PS5) – 12/21/23
Prodeus (PS5) – 12/31/23
2023 Gaming Superlatives
As I mention in my disclaimer every year, these games may not have come out this year but they definitely got on my radar and occupied most of my time this year.
Best Game – Playstation 5: Mortal Kombat 1 – I am a simple man. A new Mortal Kombat comes out and I buy it. Outside of those weird single player spin-offs they made in the early 00’s and Mortal Kombat 4, I have usually been getting Mortal Kombat’s within the release window. I really enjoyed MK 11, it’s storyline, and expanding pop culture roster crossover so the “franchise reboot” that MK 1 brought was a no brainer. Hell, I even got the steelbook for the physical disc this time around. They see me from a mile away.
Single player storyline is again top notch for fans of Mortal Kombat lore, tons of great references and appearances. It’s funny to see how in depth the game has gotten since being a Street Fighter knockoff in the early 90’s. While there are promises for more single player storyline, the Incursion mode keeps things going single player with a series of challenges and characters from what seems to be a procedurally generated universe. A lot of great mashups of characters.
Runner Up: PGA 2K23 – I play golf, but not well. I play video game golf too, but not well as well (see what I did there). Thankfully I have a few good friends in real life who may be better than me at real golf, but the playing field is evened out online. Since the game came out free on Playstation Plus earlier this year, we have gotten at least two to three rounds in online a month as a group. It’s great to play with headsets, watch each others horrible shots and talk shit along the way. The button press control scheme works great for me compared to using the stick hit and there are plenty of great built in and user created courses. It’s just like real golf, but a whole less embarrassing for me when it comes to the actual golf work.
Best Game – Switch: Wrestling Empire – I barely touched my Switch this year until I bought Wrestling Empire late in the year and I put in close to 30 hours with it and I have absolutely nothing to show for it.
When you first see Wrestling Empire, it looks like something crudely put together when compared to the big budget professional wrestling games from WWF and AEW. This works to the games advantage because it seems to attact a much less toxic wrestling fanbase. The look and feel is a throwback to some of the greatest wrestling games ever made: WCW/NWO Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania 2000, WWF No Mercy. Once you get into the gameplay, customization, and roster, you realize there is a whole lot more going on. No one element of the game works perfectly which makes the whole end product so interesting. On to of this, the whole thing being made by one person is an amazing feat. I am looking to try the developer’s other Switch game, Old School, at some point this year too.
Runner Up: Samba De Amigo – I remember the first time I saw Samba De Amigo many many years ago. It was being played on a Dreamcast and featured 1st party Maraca controllers. This was before Guitar Hero and a whole bunch of other rhythm games. Shaking the Maracas to Reel Big Fish’s “Take On Me” or the Macarena was an amazing experience for someone who hated Dance Dance Revolution.
There was a horrible Nintendo Wii port during the console’s shovelware peak and then the game disappeared. Fast forward to earlier this year when the game was announced, and then delayed months and finally came out in August. I was there day one for it and… Well the memory of the original Samba De Amigo still stays the strongest but this is a definite second place. The JoyCons aren’t the most accurate with rhythm detection and I can only pass some levels using the gamepad mode, but it is still a great trip down memory lane. I just wished I held off a few months and got it at $19.
Best Game – Mac / PC: Dave the Diver – I don’t care if they want to classify it as an indie game or not. Dave the Diver was some of the most fun I had gaming this year. I put in a little under 40 hours in the game split between my Mac and PC. Everything synced perfectly through Steam Cloud. There is an addicting gameplay loop that keeps expanding as each day progresses. From just deep sea fishing to running a sushi bar to farming to treasure hunting to a mysterious civilization, Dave the Diver was a lot of fun and even having beat the main story and a lot of side quests, there is no hint of things slowing down.
Runner Up: The Case of the Golden Idol – As I mention later on, I love point and click adventure games on the computer. The Case of the Golden Idol scratched an itch that I haven’t had for a long time. It is one of the most well crafted Point and Click mystery solvers that I have played.
Every scene is a mystery and while it starts off easy, by your third or fourth intertwined case, you will be physically writing down clues on a note pad to call back to. Sometimes the story itself has a little too much lure and I need to refer to previous cases, but it was never overwhelmingly impossible. There is also a built in help system which was no help to me the few times I tried it. Over the course of the year, two expansions were released, but I haven’t touched them yet. I need something in early 2024 to keep me entertained before the sequel comes out.
Best Game – Mobile: ScummVM – This was a last minute addition and nice surprise. The team behind the excellent ScummVM system have released a legitimate version on the App Store for iOS and iPad OS. For the uninitiated, ScummVM is an “interpreter” for the scripting languages for a bunch of classic adventure games from LucasArts, Sierra, and many others letting you play them on modern computers and portable systems. For me, the Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry series are two of the biggest influences in gaming for me alongside Maniac Mansion and Sam and Max on the LucasArts side.
Previously to use ScummVM on iOS, you needed to download the source and compile, sign, and load it onto your device. For people like me who don’t do development but can follow directions, it’s a whole painful process. They have finally been able to appease the Apple App Store gods and be legitimately listed. I have downloaded it and installed my copies of Space Quest IV and Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist and will be testing in the new year. but today’s under the wire release is my favorite gaming news on mobile because those old point and click games on an iPad go hand in hand.
Solitaire Stats Update: Well I started posting the stats of my most active game, MobiltyWare Solitaire+ on Apple Arcade, last year and figured I can show my progression since I haven’t added much else to the page.
