What a year 2023 has been huh? Usually when I put to🦹gether one of these lists, ꧃I have an easy time choosing the games that meant the most to me and only end up feeling bad for one or two titles that just missed the number ten spot.

This time, however, I already had a solid list of games before the year was even halfway done. So many great games have ended up just missing the mark that I could very easily stretch this into a t𝐆op 15 or even top 20 list.

No one wants toﷺ hear me waffle on for that long, though, so here’s my top 10. Enj🗹oy!

You can check out the rest of TheGamer's Game of the Year lists at our hub here, once you're done checking out the one with the definitive best taste.

10. Final Fantasy 16

is about as much of an RPG as ൩is, but as someone who prefers long air combos and flashy particle effects to strategic battling and nerdy inventory management, that makes me a very happy boy indeed. It’s also got some of the most – cringe alert – epic boss battles that I’ve seen in any game ever, let alone 2023.

Bonus points for s🥃ticking with me long enough to still be screaming “JOSHUAAA” at my fellow news writer Joshua Robertson. Sorry, Josh.

9. Pizza Tower

I’ve never played a Wario Land game before, but the internet’s memey obsession with Peppino and Pizza Tower’s wonderful co☂llection of Ed, Edd n Eddy-esque sound effects practically forced me to give it a go. I’m very glad I did because it’s one of the best platformers of the year that puts Sonic to shame and shows him how speedrunning is done.

Unfortunately, it's only available on PC right now, otherwise it’d likely be a lot higher up on my list.

8. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

After taking part in a video where I tried my hardest to argue tha𝓡t , of ♛course it was going to be on my own personal list.

It’s not quite number one or even in fronඣt of the games I said it should beat because this is my list and my strange hypocritical rules, but everything I said in that video is true - Wonder is a magical 2D platformer that is one of Mario’s best.

7. Resident Evil 4

Some editors decided that there were t💦oo many amazing games this year and made a rule not to put any remakes on their list, but I clearly don’t have as much honour as them, because ’s reimaging is the first of three on my list.

In fairness to Resident Evil✃ 4, though, not only does it change up so much from the original that the ‘remake’ label barely applies to it, but it’s also one of the best action games in the last decade. I still prefer the remake for making me truly scared of zombies again, but you can roundhouse kick zombies in this one, so it’s still very deserv𝓡ing of this spot.

6. Baldur's Gate 3

It’s been a very busy year for gamers so I am very late to the hype train and still only in Act 1, but that hasn’t stopped it from squi𓆉rming♑ into my brain like a gross tadpole from a tentacle monster. I’m sure my D&D knowledge is shining through here.

I spent months putting off my playthrough and doubting that it could be as good as everyone say𝔉s, bܫut I’m happy to be completely wrong on this one as it really is that good. Who knows where it’d be on this list if I’d managed to finish it in time?

The Most Honourable Of Mentions

5. Dead Space

I was a huge crybaby when originally released in 2008 (I was ni🎉ne years old though, so you can’t really blame me), so I missed out on it and its sequels of varying quality the first time around.

I’m glad I waited 15 years, as Dead Space is so terrifying that litt🍒le George would never have set foot outside of his house again. That’s not so different to how adult George likes to live his life, but Dead Space still unnerved me like no other game, so let’s blame it on that.

4. Spider-Man 2

is my favourite superhero of all time and I loved Insomniac’s last two webslinging ga🦋mes, so I was certain before even playing that the latest game would end up on my list somewhere.

What I wasn’t expecting, however, was one of the most satisfying traversal mechanics in recent memory that really makes you feel j♍ust like Spider-Man♏. I’ve long since got the Platinum for this one, but it’s so much fun to swing around that I still like to load it up, crank up Sunflower, and just be Spidey.

3. Super Mario RPG

Just like with Dead Space, ’s remake is my first time experiencing the game after Nintendo made it basically impossible to play for most of my lifetime, but the wait was well worth it as Mario’s first roleplaying game is an absolute delight in every way. I’ve only ever played The Origami King and Colour Splash before this, but I&rs🧸quo;m more ready than ever for The Thousand-Year Door remake next year.

And hey, any game that lets you turn Mario into a little cre🔯ep who tries to punch kid෴s and rifles through Peach’s belongings is an instant win for me.

2. Street Fighter 6

If you’d have told me, a lifelong die-hard who 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:rates Fatalities out of ten for fun, that I’d end up with on my list instead of Scorpion’s💧 latest adventure then I’d scoff in your face, but that’s just the kind of st𝐆range year 2023 has been.

Put simply, Street Fighter 6 is not only the best the series has ever been. Its stand-out roster, welcoming online modes, and unique single-player mode that is finally more than an exte👍nded Arcade Mode, makes it one of the best fighting games ever made.

1. Hi-Fi Rush

From the moment I first laid eyes on , I knew it was one of the most George-core games ౠto have ever existed. Shortly after playing it and digging its colourful cel-shaded vibes, rhythm-based combat, and self-referential humoᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚur, I was pretty sure that it’d make my top 10 list at the end of the year.

Then, after smashing Vandelay robots to the tune of Thꩲe Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die and triumphantly walking towards the camera with a group of characters I’d grown to love to The Joy Formidable’s Whirring🔜, I was certain that it’d be number one no matter what else I played.

That was all the way back in January and my love for Hi-Fi Rush has only grown strongꩵer every day since then. It’s not only become my favourite game of 2023, but it also stand🧸s as one of my top five games of all time.