Hey! How’s it going? No, it’s fine, I don’t care. But 🌼you should! These are my favorite games of the year 2023, and they’re all great, but some are greater than others. That’s how rankings work෴, yeah.

Why should you care, you ask? Because I’m right, which means others are wrong, which is hilarious if you ask me. Do I sound like a total jerk? Perhaps, but 🐼if my coworkers are entitled to their own controversial🎶 opinions on this matter, why shouldn’t I too?

10. Street Fighter 6

With a fun single-player mode and one of the worst possible Battle Passes I’ve ever witnessed, Street Fighter 6’s great animations and a love🤡ly roster of characters keep it on this list.

While the usual fighting game modes remain untouched, be🌳ing able to create your fighter and explore Metro City is a great experience regardless, easily placing it as the best fighting game of this year, despit💎e its shortcomings.

9. Resident Evil 4 Remake

Remakes are not my cup of tea in a ranking like this one, but the work Capcom put into making RE4R f༺eel completely new deserves the utmost respect and praise.

Enemies that I have seen before still managed to terrify me after all ꦗthese years, and I can only hope that further remakes in the series will🅺 keep this level of quality.

8. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Okay, this one I’ve been waiting for years, even 🔯decades – Bomb Rush Cyberfunk ticked every box. It presents a spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio that brings the vibes of the original game, including some great music for a modern take on the series. and It even showcases some tracks made by the JSR composer, Hideki Naganuma himself.

However, bringing a product like that to the pr♔esent always proves a challenge, especially if not many quality-of-life changes ar🦹e added. But even if nostalgia was a big factor in my en🦹joyment of this game, at the end of the day, the wait was worth it.

7. Wild Hearts

Many studios have tried to replicate the Monster Hunter formula with little to no success. From the dystopian vibes of the God Eater series to other experiences🦹 like Final Fantasy Explorers, the beloved Capcom IP has always remained victorious against any rival who tried to dethrone it.

However, Wild Hearts might be the first one that manages to bring new vibes 🌠and a personality of its own. Even though building mechanics are no stranger in gaming, it’s hard to build a door while a 15-foot rat tries to beat you to death. Fortunately, crafting tools and using your environment to defeat these behemoths makes Wild Hea♊rts a fresh breath of ai⛎r.

6. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

When EA announced a sequel to Star War𒅌s Jedi: Fallen Order, I was a bit skeptical. Th𓄧e game had a nice story and the gameplay was fun, but a short playtime and some bland characters didn’t catch my attention, so it was a bit difficult to see it as good news.

And boy, I was wrong. With a bigger space to explore and many lightsaber styles to learn, Jedi: Survivor might be my favorite Star Wars game to date. Not only did it raise the personal stakes and motivations of Cal Kestis, but it also brought a compelling villain to the series' main story that is not just some Inquisitor or Darth Vader. God, finally.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

After the critical success of Breath of the Wild, I'd be lying if I didn’t admit that I was fully obsessed and waiting for this title. Despite the time shenanigans and the utter disregard for canon, getting to see Zelda in a more central role is a delight. I hope Nintendo explores this further in future entries.

However, the strongest point of TOTK lies in the upgraded version of Hyrule we get to explore, and the tools we’re given to do it. It’s nothing short of a miracle that the massive map we explored for dozens of hours already now has two more layers to explore, and even less likely is to see the depth of the buil🧔ding mechanics in this game.

4. Spider-Man 2

People have said that Spider-Man 2 is pretty much the same game as the first one. And they’re wrong, and﷽ we should laugh at them. The moment you face a colossal Sandman and use your web wings for the fir𝕴st time, you know this is a new experience, and the way you will explore New York will never be the same as before.

Every single liberty that the main story takes respect from the original material feels earned, and even better, it makes complete sense in this Spid�𒉰�ey world. Yeah, we all know Harry Osborn never gets to be Agent Venom in the comics – I don’t care.

Miles’ new suit, though, let’s just… let’s just ignore that🌳.

3. Alan Wake 2

Sometimes, I gather the courage to play a horror game, and the moment I put my headphones on and something s🌞creams at my face, I immediately put the controller down and uninstall the game. However, this is the first time in my life where I get jumpscared, and yet I keep moving.

Alan Wake 2 had a powerful grip on meܫ the moment I started playing, and even though I got seriously stressed session by session, the story that unfolded before my eyes and the quality of the performances in the game ke🅺pt me coming back to it every night until I could finish it.

Yeah, I kno💯w, I sh🍃ouldn’t have played at night.

2. Final Fantasy 16

The moment I saw Ifrit and Phoenix crashing into each other with such violence that they tore the Earth apart, I kn♒ew I was in for a treat. FF16 was the palate cleanser that I sorely needed after a botched F🌸F15 experience, and witnessing such a story and the great performances of actors like Ben Starr and Ralph Ineson was the cherry on top.

From cheering on the Eikon battles to roaming across the corrupted lands of Valisthea, the gritty reality presented in this game doesn’t diminish any of the heroic and sacrificial acts the main characters realize, and Clive Rosfi🐎eld is now my favorite𒈔 protagonist in the series.

Accept🌄 the truth, this is the best Final Fantasy mai⛦n game to date.

1. Baldur’s Gate 3

And yet, the jewel of💟 the crown came from an unexpected place. While fans of the Baldur’s Gate series were waiting for a long time for a new entry, and after the early access was met with moderate success, the full release of the game took us on one of the biggest adventures in gaming history.

From 🌞talking squirrels and bear intimacy, to witnessing powerful scenes like Karlach’s ending or Shadowheart’s narrative twists, you🌺r BG3 experience will be as varied as you want it to be, and even if you finish many playthroughs, chances are that your next experience will be like if you had never played before.

Larian Studios inevitably changed the CRPG genre forever, setting a new standard and bringing one of the best RPG video𝄹 games♎ to life.