Its been a very good year to be a gamer. All through 2023, it felt like every week a new game fought to win my heart and manage to beat out games I had been loving through the year. Luckily, this means it’s also a very good year to love a gamer, or be close friends with a gamer, because there is a wide array of games to get them! Not all of the games I’m going to talk about are available physically. For some people, nothing beats an old fashioned gift wrapped present, but some great games aren’t available that way. This has been a year where some of my favourite games are digital exclusives and have no plans for physical any time soon. So if you’ve got loved ones that you think would like a cool new game to play, be it digital or physical, here’s a list for you!
FOR THE FAMILY
WarioWare: Move It! is an absolute joy to play with a group of people. In this Nintendo Switch exclusive you play a bunch of progressively sillier minigames. These games are so fleeting that they’re more aptly called ‘microgames’. 90% of the microgames are only about 5-10 seconds in length. Each game requires one of 18 unique poses to play. Some are easier to pull off than others, making each game as ridiculous as they are fun to play. With more than 200 microgames to play with your friends and family, it seems like a no-brainer purchase this year. I can’t think of a game that came out this year that could entertain young children as much as it could entertain parents and grandparents. Looking silly and acting ridiculous is how my family bonds. If you’ve got a family like me – filled with crazy nutjobs you’re obsessed with – you gotta get WarioWare: Move It! You can order it here.
CATAN – Console Edition is a competent take on the tabletop classic of the same name. CATAN is a game all about acquiring land and trading resources. Your main goal is to build as many roads, settlements, and cities as you can and wind up with the most real estate by the end. You collect resources each turn and and they are used to build these commodities. Each thing you build is worth progressively more points – the game is over once someone hits 10 points. Each game is different as the tiles randomly reset each round making it so no two games are the same. If you don’t own CATAN or somehow have gone your whole life without playing it, this is a pretty good place to start. CATAN has been available on the Xbox Series X/S and the PS5, but it is now ready to purchased on the Nintendo eShop.
FOR THE CASUAL GAMER
Pikmin 4 is not only casual friendly, but it’s also one of the best games you can play this year. If you know someone who tends to enjoy easygoing and more approachable video games, there’s a high chance they own a Nintendo Switch. Pikmin 4 isn’t a completely stress-free, zen experience like Animal Crossing: New Horizons – nor is it an endless experience like Stardew Valley – but, it doesn’t have to be. The Pikmin series is famous for its comfy aesthetic that makes you want to spend time playing it. Pikmin 4 is by far and away one of the most gorgeous looking games on the Nintendo Switch. Not only is it a total stunner but it’s also a blast to play. I would not consider myself a casual gamer, quite the opposite actually, but Pikmin 4 remains one of my favourite games of the year due to its charm, its respectable difficulty, and its fun factor. If I could only recommend one game this year that I think any person could enjoy, Pikmin 4 would probably be that game. You can order it here.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the newest game featuring everyone’s favourite man with a moustache. Wonder is an apt word to use in the game’s title as it is one of the many positive adjectives I would use to describe it. Inventive, stylish, charming, wacky, whimsical, wonderful – I could on for hours. While I have never played with friends, you could play the entire story with up to 3 friends in local co-op. You can also play with others online. This is the first mainline Mario game with online social features and it makes the ability to play with others easier than ever. Nintendo knows what they’re doing when it comes to making approachable and easy to pick up games anybody could enjoy. Like Pikmin 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a game anybody could justify spending money on. You are guaranteed a fun time whether you are playing alone or with friends. There is a thriving speedrunning community which is awesome for the diehard hardcore Mario fans. With a game this easy to play and this hard to master, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an easy recommendation for any gamer. You can order it here.
FOR THE HORROR LOVER
Amnesia: The Bunker is the newest instalment in the Amnesia series of games by Frictional Games. I had never played an Amnesia game in the past because I was way too scared. I even struggled to watch the Pewdiepie and Markiplier videos everyone else enjoyed. All I knew about the Amnesia series was that it was scary. What I did not know was that they are actually story driven horror experiences. I assumed you’d just be getting jumpscared without any substance. But if Amnesia: The Bunker is like the other games in the franchise – I might have to check out the others. You play as a French soldier fighting in World War I. After you and your best friend survive a super close call with a group of enemy soldiers, you find yourselves locked in a seemingly empty bunker. Once you come face to face with ‘The Beast,’ it doesn’t take long before you realize that you might actually be safer above ground. If you’re looking for a thrilling first person horror experience that can be finished in a couple sittings, Amnesia: The Bunker is for you. You can order the PS5 version here.
Resident Evil 4 Remake is a survival horror masterpiece. Famously, I am a giant baby, and I am very picky with what horror I consume. I tend to have way bigger issues watching horror movies than I do playing horror games. Even the campier comedy horror movies sometimes alienate me due to my sheer baby-ness. In my opinion, even back in 2005 when I was nine years old, I never found the original Resident Evil 4 to be scary. I thought it was an extremely fun game with a scary ambience, but I always remembered the fun and stupidity. RE4 pioneered the over-the-shoulder POV that has become so popular since its inception. The reason this point of view works is because it puts you right in the action. It’s like you’re riding on a motorcycle sitting behind the person driving. Resident Evil 4 Remake takes one of my favourite games – one of my comfort games – and turns it into a genuinely freaky thrill ride. CAPCOM managed to take one of my favourite games and turn it into another one of my favourite games. Every aspect of the original is turned up to 11. Resident Evil 4 is 10x as fun as it used to be, it looks 100x better, and it’s 1000x scarier. You’re not going to be losing sleep over Resident Evil 4 Remake, but you will lose hours of your life playing it again and again and again. You can order it here.
FOR THE HARDCORE GAMER
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a massive open-world masterpiece that has changed the genre and video games forever. A direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom takes the stellar formula already in place and makes its predecessor look like a proof of concept. I have never seen a game introduce so many never-before-seen mechanics that seem so simple on the surface. Ultrahand lets you attach any material to your weapon to create a new weapon. You can even attach a weapon to another weapon, or a shield to a shield. The amount of unique weapons you can create is astounding. The game has a breakable weapon system that encourages you to get creative when finding and making new weapons. You can also use Ultrahand to create cars, planes, hoverboards, boats, flying machines, killer robots – the list is endless. You can experiment with these tools on either the ground, in the sky, or in The Depths. The Depths is a pitch black inverted version of the world above. You can permanently light up the underground with glowing seeds scattered across the map. It is baffling to me that Nintendo managed to take the already massive world BOTW gave us and then proceeded tripled its size in TOTK. If you need any further proof that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is worth your time, go read my review where I called it the best game ever made. You can order it here.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the few games that could arguably be better than Tears of the Kingdom. I don’t mean one of the only games released in 2023 – I mean… ever. The only reason I have not published a review for Baldur’s Gate 3 is because I have not yet finished it. It’s not that I haven’t been playing it much – quite the opposite actually. I have almost 105 hours put into this game, and I am still not done. In fact, given the story beats I’m assuming I need to do, I believe I still have another 20 or 30 hours left. Baldur’s Gate 3 is an unrivalled RPG experience in terms of storytelling and the freedom it allows gamers. The script reportedly has over TWO MILLION words in it. What is even crazier than that is the fact that every single line is voice acted… and I do mean every single line. What’s crazier than THAT is that you can speak to corpses and animals when you use certain spells and even they have things to say. Some of the animals actually give some of my favourite side-quests in the game. Make sure to talk to Strange Ox in Act 1, and the blue jay in Act 2 for some really great content. Speaking of side-quests, there really is a staggering amount of them. Each quest has many different steps to complete. During a quest you might find yourself talking to someone and then they offer you a different quest. The story is so well written and delivered that you often forget you can just shove the main antagonists off a cliff and end their quest instantly. It’s hilarious. It is physically impossible to explain the magic of Baldur’s Gate 3 and why it is so special, so you’ll just have to wait for my inevitable review (essay.) BG3 releases physically in the first quarter of 2024, but I urge you not to wait. You need to play this game as soon as physically possible. You can order it here.
FOR THE SADIST
Lies of P answers the question we’ve all been asking, “could you make a Soulslike game based off of Pinnochio and make it better than a few FromSoftware games?” The answer is apparently yes. Lies of P is a soul crushing experience! I say that with a huge smile on my face because I’m a freak who likes to get my ass kicked. I have beaten every mainline Souls game as well as Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Nioh, Nioh 2, and Sekiro. Each of these games are known for being ridiculously hard, yet extremely rewarding once you’ve figured them out. Take Super Mario Bros. Wonder for example – that game is very easy to pick up and play. With enough practice, you can actually get very good at it and achieve a new level of expertise that puts you above and beyond what the game initially asks of you. Being able to do well right at the start is a nice way to ease you into the deeper mechanics and challenges. Lies of P, much like its similarly difficult brothers and sisters does NOT give you that easy pick up and play. The first few minutes are the easiest part of the game, but if you’re not sure how to handle more than one enemy at a time (most of which can kill you in a single hit) you’re likely going to die. You WILL die a lot in this game, and honestly, that’s what I like so much about it. It plays like a mix between Bloodborne and Sekiro. Bloodborne requires you to be on the offensive and shows that the best defence is a good offence. The enemy can’t hit you if you kill it first. Lies of P also utilizes Sekiro’s rhythm-game-esque defensive system in its parries. Mixing your attacks and parries to take down bosses 20x your height never gets old. If you’re in for one of the best Souls-like experiences you will ever play, you need to get Lies of P. You can order it here.
Ghostrunner 2 is a speedrunner’s wet dream. Rarely do video games let you play in first-person as a katana wielding cybernetic ninja who happens to be a parkour master. Each room you find yourself in is littered with large open areas, walls to run on, ramps to slide down, cliffs to jump off, and enemies to kill. There is nothing more satisfying than clearing a room on your first try. You likely won’t be completing a room on your first try as each room is filled with enemies trying to kill you. The biggest issue with everyone wanting to kill you is that you die in one single hit. You have to move at a breakneck speed while killing every enemy in the room. You will often play the same room over and over learning the patterns of each enemy. It’s fun figuring out when and where they will shoot and also trying to figure out where you will have the time to kill them while trying not to get killed yourself. Every room you clear fills you with a burst of adrenaline. The amount of times I yelled celebratory expletives made it all the more enjoyable for me. Ghostrunner 2 is a heart-pumpingly intense first person action game that plays like the lovechild of Mirror’s Edge and Hotline Miami except it has ninjas and robots. You will die dozens – maybe even hundreds – of times per level. Mastering each room makes you feel you’re spelling S-K-A-T-E on a Tony Hawk Pro Skater level all while doing a string of tricks at the same time. Ghostrunner 2 is absurdly punishing, and that is exactly why I recommend it. You can order it here.
Well there you have it! 2023 has proven to be one of the strongest years in all of gaming. There is no shortage of great games to be found on any console this year. Whether you have a PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox or PlayStation, you’re bound to find something for your favourite gamers this year.
