Happy holidays, Pushing Buttons readers!
For the past few weeks you’ve been sending in your favourite games of 2023 and what you’re most looking forward to in 2024. It’s not too late to share your thoughts on the latter, but now it’s time to share your favourites of this year.
It says a lot that despite there being a total of 50 on the Guardian’s own games-of-the-year and games-you-might-have-missed lists, you’ve still come up with some fresh recommendations. When I was a kid you could reasonably play pretty much every interesting video game that came out in a given year – these days it’d take you a whole month just to get through Starfield.
Without further ado, it’s time to showcase your great taste. Note that not every game mentioned here came out in 2023: some of them are games that people played in 2023. Thanks again to everyone who sent in some words.
“Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: played it with my children, who loved the sense of creativity and adventure. They were scared, thrilled and laughed in all the right places. Beat with all shrines and light roots, 130+ hours played.” Thomas Q
“Of the new games I’ve played this year I’ve put the most hours into Coral Island. The visual appeal is amazing and the game play loop very satisfying. Yes, it has been released in an incomplete state but there is still much enjoyment to be had.” Geoff
“My game of the year has been Cyberpunk 2077. I’ve put 356 hours into it and I finally let it go last weekend after trying out different narrative forks and doing some achievement hunting. I already feel bereft.” Emma
“This year my most played and favourites are: the beautiful, short and sweet Venba (pictured above), Vampire Survivors (started playing when it came to GamePass and devoured every secret), Jusant (a lovely and slightly haunting story about the possible future of Earth), Gris (the best looking game I played this year and a beautiful allegory about grief) and Steamworld Build (love the universe these games are set in and this game has an outstanding difficulty curve).” Matt
“At the beginning of this year I started playing God of War on PS4 as my wife discovered she was pregnant with our first child, and was just completing the game in October when our son was born. My wife is not usually interested in lengthy or violent games but was drawn by the story of the father and son coming together and rebuilding their relationship. The game has stayed with us as a meme and we often joke about ‘What would Kratos do?’ Now that our baby is here, we’ve graduated to God of War Ragnarök [above] and his sleepless first weeks have been largely to the soundtrack of the thud of the Leviathan Axe, the clink of the Blades of Chaos and the hiss of the Draupnir Spear.” Phil
“My favourite game of 2023 took me by surprise: Lies of P was wicked and fabulous. I never enjoyed playing soulslike games before, but this one is a masterpiece (the story, the graphics, the game mechanics, the music … my friends can no longer stand me raving about it). Even though I struggled with the gameplay at first, I kept at it and eventually became really good (if I do say so myself). I would even go as far as saying that mastering this gameplay made me a better player at all the other games I’m playing. I recommend it to anybody who says this genre is not for them!” Marie
“I’ve been loving Starfield – it should be on the list of best games of 2023. To me, it’s a story of exploration and romance, which has renewed my faith in video games. Very few games try to speak to women; in particular, women who love to read and see themselves in the characters they play and read about. Starfield has done that for me, thanks to the relationship options it has. as you grav jump around the universe, and it’s been a wonderful and fulfilling experience. I’ve been playing video games for over 50 years now. Starfield is the first open world game has brought romance and love into the player’s life in a realistic way. For that, it should be game of the year.” Marta
I didn’t play many new games in 2023 (still working through my FromSoftware backlog), but Super Mario Wonder is perfectly named. A sheer joy. Kenny
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What to read
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The 18-year-old who released more than 90 hours of GTA VI leaks last year has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order. Arion Kurtaj, who has acute autism, was already on bail for hacking Nvidia and BT, and in police protection at a Travelodge when he hacked Rockstar using an Amazon Fire Stick, his hotel television and a mobile phone.
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The Day Before was a disaster. Reviews for the zombie game were so bad, and returns so poor, that makers Fntastic shut down and removed the game from online storefronts. So why are download codes for the game going for $300? Kotaku investigates.
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2023 was a scarily good year for horror games thanks to Alan Wake 2, the Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space remakes and even the aforementioned Lies of P, Gamespot’s Mark Delaney argues.
What to click
Question Block
No reader question to answer this week, but let us know anything you want answering in a forthcoming edition.
Want to know the best game to pick up in the January sales? Or what you should do with that Dreamcast you just found in your parents’ attic? As always, hit reply or email us on [email protected].
