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Dust & Neon from developer Rogue Games is an interesting, and oddly relaxing twin-stick shooter. Its RPG backbone and simplistic mechanics will keep you coming back for more, even when the unremarkable enemy variety, sans the bosses, might dull down the experience. There is still a lot to do and explore in the game, which makes it at the very least a good action title.
Quantum: Recharged from developer SneakyBox and publisher Atari is an improvement from the original arcade experience. It brings enough newness to enemies, provides a good dose of mode variety, and is quick fun. While the arcade experience might not attract every gamer due to its lack of depth, there is enough here to warrant a hard look.
Even though Stray from BlueTwelve Studio has been out for a year, it’s still a joy to play on the Xbox Series X. The story is still a wonderful journey, the gameplay is still easy-peasy, and the visuals are still out of this-world gorgeous.
Astronaut: The Best from developer Universal Happymaker is a challenging game that brings so many layers of complication that it can be overwhelming as much as satisfying. The difficulty might catch some gamers off guard, but the humor helps keep the ship together and create a fun experience.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a watershed moment for RPGs and gaming. It represents one of the closest approximations of true freedom, creativity, and player choice available, evolving concepts and mechanics that have been tinkered with for decades. Using Dungeons & Dragons as its catalyst, Larian has honored the past and forged a new future for a genre that has allowed increased agency for players to put their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and wants inside of a digital realm and live. Like every other player, my experience with Baldur’s Gate 3 is significantly anecdotal, ripe with unique stories about what happened to me that would take hours to share. But why listen to me when you can become lost in one of the most richly beautiful worlds ever created and make up your own tale?
Stray Gods from developer Summerfall Studios and publisher Humble Games is a beautiful and engaging musical branching narrative game that succeeds in delivering a powerful story with compelling characters. While not every song in the game is gold, the music that accompanies the gameplay mixes well and makes for one of the more entertaining gaming experiences of 2023.
F1 Manager 2023 from Frontier Developments is a detailed F1 experience for the F1 fan that needs a bit more than what F1 2023 can deliver. It has every aspect of running an F1 team, designing success on the racetrack, and juggling the business side of the sport. What it doesn’t have is up-to-par visuals for this generation, but that takes a backseat to the F1 managing the game successfully delivers.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is spectacular on the PC. It brings the same great story with the same wonderful characters, as well as all the good gameplay elements that the series has been known for over the years. It has some very minor hitches in its giddy-up, but nothing too serious. It’s certainly one of the better PC conversions from Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition from DotEmu is a decent game thanks to a clever mixture of RPG, puzzle, and strategy structure. It has a compelling storyline that reminds you of an 80s/90s RPG gaming world, and it has plenty of characters to play around with on the battlefield. It falls short with unbalanced gameplay that always leans towards enemy advantage and the control mechanics that can be incredibly finicky at times.
Mr. Run and Jump from Graphite Lab and Atari is a phenomenal tip of the hat to simple, yet fun games born during the heyday of the Atari 2600 VCS. While the game’s simplicity is a mask for a more mechanic-fueled strategy game that will test your gaming nerves over and over again through its complicated gameplay design, the journey very much pays off by the end.
LISA: Definitive Edition from Dingaling Productions is a warped, twisted, dark game that doesn’t pull its punches with any of its storytelling. The complementary gameplay helps to enhance the story and create some major connection between game and gamer. It’s something to behold, even if the beginning feels impossible to overcome.
Let’s Revolution! from developers Buck and Antfood is a simple game that has a complicated underbelly of strategy and asks gamers to make sophisticated choices. While the gameplay is short in its single follow-through, its replayability shows its longevity. While not all of its elements work, especially when it comes to character choice and sometimes random enemy attacks, it’s still a fun game to come back to when you are itching for a quick gaming experience.
Return to Grace from developer: Creative Bytes Studios is a short and sweet once-through experience. It has nice dialogue but is more for viewing than interactive gameplay. As a game tagged to be known as a “Walking Simulator” I believe this is the pinnacle of the genre. With its beautiful local, interesting in-game history, and clever dialogue Return to Grace is a great pick for a narrative-driven game to play all in one go.
GYLT from Tequila Works is a heavy game to bear. Its story is overwhelmingly sad, relatable, and impactful. The gameplay is built to complement the story and the devs did a great job of pulling those two pieces together. This game isn’t for the faint of heart and it will certainly get you in the feels, but the journey is worth the emotional risk.
Gravity Circuit contains the best parts of the SNES-era of 2D action platforming without the artificial difficulty spikes and frustrations. Its combat is fluid, easy to pick up, and exciting to master. Its pacing ramps up with the player. Its music is a nostalgia bomb of high-energy and synthetic charm. Yes, it's a short play, but it contains enough content to satisfy most players and get them hooked into using Kai's hookshot over, over, and over again. If this doesn't sound like a love letter to retro platforming, I don't know what will.
The game might have had a rough start with laying out the story and explaining the gameplay mechanics, but SOULVARS quickly smoothed out and got in its JRPG groove thanks to a good mix of deck-building and turn-based action. Additionally, it let its retro vibe personality show and it quickly became a pleasant experience.
Ghost Trick: The Phantom Detective from Capcom is a challenging and creative puzzle game that casts the same logic-driven shadow as its gaming cousins in the Ace Attorney series. It offsets its incredibly large amount of difficulty with a strong story that has sprinkles of humor in it, while still maintaining its murder mystery mission to deliver an overall entertaining experience.
Dave the Diver from Mint Rocket is something to behold. The game features exploration, collection, side quests, an RPG backbone, and a restaurant simulator, all of which are beautifully balanced and connected. This is by far one of the better games of 2023 and shouldn’t be overlooked.
Baldur's Gate 3 is nothing short of a gaming phenomenon, the kind of video game sensation that surfaces only once in a blue moon.
Sonic Origins Plus is inching toward being a definitive Sonic the Hedgehog anthology of classic games, some of which are remastered. The inclusion of Amy and the Game Gear titles are arguably two steps forward, but the quality of those emulated titles in comparison to their remastered counterparts and lack of Genesis and Master System titles are two steps back. Either way, for Sonic fans who do not yet own Sonic Origins on their PS5, Sonic Origins Plus should be a very easy recommendation.