UnexpectedGames

My “Lost Levels” of 2023

“Lost Levels” are games I started during the year but dropped for one reason or the other. The games that make this list could be both new and old, just so long as I started them (and fell off) during the current year.

I really wanted to be properly ready for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth in February, so I started Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion at the start of the year, but I only got a chapter or two in before I dropped it. I typically like to complete as much of a game as possible on my initial playthrough and I didn’t realize how monumental of a task that was for Crisis Core; the game is inundated with missable content and it absolutely requires a guide/walkthrough if you’re going for 100% completion. I still own but never finished the original PSP game, but I think I’ll just play this version instead once I’m ready. I also started Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers at the start of the year. It’s a simple turn-based RPG on the PlayStation 4 (PS4) that I’ve been meaning to play for years. It’s the type of game that’s made to be “someone’s first RPG”, but there’s something nostalgic and endearing about how simple it is (it sort of reminds me of Okage: Shadow King on the PS2, at least aesthetically). It’s the perfect “second monitor” game too; something to grind away at while you put a stream/YouTube video on in the background.

Remember when Square Enix released a thousand games last year? Star Ocean: The Devine Force was one of them and yes, I bought that one, too. I started it during the first quarter of the year, but dropped it after about an hour or two. I didn’t dislike it or anything; I just got distracted by other games. Speaking of Star Ocean, another one came out this year! Since your progress carried over to the full game, I started the demo for STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R and played it for about 3 hours. I never finished the original release back on the PS1, but I’ve more or less played through the game vicariously through my brother. He was obsessed with the series back in the day, so I’ve seen most of it. The remake appears to be a great way to play the game today, though. The new visuals are beautiful. It’s not quite HD-2D but the sprite-work looks great and the 3D backgrounds are gorgeous.

Citizen Sleeper, NORCO and Dordogne all fall in a similar subgenre of sorts; point ‘n click, narratively-driven adventure games. I started all three this year and I think NORCO and Dordogne spoke to me the most, considering I finished both of them. Citizen Sleeper is far more cold and calculated, however. It’s hardcore SCI-FI that relies more on its dense writing style than the other two aforementioned games. In Citizen Sleeper, decisions are made with a roll of a dice and time is of the essence (much like writing this post less than a week before the new year). I played the game for a few hours, but dropped it relatively quickly because it’s more of a visual novel than the other two games and I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

I bought ONE PIECE WORLD SEEKER and its season pass on PS4 just because it was on sale and one of my favorite composers did the music for it; Kohei Tanaka. Unfortunately, from the little I played, the music comes and goes while you’re playing it. The music placement feels like it’s from an old Tomb Raider game. None of the tracks seem to loop in any of the areas, which I found to be extremely disappointing. Maybe this isn’t an issue later in the game, but I stopped playing it relatively quickly because of this stylistic choice. I’ve also never watched a single episode of the anime or read any of the manga (and I probably never will). Speaking of shows I’ve never seen, I started High on Life at the start of the year. You know, that first-person shooter from Justin Roiland with the obnoxious talking guns? I liked the look of the game, with its cartoonish SCI-FI aesthetics, it sort of reminded me of Ratchet & Clank. It was also on Game Pass, so no harm, no foul, as they say. I didn’t get very far before dropping it, though.

Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue is a 2D firefighting game that’s kind of a rogue-like (my favorite subgenre, I say in the most sarcastic tone ever). I liked it well enough to complete a few runs before shelving the game for good in my digital library. I also completed a few levels of SIFU, one of 2022’s indie darlings. It’s 100% my jam; a hardcore, technical beat ’em up with a ton of style, but it’s incredibly difficult and I just didn’t have the energy for it at the time. Donut Dodo is a really cool single-screen arcade game that looks like a lost Donkey Kong arcade cabinet. I finished a few of the screens, but I haven’t cleared it properly yet. Lies of P wasn’t the only Souls-like this year; Team Ninja’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty also released. I finished the first major boss, died somewhere shortly afterwards, and haven’t retrieved my souls since. I bought Toree’s 3D Platformer Collection on Xbox, primarily for Regina & Mac (R&M), which is the only game I haven’t played from this collection. This developer’s games are throwbacks to 3D platformers from the N64 era; games like Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie, for example. R&M feels like a proof of concept, demo of sorts with simple polygons and a minimalistic aesthetic. I completed the first two worlds of R&M and liked it for its simplicity, but I got distracted by other games at the time and never went back to it.

I’m a neutral Disney fan, but I love 2D platformers. I bought Disney Illusion Island at launch and completed around 40% of it, but I find myself struggling to boot it back up. Similar to how I felt about Destiny Connect, it’s clearly made to be “someone’s first game/platformer”. It’s incredibly easy and the environments, despite being interconnected, feel like they’re an amalgamation of random art assets (perhaps part of the titular “illusion“?). I started Demon Turf: Neon Splash, finished the first three levels, and like many other games on this list, I dropped it. I finished the original Demon Turf game and liked it well enough, but there’s sort of an obnoxious screen filter on Neon Splash that makes it hard play for long periods of time. I was desperate for exclusive platformers on Xbox, so I bought Jet Kave Adventure (which might not actually be exclusive?) and I don’t think I like it. You play as a cave man equipped with a jet pack, but the structure/flow of the game feels like it was made for mobile devices and the lengths of the levels are inconsistent and uninspired.

Tiny Thor, developed by Asylum Square (based in Germany), is a challenging 2D action-platformer with beautiful sprite-work reminiscent of The Adventures of Lomax on the PS1. Thor is equipped with a hammer that can be used both in combat and for traversal. The strangest thing about the game is how the screen works in tandem with your hammer, however. Even if there’s a path beyond the edges of the screen, when you toss your hammer, it’ll only bounce around the boundaries of the screen’s current position. What’s even more odd is the fact that they use this “mechanic” halfway through the game to solve some of the more challenging environmental puzzles. At certain points, you’ll have to toss your hammer and move your character in tandem to let the hammer travel along a certain path, sometimes closing its path off from parts of the screen you don’t want it to travel to. Unfortunately, the game makes the 2D platformer cardinal sin of having levels that are far too long for their own good; long-level syndrome. Despite its colorful, detailed backgrounds, catchy soundtrack and competently-made stages, I just couldn’t be bothered to finish the game before the end of the year.

Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils feels and plays like a lost Game Boy Color game. The sprites are chunky and the gameplay feels like it’s the closest we’ve gotten to a proper Wario Land game (outside of Pizza Tower, I suppose – which I also haven’t played yet). I finished a few levels and liked it, but dropped it for whatever reason. I started Blanc with my husband over the summer. It’s a black & white cooperative adventure game where one person controls a wolf cub and the other plays as a fawn. We finished a chapter or two together but haven’t gone back to it since. I think my partner just wanted to watch me play more Tears of the Kingdom instead at the time. I love arcade shooters/shoot ’em ups, so ProtoCorgi caught my eye instantly. It’s a side-scrolling/horizontal shooter where you play as a robot dog? I like cats more, but it seemed cool. I finished a level and turned it off, but I believe you have to play the whole game in a single sitting. Give me toilet paper! is the quintessential lost Wii game; the definitive Nintendo Switch game that would have sat alongside the likes of Yuji Naka’s Let’s Tap. You place a Joy-Con in a toilet paper roll and balance the roll on a piece of cardboard to play. You have to guide the toilet paper roll through various hazards in order to reach someone on a toilet who can’t spare a square, so to speak. I finished a few levels, turned it off, and haven’t gone to the bathroom since.

Super Mario RPG is a delightful romp through nostalgia. I played/finished it back in the day on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), but I haven’t really revisited this Square and Nintendo collaboration since. At the time of writing this, I have four of the stars collected and I just arrived the sunken ship part of the game. Super Mario RPG remake feels easier than I remembered on the SNES, although perhaps that’s due to some of the quality-of-life (QoL) changes the developers made. Unfortunately, it released during the second half of November, so I haven’t made much time for it yet. Speaking of RPGs, I also started Chained Echoes, another throwback RPG made by a single developer, Matthias Linda. I played it for a few hours before putting it down, but I think I preferred it to another recent indie RPG that tried to emulate the JRPGs of yesterday…

I really want to like Sea of Stars. Similar to how I felt about SIFU, it’s 100% my type of game; a turn-based RPG throwback to the SNES era. The game has beautifully detailed background art and expressive sprite-work. Yasunori Mitsuda contributed music to the soundtrack and the dungeon design is reminiscent of Wild ARMs and Golden Sun. Unfortunately, the writing leaves a lot to be desired and prior to a recent patch/update, the game was littered with grammatical errors and typos. I shared a similar sentiment for their previous game, The Messenger, but the writing style especially turned me off and I haven’t come back to it since. Viewfinder is an interesting first-person indie game where you essentially snap photos to manipulate your surroundings. I finished the first world, but the main character’s commentary sort of turned me off. It’s the type of game where I would have preferred there to be no dialogue. I have yet to go back to the game, but I hear it’s short.

I always heard great things about Gimmick. It’s a lost 2D platformer for the NES that never saw the light of day in North America. I ordered the Limited Run Games collector’s edition of Gimmick! Special Edition, but I also double-dipped on a digital copy at launch because I really wanted to play it. If you try to play the game legitimately, Gimmick is incredibly difficult. I only finished the first three levels before consistently hitting the Game Over screen. Although I have no qualms when it comes to using save states or rewind features in retro rereleases, I didn’t want to use any of the QoL options to finish the game. I’ll find the time to properly revisit this cult classic some time in the new year. Jumping Flash! is one of my favorite PS1 games. I still think it’s primed for a PSVR 2 reboot, but I’m not sure who would develop it. I still own a physical long box copy of the game and finished it years ago. Since they added the game to the PS Plus Classics catalog recently (with trophy support), I felt the need to revisit it, though. Although it’s an extremely short game, I stopped playing it after the first few levels and never resumed my replay.

Capcom has been killing it for the past few years. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again; Capcom’s been back on track since the release of Resident Evil VII. With that said, I have always been a casual fighting game fan. I grew-up playing Street Fighter on SNES and Sega Genesis with my brother, but I’ve never considered myself a “fighting game fan”. Street Fighter 6 looked incredible in previews and the pre-launch hype got me to purchase it at launch, against my better judgment. I played a few hours of the World Tour mode, which is an interesting, semi open-world single-player mode where you create a character, fight NPCs, earn gear, level-up and explore a city full of Capcom references. I also did some versus rounds in the Fighting Ground mode, but like most fighters, I dropped it before giving the game its proper due. So, why did I buy Exoprimal? You know, Capcom’s Dino Crisis game that’s not a Dino Crisis game where dinosaurs fall out of the sky and you pilot giant mech suits? I played the beta so I could earn an emblem for the full release and the code I received in my email never worked. I’ll never learn, so I bought the physical copy at launch, played one round of multiplayer, and never went back to it. Finally, I played and completed Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective back on the DS and loved it. I bought the HD port, played a chapter or two and dropped it. I will absolutely make time for it in 2024, though. It’s a classic and the soundtrack still rips.

I’m not sure Vampire Survivors is for me. Everyone I follow online wouldn’t stop talking about it towards the end of last year. It released on Game Pass, so I decided to give it a whirl. I didn’t dislike it or anything, but after a few runs, I just didn’t feel compelled to play it any more than I did. Some have likened the game to being a slot machine at a casino and the thought of that made me want to play it even less. Maybe it’ll click for me next time I try to play it, but I’m not holding my breath. After Us, developed by Piccolo Studio, is a 3D platformer with a focus on precision platforming and maneuverability. It’s from the same developer as Arise: A Simple Story, but here, you play as a spirit in a post-apocalyptical world. As you progress through the game, you’re granted new traversal abilities which makes the game more fun to play. It’s arguably a Metroid-like, but it’s also extremely linear at times. Your move-set is fairly fleshed-out; you can dash, run up particular walls and even grind on wires. It’s another game where nothing is really said and environmental storytelling is used to progress the narrative. I played the game for a few hours and while After Us becomes more fun as you unlock new abilities, I eventually put it down and never came back to it.

I played both betas for Diablo 4 (D4) to earn the in-game rewards for the full release. Similar to how I’ve experienced Star Ocean 2, my brother played Diablo 1 (D1) and Diablo 2 (D2) for years. I played and finished D1 cooperatively on PS1 with my brother and I’ve only ever been rushed through D2 back in the day (again, with my brother and a childhood friend of ours). I think replaying the first few hours for the third time in D4 might have been a bad idea. I want to get back to my Barbarian and see the rest of the campaign, but I just haven’t had any motivation to do so. Once Blizzard announced its seasonal content, I felt even further behind as I only really have room for one battle pass game that also happens to be abbreviated as D2 (try to guess which game I am referring to…). Dredge is an atmospheric fishing game where you man a boat as a fisherman. It’s a simple game where you travel between seaside towns, catching fish, upgrading your vessel, and completing tasks for sea faring folk. If you’ll excuse the pun, there’s clearly something darker and more sinister under the surface here, but I didn’t play it long enough to reveal its mysteries. One of the coolest thing about the game is its Resident Evil-like inventory space where you must manage your cargo while going from port to port. I definitely want to play more of it in 2024.

My brother got really into Blasphemous this year and loved it. He then jumped to and devoured both Chasm and Hollow Knight. As the younger brother, I followed right behind him after he raved about all three games, but I only managed to complete Blasphemous (which I also loved). I started new files in both Chasm and Hollow Knight, but dropped them again for the umpteenth time. I also started Wavetale at the start of the year and was relatively disappointed with it after a session or two. It’s a fairly basic 3D platformer, but its hook lies in having the ability to surf on water. The water physics are nice and it feels good to travel across the sea, but the game, at least when I played it, was buggy and had performance issues (such as screen tearing, in 2023!?). I think my game didn’t save properly the last time I played it, so I never want back to it after loosing progress. Finally, there’s Trifox; a top-down action-RPG where you play as an armored fox. The game has a hub world which branches off into a variety of stages that you get teleported to, similar to the old Crash Bandicoot games. You can customize your fox to use melee weapons, guns and even magic spells prior to entering a level. I finished a few stages over the summer and was enjoying it, but I haven’t gone back to it since.

My Favorite “Leftovers” of 2023

“Leftovers” are games that I started in a previous year, but finally finished during the current year.

Lost Judgment, developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, originally released back in 2021. It’s the follow-up to the original Judgment game and until Like a Dragon: Gaiden released this year, Ryu Ga Gotoku’s hard-boiled detective sort of became the new “brawler” series for the studio. I bought it day one and played it off and on for the past two years, but it took me until 2023 to roll credits. I’ve been playing Yakuza (now LaD) games since the original Yakuza title on PS2. I was staying on top of the series until Yakuza 5 released as a digital-only title for the PS3. There was a period of time where fans had to more or less beg Sega/petition for LaD games to get localized and now they’re almost always guaranteed to see an international release. All Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio games are an investment and before anyone tells you to “just focus on the main story”, it’s nearly an impossible discipline. You’re going to get distracted when playing a game from this studio and you’re going to spend at least 50+ hours no matter which game you’re playing (and Lost Judgment is no different).

I’m not sure I liked the overall story in Lost Judgment compared to the first game’s plot, but it’s not without its compelling twists and turns. Without spoiling anything, Lost Judgment focuses on bullying and how it impacts high school kids, but like most LaD games, there’s far more at stake here involving politicians, ex-Yakuza and other shady characters. As per usual, the production values are top-tier; character models are beautifully detailed, the performances are great and the motion-capture and cinematic choreography is still the best in the business. I spent nearly 50 hours in Lost Judgment and barely touched the optional high school cases, which honestly feels like an entire second half of an already lengthy game in and of itself. As I mentioned earlier, I did find myself taking breaks between story beats to complete side cases and find hidden squirrel graffiti throughout the two explorable cities. I love Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and I look forward to (hopefully) making time for the rest of their games in 2024 and beyond.

My Favorite Games I Played/Finished in 2023 That Didn’t Release in 2023

My “Late to the Party” picks for the year; my favorite games I played/finished during the year that didn’t technically release during the year.

NORCO, developed by Geography of Robots, is a point ‘n click adventure game that takes place in what feels like a not-so-distant Louisiana. The game deals with industrialization and the decay of lower-income families impacted by corporate greed, drug use, how religion warp’s people’s minds, toxic internet culture and other topical issues, most of which we still see today in our society. The writing, more than anything, carries this game. NORCO perhaps has some of my favorite dialogue and characters in any game to date. The Garretts, without spoiling anything, are some of the most memorable group of degenerates I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing. The character portraits and sprite-work are detailed too; they’re chunky and use just the right amount of subtle animation to give each NPC some personality. The soundtrack is atmospheric and moody. Even when there wasn’t music, I found myself sitting on particular screens just to listen to the quiet neighborhood sounds of dogs barking or the faint ambiance of highway traffic in the distance. NORCO’s setting made me want to simultaneously drown in its filth while also being the furthest thing away from it.

Although The Punchuin released in December of 2022, I played Shin’en Multimedia’s latest “indie” release in January of 2023. Also, if we take Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards deadline into consideration, the fact that this game didn’t make the cutoff in 2022 definitively makes it a 2023 release. The Punchuin is a 2D puzzle-platformer that takes elements of Tetris and Mr. Driller and combines them with a penguin wearing boxing gloves. Shin’en has been making games since the early 2000s including titles like Nanostray, The Touryst (my personal favorite game of theirs), FAST Racing, Art of Balance and more. They are an extremely competent developer who has primarily made games for Nintendo platforms, although some of their more recent games have found their way to PlayStation/Microsoft systems.

Shin’en Multimedia almost always make the most out of their hardware of choice, in terms of performance and visuals, they’re some of the best programmers in the business. In The Punchuin, you play as a cute penguin with a red beanie who’s descending a mountain in search of its treasures. Right out of the gate, you’re presented with a Super Mario Bros. 3-style map with a shop to purchase upgrades, branching paths, boss fights, mini-games and secret levels. The soundtrack, composed by Francisco Cerda, is incredible too. I loved every minute of The Punchuin and couldn’t stop playing it until I hit 100%. It would have made my top 10/honorable mention list if it were a proper 2023 release, but it’ll have to sit here alongside NORCO for now. Sorry, Chill Penguin.

Lil Gator Game, developed by Mega Wobble, is a feel-good adventure about getting older while reconciling with your youth. You play as a little gator who wants to “play pretend” with his older sister, just like they used to do when they were both kids. The sister, who’s now in college, no longer wants to play “kid’s games”, however, so her brother tries to change her mind by turning the island where you play into one big, real-life game. The gator asks his friends, for example, to set-up cardboard cutouts that act like enemies. As you “defeat” the monsters on the island (which don’t fight back, because they are inanimate objects), you’re rewarded with scrap which can be used to purchase cosmetic items. The game is littered with live action role-playing (LARP) ideas and it’s all wrapped-up in an endearing package.

Lil Gator Game is nearly a perfect game. If I would have played it last year (it was a December release that I just didn’t make time for), it probably would have been on my top 10 list for 2022. I said the same thing about A Short Hike, but Lil Gator Game also feels like someone took the opening hours of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and made an entire game out of it; Outset Island: The Game. The game even has Suikoden-like base-building where you recruit people from all over the island to build what is essentially a backyard fort (to impress your sister, of course). You complete objectives/tasks for these non-playable characters (NPCs) and they all have different backgrounds and personalities. The writing is also great and the font and dialogue bubbles are appropriately stylized. I completed the game at 100% and it was one of my favorite experiences of the year. It’s the type of game I would love to make if I had the knowledge, willpower and tools to create something.

The Spirit & the Mouse, developed by Alblune, is a cozy adventure game where you play as a mouse who’s goal is to help people from a quaint French village with their problems. A lightning storm has caused a power outage and it’s your job as an electrically-charged mouse to team up with a “Guardian Spirit” (who caused the storm) to help restore the villager’s happiness. The Spirit and the Mouse is a really compact adventure that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The town you explore is divided into a handful of districts each with their own set of objectives/collectables. When you’re not exploring all of the town’s nooks & crannies as the mouse, you’ll spend most of the time chasing down animated sparks known as “Kibblins” so that they can fix power generators. These little balls of lightning task the player with mini-game-like objectives before they can be collected. In one instance, you’ll have to find a bunch of sparks who are playing hide and seek and in another scenario, you’ll have to chase down a Kibblin who runs really fast. There’s a decent amount of variety when it comes to collecting the Kibblins and the game rarely, if ever, repeats an idea.

The Spirit & the Mouse feels like something Nintendo would have made internally. There’s shades of Chibi-Robo and even the 3D Zelda games, with its automatic/contextualized platforming. Even the way your Guardian Spirits speaks to you, with the text boxes, font and sound effects used, it feels like you’re talking to Navi at times from the 3D Zelda titles. The Spirit & the Mouse was such a delightful, feel-good experience, I’m honestly not sure what I would change, if anything. It’s nearly perfect outside of some performance issues on the Switch. It would have made my top 10/honorable mention list this year if it was a 2023 release (although, the game did get ported to PS4/PS5 in 2023). I couldn’t stop playing the game once it clicked and I feel bad that it was probably overlooked next to Stray last year, all things considered. If you like adventure games with simple puzzles, fun collectables and platforming (similar to the 3D Zelda games), you should probably play this game. I completed the game at 100% with all of the lightbulbs collected. I also unlocked the “white fur” skin (which basically means doing everything the game has to offer) for my little mouse and put on the cute pride hat for good measure. I can’t wait to see what these developers do next.

My “How Did This Get Made?” of 2023

If Paul, Jason, and June played videogames extensively instead of watching movies, this would be the game they’d choose for their live tour shows.

I wrote more about this game in a dedicated blog post that you can read here, but Wanted: Dead, developed by Soleil, is the wildest games I played in 2023. When I finished the game, it left me with one burning question, “How Did This Get Made?”. I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but Wanted: Dead is the quintessential “Game that feels like a PS2 era game but in actuality, it’s a lost PS3/Xbox 360 title”. Even if you ignore the campy/questionable dialogue and SWERY-isms where you question whether or not if the game is supposed to be so “intentionally bad that it’s good”; Wanted: Dead carries a very particular torch from a less-talked about corner of the Japanese PS2 era action game library. Games like Konami’s Cy Girls or even Namco’s Death By Degrees starring Nina Williams come to mind. If you want to jump a generation ahead on the PS3/Xbox 360, Square Enix’s MindJack or Konami’s NeverDead start to creep out from behind the recesses of your mind and you begin to question your sanity and ask yourself, “Did I really play those games?”. Yes, you did. As 2023 closes and I remove the physical disk of Wanted: Dead from my PS5, I’ve somehow traveled back in time to find myself at my local game store picking-up my pre-orders of Bujingai: The Forsaken City and Galerians: Ash for the PS2. Good times.

My Favorite Ongoing Game of 2023

The MMO/live-service game I played the most during the year.

Now that we’re entering year 7 of Destiny 2, Bungie’s ongoing action-MMO (begrudgingly) continues to be my go-to live-service game. I’ve been playing Destiny 2 since launch and I haven’t really taken any long breaks (although 2023 is definitely the year I played the game the least, with 2020 still being the time I spent most with the game due to the pandemic). I’ve been part of a clan on PS for years now, but a lot of them have been taking breaks, too. I also try to play with random folks on Discords, but it’s not always successful. Unfortunately, I still rarely reach out to people to run end-game content and I’ve never been part of any primary “fireteam” group, so I’ve mainly stuck to whatever solo content I could complete over the past year or three (mostly seasonal content and nothing beyond that). The LFG/Discord integration has finally been implemented, but it’s currently in a beta of sorts. I’ve used it once or twice and it seems to work relatively well, though. I hope I can finally complete some of the end-game content I’ve been putting off for years (like the Time Trial Nightmare Hunts on the Moon), but that’s only if the population remains in a healthy state (which hasn’t always been the case as of late).

It seems most people found the Lightfall campaign to be a disappointment, but I too thought it was just okay. I played some of it on Legendary difficulty solo but grouped-up towards the end to finish it with some online friends. Strand is a cool new sub-class, but I rarely use it. It does feel cool to whip around the environment and grapple onto launch points, but I can’t say I incorporate the sub-class into any of my primary builds. Like the other major campaigns, I also haven’t really done any of the additional content beyond the campaign missions. The final encounter was especially miserable in Lightfall. The boss was basically a damage sponge and my fireteam at the time decided to “cheese” the encounter by hiding under the stairs while slowly chipping away at the boss’s health (which is something that may have been patched by now). I couldn’t tell you if I understood everything about the story right now, so I’m really hoping The Final Shape turns things around and provides a satisfying conclusion for those who are more invested than I am.

With that said, I have done most of the seasonal content in Destiny 2 post-Lightfall. I’ve earned all of the current seasonal seals, excluding the most recent one from Season of the Wish since it’s the active season at the time of writing this. I also actively skipped participating in most of the annual holiday events this time around, like the Festival of the Lost and the Dawning, for example. I already earned the seals for these events once and I have no interest wasting time gilding them or grinding for god rolls on weapons I’ll probably never use (I also don’t really care about cosmetics, either). I’m still upset that I’ve missed my opportunity to earn the Unbroken seal, as they’ve vaulted the chance to earn it and instead changed the title to Glorious, which is now the new competitive-focused Crucible seal going forward. I use seals as a guidepost of sorts, as the game can be quite overwhelming, at least in terms of what content to engage with if you’re not sure what to focus on. I still think Destiny 2 is the best feeling FPS game on the market, so I’ll probably keep playing until the servers shutdown or the majority of the community moves on (please, Bungie, put me out of my misery sooner rather than later).

My Favorite Videogame-adjacent Thing of 2023

My favorite thing from 2023 that’s not exactly a videogame, duh.

Double Fine and 2 Player Productions’ PsychOdyssey documentary is a personal and transparent look at what happens behind the curtains during game development. It’s a 32-part series on YouTube which documents the making of Psychonauts 2, among other things. I convinced my husband, who doesn’t play videogames, to watch it with me and he was hooked. It’s not very often we get the opportunity to learn about game development, at least not like this. I hope we see more documentaries like this in the future.

Shoutouts to…

Shoutouts… are my way of bringing attention to specific game mechanics, a particular soundtrack or any other miscellaneous thought I had about certain games that has no other place to call home.

Shoutout to… the Web Wings and the fast travel loading times in Spider-Man 2. Picking a spot on the map and fast travelling to it showcases how Insomniac Games is putting that PS5 hardware to good use. Also, the Web Wings makes getting around New York City a breeze, even if it trivializes the web swinging to a degree, which is what made the previous Spider-Man games feel so good. Shoutout to… climbing a tree and launching yourself from it in Tchia. Shoutout to… Onion Assault for being a 2D platformer where you control a shirtless beefcake where you can pick-up and throw tanks at enemies. Shoutout to… whatever the developers were smoking when they made Wanted: Dead. Shoutout to… Sephonie for having one of the coolest post-games in any game I’ve ever played.

Shoutout to… Oatchi from Pikmin 4 for being a better support dog than Torgal from FFXVI. Shoutout to… riding your bicycle in Season: A letter to the future. The haptic feedback when peddling across particular surfaces rules. It’s arguably the best thing about the game. Shoutout to… the soundtrack from Smushi Come Home for being a pleasant surprise. Shoutout to… the looping mechanic from NeverAwake for providing a novel twist on a tried & true shoot ’em up formula. Shoutout to… the Silent-Hill style map from GYLT. Shoutout to… SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake and Clive ‘N’ Wrench for being aggressively stubborn, old-feeling 3D platformers. Finally, shoutout to… Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe for making extremely addicting mini-game challenges that I could not stop trying until I completed them all.

My Year-in-Review (According to The 3 Major Platform Holders)

The official, more “accurate” stats provided by PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox.

My 2023 PlayStation Wrap-up: I guess I still play D2 more than I think. I rolled credits on 59 games during 2023 across all platforms, despite my time spent with Bungie’s live-service fiasco (which is far less time than in previous years). I did earn a fair share of Platinum trophies, too. My PS4/PS5 have been my primarily consoles for the past few years and I still primarily purchase multi-platform games for PS platforms whenever I get the opportunity.

My 2023 Nintendo Switch Year-in-Review: I didn’t realize how much Zelda I played this year! My hype for Tears of the Kingdom led to replays of Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword. Nintendo Switch had an amazing year for first-party releases, but if an indie game released on PS, Xbox and Switch, I will almost always lean towards purchasing it for my PS4/PS5. I still don’t really use my Switch portably and because of how dated the hardware is, I would never play a more demanding multiplatform game here when I can play them properly elsewhere.

My 2023 Xbox Game in Review: I use my Xbox primarily for exclusives and Game Pass at this point. I always opt for PS platforms when it comes to multiplatform games, so I definitely don’t use my Xbox as much as other hardware. Although I still prefer to purchase games physically, Game Pass has been super convenient. Finally, I liked Hi-Fi RUSH so much that I bought the digital deluxe version even though it was on Game Pass just to support it.

My Physical Game Pickups of 2023

Pictures of games I purchased physically during the year.

I’ve probably put more hours into that Wanted: Dead copy than a lot of the games pictured here. My Dead Space collector’s edition from Limited Run Games shipped after they sent the standard edition box (something they don’t seem to do often, for whatever reason). Oh, and that collector’s edition of Fire Emblem Engage will probably stay sealed forever! I do love them steel books (for Like a Dragon: Ishin! and Forspoken, respectively).

I went to my local retro game shop back in Pennsylvania in the Fall with my brother. I somehow managed to secure pristine, complete copies of Clockwork Knight 2 and D for the Sega Saturn and PS1, respectively, which are two games I’ve been wanting to play for years. My brother gifted me the original Clockwork Knight years ago and I managed to finish it legitimately a few years back, so I’m excited to play the sequel eventually. D is a survival-horror game I’ve been dying to play as well, pun intended.

I’m a little upset my picture here didn’t capture the fact that I bought Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, one of my favorite games of 2023. That Legend of Heroes: Trails of Azure will likely stay sealed forever too; I’m 6 or 7 games behind when it comes to The Legend of Heroes, so I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it. I feel very lucky that I’ve managed to pre-order the Resident Evil 4 collector’s edition and each modern-day Resident Evil collector’s edition since RE7 (they typically sell-out very quickly). The game in the front row obscured by the light reflection is Signalis, by the way (for the two people who were dying to know).

The Tunic physical edition and official guidebook is probably one of the coolest things I bought in 2023. I finished the game on Game Pass last year, but I never managed to figure out how to see the true ending on my own. Maybe I’ll have to unseal the book one day to see it to its proper conclusion. The Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon premium edition comes with a really cool mech figure and garage, but I’m not sure where I will display it eventually.

I still really enjoy buying collector’s editions and I am extremely fortunate that I’ve been able to buy them for most of the games I am interested in (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Street Fighter 6 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, respectively). I feel very privileged to own the physical media that I have. I bought the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition and the TotK OLED Switch Edition (even though I already owned an OLED) because the Zelda hype was too strong. I particularly like how simple and clean the Super Mario RPG box is for Switch, too.

Miscellaneous PS4 and PS5 games are pictured here, including Alan Wake Remastered and the Lies of P deluxe edition, two games I had to buy on eBay (at higher prices) since their physical copies became too hard to find by normal means. The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails Limited Edition is another one of my favorite purchases of the year. Despite my complicated feelings for Final Fantasy XVI, Square Enix made some good-looking packages this year, including the ones they made for Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster FF35th Anniversary Edition and STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R Collector’s Edition.

Most of the Limited Run Games (LRG) pictured above were games that I had pre-ordered for well over a year. The Castlevania Requiem Ultimate Edition and River City Girls Zero Ultimate Edition didn’t ship until 2023, for example. LRG has been having difficulties shipping their games for years now. I don’t think the pandemic helped things, but I’m not sure why they’re still having trouble shipping their releases in a timely manner. Perhaps it’s some of the merchandise and extras that come with a lot of the premium versions that’s causing hang-ups in manufacturing, but who knows. I don’t think I’ll be supporting as much going forward, though. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Radical Edition originally became available to pre-order for the PS4, Xbox, PC and Switch. Today, I typically prefer to choose a PS5 version over the PS4 version if it’s available.

Unfortunately, LRG did not offer the PS5 version for this game nor did they announce that one would be coming during the initial pre-order period. I would have waited if I knew the PS5 version was around the corner, but they did not disclose this information at the time. Well, to no one’s surprise, they announced a PS5 collector’s edition months later, which I found to be extremely frustrating and a little gross. Ultimately, you can obviously play the PS4 version on PS5, but the packaging is different and for collectors, it’s technically an “updated” version. I feel like LRG knows that their most hardcore consumers would double/triple dip if the “fear of missing out” (FOMO) was great enough. For reasons like this and more, I’ve stopped supporting them as much as I used to. I love supporting indie developers and I still prefer to own games physically, so buying LRG comes with complicated feelings. With that said, SOL CRESTA was one of my favorite games of 2022, so I felt compelled to purchase the Dramatic Edition.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

“Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” are games I either had a passing interest in but never picked them up or they’re games I may have purchased, but did not play whatsoever during the year. Many of these games could have made my honorable mentions/top 10 list for the year, but alas, I can’t speak to them at the time of writing this.

January

• One Piece Odyssey
• Colossal Cave
• Persona 4 Golden (PS5)
• Persona 3 Portable (PS5)
• Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition
• Jett: The Far Shore + Given Time
• Fire Emblem Engage
• Inkulinati
• Pizza Tower

February

• Deliver Us Mars
• Theaterhtym Final Bar Line
• Tales of Symphonia Remastered
• Wild Hearts
• Atomic Heart
• Octopath Traveler II
• Scars Above
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge
• Horizon Call of the Mountain

March

• Brok the InvestiGator
• Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure
• The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
• Have a Nice Death
• R-Type Final 3 Evolved
• Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key
• Crime Boss: Rockay City

April

• GrimGrimoire OnceMore
• Meet Your Maker
• Road 96: Mile 0
• Curse of the Sea Rats
• Cannon Dancer – Osman
• Afterimage
• En Garde!
• Dokapon Kingdom: Connect
• Tron: Identity
• Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
• Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection
• Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
• Teslagrad 2
• Teslagrad Remastered
• Dead Island 2
• Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
• Trinity Trigger
• Cassette Beasts

May

• Redfall
• Darkest Dungeon II
• Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2
• Supraland Six Inches Under
• The Case of the Golden Idol
• Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook

June

• Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection
• We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie
• Amnesia: The Bunker
• Loop8: Summer of Gods
• Bleak Sword DX
• Harmony: The Fall of Reverie
• Raiden III x Mikado Maniax
• Layers of Fear
• Aliens: Dark Descent
• Steel Assault (PS4)
• Crash Team Rumble
• Rogue Legacy 2
• Pikmin 1 + 2
• Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed
• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
• Dave the Diver
• Enclave HD
• Everybody 1-2-Switch!
• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

July

• Synapse
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie
• Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
• Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
• Dragon Quest Treasures
• My Friendly Neighborhood
• Lisa: Definitive Edition
• The Spirit and the Mouse (PS5)
• Remnant 2
• Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
• PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe
• Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone

August

• Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed – Director’s Cut
• Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Atlas Fallen
• Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
• Moving Out 2
• The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
• Marble It Up! Ultra
• Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
• Radiant Silvergun
• Fort Solis
• Immortals of Aveum
• WrestleQuest
• Blasphemous 2
• Goodbye Volcano High
• The Making of Karateka
• Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles
• Samba de Amigo: Party Central
• Under the Waves
• Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle
• Taito Milestones 2
• Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy

September

• Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten
• Rune Factory 3 Special
• Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis
• Anonymous;Code
• El Paso, Elsewhere
• Nour: Play With Your Food
• Fae Farm
• MythForce
• Void Stranger
• Super Bomberman R 2
• Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster
• Inspector Gadget: Mad Time Party
• Chants of Sennaar
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Eternights
• Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns

October

• Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless
• Silent Hope
• Alan Wake II
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage
• Detective Pikachu Returns
• Wargroove 2
• Lords of the Fallen
• Wizard with a Gun
• Slay the Princess
• Hellboy: Web of Wyrd
• The 7th Guest VR
• Gargoyles Remastered
• Laika: Aged Through Blood
• Mail Time
• Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1
• Little Goody Two Shoes

November

• RoboCop: Rogue City
• The Talos Principle 2
• The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone
• Thirsty Suitors
• WarioWare: Move It!
• The Invincible
• Salt and Sacrifice
• Double Dragon Advance
• Double Dragon Collection
• Super Double Dragon
• Valfaris: Mecha Therion
• The Last Faith
• Yohane the Parhelion -BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE-
• Prison City
• Flashback 2
• The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Air Twister
• SUPER CRAZY RHYTHM CASTLE
• KarmaZoo
• Teardown
• Persona 5 Tactica
• Worldless
• Trip World DX
• Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion

December

• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
• SteamWorld Build
• Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince
• Sonic Dream Team
• The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising

See you next year…

-Matty