2023 was a momentous year for video games. No matter what genre or type of games you enjoy, there’s something exciting to play. To that same token, 2023 also boasts some of the worst games ever made. Some so terrible that we couldn’t even finish. We’ve gathered our own personal list of the best and worst games of 2023 so you could see what stood out to the Press SPACE to Jump staff!
Best Games of 2023
With so many top-tier titles to choose from in 2023, it was hard to choose favorites. With some thinking we narrowed our picks down to these four, one for each member of the Press SPACE to Jump editorial staff.
Tai: Final Fantasy XVI
It’s no secret that Final Fantasy is one of my favorite franchises of all-time. Ever since I picked the series up on the PS2 with Final Fantasy X, I was hooked. Despite the franchise’s standing as one of my all-time greats, I’m not ignorant of the faults it held over the years. Overly edgy protagonists, awkward dialogue, and characters that often fall far from the realm of believability are the biggest offenders that even I turn my head at all these years later.
Final Fantasy XVI takes a bold new step for the franchise, telling a darker, more grounded story set in an unforgiving world. Skyscraper-sized titans battle to control a dying planet’s natural resources and the player is front and center for the chaos.
Clive, Jill, Joshua, and the rest of the impressive, expansive cast create a world that feels like it’s always moving, with more exciting twists and developments around every corner. This game feels like the peak moments of Game of Thrones brought to life, just without that shitty ending to drag it down.
Whether I was battling Dominants and wielding the power of Ifrit in some of the best boss battles I’ve ever played in a video game, listening to a masterful soundtrack, or watching a heartfelt story unfold between an incredible ensemble of characters, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Final Fantasy XVI was the most immersive and impressive experience of 2023 for me, and I can’t wait to sing the praises of this masterpiece in 2024 and beyond. Thank you, Yoshi-P and Square Enix. You’ve done it again.
Score: 10/10
Radiant: Baldur’s Gate 3
BG3 isn’t just my game of the year. It’s my game of the decade. I have been gaming since I was 4, and it might even be the best game I have ever played. From the fun turn-based combat to the well-crafted story, this game won me over. Narrative-wise, as a narrative designer myself, it is the most impressive game I have seen.
And though it has a few bumps (UI issues and some glitches), it took a swing that most games do not dare to take. I loved the queer and polyamory representation, the outfits and underwear, and the fact you can play with friends. And this cast of characters has dragged me 10 feet under in the best way. Cheers to Larian Studios.
Score: 10/10
Kristi: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
I’ve had a physical copy of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective sitting on my shelf, untouched for a few years now. I’ve heard fantastic things about the title, but I really hate playing anything on my DS, so the game continued to sit there, collecting dust.
Thankfully, Capcom, in their continuous pursuit to collect Ws, released a remastered version of the title and put it on modern systems. I immediately bought the game and dedicated the next few days of my life to playing this wonderful title, and honestly? I’m so upset at myself that I allowed my cowardly distaste for the DS to prevent me from playing such a phenomenal game.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a title that everyone should play. Shu Takumi—the creator of Ace Attorney—knows how to write an engaging, emotional mystery with unexpected twists and twists that’ll leave your jaw on the floor. He did this with Ace Attorney, and he did it here with Ghost Trick.
Ghost Trick is one of those special games that saying anything about it would ruin the entire experience. So, if playing a mystery game where you control an amnesiac ghost who’s trying to figure out how he died sounds like something up your alley (and it should), do yourself a favor and play this fantastic game.
P.S. Missile is best boy.
Score: 10/10
Taylor: Helping My Husband do his daily Wordle
As a games critic, I left it all on the court. Quantitatively, my game of the year was already Jusant, which I gave my first perfect 10. But since I don’t actually have to score anything, my actual favorite game was helping my husband do his daily Wordle. I have little to no affection for the Grey Lady, so my husband doing the actual navigating let me focus on the actual fun: frantically coming up with five-letter combinations and, shockingly, no-scoping it more than a few times.
I won’t mince words otherwise: the portent of fun, scrappy puzzle games being gobbled up by venture capital does not bode well. But for a silly thing, I do with my guy? Perfect. No notes. Game of the year. Did you know Wordle officially recognizes SHART? There’s your new starter word. You’re welcome.
Score: Husband/10
Worst Games of 2023
Despite 2023 having a ton of standout titles that won the hearts of many, some titles and companies got attention for all the wrong reasons. Take a look at what caused us the most pain this year, let it games that were borderline unplayable or company executives whose actions ruined the lives of many in the industry.
Tai: Modern Warfare 3
I’ve played a lot of dogshit games in my 27 years on planet Earth, but few experiences feel as soulless and devoid of effort as Activision Blizzard’s Modern Warfare 3. Between a miserable and lackluster four-hour campaign, an unimpressive and tedious multiplayer offering, and some of the most disgusting microtransactions I’ve seen in gaming in 2023 ($30 for a Skeletor skin? Really, Activision?), MW3 feels like a complete erasure of all the goodwill and promise that the Modern Warfare reboot earned back in 2019.
The game’s so lacking in content that not even PlayStation will list it as a new title, selling it as DLC for Modern Warfare 2. It’s a growing trend from what I’d list as my least favorite publisher of the year. Butchering Overwatch 2, bastardizing Diablo 4, and now MW3 makes three times too many that I’ve invested time into this hot mess of a company this year.
Here’s hoping Microsoft can help fix this studio in the coming years now that the acquisition is in effect, but with as poorly as their previous buyouts have gone, I’m not holding my breath.
Score: 4/10
Radiant: Sonic Superstars
This answer makes me so sad, but this game was not accessible to me at all. The motion on PC made me nauseous. I didn’t care for the soundtrack or level design, and worst of all, the loud beep made by Fang’s laser hurt my ears so much that I had to mute the game. I have an ear disability, and I was not expecting that sort of sound from a Sonic game at all.
I only played the game for 37 minutes, felt sick, and had a pounding headache. The only Steam game I have ever refunded in my life. I love Sonic, but this game was sadly not it.
Score 2/10
Kristi: Silent Hill Ascension
The moment this game was announced during the Silent Hill Transmission—a livestream that Konami botched when they uploaded it as a video instead—I only smelled trouble. A free-to-play live service game where players can chat, make decisions, and change the Silent Hill canon? Where can that go wrong? Well, we knew it would go wrong, but I don’t think anyone quite anticipated just how badly the game would flop.
Microtransactions, minigames that don’t serve a purpose beyond getting Influencer Points, cosmetics for your goofy-looking avatar that may appear in an episode, and horrid writing that makes people question if the game was written by AI. I won’t speculate on that front as there’s no evidence to back that up. What I do know is that some of the writers are ex-Telltale Games staff, and seeing the bad reception this game is getting has my heart aching for them.
I know they’re capable of good writing, so I can’t help but question if they’re being micromanaged to hell or they just don’t know the series well enough to tell a gripping story, especially one that fits the livestream format. It also begs the question, if you have ex-Telltale staff on your team, why not just make an episodic game instead? Why not play to their strengths and make a new game that at least had a chance of meeting someone’s expectations?
The rotten cherry on top of this chaotic mess of a game was the chat on release day. The chat—which was moderated by AI—was spammed with racist comments, messages about Kojima, and more. It was so bad that now, the chat has been changed, so players can only spam emotes or stickers in a snarky manner.
The game is clearly an experiment, and with some experiments, they’ll fail. But the point of experiments is to find out what went wrong and to fix the formula so you’ll have a better chance of succeeding next time. However, with Silent Hill Ascension, it seems that Konami is unwilling to fix the issues that plague this game, which only hurts its already tarnished reputation even further.
Score: 2/10
Taylor: Games Industry Execs and Investors Playing 4D Chess With Their Staff
“Taylor, aren’t you being a bit mean to the Wordle team?” Listen, I have seen some shit this year. The plague of game developers and games media outlets suddenly shuttering turned, turns, and is still turning my stomach. If there’s one thing venture capital is good at, it’s jettisoning the real livelihoods of real people because their idea of a magic money machine had no basis in reality. Are there independent alternatives? Yes. You’re reading one.
Aftermath, Uppercut, and Unwinnable also do incredible work with a high-wire budget balancing act. But we’ve lost too many folks to corporate greed; over 6,000 people have been laid off within the industry including from studios like BioWare, Hasbro, and Ubisoft. Our work has value beyond a fixed dollar amount, and right now, we’re mired in the long, slow fight to have that value truly recognized.
If you got hit by a layoff this year, I am angry for you. The next time someone tries to hit you with that mealy-mouthed “forgive and forget” shit, know that I carry this kernel of rage about the state of the industry. I’m not the least bit sorry for it.
Score: We didn’t forget/10
Thank you for reading our Best and Worst Games of 2023 list. For more on all things video games, stick with us at Press SPACE to Jump!
