Assassina San's Top 10 Games of 2023
Dude, I’ve been gaming since 1989 and I can’t believe how strong of a year 2023 has been for video games. It’s undoubtably one of the best years in video game history. This was the literal worst year for me to start a new and demanding job as a Social Worker after being on a hiatus for 2 years in favor of content creation around video games. If only I was doing full-time content creation in this banger of a year, sighs…
With that said, I don’t know how it’s humanly possible for anyone to have played all of this year’s 8’s, 9’s, or 10’s. Yet somehow, I managed to play all of the heavy hitters. Yet somehow, I still missed out on so much (tries to do ninja symbols for Shadow Clone Jitsu).
I tried my best to list my top 10 in order, but even after perseverating over this list for literal months, I’m still not secure in my placement. Each and every one of these games deserves game of the year in their own right, and they all serve very unique purposes. Please don’t be surprised if this changes in a few weeks when I do a YouTube video about this very topic: https://www.youtube.com/c/ASSASSINASAN
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HERE WE GO (Deep Breathing)
10. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
I was so excited to play a sequel to my favorite Star Wars game ever, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as I quickly became attached to Cal Kestis and his crew. Let’s not pretend that a semi souls-like game where you play as a Jedi isn’t bad ass. It is! I wanted more, and I got it. This time we explored different planets, got closer to our crew after being apart for some time, and met a lot more NPC’s during the journey. While this sequel held up well in terms of story, character building, and combat; it lacked in scope. Bigger isn’t better, and it seems Respawn didn’t agree. The concise and linear nature of the 1st game was lost here, making the world more expansive, and not in a good way. It felt like padding. A way to have players put more time into the game with little to no purpose, with little to no substance. A way to add unnecessary RPG elements to an action game that didn’t need it. A way to add an exhausting amount of NPC dialogue that barely held much meaning to the world. I enjoyed this game a lot, and it’s mostly because of the great story, amazing character development, beautiful new environments, and satisfying combat, but the expansive open world concept just made doing anything extra, a slog. I hope Respawn scales the next game back a lot to preserve the magic of the first game and keep the welcomed added combat changes of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
9. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
I haven’t had a passion for 2d Mario games since I was a kid during the NES & SNES days. At a certain point I figured, they’re all similar right? I’ll pass for now. However, Super Mario Wonder invigorated the magic I felt playing Super Mario Bros 3 or Super Mario World back in the days. To put things into context, Super Mario World was the very 1st game I 100% completed and was thus the seed to start my completionist journey. Somehow, Super Mario Wonder made me want to do it all over again. The new abilities, creative level designs, and modern quality of life elements made this game, well, WONDERFUL! I had a blast playing co-op with my partner, finding all the seeds, discovering secret areas, and being somewhat harassed by this “inspirational” flower. This is definitely one of the easier of the 2d Mario games, but the challenge still comes when you do the end game secret areas.
8. Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy 16 is a Final Fantasy game that makes a significant deviation from other games in the series, with a darker tone and more hack and slash action combat. The story is full of fantasy elements that exacerbate political turmoil in this world, and it’s damn good. I love the characters and world building so much. There is so much depth to the world and characters. There are so many layers that would typically be difficult for a burnt-out mind like mine to remember. However, the implementation of this active time lore system made everything easy to digest and resonate. Unfortunately, this amazing game also suffers from padding with the side quests. Don’t get me wrong, the character and world implications of those side quests are really cool, but the journey there is a very long and redundant fetch quest. The game became extremely formulaic where you have 2 hours of amazing, bombastic, visually appealing main story moments, and then 2-4 hours of boring side quests. I almost wish FF16 would’ve deviated completely from any RPG systems and just focused on the action-adventure to scale things back and make it more cohesive. The RPG elements served no purpose. It’s a good thing the story moments are dramatic and heart-wrenching. It’s so good! The boss fights against Eikon’s feels as thrilling as Dragon Ball Z or God of War battles. It’s eye candy. Plus, the way the music crescendo’s during boss fights really makes me too excited where it’s hard to contain myself. The music score is God Tier. It’s too bad the side quests sincerely messed with the pacing of a game that had potential to be #1 GOTY.
7. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
It had been over a decade since I played an Armored Core game and we’re back! After years of From Software perfecting the Soul’s series formula, ostensibly creating a new sub-genre, and reaching the heights of GOTY; this team puts all of that budget and expertise back into their very niche mech series. I had a feeling this would be a redemption for Armored Core, and it was! Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is the best mech game I’ve played since Titanfall. It’s smooth, kinetic, challenging, and bad ass. The customizability in mech builds is fantastic where you can be a quick, squishy, sword-wielding mech or a big, slow, tanky, mini gun wielding mech. The combat kind of forces you to try different builds for different boss fights to succeed. Plus, there’s so many cosmetic options including colors, stamps, logos, and luster. I spent many hours creating mechs inspired by the color palette’s of Deathscythe from Gundam Wing, classic Gundam 79, the Dragonzord from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, or Samus Aran from Metroid. If you’re wondering if Armored Core 6 is anything like Dark Souls, Sekiro, Bloodborne, or Elden Ring; it’s not. This is a mech fantasy through and through, but I definitely see some inspiration in the combat’s polish, the use of a stagger system which is reminiscent of Sekiro’s posture system, some move sets from bosses reminding me of other bosses in the soul’s series, artistic environments, and amazing music score. This game is challenging, but I won’t say it’s as challenging as the Souls games. In From Software fashion, the story in this game is told through documents and audio calls, so I highly recommend you turn down the music and effects sound to hear the dialogue during combat, because it’s very good. This isn’t a narrative peak in gaming, but for a game that showed 0 humans and only mechs, I felt connected to certain characters without ever having seen their face. What’s going on in Rubicon is fascinating, but to understand the whole picture, you need to pay attention and put pieces together. It’s vague, but cool. Armored Core 6 rules.
6. Lies of P
There’s been way too many Souls-like or Souls inspired games, and none of them truly get what makes the From Software games so special. Every time I hear “souls-like” I kind of sigh in disappointment, despite loving this sub-genre. Yet, my intrigue for an explicitly dark Pinocchio story with souls-like gameplay could not be wavered. My morbid curiosity helped me discover the only game that is truly faithful to the sub-genre, Lies of P. It doesn’t feel like a rip-off either! Lies of P has areas that are reminiscent of Bloodborne and Bioshock. The gameplay combines dodging and parrying, which feels like a mix and match of Bloodborne & Sekiro. The boss designs are on par with From Software bosses, while having their own very unique puppet aesthetic. Lies of P certainly encapsulates the Git Gud mentality, but it’s overall much easier than From Software games. The only aspect of this game that was on the weaker side is the story. There were some messed up implications of unethical experimentation, human and puppet romance, and torture; but ultimately the story and lore didn’t stand out. Either way, I had so much fun playing this game and the end credit scene was so unexpected that it literally blew my mind to think where the heck Neowiz Games and Round 8 Studio’s are headed with their future IP’s.
5. Dead Space
2023 started off strong with this stellar remake releasing in the beginning of the year. The original game may have been released in 2008, but even the OG holds up very well. While Dead Space may not have needed a remake, I’m extremely happy that we got one. This remake adds so many details to the necromorphs, making the enemies more horrific than ever. Not to mention the dismemberment system is a lot more graphic, allowing you to see flesh melt off their bones little by little. The USG Ishimura is even creepier to explore with the added lighting effects and updated graphics. Not only is exploring more visually astounding, but the reworked tram systems allow backtracking through the entire ship to clean up missed collectibles and items. The zero gravity sections went from being one of the more jankier parts of the OG Dead Space and remade into the coolest sections in the entire game. Kinesis in any video game is satisfying (e.g. Control, Star Wars, Scarlett Nexus, Bioshock) and it’s even better in the Dead Space Remake. They added a voice to Isaac, making certain story beats feel more impactful, which wasn’t really necessary until the secret ending revealed a very cool verbal and facial demonstration of what’s to come. The OG Dead Space was already an example of a perfectly paced game, with zero padding, and lots of fun. This Remake captures all of that and somehow makes a masterpiece, a better masterpiece?
4. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
As a NYC native, swinging through the city as Spider-Man is a frikkin TREAT! It always has been fun and some of the best traversal mechanics in gaming period, but in Spider-Man 2 it’s even better? I don’t know how they manage to iterate on this game and still make the same city feel like a refreshing experience. The new wingsuit and updraft system gave players a nice aerial view of the NYC skyline. The color scheme of the sky changing depending on the time or day, or state of the city is BREATHTAKING! Seeing the destruction of certain parts of the city or on Spider-Man’s suit long after an epic battle demonstrates the level of detail and quality put into this game. I can’t even explain the depth of its beauty without spoilers. The combat is more refined and accessible, though some would argue it’s much easier, but I still had fun regardless. The cooldown abilities make combat more simplistic, but the parry system added some challenge. The new combat system truly shined during the very satisfying boss fights. The story is also excellent, but it does feel like Insomniac crammed too many character arcs and villains into one game, thus not allowing certain moments to be well fleshed out. Don’t get me wrong, I like a contained experience, but Miles Morales and some other core character moments felt a bit short changed. I still enjoyed every second of this game and it was the first game I platinumed since Metal Gear Solid 3 back in February because it was an absolute blast and treat to complete. Spider-Man 2 also had an incredible What the F moment that brought an AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, ULTIMATE, SENSATIONAL and unexpected experience to this game.
3. Resident Evil 4 Remake
How is it that we were blessed with 2 fantastic remakes of 2 games that were perfectly paced, and master classes of the survival horror genre? Resident Evil 4 Remake leans into the series horror roots even further with this remake and without stripping it of the camp we know and love from the original. The Ganado’s look so much more menacing, and the environments of the village, castle, and island are way creepier. Yet, through these creepy environments, Leon still hits the one liner’s we know and love. The combat in the OG RE4 rules, but in this remake, Leon can parry with his knife and move while shooting. This adds so much satisfaction and depth to the existing combat arsenal and cool abilities like Leon’s iconic kick. There’s a lot more quality-of-life elements like adding a weapon wheel, no QTE’s, and certain sections of the game being revamped to be way less annoying. Speaking of less annoying, you don’t need to shove Ashely into dumpsters or lockers anymore. While having her hover closer or away from you isn’t any better, at least we don’t have to hear her say “Where are you going Leon” every 5 seconds. This game is excellent, and my only real complaint is Salazar’s remake version isn’t what I hoped for, and Ada’s voice actress needs a bit practice. Oh, and this game is less horny. Like…WAY LESS HORNY. Resident Evil 4 Remake is another example of a perfect game, remade to be more perfect? Even the Separate Ways DLC is way more fleshed out, paying homage to OG sections that were missing in the core remake, and adding a satisfying grappling hook combat and traversal mechanic to Ada’s Wong’s arsenal. The ending of the DLC gave a nice hint of what Capcom has in line to remake next.
2. Alan Wake II
It’s been 13 years since fans of this cult classic series wanted to get some clear answers to “It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean” and well, I’m sorry to say but, after you place this game, you’ll be left with more questions. Remedy is trying to create a universe where several of their IP are connected either as explicitly as Control and Alan Wake, or as minimalistic as Max Payne. As we have learned from Marvel, having a multiverse can be challenging to execute, but in this case, the Remedy Universe is undoubtably convoluted. The ending to Alan Wake 2 left me feeling cautiously optimistic about this series future. I’m conflicted between being disappointed or excited for more. The ending is actually, my only criticism. The journey was absolutely fantastic and exceeded my expectations. I always wanted the 1st Alan Wake game to lean into horror a bit more, and Alan Wake 2 gave me just that. I wanted the 1st Alan Wake game to scale back on the combat encounters, which became redundant and exhausting halfway through the game, and Alan Wake 2 gave me just that. I wanted Alan Wake 2 to adopt the smoothness of Control’s gunplay and movement, but we didn’t get that, which makes sense because hurling objects across the room while having unlimited ammo would completely strip the game of its survival horror direction. The combat could’ve been better, but I still enjoyed fighting the Taken. I loved the fear factor of not being able to see what’s behind me and hearing eerie whispers and groans in my vicinity. The sound design and music are fantastic. I loved not being able to tell the difference between a hostile and non-hostile Taken, and deciding if I should waste ammo to figure it out or just wait until one teleported in my face and took away half of my health. This game is scary and it’s not because of the cheesy jump scares, those sucked. What took me over with this game and thus landing it on the 2nd place slot of my GOTY list is the obvious inspiration from Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The puzzle solving in the Saga sections were very reminiscent of RE games and the environmental manipulation of the Alan Wake sections felt very Silent Hill. That is, until we had to do algebra to open cult stashes? Ugh. Even the map is perfect and clearly inspired by the maps in Silent Hill. I’m a sucker for small town horror, and this game delivered. Where Alan Wake 2 exceeded my expectations is its creative direction in implementing live action scenes into game animation, without looking pasted, and adding depth to characters that weren’t present in the original game. The “We Sing” mission is an absolute treat for creatives. Alan Wake 2 is concise in its gameplay but convoluted in its story. It’s pretentious af, and I love it.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Who knew the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would make that game look like a beta. I adored Breath of the Wild, but Tears of the Kingdom is better by a long shot. The physics in this game fostered amazing puzzle solving moments and fantastic player creativity with building. You can spend 10 hours exploring caves and shrine’s in Hyrule or 10 hours making a penis shaped rocket. The game has a clear main story path that you can approach in any order you like, and then stumbling upon the wonders of Hyrule makes exploring feel like a natural occurrence. This game expands beyond Hyrule, making it 3x the size of Breath of the Wild because you can explore the upside-down world called the Depths and islands in the sky. I absolutely loved sky diving off a sky island and dashing into a deep dark red and black hole in the ground of Hyrule, hear a deep horn sound as the screen becomes black, before you need to shoot a bright bloom flower from your bow and arrow just to see where you’re landing. There’s almost too much to do in this game, but I never felt like I had to do any of it. I love feeling content knowing that I can just do whatever I wanted as I stumbled upon it, and I was rewarded every time. TOTK allows players to approach the game’s vast plethora of content as they want, and it doesn’t punish you for paving your own path. The temple’s in TOTK feel more like classic Legend of Zelda dungeons, each with unique puzzles and traversal, amazing music, and very cool boss fights at the end. This is also the absolute best story in any Zelda game giving every NPC a meaningful role, including our princess who played one of the most crucial roles in this game. I shed tears, in Tears of the Kingdom. My only criticism of this game is not being able to call a horse, some of the mission objectives being unclear, and the scope being too big to ever see through to completion. I may be biased because this is my favorite video game franchise since childhood, and it tugs at the heart strings a bit too hard. No shade to Mario, but Zelda is Nintendo at its pinnacle and Link should be their poster boy.
Other games I played: Hogwarts Legacy (cool initially, eventually meh), Starfield (boring, didn’t finish), High-Fi Rush (was okay, didn’t finish), Diablo 4 (so much fun but didn’t finish), Baldur’s Gate 3 (Just started, quite fascinating, CRPG not my thing but damn this is pretty cool), Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (I liked it, didn’t finish), Metroid Prime Remaster (I love it, but didn’t finish)
Other games I wanted to play but didn’t get to: Dead Island 2, Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, Remnant 2, Street Fighter 6, Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty, Sea of Stars, Super Mario RPG, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, Mortal Kombat 1, Dredge.