Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers: Andrew's Top 10 Games of 2023
My name is Andrew Kimball and I am the host of Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers, a gaming podcast from the perspective of the average gamer. Before that, I hosted a podcast called Level Playing Field with four of my closest friends all about video games. This all stems from my love of the hobby of gaming. I have been a gamer since I can remember, starting with the Super Nintendo and a Gameboy Color and only growing from there. These days I have all three of the major consoles and enjoy games from many genres. Some of my favorite games include The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Bloodborne, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption, and pretty much all of the mainline Zelda games. This year was one of the biggest years we’ve seen in a long time as far as game releases go. We had so many heavy hitters it was hard to keep up with all of them! This list is my personal top 10 games that I played this year. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it.
Honorable Mentions
Baldur's Gate 3
I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve played of this massive and ambitious RPG set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. But I haven’t played enough to feel comfortable putting it any higher on my list. To be fair, it’s basically number 11. This game is so impressive in the level of choice and agency you have over the story and the world. It can be quite daunting and time consuming though and that’s why I haven’t played more of it yet. I need a large chunk of time and the right mood to really sink into it.
Remnant II
I started playing this game towards the end of the year. If I had played it earlier it may have made it on the full list. I’m really enjoying it so far but it hasn’t bumped anything off of my top 10. That’s not to say it isn’t good, this year is just really stacked.
Top 10
10. Evil West
This is the kind of AA video game I love. The core loop of light puzzle solving and gory action is super tight and fun to play. It looks and plays great and has a lot of expression when it comes to upgrades and combat. Sure, I don’t care at all about the story, lore, characters, or world, but that isn’t what kept me coming back to Evil West. It’s the fun gameplay and satisfying mechanics that had me hooked until credits rolled.
9. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
This game is perfect for someone who is new to the souls genre. It’s fast and flashy and just hard enough to not be a complete cakewalk but it’s simple enough that you can understand and grasp the mechanics without having to consult a YouTube walkthrough. It also has a lot of welcome features like co-op and being able to respec and save builds for free. The story is complete nonsense and some of the difficulty is uneven, but I had a lot of fun with this game early on this year.
8. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Just like the name implies, this game is full of wonder. It is the classic 2D Mario gameplay we all know and love but everything surrounding that has been reimagined and turned up to 11. I played through a large chunk of this game with my daughter and that adds to the experience, but when I was playing solo I also had a blast. The game does a great job of giving you a challenge if you want it while also being accessible to anyone who wants to see it through to the end. The badge system, wonder flowers, and new abilities all added up to a fun new experience in the 2D Mario series of games.
7. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
This was my first time playing an Armored Core game. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it since I’m a fan of the souls games and this seemed quite different from those. Well, I decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did! This game is an absolute blast to play once you get into the core loop of creating a mech, going on some missions to earn money, use that money to make your mech better or create a different mech, repeat. If that loop works for you this game is fantastic. The gameplay is so fast and fluid and the presentation is just cool. The story is presented in the most bare-bones way possible but I still found myself invested in the outcome of certain characters by the end. I hope to see more games in this series released alongside the souls games in the future.
6. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
The first Marvel’s Spider-Man game was the reason I bought a PlayStation console for the first time in my life. I absolutely love that game. So of course I have been excited for this one to finally release. I’m also a fan of the Venom story and was curious to see how it would play out with Miles in the mix. Overall the story didn’t land for me 100% but everything else was incredible. I loved the changes to traversal and combat. And playing as both Spider-Men was great! Some of the side content was a little silly or underwhelming but for every miss there was a home run right around the corner. This game had the potential to be number one on my list but even though it didn’t quite make it, I still had an amazing time playing it this year.
5. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
I liked Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order when it came out and the sequel we got this year stepped up the experience in almost every way. I really enjoyed this game. Partly because I have gotten into Star Wars more since the first game released thanks to some of the shows I’ve finally watched like Rebels and Clone Wars. And some of the newer shows that we’ve gotten in the last few years as well. And partly because I like the gameplay of this game a lot. In Survivor, the changes to combat and traversal really made it feel like a step up from its predecessor. The one thing the first game did better though, was the story. I think Survivor had some fantastic character moments but it’s tough to top some of the incredible things that happened in Fallen Order (even though they tried). But even with that being the case, this was one of the best games I played all year.
4. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Yeah yeah, it’s an expansion I know. But it came alongside a huge update to the base game and I think that the content of the expansion could rival a lot of other games on its own. I was a fan of Cyberpunk 2077 when it was released. I’m not going to rehash all of that because it doesn’t apply here. Phantom Liberty was an absolute blast to play and reminded me why I loved the base game so much. CDPR are masters at creating interesting characters and giving the player choices that matter. There were multiple times where this game forced me to make a choice that I did not want to make and there was no clear right answer. Outside of the writing and storytelling, the gameplay is the best it’s ever been and I had a great time blasting my way through Night City and Dogtown. If you haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077 now is a great time and if you need an excuse to go back, Phantom Liberty is a great one.
3. Final Fantasy XVI
I am a relatively new fan to the Final Fantasy series. I have played a handful of the newer games and enjoyed what I’ve experienced. FFXVI promised to be a more mature and dark entry into the series and this piqued my interest. While the Game of Thrones inspiration is obvious and the RPG elements were light, the time I spent with this game was incredible.The action combat system at the core of this game was a ton of fun to play. And the worldbuilding and characters were some of the best I experienced all year and I was truly invested in the story as the game progressed. And on top of all of that, the eikon battles were some of the most impressive things I’ve seen in a game to date. I would recommend this game to anyone whether they are a fan of Final Fantasy or not. I think there’s something in there that almost everyone can enjoy.
2. Lies of P
I had been keeping an eye on this game for a long time. As someone who enjoys souls games this one seemed too good to be true. A Pinocchio inspired action game inspired by Bloodborne? Sign me up! When it came out this year it either met or exceeded all of my expectations. A lot of times when someone other than FromSoft makes a souls game, there is something off or missing in the experience. Lies of P has its flaws, sure, but it is the closest I’ve seen someone get to FromSoft. Not only that but they have some mechanics and ideas in this game that I would love to see the next FromSoft game borrow or learn from. My only real complaint with Lies of P is that towards the end, the difficulty spikes pretty aggressively and some of the mechanics like the parry could have been fine tuned a little more. I really can’t wait to see where this series goes in the future though as this is a hell of a foundation to build on.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
It may not be the most exciting answer but as a huge fan of the Zelda series and Breath of the Wild in particular, Tears of the Kingdom was everything I could have hoped for and more. The way the world was remixed was incredible and I rarely felt like I was retreading ground from Breath of the Wild. However, I loved meeting up with the characters from Breath of the Wild and seeing where they all were in Tears of the Kingdom. The overall story was great but I really enjoyed all of the smaller side stories you come across throughout the world. Outside of the story, the gameplay was insane this time around. Sure the basics of travel and combat are the same on the surface, but introducing ultrahand, fuse, and all of the other new tools Link has at his disposal in this game added so much depth to the foundation that Breath of the Wild created. On top of all of that, the Ganon, Zelda, Link relationship in this game is one of my absolute favorites in the series and the final boss fight is a new high for the series. As a long time Zelda fan I had high hopes for this game and not only did it meet those hopes, it exceeded them.