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Here are Eurogamer’s favourite games of 2023

Listen. There have been a lot of great games this year. Maybe more than in any year we can easily remember. Because of this we’ve handled our top 50 list of our best games a little differently.

Below you’ll find two groups of games from 2023. Going backwards, at the bottom you’ll find our top 10 in an ordered list. And above that you’ll find the other 40 we really, really loved, but we’ve arranged these alphabetically.

Honestly, that’s because, with a year like this, if we’d tried to order them all we’d still be arguing over it. And in a year this great – and a year this painful for the people who make games and work around them – that would be no good. So here are our favourite 50 games of the year. We hope you can find something in here that passed you by and will make for a lovely discovery.

Be safe, and thanks for sticking with Eurogamer in 2023.


Our top 50 games of 2023

Against the Storm

PC

Emerging from a long span in Early Access, Against the Storm is a roguelite city builder, and it’s every bit as exciting as that combination makes it sound. Tackle the wilderness, control your economy, and you’ll likely find yourself swept away by these complex delights.


Against the Storm key art showing two settler characters in the foreground fleeing a massive storm and evil looking volcano in the distance.
Against the Storm. | Image credit: Hooded Horse.

Here’s our Against the Storm review.

A Highland Song

PC, Switch

A wild and windy race through some of the most evocative landscapes in video games, A Highland Song builds its mountains and crags out of paper-thin art, but the end result is mesmerising and – most of all – genuinely transporting.


A Highland Song screenshot showing the peak climbed screen at the top of a high mountain
A Highland Song. | Image credit: Inkle / Eurogamer.

Here’s our A Highland Song review.

Akka Arrh

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Switch

Video games’ digital romantic has never been in finer form than with this reworking of a difficult Atari design. If you’re after sound and light and perfectly balanced waves of arcade excitement, this is unmissable. It might even top Space Giraffe.


A cross-shaped playing field for the abstract shooter Akka Arrh
Akka Arrh. | Image credit: LLamasoft

Here’s our Akka Arrh review.

Amarantus

PC

2023 was a great year for visual novels, and Amarantus is one of our favourites. A tale of revolution that responds brilliantly to repeated playthroughs, Amarantus made our reviewer invoke Walter Benjamin, and there’s probably no higher praise than that.


An ocean voyage scene from fantasy visual novel Amarantus, in which Màrius moans that you, Arik, are unintentionally thwarting his romantic advances on another character.
Amarantus. | Image credit: ub4q / Eurogamer

Here’s our Amarantus review.

Amnesia: The Bunker

PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Amnesia chucks you in with another terrifying AI-driven monster in The Bunker, but this time the bunker in question is going through World War One. Horror and a certain amount of stress ensues, inevitably.


The player aiming a pistol down a corridor at an unseen creature in Amnesia: The Bunker.
Amnesia: The Bunker. | Image credit: Frictional Games

Here’s our Amnesia: The Bunker review.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

From Software leaves the Souls games behind and returns to the realm of giant stompy mechs in this blisteringly entertaining adventure. Huge robots, endless contrails and the glow of radioactive plasma combine to create something wild and memorable.


Armored Core 6 screenshot, showing an airborne mecha nimbly dodging missile fire.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. | Image credit: Bandai Namco/Eurogamer.

Here’s our Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon review.

Bahnsen Knights

PC

LCB’s Pixel Pulps imagine schlock horror as cursed CGA games from the late 1980s. Except schlock horror isn’t really fair, as the gorgeous, minimalist writing elevates these tales of cultists and monsters into the realm of literature. Unmissable.


A car races towards the viewer, lights flashing in this screen from Bahnsen Knights
Bahnsen Knights. | Image credit: LCB Game Studio/Chorus Worldwide

Here’s our Bahnsen Knights review.

Birth

PC

Urban loneliness is the theme here, but the treatment allows for one of the most distinct and imaginative puzzle games in years. Using faded textbook colours and a gloriously doomy soundtrack, this is the story of a person in search of a friend – and an attempt to build that friend from all the available pieces their neighbourhood offers.


A rat with a hole in its body and a skull for a head lurks in a doorway in Birth
Birth. | Image credit: Madison Karrh.

Here’s our Birth review.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Switch

A homage to Jet Set Radio that’s so gloriously open-hearted you can’t begrudge its many borrowings, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has a few ideas of its own that might even improve on Sega’s original design. Levels are larger and perhaps less intricate, but the spirit of a true classic sings once more.


Preparing to lay down graffiti in Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. | Image credit: Team Reptile/Eurogamer

Here’s our Bomb Rush Cyberfunk review.

Chants of Sennaar

PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Switch

One of the year’s biggest, sweetest surprises, Chants of Sennaar busts out the architect’s pencil to deliver a mysterious, intricate world in which the player uncovers not just one language but a whole handful. In moving between different tongues, different cultures emerge, all as the game moves further up an ancient mountain. We didn’t see this game coming. Don’t miss out.


Chants of Sennaar tower vista showing walkways and columns at night
Chants of Sennaar. | Image credit: Focus Entertainment/Rundisc

Here’s our Chants of Sennaar review.

Cobalt Core

PC, Switch

FTL meets Slay the Spire is the simple pitch, but this game is too inventive and warm-hearted to keep you spotting references for long. Race through space, battle with cards, and explore the unknown. Oh yes, and say hello to the frog captain whose ship keeps trying to shoot itself. Brilliant stuff.


A screenshot from Cobalt Core. A pixelated spaceship has just destroyed another spaceship. There's a big pixelated explosion. Pixel-yay!
Cobalt Core. | Image credit: Eurogamer / Brace Yourself Publishing

Here’s our Cobalt Core review.

Dave the Diver

PC, Switch

Indie game or something else, Dave the Diver was a genuine phenomenon this year, and it’s easy to see why. Here’s the perfect summer game: by day you explore an ever-changing lagoon as you hunt for fish, treasure, and the solution to a vast, ancient mystery, and then every night you manage a sushi restaurant and serve the food you caught.


Daybreak with a golden sunrise in Dave the Diver, a ship bobs on the water.
Dave the Diver. | Image credit: Mintrocket

Here’s our Dave the Diver review.

El Paso, Elsewhere

PC, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

This year’s most stylish game borrows the blunt aesthetics of PS1 horror and the dive-and-slow-mo of Max Payne, but the brew it concocts is entirely distinct. It’s a trip to hell. It’s a love story. It’s an endless night in a motel right out of indie cinema from the 1990s. Cor.


The hero dives and shoots through a spooky abattoir in El Paso, Elsewhere
El Paso, Elsewhere. | Image credit: Strange Scaffold

Here’s our El Paso, Elsewhere review.

Final Fantasy 16

PS5

Combat sings even as side quests wither slightly in this grand blockbuster adventure. The younger generation wrestles against problematic gods, so there’s a certain topicality in the mix too.


Clive against bullet hell from a mechanical boss in Final Fantasy 16 DLC
Final Fantasy 16. | Image credit: Square Enix / Eurogamer

Here’s our Final Fantasy 16 review.

Finity.

iOS, requires Apple Arcade

Every year needs at least one grimly compulsive touchscreen puzzler. This year it was Finity., a fresh spin on match-three that has ice cream colours, a delightful soundtrack of pings and clicks, and a central wraparound mechanic that had us playing for hours.


Finity logo with a colourful game board to the right
Finity. | Image credit: Seabaa

Here’s our Finity. review.

Football Manager 2024

PC, PS5, Xbox X/S

Such is the pedigree of Football Manager, you could argue there should always be one on any top 50 list, from any year. But this year’s has been particularly joyous, as a couple of new player roles and significant under-the-hood tinkering make positional play – the dizzying carousel of midfield rotations that’s now the philosophy of choice for the top coaches of the world – finally come to life.


Erling Haaland scoring a goal for Manchester City in Football Manager 2024.
Football Manager 2024 | Image credit: Sega

Here’s our Football Manager 2024 review.

Goodbye Volcano High

PC, PS4, PS5

Another great visual novel in 2023, this one focusing on the final year of high school for a bunch of dinosaurs. The writing’s sharp and the music is even sharper. This is not a game to miss.


Goodbye Volcano High screenshot of a contest announcer gesturing toward a band of teen dinosaurs on stage
Goodbye Volcano High. | Image credit: KO_OP/Eurogamer.

Here’s our Goodbye Volcano High review.

Hi-Fi Rush

PC, Xbox X/S

Stealth-dropped games always feel like an extra treat, even before you throw in Game Pass, but Hi-Fi Rush was much more than just its delivery method. Blending combat, traversal and music until you can’t pull them apart, Tango’s game also delivered a bright cartoon art style with a lot of love for halftone. Swoon.


Hi-Fi RUSH, Chai is dressed as a shark and is standing on the raised walkway in track four
Hi-Fu Rush. | Image credit: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

Here’s our Hi-Fi Rush review.

Honkai: Star Rail

PC, iOS, Android

Following up on a mega hit like Genshin Impact is presumably not the easiest thing in the world, but Honkai: Star Rail handles itself well. This is another role-playing gacha affair, enlivened by beautiful art and generous design.


splash art of dr ratio character, who is a short blue haired man resembling an ancient greek man, wearing a loose white top resembling a toga and blue trousers
Honkai: Star Rail. | Image credit: HoYoverse

Here’s our Honkai: Star Rail review.

Humanity

PC, PS4, PS5

The follow-up to Tetris Effect is a puzzler about programming the movement of crowds. It’s a game that would have worked beautifully on the PS1, but there’s something thrilling about the sheer amount of people Humanity manages to cram onto the screen using modern tech. Oh yes, and you play as a dog? Sold.


A queue of people snakes across a floating level in Humanity
Humanity. | Image credit: tha ltd./Enhance

Here’s our Humanity review.

Jusant

PC, PS5, Xbox X/S

So many of our favourite memories of 2023 are found on Jusant’s near-endless mountain. Set-pieces and narrative beats are all great, but the real joy is in the moments where it’s just you, your rope, and a rockwall that needs to be solved. Fantastical and also densely realistic, this is video game climbing to dream about. A free solo option next, pls.


Our young hero hangs, one-handed above a drop on a high section of wall in Jusant. Up ahead the cliff has horizontal ridges set into it.
Jusant. | Image credit: Don’t Nod

Here’s our Jusant review.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

PS5

Nobody makes blockbuster games charming quite like Insomniac, and with two Spider-Men, the team has plenty of opportunities to warm hearts even as it raises pulses. New York’s bigger, the stakes are more intense, and it’s just a shame that some crucial accessibility options have had to wait for a patch.


Miles Morales as Spider-Man in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 using his aerial combat skills to take down one of Kraven's hunters
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. | Image credit: Insomniac

Here’s our Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review.

Moonring

PC

The term roguelike gets bandied around a lot, but if any game deserves it, it’s Moonring, because it’s almost exactly like – and inspired by – the original Rogue game that kicked it all off. It’s one person’s time machine back to the 1980s RPGs – the Ultimas, the Rogues – that inspired so much after them, and as such, it can feel abruptly different when you begin. But stick with it and its charms will begin to beam through, and you’ll begin to see why these games had such an influence to begin with.


Moonring screenshot showing an ancient ruin.
Moonring. | Image credit: Fluttermind / Eurogamer.

Here’s our Moonring review.

Remnant 2

PC, PS5, Xbox X/S

Ranged and melee combat against monsters and vile bosses comes alive in co-op in this bruising action game. It’s a blast on the surface and surprisingly rich with cleverness underneath it all.


A screenshot of Remnant 2's The Awakened King DLC showing a player attacking seemingly amphibious enemies while an imposing castle looms overhead.
Remnant 2. | Image credit: Gunfire Games

Here’s our Remnant 2 review.

Resident Evil 4

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S

Any more daunting tasks than updating a genuine classic for a new era? Resident Evil 4 threads the needle beautifully, cleaving to the original design for huge chunks but making sure any improvements really count. Dare we say: bingo?


Resident Evil 4 Remake Leon S. Kennedy
Resident Evil 4. | Image credit: Capcom

Here’s our Resident Evil 4 review.

Roto Force

PC, Android, iOS

Roto Force takes the twin-stick shooter and flips it inside out. You’re stuck to the wall shooting inwards, but you can dash through the air and dance around your enemies with timing alone. Throw in some lovely surprising level designs and an endless visual imagination and you have a game that is not to be missed. Warning: it can be super, super hard.


Roto force review screenshot - a blue square contains you and your missiles, in front of a mustard yellow background
Roto Force. | Image credit: Accidentally Awesome/Eurogamer

Here’s our Roto Force review.

Saltsea Chronicles

PC, PS5, Switch

Take to the waves as an entire boatload of heroes in this gorgeous and lightly handled exploration of environment, cultures, and personalities. The sea has risen and the world that remains is transformed. There’s a mystery to solve, but, more importantly, connections to be made, and joy to be found. Luminous stuff.


Saltsea Chronicles - a look-out nest-type building stands at the top of a pole suspended above walkways and fauna in Saltsea Chronicles.


A title card from Saltsea Chronicles. Against a shifting sky, the text reads: The crew takes a minute to gather themselves.


Saltsea Chronicles - a cross-section of a sailing ship shows many chambers within the vessel. The one selected reads "Supplies"

Saltsea Chronicles. | Image credit: Die Gute Fabrik/Eurogamer

Here’s our Saltsea Chronicles review.

Sea of Stars

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Beloved SNES RPGs ride again in Sea of Stars, which manages to bottle the magic of 16-bit adventuring without ever giving way to sheer nostalgia. It helps that clever use of colour and light means the game is an absolute beauty, too.


Sea of Stars characters look out over a town in the distance
Sea of Stars. | Image credit: Sabotage / Eurogamer

Here’s our Sea of Stars review.

Sludge Life 2

PC

Sludge Life 2 doesn’t do much to evolve the Sludge Life formula, but that formula was pretty much perfect from the start. Brace yourself for another compact open-world adventure seen through the buzzing fish-eye lens of an almighty hangover. Explore the swamp, smoke cigs, and mess around with dangerous technology. What is all this sweet work worth, etc etc?


Sludge Life 2 an anthropomorphic bird on a football pitch
Sludge Life 2. | Image credit: Terri Vellmann/DOSEONE/Devolver

Here’s our Sludge Life 2 review.

Street Fighter 6

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Wes may have left us, but at least we got his verdict on Street Fighter 6 before he went. And what he found was a classic game that was successfully starting to embrace modern elements of design. Lovely stuff. And miss you, Wes!


A.K.I. beats Chun Li in Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6. | Image credit: Capcom

Here’s our Street Fighter 6 review.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Switch

2D Mario has never been more frenetic or surprising than in this secrets-stuffed game. Levels rewrite themselves around you as creatures stampede, platforms melt, and, in a few cases, you even get to walk on the walls. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is brisk, inventive, and scattered with popping candy joy.


super mario bros wonder screenshot showing mario inhabiting a spiky creature, flying through the air
Super Mario Wonder. | Image credit: Digital Foundry/Nintendo

Here’s our Super Mario Bros. Wonder review.

Super Mario RPG

Switch

The perfect Christmas game? Almost definitely. This lovely light touch remake of a brisk, compact RPG would be a treat even if it didn’t have Mario in. With him, though, it remains both inviting and gorgeously odd. A few accessibility features would have completed the package, though.


A screenshot from the Super Mario RPG remake showing Mario leaping away from a lava castle visible in the background.
Super Mario RPG. | Image credit: Nintendo

Here’s our Super Mario RPG review.

Synapse

PS5, requires PSVR2

Synapse, you had us at first-person shooting with the kinetic and spooky smash-and-grab powers of Psi-Ops. But throw the whole thing into VR, and give it a cyber-candy aesthetic with a limited, perfectly pitched colour scheme? You are spoiling us, madames.


Chaos and flames fill the screen in this shot from Synapse.
Synapse. | Image credit: nDreams

Here’s our Synapse review.

Tchia

PC, PS4, PS5

Tchia gives you a whole archipelago to explore in a compact adventure that takes a lot of its emphasis from Ubi open-worlders and the traversal ideas of the recent Zeldas. More than that, though, it submerges you in a specific culture, and while the narrative has some strange tonal shifts, it remains a treat to play.


Tchia smiling on diving challenge near Mwaken Village
Tchia. | Image credit: Awaceb/Kepler Interactive

Here’s our Tchia review.

Terra Nil

PC and smartphones via Netflix

Terra Nil gives you the power to reverse the harmful effect humans have had on the Earth. It’s a reverse city-builder, really. You start with a barren piece of land – a piece of land leeched dry by humanity – and then you regrow it. You use an array of futuristic technology to bring entire biomes back to life, returning rain to lands, animals to lands, and ice to lands. It’s heady stuff. And then – and this is the most brilliant part – you pack up all of your equipment again and get out, leaving nothing behind.


A screenshot from Terra Nil. Bertie has significantly regrown the Arctic biome now. The waters are blue again, the land is green, and the aurora has returned. It's not yet refrozen though - that's the next step.
Terra Nil. | Image credit: Eurogamer / Free Lives

Here’s our Terra Nil review.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

PC, Switch

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood had us at the point where it let us make our own Tarot cards. But there’s much more to it than that. This is a complex game about community and identity as well as divination and witchcraft. It’s beautiful, and filled with wrenching choices.


Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood screenshot showing Fortuna in pixel art centre-frame, staring at the camera with tears in her eyes. She wears deep purple, with purple eye shadow and a third eye in her forehead.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood. | Image credit: Devolver/Eurogamer

Here’s our The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood review.

Thirsty Suitors

PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S

What a dazzling game. Thirsty Suitors is an adventure that includes turn-based battles, open-world skating, and the tricky embrace of family. Come for the action, stay for some delicious recipes.


Thirsty Suitors artwork showing two main characters back to back in front of a yellow and black loveheart, with a bright purple-pink background.
Thirsty Suitors. | Image credit: Annapurna Interactive.

Here’s our Thirsty Suitors review.

Turbo Overkill

PC

Unapologetic – that’s what Turbo Overkill is. It knows what it wants to be and it is it, right away, from the moment you begin. This is a love letter to the Quakes and Dooms of the olden days, except, because it knows it’s playing to an already appreciative audience, it doesn’t feel the need to dilute anything, so you get max power, max sugar, from the get-go. There’s no filler here – it’s all banger.


Turbo Overkill promo screen showing a giant eye in the distance shooting a huge laser beam at the protagonist sitting on a cool motorbike
Turbo Overkill. | Image credit: Apogee

Here’s our Turbo Overkill review.

Venba

PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Venba will take you about an hour to play, but it will linger in the mind for months. Explore the experiences of an Indian mum and her family transplanted to Canada through the food they share together and the memories they make. It’s generous, magical stuff.


Venba combs her hair in the mirror looking content in Venba
Venba. | Image credit: Visai Games, Valve

Here’s our Venba review.

Void Stranger

PC

With perhaps the best name of any game on this list, Void Stranger is a proper 2023 classic. It’s a 2D sokoban adventure at heart, but this core design is riddled with complexities and ambiguities. The Steam page promises “several stages of frustration.” We’re in!


A tile with the shape of a splayed human body in this screen from Void Stranger. "So be it!" is written at the bottom.
Void Stranger. | Image credit: System Erasure

Our top 10 games of 2023

10. Alan Wake 2

PC, PS5, Xbox X/S

An unlikely sequel to the 360 cult classic (to quote our review of the original, “your truck is making a noise like a bear having a…”) Alan Wake returned this year to push PC hardware and the limits of audiences’ sensibilities with some more postmodern frights. Come for the visual splendour, stay for the musical interlude. No word from us on whether that bear makes another appearance.


Alan in Alan Wake 2 gives a small smile as he holds an Oh Deer diner mug
Alan Wake 2. | Image credit: Remedy

Here’s our Alan Wake 2 review.

9. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew

PC, PS5, Xbox X/S

Shadow Gambit is a stealth-based tactical game about ghost pirates and cursed treasure, and if that wasn’t enough, it’s from one of the best teams in the business. It’s a glorious game, but a heart-breaking one, as well. This is the team’s final game, yet another victim of 2023.


An illustration showing all eight members of the Red Marley's undead crew gathered together in a heroic pose. Fearless female pirate Afia Manicat stands front and centre, glowing spectral sword in hand.
Shadow Gamebit: The Cursed Crew. | Image credit: Mimimi Games

Here’s our Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew review

8. A Space for the Unbound

PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, PS4, PS5

It’s the end of school and the end of the world in this poignant, perceptive game that effortlessly explores some difficult human territory. Filled with love and insight, it also includes a lot of cats. What more could we ask for?


A Space for the Unbound review - Atma and Reya sit next to each other in the movie theatre and awkwardly touch hands
A Space for the Unbound. | Image credit: Mojiken

Here’s our A Space for the Unbound review.

7. The Banished Vault

PC

Space exploration? An interstellar Gothic monastery? And it all looks like it was printed by Durer? Luckily, The Banished Vault is every bit as fascinating, challenging, and overwhelming as the sales pitch. This is an astonishing piece of game design and sheer game conception. It’s not for everyone, but that’s part of what makes it such a thrill.


The Banished Vault key art in gothic black-and-white pencil style with a pointy city to the left and moon and bright sun to the right, with stars in the sky.
The Banished Vault. | Image credit: Bithell Games.

Here’s our The Banished Vault review.

6. Pikmin 4

Switch

Long in development, Pikmin 4 still snuck up on people when it came out this year. Tom was utterly won over by its colour, joy, and generous blend of puzzling and strategy. If you’re undecided, there’s a demo so you can wet your beak.


Pikmin 4 artwork showing a bulborb enemy attacking.
Pikmin 4. | Image credit: Nintendo / Eurogamer

Here’s our Pikmin 4 review.

5. Mediterraneo Inferno

PC

Bold and unforgettable, Mediterraneo Inferno is a visual novel that deals with grief, passion and secrets. Three friends go on holiday over the summer, and what emerges is one of the most thoughtful examinations of deeply human themes in any game we can remember.


An illustration from Mediterranea Inferno showing three naked young men, viewed from the waist up, bathed in a sinister green light as neon pink scissors dance around them. Mida stares out in the middle, golden threads stretching from the fingers of his crossed arms, while Claudio and Andrea stand either side behind him, both wearing blindfolds.
Mediterraneo Inferno. | Image credit: Lorenzo Redaelli/Eyeguys/Santa Ragione/Eurogamer

Here’s our Mediterraneo Inferno review.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Switch

Don’t believe anyone telling you this is just DLC that got out of hand. The map may be familiar, but Tears of the Kingdom’s new player powers make for a game with almost endless potential. Save the world and break the curse, sure, but don’t forget to make an improbable flying machine that sets everything it touches on fire too.


Zelda holds a torch as she and Link look at something in Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. | Image credit: Nintendo

Here’s our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review.

3. Rytmos

PC, Switch, Android, iOS

Of all the games on this list, it would be the biggest shame if this one passed you by. Rytmos is a gorgeous musical puzzler, with ingenious solutions that always yield to playfulness and experimentation. But more than that, it’s a journey into some of the most fascinating areas of world music. Come for the challenge, stay for the Ethiopian Jazz. 2023 games at their most generous.


A puzzle level that forms a looping track over several faces of a knobbly cube in this screen from Rytmos.
Rytmos. | Image credit: Floppy Club

Here’s our Rytmos review.

2. Baldur’s Gate 3

PC, Xbox X/S, PS5

Horny and bloodthirsty by turn, Baldur’s Gate 3 was probably the smash hit of the year. This is a role-playing game of depth and imagination, with an astonishing amount of space for player expressiveness. It’s the consummate blockbuster.


Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion deep in thought
Baldur’s Gate 3. | Image credit: Larian

Here’s our Baldur’s Gate 3 review.

1. Cocoon

PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Just describing Cocoon is a pretty exciting process, so just imagine what it’s like to play. Explore a series of fantastical worlds that exist within spheres, and carry those spheres inside each of the different worlds as physical objects. It’s a puzzle game, but really it’s art and design coming together to deliver a series of seemingly impossible epiphanies. In 2023 there was no headier brew.


Key artwork from the game Cocoon, showing a small insect-like character, with wings, looking into a large transparent dome that has a world within. And a dome with another world within. Which has a dome with another world in.
Cocoon. | Image credit: Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive

Here’s our Cocoon review.

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