It's awards season, which means it's time for me to tell you about all the games I played this year!
Who the hell are you, and why should I care about your opinions on video games?
I'm one half of 80% Relatable, a YouTube channel best known for the long-running, old-school let's play series "Two Queers Play." I also write my own short fiction in Twine and Bitsy, and as of this year, I've also done editing work for a couple of recent video games!
My superlatives post from last year wound up unexpectedly reaching beyond my small Cohost circle, so I thought I would write another one for 2023. I didn't play quite as many games this year, but nonetheless: here they all are, alongside a superlative for each. I hope you enjoy!
GAME MOST LIKELY TO BE "OF THE YEAR" – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
If you could design a game in a laboratory to be award bait, I am convinced it would look like Tears of the Kingdom. On paper, it's basically perfect--a vast, open-world game that builds upon its predecessor while adding a multitude of elements that are clearly its own. This is a game you could play for hundreds of hours without seeing the same place twice.
This is a game I did play for hundreds of hours when it came out, and I haven't been back to it since.
Don't get me wrong: playing around with Ultrahand was awesome, and it was genuinely enjoyable to be back in a refined version of Breath of the Wild's gameplay loop. The characters I was familiar with had all grown and changed, but remained remarkably familiar. Getting to explore a world nearly thrice the size of its predecessor left me near speechless. I sincerely enjoyed every moment I spent with this game, and almost all of it was in a state of continual awe.
But when I finally put it down, a few of its less glamorous parts came into focus.
For one: the narrative presentation is awful. The story itself is actually really rad, but the slow, unskippable, and repetitive cutscenes during the mid-game are awful to slog through.
In addition, the Depths felt incredibly under-utilized. Despite its huge size, it felt like there wasn't much to do down there beyond turning on the lights and kicking some Yiga Clan ass. Areas down there really felt like they blurred together and became indistinct in a way the surface world and sky islands neatly avoided. It certainly could've done with a few more distinct landmarks or non-violent NPCs.
And no matter how much it had changed, it was hard to get past the fact that the surface world was one I'd already explored. I already knew where all the landmarks were, so I found myself running directly from point A to B without really taking the time to appreciate the small differences in-between.
In short, while I enjoyed my time with it, Tears of the Kingdom failed to capture that sense of wondrous exploration that Breath of the Wild had. And ater all of its initial glamor had faded away, that turned out to be the sensation I really missed the most.
(Also, let us fucking play as Zelda, for goodness' sake. Or at least make Linkle canon.)
GAME THAT MOST CAPABLY PROVES "ROGUELIKE DECKBUILDER" IS NOT AN EXHAUSTED GENRE – Cobalt Core
It's no secret that roguelikes are enjoying a modern renaissance, and at the same time, more and more games are finding ways to card-ify their mechanics when it isn't strictly necessary. (I'm looking at you, Neon White.) Given the sheer density of indie developers working in the space popularized by Slay the Spire, it can be easy to cynically conclude that roguelike deckbuilders are reaching their saturation point.
However, I am happy to report that we aren't quite at that point yet, and Cobalt Core is the reason why.
The conceit of this title is pretty simple, based entirely around one-dimensional ship-to-ship space combat. The mechanical base alone is already very tight, enabling a variety of vastly different play styles that all feel viable to use. There are some stronger and more supported strategies, to be sure, but when I begin a run, I never quite know where it will end up. It feels equally likely that I end up with a slow build that patiently trades blows as it does a bullshit combo deck that can draw itself all the way through.
The game exudes charm from every pore, but what really makes Cobalt Core shine are its characters. Their designs are cute, their mid-run banter is witty, and their decks all feel distinct while still remaining individually viable. Plus, each ship requires three different crewmates, so even though there are only eight playable characters, the specific cards you'll see in any given run are subject to dozens of permutations.
In short: this is a game I can genuinely see myself playing far into the future, and that's not something I've been able to say about a deckbuilder for quite a while. Definitely give it a try.
GAME THAT BEST USES LEVEL DESIGN AS A FORM OF COMEDY – Void Stranger
Let me tell you: there is nothing funnier than the level design of Void Stranger.
There are no shortage of things I could praise this game for. Within my first few hours playing this charming Sokoban-style puzzle game, I had already fallen in love with its evocative soundtrack, charming pixel artwork, and mechanics that were simple to grasp, but held deceptive depth.
However, when I had finally finished seeing everything this game had to offer, what stuck with me most was how impeccably tight the level design was. And I'm not just talking about how it subtly guides the player to learn and understand its mechanics without ever saying a word, though it certainly does do that.
No, the real kicker was when I realized that the puzzle I had just spent far too long trying to solve was a joke.
It's a difficult feeling to describe, but Void Stranger is full of these unspoken conversations between player and level designer--moments where the game plays on the player's innate tendency to overthink things, or anticipates player habits in ways that aren't immediately apparent.
It's the feeling of being set up for an easy enemy kill, only to discover that I needed it alive all along. It's the feeling of encountering an NPC, only to learn that the player character will happily push them off into the abyss if you aren't careful with your movement. It's the feeling of spending twenty minutes trying to avoid a persistent enemy, only to realize that the solution is just to walk directly to the fucking exit.
As I delved deeper still into the hidden and difficult areas, I began to notice even more of these puzzles that weren't really "puzzles." The solutions were often simple applications of mechanics I'd learned and practiced before--the real difficulty was in recognizing the trap in my initial line of reasoning. They weren't mere tests of intellect--they were jokes, and my inevitable failure was the punchline.
I have genuinely not laughed as hard at a game as I have at this one, and I don't know what that says about me.
If you are in the market for an obtuse and frequently frustrating puzzle experience that will nonetheless leave you awed and astounded, please give Void Stranger a try. (And remember: if you think you've reached the ending of the game, no, you haven't.)
GAME THAT MOST SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVES ON ITS PREDECESSOR IN VIRTUALLY EVERY ASPECT EXCEPT FOR THE PART THAT I, PERSONALLY, CARE MOST ABOUT – Fire Emblem Engage
Engage is, without argument, a step up from Three Houses in every way that matters. The graphics look better, the battle UI is easier to read, the animations are more expressive, the combat has more mechanical depth--even the core gameplay loop is less needlessly tedious than its predecessor.
And yet, given the choice, I'd still play Three Houses any day of the week.
The fault doesn't lie with Engage's characters--they're frequently one-dimensonal, yes, but in the ways that are to be expected of a JRPG franchise with faces numbering in the hundreds. It isn't the unusual costume designs--they're out of step with the rest of the series, but fully at home in the over-the-top, pulp-and-schlock world that the game creates.
No, at the end of the day, it's simply because the story of Fire Emblem Engage sucks. Hard.
I don't know if Three Houses just spoiled me, but I'm still thinking about Fódlan and the students of Garreg Mach years later. The game has its flaws (many, many flaws), but there's no doubt that the setting, characterization, and overall plot have left an impact on all who played it. It's a world I want to learn more about, and one that rewards looking deeply at its history and lore.
Engage just isn't interested in that kind of storytelling. It has a good dragon who fights an evil dragon, and the big twist is that the good dragon is also part evil dragon. And thus, despite having a decidedly better post-game than Three Houses, I was left with no reason to care after I'd cleared the final map. I haven't touched the game since finishing the DLC.
I did, however, replay Three Houses over the summer to try a new maddening challenge run.
GAME THAT I AM MOST CONVINCED IS LYING TO ME, IF ONLY I COULD FIGURE OUT HOW – Misericorde: Volume One
If you're a mystery fan, you need to play this game.
There. Just wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally bury the lede.
Misericorde is a mystery set in a 15th century English abbey, and it begins with a fantastic premise. Our point-of-view character, Hedwig, is an anchoress--someone who has committed themselves to a life of spiritual seclusion within a locked cell. However, when there is a murder on the premises, that also means that she is the only one who can be categorically cleared of suspicion. And thus, the Mother Superior forcibly ends her internment, and Hedwig soon finds herself playing the role of detective.
I don't want to spoil any of the mystery of this game since it has been goddamn incredible so far, but what absolutely makes this a must-read is how Hedwig's strange upbringing and worldview affect the narrative. As someone who has spent the vast majority of her life studying scripture within a tiny cell, she is not wholly prepared to be thrust into the outside world. Her own worldview and philosophy can't help but color her perception of events.
More than anything, a lot of the mystery of this game appears to be in teasing out not just the murderer's identity, but the true goings on at Linbarrow Abbey. Everyone has secrets and their own agenda, and that leaves Hedwig constantly struggling to figure out what details and truths she can actually rely on.
I've already spent longer than is probably healthy thinking about this game, and if you're a mystery fan at all, you owe it to yourself to see what this is all about. Here, let me show you my new theory that explains exactly why [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] are actually [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]
GAME THAT BEST SATISFIES MY LUSTFUL DESIRE FOR MINESWEEPER VARIANTS – Polimines 2
If you make a game about flagging mines and combine it with Picross elements, I will play it to 100% completion. This isn't a remark on this game's quality or memorability; it's a threat. I have spent literally hundreds of hours playing procedurally generated levels in Hexcells Infinite--this just happens to be my particular brain sickness, and I am a mere servant to its whims.
Which is all to say that: if you played Tametsi and thought "hey yeah I could easily do this for another couple hours," then boy howdy do I have some great news for you.
MOST EFFECTIVE USE OF ROMANCE AS HORROR – Slay the Princess
Slay the Princess is one of the best dating simulators I've ever played.
I've seen some describe the game as a "meta-horror" story, but that's not really accurate. What it is, in effect, is a love story between familiar yet incomprehensible beings, forced into a harmful and cyclical existence with one another, and the strange, broken, and intimate relationship that forms from its ashes.
It's a horror story, and thus appropriately horrifying, but the worst parts aren't found in the gore and anxiety. The hardest moments to endure are when you realize the true boundaries of our protagonists and their relationship, and the cruelly co-dependent way in which they all develop.
(It's also done by the team that works on Scarlet Hollow, so you know the artwork and writing is going to be top-tier.)
Anyway, I don't want to spoil any more of it, so, uh, go play it?
MOST EFFECTIVE USE OF CAPITALISM AS HORROR – Model Employee
Like all good near-future cyperpunk tales, Model Employee is a story about the horror of the present day. Featuring a debt-ridden protagonist at the massive Tethys corporation, what could be more horrifying than the realities of seeing a meager paycheck get flushed down the drain just to continue existing?
Oh, what, you wanted hot antagonistic AI ladies, too? Yeah, sure, we've got those around here somewhere. You goddamn freak.
As a jam game, Model Employee is not particularly long. It is, however, a phenomenal time from end to end, and genuinely holds it own among the (surprisingly numerous) horror stories I played this year. Its also free, so you have literally no excuse not to play it.
MOST EFFECTIVE USE OF ISOLATION AS HORROR – Three Lilies and Their Ghost Stories
Good yuri is hard to find--doubly so if you're looking for genre fiction. Thankfully, the folks at milk+ visual have seen fit to grace us with another banger title.
Three Lilies is a yuri horror anthology, featuring three different tales from three disparate eras. And while the yuri is a major, driving aspect of each story's narrative, that doesn't mean the horror takes a back seat. All three tales are putting in work to deliver engaging and nuanced stories beyond the women makin' out.
If I had to pick a throughline in these stories, I'd say it's probably the fear of loneliness? I don't want to spoil any of the particular twists, but Three Lilies really understands that the most horrifying thing possible is to be alone, with no way out.
It's not especially long, but it was absolutely worth the time I spent with it. Check it out if you need some solid ladies delivering some solid chills.
GAME MOST CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT IT IS, REGRETTABLY, A SEQUEL – Anonymous;Code
I steamrolled through Anonymous;Code after I got knocked on my ass from a double-dose of vaxxes and needed a suitable distraction. It certainly delivered on that front, having all of the high concept sci-fi, pulp conspiracy, and high stakes I've come to expect from the Science Adventure series.
The conceit for this game is that the main character is given the ability to "save" and "load" his reality, allowing him to effectively go back and re-do things until he gets it right. While it's a great trope, especially for this kind of story, I couldn't help but feel that I'd heard a similar premise somewhere before.
And if you're familiar at all with the Science Adventure series, you'll now see the problem.
Despite all the work that it does to try and distance itself from Steins;Gate, Anonymous;Code almost feels like it's apologizing at every turn for being a sequel. Whereas most original SciAdv titles are happy to acknowledge their shared continuity in brief or tangential moments that don't distract from their own stories, this one makes frequent and heavy-handed allusions to its predecessor.
The problem is that it's predecessor did essentially everything this game is doing, but markedly better.
Both games turn out to rely on essentially the same plot beats: the ability to functionally loop time, the resulting trauma of being unable to affect the outcome, the fate of the world resting on one girl dying so that the rest of humanity can live... Taken together, it's all just a bit much.
And that's before a character from Steins;Gate makes an in-person cameo.
When it invites such direct comparison, the flaws of Anonymous;Code begin to appear in sharper relief. Its characters are flatter and less developed; the plot beats feel familiar and repetitive; the setting is less memorable; the rules of the world feel less consistent; crucial details are pulled from nowhere at the eleventh hour.
That's truly a shame, because there are some things this game genuinely does well. The way it integrates the main character's ability to save and load with the save system used by the player is particularly ingenious, and it allows for some really creative moments towards the end of the game. The final puzzle in particular is quite inspired, and is a satisfying emotional catharsis at the story's climax.
But Anonymous;Code can't help but trip over its own history, and every time it did so, I couldn't help but realize how much more I'd be enjoying its predecessor instead.
THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST CORNER – The Great Artists and CARROT: The First Seed
I was hired by the fantastic artist and indie developer Chase Fox to edit the writing on his two most recent releases for 2023, The Great Artists and CARROT: The First Seed. It was an incredible experience, especially as a prior fan of his work. However, that also means that I'm not really in a position to describe their dreamlike artwork, or cozy and magical worldbuilding, or subtly witty writing with any kind of objectivity.
So, instead of a detailed breakdown, why not just go and grab them for yourself? That really feels like the only fair option to me. (And, as we all know, this entire post has been about objectivity above all else.)
GAME THAT DIDN'T TECHNICALLY COME OUT IN 2023 BUT DID HAVE AN HD REMASTER THAT SAVED IT FROM LANGUISHING ON THE DS SO I'M COUNTING IT ANYWAY – Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
The Nintendo DS, for whatever reason, has a really impressive library of mystery games. From 999 to Hotel Dusk, Another Code to Ace Attorney, there are no shortage of engaging titles that make creative use of the system's unusual hardware.
That same hardware, however, means that porting those same games to newer consoles is no simple task, often involving a complete rework of the source material. Ghost Trick is the most recent member of that particular canon to finally see re-release for modern consoles, and I was happy to finally get my chance to play it.
And holy shit was it worth the wait.
This game exudes charm and wit from the very first moment, and by the time I'd finished the first chapter, I knew I wouldn't be able to put it down. While it certainly leans more heavily on the puzzle game aspects, the mystery itself is still a clear and present element of the game, and it was rewarding to engage with its colorful world and cast of characters.
If you also missed out on this game the first time around, don't sleep on it now.
Okay, that's great and all, but what is your actual, definitive, game of the year?
If you really want my opinion, I'd probably say Void Stranger. It's not afraid to be obtuse and difficult to navigate in service of a larger experience, and I kind of admire it for that. I mean, what other puzzle game still uses a lives system in the year of our lord 2023? It's definitely not something that everyone will be able to find enjoyment in, but you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to give it a try.
Easy runner up goes to Misericorde: Volume One. I'm hesitant to sing its praises too loudly since the entire mystery is yet to be concluded, but the author has built up a lot of good will with this first entry. I'm eagerly awaiting the continuation, and if you're a mystery fan, you'd be remiss not to get in on the ground floor of this one.
That all said, taste is highly subjective, &c &c, Tears of the Kingdom is going to win every GOTY award and we all know it.
Anyway, that's it, thanks for reading
If you made it all the way to the bottom and think these games sound cool, consider subscribing to 80% Relatable on YouTube, where my partner and I do old-school, long-form let's plays. I'd recommend checking out our playthroughs of the original Ace Attorney, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, or the entirety of Umineko When They Cry if you're a real freak.
You can also check out my short fiction on itch, my short non-fiction on Medium, and assorted other ramblings here on Cohost. Give me a follow if you want, hit that rechost button if you wish, all that good stuff.
Bye.