Games of the Year 2023: from Baldur's Gate 3 to Assassin's Creed, here's what we've been playing
The gods of gaming have smiled upon us these past twelve moons, as gamers savoured some of the sweetest releases in living memory. Yep, this is a vintage crop, right up there with the legendary harvests of 2007 and 1998.
Which is ironic, because if you look back to those specific years, you’ll notice a few familiar names. In 1998, we got the original Baldur’s Gate plus Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, while 2007 provided both Super Mario Galaxy and the first Assassin’s Creed. All four of these franchises loom large, once again, as sequels in this year’s hotlist, which is presented in reverse order below.
And while there is only one title on the list that is a genuinely new property – the oddly dark fisherman’s tale, Dredge – it’s unfair to characterise 2023 as simply raking over the ideas of the past.
It's more accurate to say that inspiration was drawn from several truly epic games, to successfully reimagine them for a fresh generation – in a dizzying variety of ways.
For instance, Baldur’s Gate III and Alan Wake II took long-dormant material and made it feel new, all over again. We gladly received the first two-dimensional Mario game in over a decade and the title – Super Mario Bros. Wonder – says it all, because few folks understand the science of fun better than Nintendo.
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage also headed back to its roots by ditching the free-roaming adventure of recent Creed games for the rooftop acrobatics and sneak-and-slay action of the original titles.
Some of pushed this even further, by literally remaking classics with modern graphics
