The Writing on Games 'Top Five Games of 2023' List 

The issue for me, and at least a lot of my friends, is the story was super poorly delivered. I'm *very* tired of the FromSoft way of delivering story and context through item descriptions. I also think that Nintendo needs to up their production value and get some consistent voice acting, and Japanese RPGs in general. If a character has a voice actor, IMO every line needs to be voiced. All my favorite games this year had full voice acting and good gameplay. Just gameplay, or just a good story isn't enough to engross me. And I don't feel engrossed having to read and imagine the voice. I don't mind subs on foreign language fully voiced mind you, just when it's a silent screen with text after text for a full conversation I'm just... not here for it. I also think what was great about this year, is that the above is *my* pov. I got dyslexia, so voice acting is much higher priority to me than other folks. Likewise if that doesn't bother you then Pikmin 4, Armored Core, Dave the Diver, Dredge all probably hit you much harder than it does me. I like those games, but they're not going on the list of GOAT the way BG3 and Hi Fi Rush have got that spot. And there's very few years where a game enters my GOAT list, let alone 2 games in the same year. I'm sure platform you engaged on impacts it too, I bet the people who played Jedi Survivor on just PS5 had an amazing experience as opposed to PC players. Lastly what makes this year so impactful to me, is that there is something for everyone that's the pinnacle of the genre. If you just love FPS with a campaign, you got Aveum and Boltgun. If you love platformers you've got Mario Wonder. Storied indie games you got Jusant and Chants of Seenar. Fighting games got reinvigorated with Street Fighter. Any genre there's at least *one* game that perfected the genre this year. It's kind of like how last year was one of the best years of movies in a long time. I'm just happy people get something this year no matter what you wanted.

Ac6 delivers so much with its delivery of fights and over the topness tho​@@yoyosaur

Thank god I've played Ace Combat before, it really helped me in appreciating Armored Core's storytelling and characters, and why I love the world of Rubicon 3. I guess you can say that this game was made for Ace Combat or Project wingman fans, since its basically AC's true sister franchise, not souls. Definitely game of the year for me.

Ikr??? It seems like everyone went: "Oh cool. And then forgot about it. Definitely my GoTY fir 2023 too. I need to try some of the games on this list now though! Especially that language one, it looks so cool!

​@@yoyosaur by the end, i was invested more in armored core 6 characters than i was with bg3

I said this in another comment but it's the presentation. No real cutscenes, voiceover during important gameplay you're likely to ignore and filter out to handle the battle, and lots of context being buried in mission descriptions and such. "I CAME HERE TO LAY DOWN LEAD, NOT READ"

@@yoyosaurTempleOS

@@yoyosaur What I'm hearing is because it doesn't tell the story in the same way you're used to other stories doing it you didn't enjoy it as much. You're welcome to have that perspective it's basically the same way I feel about most souls games but I would never say they have no story or a bad one just because it's not done the way I like it.

No interest in souls lore?

Most people never climbed the wall and even less cast the die and crossed the Rubicon.

Nah, they know what they are doing, even tho elden was a step back

Nah, the guys at From Soft know what they're doing. It's the same thing they've been doing since the beggining of the company, Miyazaki taking over just made the games play better.

It's even rather sad that FromSoft's middest game is the one getting all the praise and making all the sales.

It won awards, I wouldn’t say it’s not being talked about, sure it’s not praised to the same level, but who cares.

Nah, it's because it's in very niché genre. Just because it looks good, doesn't change the fact it's basically a 3D bullet hell game. And that isn't that life-changing for most people.

I understand that this is sarcasm but there were dozens of great “playable” games this year.

Theres dozens of those every yr. All considered great yet everyone forgets about them all except the memerable ones​@@thegwynbleidd4202

More 10 Sxck list

You are about the closest thing to a "good guy" with the RLF ending, although it's an idealist's ending and could lead to a worse conflict in the future.

YUP. Awful.

Silence Hill series Masterpiece

Thank you!

Great ps2

I did! Didn't end up beating it but what I played was neat.

@@WritingOnGames cool!

Not only armored core series but it was one of the best narrative games in 2023 along with Alan wake 2 and BG3

This means a lot. Thank you!

Pretty much, yes. But the gameplay is still very very weak and saga is kinda bland. Could've been majestic with those 2 things being better

When the game could've been better if it belonged to a different medium there should absolutely be a discussion of gameplay and story. Especially when gameplay is the equivalent of hitting the pause or play button of a media player. In the gameplay section there is no engagement on the part of the player - that's the character often has to say what to do next out loud. The motivation to play them is to reach the next point at which the cutscene starts. There's such a massive gulf between player and the character he/she controls

@@pramitpratimdas8198 This kind of argument always seems to hinge on the notion that games are absolutely obligated to never cross paths with cinematic storytelling. That anything that isn't directly contributing to the mechanical experience is somehow better left to film or television. Like any other form of art/entertainment. You are going to get examples that draw heavily from other mediums. You are going to get entire genres that may not tick all the arbitrary "does it have good enough gameplay" check-boxes and that is perfectly alright. With all that said. There is another thing to think about. You talk about how the "motivation to play them is to reach the next point at which the cutscene starts". This conveniently leaves out the reason why certain players flock to these kinds of games. Immersion. For what is obviously a very big chunk of players, a game like Alan Wake 2 isn't built around how mechanically interesting the shooting is. It is about really drinking in the world and story in a way that isn't possible with film. It is about putting yourself in the shoes of the characters and trying to experience the game world through their eyes. Alan Wake 2 will never win awards for best gameplay but it doesn't really have to. It achieves its goals just fine with the gameplay choices it has.

@@startrekmike I mean people flock to a Marvel or a transformers film and probably find them immersive too. You won't have people calling it high art or something. Not serious minded people anyway. Also this complaint is nothing new and happened with films too when they were too similar to theatre. A kind of renaissance happened and films never looked back to that era. Something like this is needed for games for it to truly evolve as a medium Stuff like Alan Wake 2 should exist but they should belong to the "interactive film" genre than be in a one where it gets compared to Armored Core or Baldur's Gate. It dilutes the medium imo

@@pramitpratimdas8198 interactive film is a bit extreme. Everything it does, gameplay wise and ideas, can be perfectly blend into the mixed medias alan provides. Problem is that most stuff is either tedious, half baked or just not deep enough. This is, compared to remedies older titles, kinda odd because they can do phenomenal gameplay.

Yep, just try and be open. Simply seeing the "hard" factor is an extreme disservice for such wonderful games

AC6 plays unlike anything Fromsoft has made in the past 10 years and shouldn't really be judged by Sekiro or any of the Souls games. The difficulty in the game comes from learning the movement and mech building mechanics, but once you get the hang of it it becomes absolutely addicting.

If what you mean by “mainstream gaming industry” is the yearly sports titles and crap products by a few big budget companies that attract the average gamer’s attention and lack of intellect, then yes, it is getting worse. This is however due to the consumers who keep buying those unfinished soulless garbage. There are, however, DOZENS of great AAA and Indie games that release every year that get overshadowed by the VERY few crappy products because gamers love negativity and the such. Additionally, 2023 was exceptionally filled with games that were innovative and told beautiful and unique stories using diverse formats, which is why it is considered as a great year.

What a weird way to see everything but you do you

Played a fair bit of it when it released. Didn't do much for me at all

@@WritingOnGames Fair enough, different strokes for different folks I suppose. Really enjoyed your list and looking forward to more of your critiques in 2024!

Yup! Finishing it up in the next few days and we'll post it ASAP

@@WritingOnGamesaw thanks man you guys really helped me out last summer when I had these exceptionally long and exceptionally boring work shifts it really does mean a lot and is absolutely appreciated. You rule

@@WritingOnGamesjust curious is there any update on that? No pressure just curious

But this time it's more than true

OK. The amount of people (including fans of the game) I've come across saying the gameplay isn't great *vastly* outnumbers the people passionately arguing that it is, in fact, good and that everyone else is just "playing it wrong." To be clear, I'm not saying you're wrong if you think it's good (that's fine!), I'm just saying that's a whole lot of people's experiences that you're saying you're pretty sure *are* wrong.

But that's a you problem tho. With such massive options, try to do something else. Even with some flaws, the combat is pretty sweet. Plus, with bg3, act 1 can be considered the weakest

Yeah the combat is nightmarish unless you want to learn dnd

@@joeykeilholz925 its pretty simple, especially cause its the 5th edition

Played it for a bit, thought it was pretty decent. No urge to return to it though.

The devs should leave it to the real professionals

It has the most nuanced and tightest soulslike combat to date, by far.

On everyone's? Very little mention it

Why is that

Just ignore spidey 2 and play those you mentioned

@@Exel3nce but Venom though! i've liked Venom since like 1991...

@@danhectic5629 who doesn't, but enough to play the same bloated game?

@@Exel3nce now you see why i got it for xmas & didn't buy it myself. i wanted some mindless cartoon fun! i was playing the Dreamcast version but kept getting owned & yelling so i quit. edit: i guess i didn't say "got it as a gift" in my original post

still tho, the time could have been used for other stuff^^@@danhectic5629

No

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@@WritingOnGames thanks!

...it's not!

@@WritingOnGames Fair enough.

cool

Not objective. I don't place much value on Metacritic scores.

General Kenobi/The angel from my nightmare