Hello! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Happy new year to everyone out there. Here’s hoping you have a good 2024 and if you had a bad 2023 I hope it gets better for you this year. The video game industry had a great year in 2023. Releasing hit games all throughout the year and making my poor wallet cry. Today, we recognize which games I felt were the best and there were definitely a number of them. I’m Justin and these are the top 11 games of 2023.
#11. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Mario returns to 2D side-scrolling. While visiting the Flower Kingdom, Bowser steals the Wonder Flower turning himself into a castle and wrecking havoc across the land. As far as Mario games go this might just be the most creative and fun game I’ve played from them in a while. We get new powers ups and the wonder seed sequences were trippy but at the same time incredibly fun to play, imaginative, and added something new to the series. The game was just all-around fun to play and if you can believe it this wasn’t the best Mario game last year.
#10. Persona 5 Tactica
Another spin-off of the hit Persona 5 series. Taking place after the main story, the group finds themselves in another world where they meet Prime Minister candidate Toshiro and new character Erina who is trying to stage a rebellion against this world’s ruler. Unlike Strikers, Tactica sees the series return to its RPG roots and become a full strategic game. Similar to games like Fire Emblem while still adding their own flare to the sub-genre. The animation is also more cartooney but actually works here. At first, I didn’t think I was going to like it but from a visual perspective, it works great here. The story is also good and does a great job developing the character of Toshiro and his connection to Erina. As far as length goes the game is short compared to other Persona 5 games, but they manage to tell a meaningful story and even add a dlc story featuring Kasumi and Akechi which is fun (and I swear was inspired by Splatoon). A good game that manages to feed my RPG needs. Speaking of which-
#9. Octopath Traveler 2
Man, this game shocked a lot of people when it was announced and unfortunately went unnoticed when it was released. Taking place in a whole new world, we are once again given 8 travelers and 8 stories to go through as well as an optional final story that ties up everything. The game actually does improve on a lot of things from the first game. For starters, the stories overall are a lot better. The character personalities have also been approved. The game adds a day and night cycle where characters have different abilities depending on the time of day and special skills in battle to give you the edge. They also added in side quests and side stories for the characters and we once again have secondary and hidden classes which are easier to get this time in my opinion. Finally, the 8-bit animation is beautiful here. They just keep getting better with each game I see. As of right now they haven’t announced a third game but I hope they do because this series is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
#8. Mortal Kombat 1/ Street Fighter 6
I decided to put both of these games on the list because of how good they both were. 2023 was a great year for fighting games and the two aces of the fighting genre made a return this year. Mortal Kombat 1 serves as a complete reboot of the Mortal Kombat universe and works as an entry point for people new to the franchise or for guys like me who haven’t played the games in years. Street Fighter 6 is hands down the most fun I’ve had playing a Street Fighter game since 2 (yes, I’m old! I get it). Both of these games breathed new life into their franchises and were great games to play by yourselves or online with other players. With Tekken making a return this year it seems like fighting games are making a strong comeback and hitting harder than ever.
#7. Super Mario RPG
Hands down one of the greatest RPGs I’ve ever played. When SNES games made their way to the Switch I was wondering when they were going to announce Super Mario RPG. To my surprise, we got a complete remake of the game for the modern era and it was great. I love how they kept the original character designs and added in team attacks. Seeing Geno and experiencing this game again with updated graphics was great. With Nintendo and Square Enix all buddies again I hope down the line we can get a sequel to this series or a series like this. Maybe do their own version of Kingdom Hearts but with Nintendo characters.
#6. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
A side game in the newly named Like A Dragon franchise. Taking place after 6 and during 7, Kiryu now going by Joryu, works as a secret agent for the Daidoji faction. When one of his missions goes awry, he’s once again drawn into a new conflict that threatens his family and the country in general. Just like previous games in the franchise, it does a good job of balancing the drama and comedic moments. It knows when to have a good laugh at and with the characters, but also knows when to get serious and make you relate to what the characters are going through and what they’re prepared to sacrifice to protect the ones they love and what they stand for. The game returns us to the old play style of the series with new skills and abilities and playing as Kiryu I mean Joryu again was a lot of fun. Even in his old age he’s still got it. An honorable mention for this spot also goes to Like A Dragon: Ishin. Another spinoff which reimagines the characters in 1860s Japan during the end of the Bakumatsu era. Based loosely on real-life people, we play as the samurai Ryoma who is searching for the murderer of his father. The game sees Ryoma caught between revolutionaries who want to establish order and loyalists who want Japan to remain as it is. There’s a lot of fun activities in the game and seeing all of these characters reimagined as samurai is cool. I think the only complaint I have was the battle system. It’s not bad but gets a little boring after a while. Still, an overall good game that’s worth checking out if you like this franchise.
#5. Star Wars Jedi Survivor
The sequel to Fallen Order, Survivor continues the story of Cal and his fight against the Empire. Taking place five years later, Cal and his allies discover a new planet free of Empire rule and believe it could be a new safe haven for them. We get to go to new locations as well as unlock new powers and fighting styles. My favorite being the crossguard style which focuses on heavy strikes and guard breaking. The combat and gameplay in the game is awesome. They actually made it better than Fallen Order. Everything you learned in that game is given to you at the start of Survivor. The story is the weak point of this game. It’s not bad but I feel like it could have been a lot better. The story does have some good and sad moments and also continues to develop Cal as a part of him slowly starts to embrace the dark side because of what he’s lost, who’s betrayed him, and what he’s afraid to lose. Like I said before Cal’s story is a little sad as we know he’s not the one meant to take down the Empire, but we still pull for him because we want to know how his actions will shape the future and influence the resistance. With the way the second game ended a third and probably final game will be coming and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
#4. Final Fantasy 16
My second game in the Final Fantasy series. A medieval fantasy which sees a prince lose everything and go off on a journey to right the wrongs of the past. The game incorporates an action-based style of gameplay instead of the hybrid style we saw in FF7 Remake. Some people were upset by this but personally, I liked it. It reminded me of Devil May Cry and I love their combat system. I really did enjoy the story and the visuals. As I play more of these games I’m always blown away at how beautiful the animation and character designs are. While I liked FF7 more I will say that I did enjoy the emotional complexity of the characters in 16 more and their ability to keep having hope even when things seem hopeless and impossible. It was a great game in the franchise and a good entry point for people like myself just starting to get into the franchise.
#3. Spider-Man 2
Sony’s highest-selling game and for a good reason. The sequel to the first game, Peter and Miles are back protecting New York and fighting crime. But things take a turn for the worse when Kraven and his hunters invade New York to hunt superhumans and turn the city into their own personal hunting grounds. The game allows you to play as both Peter and Miles with both having similar but at the same time different fighting styles from each other that makes the combat in this game great. Once again the web-swinging is done excellently in this game and the story was great. Multiple villains from the comics make an appearance including those from the first game and of course, Venom is here. I didn’t read most of the comics growing up but I knew about the Venom story and always loved it, so when Venom was announced for the game I was excited. The story and direction they go with Venom was great, different, and adds another layer to Peter’s relationship with the symbiote. I won’t spoiler it here but I think you all can figure it out. This was an exciting game from beginning to end and I can’t wait until the third game comes out. But first, Wolverine.
#2. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The long-awaited sequel to Breath of the Wild. The true Ganondorf has finally returned and brings chaos to Hyrule. Link must once again go on a journey to save the other areas of Hyrule, reclaim the Master Sword, find Zelda, and defeat Ganondorf to bring peace to Hyrule. This was a game that went all out to deliver an epic tale that won’t be forgotten. This has to be the biggest map in the entire Zelda franchise. Not only to do you have the regular world map but you have a whole world to discover below the map and up in the sky. There’s a new mechanic that allows you to build machines and some of the things players have built is mind-blowing. Seriously, these players had to have been Minecraft experts to come up with some of this stuff. The story is great. This might just be my favorite Zelda game to date all because of this story and what happens in it. Tears of the Kingdom really does feel like a more complete game while Breath of the Wild feels like the prologue to this story. An amazing game that might just be the best in the franchise.
And number one. . .
#1. Baldur’s Gate 3
I often mock the Game Awards for getting it wrong, but this year they got it right. Baldur’s Gate 3 is like what would happen if Dungeons and Dragons was turned into a video game and done correctly. There are so many ways to play this game and so much to discover that you’ll spend hours playing it by yourself and with your friends. Even after you beat the game you’ll find yourself playing it again with a new character and doing different scenarios and classes to see what happens. It is a game that takes you a minute to understand the mechanics but when you get it all down the game becomes so much fun to play that you won’t want to stop playing. A fantastic game that deserved all the awards and recognition it has received.
And that’s my list. What was your favorite game from 2023? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading, happy new year, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.