My Top 5 Favorite Games I Played in 2023

These games may not have came out this year, but they still deserve some love!

I can’t believe 2023 is almost over. It both felt like it lasted forever and flew by really quickly. Anyway, that also means it’s Game of the Year time, where not only does judges and a huge group of gamers pick out what’s GOTY, but also individuals. Just like last year, I’m doing two lists: one for games I loved, but didn’t come out in current year; and games that I loved and did come out in current year. Both lists are going to be the Top 5 like last year as well. This year, I was able to easily pick three of the games, but I did have trouble deciding for the other two slots. And then the last slot. After thinking it over for a couple days and looking over the 66 games I finished this year, I believe I have my list!

I did have a couple rules for this Top 5 Favorite Games I played list:

1. It had to be games I completed (though endless games do get a pass if I played any)
2. It couldn’t be a game that was on any of my previous lists
3. It can’t have a release date for this year
4. The release date for the version I played counted as its release date for my list (for example: it released on Steam in 2022, but since I played the console port that came out in 2023 it counts as a 2023 release)
5. This is a strict Top 5 list (no runner ups or ties!).

So without further ado, here’s the Top 5 games I played this year that didn’t release in 2023 in no particular order:

Void* tRrLM();++ //Void Terrarium++

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Man, you have no idea how obsessed I was over Void Terrarium. February was basically just Void Terrarium month as it was the only thing I did. It also got me so behind on everything else and I’m still doing catch-ups. Anyway, Void Terrarium was a game I was very hesitant on despite being someone that loved Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. The fact that your level reset scared me away, but the sequel did push me to try out the first game. Well, that was what kickstarted my addiction to Void Terrarium. It is difficult and there’s a a huge mid-game difficulty spike that relies on part planning, part strategy, and part RNG luck; but despite having to start at level 1 each time you leave for a dungeon, you always make some progress. You always get a step closer, even if it means it was a small step, with first craft bonuses being permanent. Not to mention that Toriko is so cute, it’s so cute how you can decorate her terrarium, the little Tomagotchi mechanic was a nice spin on the genre, the game is so addictive, and I really liked how chill the story is and how subtly it builds your relationship with Toriko to where you really do want to keep her alive. Oh and did I mention how cute Toriko is? You can dress her up, including changing her hairstyle, and she has cute interactions with specific items.

Void Terrarium is a hard game, but it’s definitely worth pushing through. While it did demotivate me at times due to its difficulty, it brought me so much joy.

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster

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I played Final Fantasy 10 for Love Your Backlog/Maybe in March and I’m glad it pushed me to finally play and finish this Final Fantasy game. I actually played the original release back when I was a kid and I could only play Playstation games at my dad’s, but I never ended up finishing it. Actually…I never ended up getting past the beginning. I just…really liked how this game started and the cool cinematic. Final Fantasy 10’s story is beautiful, the sphere grid was a unqiue spin on a leveling system that worked really well, the combat was enjoyable, I loved how you can feel a dark cloud hanging over Yuna’s pilgrimage group no matter how they try to hide the secret, and the characters were wonderfully crafted. I especially loved getting to know all the characters, seeing their interactions, and seeing Tidus grow as the journey went on. Though, you really will have a hard time if you try to go through the game with minimum grinding and there’s no cutscene skipping (which really ruins one of the powerful cutscenes in the game due to it being before a tough boss fight).

Final Fantasy 10 has been the first, and so far only, Final Fantasy game I actually finished and it couldn’t have been a better entry to hold that honor. It holds up exceptionally well even today and is a great game to pick up.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout

This would probably seem to be one of the shakier inclusions for this list, but I assure you that it’s a worthy addition to this list. Atelier Ryza was my first Atelier game and I mainly picked it up since it was 50% off and I did like the gameplay when I was researching the game. Though, I didn’t like it in the beginning as it was quite boring and I honestly thought Ryza and her friends were going to leave Kurken Island to have an adventure (to be fair, Ryza does talk about wanting to leave in the beginning a lot). The first 10 hours are so slow and boring and I honestly was going to drop Atelier Ryza. Not to mention the alchemy was confusing me. However, I wanted to like it and I pushed myself to keep playing and before I knew it…something clicked. Raising the difficulty to hard made me enjoy combat more, I really liked the battle system (as well as all the animations the characters had for their attacks), I ended up liking all of the characters, the story was enjoyable, and I loved the alchemy system once it finally clicked for me. I started not really getting the appeal to feeling so accomplished when I made new and increasingly powerful items. It does have some flaws that makes this game not for everyone, but I overall really enjoyed my time with it.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Danganronpa 2 is a game that I tried so many times to get into, only to end up dropping it after some time. However, this year I decided to give it one more try before dropping it for good and since I barely remembered the first game, I thought it was the best last chance to give this game. I’m glad I decided to give this game one last chance as I ended up not only finally finishing it, but loving it as well. I was able to get past how similar characters felt in the beginning and I was able to enjoy the story and the characters this entry had. There were definitely still some annoying aspects, but Danganronpa 2 still excels in its characters, story, intriguing mystery, great investigation segments, and amazing class trials. Heck, the fact I 100% this says enough (P.S. I don’t 100% games unless I really like them).

South Park: The Stick of Truth

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This is yet another game I played when it first came out, but I ended up dropping it really early. It’s honestly weird that I even played this at all, no matter how small it was, considering I wasn’t even allowed to watch South Park when this game came out. Well, I do watch South Park now (though I did stop watching after a while before getting back into it recently) and after binging the whole show, I remembered there were two games. So I picked up The Stick of Truth and I was surprised with how great the game was. It really does feel like you’re in a South Park episode, it’s so funny, it was really fun to play through, and I loved how it was jam packed with references. The references in particular were handled so well it was fun remembering the episodes they appeared in rather than it feeling annoying. This is definitely a game for South Park fans as it makes the game so much better being one.