The year of 2023 has been a great one for me. Plenty of new games spread across it, from large studios and small. So many that I couldn’t possibly cover them all here. What is here are those games – and expansions – that I’ve found had some quality I liked about them. And, of course, so many racing games I wanted to talk about I couldn’t realistically put them all in except for the way I have.
I was always going to be interested in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor after the excellent Fallen Order. Survivor manages to craft a sequel where no powers are lost, yet adds even more to them. It’s a story that puts its characters first. That sets Cal onto a path of facing himself in the interactions with those he meets. Both old and new. The combat and general movement felt as good as ever, with new locations to mess around in. It was a lovely Star Wars game in a year full of Star Wars greatness.
A new 2D platformer for Sonic the Hedgehog, Superstars has been an enjoyable time. Some great levels and level themes are present here. Four characters to play around with, each with unique abilities, gives a few options on navigating those levels. And speaking of abilities, the Chaos Emeralds now give them. And they’re mostly forgettable, I found. I suppose that’s what happens when you need to make them fully optional. Even without them, there’s plenty to savour with this adventure.
The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet arrived in two parts. The first I felt was a great time exploring a mini region and discovering the history of it. With the guidance of siblings who live in Kitakami. Except for when they’re at the Blueberry Academy, which leads into part two of the story dealing with the destructive capacity of obsession. I’ll have greater thoughts on part two in the new year, as there’s seemingly a bit more content coming which will add onto the story.
Ah… The memories of 2017. Testing the Switch out for the first time at the January event, then finally getting it myself in March. With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as my first game. What absolute joyfulness I had in exploring a fully open Hyrule. I mention this because I felt the same sort of joy when it came to return to Hyrule with Tears of the Kingdom. New areas to explore in the depths and the skies, with twists of familiar places to make sure the exploration never felt too much like a retread. Just fantastic during every hour of play.
The next of the Nacon Life games released early in the year, with Chef Life putting me in the shoes of a restaurant owner. A very life-like experience with ordering ingredients for the day, preparing what you can beforehand, then working to make food to order when the restaurant opens. I had a fun time with it, especially as the game has options to make things easier should you need them.
Also, to my surprise, the Nacon Life game I was most wanting to play arrived in the last third of the year. I’ll be giving Hotel: A Resort Simulator a play next year, but the fact it arrived as quietly as it did makes me wonder what was going on with its development. As does the fact the Life has been dropped from the name, almost like Nacon don’t want it associated with the Life Games label. Could it be that the game I wanted most from this label is going to be the worst?
In the first third of the year, the second expansion for Forza Horizon 5 arrived. A rally setting on a new map, I had a great time with all of the tracks and other events the expansion provided. It had a much better progression than the base game, and even the Hot Wheels expansion. Despite the fun I had blasting around this new map, there was no escaping it was simply an extension of the base game map rather than being somewhere different.
The last third provided the next Forza Motorsport, a decent new entry that unfortunately seemed completely at-odds with what it wanted to be. The career mode encouraged tinkering with upgrades and tuning, but to even have access to the full range of options, a lot of time needed to be spent driving one particular car to improve its level. Turn 10 dubbed the game a Car-PG, but it absolutely doesn’t feel like an RPG in any way. It still provides a great time, however.
There were plenty of racing games across 2023, with LEGO 2K Drive being a fun modern take on a LEGO racer. Being able to build whatever you wanted and drive it in the worlds is hilarious. DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing is a joy of a racer, bringing in the best from the studio for the elements of this kart racer. It’s a great celebration of DreamWorks’ franchises. Same with Disney Speedstorm. Being a free-to-play game, Speedstorm is getting even more added in various seasons, jumping around the vast history of Disney.
The Crew Motorfest brought a delightful interpretation of open world Hawaii, and Ubisoft’s own take on a car festival. Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 improved upon every part of the first, with some lovely new locations to race around and plenty more variety in the vehicles. And, can’t be forgetting the second half of the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with a great selection of tracks and even the inclusion of new characters.
A favourite of mine from 2021 was Lake, a narrative game where delivering the mail unfolds the story. A story of reconnecting with the place Meredith grew up and finding her true happiness. This year, an expansion released that took the story to the waning days of the year before Meredith arrived back at Providence Oaks. Now in the shoes of her dad Thomas, snow has settled on this town as more mail is delivered and more about the characters is discovered. It’s a narrative just as lovely as the base game.
When it came to seeing Farming Simulator 23, I felt I had to at least give one of these mobile versions on the Switch a try. It was enjoyable, as all Farming Simulators are thanks to the core loop of them. But, despite the additions from the latest main version – such as seasons and production chains, it felt very lacking compared to those main versions. It didn’t stop me putting in 100 hours across the year, but there were plenty of times I felt like just going back to FS17. And indeed, I am in 2024.
Speaking of farming, both Fae Farm and Paleo Pines in the same month, with each offering a theme to their life-farm sim gameplay that attracted me to them. For Fae Farm, that was a magical world that blended its magic into the farming very well. For Paleo Pines, the theming was dinosaurs. Befriending them, building them homes on the ranch, to them have them help out with farming tasks. Both were enjoyable fares.
There were a few fun smaller games released this year. Rubberduck Wave Racer was a rather lovely water-based racer, with all the racers being rubber ducks. It’s unfortunate that the performance was dodgy, but there’s still a good time to be had with it. Suika Game is a nice point-scorer where merging fruit to evolve them is the aim of the game. The higher up the chain a fruit is, the larger it is, with the ever elusive watermelon being the largest of all. A lovely puzzle game that always keeps me wanting just one more go.
Then to end the year, an advent calendar. Two had released this year from the same developer. I decided to go for Games Advent Calendar, which I feel was still a good choice even if I didn’t gel with everything it offered. Of the eight games across the 25 days it holds, I only found four of them held my interest for more than just a singular go. Even so, I found the games I did enjoy more than made up for those I didn’t. Will likely be going for another round of it next year. If I don’t buy one of the others.
There truly were a lot of great games across the year, with some great ports and remasters such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp, and Red Dead Redemption. Next year is looking similarly great on the new games, with Taxi Life, Life By You, and potentially Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. I’ll be talking on more of those at the look ahead to 2024 article at the start of the new year.
Images Taken From:
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | Xbox Series S
Sonic Superstars | Nintendo Switch [Handheld]
Pokémon Scarlet | Nintendo Switch [Handheld]
DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing | Xbox Series S
LEGO 2K Drive | Xbox Series S
Fae Farm | Nintendo Switch [Handheld]
Paleo Pines | Nintendo Switch [Handheld]
