This means we can look back at the games we’ve played and enjoyed. To celebrate the year 2023 in gaming we’ve created a XboxEra Community Game of the Year Awards vote. At XboxEra we enjoy all platforms and all games. So, all platforms are eligible.
Everyone can nominate 10 new games & 3 ongoing games. Number 1 on your list will receive 10 points and number 10 will receive 1 point. You can nominate three ongoing games. Number 1 will receive 10 points, number 2 will receive 8 points and number 3 will receive… 3 points.
If there aren’t 10 games you’ve played or enjoyed enough to put on your list, then it’s fine to nominate less than 10 titles. You need to put at least 1 2023 game in your list for your vote to be eligible.
The rules
Original release in 2023 (PORTS AND MAJOR DLC ALLOWED)
No Remasters
No early access titles
No re-releases
For best ongoing game only games are eligible which have had significant updates in 2023. Titles include Forza Horizon 5, No Man’s Sky, The Elder Scrolls Online, Halo Infinite, World of Warcraft, Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, etc. (No 2023 releases!; Diablo IV, Forza Motorsport, THE FINALS )
The new games within Fortnite are eligible as 2023 games, but not as Ongoing Games. Fortnite as a whole is eligible as ongoing game. (Why make this such a mess… Epic)
The list
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
Ongoing Game 1:
Ongoing Game 2:
Ongoing Game 3:
Oh, and we’d love to see some explanations why you’ve picked what you’ve picked. It’s fun to read! And if you’re lucky we’ll include it in the Game of the Year thread. Like we did for 2022.
Important note: it’s okay to pick less than 10 games. Many people don’t play 10 games they enjoy enough to put in a GOTY list. (Wére not all @Doncabesa). Even with one game your vote is eligible and will be taken into account.
LOVED Lies of P. Played through back to back 4 times with NG+, and I never do that. Got hooked on everything this game was doing, combat feel, boss design, visuals, performance, score… It’s Bloodborne Pinocchio, it’s FromSoftware at home, but they understood the assignment and still able to do their thing with character arcs and world building and quality of life improvements over some of the games they’re inspired by. Biggest surprise of the year for me. Huge GamePass drop. MS should seriously consider acquiring NeoWiz/Round8, undeniable new talent in South Korea.
Starfield - What can I say? This game started off good, I enjoyed it from the drop, but it has since transcended mere enjoyment into something else. I hesitate to type what I really feel, because it will surely come across as too hyperbolic and not be taken seriously… But in the months since its release, Starfield has not only become my favourite game of all time, it has done everything from entertain and delight, to make me think of who I am as a person. It has elicited emotions from guilt, to anger, to joy, to affection, and more. It is a stone-cold masterpiece, and a true work of art.
Planet of Lana - If Starfield hadn’t entered the conversation, PoL would be my Game of the Year. It’s fantastic. Great controls, art, story, and it even manages to pack an emotional punch in a couple of places. The latter is altogether too rare in gaming, and that feat alone makes it deserving of praise.
Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island - The original two Monkey Island games are absolutely legendary, and among my favourite games of all time. Certainly in the top five of point-n-click adventure games. So to have a Monkey Island adventure that wasn’t point-n-click, but that captures similar vibes to the original series, was just too good to pass up. Having it voiced by the same person who voiced the later games, and the remasters of the originals, was the cherry on top.
DICE dropped the ball with Battlefield, and Embark ran with it. I feel like I’m playing Bad Company 2 again, which is one of my favorite games ever. The destruction is not only cool, but it adds mechanical depth. The long time-to-kill keeps the focus on strategy and teamplay over reflexes and raw skills. The game could use a 6v6 mode that takes the pressure off of individual teammates for a more casual-friendly experience (like Halo BTB or Battlefield with its high player counts).
Starfield (Xbox)
Fun and addictive - which is high praise for any game. It is a pretty good shooter for a 30fps RPG. In comparison to Skyrim, most of the major quests are significantly better and more memorable, but the joy of simply running around the map and stumbling upon interesting things is greatly diminished in Starfield. Starfield also has actually good combat, unlike Skyrim. Starfield can be played as a straight-up shooter, and you’ll have a fun time.
The Crismon Fleet storyline was particularly great. We need more deep undercover cop stories in games (ideally ones where you can pick a side like in this faction questline or the Witcher 2). The moral complexity of betraying criminals who put their trust in you and gave you their friendship is super compelling. The Bryan Cranston movie The Infiltrator captures this dilemma perfectly.
Zelda ToTK (Switch)
ToTK takes full advantage of the open world environment for interesting and creative gameplay mechanics and set-pieces (the temples, labyrinths, bosses and dragons are all great examples of this). During these gameplay moments, the player is often moving between the sky, the land and the underground in real time. The powers, crafting, building, and physics systems all feed into this. Other devs should think more about what unique opportunities the open world environment gives them in terms of gameplay. For example, a hypothetical Halo Infinite 2 could have giant Banished Scarabs (from Halo Wars 2) patrolling the fractured Ring islands. Maybe even have the Voridus Scarab that spreads infusion gel everywhere like it’s Mario Sunshine. Or have Ring islands at higher elevations that can only be reached using the grapple shot. Or have friendly and enemy ships flying low enough to be accessible with a banshee or hornet.
Exploring new 3D environments is one of my favorite things in gaming, so reusing the same map as BOTW really hurt the fun of exploration in ToTK to the point that I only want to play it in short bursts. For this reason, I am ranking ToTK below Starfield, which I couldn’t put down, even though ToTK is the more impressive game imo. If I didn’t play BOTW beforehand, ToTK would likely be one of my favorite games ever.
Dredge (Switch but also on Xbox)
One of my favorite fishing games alongside Sega Bass Fishing (Dreamcast) and Ridiculous Fishing (mobile). Throw it back.
Picross S9 (Switch)
This series is the best way to play picross: great QoL features, tons of puzzles, great UI and visuals, good controls, and good music and sound. There is a SEGA spin off that may interest you guys.
Best Ongoing Game: Halo Infinite - The new Firefight is so good. I need to check out the Custom Games Browser one of these days.
Honorable mention: Mario Wonder - I haven’t played it enough to include it on the list, but at the moment I would put it under Dredge. Idk it just seems like more 2D Mario to me, except it isn’t super lazy like the New Mario series. Right now, it isn’t innovating enough beyond its processors (namely Mario 3 and World) for it to be a GOTY contender. I may feel differently after beating it, but I doubt it. It’s still a fun game though.
I’ve played some other 2023 releases (even if I mostly played older games), but I didn’t like them enough to put in the list (like Forza Motorsport, to name one).
Jedi Survivor was the best one (a bigger and better Fallen Order), Hifi a very close second (first rhytm game I ever liked, maybe second if you count Yakuza 5). About Starfield I liked the concept and the scope, but not much the constant loading screens (I think the only real complain you can make of the game, even if there are real reasons for them). FIST was released elsewhere before 2023, but the Xbox port was from last year: very good metroidvania.
Considering the ongoing games, Stellaris is the game I come back to every year when a new season pass is available and never ceases to entertain me; last year I also discovered NMS and I very much liked it (second game of the year for hours played, after Stellaris) and then Halo Infinite, season 4 and 5 were excellent.
Rearranged a bit, but also realized how much time I spent playing older games last year and not so much new stuff. I am sure I’ll love AC Mirage for example, but I haven’t played more than about a half hour of it.
Starfield - I still haven’t completed my first playthrough (haven’t hit a new game plus or finished most of the main stories), but I absolutely loved this game for just running around and having fun exploring
Forza Horizon 5 Rally DLC -
Sniper Elite 5 “Kraken Awakes” DLC
Cocoon
HiFi Rush for its cool concept even though I didn’t get far with it.
Redfall (obviously controversial and I had complaints about it and haven’t finished yet but I actually really liked the concept here too)
Venba - just a cool cooking game where you have to figure out what the recipes are, and where you learn about other cultures and see sacrifices parents make for trying to get their kids ahead.
Ongoing Game 1: Forza Horizon 5
Ongoing Game 2: Halo Infinite
Ongoing Game 3: Minecraft
I honestly was more let down by Forza than Redfall last year, because I’ve absolutely loved previous releases and have put hundreds of hours into them. I like the idea they’re going for with the scores for each corner and the carpg, but overall it just didn’t do it for me and I’ll just keep playing FH instead until they make more changes.
No re-releases
For best ongoing game only games are eligible which have had significant updates in 2023. Titles include Forza Horizon 5, No Man’s Sky, The Elder Scrolls Online, Halo Infinite, World of Warcraft, Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, etc. (No 2023 releases!; Diablo IV, Forza Motorsport, THE FINALS )
The new games within Fortnite are eligible as 2023 games, but not as Ongoing Games. Fortnite as a whole is eligible as ongoing game. (Why make this such a mess… Epic)
The list
1: Gunbrella
2: Mario Wonder
3: MK1
4: Street Fighter 6
5: BG3
6: Lie of P
7:Alan wake 2
8: Forza Motorsport
9: AC 6
10:Zelda
Ongoing Game 1: My wife told me she wanted a divorce
Ongoing Game 2: I started living in my honda civic
Ongoing Game 3: I wrongly voted as a part of a jury that essentially let a guilty man walk free.
