The 2023 Game of the Year for Abaere

Video games had a very good year in 2023. An enormous variety of much awaited follow-ups and blockbuster blockbusters were released, making it difficult to keep up with them all. Every other week, it seemed like a brand-new, popular game was released this year. Whatever kind of game you want to play, there was something here for you.

Quantity and quality were equal this year. While there were certainly a few really awful films this year, such as The Day Before, almost every release might have been considered a candidate for game of the year. Although the Abaere team couldn't agree on which games were the greatest of 2023, in the end, we managed to come to a consensus.

Spider-Man 2

Insomniac Games

You really can't top the classics, even in a year that had some of the most innovative games in living memory. Though it's a more cautious follow-up than the previous game, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is nonetheless filled with even more love and devotion for the character. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 follows the same idea as the previous game, but with improved UI, adversaries, plot, wider world, Web Wings, and two Spider-Men, it's an improvement over the original. This is Spider-Man at his best, even if the fighting is still repetitious.

This game is just one more illustration of why Insomniac Games is among the best development firms in the business. It may deepen mechanisms that seemed to have achieved their pinnacle and build upon concepts that most people believed to have exhausted. Spider-Man 2's movement and fighting mechanics are so excellent that it's difficult to go back and play the first game—which is a feat in and of itself.

Starfield deserves honorable mention.

A lot can be said about Starfield, the eagerly awaited interstellar role-playing game from Bethesda. Setting aside disagreements, Starfield serves as a reminder of the appeal of the Bethesda RPG genre. Though not everything works out, Starfield is a difficult game to dislike because of its innovative concepts for combining story and gameplay elements."It wouldn't be a stretch to say this could be one of the most ambitious games ever made, and that it followed through with many of those goals with relatively low compromise," we said in our review of Starfield. This serves as a warning to those who were concerned that Bethesda was going too close to the sun with this game: our goal was achieved by combining great care and experience with a great deal of ambition.

Alan Wake 2 is the runner-up for Game of the Year

.Who would have guessed that a game that has been in development for more than ten years would become one of the most anticipated releases of the year? We said that "Alan Wake 2 is an ambitious, shockingly loaded, and intense sequel" in our review of Alan Wake 2. It is easy to see why Sam Lake regarded this as his pet project. Alan Wake 2's thoughtful gameplay, its visual narrative, and its stunning graphics are among of the game's many highlights, which Kyle Rowley and Lake expertly directed.In a manner that only video games can, Alan Wake 2 is an incredibly fascinating multimedia experiment that takes inspiration from everywhere. Even while it doesn't always pull its punches, the game has so much charisma, charm, and character that, as the credits roll, it's difficult not to think of it as an old friend.

Keep label:web name GOTY 2023

Baldur's Gate 3

Larian Studios Games imageBecause 2023 was such a memorable year, most people had already decided who their GOTYs were by the middle of the year. And then there was Baldur's Gate 3. To put the period in context, Larian's ambitious sequel launched in early access on both Steam and Google Stadia three years ago. However, at the time of its full release, no one could have foreseen the utter chokehold it would have on the gaming industry.One of the best examples of why we like video games is Baldur's Gate 3. Because the creators created instances so detailed and branching routes so broad that they would give any project manager a heart attack, it enables an unparalleled level of player freedom and choice. In addition to surpassing previous games in the genre, which already provide amazing degrees of freedom and choice, Baldur's Gate 3 also combines that flexibility with unheard-of production value and money for a game of this caliber.We awarded the game a perfect score both times we evaluated it (on the PC and PlayStation 5). That should be sufficient evidence of the game's excellence, but Baldur's Gate 3 is so much more than a 5-star game.Baldur's Gate was a gamble above all. Those who are passionate about video games and are aware of the potential of this medium took the risk. For the next several decades, video games will be impacted by it. There won't be anything like Baldur's Gate 3 for a long time. It's like lightning in a bottle.