This year has been a banger year for video game releases. The quality of games that came out this year is incredible, and it made making this game of the year list damn near impossible for me.
I think it’s important to note that while this year was incredible for game releases, it was a hot garbage year for the industry and those who makes these games. This is incredibly unfair, and it put a damper on the year of really damn good video games. I’m just a small voice screaming into the void, but video game companies really need to do better than this.
As I said, I had a super hard time making this list this year, and I probably made about 50 shuffles in my list before I landed on this one. So despite all of my suffering, I’ve made a list, and you can see it here.
Best Moment: Bro moment in Like a Dragon: Ishin!
So this has been on my list since we saw it. This moment is incredible, and seeing these three dudes drunk as skunks coming together to be total bros (and adopt a dog I guess!) and undo the negative situation in the town…chef’s kiss. Beautiful. It’s genuinely heartwarming and hilarious at the exact same time.
Best Musical Moment: Alan Wake 2 “We Sing”
There was only one choice for this this year. Let’s be real. I knew there was something mind-blowing coming up because Jared was ahead of me, but I didn’t have any idea what to expect. It certainly wasn’t this. Anybody who knows me at all knows how into music I am. You give me a musical performance of a BANGER of a song complete with choreographed dance? And a guitar solo that got me jumped by enemies that I had to take down? I am IN. It was brilliantly crafted, an absolute delight to watch/play, and man, I am glad Sam Lake got to dance.
Best Surprise: Jack Jeanne
I didn’t know what to expect going into this game. Jared and I kept joking around because it was one of the highest rated games on OpenCritic for ages. I had a copy, but it was hanging out in my Stack of Otome™ until Jared told me to try that one next. Man. This game was a massive surprise, and I loved it. The characters are great, it plays with gender roles in some interesting ways, the music is incredible, it’s a RHYTHM GAME, and it actually has 3D models too?? (even if the models aren’t the best) The artist is Sui Ishida (of Tokyo Ghoul fame), who was also the director, lyricist, and contributed to the writing/world-building. I went into this game with cautious optimism, and I came out absolutely adoring the game. More on this later, but I mean…
Best Jared and AL co-op game: Super Mario Bros Wonder
I’ll start this off by saying that Jared has the patience of a saint. He dealt with me struggling really hard and getting super frustrated with some of the more difficult levels, and I definitely appreciated that. The levels that weren’t infuriating though were so much fun, and it was really neat to be able to explore together to find secrets, help each other when we turned into little ghosties, and let Peach and Daisy do crazy drugs to get all the Wonder Seeds. Even though the online experience is a bit different than couch co-op, I was still super glad that I got to spend time playing this one with the bestie.
Best Old Game: Persona 3 Portable
Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows how much Persona 3 means to me. If you know me a little bit more, then you know of my love for FeMC’s route, even if some things were truncated to make it happen on the PSP. I got to play Persona 3 again earlier this year with the Switch rereleases, and all of this still holds true. I got to throw an extra 69 hours into this this year (nice), and I still love it so much. While we won’t get any FeMC content with next year’s Persona 3 Reload, the Switch release was still a blast and my helped get my hype levels off the charts to experience this fantastic game for the 50 billionth time.
Most Disappointing: There have been some hot garbage otome games this year
It has to be said. The majority of the otome games I played this year sucked. Some were more egregious than others, but it was so disheartening how many I played that were just…super not good. It made me question how it was possible that so many had good reviews, and yet I went in and was miserable. I played 6 new otome games this year, and I only really liked 2. That ain’t great. Virche Evermore -ErroR: Salvation- is legitimately one of the most painful otome experiences I’ve had, and I genuinely hope that next year is better. It sucks because LAST YEAR I felt the otome games were mostly bad too.
Maxwell and Gameboy’s Game of the Year: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Remaster)
A cat is ultimately the hero of this game. Of course they’d love it!! They might be slightly jealous of my love for Missile though.
Honorable Mentions:
- Anonymous;code
- Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails
- Like A Dragon: Ishin!
- Yohane the Parhelion -BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE-
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! -Pirates of the Disturbance-
- Super Mario RPG (Remake)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3; Future Redeemed DLC
And without further ado, AL’s top 10!
10.) Master Detective Archives: Rain Code
This is 10000% a Kodaka game!!! It’s got the character designer, the composer, and the writer from Danganronpa coming back together for Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. I will say off the bat, this game is not perfect. The performance and the lip syncing are…not good. That being said, the characters and the overall story of the game were enough to make it up for me. It was a ton of fun solving the mysteries, some of them genuinely made me so sad, and I liked all but one of our main hero cast. (I’m sure anybody can guess which one). The dynamics between Yuma and Shinigami were a ton of fun, and it was cool to hang around with other Master Detectives along the way. The final payoff was great, and I loved that they messed with your Danganronpa expectations here. I definitely feel like this game got set up for a sequel, and I am jazzed to check it out if it happens.
9.) A Space for the Unbound
I played this game on Jared’s recommendation, and I am super happy I did. It had a really nostalgic feel to it, the gameplay was a ton of fun and creative, and the story went in places I never expected. It was awesome to see a game set in 1990s Indonesia since that’s not something I’ve ever encountered in a video game (or any media) before. The retro-style art for this game was also absolutely incredible! It was also really eye-opening to me to see some things about depression from a different perspective. It was a really beautiful game, and I am happy I got to check it out this year. Plus, you get to pet and name all the cats!!
8.) Jack Jeanne
There is a reason this was at the top of Open Critic for a looooong time this year. This was such a fun otome game!! Even putting aside the romance side of things, it was really exciting to see all these characters work together, grow, and create fun theater through the different routes. It felt very found-family to me, and I loved it. The romance in the routes is also super cute. Since it’s a game that takes place in an all-mens’ theater school, the game does some really cool things with the idea of gender because of the idea of the Jacks, Jeannes, and the protagonist’s attempts to hide her gender. I also have had the OST for this game going since I played it, including on my work playlist. It redeemed otome for me this year for sure.
7.) Super Mario Bros Wonder
This is probably the best 2D platforming Mario game since Super Mario World. It is seriously impressive, fun, and innovative. I had such a great time playing this game (outside of the infuriating special levels and the one badge that makes me run all the time), and playing with somebody made the experience even more fun. I am also thrilled that they got rid of the stupid “wah wah” music. I can’t get over how creative and fun it was to find the wonder sections of each level, and it also was exciting that every single level had one! Posing as an elephant before a musical wonder segment is chef’s kiss. It plays well, it looks great, and it was overall such a fun game. This felt like a true return to form for fun 2D Mario games, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
6.) Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
I watched Jared play through this one (since it’s the old brawler-style of gameplay), and it was really awesome to get to see what Kiryu Joryu was up to between Yakuza 6 and LAD7. It had all the same charms as a mainline LAD, just in a smaller package. I enjoyed the twists, the antagonists, the new characters, the nods to other games, and seeing the other side of some major events from LAD7. There was a lot of vulnerability and sadness in this game, and I think that the willingness to let these characters feel and have emotions despite the big tough guy exteriors is one of my favorite parts of this entire series. That tablet scene though. MY HEART. It really got me even more excited for Infinite Wealth than I already was.
5.) The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie
This time, we had three protagonists, and believe it or not, despite the massive cast because of the Sky folks, the SSS, both Class 7s, and some new characters, it still had a lot of room to breathe for these characters. Some of my favorite moments in games this year were in Reverie, like the Class President election, the school infiltration with Kurt, Lloyd going full dad mode, Randy figuring shit out, Rean really coming into his own as a teacher, and C finding out which Lapis is real Lapis. We got to see a lot of growth with these characters, some good bonding, and moments that I’m so happy I got to play through this year. There were even moments that made me cry a bit! It was a great cap-off for the Crossbell and Cold Steel sagas, and I’m looking forward to what comes next after this. I took a week off work for this one, so I imagine something similar will happen for Daybreak.
4.) Alan Wake 2
This game!!!!! I never expected it would happen, and boy, it blew my expectations out of the water. I’ve been an Alan Wake fan since the OG, and I was so happy to be able to finally experience a sequel 13 years later. The addition of Saga was a really good choice, and the story of this game is incredible for the most part. The original ending fell a little flat for me, but the NG+ ending was actually pretty good. As I mentioned earlier, “We Sing” is one of the best moments in games of this year. I was dying to know what was going on the whole time, loved the story, and I had such a great time with the difference ways we solved the mysteries as the two protagonists. Could’ve done without the jump scares though, y’all.
3.) The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure
Hey, speaking of Trails games…So, this one got a nod in the 2021 Game of the Year Awards because I played the fan translation that year. The official release is finally here though!! It’s worth mentioning how absolutely rad it is that the Geofront team’s work was acknowledged, and they were hired for the official translation. It definitely worked. It’s still a brilliant game with a lot of wild twists you wouldn’t see coming, the gameplay (and fishing) are great, and the more time I get to spend with the SSS, the better. I love a lot of the character moments and reveals in Azure, and you really get to see a lot of these characters grow and rely on each other. Azure’s official release is absolutely fantastic, and I’m thrilled that I got to play it this year. This was a great year for Trails fans in the West.
2.) Resident Evil 4
It’s no secret that I love the original Resident Evil 4. Until now, I considered it one of the best games of all time. That being said, Capcom took it to the absolute next level with the Resident Evil 4 remake. While it might seem a little unfair to include a remake of a game from 2005, I think that while a lot of the story beats are the same, this is a completely different game. I love the redesigns of the characters, the gameplay was fun as hell, it kept the goofiness, and overall, it did a better job of building out these characters in ways that the OG never did, as well as expanding on the character dynamics with each other. It really is a phenomenal game, and man, those chainsaw dudes are still terrifying.
1.) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Breath of the Wild was my GOTY for 2017, so Tears of the Kingdom had a lot to live up to. With Nintendo’s intense amount of secrecy leading up to release, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. When it finally dropped, it lived up to every expectation and more. The Ultrahand mechanic was SO fun, and it really let me feel creative in how I was solving problems throughout the three different segments of Hyrule + the caves. I mean, I got a fishing murder boat. It was also really exciting to see a community build around the Ultrahand creations, even if some of that was unfortunate Korok murder.
It still felt really familiar and comfortable in many ways, but it still did enough new that I felt good exploring all over the maps. It also had a combination of shrine-like mini dungeons and regional main dungeons, so there was a bit of the best of both worlds from previous Zelda titles.
The story built up some new interesting lore with the Zonai, the Depths, and the Sky Islands, and that was a lot of fun to explore. Zelda got a new level of confidence and familial love with Sonia and Rauru (and possibly a love interest if the Hateno house is to be believed…) AND we got a super cool final boss and ending sequence. I barely slept in the first week after it dropped, and I’ve since put around 160 hours into it. This is probably our last time in this iteration of Hyrule with this particular Link and Zelda, and I can honestly say that it’s one of my favorites. It was an incredible game, and I am glad I was able experience a game that felt both exciting and innovative but also familiar in a comforting way. It’s a hard balance, but Tears of the Kingdom nailed it.
And that’s it! This year may have been the hardest year on the books for choosing a game of the year. It was incredible difficult to make a decision (just ask Jared how much I complained or see my plethora of edits in my Google Doc) about which game would be my GOTY, and even still, I think any of the games in my Top 5 deserve it. It’s looking like 2024 is starting out with a bang, so we will see if we get another year like this year for game releases. (and stop firing people, ya damn game companies!!)
If you’re interested in hearing Jared and I talk about it on the Seasonal Anime Checkup OVA (or Jared’s write up), you can check it out here.