There are solely so some ways you may say 2023 was a terrific 12 months for recreation releases with out sounding like a damaged report. So, as an alternative, we’ve determined to gather all of our best-reviewed video games from this previous 12 months in a single place. We’re speaking about our Editor’s Alternative recipients, the video games which have acquired both a 9 or a ten on our illustrious 10-point scale.
34 video games and two DLC made it onto our round-up of best-reviewed video games of the 12 months. However look a bit nearer and also you’ll discover that of these video games, solely 5 acquired an ideal 10 from IGN. The majority of our best-reviewed video games this 12 months acquired a 9, falling simply brief of making it into the uppermost echelons of our evaluate rating prime tier, however nonetheless an incredible recreation by any normal.
Talking broadly, 19% of video games IGN reviewed this 12 months acquired a 9 or 10, which is a bit larger than regular in keeping with IGN’s senior opinions editor, Tom Marks. But when we solely take a look at our greatest reviewed video games, 87% of our best-reviewed video games checklist is made up of titles that acquired a 9, highlighting how unique our checklist of video games that scored a ten is.
A number of of the video games we reviewed and gave a 9 ended up getting nominated for our Best Sport of the Yr Award, together with Alan Wake 2, Cocoon, Dave the Diver, Lifeless Area Remake, Remaining Fantasy 16, Hello-Fi Rush, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Road Fighter 6, and Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise. I don’t should inform you twice why every of these video games deserved such excessive marks. For that, you may take a look at our checklist of Best Sport 2023 Award nominees on IGN.
Nevertheless, there have been massive video games that in the end didn’t make the ultimate shortlist regardless of their apparent high quality. Blizzard launched its long-awaited sequel, Diablo 4, to widespread acclaim. However, one of the downsides of live-service video games is that the expertise can change because the seasons proceed and the stellar launch has since hit some turbulent instances amongst followers who aren’t as happy with the continuing expertise as they have been with the preliminary drop.
One other massive title from this 12 months that we gave a 9 to was Hogwarts Legacy, which realized the dream of attending everybody’s favourite wizarding college. For followers of open-world video games and Harry Potter, Hogwarts Legacy is a match made in heaven, with gamers in a position to dwell out what it could be like in the event that they have been an precise pupil in Hogwarts, full with getting sorted right into a Home and studying completely different spells.
Wanting over our opinions, a number of patterns start to emerge, which you won’t have observed amid the mad flurry of nice video games. For instance, you could be stunned to be taught simply how good a 12 months Nintendo had in 2023. Though hypothesis over the Change successor is reaching a fever pitch as we head into 2024, Nintendo remains to be delivering nice video games for the present Change. And I’m not simply speaking about video games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Past the apparent suspects, Nintendo’s hybrid system acquired a bevy of exclusives which have earned 9s, not together with Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise. Games like Platinum’s Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Misplaced Demon, Fireplace Emblem Have interaction, and Pikmin 4 all wowed our reviewers, and crammed out a whole 12 months of glorious Nintendo titles.
Whereas no different developer was delivering a gentle stream of nice video games like Nintendo, one neglected style additionally had a surprisingly nice 12 months. Because it seems, 2023 was superb for sports activities and racing video games. Titles like EA Sports activities UFC 5, Gran Turismo 7 VR, and MLB: The Present 23 all acquired 9s in our opinions, highlighting how sports activities recreation builders are nonetheless pushing the envelope in new and thrilling methods.
However there are nonetheless so many video games that deserve your consideration, and with such a jam-packed 12 months there have been rather a lot of small video games which will have fallen via the cracks. Whereas we’ve celebrated indie darlings like Cocoon already, small studios have been chargeable for some of our favourite video games this 12 months, from mind-bending video games like Humanity – a brand new puzzle title from the developer of Tetris Impact – to Ghostrunner 2 from Polish indie dev group One Extra Degree. Our resident motion lover and reviewer Mitchell Saltzman praised the cyberpunk sequel as one “that builds upon all the things that made the primary recreation nice.”
There have been additionally two standout indie platformers this 12 months. The primary is Pizza Tower whose ridiculous title belies a Mad-Cap homage to Wario Land 4, however mixed with the expressionistic artwork fashion of basic LucasArts video games. And Laika: Aged By way of Blood which mixes glorious 2D capturing with a Trials-like motorbike expertise.
The present juggernaut in cell gaming, MiHoYo, additionally launched its latest title after taking on the world with Genshin Influence. Honkai: Star Rail is the Shanghai-based studio’s sci-fi providing in comparison with Genshin’s fantasy setting, and ditches the latter’s motion in favor of a turn-based fight system. The end result was one of our favourite cell video games of the 12 months, and MiHoYo is already on the brink of launch its subsequent recreation in 2024, Zenless Zone Zero.
There have been so many nice video games in 2023 past simply those we’ve spent all 12 months obsessing over, too. Different video games that acquired a 9 from IGN this 12 months embrace the tactical RPG Jagged Alliance 3 which provides one other feather to this 12 months’s cap of nice laptop RPGs. There’s additionally the Making of Karateka, which is each a basic recreation assortment and insightful making-of documentary in a single bundle. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 – the cartoon studio’s tackle Tremendous Smash Bros. however with iconic animated characters – additionally impressed this 12 months, as did the shooter soulslike Remnant 2. Lastly, there was the ghost pirate technique recreation Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, yet one more masterfully remade basic, System Shock, and Sq. Enix’s successful rhythm recreation sequel Theatrhythm Remaining Bar Line.
However what concerning the cream of the crop? One of the best-reviewed video games of the 12 months? As I stated earlier than, regardless of the massive flood of wonderful video games this 12 months, the right scoring masterpieces stay few and unique.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, IGN’s Best Sport of 2023, is a no brainer. Its predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, additionally acquired an ideal rating from us in 2017 and the sequel improves upon it in each manner. In our evaluate, we stated The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “is an unfathomable follow-up to 1 of the best video games ever made, someway enhancing upon it in almost each manner — be that with easy quality-of-life enhancements, a genuinely thrilling story, or wildly inventive new constructing mechanics that make you rethink what is feasible.”
Tears of the Kingdom’s closest competitor for our Best Sport Award, Baldur’s Gate 3, additionally acquired an ideal rating from IGN, and it’s wanting very doubtless that Baldur’s Gate 3 may have as massive an affect on CRPGs as Zelda has had on open-world journey video games. Our reviewer known as Larian Studio’s monumental RPG “a landmark second within the [CRPG] style, and if I needed to level to 1 paragon that I would really like everybody else making these to take inspiration from, that is completely it.”
It’s not like Larian Studios is even completed with Baldur’s Gate 3 both. The RPG lastly made its manner onto Xbox Collection X and S consoles, and the studio not too long ago launched an Epilogue replace that provides 1000’s of extra phrases of dialogue to this already jam-packed recreation.
Elsewhere, 2023 was an incredible 12 months for stellar remakes and we acquired two good 10s this 12 months. Resident Evil 4 Remake set the brand new bar for Capcom’s remake library with our evaluate claiming the reimagining’s “enhancements over the unique are too quite a few to checklist, from easy high quality of life adjustments to fully overhauled boss battle mechanics.” Capcom has already confirmed much more remakes are on the best way too, and in the event that they’re something pretty much as good as what we’ve already seen, I can not wait.
However one other remake that acquired an IGN 10 was Nintendo’s Metroid Prime, which made a shock look on the Change. With newly improved graphics and efficiency, one of Nintendo’s all-time nice video games is healthier than ever. IGN’s resident Metroid aficionado Sam Claiborn stated, “21 years later, in 2023, Metroid Prime Remastered had to take action little past modernizing the controls and updating the graphics to turn into one of the perfect video games you should buy as soon as once more.”
The one VR recreation to attain an ideal 10 this 12 months is Asgard’s Wrath 2, a fully-fledged open-world RPG fully in VR. It has 4 distinctive characters and tales, unbelievable and satisfying fight, intricate and rewarding RPG methods, and a terrific story, and even after greater than 90 hours throwing squids at gloriously shredded lizards and whipping throughout gaps, it nonetheless has lots extra to present.
Lastly, a particular shout-out to the DLC that made it onto our best-reviewed video games checklist. The primary is CD Projekt Pink’s near-perfect growth, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, which delivers on the preliminary promise of the bold base recreation. The second is Lifeless Cells’ Konami collaboration, Return to Castlevania, which brings the Metroidvania sequence’ iconic monsters to the roguelike world of Lifeless Cells. This acquired an ideal rating from IGN.
These are our best-reviewed video games of 2023. Tell us which of these have been your favorites within the feedback.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You may attain him @lawoftd.