Video games! They’re back!
After the last few years of pandemic-induced delays for big games, the first half of 2023 exploded with great games to play. From tiny indie projects to the literal biggest game of the year, it’s been a great six months if you constantly want new stuff to check out.
Or, if you would rather just play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the entire year, that’s cool too. Anyway, let’s get to it. Here are the best games of 2023 so far.
SEE ALSO: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a delightful mix of boldness and familiarityTchia
In 'Tchia,' your boat is your friend. Credit: Awaceb/SteamPlatforms: PS4, PS5, PC
Tchia probably flew under your radar when it launched a few months ago. It’s not too late to fix that mistake.
This modestly sized open-world adventure from developer Awaceb is set on a fictional island chain heavily inspired by the language, customs, and folklore of New Caledonia. The characters are voiced by local actors, the music is done by local artists, and the whole thing has a totally fresh vibe that I haven’t seen in too many games before.
Oh, and it’s a really fun little adventure with hardly any combat. You can take over the bodies of any animal you see, play a ukulele to affect the world around you, and generally vibe out in one of the better Zelda imitators you’ll ever play.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Sky islands are cool, but it's really all about what lurks below Hyrule. Credit: NintendoPlatforms: Nintendo Switch
What is even left to say about this game?
2023’s biggest release so far (though it’s hard to imagine anything topping it) takes the already-transcendent Breath of the Wild and builds on top of, below, and around it in nearly unfathomable ways. They put a whole open world underneath the original open world, for crying out loud!
And that’s before you get to the beautiful visuals, touching narrative, incredible puzzle design, and hilarious potential for wildly creative vehicle designs. I’m sure plenty of people will only play Tears of the Kingdom for the remainder of 2023, and I can’t say I blame them.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
These goobers don't stand a chance. Credit: EA/RespawnPlatforms: PC, Xbox Series S/X, PS5
How do you follow up one of the most surprising games of the last few years? Just make it better in every way!
That’s what developer Respawn did with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order. There’s nothing radically different about it; this is still an exploration-based action game with fun lightsaber combat and a shockingly mature story for Star Wars. But sometimes familiarity is a good thing.
With Jedi: Survivor, that’s certainly the case. Respawn beefed up the lightsaber combat with a ton of cool new options, made the worlds bigger and more interesting to explore, and introduced some honest-to-goodness moral ambiguity into the typical “light side vs. dark side” fare. Technical issues be damned, this is how you make a sequel.
Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Slicing and dicing through 1860s Kyoto. Credit: Sega/RGG StudioPlatforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PS4, PS5, PC
For years, Sega’s Like a Dragon (known until very recently as Yakuza) series has been building momentum in the west thanks to a steady output of excellent remakes and remasters of older games that didn’t come to our shores before. Like a Dragon: Ishin! may not be the best of those, but it did come out in 2023, so it counts.
This one’s a bit of an oddity. It’s a fictionalized version of the real life story of legendary Japanese political figure Sakamoto Ryoma. You run around 1860s Kyoto doing karaoke, betting on chicken races, drinking sake, and fighting ruffians with a variety of cool samurai styles. It’s eminently silly, though it also knows exactly when to turn up the ridiculousness, pitting a bunch of very cool, tastefully shirtless dudes against each other in melodramatic boss encounters.
Even with a story that veers uncomfortably in the direction of Japanese nationalism at the end, those who love Yakuza and those who love samurai games shouldn’t miss Ishin!
Dredge
Dredge is as beautiful as it is solitary. Credit: Black Salt GamesPlatforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, PC
Blurb written by Amanda Yeo
In Dredge you play as a lone fisherman, travelling between ports in your little boat to catch fish and sell your wares. However, the waters you're navigating are markedly more dangerous than your average ocean, with Lovecraftian horrors lurking beneath the surface. Even some of the fish you haul in are twisted corruptions of previously innocuous species.
Many of Dredge's otherworldly dangers are nocturnal, so you can minimise the chance of receiving a tentacle to the face by fishing during the day. However, not all monsters are deterred by sunlight, and some fish species can only be caught after sunset. As such, catching all the fish you need is a delicate balance of watching the time, making risk-reward assessments, and ensuring there's always a safe port nearby.
Volcano Princess
The art in 'Volcano Princess' is gorgeous. Credit: Egg Hatcher/Gamera GamesPlatforms: PC
Blurb written by Amanda Yeo
For many people, raising a child in today's economy isn't a viable financial prospect. Fortunately, raising sims such as Volcano Princess can give you all the joys of parenthood with just a fraction of the financial stress. Volcano Princess makes you the father of a young girl in a fantasy kingdom, tasked with scheduling her classes, managing her relationships, and making sure she grows up to be a successful member of society. Or she could be a crime lord. It's really up to you.
Volcano Princess' addictive stat-raising gameplay is bolstered by beautiful art and appealing characters. The game does have a few bugs and English translation issues which are actively being addressed, but it's made with so much heart that it's hard to be bothered.
Hi-Fi Rush
'Hi-Fi Rush' is a delight. Credit: Tango Gameworks/XboxPlatforms: Xbox Series S/X, PC
Hi-Fi Rush is so good it makes you wonder why we do the whole video game hype cycle rigamarole in the first place.
Announced and released on the same day in late January during an Xbox showcase stream, Tango Gameworks’ latest is arguably also the studio’s best effort. This is a rhythm action game with so much heart, character, charisma, energy, and any other positive words you can associate with a video game that it’s a wonder they were able to keep it a secret during development.
Between a smart music-based combat system, outstanding Spider-Verse-esque visuals, and a rocking soundtrack, Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute must play for anyone with Xbox Game Pass.
Octopath Traveler II
I love looking at 'Octopath Traveler 2.' Credit: Square EnixPlatforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch
You can’t stretch without bumping into a throwback RPG these days. There are so many of them, and so few of them come close to being as memorable as their SNES/PS1 sources of inspiration.
Thankfully, Octopath Traveler II avoids that fate. It’s got beautiful “HD2D” visuals, genuinely novel turn-based combat, and boss fight music that makes you want to sprint through a wall. Its open-ended plot with a short story format is also a ton of fun, especially at the end when everything comes together for one big crazy boss fight.
If you spent your summer breaks as a kid grinding for XP in Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, you really owe it to yourself to give Octopath Traveler II a shot.
All those dang remakes
It's good to see Samus again. Credit: NintendoLastly, I’d like to give a shout out to a trio of excellent remakes that came out in the first half of 2023: Dead Space, Metroid Prime Remastered, and Resident Evil 4.
They run the gamut of what remakes can be; Metroid Prime is a new visual coat of paint on the same game, while Resident Evil 4 totally reimagines a classic while maintaining the spirit of the original. Dead Space, meanwhile, sits somewhere in the middle of those two, somehow feeling both like a new game and like you never left the original.
Lord knows the video game industry is not great about preserving its own history. These remakes may not be as good as full backwards compatibility for every console ever made would be, but they’re a smart way for new audiences to discover classic games, and all three of them are just really damn good.