Game of the Year 2023 — FAKE RONJAN!!

Wow, what a year for gaming.

After two years of delays thanks to, you know, a global pandemic, it seems like every powerhouse developer delivered the goods this year.

In 2023, we saw a massive Harry Potter game, a massive Star Wars game, new entries from both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, Bethesda’s big release of Starfield, a new Diablo, a new Baldur’s Gate, a new Zelda, a new 2D Mario, and a new Spiderman. We even saw remakes & remasters of classics like Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, and Super Mario RPG.

What a ridiculous list. What a year. And it meant that after two years of me devoting huge chunks of my year to playing older games (2021, 2022), this year was all about what’s new. And it was nice.

That’s only half of the story when it comes to video games and me in 2023, though, because this is also the year that I officially joined the industry!

Sports video gaming used to be a huge part of my life in my 20s, as I’d play multiple hours every day of every sports game imaginable. That fell off significantly during the married and early parenthood life of my 30s, so I had to pick my sports and pick my spots.

I’m excited to get reacquainted with the genre in my 40s, to truly dive deep into what’s changed and where we are headed, and to help take the NBA 2K series to new heights.

So, we’ve established that this was already a crowded year and this is also now my job. That means it must have been tough to pick my game of the year, right?

Nope, and there’s no point in being coy.

Octopath Traveler II was my most anticipated game coming into 2023, and it delivered. It’s easily my game of the year, probably my favorite RPG ever, and in the discussion as one of my favorite games of all time.

Before I go all fanboy about this underappreciated classic, though, let’s run down the rest of my favorite games of 2023.

5. NBA 2K24

I’ve loved video games for over 35 years and I’ve loved NBA basketball for over 30 years. This game is made for me.

My jaw dropped when I saw my name in the credits of NBA 2K24 a couple of months ago. I’d just arrived at the company and hadn’t done anything to earn that. And sure, that feeling probably gets old over time as one spends more time in the industry. But that made my year.

It’s incredible to think that at some point in the future, this game won’t just be made for me, but this game will be made with me.

I also got the best company swag of my nearly 20-year career this year.

Starting next year, I promise, I’ll recuse myself. But this game series means so much to me that this game has to make the list this year. Sorry not sorry.

4. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of this game. I love playing as Toadette. I love seeing what new wacky idea is just around the next corner. I love how weird this game is. I love how cute it is. It’s a bundle of creativity and I’m here for it.

That said, I haven’t finished it yet - I’m about halfway through. I ended up stopping when a game higher on this list came out, and I’m not sure if that says more about this game or about me.

I need to see more. And I will. I think. I hope. I wonder. 🤓

3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

It’s deja vu all over again.

Just like in 2017, a heralded open-world Zelda game releases.

Again, I sink about 40 hours into the game.

Again, I explore the world to activate all of the towers and fill up my in-game map.

Again, I enjoy just running around and being in the world, exploring every nook and cranny.

Again, I enjoy Link’s overpowered toolkit of superpowers, even as I under-utilize it.

Again, I feel frustrated with the damage, healing, and weapon systems, so I avoid combat.

Again, I finish just a couple of the story dungeons before getting bored and dropping the game.

And again, I sit here, realizing that I still appreciate other games in the series more than this open world gem.

I think I like this game more than Breath of the Wild. And I know that I like the top-down classics like A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, and A Link Between Worlds more.

So this is where we stand.

What I will say about Tears of the Kingdom is that it has my favorite story sequence in Zelda history, the Master Sword quest. I loved the search for geoglyphs, the story beats involving Zelda herself, and the final moment where you get your legendary sword.

And it has my favorite Zelda character and minigame of all time, the sign guy and his puzzles. I seriously want a full game of sign guy puzzles. Every time I saw him, I’d drop everything I was doing to help him. He’s the real hero of Hyrule.

I’m excited to see where the Zelda series goes next. I’ve appreciated most of my time with the open-world era, but I’m definitely ready for something different.

2. Super Mario RPG

Really, Ronjan? A beat-for-beat remake of a game from 1996 over the groundbreaking Zelda game? Really?

Really.

I loved the original Super NES classic, but I surprised even myself when I rated it #2 in my top 10 Mario games earlier this year, ahead of classics like Super Mario World and Super Mario Odyssey.

I went back and re-played it from scratch in advance of the remake’s release, so it would be fresh in my mind, and that playthrough only reinforced my ranking and made me even more excited for the Switch version. (As you might have guessed, this is the game that I dropped Super Mario Bros. Wonder for.)

The Friday evening the remake released, I jumped in. And by the end of the weekend, I’d beaten it and completed all of the post-game content.

This remake is exactly what I wanted.

It’s a brilliant new coat of paint that highlights the vision of the original game’s creators with modern technology. It showcases amazing new visuals, a reimagined soundtrack, and a handful of quality of life improvements that don’t fundamentally impact the mechanics that worked.

And it’s an incredible trip down memory lane. Rather than saying anything else, I’ll just post several of my favorite moments from the game in their updated form.

Thank you, Nintendo, for this gift.

1. Octopath Traveler II

Okay, here we go. What do I love about this game?

The pixel art visuals that take you back in time to a simpler era, but also showcase some of the most beautiful environments in any video game ever.

The battle system, the most engaging turn-based approach I’ve encountered in my life, that balances offense and defense with its unique “break” and “boost” system.

My favorite gaming soundtrack of all time, which threads character motifs and battle themes together in an incredible combination of composition and musical engineering.

The eight playable characters, each endearing and compelling in their own ways, and the story, which sees them come together satisfactorily as they take on a common enemy together.

The final boss, who absolutely destroyed me the first time I faced it.

And more than anything, I love that this game delivered me my favorite gaming memory of 2023: being coached by my nine-year-old son to take the final boss out, and subsequently seeing a brilliant epilogue that took me through the highlights of my journey, personalized in the exact order that I did the events.

This game was my everything this year. After an initial playthrough that topped 60 hours, I went right back in to try tackling events with different character combinations in different orders.

Octopath Traveler II delivered a transcendent audiovisual experience, it challenged me with its mechanics and boss encounters, it moved me through its memorable characters and intertwined story, and it bonded me with my son. I don’t think any other game in history has done that.

Thank you, Octopath Traveler II.