Parry Timing's Games of the Year 2023

2023, despite the turmoil faced by many dev studios, managed to turn out some incredible games. Here's my favorites:

Welcome to my end of year roundup for all the new games I’ve played! I’ve made an ordered list, because of the traditions of an industry I want to break into, and because putting them in any order would get characterized as a ranked list anyhow. Let’s get started!

10. Your Only Move Is Hustle

Your Only Move Is Hustle is a turn based fighting game, and opens the genre up to a brand new audience. Ivy Sly knocked it out of the park with this one, then set loose the Steam workshop on it. Like many indie successes, the game generates a sharable replay of a match whenever you finish one, and it instantly calls to mind the old anime inspired stick fighting cartoons I saw on Newgrounds when I was a kid. The fact that it’s playable is just amazing. Go watch a Hustle and tell me that it isn’t cool.

9. King of the Castle

King of the Castle turns the Jackbox social games on their head to bring you a tale of court intrigue over generations of a kingdom constantly under threat from within. Their great customization system is wonderfully evocative, and the writing is both funny and impressive, considering how many different events you need to keep things fresh. Plus, the game is very flexible when it comes to pronouns, like a cherry on top of an already fun smoothie. When you have a lot of friends and everyone is bought in on roleplaying, King of the Castle transforms from a social voting game into a tapestry of fantasy mishaps that colors the downfall of whatever foolish monarch sits on the throne. Our new King will certainly do better than that.

8. The Finals

2023 was an excellent year for the refinement of old games. The Finals presents an excellent face: what if we boiled away all the fat off of the class based shooter, then shoved it into a fast paced 10 minute match with fully destructible environments. It's super fun to play, and the objective focused game modes can make individual plays feel more impactful than any other game I’ve ever played. As long as the monetization practices don’t get too predatory, The Finals is going to be many peoples’ hangout game of choice for a while.

The Finals’ dark secret is that it even refined away all of the fat off of battle royales, too. Instead of 20 groups of 3, how about only 3 or 4? Instead of clumsily forcing people into each other with a shrinking safe zone, what if moving objectives naturally moved teams around the map? What if each time you played the same map, a different modifier completely changed the geometry and rules of engagement on it? Battle Royales have long been too boring for most of their run time for me, and The Finals recreates the best part of them without any of the downtime. The Finals lets you play your opponents off of each other, and work together to undermine the leaders so they can’t run away with an early victory. And, its got a user experience that doesn’t suck!

7. Risk of Rain Returns

The original Risk of Rain released in November of 2013 when I was in 7th grade. I’ve been waiting for this remake since its original announcement, and it doesn’t disappoint. RoRR boasts brand new and returning characters with more customization options than ever, and an online multiplayer mode that enables pretty seamless co-op on your own terms, with your own difficulty sliders.

The real star of the show are the Providence Trials, a set of single player challenge maps that allow you to unlock certain abilities early for some of the characters, and provide new colors for your survivors to use. The Trials range from 2D platforming races, boss rushes with very specific requirements, and homages to other games like Castlevania, Downwell, and Smash Bros. I wasn’t aware of their presence before the game released, and each is a brand new surprise with some excellent high score chases. If you like action rogue-likes, you could do much worse than Risk of Rain Returns.

6. Lethal Company

Lethal Company slides into this list as the funniest game of the year, and it even makes a great horror game when the stars align. Lethal Company’s low fidelity models, textures, lighting, animations, and soundscape all add up to a game that oozes spooky vibes out of its clearly defined pixels. Most horror games follow a pattern, placing you in a puzzling web of constraints and tightening them until you fail. It’s a good formula, and one that can easily be ramped up to apply tension.

Mechanically, Lethal Company does the same, but procedurally. It’s not the first, but Co-Op and a healthy modding scene allows Lethal Company to deliver offhand critiques of capitalism, slick office comedy, terror of what lurks in the dark, and the pressure of trying to overcome impossible odds all in equal measure. Lethal Company might be the flavor of the month, but it’s an incredibly solid base, a perfect playground for memorable, sharable moments that has cemented its place in the zeitgeist. It’s got a lot of attention recently, and it deserves it.

5. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

I was anticipating this game for a long time, having really enjoyed both of Team Reptile’s previous games, and found this was a delightful foray into a shorter, smaller genre that I had no history with. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is an excellent skating game, with secrets and mechanics that I wouldn’t believe if you told them to me on a playground. BRC has an incredible soundtrack that still stands out, and a modding scene that can turn anyone into a dedicated fan playing the game long after you beat it. An awesome game from developers that continue to deliver, who were smart enough to include a dance button on the controller you need to use to play the game.

4. Baldur’s Gate 3

It’s hard to write about why Baldur’s Gate 3 is such a triumph. The sheer amount of roleplaying options represented in it are breathtaking, the world feels large and alive, and the characters are exceptionally well written and diverse. Larian Studio’s interpretation of D&D 5E is excellent, allowing martial classes extra options to vary their turns beyond attacking thrice no matter what. Bonus actions shine more than ever, and having a computer act as DM streamlines the whole game, letting the tactics not outshine or overtake roleplaying as the main time sink, a problem that has always plagued the system.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has an aspirational spot here on this list. Like each of Larian’s games before it, I have not even come close to finishing BG3. Instead, I’ve started 3 concurrent playthroughs with different people, not left Act 1 in any of them, and subsequently stopped playing all of them. I will return, one day, to play this game all the way through at least once, but for now I’m content with my 65 hours. A long time in any game, except for maybe this one.

3. Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 is great, and the characters that have released since I last wrote about the game have all amazed. Everything about the game is great, so the only complaints you can have are nitpicks about how they’ve monetized cosmetics post launch, which are pretty expensive. Crossover collaborations like adding the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is cool, but each turtle costume was fifteen bucks, and you couldn’t wear them outside of avatar battles and social spaces. It also meant the amazing jazzy soundtrack was replaced by just the TMNT theme song for over a month. That got old fast.

2. Roboquest

Roboquest is one of the best games of the year, full stop. I’ve moved towards completing the game 100%, and it holds up without becoming a slog to play. There are still whole weapons I’ve yet to use, and I find that I still have new and interesting builds to play, even though I’ve slowed down playing the game as a whole. I’ve inadvertently become a bit of a champion for this game, having bought it for a friend, and having a handful of others try it explicitly off of my recommendation. If you liked it, thanks for reading!

1. STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor

Here’s my piece on Jedi: Survivor and its relationship to the mythical American Frontier:

Not to quote myself too much in this piece, but Jedi: Survivor “…is achieved with a level of finesse and prestige, all set in a franchise that has long felt tired, conceited, and trite.” I stand by that, doubly so after its rocky launch of bugs and performance issues mostly being addressed. Indeed, Jedi: Survivor for me carries with it a kind of Star Wars Magic that before I’d only ever heard people talk about. Despite enjoying most of all the Star Wars franchise I’d engaged with in the past, Jedi: Survivor and Andor the year prior stick out as entries in a franchise that finally takes itself seriously, rather than being overly self serious.

Whereas every piece of Star Wars media has too much reverence for its own capital L Lore, Andor and Jedi: Survivor engage with the realities of life under the boot of the Empire’s occupation, and tell human stories of its people, rather than mythical ones of its gods. Save for the one fanservicey appearance of one character in particular in both of Respawn’s games, Andor and Jedi: Survivor are practically completely detached from the Skywalker Saga, and all the better for it. Instead, Jedi: Survivor leans hard into the style of modern Prestige Television, and Cal’s journey with his friends excited and brought me to tears. As an anti-Star Wars Star Wars fan, the existence of Survivor and Andor brings me genuine hope in the future of franchise dominated mass media.

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Other Games I Enjoyed (and/or Didn’t Play)

Or, alternatively titled the “Don’t Get Mad At Me Corner:”

Tears of the Kingdom

I didn't play this. It's a huge blindspot, but tracks with my playing Breath of the Wild two years late as well. I tried emulation but was unsatisfied, and I didn't really pick up the Switch this year afterwards.

Darkest Dungeon II

Darkest Dungeon II is all I wanted Darkest Dungeon to ever be, with less overarching punishments for mistakes. I haven’t played much of it, but I love how it looks and feels, and will keep returning to it every once in a while. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Hi-Fi Rush

Hi-Fi Rush deserved more of my time, but like many hack and slashers before it of the Platinum Games ilk, I haven’t stuck with it. Apparently, a beat em’ up needs to have all of the extra elements like the Like A Dragon series has to keep me ‘till the credits roll.

Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake 2 is on my to do list, after enjoying Remedy’s Control. I’m very excited to dive in once I’m done revisiting Death Stranding for its Director’s Cut.

Resident Evil 4

I liked the demo, and REmake 2 when that dropped years ago. I’ll get around to it, but only after its dropped enough in price.

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Finally, looking back on the year is pushing me to look forward, and it’s an exciting time. I want to thank you for being here in my first year of Parry Timing, and I hope you join me for the next. I want you to share your own lists, favorites, recommendations, and guilty pleasures in the comments! What did you play the most this year, and what would you recommend others play as well?

For people like my older brother, he’d insist that more people should play Chess if they were at all interested in any competitive endeavors. It’s fascinating to have such a refined game in the era of live service multiplayer.

Free Palestine, Happy New Year, and see you next time!