2023 was filled with incredible games, and even though I didn’t get around to playing all of my most-anticipated new releases – such as Alan Wake 2, which probably would be on this list if I’d made a reasonable amount of progress in it – I still played many excellent titles. Some have been widely praised, while others haven’t been so lucky… but either way, here are my top 10 games of 2023.
10. Detective Pikachu Returns
Will I be the only person who puts Detective Pikachu Returns on a top 10 list? Probably. Do I regret it? Not one bit. The overall reception to this long-awaited (if you’re me, at least) sequel to Detective Pikachu might have been a bit lukewarm, but as I explained in my review, it’s the sort of charming, pleasant game that just made me happy. I doubt we’ll ever get a third game in the series, but if we do, I’ll be just as excited for it as I was for this.
Highlight: Pikachu is arrested. He goes to jail. He meets the tough-guy Pokémon in charge of a gang of prisoners and starts orchestrating a jailbreak. And you’re telling me this isn’t one of 2023’s best games?
9. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
We had plenty of reasons to be worried about Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, from it being a T-rated spin-off of an M-rated series to it having a story-driven approach on the heels of Bayonetta 3 and its… questionable writing. However, Bayonetta Origins turned out to be a full-length game with fun combat, a heartfelt story, and a delightful emphasis on exploration. I still feel the multiverse concept has an overall negative effect on the series, including this entry, but that doesn’t change how much I enjoyed it.
Highlight: When you finally learn to use Witch Time.
8. Radiant Tale
If last year was a great year for games in general, it was especially good for the otome genre. After a time when we’d only get 1 or 2 localizations a year, 2023 left us spoiled for choice. One of my favorites was Radiant Tale, a lighthearted story about a girl who joins a traveling circus in order to spread happiness and break the curse upon the kingdom’s prince. While it might be a bit overly optimistic about how easy it would be to solve society’s problems by reminding people of better ideals through a performance, it was an upbeat story with an excellent cast of characters and beautiful art.
Highlight: Meeting Ion and learning that he’s the world’s sweetest man with an appearance intimidating enough that people run from him on sight.
7. Process of Elimination
I half-jokingly called 2023 the year of Danganronpa-likes, as several games came out that reminded me of that series in one way or another. My favorite of these was Process of Elimination, in which you play a young detective who ends up trapped alongside other members of the Detective Alliance with the knowledge that the serial killer called the Quartering Duke might be among them. As members of the group begin to die, you must investigate each murder and learn the truth. Investigations are carried out almost more like a strategy RPG, which started out confusing but became fun once I got used to it. By the end, I was invested in the story and attached to the characters, and I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I expected to! If they ever make a sequel, I’ll be there day one.
Highlight: The big reveal when all the clues came together and I realized I’d overlooked the obvious.
6. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code
Of course, another one of those Danganronpa-like games was Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, the new mystery game from the creator of Danganronpa. You play a detective currently suffering from amnesia due to his pack with Shinigami, a death god who can materialize a case into a Mystery Labyrinth they can then explore to learn the truth. There are so many things I loved about the game, and if every part of it was as exciting as the first, fourth, and fifth cases, it would rank higher on this list for sure. Unfortunately, the second and third cases exist, and so it didn’t make it into my top 5.
Highlight: That twist. You know the one, Danganronpa fans.
5. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo came out of seemingly nowhere. This horror visual novel from Square Enix was announced without much fanfare, but it turned out to be an unexpected favorite. In my review, I described how you use the built-in flowchart to switch between different characters and scenes and explore every part of the story until you can unlock a new path. With a supernatural investigation and plenty of creepy mysteries, it kept me hooked from start to finish.
Highlight: I spent a ridiculous amount of time scouring the game trying to figure out how to progress at the very end… but the moment when it finally clicked made it all worthwhile.
4. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
I typically don’t catch up on long-running series very quickly, but a major exception has been the Yakuza series, or Like a Dragon as it’s now called. Last year I finally caught up on the remaining entries in time to play this year’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name earned a high spot on this list. It’s a shorter entry for the series, with a story that feels a bit odd when you know roughly how everything will end up, but it has so much fun side content that I had a blast while playing it.
Highlight: The ending. The writers sure know how to pack an emotional punch when they want to…
3. Jack Jeanne
Another one of the great otome games localized last year was Jack Jeanne from Broccoli Co. and Sui Ishida. It’s a hard sell for some players since it has a slow pace, an extremely long runtime, and relationships that start as friendships before shifting into romance, but if you’re a fan of slow-burn relationships like me, this game is a goldmine. Part visual novel and part rhythm game, Jack Jeanne follows a young woman who is accepted into an all-male drama school on the condition that she keep her gender a secret. As you progress through the school year, you have a choice each weekend of who to hang out with – probably the love interest whose route you’re pursuing, but there are also side characters with their own story events and randomized encounters throughout the week that I still haven’t seen all of. Each playthrough takes so much time that I played entire games in between routes to avoid burning out, but Jack Jeanne ended up being one of my favorite games of the year.
Highlight: Neji. He is everything.
2. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Is it cheating to count a game from 2010 as one of my top games from 2023? No it is not, because Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective was remastered last year. If how much I gushed about it in my review isn’t enough to make it clear, I consider Ghost Trick to be an absolute masterpiece. It has interesting puzzles, a great cast of characters, a fantastic sense of humor, and brilliant writing that impressed me even more upon a second playthrough. Play Ghost Trick. Now that it’s multi-platform, there’s nothing stopping you. Play it.
Highlight: Missile is the best doggie that ever lived, and the fact that he was based on Shu Takumi’s real life dog makes it even better.
1. Like a Dragon: Ishin!
In the midst of catching up on the main series, I also took the time to play Like a Dragon: Ishin, which I had wanted to play ever since I became a Yakuza fan and learned there was a spin-off with samurai. Entirely separate from the main series, Ishin is a piece of historical fiction with the Yakuza cast in the roles of actual historical figures. It was a delight to meet each new character and see which main series character they’d be based on, and the setting made it feel fresh while still adhering to the series traditions that have earned it such a place in my heart. I wouldn’t say Ishin has the best story in the series, nor the best side content or combat… but every piece is good enough that the whole ends up rising above many other entries for me. I loved playing Ishin, and sometimes I wish it had never ended. With fans looking forward to the next entry in the main series, it feels like people stopped talking about Like a Dragon: Ishin pretty quickly, but to me it’s one of the best and my top game of 2023!
Highlight: You have a little house with a small farm where you grow crops to either sell or use in meals (with a cooking mini-game, of course), and you can also adopt dogs and cats to live there. I love the other games in this series, but sometimes I really miss my Ishin farm.
