CHENNAI : From gripping narrative-driven AAA games, RPG adventures to unambiguous independent hits, 2023 saw many innovative additions to the industry. As the year comes to a close, Anusha Ganapathi lists her must play games
Baldur’s Gate 3
Type: Role-playing Game |
Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox X|S
Six years in development and over 250 voice actors built into the story, and the effort shows. It’s a game that starts with the same entry point for every single player can end up vastly different for all of them. There are endless paths to take, dialogue options, skill variations. And even if you take them all exactly the same way (why would you though?), there’s still the luck of the die rolls. For example, I played the exact same character in my first few playthroughs — and I died several completely different, and equally horrible deaths, because I hadn’t quite whittled down the exact strengths of my “sorcerer” character. Baldur’s Gate 3 is not built for a beginner to a high-fantasy Dungeons and Dragons rules-driven RPG. However, it’s also an infinitely more fun experience if you’re a newb. This game is also the only multiplayer game on my list this year — allowing cooperative play with a party of your friends.
Tears of the Kingdom
Type: Action-adventure, Sandbox
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
It was clear when ToTK released earlier this year, that Nintendo was in fact holding back with the first game in this series. The new one, ToTK has in effect, gone full sandbox. Link has a bionic arm with cool new abilities. “Ultrahand” and “Fuse” make him a traveling craftsman, forging delicate and often evil machinery to combat the beasts he encounters. My personal favourite was discovering that Link could build a Shield-Flamethrower hybrid, transforming a poor, defensive weapon into a Monster Barbecuer Pro Max. It’s hard to classify this game as anything but Sandbox, given the exploratory and buildable elements. Although, it also is a remarkable action-adventure campaign – and is a must-play if you own the Nintendo Switch.
Dave the Diver
Type: Casual Management Simulator
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch
When we start the game, we find a Dave lazing at the beach, seemingly retired from professional obligations. We soon learn that Dave is not really the type to be casually vacationing against the beach, as he is quickly employed in two separate jobs. In the mornings and afternoons, he dives into the ocean floor, engaged in various fetch quests, fishing opportunities, and the occasional treasure hunt. In the evenings, his time is reluctantly provided to Bancho, a sushi bar chef. Constructed around repetitive day and night cycles, Dave’s life gets a little more complicated as his responsibilities increase. Lugging around his bag of treasures as he proceeds deeper underwater to get better rewards, and the hurried panic of waiting tables as the sushi bar grows; Dave’s life seemingly suffers from success. I think the truly wonderful part about playing the game is that there is still an element of surprise within these timed cycles of employment. You never really know what the day holds. Some days, you could spend an entire morning engaged in a fist fight with an enormous fish. Another day, you might be rescuing dolphins from a gang of pirates. All I can say is that Dave the Diver’s life is the comforting break that you might want to take after hours of intense playing of something like Baldur’s Gate 3.
Pizza Tower
Type: 2D Platformer | Platforms: Windows PC
With over 5 years spent in development and Early Access, the world finally saw the tragic career story of a Peppino Spaghetti, as his precious pizza shop is the target of an evil sentient pizza. What was truly endearing to me about the game was the precious graphics – which looks like the most clean and sophisticated art that could emerge from a 1998 edition of Microsoft Paint. The game is a complicated platformer, with finicky combination options. Coupled with the fact that each level is bounded by an arbitrary time limit, completing even one of them insists that you hold down on a dash key and tumble through dozens of enemies, till you hit a wall. While I struggle with understanding these combinations in most platformer types these days, Pizza Tower is not one of these games. It has a comprehensive tutorial segment, that essentially allows you to pick up and continue the game even months after a break. Pizza Tower is extremely replayable, and the challenges are complicated enough to keep you occupied for several hours. I wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner to videogames unless you’re feeling truly reckless.
Starfield
Type: Action-adventure | Platforms: PC, Xbox
The biggest AAA title release this year, Starfield wasn’t the best game for me to ease into. Although, with the power of hindsight, I can say with absolute surety that I would like to spend a hundred more hours on it. It’s a beautiful, vast universe – with numerous planets to explore. It manages somehow to not feel extremely repetitive, or obviously procedural. Past the initial hurdle of grappling with a dozen different gameplay menus, it does feel like it’s lured you into a star system. There’s an entire trove of micro-adventures that feels even more interesting than the main story. There’s drama, politics, social struggles, and bank heists. It’s all your favourite action-adventure movies rolled into a single game, where you get to experience all of it. I would be a terrible fan of the other two games that made my year if I didn’t mention them on this list. Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Spider-man 2 provided me with ample entertainment in their single-player campaign adventures. But if I am being honest, these two weren’t as memorable as the other unique games on my list. Which of these games made it to your top rankings this year?