2023 Wrapped (Gaming edition)

Another year, another blogpost detailing the games I've played and enjoyed this past year. Let's get down to it:

I started the year playing God of War Ragnarok, continued from last year. I played some F1, Hitman, Call of Duty and some Pokemon Violet. Nothing new, nothing shocking. We pick up this year in March with the following game:

Dredge

Dredge released in March of this year. And just a couple weeks ago, some DLC dropped. I don't know what it is about this game: it's a horror game that meets a fishing simulator. But it clicks so well, the visuals are amazing, the soundtrack is great, the writing is epic. I've had a lot of fun with this one! This is my Indie pick of the year.

Next we move on to the GOTY of 2017 (and probably of 2023 as well)

The Legend of Zelda

At this point in the year (April/May), hype was building for the release of Tears of the Kingdom. I tried playing Breath of the Wild a couple times, but never really got the hang of it. Something didn't click with me. I tried again, and again, and every time after a couple hours (most of the times still on the beginner plateau, or right after leaving it), I put the game down and went to do something else.

But not this time! It was the best game ever according to so many games, and the sequel was dropping in a couple weeks. I just had to play it and figure out what everyone was raving it. And I stuck with it, and I figured it out, and finally it clicked, and now I just love BotW. Once I figured out that experimentation is key, and there's multiple ways of doing something, and had a grasp of the core mechanics, the game bloomed open and I had so much fun exploring. Going to point A, getting distracted by something in the distance, getting distracted by a shrine while being distracted, etc, etc. And I finished it, finally, right before the sequel hit: Tears of the Kingdom.

And we were off for another month of just playing this game. And again: it's a good one. I haven't finished it yet, but every once in a while I go pick it up and play it for a couple hours and have so much fun exploring and building. These are my GOTY triple A releases of the year.

Next we have summer, we started renovating here. Not a lot of time for gaming, not a lot of energy for new games, so during this time I hunkered down and played some more Pokemon Violet (and every other Pokemon game on the Switch). During renovations I put my PS5 in storage, and won't be able to access it, so the rest of the list will be Switch games, no more PS5 games for me.

September was filled with The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Violet, and then we arrive at October: the behemoth of 2023. So many games released this month, I'm still catching up:

Red Dead Redemption

I played the sequel on PS4, and loved it, had a solid 50+ hours in it, but never played the original. So when this hit on Switch, I picked it up and enjoyed it quite a lot. It runs great, it looks great, the gameplay is great, the story is great. Everything is great basically (except for the price: asking full game price for a 10 year old game is not done), but I bought it anyway, jumped on my horse and got lost in the far west one more time...

Super Mario Wonder

Until one week later, when Super Mario Wonder released. And oh boy, It's a great platformer. I've not played it too much yet (I'm at world 4 now, I should pick it up again and finish it but hey, so much other stuff to do...), but so far soo good!

Hogwarts Legacy

Until a couple weeks later, when Harry Potter Legacy hit. It's been on my radar since February, when it released on the PS5. I played the 45 minute trial that comes included with PS Plus Premium and got hooked on the story, so when this hit: I finally got my invitation to Hogwarts!

And that brings us to today: I'm still playing a combination of Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Wonder, Hogwarts Legacy and will be for the rest of the year (well into 2024 probably).

Honorable Mentions

Hitman 3: Just like last year, I just love coming back to this game every couple weeks, since they're adding new challenges and unlocks left and right. Keep up the good work IOI!

Pokemon Violet: I know, it's stupid pokemon, but somehow I'm hooked at it. I've got all the Pokemon from this game, I'll play the DLC when it comes out in a couple weeks. I'll play it again every other weekend to do the tera raids, and while I'm at it, I'm catching some more regional forms, or going shiny hunting or doing some other challenge or something. It's a good snack game, for when you're too tired for anything substantial. It's Pokemon, you can basically do it while sleeping... It's my guilty pleasure of the year.

Predictions from last year, and predicting next year

The games I put on my predictions list from last year are still on my list. Due to me not having access to my PS5, they'll probably stay there until I get my hands on the controller again. I did get Hogwarts Legacy, but ended up playing it on the Switch. It runs great there, it's a miracle port. I skipped over P4G since my backlog doesn't need another 100+ hour game in it. I'm glad I didn't buy this year's CoD at full price. I mostly buy it for the single player campaign, which only clocks in at about 3 hours this year. Not worth 70 bucks imho. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Diablo 4 are still on my wanted list, as is the Phantom Liberty expansion for CP2077. They look great!

So predicting next year:

• The Switch 2 will release, it'll be backwards compatible with all my current Switch games. It'll be a great little console!
• I'll get my PS5 back. I'll finally be able to play Hitman 3 again and finish all the stuff I missed during this year (except for the elusive targets 😦)
• I'll buy whatever Pokemon remake/remaster game they'll throw out this year.

Backlog items I really want to play:

• The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster: it actually turned out great that I didn't play this game this year. There's a remaster coming out early next year. Will definitely play that one!
• Resident Evil 2,3,7,8: They're still on my backlog, and I really want to play them!
• Bayonetta 3 and Bayonetta Origins: I picked these up for cheap, but haven't gotten around to playing them yet. I blame epic 2023!

So that about sums it up: I played a bit of my backlog, I bought a lot of new games because 2023 was a grand cru year for gaming. I'll keep hammering on my backlog and having fun in 2024!

I've got an idea for a project in 2024 though, stay tuned for it! I'll release it near the end of the month/beginning of next year. Let's see if I've got the willpower to finish that project. Stay tuned!