This has been a fantastic year for video game releases. Your humble game reviewer played a lot of them, and here are the five that stood out enough to be called Game of the Year for 2023.

Note: there is a conspicuous absence in Baldur’s Gate 3. Honestly, I simply didn’t have time or resources to play it, and since it has earned Game of the Year from plenty of other outlets, I felt safe leaving it out.

Goodbye Volcano High

The visual novel is a popular genre when it comes to unique and experimental stories, but it rarely pushes the medium itself to new heights. Goodbye Volcano High is, though, is simply so good that it stands out even in a year like this.

The game is set in a dinosaur civilization that is about to face an extinction event. While that happens, a young trans musician is hoping to still have their big rock star moment despite the looming apocalypse. The game combines traditional visual novel mechanics with high-quality animation and rhythm game sections to tell a truly moving story.

The video game industry is full of post-apocalypses to play around in. This pre-apocalypse is something both interesting and deeply moving. Visual novels have never been done better.

KarmaZoo

KarmaZoo is a weird game, sort of a cross between Fall Guys and Thomas Was Alone. You play a recently deceased soul that has to maneuver through various levels to earn karma points and ascend.

The gameplay is centered around random groups of online players who have to help each other through the various puzzles. Hold a door for someone, get more karma points. If a player is alone too long, they lose their corporeal form, encouraging everyone to stick together.

It’s simply the nicest game that came out this year, and maybe this decade. Co-operative play is so rarely, you know, co-operative, and almost never non-violent. Having something this wholesome in 2023 is revolutionary.

Dredge

A Lovecraftian fishing game seems so obvious that it’s weird no one has done it before. Dredge follows an unnamed fisherman as he explores an increasingly eldritch archipelago and pulls up monstrous fish from the deep.

Lovecraftian fiction has been stuck in survival horror for too long. The island setting is both gorgeous and sinister depending on the time of day. It’s rarely (but not never!) outright scary, but some of the elder godlink beings are truly innovative. The giant angler fish whose light is a ghost ship made me drop my controller.

Beyond the horror aspects, simply exploring the islands and filling out your fish encyclopedia is fun. Each island chain has its own personality and threats, none of which are overwhelming but all of which offer challenges. It’s the sort of game you can easily disappear into for hours upgrading your boat or searching for one last mutant sailfish.

Cookie Cutter

If you told me that in a year where Blasphemous 2 came out the best Metroidvania would be something else, I would never have believed you. Cookie Cutter is a cyberpunk take on the genre where you control a vulgar robot as she tries to rescue her creator/girlfriend from an evil mega corporation.

The animation is hand drawn and extremely punk rock. The opening makes you drag your broken body after the villain screaming your girlfriend’s name, so the stakes are clear from the beginning.

The best part of Cookie Cutter is the brutal combat. It’s not the most polished system and plays more like a mosh pit. You’ll be constantly trading damage with enemies, but you also get to toss them in spinning saw blades and electrified floors to watch them die. That’s on top of each monster having an execution animation. None of this ever gets old. It’s a wild, rollicking good time with a solid map and cast of characters.

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Switch era of the Legend of Zelda has not been my favorite. I find the mechanics needlessly difficult, and the open sandbox thing just doesn’t interest me. I was ready to write the whole approach off as something just not for me.

But then I let my 14-year-old take a turn on the game, and I’ve come to appreciate it in a whole new light. Watching them fall in love with the world of Hyrule, constantly seeking out new areas and new ways to play, was spellbinding. I found myself just watching the kid play, enraptured by how much fun they were having.

This is a kid that detests RPGS, hates open worlds, and has nothing but contempt for most fantasy. Tears of the Kingdom turned them into a lore nerd and dedicated adventure. I’ve never seen anything like it, and clearly it deserves to be a Game of the Year even if I personally still find it frustrating.