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2023 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Rogue-Like

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/02/2024

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Rogue-Likes aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they are a dominating genre thanks to the popularity of Dark Souls frontrunners From Software. While the genre has been around much longer than this it didn’t gain as much popularity until Demons Souls released on the PS3.

Lies of P

Lies of P might take a lot of pages and comparisons from Bloodborne, but it is its own thing. A fantastic art direction, fun combat, and an overall surprise hit in the already over saturated genre of games trying to topple From Software’s efforts for that next golden title.

Runner-Ups

Backpack Hero

Astral Ascent

Risk of Rain Returns

Roboquest

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Shooter

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2023

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This was not a great year for shooters. It was mostly returns of boomer shooters and not much else. What we did get was at least solid and fun and worth playing.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

CDPR’s labor of love for this game has won many people over. The one and only DLC expansion rights nearly every wrong and puts players into a fantastic new story full of action and suspense. Cyberpunk has come a long way and if you held out up until now there’s no better time to jump in.

Runner-Ups

Immortals of Aveum

Turbo Overkill

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

HROT

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Graphics, Artistic

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2023

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Every game has artistic graphics. It takes an artist to put them into the game. However, the best usually have a flair, style, design DNA, or something unique to them that set them apart from any other game. It makes them iconic and instantly recognizable or it can make you stop and soak in every scene and detail in the game.

Final Fantasy XVI

There were many pretty games this year, but nothing compared to the always exceptional art of Final Fantasy. Say what you will about leaving its core roots behind, say it’s more of an action-RPG now, but the art and visual style never disappoints in every release.

Runner-Ups

Planet of Lana

World of Horror

Lies of P

Jusant

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best RPG

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2023

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This was a light year for traditional RPGs, but we still got a few awesome ones. From Western to Eastern RPGs can be one of the best ways to dive into a story and soak in lore and characters. While not groundbreaking normally they can look fantastical and suck the player in and let you become lost in their world.

Baldur’s Gate III

Baldur’s Gate III enjoyed a slow burn in Steam Early Access for a couple of years and came out swinging to become one of the top RPGs in the last decade. No one expected this type of quality and care out of a series that beat it’s remasters to death for over a decade on every platform imaginable. Rich storytelling, memorable characters, and deep RPG gameplay that harkens back to yesteryear of gaming.

Runner-Ups

Final Fantasy XVI

Super Mario RPG

Starfield

Hogwarts Legacy

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best New Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2023

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We all love our established sequels and franchises, but we also need something new and fresh to come along to revolutionize a genre, refresh old ideas, or introduce something completely new.

Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy faced a lot of backlash and controversy due to the franchises’ author’s terrible words, but the game was celebrated thanks to a developer who truly loved the series for what it is. Exploring Hogwarts and the grounds was magical and evoked memories from the books and movies abound.

Runner-Ups

Hi-Fi Rush

Lies of P

Sea of Stars

Cocoon

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Most Exciting Return

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2023

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Games can be highly anticipated sequels or remakes. Sometimes the hype is bigger than the game itself, or a long dormant franchise makes a triumphant return. This year saw many exciting sequels finally see the light of day.

Alan Wake II

Alan Wake wasn’t considered award worthy or ground breaking back in the day, but Remedy’s storytelling has grown immensely in the last decade and a half. Alan Wake II has a rich narrative full of secrets, surprises, and many twists and turns. It feels like a completely different game.

Runner-Ups

Baldur’s Gate III

Diablo IV

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Mortal Kombat 1

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Multi-Platform

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/25/2023

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While console exclusives are slowly dying this category will never disappear. Some games may remain console exclusive one year and then go multi-platform. Some are just designed that way in the beginning. This allows all gamers to play a game and share the experience.

Alan Wake II

Alan Wake II is a treat of a horror game on any system. It’s one of the few true next-gen games that leaves the older consoles behind and it shows. This is one game to show off your high-end PC, Xbox Series X, or PS5 including those fancy options on your TV or monitor. This is about as high tech as games get right now.

Runner-Ups

Baldur’s Gate III

Diablo IV

Resident Evil 4

Dead Space

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Least Evolved Sequel

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/25/2023

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Being least evolved doesn’t always mean bad. Sometimes it can be a good thing as if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But, that’s not the best approach to a sequel and can be considered lazy or phoned in. There were a lot of games this year that had sequels that didn’t change much from previous games or stepped back in some places.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

This was a mere cash grab. The effort and love that went into 2019’s game is clearly gone and evaporated. Terrible maps, a boring and rushed single player campaign, and what feels like just something to add-on to the Warzone 2.0 multiplayer suite. This series is back to being really bad again.

Runner-Ups

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Platformer

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/23/2023

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Platformers have mostly been ignored by AAA publishers outside of the occasional first-party release. Indie developers have been advancing the series for the last decade and we got a huge variety of great games this year. Many 2D, some 3D, and all a ton of fun.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder may not be revolutionary, but it’s damn fine fun with tried and true Mario platforming and charm. The new power-ups and transformations add just enough new flavor and multiplayer is as fun as ever. There’s not much to hate on Wonder for outside of not raising the already insanely high bar that the series has set.

Runner-Ups

Blasphemous II

Vernal Edge

Laika: Aged Through Blood

Planet of Lana

2023 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Single-Player

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/23/2023

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Single-player games are making a huge comeback and this has probably been the strongest year for them in the last decade. Publishers are seeing the numbers and single-player only games with no microtransactions are selling well. Whether it’s a remake or a new IP people want them badly.

Alan Wake II

What makes Alan Wake II one of the best single-player games ever made is the incredible story, writing, crazy gameplay, and the single best visuals we have ever seen in a video game to date. With a mix of awesome live-action cut-scenes and trippy horror scenes Alan Wake II is replayable and offers everything a single-player game should.