With the year coming to a close it’s time for one last poll- The PushSquare Forums Game of the Year poll!
It’s been a cracking year for games with something for everyone across all platforms & keeping to the festive fun I have opened this poll up to all platforms.
So how will it work?
We will be begin with nominations.
Vote for your 5 favourite games of the year. Late ports do count, but please specify the system.
Rank them 1-5, with your favourite game getting 5 points & your ‘least’ favourite getting 1 point.
You don’t have to nominate 5 games, but the more the merrier at this stage.
GAAS games (Fortnite, GT7, Sea of Thieves,…) are eligible, but should’ve had at least one major update this year.
‘Hopefully’ we’ll end nominations with a top 16. At which point based on the points accumulated the games will be seeded.
Seed 1- Rank 1-4
Seed 2- Rank 5-8
Seed 3- Rank 9-12
Seed 4- Rank 13-16
We will come up with 4 randomized groups, with each game from a seed making up one group.
The top 2 will then advance with the winners facing the runners up of the next group (WINNER GROUP A vs RUNNER UP GROUP B).
However the 4 games finishing in 3rd place will have an opportunity to rejoin the fray as a Wildcard (more on that later).
If you have voted I will tag you moving forwards, but feel free to let me know if you no longer wish to participate.
With that being said let the voting begin!
Semi Final 1
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
vs
Final Fantasy XVI
Semi Final 2
Resident Evil 4 Remake
vs
Baldur’s Gate 3
Apologies for the lateness everyone!
Also anyone that hasn’t been tagged but wishes to be let me know.
Pick your favourite from the 2 semi finals. It’s head-to-head & in case of a tie I’ll remove my own vote.
Voting for the Semi Final closes on 02/01/2024, 10PM GMT.
Lives, Lived, Will Live.
Dies, Died, Will Die.
If we could perceive time for what it really was,
What reason would Grammar Professors have to get out of bed?- Robert & Rosalind Lutece
@Fight_Teza_Fight Thanks for starting this poll! I was wondering when a forum GOTY might pop up. You’ve got a really nice layout of voting and poll structure outlined.
So I specifically had a goal to try to play some current releases for this year so I could have some informed opinion about GOTY. Despite my efforts, too many good games came out this year and so unfortunately I haven’t played some of the highlights yet (like RE4, Dead Space, BG3, or SM2). But I’ve watched gameplay on some of them and even played a few moments, but I won’t initially nominate anything I haven’t played substantially. There’s a small possibility I’ll squeeze in some time with either Spider-Man or Baldur’s Gate before years end, but it’s not looking promising for me, time-wise.
This will be a tough year to judge because I’m sure very few of us have actually played all the main nominees to completion.
——————
With that said, it appears that I have played 5 total 2023 releases and so that makes it easy to come up with my top 5 😅. Ranking them will be the tough part. Here goes:
1) Hogwarts Legacy (PS5)
This was early in the year and so it’s easy to forget just how enjoyable it was, but whenever I look back it just makes me smile. Just a fantastic love letter to the franchise and was really fun to boot. It didn’t trailblaze much regarding gameplay, but the sheer variety of activities to engage in and the wonderfully crafted world at Hogwarts and surrounding areas made it my number 1 for 2023.
2) Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
Although I still haven’t completed the game (partly because I’m trying to savor it for all it’s worth) it’s really well done and oozes with production value. The characters are great and Clive will probably end up as a top FF protagonist for me. The combat is kinetic and fun, and the music is excellent. And the daring new direction for the series is what ultimately edges out the next game to make FF16 my second favorite game of 2023.
3) Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)
I had a blast with this game. The criticism that is just ‘more of the same’ as a sequel is valid, but there really is enough evolution in the gameplay with the added stances and large open areas to make it feel unique. As a fan of the franchise, I probably give it a little boost and subconsciously have forgiven some of the oft complained about technical issues, but I really felt like any frame rate hiccups or rare crashes did not affect my enjoyment. The patched version now should be especially good, and so this is a wonderful game for fans of Souls-likes and/or Star Wars
4) Tchia (PS5)
A lovely indie game that won me over with its charm, fantastic music, and addcitive gameplay. There’s a few small issues that the developer will surely iron out in their next project, but I ended up really liking this one.
5) Humanity (PS5)
I’m not a huge fan of puzzle games but every so often they scratch a certain itch. Humanity has an enjoyable loop and concept, with an enchanting backdrop, especially for dog lovers. I have some issues with the difficulty spikes and I haven’t completed the whole game, but I have left it on my PS5 as a game I can jump back into at any time for a quick level.
I'll do it shortly:
1. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5).
2. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (PS4).
3. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5).
4. Atomic Heart (PS4, PS5).
5. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (PS4).
I've played about 10 games released this year. There's also some ports/remakes that I could vote for, because I played the original, but I don't think it works that way.
More importantly, though, I didn't play some of this year's highlights: BG3 and Final Fantasy XVI, Spider-Man 2 and Wonder. So... there's that too.
With those caveats out of the way I present you 5 games that are totally worth your time, whoever you are. These are all very high quality games, easy recommendation if you haven't played them!
1 point - Rogue Legacy 2
2 points - Sea of Stars
3 points - Tren
4 points - Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
5 points - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
On PS5 -
1) Baldur's Gate - 5 points
2) Hogwart's - 4 points
3) RE4 - 3 points
4) Robocop - 2 points
5) Dead Space - 1 point
I'd probably put the newly patched/updated Cyberpunk in there if I could and I'm getting Spider-Man 2 (which I expect I'll love) for Christmas.
1) Final Fantasy XVI - 5 points
2) Dead Space Remake - 4 points
3) Cocoon - 3 points
4) Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - 2 points
5) Assassin's Creed Mirage - 1 point
FF16 was simply brilliant, there's nothing in my list that comes close to it. Dead Space was pure fun playing through and Cocoon was an exceptional experience. Spider-Man and AC were fun but nothing special. I would've replaced one of them with Tears of the Kingdom if I had actually finished it or at least played more of it. But sadly it lost my attention after a few weeks. Even though it's just more BotW, I still enjoyed it a lot.
@Fight_Teza_Fight thanks for doing this and great idea to open it up to being multi-platform.
1) - Tears of the Kingdom 5 points
For all the chat about it being the same map and a conversion mod for botw, totk was so much more than that for me. It might be my favourite game of all time. Yes the story is a bit weak but the sense of exploration, the way puzzles, shrines, stables, koroks, building all come together was so good. Every play session was "then I found..., then I saw..., then I solved x by building y".
2) Resident evil 4 remake 4 points I liked RE2 remake but adding more enemies and giving you more options to deal with them with more action focus, takes RE4 to another level. Perfect pacing, great bosses and German suplexes. Awesome!
3) Blasphemous 2 3 points fantastic gothic art style, amazing combat, crazy boss battles. It's not a revolutionary metroidvania, but it's a bloody good one
4) Humanity 2 points fantastic puzzles, great use of the PS5 tips features, genuine commentary on the human condition. And it's got a cute doggo
5) Dead Space Remake 1 points there is truly nowt scarier than organised religion, fake or otherwise.
Dead Space remake - 5 points. EA didn't skimp on the remake, they did the whole thing...made it whole again if you will.
Witcher 3 PS5 - 4 points. Does this count? It was released in the GotY slightly misaligned window.
Tchia - 1 point. Enjoyed this more than I was expecting.
Haven't played any other 2023 games, I do have Sea of Stars and Teardown ready to go in the backlog.
@Kidfried@Th3solution@R1spam No problem! Keeping it multi-platform should differentiate it from the poll on the main page. @CaptD Witcher 3 PS5 makes it in! Jan 2023 physical release. Had to double check.
Worth mentioning I’m not counting votes until the deadline passes. So feel free to edit.
Lives, Lived, Will Live.
Dies, Died, Will Die.
If we could perceive time for what it really was,
What reason would Grammar Professors have to get out of bed?- Robert & Rosalind Lutece
5 points: Metroid Prime Remastered
4 points: Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
3 points: Trails to Azure
2 points: Super Mario Bros Wonder
1 point: Sea of Stars
I didn’t really play many 2023 releases to be honest. Sherlock Holmes was a banger though. I feel stupid putting Metroid Prime top but it’s both one of the best games ever and also a much much bigger leap forwards than you’d expect at first glance with the modern control scheme and graphical leap.
I'd love to give some points to Aliens:Dark Descent as I brought it and think it will be good, but I haven't got around to starting yet so wouldn't be fair to judge.
I didn't play nearly enough new games this year lol
One Steam game, and the rest on Switch cuz resident Nintendo fan
5 Points - Fire Emblem Engage (Yes, the writing is cringy and a gigantic step down from Three Houses, but it's still incredibly fun in nearly every way, looks great on the Switch, and brought back the sort of tactical balance I was missing in the last game)
4 Points - Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp (A polished, fun remake of the first two GBA Advance Wars games that only fails in terms of its online multiplayer implementation. I still have so much more to do with this. WayForward did a great job with the new soundtracks!)
3 Points - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Look, it's not a classic like its predecessor was, but there's so much to find and do in this gigantic world that it's difficult not to get sucked in for hours during any given play session)
2 Points - Class of '09: The Re-Up (I debated even putting this zero budget indie visual novel on here, but the truth is that any game that can make me feel almost sick because of how hard it made me laugh probably deserves a spot)
1 Point - Super Mario Wonder (It's Mario. It's good. If you like 2D Mario, you'll like this. Not much else to say)
1. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) - 5 Points
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) - 4 Points
3. Spider-Man 2 (PS5) - 3 Points
4. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) - 2 Points
5. Like A Dragon Gaiden: the Man Who Lost His Name (PC) - 1 Point
This was really tough & even now I'm not quite sure about current placements, lol (& I kinda feel bad for leaving Star Wars Jedi Survivor & Metroid Prime Remastered out).
Tchia or ff16 for me. Tchia blew me away thought it was outstanding enjoyed every single minute I put into that game and it's easily OST of the year for me. I loved FF16 as well, Clive and Jill are great characters
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