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Dec 31, 2023 - 05:54 PM
Games of 2023 + The highly anticipated Qwarky Awards (TQA)
Response to: Games of 2022 + The Qwarky Awards by map car man words telling me to do things

YouTube Video

What a weird year! Layoffs! Deaths! I had covid after three years of avoiding it! My computer starting dying and I went through a period of just reading stuff and/or playing on the Switch.
Then I got a new PC and went back to regular gaming.

What a wild year of good games! But there are only so many that your ol Q played and you're about to find out! Games!


I did that steam replay thing again and once again, it's counting on hours played, so the order is nonsensical




But we all know why you're here. "Where is the list?", you ask. Why, it's here! Below! A list! Of games! Today!



Games I started before 2023 and only finished last year:

None!

Games I started and finished last year:

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
Lara Croft GO
Shadow of the Tomb Raider + DLC
BABBDI
Tomb Raider: Legend (replay)
Tomb Raider: Anniversary (replay)
Tomb Raider: Underworld (replay)
Tomb Raider I (1996) (replay)
Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider II: Golden Mask
Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artifact
Hi-Fi RUSH
Resident Evil 4 (2023)
Teslagrad Remastered
Teslagrad 2
World to the West
Rusted Moss
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Blaster Master Zero (good ending)
Blaster Master Zero 2 (good ending)
Blaster Master Zero 3 (true ending)
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King
En Garde!
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
Misericorde: Volume One
Pseudoregalia
Fear the Spotlight
Bombshell
The Making of Karateka (Karateka remaster)
Showgunners
SPRAWL
Planet of Lana
Somerville
Cavern of Dreams
Alan Wake (replay) + DLC
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Quantum Break
Control (replay) + DLC
Alan Wake 2
You Will Die Here Tonight
Monolith
The Invincible
Stasis: Bone Totem
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (100%)
Deliver Us the Moon
Deliver Us Mars
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (replay)
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (replay)
Dordogne
Jusant
Homebody
A Highland Song
Venba
Full Void
Midnight Girl
Trials of Kokoro
Cookie Cutter
Blanc
Returnal
Ghostrunner (replay)
Ghostrunner - Project_Hel DLC
Ghostrunner 2
Laika: Aged Through Blood
Frogun
Stick to the Plan

Games I started last year but didn't or couldn't finish:

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince


Best games of 2023 I played:

Honorable mentions:

Spoiler:


Homebody

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the writing, but it was an interesting take on adventure games and slasher horror, with a clever loop mechanic. And I'm a sucker for loops.




Full Void
[Best cinematic platformer]




Laika: Aged Through Blood
[Best music] [Best bike] [Best Puppy] [Best flips]




Blanc
[Cutest game]



Fear the Spotlight

A totally charming little survival horror game which is sadly not sold right now, as the tiny developer got a publishing deal and are working on an enhanced and expanded version on consoles.
Still, one of my favourites from last year!




The Making of Karateka
[Best archival]




Returnal
[Best music] [Best sci-fi] [Best existential dread] [Best Selene] [Best organ]




THE QWARKY TOP 20 BEST GAMES OF 2023

Spoiler:


20.



Pseudoregalia
[Best goat] [Best jumping] [Best wall kick]

A charming N64 inspired 3D platformer, with a focus on movement and chaining moves to reach places your own way. My only gripes were the abrupt/anticlimactic ending, and there's one
little tuba playing enemy that was so cute I couldn't bring myself to hurt them ever. Don't put cute enemies in games! It's uncomfortable!

8/10



19.



The Invincible
[Best visuals] [Best voice acting] [Best sci-fi] [Best skyboxes]

Awesome walking sim with a wonderful retro future aesthetic. Heavy in atmosphere and quiet exploration. I only wish it didn't trick you so much with seemingly giving choices but if you
were to replay you'd find all the options lead to mostly the same outcome anyway. That said, there ARE some actual choices and consequences here and there, they're just mixed it with
a bunch of fake choices. Still! Cool game! Not a very feel good story tho! Great stuff!

8/10



18.



Venba
[Best food] [Best visuals] [Best music] [Most heartbreaking text messages] [The Made Qwarky Cry Award for making Qwarky cry]

Lovely and heartbreaking little story of cultures, legacy, food and a family falling apart and maybe coming together again. Light on gameplay, but definitely a memorable and emotional
experience for all the senses. Incredible soundtrack and absolutely wonderful food makes it a treat.

YouTube Video

8/10



17.



Stasis: Bone Totem
[Bleakest game] [Most bones] [Most totems] [Most brave and strong bear]

The bleak, BLEAK world of Stasis continues, and it's bleaker than ever. Everything is fucked up and horrific and there are no happy endings. An absolutely bad time is had for all,
and it's awful. Great stuff.


8/10



16.



Resident Evil 4 (2023)
[Best shotgun] [Best bingo] [Best minecart]

I did not have huge hopes for this and it turned out to be quite alright. It's a great game, and it's certainly interesting to see the RE4 story fit into the modern remake tone.
I'm interested in seeing what they will do next with the series, but I hope it's more third person and puzzles, and less shooty bang and/or first person spooks.

8/10



15.



A Highland Song
[Best Moira] [Best hills] [Best music]

Inkle does it again with a lovely little trip over scottish highlands, through folk tales and legends. I can't say I love the very ending, but it's a very pleasant and memorable
journey that you will want to take several times. Incredible use of music, and some of the prettiest hills you'll see all year.

YouTube Video

8/10



14.



Cookie Cutter
[Best animation] [Best Cherry] [Best parry] [Most violence]

A heady and ultraviolent metroidlike with incredible and macabre animations and lots of fun exploration and combat. Kind of abrupt cliffhangery ending aside, this was a total
delight from an extremely talented developer who I definitely want to see what they do next.

YouTube Video

8/10



13.



Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
[Best writing] [Best dialogue] [Best voice acting] [Best Riley] [Best Jacob] [Best Nick] [Best music] [The Made Qwarky Cry Award for making Qwarky cry]

It's not the followup I was hoping, and I struggled (a lot) to find the kind of closure it was meant to provide, but it is still a wonderful game and in typical Night School fashion
an extremely engaging story with flowing natural dialogue and likeable characters. Another absolute banger of a score from SCNTFC. Very emotional and hardhitting themes,
I just wish it had nailed the ending(s) in a more satisfying manner. Unless of course they ARE actually planning on making another game ohmygodguysithinkgifinallyfigured-

YouTube Video

8/10



12.



Planet of Lana
[Best Mui] [Best visuals] [Best music]

Lovely cinematic platformer with some amazing sights and sounds and setpieces, and a very satisfying ending. I feel like they could have done a bit more with pacing and variety
in gameplay, but it remains a very nice "short but sweet" game. Looking forward to seeing what the team does next!

YouTube Video

8/10



11.



Dordogne
[Best visuals] [Best flashbacks] [The Made Qwarky Cry Award for making Qwarky cry]

Fond and heartbreaking childhood memories in the french countryside. A lovely little adventure game with an incredible visual style and an emotional little story in the core.
But mostly you're just gonna be gawking at the incredible visuals.

8/10



10.



Showgunners
[Best gameshow] [Best interludes] [Best tactics] [Best Scarlett]

Really enjoyable ultraviolent romp through a messed up gameshow, with a fun story and engaging tactical combat. The ending is really satisfying, but I wouldn't mind seeing
a new story continuing after the first game.

YouTube Video

8/10



9.



Alan Wake 2
[Best horror] [Best meta] [Best Saga] [Best Alex] [Best Alan] [Best musical interlude]

I dunno what to say about AW2 that people haven't already said. It's great. I loved parts of it, but not all of them, so it's not higher on my list. Aside from the non-ending
and treatment of one particular character from AW1, it was excellent stuff all around. Remedy just kinda struggles on how to wrap up their games, it's been a thing for
over a decade now. Still, exciting to see how much people love AW2, and I can't wait to see their next game.

YouTube Video

8/10



8.



En Garde!
[Best Adalia] [Best fencing] [Best El Vigilante] [Best slapstick]

Delightful swashbuckling adventure in the spirit of Zorro and The Princess Bride, with tons of quips and cheeky anarchy. Easily one of the most unabashedly charming games all year.

YouTube Video

8/10



7.



Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
[Best visuals] [Best music] [Best grinding] [Best flips]

The spiritual followup to Jet Set Radio we were hoping for and it's a delight. I had a wonderful time just comboing and grinding as I explored everywhere, finding all the
outfits and records. The actual story didn't quite land for me as I'd hoped, but it's still a lot of fun to follow and just a joy to play. I even got the DLC cause I
gotta have my girl Jett in the game. Excited to see what Team Reptile will do next!

YouTube Video

8/10



6.



Teslagrad 2
[Best visuals] [Best animation] [Best Scandivania] [Best Lumina] [Best music]

Excellent metroid-like with some gorgeous animation and really satisfying movement. This one has been criminally overlooked this year, especially with how much of an
improvement on the first game it is. Would love to see a third game!

YouTube Video

9/10



5.



Hi-Fi RUSH
[Best visuals] [Best music] [Best boss fights] [Best guitar] [Best 808] [Best Peppermint] [Best use of Prodigy] [Best use of Nine Inch Nails]

Joyful character action game with a wonderful visual style and terrific use of music both in combat, cutscenes and especially bossfights.
A wonderful cast of characters, great and inventive setpieces and just a whole lot of fun gags, details and clever ideas. A celebration of video games,
the power of music and killing a bunch of corporate executives. Delightful!

YouTube Video

9/10



4.



Super Mario Bros. Wonder
[Best Mario] [Best Peach] [Best music] [Best animation] [Most platforming] [Best multiplayer]

It's the best Mario platformer since 3D World, and a worthy successor to Super Mario World. Pure, imaginative joy, with inventive level design, great music and a delightful
visual style, the game gets very trippy and it's all the better for it. Bonus points for an absolutely lovely indirect shared co-operative online play, that was just a perfect fit
for the game, complete strangers rooting for each other and helping others out just because it's better that way. Wonderful!

YouTube Video

9/10



3.



Jusant
[Best climbing] [Best rocks] [Best music] [Best architecture] [Best stamina management] [The Made Qwarky Cry Award for making Qwarky cry]

Lovely, lovely Jusant. Gorgeous sights and sounds. Engaging climbing and exploration. Wonderful wordless narrative and rich world building. In any other year, this could
have easily been my favourite game of the year, but this year was PACKED. Play Jusant. It's SO good.

YouTube Video

9/10



2.



Misericorde: Volume One
[Best writing] [Best characters] [Best music] [Best visuals] [Best Darcy] [Best Margaret] [Best sheep] [Best nuns] [Best wehehe] [The Made Qwarky Cry Award for making Qwarky cry]

There's hardly anything to "play" in this visual novel, but I don't give a shit, I loved Misericorde so fucking much it's up there as my second favourite thing all year.
Such an engaging story, so many compelling, fleshed out characters you grow to care so much about. STRONG atmosphere and tone. An absolutely incredible soundtrack that
I've bought both on steam and on bandcamp, just to support XEECEE. The cliffhanger-y ending has been AGONY, waiting for the next chapter, but thankfully we have
a teaser for Volume Two and it's looking incredible. I am ready to have my heart torn to shreds again! no I'm not, I'm just kidding because I'm terrified where the story
is gonna go oh god-

YouTube Video

YouTube Video

9/10



1.



The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
[Game of the Year] [Best Zelda] [Best sidequests] [Best visuals] [Best music] [Best ending] [Best final boss] [Best exploration] [Best climbing] [Best gliding] [Best Purah]
[Best Tulin] [Best Harold] [Most grass] [Most sky] [Best swords] [Best dragons]


It's a little daunting trying to think of what to say about Tears of the Kingdom. What a magnificent game. I put 212 hours into it and I generally struggle to stick with games
for longer than 20, so it had to be doing something right. As much as I loved Breath of the Wild (it was the Qwarky Game of the Year 2017 after all), Tears of the Kingdom
took that, and elevated and elaborated and finetuned all of that to a whole new level.

Wonderful sense of exploration and discovery, very strong atmosphere and world building, surprisingly compelling and well written sidequests, and so much things to discover
and wonder at. The new abilities are all great fun and open up the world and encourage your curiosity and imagination in wonderful new ways. It looks and sounds gorgeous,
and in a complete reversal from BOTW, actually provides an amazing and satisfying finale that wraps up everything in such a wonderful way, I was crying at the end.

This is my favourite Zelda game since Ocarina, and while I hope the next one moves a bit back towards more traditional (older) Zelda dungeon design and structure, this is
one of the best open world games, and one of the best Zelda games ever made. I love it. It's enchanting.

Absolutely the best game all year, and I'm still thinking about it pretty much every week.


YouTube Video

YouTube Video

10/10




Definitive list of 2023 releases I wish I got to, but didn't yet:

One Piece Odyssey
A Space for the Unbound
Fire Emblem Engage
Dead Space (2023)
Fashion Police Squad
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wanted: Dead
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge
The Pale Beyond
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
Tchia
Storyteller
9 Years of Shadows
Hrot
System Shock (2023)
Diablo IV
Ghost Trick Remaster
Jagged Alliance 3
Viewfinder
Arcadian Atlas
Baldur's Gate 3
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
Armored Core VI
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster
Lies of P
El Paso, Elsewhere
Cocoon
RoboCop: Rogue City
Star Ocean: The Second Story R
Howl
American Arcadia
Super Mario RPG (2023)
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remaster


Happy new year!



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