Engadget's Games of the Year 2023

It's been a terrible year for game developers, but an amazing year for games. There were some missteps along the way -- if you'd asked me to predict this list a year ago, I would've mentioned both Redfall and Starfield -- but overall it's been a packed year unusually low on disappointment. We've never tried to name a single title as "the Game of the Year." Instead, it's become a tradition to get the whole team together to talk about our individual favorites. So here are those games, presented in alphabetical order to avoid hurting any of our writers' feelings. Feel free to sound off about what your favorites are in the comments; there are no wrong answers. I rarely have time to finish games these days, but I devoured Alan Wake 2 in just a few weeks. For me and my limited gaming time, that felt miraculous. I'll admit, I'm a mark for Remedy Entertainment. I've been following its work since the first Max Payne arrived on PCs in 2001, right as I was gearing up to head to college and building my first desktop PC. Yah, I was one of the cool kids on campus..) Max Payne blew me away with its fluid slow-motion gunplay mechanics and immersive narrative. As a lifelong console gamer until then, it was a big step forward from something like Tomb Raider.