While the AI features touted by Microsoft's Copilot PCs are a flat miss, the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite hardware inside Copilot PCs is a definite win. Finally, after more than a decade of effort, Windows on Arm is a viable alternative to traditional x86 processors--and it's especially alluring if you long for longer battery life. There's reason to be skeptical., Games are often developed with a highly specific platform target. Even ports that seem simple, like a move from PlayStation 5 to Xbox Series X S, can take a lot more effort than you might think.

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.

With Diablo IV set to arrive later this year, 2023 will be a big year for action RPGs. But there's more to look forward to beyond this year. On Thursday, Moon Beast Productions – an indie studio founded by Phil Shenk and Peter Hu, two former Blizzard North developers – announced the hiring of Diablo series co-creator Erich Schaefer. In an interview with GamesBeat, the studio said Schaefer will serve as lead creator director on a new action RPG. Details on the project are sparse, but what Moon Beast shared with Schaefer was reportedly enough to convince him to come out of retirement.

David L. Craddock is the author of more than a dozen books about video games, including Break Out, about the history of Apple II games, and Rocket Jump, about the history of first-person shooters. "I tend to write a lot about games made in the '80s, '90s, and early '00s," Craddock says in Episode 481 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "I love to write about creative people who had big ideas but very, very tight restrictions, and I think that from that comes some of the most enduring products--most enduring experiences--ever made." One of Craddock's most recent books is Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II, about the making of Blizzard's classic action RPG Diablo II. Craddock says this volume was a much bigger undertaking than Stay Awhile and Listen: Book I, about the original Diablo. "There was just so much more to juggle in terms of timeline, in terms of game," he says.

The remaster has a huge, overwhelming legacy to live up to. While "Diablo III" is now thought of as an exemplar in the genre and Blizzard's history, it previewed and launched under immense criticism due to how many aesthetic and gameplay changes it made from "Diablo II." It felt faster, and added a dodge mechanic so the game felt more like an action brawler. The characters looked cartoonishly like "Warcraft" creatures. "Diablo II: Resurrected" seeks to retain the darker, gothic appearance of the original two games.