10 Best Games of 2023 [FIRST HALF]

2023 is in full swing and believe it or not we're halfway through so like we do every year we take a look back at the first half of the year and talk about some of the best games so far keep in mind these aren't just like the personal choices of the game ranks team these are big massive games that reviewed well sold well were generally received well or even some that came out of nowhere and kind of surprised people just the games that were in the conversation so we got 10 or so to talk about it was really hard to narrow it down to 10 with number 10. Hi-Fi Rush was one of those games that just came out of nowhere it got a surprise drop release at an Xbox presentation and it's from Tango Gameworks the people behind The Evil Within and we weren't expecting them to make something like this but holy crap we're glad they did essentially this is a fun action-adventure platformer combat game that also has Rhythm elements this cool art stylized world you're in is always jumping bouncing to the music and if you fight on the beat your attack hacks will get damage bonuses so the game encourages you to play on the beat keep on the beat and stay consistent with that from your platforming to your jumping dodging striking attacking all of that but it really ramps up when it comes to the boss battles they are out of this world and so cool to see also not to mention it's just a gorgeous game this kind of art style sometimes we can't get enough of it there was a time where more cell-shaded games were kind of like overdone but this takes a really good hybrid kind of Animation style that just works this game also feels like a celebration of all types of cartoons Western cartoons anime anything like that this game really represents a really good combination of all those sensibilities you can tell this game has a lot of influences and it's wearing all those influences very proudly on its sleeve man I mean it's just so much fun it's funny it can be challenging and it's just a good compelling straightforward old video game and we love those and next over at number nine squeezing in at the tail end of the first half of the year we have Final Fantasy 16. at the time of making this video the community is still playing through this one and figuring it out but it is an action-packed wild crazy ride yes it has flaws like any Final Fantasy game but some of the big action set piece moments are like better than we've seen in any other recent game and that's saying something in Final Fantasy 16 you play as one person you're not controlling a party uh you're playing as Clive a young man from a Fallen Kingdom who of course has magical powers but you're engaging in more character action combat so think of a final fantasy that plays a little bit like a Devil May Cry yes that actually sounds like a good combination and yes in execution it is pretty fun it is a sweeping Grand Story despite being a somewhat linear game with some unremarkable side quests but it's got cool characters incredible music some engaging combat and just another good old-fashioned straightforward Final Fantasy Adventure although this time it's rated M and it's pretty refreshing there's a lot of f bombs and blood it's interesting in a Final Fantasy game as of right now it's only on PlayStation 5 but maybe in the future we'll see it elsewhere next over at number eight we have Star Wars Jedi Survivor essentially respawn took Star Wars Jedi Fallen order and made a big bad sequel with like bigger worlds way more to do way more fighting styles of just a lengthier game and they nailed it yeah obviously when it released the PC Port was in a really really rough spot but technical issues aside they made another really good Star Wars game that just kind of gets Star Wars you're fighting old decommissioned Clone War era battle droids you're checking out new planets uh you're fighting with a blaster and a lightsaber in your hand or using the cross guard stance as like a heavy attack and all of it is really satisfying we get to explore a little bit of Coruscant and engage with a whole big open Hub world I didn't necessarily think that the Jedi games needed to shift to open world but the way they did it here with a Cantina that you go back and revisit and talk to some clever characters it works there's a lot of satisfying moments for Star Wars fans I'll just say that without spoiling anything and Cal kestus continues to be a a bit more of an interesting character they also do a really really good job setting it up for another game I'd love this series to just become a really cool Trilogy hopefully respawn can realize that potential but as of right now Star Wars Jedi Survivor is great next over at number seven we have Hogwarts Legacy definitely one of the biggest selling games of the year I mean it seems like people were really waiting for some big open world at Adventure Harry Potter game and this essentially is what the doctor ordered you get to fully explore Hogwarts find all its Secrets do whatever you want and take your own created character that you put in whatever house you want and go on a big adventure you can freely explore around Hogwarts go to hogsmead all these other little towns and shoot a lot of bad guys with your wand I don't know if shooting is the right phrase but yeah there is a lot to this game and we're curious to see if they ever come out with like an expansion for it or add to it in any way but Hogwarts Legacy is a big massive like AAA open World adventure comes with all the AAA stuff of course but it seems like it's one that has definitely been satisfying fans next over at number six we have the Outlast trials yeah this is finally out technically in Early Access but the developers red barrels clearly took all the money they made with Outlast and really took the time to really build this game up and what they've built so far is really satisfying fans so it's still very much Outlast with the over-the-top gore and weird stuff and the challenge of really hiding when to run but in a little bit of a different format a different type of structure with it being all these different little trials but with you having your own character and all the multiplayer stuff that comes with it but not in a cynical way it feels like it just really makes sense here like it doesn't feel like they took outlasts and just forced it to be a Cooperative online multiplayer game just for the sake of it no they had a genuine idea and it seems like they're really taking that idea and running with it there's probably going to be more to come from the Outlast trials and we're looking forward to seeing what the final release means because as of right now you can only play it on PC and steam but we expect this to become hopefully as big of a deal as the original Outlast games were and like I said this one has really taken steam by storm and expect to hear more of it in the second half of the year next over at number five we have octopath traveler 2. this game seems to be like the dream come true for jrpg fans essentially they took the potential that the original octopath traveler had and really ran with it and blew everything out a bigger story a more connected story more gameplay opportunities and of course those incredible visuals that honestly I can't get enough of seriously those like HD 2D Graphics I just I love seeing this and I hope it shows up in more games even in different genres would be really cool but anyway octopath traveler 2 lets you choose from eight Travelers that all have their own unique actions and interactions with people and there's this whole new cool thing where you can switch between day and night whenever you want and of course that changes exploration interaction with different people in towns the special talent powers for each character is really crazy and it's just a much bigger game way more to explore you're in traveling over water and it's just dense there's so much to do so many weird Shenanigans to get into and then like the music the voice acting all of it is Top Notch people have been absolutely raving about this one uh the user reviews and critic reviews have been great and it's always nice when everybody's aligned on those types of things so consider that at the very least an endorsement for octopath traveler too it seems like everybody really loves it next over at number four we have the Resident Evil 4 remake yeah there's a lot of remakes and remasters and stuff but the Resident Evil 4 remake really seemed to nail a good balance of changing things up shaking things up here and there but still really preserving the core of what the original Resident Evil 4 was there's a little bit of a shift in tone there's way more depth to the character and the performances there's a couple of more side diversions and things to keep you busy but ultimately you're still going on this adventure with Resident Evil 2's Leon S Kennedy way more of a badass this time around as he has to rescue the president's daughter and get into a whole bunch of weird [ __ ] it is a descent into madness it is a trip into literal crazy town and there's a reason why the original Resident Evil 4 was loved by so many people and now that Capcom nailed the Remake even more people can see why this series is so great obviously this is one of the weirder games in the entire franchise but it's also one of the most beloved the combat is Fun the world is Moody there's a lot of tension but so many rewarding and cool and over-the-top moments like this game really packs a lot of different things in it and I think that's why it satisfies so many people the big question is what is Capcom and Resident Evil going to do next we don't know for sure but if we're talking about the first half of this year maybe we'll hear something next year I don't know now down at number three if we're talking about Capcom wins we also have to mention Street Fighter 6. Street Fighter 6 does seem to be a success for the fighting game Community for General casual fighting game fans it was incredibly well received from the lead up before the tests the betas and everything to the final game I think it's partly because they added so much content here there's a whole world a kind of career to progress through for casual fans to work their way through single player content uh then there's all the traditional modes and a fully fleshed out online mode they've got great new representations of classic characters with cool looks there are some interesting new characters added I mean what more can you want from a fighting game as long as it Nails all the mechanics and it seems like they did here the rest is gravy there's also multiple control schemes so more people can get into this series than ever it's a little bit more accessible but it is still Street Fighter through and through and I think that's why people really love this one now down to number two of course Diablo 4. Diablo is always an interesting thing like it's always an evolving thing where people's opinions of it may change over time and Activision Blizzard could still completely change things with this game but as of right now Diablo 4 really kicks ass it's got so much more of a moody weird creepy Gothic tone everything is really Bleak and it really just Embraces that classic diableness but of course there's so much depth to every character build whatever class you choose there is a ton of different stuff to mess with and kind of tailor your own play style and jump into a like really really massive World I'd say it's almost before you get him out it's like overwhelmingly big there is so much stuff here so many dungeons to dive into and of course you could do it alone or with a friend it seems like they've really recaptured that Diablo magic here people are really digging Diablo for we were skeptical just because you know Activision Blizzard tends to mess things up and they deserve to be scrutinized but it seems like this is a good one if you're watching this video at the time of us putting it out like a lot of people are still working through this game and deciding for themselves but it is a big hit it seems like people are really loving it and we certainly are too now down to number one probably one of the biggest releases of the year so far and it might pop up on a lot of people's game of the year list it's the Legend of Zelda tears of the Kingdom this is just a bigger crazier version of breath of the wild and I don't mean that as a Bad Thing tears of the kingdom is absolutely immense from a whole level of sky islands up above Hyrule to the depths below Hyrule a all massive cavernous area to explore this game is bigger in so many words but also mechanically puzzles environmental interactions are all so much more complex now thanks to the ability to build stuff a bunch of different new abilities to really mess around with the physics system and experiment they really took some of the stuff that people were doing in breath of the wild and ran with it here that being said there's also a really good emphasis on some story and some narrative and I mean this isn't a spoiler or anything you've seen it everywhere but Ganondorf is in it and that is also very cool we're simple here at game ranks that's it but seriously tears of the kingdom is really really cool those are some of the best games of the first half of 2023 but of course there's more than 10 we had to mention a couple of other bonus ones like like a dragon ishin this spin-off of the main Yakuza or like a dragon franchise is really cool throwing it back to a much older time in Japan's history with the new characters new fighting styles and swords I mean come on then of course also sons of the forest released on PC and it seems like people really dug it it's not the longest game by any means as of right now but people have been waiting for a new Forest game for a long time and this one finally dropping in Early Access definitely was a big deal we have another one that came out of left field it's a little game called dredge this is a game where you just kind of drive around in a little boat and you dig up mysterious treasures and that's it it sounds really simple right but this game absolutely took over Steam and people fell in love with it very quickly thanks to its very addictive Loop you have to Pilot your little boat out into the mysterious steps hoping that you can do enough in time before the sun goes down and then unknown Horrors will start to pop up yes there's some history to this game but there's the whole fishing and dredging mini games which require little fun button props and then whatever you get be it trash or actual fish you have to manage in a kind of Resident Evil 4 attach a case style inventory system and the Dead Space remake which didn't really change too much but added some really really gorgeous visuals and just tiny alterations here and there that really just make the original Dead Space a little bit better but it already was a fantastic game top to bottom and they didn't screw it up good job EA also Metroid Prime remastered uh this is just a gorgeous new upresing and tweaking of the original Metroid Prime and it's absolutely gorgeous to this day and still worth playing if you never did it's a simple gorgeous atmospheric challenging first person shooter but with some GameCube era charm to it and Humanity if you're looking for something a little bit different a little bit more creative this game really really thought outside the box and you can play it just as it is or on Playstation VR which is a nice bonus we're gonna completely shift gears and talk about a game called Pizza Tower this thing came out of nowhere and completely took over Steam and for good reason it's a really really fun over-the-top Wario Land style 2D action platformer you are this crazy chef progressing through levels doing all kinds of shenanigans the music absolutely kicks ass and the whole thing is just kind of inspired by 90s cartoons it gives like Ren and Stimpy Beavis and Butthead anything on Nickelodeon at the time like it just gives all of those vibes and it Nails it but those are 10 or so games from 2023 so far the first half of course we have the rest of the year to look forward to but we want to hear from you guys in the comments what are some of your favorite games of this year of course this is our list we're kind of just going off of like what made the biggest splash stuff like that you're probably gonna disagree and that's healthy there's plenty of other games out there so we'd love to hear your personal list down below if you like this video and us just talking games every day all you got to do is click the like button that does help us very much thank you but as always thanks for watching and we'll see you guys next time

Channel: gameranx

Views: 561,238

Keywords: best games of 2023, top games of 2023, best ps4 games of 2023, best xbox one games of 2023, best xbox series x games of 2023, best ps5 games of 2023, best switch games of 2023, best pc games of 2023, best xbox series s games of 2023, gameranx

Id: 1KbsSzoUSjs

Length: 14min 55sec (895 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 01 2023