Our 25 best games of 2023 end-of-year rundown illustrates a busy year in the world of video games. It's a well-worn cliche, but there really was something for everyone across all genres, platforms, and areas of intrigue – from the Dead Space remake in January to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May, Baldur's Gate 3 in September, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 in October, and everything else in between – it's hard to pinpoint a moment were something wasn't happening over the last 12 months.
Which is great for the world of video games, or at least it's great for video games themselves. Beyond our screens, 2023 brought so many games industry layoffs despite many areas of the same industry posting record profits. Away from games altogether, war has devastated pockets of the world, upending entire communities and bringing so many things that so many of us take for granted into sharp focus. Through all of this, it's been a strange and conflicting year through the lens of the hobby we spend so much of our time singing the praises of. And yet, without trivializing the awful realities real people are struggling with right now, the last 12 months make the transformative power of video games, not least its scope for suspending reality, more important than ever.
