You play as a broody Clive Rosfield, a young man whose life’s work is to protect his little brother, Joshua. The newest mainline entry in the long, winding series takes you on a lavish, unadulterated Game of Thrones-esque adventure. Mike Mahardy Final Fantasy 16įinal Fantasy 16 kicks ass. We still have quite a few entries in the latter category before the year is out, and some of them look promising as hell - but through it all, we’ll keep championing the odd little gems that also lie in wait.

More than anything, the video games of the first half of 2023 serve as a reminder that daring, strange, wonderful creations are everywhere, if you just divert your attention from the big game release cycle long enough to find them.

Even something like Battlebit Remastered, itself an excellent homage to the glory days of Battlefield, is painted with a Roblox-esque sheen.

In another, we’ve dived to the depths of a mysterious tropical lake, only to then sling fish at a sushi restaurant before exploring the remains of a civilization of merpeople later that same day. One mobile game reimagines open worlds as pie charts, in which you begin in the center and gracefully guide through a slice (read: biome) until it surrounds you in all directions. It took some time, but 2023 finally got weird.Ī year that began with a series of fantastic remakes has gradually given way to new games about zealous hat salesmen, clairvoyant nun detectives, and existential god-fearing fishing communities.

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