Baldur’s Gate 3 launched last week to massive success; it quickly became one of Steam’s most played games ever and it’s already gaining traction as not only one of 2023’s best, but perhaps one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Its breadth, endless possibilities, and freedom offered to the player all make it stand out as essentially D&D The Video Game. If you’re like me – absent a gaming PC powerful enough to run it – you’ve been impatiently waiting for it to make its way to the PlayStation 5 next month. (And if you only have an Xbox Series console – my condolences.)
Larian’s Dungeons & Dragon based CRPG effectively kicked off the fall gaming season, and with fall games come potential Game of the Year contenders. The video game industry isn’t like the film industry in that it stacks potential award winners for an “award season” in the fall; rather, there is simply a plethora of massive games about to release that all could contend for 2023’s Game of the Year.
Baldur’s Gate 3 hits PS5 the same day another 2023 GOTY contender drops: Bethesda’s Starfield. The studio’s first original IP in over two decades has plenty to live up to with director Todd Howard calling it “Skyrim in space.” I’m sure Starfield will offer similar robust exploration and vast freedom to what Skyrim did. However, Skyrim became a cultural touchstone of sorts that received too many re-releases and ports to count. Capturing even half the popularity Skyrim has garnered will be an uphill battle for Starfield as a Microsoft exclusive in a year it might not even be one of the five most popular games.
After Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield crack open the floodgates, September and October burst forward with a plethora of exciting releases. Mortal Kombat 1, Lies of P, Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Super Marios Bros. Wonder all release this fall and could reasonably throw their hats in the ring for GOTY consideration. Armored Core VI, Sea of Stars, Cocoon, Detective Pikachu Returns, Lords of the Fallen, Super Mario RPG, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora are all coming out this year as well and could be dark horse contenders.
The game I’m personally looking forward to the most is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in October. The first entry was such a delight as it captured what makes the hero so wonderful both in its Batman: Arkham influenced gameplay and its heart wrenching original story. 2020’s Miles Morales standalone follow-up put the younger Spider-Man in the spotlight and didn’t disappoint as built upon the foundation and world of the first game. Now we get a game that features both Spider-Men as playable characters, introduces unique takes on the Spider-Man mythos, and gives Peter the black suit (oh, hell yeah). In a less stacked year, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would be a clear Game of the Year front-runner in my eyes.
And we haven’t even mentioned 2023’s best releases so far. Awesome games like Hi-Fi Rush, Dead Space, Hogwarts Legacy, Remnant 2, Final Fantasy XVI, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor all released earlier in the year to critical praise and commercial success. Because it released in February, Hogwarts Legacy might be a forgotten contender. Despite its controversies, Hogwarts Legacy became one of Steam’s most popular games ever and has sold over 15 million copies.
Looming over the entire race is, of course, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It’s the sequel to 2017’s best game, Breath of the Wild, which was largely lauded as not only one of the best games of its generation, but maybe of all time. How did Tears follow it up? Exceptionally well! It added new gameplay elements like the Ultrahand and traveling the sky islands. Springboarding off the quality and success of BOTW, Tears is an incredible sequel and in any other year would most likely be the outright Game of the Year. It consumed the gaming world for months on its way to 18.5 million sales and universal praise.
But this is 2023, and a dozen other games are ready to stake their claim as the year’s best. No matter what game wins the coveted Game of the Year award at The Game Awards, 2023 is full of releases that’ll certainly be several gamers’ picks for their personal game of the year. We’re getting spoiled, y’all, with the only losers being our wallets.
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