With a total focus on fun, amazing visuals, and lots of welcome additions and improvements over its predecessor, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is one of the surprise packages of 2023. While the story mode lacks in some areas, and younger gamers are definitely the target audience, there’s still a lot to appreciate and enjoy regardless of your age.

Spider-Man 2 is hands-down the best game of the PS5 era so far. It’s visually stunning, narratively brilliant, and somehow manages to improve Insomniac’s already stellar traversal and combat from previous Spidey games. It’s a masterpiece.

While it has weak spots and doesn’t push many boundaries, Starfield is still an excellent RPG experience. Bethesda has once again mastered the things it built its reputation on – world building, quest design, and deep customization. However, it’s found new things to excel at too, with exciting combat and a novel implementation of New Game Plus.

Ubisoft delivers a truly excellent experience with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, wonderfully blending this series’ past and present to provide players with a compact, engaging story driven by captivating characters and secrets worth seeking. It’s everything you could want from an Assassin’s Creed game and a welcome sign of things to come after a divisive few years.

EA Sports FC 24 retains everything that’s kept people coming back to EA’s soccer series for the past 30 years, from its slick arcade gameplay to the popular wallet-wrecking Ultimate Team mode – both made better this time around by PlayStyles and Evolutions respectively. While EA doesn’t hit the back of the net with every tweak and introduction, it’s clear the studio is trying to make good on its new-found freedom.

The Crew Motorfest is an enjoyable racer that shows more developers can tackle the open-world arcade racer genre. While it doesn't do anything new or surprising there is very little to fault with the varied gameplay experience and the luscious island of O'ahu Ivory Tower has built here.

Despite a few regressive design choices, Payday 3 largely manages to deliver a rejuvenated experience with best-in-class combat, improved stealth mechanics, and an excellent social atmosphere with friends. Starbreeze Studios hasn’t emptied its vault of tricks just yet.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is one of the best uses of the spy thriller I’ve ever seen in video games, and the difference between this expansion and the base game circa 2020 is staggering. I certainly didn’t expect to be saying Cyberpunk 2077 is now one of the must-play experiences of 2023, a year already packed with dozens of incredible games.

Mortal Kombat 1 is a reboot with a big, bloody heart. It re-tools Mortal Kombat’s story and characters in creative ways, and for the most part, the combat is excellent. Unfortunately, there are some elements that feel rushed. It’s still a very good fighting game, but it should have been a great one.

With amazing visuals and presentation, brilliant gameplay, and a wide variety of modes, NBA 2K24 is one of the best sports games of the year and a standout in the NBA 2K series as a whole. However, innovations to its monetization have just made its microtransaction problem even more profound.

Lies of P borrows heavily from a tried-and-tested formula indicative of the soulslike genre, but it still has combat mechanics and secrets that set it apart from the rest of the pack. Despite difficulty spikes and some muddied story beats, it is an excellent soulslike worth checking out that isn’t completely reliant on ideas from other places.

Armored Core 6 carefully synthesizes wanton destruction with a neatly-woven narrative that offers plenty of food for thought, despite being under-explored at points. Boasting a simple-yet-effective control scheme, and an expansive level of customization that never feels like it’s too much, FromSoftware has crafted a balanced experience that will definitely appeal to players, regardless of their experience with the mecha game genre.

From the state of your team’s memorabilia room to how aggressive your drivers should defend in the final lap of a grand prix, F1 Manager 2023 is unique in giving you complete control of a Formula One team on and off the track. It’s a feature-rich, deep management sim with stunning race-day visuals that only improves on the incredible experience offered by its predecessor.

Featuring multiple classes, strange worlds, frantic combat, and astounding replayability, Remnant 2 more than improves on the foundation laid by its predecessor, making for an enjoyable and action-filled romp.

Synapse is a compelling addition to the world of VR shooters, loaded with plenty of appetizing gameplay and intriguing monochromatic world-building, even if some frustrating bugs and a challenging difficulty curve could get in its way.

Blending brutal and flashy combat, a visually-impressive lore-filled world, and a story that offers intrigue and character-driven moments, Final Fantasy 16 is a completely fresh take on the series, despite having the heart of previous entries. It deserves every ounce of praise it will surely get, and in my view is a GOTY contender.

With more content than ever before and news ways to engage, F1 23 is Codemasters’ best Formula One game to date – and maybe even the developer’s best racing game ever. New mechanics and car physics make this game a joy to play and F1 World is shaping up to be a fantastic addition to the series moving forward.

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is an outstanding achievement, masterfully evolving upon nearly all of the major strengths and weaknesses of its predecessor to create one of the most inventive and exciting open world adventures ever. Matched with deep world-building and characters, it’s an adventure you don’t want to miss.

Street Fighter 6 is one of the most polished games in years, offering a diverse range of fighting modes that all complement each other and an engaging, deep World Tour mode that brings the series into a new era.

Honkai Star Rail is HoYoverse’s most confident showing yet. While its gameplay doesn’t really do anything new, it excels at the fundamentals. When matched with a memorable cast and enthralling story beats, it cements itself as one of the stronger releases of 2023 so far.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor cements itself as an essential action-adventure game. Full of heart, humour, and blisteringly great combat, Respawn's latest Star Wars game is a treat for newcomers and long-time franchise fans alike thanks to its blockbuster-level story.

MLB The Show 23 avoids the same disappointment as its predecessor with the addition of excellent and meaningful content. While there are some annoying performance issues in online modes that will hopefully be ironed out, it’s definitely worth any baseball fan’s time.

Resident Evil 4 is a masterfully crafted action game that is a perfect coalescence of everything that is great about the series. It is perfectly paced and a truly gripping ride that will keep you glued to your seat at all times.

Dredge manages to layer great exploration, a punishing and ominous gameplay loop, and an intriguing story on top of a very good fishing sim. It constantly and expertly switches between wholesome and haunting, and is definitely worth a play despite a few small issues.

Before you Eyes is a singular, immersive reminder that our memories are only half the truth. A meaningful message nestled in a thoughtful, engaging story, the tragic but beautiful world GoodbyeWorld Games has created feels fully realised and elevated on the PSVR2.

The most realistic VR shooter on the market, Pavlov VR is a must-have for headset-toting Dust II veterans and a rewarding investment for curious newbies. It feels particularly elevated on the PSVR2 thanks to the clever implementation of headset rumble and adaptive trigger profiles.

Wo Long’s dance-like battles and refreshing twists on the Soulslike formula make it one of the most effective forks of the genre, even if it falls far short of the subtle world building expertise seen in FromSoftware’s games.

Like a Dragon: Ishin is a beautifully crafted re-release whose technical hiccups are overcome by its meaningful message and engaging combat.