Ghostrunner 2 sets out to improve on the fast-paced foundation of the first game with a few new ideas thrown in as well. While some of these ideas are intriguing and support some of the game’s best setpieces, the overall experience is constantly bogged down by frustrating decisions made along the way. Instead of offering a greater challenge than its predecessor, the end result feels annoying for annoyance’s sake, compromising what made Ghostrunner stand out in the first place.

Alan Wake 2 packages captivating investigations and spine-tingling horrors into Remedy Entertainment’s most ambitious game so far. It’s visually astounding, thematically potent, and an absolute must for newcomers and fans alike.

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.

Lords of the Fallen gets off to a great start with creative ideas, a truly disturbing atmosphere, and exhilarating combat. Unfortunately, several missteps ensure that the only things that are falling here are your expectations.

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.

Party Animals offers a fun time with friends thanks to its visually distinct art style and party antics. While it is a fun multiplayer brawler, over time its fun does start to lose its luster as you engage in the same battles with friends.

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.

In spite of its creative use of the PSVR2’s eye-tracking feature, Firewall Ultra’s immersion-breaking control scheme, poor matchmaking, and questionable progression-based unlocks lead to an exercise in futility.

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.

To the naked eye, Madden 24 is discernible to the last few entries in the series due to its lack of innovation in its game modes and presentation. The late John Madden once said, “Winning is a great deodorant.” Right about now, the Madden franchise is starting to stink up the joint.

Immortals of Aveum fails to succeed at telling a captivating, well-written narrative that immerses you in its magic-filled world. Despite strong shooting and grand world design, it doesn’t make much of an impression during its 15-hour campaign and it feels like the scope is too big with the quality suffering for it.

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.

Exoprimal’s blending of the futuristic and the prehistoric is an excellent concept, and it’s served well with satisfying combat and a diverse array of Exosuits. However, it’s let down by some slow pacing and repetitive game modes, and any new live service game needs to be doing more out of the gate to convince players to stick around.

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.

Redfall’s environmental storytelling is somewhat worth witnessing, but shoddy performance, sluggish gunplay, and a boring story have left me drained – just like the victims of the town.