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RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Tyler Trosper

Posted by Tyler Trosper on February 2, 2024

Every year, I find myself behind in gaming. Not to say I haven’t played any games released in 2023, but I’ve found progress slowed by the number of amazing games over the past several years. TOO MANY GAMES! Unfortunately, several 2023 games will also spill over into my 2024 backlog. I will try my be… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Jimmy Turner

Posted by Jimmy Turner on February 2, 2024

Game I Can’t Believe Released in the Last 12 Months: Fire Emblem Engage The latest entry in the Fire Emblem franchise, Engage, released January 20th, 2023, but it feels much longer, likely due to the overshadowing influence of its predecessor. The megahit Fire Emblem: Three Houses may well be my fav… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Aleks Franiczek

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on February 2, 2024

Best RPG of 2023 that I Finished: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty I’ve already said enough about how impressed I was with Cyberpunk 2077’s first and only expansion, so I’ll give a quick summary here. Phantom Liberty condenses the base game’s greatest storytelling strengths into a refreshingly tight… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Patrick Gann

Posted by Patrick Gann on February 2, 2024

I played far fewer new games this year than typical. My backlog is enormous, and I didn’t get to three very important remakes that I wanted to play before declaring the best remake of 2023 (Super Mario RPG, Front Mission 2, Star Ocean: The Second Story R). However, there were a handful of stand-out… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Scott Clay

Posted by Scott Clay on February 2, 2024

The Go Away Rean Schwarzers Award I’m seeing double here: four winners! Congrats, Rean Schwarzer, you somehow won this award again for the fourth time. So yes, notice the plural. There are two of them now. Yep, two of them. I can see the developer meeting now. Falcom: Everyone loves Rean, so w… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Tim Rattray

Posted by Tim Rattray on February 2, 2024

New Guy Walks in With an Obvious Game of the Year Pick: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom What can I even add to the conversation here that hasn’t already been said? Tears of the Kingdom is just that awe-inspiring. It’s the perfect balance of sandbox freedom, bespoke puzzles shrouded in a de… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Izzy Parsons

Posted by Izzy Parsons on February 2, 2024

2023 was an incredible year for video game releases (and a disgusting one for video game company layoffs. Let’s hope 2024 makes huge improvements there). Still, I always manage to play far more “old” games than games from the current year, so I split my selection into two categories — games first re… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Mike Salbato

Posted by Mike Salbato on February 2, 2024

Favorite Game of 2023: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom If you ask most people what seasons 2023 had, you’ll get, well, a funny look but also an answer of the expected four. But for me, I missed summer. My 2023 was late winter, spring, Zelda, autumn, and winter again. Tears of the Kingdom w… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Ben Love

Posted by Ben Love on February 2, 2024

Best Gateway Into Chinese RPGs: Wandering Sword I had no idea what I was missing out on by not playing Chinese RPGs until I played Wandering Sword. The unique Wuxia-inspired setting, deep character building mechanics informed by martial arts fantasy, and ingenious mix of CRPG and JRPG influences com… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023 ~ Editors’ Awards: Jonathan Logan

Posted by Jonathan Logan on February 2, 2024

Best Game of 2023 (That I Played): The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released in 2017, it was heralded as one of the greatest Zelda games of all time, if not one of the greatest GOATs, period. Knowing everyone was eagerly awaiting word of the… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Remake or Re-Release

Posted by Neal Chandran on January 26, 2024

Winner: Star Ocean: The Second Story R Star Ocean: The Second Story R is the poster child of how a remake should be done. It beautifully blends the nostalgic sprites of yore with stunningly redone environments that look even better than we could have imagined. This iteration of Star Ocean: The Secon… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Sleeper Hit

Posted by Michael Sollosi on January 26, 2024

Winner: Dave the Diver Dave the Diver is a fishing roguelike, a business management sim, a bullet heck shmup (not brutal enough to qualify for “bullet hell”), and completely addictive and charming. The gameplay loop of exploring the ever-changing lagoon as Dave and running a restaurant with your mys… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best DLC

Posted by Tyler Trosper on January 26, 2024

Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed The Xenoblade Chronicles series gained a reputation for extensive DLC expansions, such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden County and Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition: Future Connected. Thankfully, Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeem… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Combat

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on January 26, 2024

Winner: Octopath Traveler II It’s no small task to improve on Octopath Traveler’s combat. Every skill is so carefully chosen to make the Break/Boost system work together with the visible turn order to create a thoughtful, strategic experience in the original. Somehow, though, Octopath Traveler II im… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Visuals

Posted by Des Miller on January 26, 2024

Winner: Final Fantasy XVI The Final Fantasy series is known for having the most gorgeous, bombastic, and high-budget visuals in the industry. From Final Fantasy VII’s bombing mission intro, FFVIII’s blend of CGI and real-time rendering for dramatic setpiece moments to FFX’s stunning art direction an… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Music

Posted by Michael Sollosi on January 26, 2024

Winner: Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI’s music is more than a mere soundtrack with songs and tones to suit the situation. It’s deliberate. It’s full of leitmotifs and metaphors. It’s expertly timed and dynamic instead of just beautiful in a vacuum (for which FFXVI’s music also qualifies). FFXVI… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Story

Posted by Abraham Kobylanski on January 26, 2024

Winner: Baldur’s Gate III It begins with a startling scene of an octopedal mind flayer putting a parasitic worm in your eye. If you can believe it, Baldur’s Gate III doesn’t settle down but only gets weirder. Though your main goal is to relieve your unusual malady, your tale branches off in whicheve… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Traditional RPG

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on January 26, 2024

Winner: Baldur’s Gate III On one hand, Baldur’s Gate III is as “traditional” as an RPG gets. After all, it’s the most faithful and fleshed-out adaptation of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign (the OG RPG) that’s been done to date. Yet, at the same time, it feels like such a modern triple-A experience… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Localization

Posted by Tim Rattray on January 26, 2024

Winner: Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI is in a unique position to win this award as it was the only game in the franchise to prioritize its English dub; in fact, the English dub and motion capture were complete before Japanese recordings even began! Creative Business Unit III wanted the game to… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Action RPG

Posted by Des Miller on January 26, 2024

Winner: Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI is the greatest departure from the series while somehow remaining the most Final Fantasy. With a battle system designed by Devil May Cry’s combat director, a soundtrack by Final Fantasy XIV’s Masayoshi Soken, and the undeniable talent of Square Enix’s Crea… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Protagonist

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on January 26, 2024

Winner: Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy XVI) “You know nothing, Clive Rosfield.” While not everyone was taken with the degree of Game of Thrones influence in Final Fantasy XVI’s tone and world, it’s hard to deny that modeling Clive after underdog hero Jon Snow translated well to the game. Equal parts… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Graphic Adventure or Visual Novel

Posted by Abraham Kobylanski on January 26, 2024

Winner: Little Goody Two Shoes We got a little treat for the spooky season this year in the form of Little Goody Two Shoes. With a wild style that wrings every ounce of visual creativity it could out of the RPGMaker look, this narrative game is candy for the eyes. Elise has to dodge accusations of w… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Antagonist

Posted by Tim Rattray on January 26, 2024

Winner: Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) For being one of gaming’s most infamous villains, it’s surprising how often Ganondorf has lurked in the shadows of Zelda games only to lurch out during their final moments. So, we all knew we were in for something special when his reign o… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Strategy RPG

Posted by Jimmy Turner on January 26, 2024

Winner: Fire Emblem Engage Fire Emblem Engage had a lot to live up to after the enormous success of its predecessor, Three Houses. While Engage was not exactly the “Three Houses 2” many may have wanted, it is a terrific entry in Nintendo’s tactical RPG franchise. Where Three Houses’ success stemmed… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2023: Best Supporting Character

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on January 26, 2024

Winner: Cidolfus Telamon (Final Fantasy XVI) The Final Fantasy series has its fair share of lovable characters named Cid, so it’s no trivial statement to say that Final Fantasy XVI’s Cidolfus Telamon might be the best yet. Powered by a snarky, gravelly-voiced performance from Ralph Ineson, Cid steal… Read More »

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