Argyle's GOTY 2023 Thread!

[Phaseknox]

Where’s the top 3?

[isthatallyougot]

Where’s the top 3?

Yeah!

[argyle]

OK, has the suspense been sufficiently built yet?




03. Ghostwire: Tokyo

I remember watching when Ghostwire was first announced at E3 2019 during Bethesda’s presentation. This cute Japanese lady comes out to introduce the game in rough English (make no mistake, her English was a billion times better than my Japanese!) and at some point says “It’s spooooky!”. The game looked to have a more traditional Japanese supernatural feel set in present-day Japan, and looked interesting from what was shown.

At some point Sony announced a 1-year exclusivity deal for it right before the Microsoft buyout of Bethesda occurred. So at this point, I knew that it would be on Gamepass when the exclusivity deal ended, so I wasn’t going to pay for it. I waited. Once it came out my hype had died down some, and I was playing other things, so I still waited. Then last Fall I read an article by someone I didn’t know talking about why Ghostwire was his GOTY for 2022. I read enough to pique my curiosity, so I decided it was finally time to try it out.

The first area/level/whatever of the game is very linear, so I played through that (what amounts to the tutorial) and assumed it was a linear survival horror/action game. It was fun, I’d play some more, but it hadn’t “wow’d” me yet. The next time I played, I realized I hadn’t really started the game yet. It’s an open world game that has you exploring an abandoned Tokyo that’s inhabited only by spirits. You have a ghost that’s “attached” to you that gives you special abilities to fight the other spirits, and part of the story is also untangling his past (as well as your own). The main story is great, but it’s the side stories that really put it over the top. There are a ton of side quests and they are all very interesting - some spooky, some funny, some sad. I was determined to find them all just because they were all so compelling.

This game drew me in and held me for the entire play time - it was actually one of those rare games that I kept dabbling with a little even after the credits rolled. And I want to go through it again some day. A true classic, and one that shouldn’t be missed.

I will not be forgiving Microsoft anytime soon for shutting down this amazing studio.


02. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

I really enjoyed the first game in this series, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, so I had been looking forward to this one. That’s probably why I ignored the warnings people were giving and picked it up shortly after release in spite of the reports of technical issues. At the time, I found it unacceptable - I’ve gotten to where if these types of third person fast action games aren’t running at 60fps, they give me a headache. And this one definitely wasn’t. So I put it down after 15-20 mins and waited for the patch that would fix it. And waited. And waited. And eventually kinda forgot about it. Then one day last Fall, I read a report that the patch to fix the problems had finally been released.

Hesitantly, I started the game back up. It was worth the wait. This game takes everything that was great about the first and makes it even better, just like a sequel should do. Fantastic combat, a great story, many varied and interesting environments to explore, fun powers to unlock. I would struggle to find anything in this one I *didn’t* like, and anything I came up with would be nit-picks. The Star Wars Jedi games essentially take a Souls-lite approach. They keep the interconnected levels with unlockable shortcuts that are so fun to explore as well as some of the basics like checkpoints where you can upgrade & heal, etc. But they give you a slideable difficulty offering an experience you can make as difficult - or not - as you choose.

This is the total package, and represents the best Star Wars content to come out in years.

All of that, combined with top-notch production values, and you have a game that proved to me that these big AAA publishers CAN put out good games, occasionally. Any other year, this would have probably been my GOTY.


01. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Of course, this WASN’T any other year - this was the year that Tears of the Kingdom came out. And nothing else stood a chance.

The fact that this game started life as DLC for Wind Waker is mind-boggling. The size & scope of the game is hard to digest. Yes, they started with the same overworld map as the original game, but the changes they made to it due to the jump in time make it feel brand-new. Then they added a sky layer to explore full of floating islands. Not satisfied with that, they also added a full underground layer to explore. There is ALWAYS something new to do.

The story is a banger, the exploration is perfect, but the true star of the show is the physics engine running it and the absolute freedom they give you to play with it. The clincher for me was when I was watching a video about a puzzle I had already finished and it was talking about how people had been debating which solution was the intended solution. There were 2 or 3 other ways (at least) that people had solved the puzzle that were completely different from what I did, and all of us were convinced that our way was the way the devs intended.

I can’t think of another game that has done that. This game is sheer perfection, and is in my top 3 GOATs.

[isthatallyougot]

My anticipation built for a while until...I forgot all about it. Seriously though, glad to see you wrap up your list.

I've got Ghostwire in my backlog and I thought it looked really good - glad to see it get the argyle stamp too.

I've also realized something about myself over the years. I don't think I'm really much of a Star Wars fan. Of course, I got entranced by the original trilogy, swept away in that cultural phenomenon, especially at my young age at the time. And I still think they're good movies, but I don't think I've really ever been gaga over the fictional universe. Having said that, I do have Fallen Order along with a bunch of other Star Wars games in my backlog, games that may very well keep sitting there unattended, lol.

I loved BOTW, and I've of course heard all the praise - along with a not insignificant amount of criticism, mostly from those who felt TOTK didn't do quite *enough* to separate itself. I don't know why I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm sure I should.

So...not too long until time to start 2024 reviews / countdown.

[crimson_tide]

Hey argyle, you finally finished up! Welp, since I know the impetus...

[canedaddy]

My anticipation built for a while until...I forgot all about it. Seriously though, glad to see you wrap up your list.

Same

Glad you finished up before 2025, argyle!

I've also realized something about myself over the years. I don't think I'm really much of a Star Wars fan. Of course, I got entranced by the original trilogy, swept away in that cultural phenomenon, especially at my young age at the time. And I still think they're good movies, but I don't think I've really ever been gaga over the fictional universe. Having said that, I do have Fallen Order along with a bunch of other Star Wars games in my backlog, games that may very well keep sitting there unattended, lol.

I'm a bit further down that path, where Star Wars -- a magical thing when I was a kid -- has become a major turnoff. I didn't like Fallen Order largely because of the IP, and I can't imagine what it would take to bring me back to that world.