I always enjoy this end of year thread by DevilDancer. For my answers, I'm keeping it to games I either completed or played a significant enough portion to provide enough of an opinion.
1.
"What was the best game released in 2023 that you played?"
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
This was the one 2023 release that I made a point to complete, as it was the game I was most anticipating at the beginning of the year. Though I certainly thought it was a worthy sequel, I have to say liked the original Oxenfree quite a bit more. That's not at all to say that Oxenfree II was in any way a disappointment, like I said, it was a worthy sequel....but the original had a cool atmosphere and was much more layered, adding to a replay value that actually fit in with the actual story....while the sequel is more of a one-and-done affair. Most players will likely get what's considered the best ending on their first play-through as long as they play as a somewhat decent character, and judging by after-game statistics from my playthrough around launch, that's what the large majority of people did. After getting said best ending, which is pretty standard, there really isn't a reason to revisit, unless you're purposefully gone for achievements and collectables. The reason being, the sequel seems to give full closure, not just for it's story, but for the Oxenfree series as a whole. I guess that's a good thing, better than living threads hanging. Like I said, I liked it and it's a worthy enough sequel that wraps up the story and setting nicely, but I also felt it didn't have the same magic as the original that had me coming back to it and enjoying multiple playthroughs with the characters. Like I said, it was pretty much the only 2023 release that I made a point to complete to give a proper final opinion on it.
2. "
What was the best new-to-you game that you played this year, meaning a game you played for the first time in 2023, but that came out earlier?"
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm (from 2017)
This was the first game I played of the year, and it hit me hard emotionally for a game. I actually enjoyed it more than the original Life Is Strange, which is saying something, 'cause I loved LIS and consider it a milestone classic in the Adventure genre. With Before the Storm, Deck Nine have proven themselves to be perfect custodians for the series, having taken over from original developers Dontnod.
3.
"What replay did you enjoy most in 2023?"
Black Mesa: Definitive Edition....hands down.
This is what I played recently to re-live Half-Life for its 25 Anniversary, and it was such a fun experience. I actually first played it when it was released as a mod way back in 2012 (when it didn't yet have Xen portion). 8 years later and they finally released the full complete package, including the new and revamped Xen, with some additional tweaks, as the "Definitive Edition" in 2020.
I consider Black Mesa, particularly the Definitive Edition, to be one of the best game remakes of all time....right up there with REmake and RE2 remake, and many gaming publications and sites have felt the same.
Black Mesa is honestly the best way to experience the original Half-Life's story today, and if you didn't know it was a fan-creation, you'd swear it was an internally developed Valve product, in fact, you'd think it was one of the better outputs. Granted, the graphics of this game won't match the effects of todays ray-traced comtemporaries (Black Mesa is remake of Half-Life from 1998 that looks and plays the way you can imagine Valve would have made it if they had released it in 2013)....that said, it still holds up well and this is hands down one of the most amazing fan-made dedications ever made, that I personally would rank it above a chunk of Valve's own releases - Dare I say it, I'd personally even rank this above HL2 and it's Episodes in terms of playability today. Rather than being the low point of the 1998 original.....Xen in this version is actually interesting, which each Xen chapter having it's own unique feel. The Gonarch boss fight in this version is one of the most thrilling I've experienced in a shooter in awhile. The Xen portion of the game (which released in 2020) really pushes the old Source Engine (I believe they used L4D branch of the source engine) it terms of the visuals it puts out, matching the visual output of the modified version of the source engine 2016's Titanfall 2 displayed, in some ways, more so.
This is a game that any Half-Life fan would be crazy not to play.
