2023 is no 1998.
- Ocarina of Time
- Metal Gear Solid
- Banjo Kazooie
- Baldur’s Gate
- StarCraft
- Half-Life
- Resident Evil 2
- Rogue Squadron
- Grim Fandago
- Fallout 2
- Unreal
- Parasite Eve
- Xenogears
- 1080 Snowboarding
- Pokemon Red/Blue
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
- Spyro
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
- F-Zero X
- Oddworld Abe’s Exoddus
- Thief the Dark Project
I would argue that “the best year in gaming” highly depends on taste and generation.
To me that year doesn’t seem that good.
I personally think it’s pretty useless to even compare years in this way.
But 2011 was neat, because Portal 2 is the best game. Minecraft was pretty good too.
I know I am definitely in the minority when it comes to how I feel about most popular games, but this year has honestly felt pretty meh to me. That said, I am happy to hear people are having such a good time with so many titles. I would love to feel like I’m in the same boat.
It’s marketing that has to make every year the best ever, but I doubt there’s been a top 5 year in the last decade.
It’s a lot of marketing, but also it’s an active commercial field where people have a lot of influence on the outcome of their projects.
Given that and how it’s a growing market, it wouldn’t be surprising if the average number of real good games went up nearly every year.
Great AAA games seem genuinely rare now. They development cycle is shockingly long. I’d be surprised if there’s even a similar number of AAA games released, even more so good ones. You can make up the difference with indie games, but release year isn’t always related to when a good indie title is actually discovered.
Calling 2023 the best year ever in gaming is a real overreach. It hasn’t been as bad as the last couple years, but its hardly that standout, and the last couple years aren’t exactly a high-bar.
I mean, what notable new games came out?
- Hi-Fi Rush
- LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Spider Man 2
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Street Fighter 6
- Dave the Diver
- Starfield
All solid games, but its not a long list, and other than maybe Baldurs Gate 3, none really stand out when compared to every game ever released.
Pulling a random year, lets say 2011, because its when Minecraft released, you have:
- Minecraft
- Portal 2
- Skyrim
- Dark Souls
- Batman: Arkham City
- Mass Effect 2
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- Uncharted 3
- Gears or War 3
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Limbo
- Dead Space 2
- Total War: Shogan 2
- The Witcher 2
- Red Orchestra 2
It’s old now, but 2004 is another big year.
- GTA San Andreas
- Pokémon fire red/leaf green
- halo 2
- spider man 2
- star wars battlefront
- wow
- pikmin 2
- half life 2
- burnout 3
- Sims 2
- far cry
- metal gear solid 3 snake eater
- unreal tournament 2004
- metroid prime 2 echoes
- counter strike source
- doom 3
- fable
- kotor II
Baldur’s Gate 3 came out of nowhere and was all anyone could talk about for an entire month
Excuse me, fucking what? “Came out of nowhere”? “Entire month”, huh? What are you talking about now?
Oh, ok, I’ll leave you to it.