I honestly did not have that great of a year. Most of the time I was away from the computer and having existential crisis every day on social media.

Most of the games this year talked about, like Baldurs Gate 3 or Alan Wake 2 - I never got to play. They aren't really games in my sphere. Other games, like Hot Wheels Unleashed 2, I enjoy, but just felt backwards compared to the first one.

And if you ask me what my “game of the year” is - it's Fortnite.

Yeah, Epic is laying off, merging, laying off after merging, but from what happened in the last quarter. They are trying to make Fortnite the “everything” game.

Besides it's creator suite, that's in direct competition with Roblox (but with less “creepy Lego looking people”

To Lego Fortnite, which has “creepy Lego looking people” but in a Minecraft Survival Mode style game.

To a Jam Mode that uses Harmonix’s rhythm games in a free-to-play style

To one of my secret favorite games this year -Rocket Racing from the makers of Rocket League, that's not it's own download on Epic, but built into Fortnite.

That's not even including it's Saints Row for PUBG “Battle Royale” mode that saw all sorts of cameos from jujutsu kaisen to my hero academia to John Wick - all doing your favorite TikTok dances!

It really is the game I played the most, and had the most fun this year playing.

But that being said, here's my Top 10 of this year.

10) WWE 2K23

This year was a weird year for wrestling. I was hyped up last year for AEW Fight Forever, and was so disappointed by what was released. It's no mercy, kind of. There was a Pokemon Stadium mini game collection. But even though All In at Wembley was big, just like the game - everything felt aimless and creative said yes to everything, including a crap battle royale, no not like wrestling. But like Fortnite.

So imagine my surprise when WWE 2K23 was such a great game to play this year. From a better counter, to customized wrestlers and movements to even a War Games match that isn't total shit.

There is a NBA 2k Style trading card system, where at best, you get really silly like a Mattel John Cena and at worst - get Greg Miller from Kinda Funny.

It's times like this I do wish they went back to fun subtitles and updated accordingly, but this is the most fun I've had in a wrestling game in years. It makes me look forward to seeing what's happening next year.

9) Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them!

Did you know mobile games are deceptive? Did you ever play a free to play game, only to get one of those crappy ads for a mobile game, like the one with the pin pulling the lava or the pick the lane to increase your stack.

You think oh that's fun, only to be stuck with a terrible match-3, Farmville clone or rpg that isn't fun.

Here's a game that actually gives you what you wanted, those games! I found myself playing this on those rare moments when I had a couple minutes and needed a quick break. It felt like a mini game that I needed. And was so much fun.

8) Hi-Fi Rush

From it's animation style, to it's comedy, to it's rhythm based beat-em-up style. Hi-Fi Rush is equal parts ambitious as it was a reason to get Game Pass.

In this bizarre AI/Robot filled world that we also saw be a major plot point in real life. Chai uses the power of music to A-A-BB-A robots and use the scrap to improve. The last time this made me excited for a brawler, No More Heroes got ported. Please check it out, even if it's for an hour.

7) Mortal Kombat 1

Arcade Gaming is making a come back, and Fighting Games have been one of those last beacons.

But Mortal Kombat 1 isn't trying to be “the best fighting game” (I'm sorry MK Fans, it's not) but it is trying to compete with itself. How can the most notoriously violent game, get more violent? How over the top can the fatalities get, how sexy can we make Reptile and Smoke? How can we make people losing flesh and bones like it's a saw movie into something that will make you laugh out loud and wince at the same time?

That's the fight MK1 has, and thankfully, they made sure to make it's entertaining fighting game continue to have combos for classic fans and one-touch finishers for people who can't be bothered to memorize.

For a game that supposedly died multiple deaths, it managed to find itself one of the best arcade style games of this year.

6) Jackbox Party Pack 10

Another year, another time for Jackbox. It's been TEN YEARS since Jackbox Party Pack started and so many games have made this list. Most of them okay to bad, some, must-plays. And here's the mini LIST WITHIN A LIST

5- Hypnotorious

What is essentially “Fakin’ It” with the Prompt round from “Push the Button” - some people are dogs, one is a cat. You're given a prompt that you must answer in the style of your character (like improv) and oh wow the one meow meow in a see of dog puns, I wonder who it could be.

This goes on for ten minutes. What should've been more “Masked Singer” guess the friend from the comedy prompt. It didn't really stick the landing, unfortunately.

4- Fixy Text

Imagine Word Spud, and JobJob together, that's Fixy Text. A game that's really boring to play because “you can't delete” however what it usually ends up being is cum cum cum gay fart and then you make cum cum fuck no not that no fuck dick dick fart

3- DoDo Re-Mi

Trombone Hero was on people's lists last year because of it's silly rhythm game with a basic instrument, Jackbox decided to try that not with a controller like Fortnite, and not with a guitar like Rock Band, but with your mobile device, and with bizarre instruments like screaming or tubas. Instead of licensed songs, they get the public domain bangers and classic tracks from Andy Poland and Brian Chard.

2- Time Jinx

The trivia games in Jackbox are usually my jam. From Trivia Murder Party where incorrect answers lead to a fun mini game for “elimination”, to Wheel of Enormous Proportions that answer your life's mysteries if you win through luck, to this Irrelevant Quiz Show Party Game called You Don't Know Jack that's as old as CD-ROMs.

In this game you guess the year an event happened, and your goal, much like Pointless, is to get the lowest score. Questions will deduct a percentage of your score, and there are some REALLY smart questions and playful ways to do history (and current events) questions. It's great.

1- Tee KO 2

There are a few games that make the “Hall of Fame” - Quiplash 3, Drawful 2, Murder Party and TeeKO.

WELL, GUESS WHAT MORE TEEKO IS BETTER TEEKO. you come up with silly drawings, you get silly mottos and you put two and two together.

A bootleg bart Simpson saying “gotta cum fast” is just the tip of the fucked up ideas you could come up with.

Also, it CAN be family friendly, so you can play with Grandma. You can also play with Twitch, but, I'll repeat this point every year - I'm a lonely person. I can't get 3 people let alone 30, it seems this game is focused on the big twitch streamer, and less lonely people like me. Which is a choice.

5) Street Fighter 6

Arcade Gaming is coming back, at the Keighleys, SEGA announced a return of Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Streets of Rage and more (maybe Outrun and Monkey Ball?)

But one game this year, really did make me excited, and that's Street Fighter 6. I'm not a major fighting game guy. But this game really brought me back to the pizza hut in the 90s discovering Street Fighter 2 for the first time.

There is a classic arcade mode if that is how you wish to play. Including it's online mode. But there is a online mode where you go in a hub world where you create a custom character and fight strangers all over the world in ranked and unranked battles (with no lag or latency, from how I've played)

To my favorite mode - the story mode where you go around town picking fights with randos to level up your character to fight the big boss of the area. Nothing like fighting a pizza guy to be equal levels of Chun-Li.

I will admit, I have dropped in recent history as my computer is just at the minimum. But I'm pretty sure if you have an Xbox or PlayStation (or let's face it a AMD 4090) you should be having the best time with this game.

4) The Making of Karateka

Last Year, Atari 50 made my list, because holy shit. This is the exact game that makes me love games. One part documentary and library, Digital Eclipse nailed it with it's (now owners) Atari.

But this year, Digital Eclipse announced the GOLD MASTER SERIES that aims to do what they did with Atari’s 50th to a hall of games situation. For decades, people wonder if there will ever be a “Criterion Collection for Video Games” and Digital Eclipse is trying with it's debut entry into this series, with Karateka.

It tells the story of Jordan Mechner and his father and a personal history of not just video games, but kung fu movies that would lead to him making Karateka, and being turned down by publishers in the process, and the rotoscoping of Karateka that would lead to games like Prince of Persia.

Imagine the documentaries by NoClip, but with every form of archival possible, from early builds, to ports and why the game is very important.

It makes me excited to see what lies ahead. How long until we get Dragons Lair?

3) Spider-man 2

I will be honest, and this will disqualify me and my list - I did not play Spider-Man 2. I don't own a PlayStation 5. However, I feel I do need to call an audible. If this is a list of my personal favorite games. This is the game if I had a PS5, I would be playing non-stop. I really loved Spider-Man and Miles Morales, so this is obviously a logical next step. However, as of this writing, it's not available for PC. (but we will assume in the future it will) and so watching gameplay and the story. It was a great sequel to one emotional game (although I still liked the first one more) but all I could think about, is how well that game would perform on a Steam Deck, and how close we are to the future of video games.

More Peter, More Miles, a good back and forth story (that seems to be also what's happening with Alan Wake 2) but, I think the big debate is this game or Across the Spiderverse for the biggest spider-man thing of this year.

2) The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom

I'm not the biggest fan of Legend of Zelda. I'm sorry. I understand the appeal, and that journey and discovery. But I'm a “Wind Waker” guy, and the last Zelda game to give me that experience was Breath of the Wild. This sequel is better than Breath of the Wild.

I did not expect this game to be more about the puzzle element and gluing stuff together and out of the box thinking. Sure, there are hazards and elements and survival like Breath of the Wild, however. This reminded me more of a Valve title like Half-Life 2 or Portal 2 where discovering a new tool opens up more of the world which leads to more ways to solve puzzles.

I found the sword fighting tedious, I don't want to “bomb some dodongos”, but I do like dropping a giant boulder on a hoard of enemies and just moving along. I like building a boat and sailing away. This game isn't urging you to move along, and, if anything wants you to enjoy it's sandbox puzzles.

It really changed my thoughts of Zelda, and because of that, I almost made it my game of the year this year.

1) Super Mario Wonder

But then Mario showed up. It's not Mario Maker 2. And in a year that had “Everybody 1-2 Switch” (remember that?) And Party Animals and Starfield and this game and that game.

But, for me, Mario Wonder was that return to Super Mario World. That sense of discovery and surprise that brought me back to the SNES days where you would be stuck on a level and trying to figure out how to compete it.

Sure, there are speed runners and streamers who beat that game in a day. If you get spoiled by the surprises in that game, it loses it's magic. But it's essentially a really fun way to look at the platformer.

It's not New Super Mario Brothers, it's not Mario 3D, it's…something. And I still can't figure it out. It was the debut of Mario's new voice actor, and the debut of “the better omochao”, the talking flower.

It was a game where if you get frustrated, you can take a break and go back to it and compete it in minutes. It's a game where timing platformers are challenging, but not enough to say “fuck this”.

It's, this sense of wonder, and a surprise that isn't scary, but charming, and fun. For what was arguably a tough year for me, did give me those moments of escapism, and all it took was a singing pirannha plant.

If you have a switch, it's a debate this year of Mario or Zelda, and I'm siding with Mario. But it's not that difficult to see why one would pick Zelda for similar reasons.

My hope that next year, we will see more indie games not “Dave the Diver”, that we get more arcade style games, not just in fighting. Maybe NBA Jam or NFL Blitz will try again. But above all else, I really hope we see more enjoyment of video games, and not just games that need to be a chore.

If I wanted to grind, I would be getting a second job.

Until then, I'm going to play as “Durr Burger” dancing to “Savage” as I shoot Gwenpool with a Sniper Rifle to get enough XP to play as Peter Griffin. Friggin’ Sweet!

If you want to read my 2023 recap, check out patreon.com/JordanHass

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