Support NeoGAF

[NiiloPielinen]

Without NES and Super Mario, we might not have any of the current videogame industry. I'd say the greatest year is in the 80s.

 

[Emet_bp]

Not even close. 2001 FTW.

 

[IDKFA]

It's been a good year. That's not up for debate.

However, personally 1998 is still the GOAT year in gaming.

 

[MagnesD3]

1998 and 2007 say no but I agree this year has been alot better than average due to the covid backup

 

[GamesDontSuck]

Nah. 2004 is in my opinion. Is it ok to post links here or against the rules?

As I made an article about it before: https://www.gamesdontsuck.com/news/what-was-the-greatest-year-in-video-game-history/

If not ok, mods please feel free to delete.

 

[Unrivaledx88]

2015

 

[Emedan]

By no means a bad year, but like so many others have said here, there's mostly just sequels. 2007 is still GOAT I believe.

 

[analog_future]

Add another banger to the list for 2023:

Hell of a damn year.

 

[March Climber]

Not the best year ever, but it for sure deserves a seat at the hall of fame table.

1985
1986
1987
1994
1996
1998
2002
2004
2008
2009
2010
2013
2017
2023

 

[analog_future]

 

[killatopak]

It's definitely up there. I just don't know if it's my personal best. Like second best maybe just from pure preference of genre. Lots of horror games this year which definitely makes it a lot better than most years.

 

[Danjin44]

I still cant believe we got new Armored Core game after all these years and number great games came out this year and we are still not done yet.

This year has been gooooooooooooooooood!

 

[L*][*N*K]

No doubt it is an amazing year

 

[Esppiral]

Most of the game on that list are trash

 

[captainpat]

definitely top 5. In a couple years it's gonna look insane just the sheer amount of quality games that came out in one year

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I got like four hits in one year. Granted I typically only *play* 6-7 new games on a very good year, that's like...

Pretty good if you do the math and shit.

Roughly one hundred percent of the games I think are great are pretty good, and there's like an 80% likelihood that I'll think more than 50% of the 100% of games I play fall into that initial one 100%.

69%

 

[analog_future]

Most of the game on that list are trash

 

[Northeastmonk]

It’s a great year on paper. On paper you’ve got all the big games. Does it mean each game was amazing? Not one bit. A lot of games live off the success of their previous entry. This year didn’t change my mind. If it did, it made me less of a fan of some franchises.

 

[IAmRei]

The thing is, so many games, so little time (for me)

 

[KeepThemEyesOpen]

So many high quality games, so little time ;_;

 

[fart town usa]

It's a baller year for sure and most aren't taking into account PSVR2. I know the price of entry is high but seriously, the software library is stacked considering it's been out for like 6 months. The remainder of the year is filled with potential bangers. If you sleep on VR you risk missing out on some amazing experiences.

Best thing about VR. Most games are $30 or less, have great replay value and only take 5-10 hours to complete. So refreshing to get solid experiences without having to dedicate 40+ hours to a game. Helps greatly with the backlog.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Well there's always room for one more great game.



Spiderman 2 should be good.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Picking the best is always going to be a personal choice that even I don't think I could settle on. Amazing year? Oh hell yes.

 

[Doctor Hades]

As someone who has mostly been playing games on PC this year then I would say "No, absolutely not!" because of the high number of badly optimised games released in 2023, especially those using Unreal Engine with its infamous #StutterStruggle. That said, even consoles haven't been completely free of issues as many games have failed to hit those 60 fps targets for the Performance modes or had stuttering (e.g. Dead Space, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor). There have been great games released in 2023, yes, but that is true for any year you could care to pick.

As game development becomes more costly and time-consuming, the quality of the games, especially the triple A ones, has slowly been decreasing in quality in my experience. We all too frequently see games being released in with major issues on PC and consoles that requires months of patches to fix. This is less of an issue if you don't buy games at launch - kudos to you if you don't - but if everyone did that then none of the issues would every get fixed because there would be no-one playing them to report them to the developers, not to mention that the game would be deemed a flop and developer shut down!

2023 has been an okay year for games.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a standout for me and despite being somewhat dated both in terms of design and visuals, Starfield is a close second. Other than that the only other game I have really enjoyed this year for any length of time was Hogwarts Legacy but that is a game that shipped with issues on PC (stuttering!) and still isn't fully fixed.

Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space were good too but they were remakes so didn't really stand out for me having previously played the originals. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom I bought but only played for a couple of hours as I felt it was too similar to Breath of the Wild, a game I had been playing a lot of on PC via the Cemu emulator, and felt more like an expansion pack than a brand new game in my opinion (maybe I haven't played far enough into it yet for it to 'click' with me but that was my initial impression, and I still hate the way weapons easily break).

The only other game I was looking forward to this year really was Alone in the Dark, having not played any of the previous releases, but that has been delayed into 2024. I have no interest in Call of Duty, lost interest in that franchise about a decade ago, and Forza Horizon will likely be good but it'll just be another racing game in an already crowded genre of good racing games in my opinion.

*EDIT*
Forgot about Spider-Man 2 on PS5. That is definitely a game I am looking forward to as Insomniac seldom disappointment with their games.

 

[analog_future]

Another hit game to the list:

 

[MasterCornholio]

Another hit game to the list:

What do you mean by hit?

 

[analog_future]

What do you mean by hit?

critical hit

 

[MasterCornholio]

critical hit

Doesn't look like it from the MC/OC. It seems like a solid title though.

 

[charles8771]

You went into gaming in 2018?

Nothing beats 2004

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I expected more yes responses. This year is so GoaTed and I've been gaming in arcades since the 80s. I'd like to a see a poll with years included.

 

[Platinumstorm]

I wont be able to tell for ages, but so far it's more disappointing than I anticipated. Highly anticipated titles that aren't being received as well as expected.

The bigger disappointments: Diablo 4, seems like Starfield [haven't played], Star Wars Fallen Survivor or whatever due to poor PC optimization.

 

[devilNprada]

Already released:

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Street Fighter 6
• Resident Evil 4
• Diablo IV
• Hi-Fi Rush
• Metroid Prime Remastered
• Pikmin 4
• Quake II
• Dave the Diver
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Baldur's Gate 3
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Dead Space
• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
• Sea of Stars
• Starfield
• Lies of P

Still to come:

• Forza Motorsport
• Alan Wake II
• Cities:Skylines 2
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2
• Assassin's Creed Mirage
• Cocoon
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
• Persona 5 Tactica
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
• Super Mario RPG
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

what the fuck

You missed Gloomhaven on the Switch...

 

[BlackTron]

1998

 

[MiguelItUp]

1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008 were all superior years IMO.

I think this year has been a pretty good year for games. Especially compared to the past few years. I think that makes it feel even bigger than it is. But I don't think it's anywhere near the greatest year, personally. I feel like it doesn't have nearly as much weight as the years mentioned above, or even a few others.

 

[analog_future]

Looks like we have yet another banger:

The hits just keep on coming this year. Ridiculous

 

[MasterCornholio]

Looks like we have another banger:

The hits just keep on coming this year. Ridiculous

That's only 10 reviews though. I would wait until more come out.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

This was an awesome Year, Baldur's Gate III and Zelda Tear of the Kingdom were great games, soon we will receive Spider Man 2 and Forza Motorsport, also we had a lot of solid remakes and new entries like Metroid Remastered, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Dead Space Remake, overwal a great year.

But I can think of a lot of examples of better years in gaming,:

• 92 Super Mario Kart, Zelda Link to the Past and the legendary Sonic 2;
• 94 with Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI and Donkey Kong Country;
• 2008 Metal Gear 4 and Fallout 3;
• 2001 Smash Bros Melee, Halo, Final Fantasy X and Devil May Cry

There are others, but those were some of my favorite ones.

 

[yurinka]

The best one? No.

A great year with lots of awesome games? Yes.

 

[diffusionx]

Without NES and Super Mario, we might not have any of the current videogame industry. I'd say the greatest year is in the 80s.

It's hard to pin it down because the data just isn't very good, but yea, probably 1989 was the peak of the NES in the USA, and Game Boy/Genesis/TG16 all came out too.

 

[analog_future]

Add another one to the list:

2023 stays winning!

 

[analog_future]

Yet another for 2023.

 

[Black_Stride]

Hell of a year.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Only 6 original IP's on your list....no no, not best year ever.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

2001.

 

[March Climber]

analog_future I keep waiting for people to come into the thread and say 'Nuh uh!' to every metacritic score you post, because they have some imaginary past where one year from their younger days had nothing but games that were rated 95+ each, when it was actually just a handful of them and the majority were 60s, 70s, and 80s scored games.

 

[analog_future]

Another GOTY candidate has entered the fray:

 

[MasterCornholio]

Another GOTY candidate has entered the fray:

You kept your promise.

Thank you.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

So much of that list is terrible and will be at most remembered as a footnote in a few years. I think the argument would be more compelling if we just listed the top 4 or 5 max.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Maybe if some of those games were 4D or banned aim assists.

 

[N1tr0sOx1d3]

Nothing will ever compare to the 90s. Banger after banger after banger. Great years of gaming.