10 Best Games of 2023

10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
PS5, Xbox Series X, PC (Gun Interactive)

Parading around a dungeon with a sack on your head, waving a chainsaw while your hillbilly siblings corner another hippy? Welcome to another Saturday night for the family from the notorious 1970s slasher flick.

Now Leatherface and his loveable clan are up for grabs in a multiplayer murder-thon, in which you assume the guise of one of the cannibals or the victims trying to escape their clutches. It’s an X-rated affair of hide and seek, where victims pick locks, dismantle electric fences, hide in fridges and sprint for the exit before Leatherface turns them into fricassee. Grimy and bleak, sure, but loaded with tension, horror and thrills.

9. Dead Space
PS5, Xbox Series X, PC (EA)

Revisiting the dark corridors of the Ishimura, a planetary mining ship in which the shit hit the fan and then some, may not be an attractive proposition for players of 2008’s Dead Space. This creepy sci-fi horror scared the pants off gamers back then, so what will it do now with a next generation nip and tuck?

The developers built the game back up from scratch and it shows in the bleakly industrial environment in which your character, Isaac, trudges in search of survivors and escape. Tautly written with terrifying alien stick insect enemies, claustrophobic music and sound effects, Dead Space is a rollercoaster ride from hell.

8. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Switch (Nintendo)

The world’s most famous Italian plumber returns in a blisteringly colourful, old-fashioned side-scrolling adventure. Mario’s nemesis Bowser is up to his old tricks again and so Mario and his retro porn star moustache gallops across a 2D plain, hopping on Bowser’s minions and sucking up coins.

Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach are also playable, alongside the invincible Yoshi and Nabbit. Mario can transform into an elephant, swiping foes with his trunk, and grab a Wonder Seed to transform the gaming vista into a psychedelic freak-out, complete with singing piranha plants and Goombas with dribbling snot bubbles.

7. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
Switch (Nintendo)

A sequel to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order, this adventure from a Galaxy Far, Far Away™ is a Jedi mind trick after generations of terrible Star Wars titles. Cal Kestis, our leading man, bends Stormtroopers in two like an angry Harry Potter and whips them into shape with balletic lightsaber moves.

There’s an art to Jedi fighting – assume different fighting styles and use different types of lightsaber (as well as the Force) to kick Imperial arse. The environments in this sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order consist of large open world maps. Take side quests, clamber up vertiginous cliffs, and mould Cal through customisation to make the character your own.

6. Baldur’s Gate 3
PC, PS5 (Larian Studios)

Recreating Dungeons and Dragons in a videogame isn’t as easy as it sounds. D&D, after all, is limited only by human imagination. But Baldur’s Gate makes a great stab at recreating the anything-goes glory of the tabletop game through masterful art direction, rich storylines and character development.

There’s a vast pool of classes and species, each with their own traits and backgrounds to choose from. Travel across massive maps: exploring, fighting shape shifters, vampires and goblins, and gathering up loot. There’s a main storyline, seemingly unlimited side quests and multiple ways to overcome every obstacle.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Switch (Nintendo)

Once again Link is on an adventure to save Princess Zelda. As threadbare as the story might be, it’s not about the destination – it’s how you get there. The world of Hyrule is a living, breathing sandbox in which you can move freely from platforms in the skies to the land below.
Almost anything in this world can be combined to build weapons and vehicles: rafts, wagons, hot air balloons, and much more. Alongside the self-contained sky islands, there are caves and an entire underworld to dive into. Few games create a sense of childhood joy quite like Zelda – and that’s true whether you are 15 or 55.

4. Resident Evil 4
Xbox Series X, PC (Capcom)

Almost 20 years after it first landed on the Gamecube, Resident Evil 4 is back for another round. This over-the-shoulder action adventure doesn’t seem to age. You play emo-haired cop Leon Kennedy on a mission to rescue the president’s daughter who has been abducted by a cult in rural Spain. Capcom’s remake offers more than just a digital lick of paint. Combat is refined, turning the formerly clunky Leon into a limber, gun-wielding dealer of destruction. There are new side quests and the psychotic farmers are a recipe for PTSD. This compelling folk-horror revisit goes all the way to 11 and beyond.

3. Spider-Man 2
PS5 (Sony)

Our Spider senses tingle at the sight of open world New York in the webslinger’s latest interactive outing. Swinging through the streets as Peter Parker, or his Spider pal Miles Morales, perching on top of skyscrapers and then diving to ground level to battle villains, feels electric.
Everything about Spider-Man 2 is cinematic: from the zingy dialogue to the high-octane battle sequences. The gameplay is perfectly paced, as you switch from open world exploration to the central storyline to puzzle-type side quests; from action to slow-paced stealth. Start spreading the news: I’m leaving today. I want to be a part of it.

2. Alan Wake II
PS5, XBX, PC (Remedy)

Who said videogames are for dimwits? Alan Wake II is a deeply engrossing psychological thriller that feels like David Lynch encountering True Detective in an alleyway, while David Fincher hovers in the background with an axe. The game begins with Saga Anderson, an FBI agent, investigating a murder in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

As she learns more about the crime, so the walls of reality melt away and a second character enters the picture: Alan Wake, an author lost to an alternative dimension for the past 13 years. A psychological thriller unafraid to get weird, Alan Wake II is a nightmare you won’t want to wake up from.

1. Starfield
Xbox Series X (Bethesda)

Next stop: the final frontier. Bethesda reached for the stars with Starfield and did for science-fiction what their games Elder Scrolls and Fallout did for fantasy and future dystopia. Gamers venture into a vast universe, featuring over 1,000 planets, in which you gather mystical artefacts for your paymasters or disappear into side quest rabbit holes.

Want to be a bounty hunter, illegal arms smuggler, or engage in space cowboy law enforcement? It’s all there for the taking. You can upgrade spaceships, build outposts on planets, harvest minerals for cash, and create a crew from random strangers. Starfield goes to infinity and beyond.