Mansoor aka The Sultan of Suave aka The Iron Chic is a pro wrestler that you can see on All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor. Along with Mason Madden, he is one half of the tag team known as MxM Collection.
Happy New Year, everyone! This is my third top ten list for the fantastic people at Giant Bomb and my close personal bald friend, Dan Ryckert. Among all my bald friends, he is among the closest, but not the baldest. I love writing these lists, not just because I enjoy discussing this wonderful medium, but also because it allows me to reflect on life as it furtively passes me by.
In 2023, I had the fortune of becoming a father, and it had a profound impact on the way I experience and process art. This year, we were blessed once again with another little girl.
Now that I am firmly in my #girldad era, it’s difficult to find opportunities for gaming. Luckily, with a Steam Deck and a job that requires a lot of traveling, I was able to find some time to play this year’s entries. Many of them did not come out this year (I refuse to give up on my backlog). Some I’ve even played before, but I feel changes in life can provide valuable new perspectives on these old experiences. Let’s dive in!
10. Mass Effect Legendary Edition
12-year-old Mansoor, having recently moved to the US, walks into a Best Buy. He sees something intriguing on a display stand by the entrance. A newly released video game whose back cover advertised an epic space opera adventure unparalleled in gaming. I took Mass Effect home that day, and experienced exactly what was promised. An unforgettable odyssey through the stars featuring my very own self-insert, in what was my first ever choice-driven RPG experience. And who could forget, perhaps the most impactful design choice Bioware could have implemented… Two words…
BLUE
TITTIES
Well, maybe there wasn’t any actual nudity. But 12-year-old Mansoor was blown away. I was blown away at 30, too, when a conversation in-game suddenly cut to my Shepard getting bounced on crazy style by the Asari consort. I always saw the meme about BioWare surprising you with sex scenes, but this was the first time I actually experienced it. Wild. Anyway…
I still enjoyed it! The music is excellent, the atmosphere is great, the visual set pieces are striking, the alien designs are unique, and the world-building is exceptional. Honest to God, some of the best time I had with this game was reading the Codex and planet descriptions. Perhaps even more shamefully, I actually enjoyed Mako exploration, as well as the elevator conversations that were placed to mask long loading times.
However, it is a BioWare game, so we have to talk about the elephant in the room. The writing and narrative leave a lot to be desired.
- “An ancient evil awakens.”
I am really, truly sorry to be that guy, but I got the same feeling replaying this as I did replaying KOTOR I. It's a very safe, digestible action-adventure. Not every game needs to be a literary achievement on the level of War and Peace, but there is an overabundance of palatability in some RPGs that makes me shut my brain off and stop trying to reflect or examine much of anything. The game is a power fantasy, so I know that’s the point. I just wish there were more to surprise or challenge me. The game also tends to cop out on presenting consequences for your choices, as it was always planned for those consequences to be seen in later games (the implementation of this left a lot to be desired). There is one moment, though! The conversation with Sovereign on Virmire was an incredible revelation for me as a kid; my imagination ran wild with the possibilities of where this story could go.
9. Dredge
Dredge is a neat little fishing game with a dark secret. If that’s enough to entice you, get it! I knew a little bit about the twists this game would take, and I still found myself delightfully/frightfully surprised at what lurked under the water. If you’d like to know more, you’ll have to cross the SPOILER WALL
[ S P O I L E R W A L L ]
Dredge may be the first fishing game where you want women, you fear fish. It all starts fine and well, with you playing the fisherman for a small island town. Eventually, you notice some of the fish have extra eyeballs, or are inside out, or whisper in the back of your brain. The game does a spectacular job in its early stages at creeping you out and putting you in a state of unease, which is particularly interesting to do in what is usually considered a “casual” genre. If you find yourself out at sea with the sun down, the terrors of the deep manifest themselves, whether they be underwater or in your mind. The big problem with this game is that, because of this mechanic, it’s actually more fun and interesting the worse you play. As you progress and are able to upgrade your boat, it becomes much easier to avoid the horrors of the dark, which ultimately robs you of some great moments.
That’s always been the big weakness of many horror games. Video game logic would dictate that as you advance through a game, your resources and abilities should expand in order to keep gameplay dynamic and empower you with a sense of progression. That vulnerability and fear I felt racing towards a port in the night early on in Dredge was the best part of playing the game. This is also one of the rare games where the bad ending is waaay better than the good one! The grand finale of Dredge’s narrative is exactly what it should be, and our player character gets the exact ending he deserves. Even if it falls off in the spooky department later on, still a delightful game and one I heartily recommend!
8. Elden Ring Nightreign
I’ve spent countless hours setting summon signs behind fog walls to help fellow SoulsBorneNiOhfTheFallenVeinRing enjoyers finally overcome these games’ massive hurdles. There is nothing more rewarding than doing a cute little emote after you and a stranger you’ll never meet work together in complete silence to achieve a seemingly impossible goal. Literally nothing is more rewarding. I can’t think of a single comparable thing.
- L family cringe child rearing
So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that a Souls game dedicated to jolly cooperation is a joy to play! It was refreshing having no need to farm in-game resources or face a limit on how long or how far we could go on our joint adventure. However, some of the charm of the traditional system is missed. A typical Souls summoning experience has you and a cooperator work to achieve an imminent goal that requires little communication. Get to the end of a zone, beat the boss, the session ends. Your fling with this perfect stranger goes as quickly as it came, and there is something beautiful about that.
Playing Nightreign is usually a great time… with friends. I once made the mistake of trying to play Left 4 Dead Vs mode online with “randos,” as they are known to my circle. It was about as fun as dragging my dick through a mile of broken glass. Nightreign with randos was not quite as bad, but close. There is a certain level of meta-gaming required to fully optimize your “toons,” as psychopaths call them, so they can sufficiently face the final boss of a session. Having a big Fortnite wall close in on you to apply pressure takes away a lot of the joy that comes with these games. In fact, I would say the thrill of finding new places and exploring their every nook and cranny is perhaps the greatest part of Soulsborne games. Rushing the player along as they seek to optimize a path towards peak preparation seems counterintuitive to that. It took a while, but once the novelty of the concept wore off, I noticed even games with my friends were becoming dull sprints between point A and point B so that we could get the buffs and weapons we needed.
Still, I’m happy they made this and enjoyed my time with it! I’ll never begrudge a studio for trying something different, especially if it means I can enjoy something I love with my friends.
7. Fallout
You ever play a game less as a vehicle for stress-reduction, and more as if you were examining an ancient artifact? This isn’t the oldest game I’ve played, by any means, but it was so fascinating finally getting to it after the legacy it’s left. One of, if not the biggest Western RPG franchises in existence came from this inspired little trek through the irradiated wastes of Southern California. Much like many of my favorite RPGs, Fallout wasn’t particularly exciting to play. The turn-based combat could be engaging at times, and the critical hit animations were certainly satisfying as hell. However, this is a CRPG from 1997; let’s be real.
The joy from this game radiates from its very soul. It’s clear that everyone involved in making this game loved it dearly, giving everything they had to make the game they wanted us to experience. I can’t emphasize enough how thrilling it is to play a game this old but still feel the sense of adventure it successfully inspires. I adore the travel system on the world map; it successfully evokes the feeling that you are legitimately crossing mountains and deserts in a way the newer Fallout games simply cannot express. In a way, Fallout is blessed by its limitations. Despite being relatively short, it feels like you are embarking on months-long journeys around the Wasteland. You have to plan your route and manage your resources, just as anyone should have to in a survival-RPG.
Music, atmosphere, and writing all hit the way they need to. It’s not Planescape: Torment; there are some dialogue encounters that feel like they were written on a sticky note during crunch time. As was characteristic of games at the time, however, the voiced dialogue is fantastic. What the fuck is this cast, by the way!? Tony Shalhoub?? David Warner?? CCH Pounder??? How did they get these people? I swear to God I would sacrifice entirely voiced RPGs if it meant we could get more games with phenomenal actors reading the most important stuff we need to hear. I can fill in the blanks!
6. DOOM (2016)
What a delightful surprise! Yearly iterations of CoD turned me off single-player FPS games for a long time. Then, in 2019 (thanks to PS Plus), I experienced the miracle that is Titanfall 2. It is a crime and a sin how short that campaign was, although I would much rather be left wanting more than getting overstuffed. Anyway, I’ve been much more open-minded regarding the genre since then, and boy, am I glad. A game like this comes along and reminds me why running around shooting stuff is always going to be a staple of this medium. When it hits, it hits so fucking good.
- RIP AND TEAR
It’s often said that this game is at its best when you reach a “flow state,” which I found 100% accurate. I had the most fun when I never stopped moving, gliding through Mars and Hell, blasting demons like a figure skater with a shotgun. It was sick. It’s reminiscent of the criminally underrated Vanquish, but even that game had a cover system that had to be reasonably engaged with. DOOM is pure, non-stop adrenaline from start to finish. Having melee kills provide resources was a brilliant design choice, and syncing music to the executions so it almost feels like a fucked-up rhythm game is genius. Excited to play the sequel!
5. Fear & Hunger
4. Starsector
Starsector, Mount & Blade, Crusader Kings, Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi, Rimworld, The Sims, and Sid Meier’s Pirates are all very different games. Oddly enough, however, they all share the same DNA. I’m not sure what genre or category these games share, but they provide opportunities for “emergent gameplay” that are like crack to me. These games prioritize player choice above all else, to the point where there is no definitive narrative or path the player needs to follow in order to fully experience the game. At the same time, the world around the player exists and persists even in the case of your inactivity. So in a way, these games provide ultimate freedom to the player while also emphasizing how independently it can operate its systems and in-game worlds without our direction. Cool!
I don’t often get to play on my PC at home anymore, but when I do, my time is strictly devoted to 4X games or Starsector. The great thing about truly non-linear games is just how much time you can put into them while still encountering new and unique experiences. Like one of my 2023 GOTYs, Crusader Kings III, Starsector is a game that weaves a narrative purely through your own decisions and how they affect the game world, whether in a micro or macro scale. Each new save state you create embarks you on a totally unique journey, navigating the Persean Sector as a very small fish in a huge interstellar ocean of conflicting factions. Immerse yourself as a smuggler, pirate, bounty hunter, deep space explorer, warlord, or even as the founder of your very own colony. Even the composition of the Sector changes with each new campaign, keeping you on your toes and ensuring each new journey guarantees the joy of discovery.
There is a STEEP learning curve, and I have a room temperature IQ, but I’m stubborn as hell and determined to see everything this game has to offer! New players can find it intimidating, but if I can find my groove playing Starsector, so can you. I’m not even good at ship combat. I just like flying around, doing odd jobs, and occasionally embroiling myself in wars between space fascists and an army of Ted Kaczynskis.
3. Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4
HE JUST DON’T MISS
This man is putting work out on an unbelievable level, and every time I play his games, I’m just amazed at his creativity and talent. The glazing will not stop; he simply cannot miss. Most of what I have to say about the new chapters were already covered by my writing on the first two for my 2023 list. Great gameplay, fantastic music, gripping writing, and laugh-out-loud moments continue to be provided here.
Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up playing Legend of Zelda, but I wasn’t crazy about the 8-bit top-down gameplay that composes a big chunk of Chapter 3. The MST3K-style presentation of these bits are great, though, and provide wonderful character moments for the party. The two final bosses of this chapter are ACE. Tenna’s WarioWare mini-games rule, and the music for this fight is perfect (Toby Fox was my number 2 artist on Spotify this year).
The twist at the end and the shift in tone Deltarune takes for chapter 4 is handled well and 100% warranted for the narrative pacing of the project. I must say, however, I missed the memorable cast of side-characters we are often introduced to on these adventures. Gerson and Jackenstein are great, but there aren’t quite enough unique encounters to break up the pace. The discrepancies between the normal route and “weird route” have also decreased dramatically, other than for the exceptional Light World segment at Noelle’s house between chapters.
At this point, I’m nitpicking. 3 & 4 are fantastic additions, and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the story of this game to unravel. Fox has done a tremendous job teasing and keeping the secrets of this game’s world and its cast, and I love the ride I’m being taken on. I also want to shout out my friend Jake, who loves to DRIVE HIS CAAAAAAAAAR RIGHT AFTER A BEEEEEEEEEER
2. Yakuza 0
My first experience with this luminary franchise was the complete and total slog that was Yakuza 3. Maybe it was because I was too young or not enough of a weeb, but I absolutely forced myself to finish that game on PS3. All I remember is having to save an orphanage and fighting a bull. It did not charm me, and I stayed away from this series for quite some time.
My tag team partner and consort, Mason Madden, adores Yakuza. After we got booked for a match in Nihon (That’s Japanese for Japan, gaijin) by GOATed pro wrestling promotion DDT, he encouraged me to give the series another try. His opinion matched the online consensus, which was that if I had any hope of getting into this franchise, it would be through Yakuza 0. Well, they were 100% right! What a wonderful journey this game takes the player on. It truly is a roller coaster of emotions, as the main narrative paints an epic, dramatic tale of betrayal, ambition, and redemption… while sub-stories have you coaching a dominatrix on how to improve her degradation skills, or helping Steven Spielberg direct Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video by fighting zombies.
Typically, this kind of tonal whiplash would work against the game as a whole. From being framed for murder and unearthing the conspiracy around it to winning a pet chicken at a bowling alley and assigning it as the rent collector in a property management mini-game… To quote Todd the God, it just works. I can’t really explain it. I’m fully immersed in the trials and tribulations of these characters, regardless of what outlandish hijinks they get up to outside the critical path. Maybe it’s due to the raw charisma of the game’s excellent dual protagonists. It also helps that it’s almost never a chore to engage in Yakuza 0’s core gameplay loop. Kicking ass, especially in main story missions, is always brutal and satisfying.
There’s also this.
DO NOT PLAY THIS SHIT IN PUBLIC!
1. Hollow Knight: Silksong
- You know I had to do it to em.
Nearly seven years of waiting. I legitimately had to forget that this game was in development. I forced myself to purge the knowledge of this project for as long as possible until I knew there was an end in sight. I was barely able to legally rent a car when this game was announced, and now I am a father in my 30s with two children. Silksong famously became known as the game that perhaps would never be finished, only for the release date to be announced a mere two weeks before the game would come out, for NINETEEN DOLLARS AND NINETY NINE CENTS. These guys are FUCKED in the head.
Anyway, it’s brilliant. One of the few things that irked me about Hollow Knight was how finicky platforming could be. I’m happy to say that mobility has been improved by leaps and bounds since the first game. A wide array of tools, both for combat and platforming, greatly expand your list of verbs and make both types of challenges much more dynamic. It also makes exploration a dream, enhancing the experience of seeing what this new haunted kingdom has to offer. The added speed and maneuverability make many boss fights more like a dance, and the best of battles in this game lean into that direction.
The worst battles of this game, however, throw a bunch of shit at you and fill the screen with adds that take away multiple masks of health despite being tiny! BUT… For every Savage Beastfly and Groal The Great, you get a First Sinner, Cogwork Dancers, Karmelita, Phantom, Lost Lace… There are so many genuinely great boss encounters that the few outliers can’t soil the experience. Most importantly of all, Silksong takes you on a journey. I’ve employed that description for many great games because to me, that is what most great games do. If I lie in bed at night and think, “I wonder what new things I will see and do in this game when I play it tomorrow?” then you will have a game that remains near and dear to my heart, forever. That is Silksong. Every new area was a revelation, especially when I had figured that surely I’d seen everything there is to see on the world map.
Narratively, it is the Bloodborne to Hollow Knight’s Dark Souls, and like its predecessor, it wears that inspiration on its sleeve. Hollow Knight was the story of an unknown warrior battling maddened husks in an expired kingdom well past its prime, seeking to take the place of a corrupted martyr in order to preserve the world. Silksong is the story of a hunter (lol) in an expired kingdom well past its prime, fighting enemies who have lost self-control due to their self-imbuing of a higher being’s essence for healing purposes. Interesting, eh?
That’s my list! I know a bunch of great games came out this year, so look forward to reading about those for my GOTY list in like six to seven years. Happy New Year! Watch AEW Dynamite every Wednesday night on TBS and Collision every Saturday on TNT!
