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Over the next eight days, Hardcore Gamer will be revealing its Best of 2023 Awards leading up to our Game of the Year. Today we present you with the Best of Story, Soundtrack, Performance, Technical Graphics and Artistic Design.
Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake II features two protagonists, Alan Wake and newcomer Saga Anderson, as the two come together for a story that continues to dig deeper as the game progresses. Just when you think you have an idea of how the plot is going, something comes out of left field to completely open up things even further. Saga uses a story board like an investigator would, as she’s an FBI agent. Clues need to be matched up to progress the story. Wake ends up rewriting his own reality in real time and this translates over to gameplay and it’s quite unique. Character switching also comes into play to shake up the storytelling and the two cross paths at points. The idea of the lingering in the background of the cult and the location selection benefits both the psychological and environmental horror that this game does so well. The actors help to sell this story as well to ensure players become encompassed into this world.
Runner-Ups
Final Fantasy XVI
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The Talos Principle II
Void Stranger
The Final Fantasy series has no shortage of award-winning soundtracks, and its sixteenth iteration is no exception. Composed primarily by Masayoshi Soken, the mastermind behind Final Fantasy XIV’s music, Final Fantasy XVI features a beautifully-scored soundtrack. Whether it’s in the heat of battle or somber moments, there’s a massive variety of music to be found, all of it perfectly fitting the settings and scenarios. The main theme alone will have you enraptured from the get go. This is an RPG that goes hard in every category, whether it’s customizing Clive’s load out to fit your play style or the fantastical world that was built, there’s a lot to like here. But while it has all of these great traits, it’s the soundtrack that stands out above everything, immersing the player in such a war-torn world where little moments of quiet and serenity are a blessing. There are quite a few amazing soundtracks this year, but Final Fantasy XVI stands at the top.
Hi-Fi Rush
El Paso, Elsewhere
Thirsty Suitors
With Alan Wake II taking our Best Performance category, it was a sum of all the characters in this game that helped to convey not only the story, but the atmosphere itself. The delivery in certain scenes is excellent and a group of actors and actresses that took to their roles in this game helped to achieve something special. Ilkka Villi, Melanie Liburd, Sam Lake, David Harewood, Shawn Ashmore and more are just some of the people to make their marks on this unique psychological horror. Then there’s the Old Gods of Asgard, who in real life are a Finnish metal band known as the Poets of the Fall, and could garner their own award for lending their musical talents to a game like this. Strangely, the chapter featuring them in a music video ends up fitting wonderfully due to its psychological nature.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
This year has been phenomenal for the technical graphics category. Whether it’s the vast open world of a beloved superhero or a visual spectacle that James Cameron would be proud of, 2023 houses true next-generation showcases. It comes as a surprise that the winner of this category isn’t some new release that pushes the platforms to their limit, but instead a remake of one of the best games of the Xbox 360 era. Motive Studios has taken the cinematic horror we loved from the over decade old release and completely reworked it for the current generation. It features some of the best lightning in any game we’ve seen, and it’s only amplified and complimented due to the fact it’s built for a horror game. While the monsters looked disgusting before, it pales in comparison to what we saw this year. The attention to detail in not only these models but the world and characters were unmatched. We truly felt immersed in this disturbing and nightmarish world.
Alan Wake II
Forza Motorsport
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
One of the key screenshots used to promote Hi-Fi Rush is that of a moment early on where our hero, Chai, gets propelled into the air, gets a look at the immense metropolis-esque Vandelay Campus spread out in front of him, and lets our a visible “Whoa…” It’s appropriate given that was also the reactions of many players – including us – upon seeing the visual flair in action. Given the comical tone of the game and the emphasis on all sorts of insane action, Tango Gameworks wisely decided to approach things with a comic book-inspired motif, with cel-shaded graphics, visible sound effects and attack impacts, and a vibrant style that makes everything pop out while still giving each of Vandelay’s departments its own unique look, not to mention the terrific character designs, helping to craft a world where anarchy and the corporate Silicon Valley life collide. It’s a style that some have compared to classics such as Jet Set Radio in the best possible way, and one that we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Have a Nice Death
Sea of Stars
Continue to Day 2 →
