From rural bathhouse sims to early-00s internet nostalgia and environmentalist fables \u2013 in a year full of brilliant games, our critics pick 33 that may have passed you by
Battle royale games have been done to death. But this year, one vital addition entered the arena: head-banging pigeons. Aside from creating hilarious Twitch fodder, this heady mix of rhythm game and multiplayer battler makes for a series of deliriously fun pick-up-and-play minigames, in fine feather. Bex April May
<\/em><\/span> PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch
Could this be one of the most unique puzzle mechanics ever? Viewfinder sees you take in-game photos, hold them up, and appear in your in-game reality, manipulating the space around you. It works beautifully, capturing fun and creativity in equal measure. All you need to do is focus. BAM
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 5, PC
Think Lemmings meets a twinkly Victorian toy box, as fantastical as you\u2019d expect from the people behind Fable. Find increasingly inventive ways to guide a troop of tiny tin soldiers to their goal, with a narrative that will break your heart as easily as a toy soldier tumbling off a table. BAM
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest 2
Jusant is a significant departure from Don\u2019t Nod\u2019s previous Life is Strange games, eschewing dialogue and characters for a meditative climb through lost cultures and alien biomes toward a towering peak. This wonderfully paced, relaxed but engaging adventure has all the reserved beauty and magic of a Team Ico game. Nic Reuben
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC
Gubbins is a moreish mobile word game that extrapolates Scrabble into a chaotic contemporary challenge where you chase high-scores on a malleable board, adapting to a litany of gamechanging linguistic creatures. Blending silliness with educational merit, Gubbins is bettered by its viral-friendly endgame, where you attempt to create the most absurd postcard possible from your word salad. Sarah Thwaites
<\/span> <\/em>iOS, Android
Built with the bones of the 2014 Yakuza game of the same name, Like a Dragon: Ishin! pairs its developer\u2019s irreverent comedy with paraphrased Japanese history lessons and plenty of close-quarters brawling, taking us back to the Edo period. Packed with knowing character cameos and even a Bakumatsu Don Quixote, Ishin rejigs an eclectic, emotionally charged Yakuza spin-off for the series\u2019 growing western audience. ST
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC
You\u2019d think a game that took cues from Bloodborne and Castlevania would be caught in some sort of pastiche hinterland, doomed to pale mimicry in the gothic shadows of the titans looming above it. But The Last Faith draws from its source material with a discerning eye, knowing exactly which elements to emulate \u2013 and which to discard. A must-play for anyone that found Blasphemous<\/a> a little too overbearing. Dom Peppiatt
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch
Wo Long dares ask the question: \u201cwhat if the Romance of the Three Kingdoms were told by a horrible masochist?\u201d Following on from Team Ninja\u2019s Nioh series, Wo Long strikes out from the confines of the \u201cSouls-like\u201d genre, firmly establishing the Japanese studio as an alternative to FromSoft for people who like their games difficult, digressive and daft. DP
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC
The lovechild of dungeon-crawling RPGs and mini golf, Ant Workshop\u2019s Dungeon Golf is just as fun as that sounds. While the RPG trappings are entertaining, it\u2019s the care which the developer has put into ball physics and level design that shines through. It also boasts a wicked sense of humour, cringeworthy golfing puns aside. Graeme Mason
<\/span> <\/em>PC
Fans of dystopian cinema and classic 16-bit games such as Another World and Flashback should lap up Full Void\u2019s gloomy atmosphere and satisfying 2D platform-hopping. It\u2019s a timely release, too, with its story about a rogue AI keeping humanity suppressed in their homes while the outside world falls into disrepair. Gulp. GM
<\/span> <\/em>PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox
Much like the sport itself, WrestleQuest is marvellously over the top, full of wince-inducing body-slams and outrageously brash characters. It takes the player on a surprisingly epic journey, guiding rookie wrestler Muchacho Man into the big time, and is a surprisingly deep experience, even for non-wrestling fans. GM
<\/span> <\/em>PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox
It\u2019s the 1980s, there is a killer on the loose and the only person who can help is a late-night radio DJ. You control the DJ, and must use whatever information you can find to guide callers safely away from the killer. However, the game\u2019s rich vein of black humour means failure is often as rewarding as success. Lewis Packwood
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest 2
Part Pok\u00e9mon Snap, part Attenborough sim, this touching tale casts you as the biographer of a dying world. Armed with a bicycle, camera and notebook, you cycle around documenting the final days before an extinction-level event, immortalising the last glimpses of a people, landscape, and culture in your scrapbook. A calming, beautiful and poignant meditation on mortality, legacy and all we leave behind. Tom Regan
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, PC
Inspired by Playdead\u2019s Limbo and Inside, Planet of Lana reimagines the spooky side-scroller as a watercoloured tropical dream. Touched by Ghibli and artist Simon St\u00e5lenhag<\/a>, this painterly platformer sees protagonist Lana flee danger as she leaps from beach to forest, adorable alien creature in tow. After gorging on 2023\u2019s 100-hour epics, this charming afternoon-length adventure is the perfect palette cleanser. TR
<\/span> <\/em>Xbox, PC
A roguelike where you split your time between mining deep into the edifice of the game\u2019s title, seeking resources to upgrade your spider-like mech, and racing back to the surface to hop into the gunner\u2019s seat and shoot down incoming waves of aliens. All too often, your greed is your downfall in Wall World. Julian Benson
<\/span> <\/em>Nintendo Switch, PC
The only way your shipwrecked crew of misfits will escape Endless Dungeon\u2019s Bermuda Triangle-like space station is to explore its labyrinth of dark rooms. Yet every door you open risks summoning a wave of enemies to crawl out of all the dark corners of the map you\u2019ve explored so far. JB
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC, Android
A delightfully low-key real-time strategy game, Thronefall gives you control of a miniature monarch defending a kingdom from demonic assaults. You earn gold by fending off intense waves of monsters each night, and then spend your days investing those earnings in city defences and soldiers to survive the next attack. JB
<\/span> <\/em>PC
The shoot\u2019em up is the purest of all video games. For aficionados, none has bettered 2002\u2019s DoDonPachi DaiOuJou<\/a>, a masterpiece by Cave, the studio widely considered as the genre\u2019s perfecters. This loving rerelease strains with bonuses and quality-of-life improvements and represents a masterclass in how to celebrate older works while demonstrating that, in this tech-besotted medium, newer doesn\u2019t always mean better. Simon Parkin
<\/span> <\/em>Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
In this Danish, dreamlike ocean-faring adventure, you play as a ship\u2019s crew in search of a lost crewmate. Its purplish, autumnal colour scheme and sticker-book aesthetic infuse the archipelago world with a warm ambience which offsets its apocalyptic underpinnings. Stylish, thoughtful and oftentimes moving. SP
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC\/Mac
This story of a female trucker trying to take a mysterious girl home makes the most of its setting and beautiful art, to take you deep into Slavic folklore. Its choices feel meaningful and the writing is very evocative, an all-around lovely narrative snack that\u2019s too good to go underappreciated. Malindy Hetfeld
<\/span> <\/em>PC, Nintendo Switch
I love tarot cards, so when this game let me make my own, I was enthralled. The tarot-based decision-making, and especially the worldbuilding, are such high points, but as with real tarot you have to be OK with not exerting a lot of control over decisions, and just accept a bit of mysticism. MH
<\/span> <\/em>PC, Nintendo Switch
Never before has a video game so accurately portrayed what it was like to be a game nerd on the internet in the early 00s, before delivering emotional gut punches about the teenagers behind the screen thanks to brilliant character writing. Videoverse reminded me why I love games. MH
<\/span> <\/em>PC
You\u2019re a lowly worker in a corporate lab, mindlessly testing chemical products until the dystopian nature of your employer starts to become all too clear. A sort of taster for the full game, which is out next year, CorpoNation: The Prologue is an intriguing Kafka-esque sci-fi riff on Papers, Please with lots of imaginative touches. Keith Stuart
<\/span> <\/em>PC
Imagine the horror co-op squad game Phasmophobia but set in space and you pretty much have Lethal Company, a jump-scare-infested space romp where players raid dead moons for valuable scrap while avoiding nightmarish alien beasts. Compelled to take constant risks to meet your quota, it\u2019s simultaneously fun and agonisingly tense. KS
<\/span> <\/em>PC
You are a luminescent shiba inu in what seems to be the afterlife, and you have to guide a stream of ambling humans across abstract levels towards the light. The crowds of dawdling people sometimes feel quite eerie and sinister in this puzzle game \u2013 it\u2019s an arresting visual, and the puzzles stick around in your head for days. Keza MacDonald
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, PC
A watercoloured reminiscence about long summer holidays spent in France. Returning as an adult to her grandmother\u2019s house, the protagonist finds that every object is dense with memories, and must uncover family secrets as she relives her childhood. KM
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch
Spirittea is a life and resource management sim, wherein the player chucks in big city life to move to a rural town and become custodian of a bath house serving spirits from the other world. Players who loved Stardew Valley will find much to do here, and there are strange notes of EarthBound present in the crunchy, 16-bit style visuals and low-fi soundtrack. This game does not hold your hand: it is a slow burn, rewarding players who have the patience to lean into the tasks and mysteries at hand. Sarah Maria Griffin
<\/span> <\/em>Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch
2023\u2019s best first-person shooter sees you power-sliding through a cyberpunk city as a vengeance-driven cyborg with a chainsaw installed in his leg. Featuring creative weapons, hyper-kinetic combat, and levels that constantly seek to up their scope and intensity, Turbo Overkill is a relentless, outrageous delight from start to finish. Rick Lane
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch
Blending creative problem solving with a truly nerve-shredding atmosphere, Frictional Games\u2019 latest first-person horror casts you as a French first world war soldier trapped in an abandoned bunker. Armed with just a pistol and a clockwork flashlight, you must evade the creature prowling the corridors as you figure out how to escape. RL
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4, Xbox, PC
The best game yet to capture the tension of James Cameron\u2019s film, Aliens: Dark Descent involves guiding squads of colonial marines through massive top-down scenarios. You can leave a mission to recuperate at any point, but you only have limited time to complete your objectives, so success is about judging how far to push your squads before the Xenomorph threat overwhelms them. RL
<\/span> <\/em>PlayStation 4\/5, Xbox, PC
A teenage girl seeks her uncle living in a lighthouse 40 miles away. Set in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands, featuring dynamic weather and a day-night cycle, this 2-D platformer pushes the genre into newly expansive, adventurous territory. Getting lost has scarcely been such a pleasure. Lewis Gordon
<\/span> <\/em>PC, Nintendo Switch
A Japanese ghost story told in the form of a visual novel, Paranormasight\u2019s gameplay might be simple \u2013 direct the flow of conversation; solve light logic puzzles \u2013 but the circumstances behind the grisly spate of murders in the forgotten neighbourhood of Honjo are anything but. This slow-burn horror builds to a surprisingly affecting crescendo. LG
<\/span> <\/em>PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS
In this open-world adventure, you\u2019re free to explore a Pacific island however you like: run, climb, swim, and, in a twist for the genre, \u201csoul-jump.\u201d At the press of a button, the mechanic lets you inhabit practically anything: fish and bird, rock or lantern, all of which move in distinct ways. The resulting locomotion feels uniquely, joyfully boundless. LG
<\/span> <\/em>PC, PlayStation 4\/5<\/p>\n