2023 was a rough year for a lot of people. But even a shitty year like this one can offer up tiny moments of happiness or wonderful trinkets that we can all enjoy for a bit before we go back to doomscrolling on whatever social media service we\u2019re using as the best Twitter replacement. We kicked off 2023 with the colorful rhythm-action game, Hi-Fi Rush<\/em><\/a><\/span> from Tango Gameworks and Bethesda. This came out of nowhere, dropping in January on Game Pass to rave reviews from critics. It\u2019s not the kind of game we\u2019d expect from Tango Gameworks, a studio that mostly puts out creepy, spooky games like Evil Within<\/em>, but that just made the surprise all the better. It was also wild to see God Of War: Ragnarok <\/em>announce new DLC<\/a><\/span> just a few days before it officially dropped via Game Awards trailer. Even wilder was the fact that the DLC ended up being massive, really good, and was free<\/a><\/span>. Seriously, Sony, you could have sold that thing. Regardless, surprises like this are fun because we get to skip the lengthy marketing cycles and jump right into the part we care about: the game. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube<\/a><\/span> now via an official upload from Alan Wake 2 <\/em>developer Remedy, and it\u2019s awesome. But if you get a chance to play Alan Wake 2<\/em>, do it. Experience this moment in-game in a dark room with headphones on and enjoy one of the coolest moments in any video in 2023. Black recently said he was surprised that the song even made it into the film, and I agree. I\u2019d never expect Nintendo to be cool enough to let something like this exist, but they surprised me and the world with \u201cPeaches.\u201d<\/a><\/span> Now I dread the sequel song that will be forced on us and won\u2019t be nearly as good. That\u2019s future Zack\u2019s problem. For now, I\u2019m going to jam out to \u201cPeaches\u201d one more time in 2023. But my favorite example of this sort of thing happened in November when Valve patched out a bug that had caused an animation to break for over a decade in Half-Life<\/em><\/a><\/span>. This came <\/em>after a massive update to Valve\u2019s iconic shooter brought it to Steam Deck and added in cut content while tweaking some other parts. Once that big Half-Life<\/em> 25th anniversary update landed, people\u2014myself included\u2014were disappointed that this well-known animation bug was still in the game\u2019s Blast Pit level. A few days later, perhaps seeing all the comments about the still-borked moment, Valve fixed it. Thanks! But the silver lining to Microsoft\u2019s now-completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is that employees there will all have a much easier time unionizing due to the tech giant\u2019s labor neutrality agreement. Whether that means the Call of Duty<\/em> publisher\u2019s existing QA union at Raven Software will finally get the contract they\u2019ve been negotiating for over a year<\/a><\/span> remains to be seen. – Ethan Gach, senior reporter<\/em>
So as we have done before<\/a><\/span>, let\u2019s highlight some of the best video game-related surprises in 2023. The stuff that makes you smile or laugh, which we all need more than ever in this hellish place we call reality. Here\u2019s our list of cool new games, awesome moments, funny video game mash-ups, and badass trailers.<\/p>\n
Hi-Fi Rush<\/em> felt fresh and new when it launched thanks to it dropping without a hint of the typical 12-month marketing campaign and bevy of teaser trailers so many other games dole out today.
But it wasn\u2019t just Hi-Fi Rush <\/em>that came out of nowhere with a surprise release. We also got a remastered Metroid Prime,<\/em> meaty God of War<\/em> DLC, and new Final Fantasy XVI<\/em><\/a><\/span> <\/em>content all out of the blue this year.
Metroid Prime Remastered<\/em> dropping the same day it was officially revealed (February 8)<\/a><\/span> basically destroyed Nintendo fans for the rest of the day as they counted down the hours until work ended and they could go home and finally play this long-awaited port.<\/p>\n
Alan Wake 2 <\/em>is a very good game. Probably one of the best to come out of 2023, which is saying something considering all the other amazing games we got this year. So the best part of Alan Wake 2 <\/em>isn\u2019t just great, it\u2019s on a whole different level compared to most stuff that happened in the last 12 months. And picking the best part is easy: the trippy musical level featuring live-action segments and intense combat<\/a><\/span>.
I vividly remember playing the \u201cHerald of Darkness\u201d musical sequence while my wife watched. At one point she asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d I didn\u2019t have an answer and just replied: \u201cNo idea, but I love it so much.\u201d And I do. I\u2019m so happy that others fell in love with this musical moment and even more happy that it ended up at The Game Awards, providing one of the few good reasons<\/a><\/span> to watch this year\u2019s terrible show.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not much to say here, as we only have a tiny teaser to go on, but even that has me excited. I can take or leave Marvel games. Sometimes they are fun, like Midnight Suns<\/em>, and other times they are slogs, like The Avengers<\/em> game.
But Arkane\u2014the studio behind Dishonored, Deathloop, and Prey<\/em>\u2014making a Blade<\/a><\/span> game set in Paris is a damn near perfect pitch and I\u2019m hyped to see more. It\u2019s also interesting that this will be a third-person adventure, a departure from Arkane\u2019s first-person past. What will that mean? I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m ready to find out.
I know some people out there are likely tired of Jack Black\u2019s hit song \u201cPeaches\u201d from the massively successful Super Mario Bros Movie<\/em>. I get it. But I\u2019m not tired of the jaunty little ditty\u2014no, it makes me smile every time I hear it.
Perhaps I just love Jack Black too much, but this short song is easily the best thing to come out of an otherwise bland animated film. Seeing Jack Black dressed up as fancy Bowser in the music video<\/a><\/span> is excellent and also might awaken some things in some folks\u2026hmmm. I also need to shout out his recent remix and extended version<\/a><\/span>, which is also good, too.<\/p>\n
12 years<\/a><\/span> after the first Grand Theft Auto V<\/em><\/a><\/span> trailer was released and a decade after that game launched with massive sales, we finally got our first official look<\/a><\/span> at the next entry in Rockstar\u2019s long-running franchise. Sure, it won\u2019t be out until 2025, and the trailer is pretty dang short and doesn\u2019t reveal much about what the upcoming sequel will be about, but none of that matters\u2014it\u2019s vibey
Instead, it\u2019s just nice after all this time to at last have a name, a date, and some screenshots to look at while we wait. The last few years saw a cottage industry<\/a><\/span> appear on YouTube of people sharing fake leaks, false rumors, and other lies. Now, all that\u2019s over and we move into the next phase of GTA <\/em>hype: More waiting<\/a><\/span>.
I don\u2019t expect developers to update old games to fix ancient bugs. They don\u2019t have the time, resources, or even sometimes access to go back and patch up older titles. I get it. But when it does happen, it\u2019s a welcome surprise.
For example, in 2023 we saw this happen a few times. Mojang went and fixed a decade-old typo in Minecraft<\/em><\/a><\/span>. A similar situation happened with World of Warcraft Classic<\/em><\/a><\/span>. Blizzard finally, after 15 years, updated a typo that caused one of the game\u2019s weapons to be more powerful than intended.<\/p>\n
Every year people buy video game consoles at stores like Walmart and Target. That\u2019s not really news. What is news and endlessly funny to me is that in 2023 someone bought a brand new, still-sealed Wii U from a retail store. It\u2019s true!<\/a><\/span>\u00a0
I like to think some random store employee found the Wii U boxed up in some backroom, brought it out, and placed it on a shelf. And when someone walked in and spotted it they probably did a double take and promptly bought Nintendo\u2019s not-so-successful home console. It\u2019s nice to know that an abandoned (probably lonely) Wii U finally has a home in 2023.
The video game industry\u2019s union push isn\u2019t dead yet. In fact, it seems to be growing. Slowly but surely, more shops across more studios and publishers<\/a><\/span> are organizing for better working conditions. CD Projekt Red and Avalanche Studios both formed unions in Poland and Sweden respectively. Part-time Starfield<\/em> testers were let into the ZeniMax union at Microsoft. Indie studio Tender Claws was the first group to actually successfully negotiate its first contract, a binding document that codifies things like pay, benefits, and career advancement. And a group of roughly 200 marketing staff, community managers, localizers, and testers at Sega of America formed the industry\u2019s first cross-disciplinary union.
Every labor movement comes with setbacks. Unionized testers at contracting agency Keywords Studios were laid off after BioWare dropped their contract. They recently picketed at the Dragon Age<\/em> and Mass Effect<\/em> studio for their old positions back, accusing Keywords of union-busting<\/a><\/span>. And Sega workers filed an unfair labor charge against the Sonic and Persona publisher for threatening to offshore 100 of their jobs over unionizing<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I just need a silly video and a good laugh. And this year one YouTube account provided me with that consistently: Eli_handle_b.wav. Yes, not the most catchy name out there, but what this user is producing is some of the funniest<\/a><\/span> and best video game mash-ups<\/a><\/span> I\u2019ve ever seen.
I was going to link to a recent one, but right before I started writing up this post Eli_handle went and uploaded another mash-up that combines Dr. Evil and Fallout 4<\/em>. It\u2019s wonderful<\/a><\/span>.
What I love about these videos<\/a><\/span> is not only how technically flawless they are, but how the creator understands how to make something funny using moments from both the games and live-action material. A great example can be found in that Dr. Evil video when the villain introduces Random Task\u2014a knockoff of Bond\u2019s Oddjob\u2014and it\u2019s revealed to be Preston Garvey aka that NPC that is constantly giving your randomly generated quests. Perfect. No notes. Keep up the good work Eli_handle_b.wav.
You\u2019d expect a new Bethesda game would be the biggest RPG of the year, but nope. Instead, it was Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em><\/a><\/span>, which officially launched earlier this year to rave reviews. We\u2019ve written a lot about the game already on the site and you should check out those posts, too<\/a><\/span>.
What I wanted to talk about here is how incredible it was to see a turn-based, PC-focused, Dungeons & Dragons<\/em> game developed by an independent studio and released via early access explode like the latest Call of Duty <\/em>or GTA<\/em>.
Everyone I knew was playing it. Everyone online was sharing screenshots. Everyone was talking about all the people they were digitally fucking in the game.
It was wild to watch and a reminder successful games don\u2019t always need flashy years-long marketing campaigns featuring big stars and Super Bowl ads. Instead, sometimes, you can just make a really good game that people want and you\u2019ll sell millions of copies. And maybe end up inspiring a lot of erotic fan fiction<\/a><\/span>.
Any big 2023 video game surprises we missed? What unexpected developments got you all excited this year?<\/p>\n