Coming in at #7 on my ranking of games I played for first time in 2023 is:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Originally, I had this as my #6 and a different one as #7, but ultimately think I enjoyed the other a little bit more than I did this one, so that's why I changed it up.
Now, let's start with getting the cat out of the bag, yes, this is basically just revamp Breath of the Wild to most, but as someone who never finished Breath of the Wild (mainly because lost my copy of it,) I thoroughly enjoyed this tears of the kingdom experience. I found the story was quite nice, the shrines/puzzles were a good touch, adding some challenge. As well, some of the bosses/enemies also proved to be a challenge if didn't have right weapons or armor upgrades. Then each temple was also pretty unique, as well as the sky islands, found that to be a nice touch.
When it comes to the tools you have available, autobuild and fuse are fairly awesome, alongside ascend, which is pretty handy. Saw myself probably using fuse and ascend the most throughout the game, with odd time of ultra hand use. Just having the option to fuse things together, made for some wonderful creations to be done, and just made the experience that much more smoother, while also giving the player some use of creativity.
Overall, I heavily enjoyed this Zelda experience, but I had to knock it down a couple because I didn't feel enough separated it from Breath of the Wild. Of course, I would still recommend giving this one a shot though if Zelda is your thing
Ranks:
7th: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
8th: Persona 3 Portable
9th: Ori and the Will of the Wisps
10th: Pokemon Emerald Rogue
11th: Sonic Frontiers
12th: Detective Pikachu Returns
13th: Process of Elimination
14th: Pokemon Too Many Types
15th: Pac-Man World Re-Pac
16th: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
17th: Survivor Castaway Island
Coming in at #8 on my ranking of games I played for first time in 2023 is:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Persona 3 Portable
Ah, this was my very first taste of the Persona 3 era of this series, and I got to say I heavily enjoyed my experience with it. First off, the story was done fairly nicely, focusing on more of a dark tone, instead of being light hearted, which definitely made it hit ya in the gut a few times throughout the game.
Then it comes to the characters, first off got the SEES people who are all great, even the more rival characters are awesome. As well, the protagonists are pretty rad, especially fact that have option to play as FeMC. However, let's be real, the best characters come from the confidants in my opinion, with one specific guy carrying the confidants on his back. I didn't experience the full storyline of that confidant in my playthrough, but still did some of it, then watched rest on youtube to see the full story unfold, and yea that definitely was gut wrenching to say the least, but I absolutely love him.
Overall, this was definitely a fun, yet emotion inducing persona game, and I would definitely recommend giving Persona 3 a shot. Probably best to wait until Persona 3 Reload drops in February though just for better visual experience, to make the story hit even harder, and I know I will be grabbing that on release date to play through Persona 3 again.
Ranks:
8th: Persona 3 Portable
9th: Ori and the Will of the Wisps
10th: Pokemon Emerald Rogue
11th: Sonic Frontiers
12th: Detective Pikachu Returns
13th: Process of Elimination
14th: Pokemon Too Many Types
15th: Pac-Man World Re-Pac
16th: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
17th: Survivor Castaway Island
Coming in at #9 on my ranking of games I played for first time in 2023 is:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps
This was my first time ever playing a game of the Ori series, after being recommended it by Julian one day when I was in itch to play an indie/platformer type ordeal, and I just want to say I absolutely loved it. The platforming sections were all great, the world/environment was awesome to look at, and the characters were all swell.
This was another of those games, where it had some emotional moments, but it was just done so nicely, and there was a little bit of difficulty to the game as well. Not really too much else to say about it, but I would still recommend giving it a try, and at some point, I definitely want to try out Ori and the Blind Forest to get more of the Ori feel.
Ranks:
9th: Ori and the Will of the Wisps
10th: Pokemon Emerald Rogue
11th: Sonic Frontiers
12th: Detective Pikachu Returns
13th: Process of Elimination
14th: Pokemon Too Many Types
15th: Pac-Man World Re-Pac
16th: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
17th: Survivor Castaway Island
Coming in at #10 on my ranking of games I played for first time in 2023 is:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Pokemon Emerald Rogue
Ah, the other rom hack of Emerald on my list, and this one I enjoyed a fair bit more than Too Many types. However, will say this one is more of a roguelike style of Emerald, where routes/paths change each time you start a new game, and I think just that alone is what made me love it more, because each playthrough is unique. As well, has gym leaders from gens 1-3, but got bit more variety in terms of the pokemon you can encounter if I remember correctly, and even with the gym leaders, they can be in whatever order, so you could end up battling like Claire first and Chuck last, instead of the generic order. Overall, if you're into roguelikes and Pokemon, I would recommend this game, but if the usual style is more your thing, than I would recommend Too Many Types instead.
Ranks:
10th: Pokemon Emerald Rogue
11th: Sonic Frontiers
12th: Detective Pikachu Returns
13th: Process of Elimination
14th: Pokemon Too Many Types
15th: Pac-Man World Re-Pac
16th: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
17th: Survivor Castaway Island
Honestly, I just want to start by saying this could have easily made my top 10, but I felt the other 10 games I have remaining on my ranking didn't feel right going out in this spot, while this one did.
Let's start with how this game worked, well basically it's like an open world Sonic game, where you have free range to go where ever you want for most part. Sure, there are some unlockables if I remember correctly just to access some levels, but for most part, you can explore the world at your own desire, take on mini bosses/enemies throughout each area outside of levels, and then is also some puzzle solving elements too, which I liked just for added variety.
Then it came to the story, which wasn't quite as exciting, but still left me feeling sad at the end game after the credits rolled, then the sadness turned to joy post credits. Was quite a roller coaster of emotions, especially when it comes to it being a Sonic game. Overall, I heavily enjoyed this Sonic style, and I'd gladly return to it in future when I get in the Sonic type of mood. I highly recommend giving this game a shot if Sonic is your thing
Ranks:
11th: Sonic Frontiers
12th: Detective Pikachu Returns
13th: Process of Elimination
14th: Pokemon Too Many Types
15th: Pac-Man World Re-Pac
16th: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
17th: Survivor Castaway Island
Now, this one was pretty short and sweet, just basically trying to help Tim and Detective Pikachu solve cases more or less. Definitely a nice casual game that I didn't mind playing through, not sure if it's something I'll go back to or not, but I still liked the experience of it. Whether it was destroying rocks with riding a Galarian Darmanitan, or seeing through walls with Luxray x-ray vision, or just out right solving cases, was a fairly chill time. I always wanted to try out this series, and glad I did, even if it may be one of those pokemon spin offs that I may not look too much into in future.
Ranks:
12th: Detective Pikachu Returns
13th: Process of Elimination
14th: Pokemon Too Many Types
15th: Pac-Man World Re-Pac
16th: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
17th: Survivor Castaway Island
