December 2023

Platform: PlayStation 5
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release: February 29, 2024
Rating: Teen

Just as Final Fantasy VII Remake featured a predetermined endpoint – the escape from Midgar – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth players also know when their adventure will culminate in this game. The Forgotten Capital, the location that plays host to one of the most impactful moments in any video game, is the destination for the story contained within Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the original version of Final Fantasy VII.

Movic will release two Psycho-Pass replica watches based on the Wristlink from the anime series as part of its 10th-anniversary celebration. The Psycho-Pass replica watches will be available for pre-order until January 31, 2024, and are set to release on May 3, 2024. [Thanks, PR Times!]

The two Psycho-Pass replica watches are designed off of the Wristlink found in the anime series, so the face of the watch is meant to give the impression that a hologram could appear. The wristband of the watches can stretch, allowing fans to wear the watch over the sleeve of their clothing or against their skin.

The Psycho-Pass replica watches come in two styles: the Supervisor version and the Executive Officer version. The Supervisor version of the Psycho-Pass replica watch features a sleek silver design with a matte texture. It comes with a single chronograph that measures seconds.

The Executive officer version of the Psycho-Pass replica watch features a glossy black design that gives off the vibes of a handcuff. It has a simple watch face with hour, minute, and second hands. Each watch will come packed inside a box with the logo of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Safety Bureau stamped in foil on the top.

Images of the watches can be viewed below:

After a week of PlayStation, Switch, Xbox and PC awards, we’re finally here: Siliconera’s Game of the Year 2023. Will a platform champ take the crown, or is there a shot for a surprise winner? There’s only one way to find out. Come on, scroll down a little bit and see.

These awards represent the consensus of the Siliconera staff. For more of the year’s award selections, check out our Game of the Year 2023 archive.

Honkai: Star Rail

Genshin Impact developer HoYoVerse tried its hand at a more traditional JRPG experience with Honkai: Star Rail, and the result exceeded our expectations. It may not have Genshin’s fun exploration or interconnected world, but it turns out that the team’s truly stellar writing and characterization can carry a game on its own.

Baldur’s Gate III

Follow Shinobi602 for all kinds of breaking news and insider info.

2023 was a year of extremes.

Extremely great games and extremely hard times for game makers. As someone who works in video games myself, I've been incredibly lucky to have not been affected by the frankly obscene number of layoffs this year (knock on wood). I'm grateful and humbled by my fortunate position, as I've had too many hard conversations with friends and colleagues that had their careers and lives ripped out from under them, many with no warning at all.

It's sad to see an industry of wealth discard its creators with such much ease and disdain, while the ones at the top continue reaping as much profit as possible.

Let's hope the next years bear better fruit. With all that said, this was such a knockout year when it came to amazing games. I felt like I was being smacked left and right by bangers every month, a testament to all the incredible teams out there. It was so packed that I, unfortunately, was unable to get to them all in time (Alan Wake 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 to name a couple). But I did play a bunch - on Xbox, PS5, and Switch. Now I don't usually break games down into their individual parts. I don't think about what had the best combat or the best graphics or how many hours I spent playing. As I looked back, there was one simple way I went about creating this list:

What were the games stuck with me after I was done?

Hello! John here. You may know me from my work at 8-4 (and 8-4 Play!)—or if you’ve been around the sun a few dozen times, you may remember me from my days at Electronic Gaming Monthly, where I served as reviews editor in the late 90s.

This week on All Things Nintendo, we close out 2023 with a special Inbox Q&A episode featuring Brittney Brombacher from What's Good Games. Brian and Brittney cover everything from the Zelda movie to looking back on Super Mario Bros. Wonder more than two months later. Of course, before we get to that, Brian learns Brittney's history with Nintendo.

If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram/Threads @BrianPShea or Twitter @BrianPShea. You can follow Brittney on Twitter: @BlondeNerd. You can also find What's Good Games on YouTube.

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Shueisha announced that the release date for their combined Weekly Shonen Jump 6/7 Issue will be delayed in certain regions in Japan. The combined issue is scheduled to be released on January 6, 2024, but will be released later in select regions due to distribution issues. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The following regions and prefectures will receive shipments of the Weekly Shonen Jump 6/7 Issue on January 8, 2023:

• Hokkaido
• Chugoku Region
  • Tottori Prefecture
  • Shimane Prefecture
  • Okayama Prefecture
  • Hiroshima Prefecture
  • Yamaguchi Prefecture

The official Pokemon YouTube account shared a brand new Pokemon short called The Adventures of Snorlax & Cubone. The new episode is a compilation of four shorts that were initially released on social media and focused on the growing friendship of Cubone and Snorlax.

The animation is part of a larger campaign called Project Snorlax, which focuses on merchandise, comics, animations, and other promotional materials highlighting Snorlax. Directed, storyboarded, and written by Yoshimitsu Saito (visual effects on Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy, Resident Evil Zero), The Adventures of Snorlax & Cubone shows the growing friendship of Cubone and Snorlax across the four seasons.

The beginning of the short shows Cubone crying alone under a full moon during the summer when suddenly a bunch of mushrooms begin to glow under the moon's light. Cubone is drawn into the forest, where more glowing spores float around, and the Pokemon stumbles across Snorlax, who is eating piles of glowing mushrooms. This interaction begins their unlikely friendship and shows how they start to care for each other.

The animated Pokemon short can be viewed below:

Square Enix is bringing back FFXIV Heavensturn's 2023 items just ahead of their annual New Year's event, which begins on December 31, 2023. Players can purchase the Heavensturn Domaru attire and Crane Banner from the Final Fantasy XIV Online Store.

The Heavensturn Attire pack comes with the Heavensturn Domaru, Heavensturn Kote, Heavensturn Haidate, and Heavensturn Sune-ate, costing $5 USD. Square Enix describes this pack as a stylish set of armor made to commemorate Heavensturn in-game and serve as gear fit for adventuring. The armor comes in red and gold but can be dyed into alternate colors.

Images of the pack when worn can be viewed below:

Chris Kohler is the Editorial Director at Digital Eclipse (TMNT: Cowabunga Collection, Atari 50, The Making of Karateka, etc.).

Okay, let's see, how do you do this "write about video games" thing again? I did it for a long time but now I'm rusty.

I don't want you to think this is supposed to be any kind of definitive ranking of the 10 best games of 2023. I added up all the games that released in 2023 that I actually played for any significant length of time and it totaled up to 11. I'm literally two games away from not even being able to write a top 10 list.

This is a combination of a) playing new video games no longer being my job and b) children. Both of these things make me very happy. Here are ten games I was happy to play this year.

Jeff Grubb invited me to contribute to Giant Bomb’s 2023 Games of the Year article, and I immediately asked if I could cheat. (Jeff said it was fine, so don’t give me any attitude about my pick, OK?)

In 2023, I’ve spent a lot of time on a lot of different video games including some by my current employer (who shall remain nameless because I’m not a spokesperson – and whose games I didn’t nominate for conflict-of-interest reasons). But the one my heart constantly goes back to actually came out in 2020. And I assume 2020 releases generally aren’t eligible for 2023 Game of the Year kudos.

But this game wasn’t all that playable in 2020. It was so janky, you couldn’t even buy it in the PlayStation Store because Sony pulled it from its digital shelves for being crap. It took a few years, several patches, and presumably a decent amount of Xanax, but now in 2023, developer CD Projekt RED made Cyberpunk 2077 not just playable but great. Like really, really, really great.

In an interview with Famitsu, Zenless Zone Zero producer Li Zhenyu discussed how his team worked on coding the combat. He believes that he and his team have created one of the best battle systems in the current action game scene.

In our preview of the closed beta for Zenless Zone Zero, we commented on how similar the combat is to Honkai Impact 3rd's. The Famitsu interviewer asked Li how he and the team differentiated their games. He states that how heavy each hit feels, how smooth the action is, and how good it feels to play are what differs Zenless Zone Zero from Honkai Impact 3rd. The impact and sense of rhythm on-screen in battle give the player a "very exciting" experience.

Eight Bit has shared the character designs for Nagi and Reo as they’ll appear in Blue Lock: Episode Nagi. This movie will cover Team V’s time during the First Selection Arc. [Thanks, AnimeTV!]

The key visual for the two actually shows them from when they were on Hakuho High School’s soccer team. Nagi and Reo used to attend the same high school before Ego invited them to join the Blue Lock program. The school did not even have a soccer team until Reo founded it so that he could aim for his goal of winning the World Cup. Though the boys are much newer to the game than most other characters in the series, Hakuho High School never lost. It was only when they entered the Blue Lock program that the duo first experienced defeat.

You can watch the trailer for Blue Lock: Episode Nagi here:

NewGame+ is a video game news site based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. You can find their Twitch, YouTube, and podcast links via their Linktree.

Hey, I’m Alex Van Aken! I’m a multimedia video game journalist, leading Game Informer Magazine’s video team and hosting The Game Informer Show.

Before telling you about my favorite games from the last twelve months, I’d like to thank the Giant Bomb crew for inviting me to participate in this year’s end-of-year event. I started listening to the podcast in 2013, finding solace from my anxiety in the warm personalities and jokes that filled my headphones weekly. Over a decade later, I’m writing this list while flying to a mysterious location for Game Informer’s next cover story (it’s just Canada), honored to be a friend of Giant Bomb after being a fan for so many years.

Okay, I’m going to write about some video games now. These are my favorite games of 2023:

I’ve been a busy, busy man this year. I’ve been working with Null Signal on keeping Netrunner alive and well, sharpening my skills as a developer, working on my first video game(!!!), and honestly just watching way more movies and TV than I ever have before.

Here are the six games I played enough of this year to feel confident enough to add to a list that is basically a summary of the best games I played enough of this year to feel confident enough to call my best games of the year. Make sense? Good.

6. Lethal Company

These days I find it easier to game socially. After hearing the buzz on Lethal Company, I convinced a few friends to pick it up with the promise that at any moment we could initiate “BattleBit Protocol,” a term developed from the time we bought BattleBit Remastered and all simultaneously refunded the game after 30 minutes. That moment never came.

In an interview with Famitsu, Zenless Zone Zero producer Li Zhenyu talked about how he and his team crafted the world of New Eridu. He also states that the world of Zenless Zone Zero is completely separate from the pre-existing Honkai and Genshin universes.

Though Zenless Zone Zero takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, the story is anything but pessimistic. He wants to focus on human-oriented plots, as well as a sense of community and city life. He also wanted to share his childhood experiences of hanging out with his friends at the arcade, talking about movies at the video rental shop, and listening to music at the CD shop. That’s why he set the story in such an urban environment. These details were present in the closed beta as well. The Proxies run a video rental shop. Something you can do from time to time is recommending movies to customers.

HoYoVerse will be at Comiket, which will run from December 30 to 31, 2023. You’ll be able to find them selling Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail goods at Booth #2511. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

Aside from the above two games, you’ll also be able to get items based on Honkai Impact 3rd. Depending on how many items you purchase from each intellectual property, you might receive a gift. You can check out the official webpage it has for its line-up. In general, its items range from keychains to standees to mousepads.

Some more unique items are the Klee’s Jumpty Dumpty mug and a plush of Taroumaru. The mug in particular is something that you can get online from either HoYoVerse’s official shop or resellers. At 2000 JPY ($14.20), buying it directly from HoYoVerse at Comiket is a much cheaper option though. As for the Taroumaru plush, it’ll cost 3000 JPY ($21.30). If you purchase from the booth, you’ll be able to get a special bag that shows Paimon, Kiana, and March 7th. It’ll also have the “Tech Otakus Save the World” slogan. However, there's only a limited number of these bags.

Heyyyyy everybody, it's time for my list! I totally didn’t procrastinate and put this off until the very last minute!

I know that some folks out there only want to see the games and the order so we’ll get to that first. I’ll save the sappy stuff for the end!

Here’s the Stuff that Didn’t Make the List:

Netflix has shared a video detailing the making of process for Pokemon Concierge, the latest stop-motion animation set in the world of Pokemon that just released on the streaming service. The behind-the-scenes video details how Pokemon like Psyduck, Dragonite, and Pikachu were animated in the series.

The making of video covers the animation process behind the Netflix series, showing how the rigging was done for the puppeteering. Pokemon were given small details to make them more emotive and the protagonist Haru, was also given many different faces to allow her to express a variety of emotions.

Pokemon Concierge was first announced on February 27, 2023 during a Pokemon Presents as a collaboration between Netflix and The Pokemon Company, and focuses on a Pokemon resort on a tropical island. It is at this resort where Haru (JPN: Non, ENG: Karen Fukuhara) works as a concierge alongside her friends Alisa (JPN: Ai Fairoz, ENG: Imani Hakim) and Tyler (JPN: Rita Okuno, ENG: Josh Keaton) as they help humans and Pokemon guests alike enjoy their vacation.

The video of the making of Pokemon Concierge can be viewed below:

Ho ho hello! Christmas may already seem a distant memory, but we have gathered in our finest festive gear for one final treat - the Eurogamer Newscast News Quiz of the Year 2023.

A now annual tradition, the news quiz sees us look back at some of the year's more oddball news headlines and argue over who deserves the most points for remembering them. From 50 Cent to Heinz ketchup to a video game breaking the Geneva Convention - 2023 has had it all. But do you remember why?

Play along at home as we set Eurogamer's news elves - Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan - 23 questions looking back over 2023. Good luck to you all - and a very happy new year!

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Promise you won't tell the other children, but the RPS staff are actually complex magical spells cast by the Sugar Plum Fairy, as part of an age old pact with the ents of the forest where the RPS treehouse was built hundreds of years ago. Each year the Sugar Plum Fairy has to collect more wishes to power the spells every year (you can help to make the spells more powerful by joining the RPS supporter program). While she's out wish-hunting, here are some Christmas Crackers to distract you.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: Where does Basim get his car fixed?

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Welcome to my first selection box for Rock Paper Shotgun, where I get to pick my favourite games of 2023 that didn't make it into our Advent Calendar draw. In anticipation of your judgment incoming, I'd like to preface this list by saying I didn't play nearly as many games as I should have this year (something echoed by other RPS staffers). My pile of shame is ever-growing, but here are a few games I did play and actually liked.

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In recent years, RPG games in the style of Paper Mario have become a genre of its own. While I love the original Paper Mario RPGs, I find myself struggling to love most “Paperlike" games, with some notable exceptions. Born of Bread is one such exception, and while it doesn’t completely distinguish itself from its source of inspiration, it understands what made games like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door so enjoyable in the first place while trying to build on top of the original recipe.

Like the Paper Mario series, Born of Bread is light on story. The events of the game start when the Queen asks the royal baker to create an extravagant new bread dish to accompany her supper. The baker then accidentally creates a living flour golem that he names Loaf and adopts him as his own. At the same time, a group of archaeologists digging around mysterious ruins accidentally awake five mischievous demons that quickly head to the castle to restore their power. Loaf and the demons fight, starting off a journey across the land to stop them.

As we round out 2023, we asked you to chime in with your own Game of the Year picks, as well as your own memories of wonderful gaming gifts from holiday seasons past. We also give you the lowdown on a PS5 controller that promises never to raise the spectre of drift. Venture forth for this and more, and we’ll see you…

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HoYoverse has launched a new web event for Honkai: Star Rail called Fables of the Stars, which features the upcoming character Black Swan reading New Year's fortunes. Players can earn Stellar Jades and larger prizes like iPhones and Swarovski jewelry until the event ends on January 5, 2024.

The event, playable in a web browser, will require players to have reached a Trailblaze level of 4 or higher on their connected account. Participating will allow you to receive a fortune from Black Swan in the form of cards featuring various characters from the game. Collecting enough of the 14 cards in the Fables of the Stars event will award Stellar Jades for use in Honkai: Star Rail itself.

Players can then share duplicate cards with other players to complete their collections, which will also enter them into the drawing for prizes based on the character shared. Sharing Black Swan's card, for example, gives you a chance to win some Swarovski accessories while sharing Dr. Ratio's could win you a bath toy.

You can find more details on the HoYolab post or through the announcement tweet below:

American Truck Simulator is heading to Missouri for its next expansion. It'll be the first appearance of the Mississippi river in the beloved simulation game.

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I’m going to level with you, readers. Probably something like 70% of my 2023 games time was spent on precisely two co-op shooters, neither of which I’ve written about much, nor were new enough to be eligible for the most recent Advent Calendar. I apparently have a type. I’m sorry.

Still, while the man’s rules prevent me from recommending Deep Rock Galactic or Darktide, I do have a few picks that fell short of full Advent Calendar glory. And they’re all... colourful, quite short indie platformers? Hmm, maybe I have two types.

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Saints Row's 2022 reboot is currently free to keep from the Epic Games Store. It's bittersweet considering its developer, Volition, was closed down in August, but it's also an opportunity to experience the last game the 30-year-old studio got to make.

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I love the idea of annual top 10 lists until it comes time to actually make one. Then my perpetually indecisive brain freaks out about whether the game I spent 100 hours playing was actually any good, the tension between an interesting game and a fun one, and the cries of all the games I never finished or even got…

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Cyprus-based Owlcat Games forged itself a reputation for sprawling CRPG adventures with lengthy narrative branches to explore, but that have a tendency to strain under the weight of the interlocking systems. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader trades fantasy crusades for spacefaring ones, but still cleaves to the house style, for better or worse.

Though about as much has changed as stayed the same, to Owlcat's credit it feels more like a confident iteration on their preferred systems rather than simply running out of ideas. What remains is a solid scaffold to explore some of the less common themes and locales of the Warhammer setting, while what has changed feels very deliberate.

Japanese strategy guide site GameWith held a poll for everyone’s favorite Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. With close to 152,700 people who put in their vote, Meowscarada shone in first place.

You can see the full results of the unofficial poll at the GameWith website. Since the site included pictures of the Pokemon, you can understand the results even if you don’t know the Japanese names. The full results list had 100 Pokemon on it. However, we'll only show the top 20, as well as how many people voted for each.

Here are the top 20 results from the Pokemon popularity poll of Scarlet and Violet on GameWith:

1. Meowscarada (2674)
2. Fuecoco (2148)
3. Chandelure (2022)
4. Sylveon (1991)
5. Tinkaton (1896)
6. Lucario (1874)
7. Mimikyu (1815)
8. Clodsire (1773)

Escape From Tarkov's major new 0.14.0.0 update is live now. It brings with it all of the many features announced last month, including a new map, Ground Zero, designed specifically for newcomers, as well as a vaulting system, new armor and hitbox modelling, and much more.

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2023 is done! And we're ending it in the traditional manner, with the top 50 games of the last twelve months, as chosen by you. Enjoy, and we'll see you in 2024! Happy new year!

What we said: We didn't review it!

"The return of the classic," says Varghund. "Ivan says "da!'"

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Promise you won't tell the other children, but the RPS staff are actually complex magical spells cast by the Sugar Plum Fairy, as part of an age old pact with the ents of the forest where the RPS treehouse was built hundreds of years ago. Each year the Sugar Plum Fairy has to collect more wishes to power the spells every year (you can help to make the spells more powerful by joining the RPS supporter program). While she's out wish-hunting, here are some Christmas Crackers to distract you.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: What did Thor say when he saw his brother hogging the mince pies?

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Greetings all! Hope you're enjoying a Christmas with an appropriate degree of merriment. Me, I'm not. I'm angry. I'm fuming. Why? Because the RPS 2023 Advent Calendar is wrong. It's wrong, I tell you!

If all were just and right in the world, then it wouldn't have left out the following list of excellent games that came out this year! Plus a couple others that came out of early access in 2023 but which I sadly don't have time to write about in full. Trust me, The Last Spell and Against The Storm are both phenomenal games as well.

Anyway: in this handsomely decorated selection box, you'll find four of my honourable mentions for games I've enjoyed playing the most this year. If you have a hole in your Steam library, maybe these will help fill it over the Christmas break!

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My Poison Princess is Still Cute is one of the romantic comedy manga series I’m most excited about at the moment, because the premise of this Yen Press series is so delightfully simple and goofy. Each chapter is this self-contained slice building on the relationship of former enemies married as part of a political agreement, but it works because each one is such a genuinely nice and affable person who does like their spouse.

Humans and demons used to be at war, with the immortal Loren and princess Raffy being the secret weapons of both armies. As part of a peace agreement, a political arrangement was made between the two of them. It was thought to be advantageous for many reasons. Part of which being that Raffy occasionally lets off a hazardous poison mist, and Loren revives even if it kills him. 

January's PlayStation Plus titles have been confirmed: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Evil West, and Nobody Saves the World.

All three are playable on PS5, whilst the latter two – Evil West and Nobody Saves the World – are available to play on PS4, too.

All three games will be available from Tuesday, 2nd January and remain freely available to PS Plus subscribers until 5th February.

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This week, we continued taking stock of 2023 with looks back at how the Switch and the Steam Deck fared, our picks for the cream of the crop among shooters and role-playing games, and more juicy commentary on everything the year had to offer.

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"Bobby [Kotick]'s decisions made our games worse," a former Call of Duty programmer said on social media the same day Kotick completed his final day as CEO at Activision Blizzard.

"I worked on [Call of Duty] for two years as a programmer at Demonware. Bobby's decisions made our games worse," said Christina Pollock. "In my first month, it came out he threatened to have an employee killed. In the all-hands [all staff meeting] that followed, no one wanted to speak first. So I demanded his firing in front of everyone."

In a candid thread on Twitter/X, Pollock said: "I get that I am very loud and very annoying and that with my seniority and ease of other opportunities, that affords me certain protections and safety to do such things.

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