Giant Bomb

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the site-related news and best community creations from the previous week! For those of you that have enjoyed Giant Bomb's previous live events and panels, the staff's PAX East plans have been officially announced via the PAX schedule and it looks like a back-to-back PAX panel on Friday night, March 22nd, at PAX East! The staff will be hosting a live in-person VMDT and then follow it up with Dandoko Dare live!

Noted Detroit sports fan Jeff Grubb made a guest appearance on the Remap podcast to talk about the Lions' miracle season and the absolute heartbreak of how their season ended. For those of you that enjoy the NFL, this is obviously right up your alley.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations and site-related news from the previous week!

It's weird to say this, but this week marks the 15th anniversary of the Giant Bomb Persona 4 Endurance Run! It is undoutedly one of the most important, foundational video series in the site's history. Feel free to chime in about still naming your video game protagonists "Charlie Tunoku" or watching the series a second or third time? Do you have a favorite moment? The "I looooove them balls" moment still gets me to this day!

First and foremost, let's give @pugtato a HUGE "THANK YOU" for shelling out the cash to get Brian Cox to record their now legendary Cameo for Mike Miquanchi. It's simply incredibly seeing what all of you goofballs are willing to do to show your love for this website.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the latest travelogue entitled Catch Me if You Dan, but there were some people asking about the impromptu reaction stream that Jan organized where other staffers watched Dan's travel video for the first time. While this promotional stream will not be formally archived on the site or YouTube, you can still catch it on the Giant Bomb twitch account.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations from the last week.

First, as some of you are aware, multiple employees at GameSpot and Fandom were laid off last week. As Grubb and others have stated, these layoffs have not impacted any of the personnel associated with Giant Bomb, but some people let go were personal friends and associates to the staff. Please be considerate and reach out on social media to those still looking for help and support.

For reasons that are still unknown, notifications on Giant Bomb have been up and down. I actually had a meeting with the reps from Fandom last week and they indicated that previously, the notification system was busted across multiple sites and not Giant Bomb. This issue appears to be fixed, but feel free to let me or @dtoast know if it breaks again.

Speaking of that meeting, the topic of the video player came up and while I cannot divulge too much, I can affirm that resources and manpower is being relocated to address this problem. Likewise, while I cannot reveal everything, there are some ideas on how to get new traffic on the boards and site. I'm not going to say any of these ideas will get things back to a self-perceived "glory days", but it is something that's being discussed and will be tested in the future.

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations and site-related news from the previous week.

Another week in 2024 down; another week of devastating layoffs in the gaming industry. For those of you impacted by these cuts and corporate redundancy efforts, know that you are loved and deserve an industry that does not swallow you into a dysfunctional relationship.

As mentioned last week, Giant Bomb will be attending PAX East in 2024! The hope is to have at least two Giant Bomb-related panels, but things are still in progress. The new news this week is that Tamoor will be joining the Giant Bomb staff in attending the event.

Last week, someone asked about DICE and if there would be any coverage of the event on the site. I got word from Jan that Tam and Lucy are definitely going and will be chatting with folks. Maybe you will see some things from them, but that seems like the ceiling.

Earlier this week, some people were wondering if non-commercial use of Giant Bomb's API, especially for video apps, was being changed as per new management and I got a hard confirmation that the API policy hasn't changed. If you need your API key fixed or reset, contact support.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations from the last week as well as the site-related news!

After a slight notification hiccup, Niki Grayson's 2023 GOTY list is up on the site. It is a great read that you should all check out especially those of you that feel unfamiliar with them.

This week marked the season finale of JeffJeff’s Bizarre Adventure: The Cowboy Bebop Gaiden. Over on our sister-site, GameSpot, Tam and Lucy announced that their show Spot On was renewed for a second season. If you missed the first season of their roundtable show, here's a link to a playlist.

Giant Bomb will be attending PAX East in 2024! The hope is to have at least two Giant Bomb-related panels, but things are still in progress. Also be aware for those of you planning to attend, all PAX East 2024 attendees (including Enforcers, exhibitors, staff, etc.) are strongly suggested to wear a face mask at all times while at the show. You will not be required to wear a mask, nor will you be required to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

It’s nuts that I’m writing a Game of the Year list. After getting laid off from Fanbyte last year, I kinda thought that I was done with these. Not in a bad way, mind you – but I thought that my window on having a voice about video games was closed.

I worked at Fanbyte for 3.5 years. I miss that website and team every day. I ran our internship program, which produced three incredible alums over the course of its run. A lot of what I tried to do with that program was answer big questions. Why does the industry work the way it does? Who are the people who you can trust? Who are the teams in this business that are doing the work in a way that is sustainable and healthy? There’s no playbook for working in an industry that is as diseased as this one. There isn’t one for working in video games either. To work at the intersection of those two things?

Good fuckin’ luck.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations from the week. But, let's talk about some site-related news first!

First and foremost, let's give a big round of applause for @marino for organizing and tabulating this year's edition of the Giant Bomb Community GOTY voting! The results are in and congratulations to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for taking first place after over 700 of you voted. You can see a lot more stats and details in Marino's results post.

The notification system on the site should be fixed! If you @ someone, they should get a ping/notification that you said something to them. You should also be getting updates about reviews, blogs, and lists your friends posted on the site!

@dtoast has an update on what steps he has taken to report and advocate for a quick remedy to the current issues with the site's video players. It's not a massive update, but they do want you to know that he continues to bring up the problems you are reporting in every meeting and continuing to file reports about problems helps him strengthen his case.

As the final piece of the 16th Annual Giant Bomb Game of the Year, we are here to review the results of the community's vote. Before we get started, I want to give a shoutout to @rorie for keeping this tradition going for the last seven years and to @thatfrood who took it upon himself to run the voting process on his own for many years before that.

Over 700 people voted this year for a total of over 6100 votes (not everyone fills out all ten slots). Within those 6100+ votes, 647 different games were named. Today, we're going to look at the Top 50.

Last year, Elden Ring straight up destroyed the competition with nearly triple the weighted score of God of War Ragnarök in second place. But, as you'll see below, this year's race was a little bit tighter.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the latest community creations from the previous two weeks and for the first time in 2024!

This weekend marks the end of Giant Bomb GOTY 2023 content on the site. If you have enjoyed the return of the Guest Lists, please send a HUGE "THANK YOU" to @marino! He put in hours of hard work editing lists and adding media to them to make them beautiful! So, if the return of guest lists brought you joy, thank him for transforming them from Word docs and emails to what you see today.

The Community GOTY results will be posted on Sunday as the true ending of GOTY 2023.

Speaking of which, Marino published a new blog that breaks down all of the cool stats associated with the Giant Bomb staff's GOTY lists as well as some fun stats associated with the guest lists. Did you know that both Grubb AND Jan made changes to their GOTY lists? Yep! Their lists are different from what they said in LA. Learn all about it by clicking that link!

Kenny Omega is one of the co-founders of All Elite Wrestling and has held more championships than you can count. He's @KennyOmegaManX on Twitter.

Austin Creed is a member of the 12-time Tag Team Championship-winning crew known as The New Day. He is also the host of the gaming YouTube channel UpUpDownDown. He's @austincreedwins on Twitter.

An introduction to me, Kevin Zuhn

Hey there! I’m Kevin Zuhn, the creative director and head writer at Young Horses Games. My notable work includes Bugsnax and Octodad: Dadliest Catch, which you’ve probably watched a steamer play at some point.

When it comes to games, I have a voracious appetite. By my count, in the year of 2023 I played over 170 games in total. How do I do it? I pretend it’s research!

But having played what my friends and coworkers call an ‘upsetting amount of games’ I find it harder than ever to narrow things down to a Top 10. After all, if I’d only played 10 games this year, the list would write itself! So this is me digging deep into what I love and what I find value in, and I hope that you find value in these games, too.

Triple-A Tentpoles!

Look, do you really need me to tell you that the biggest, most successful, and most beloved games of this year were good?

…You do??

Well alright, then.

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:

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.

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.

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.

*Portions of Jeff Bakalar’s list were outsourced to his next of kin.

**While it didn’t come anywhere close to making my list this year, I just wish to say “Atomic Heart” out loud.

🎶 Mike Minotti... Mike Mike Minotti... 🎶

10. Cocoon

Cocoon reminds me of those indie games from the Xbox Live Arcade days. It has a simple idea that it adds complexity to throughout a short, well-paced journey. And even though this is a game all about puzzles, it somehow also has some of the best boss fights of the year.

I played this on my Switch when I was feeling a bit of handheld RPG fatigue, and it hit the spot better than a Diet Dr. Pepper from the Arby’s soda fountain.

"2023 was a crazy year for gaming". I'm sure at this point, you're tired of that phrase and its infinite variations. So let me spice up this intro a bit:

Man, 2023 was a crazy year for me to start working in games media.

Back in January, I was putting most of my efforts into Twitch streams that were lucky to get a dozen viewers (shoutouts to anyone who showed up for Mario Mondays) and making silly YouTube videos with a certain Frequent Leaker and his Disney-loving cohost. Now, I'm... Well, working alongside said Frequent Leaker, his Disney-loving cohost, and a whole team of absolutely incredible people. Hell, I even put this article into Giant Bomb's content management system myself because, to quote one of the biggest duds of the year that won't make it anywhere near this list, "that is something I do now".

One last sappy thing before we begin:

Thank you.

You, reading this right now. If my saccharine introduction hasn't driven you away yet, it means you care at least some amount about what I have to say. That's still wild to me. I can't believe that I'll put out a goofy edit for socials and people will tell me that they loved it, or that I'll be chilling in a Twitch chat I've frequented for years and someone will identify me as "TurboShawn from Giant Bomb". Seriously: Words can't express how much it means to me that people like what I do.

Love y'all. Now, let's talk about some games.

There is a possibility that if you have heard of accessibility in games, you might have a picture in your mind that equates somehow to “easy mode,” something that makes the game less difficult to those with disabilities so they can play games like Elden Ring or Lies of P. But what if I told you that is not true, and some games that came out in 2023 prove that wrong?

I am Steve Saylor, an accessibility consultant and content creator in the video game space. I’ve been honored to work with amazing studios such as Naughty Dog, Ubisoft, and Xbox. You might have seen me on the GB Couch once or twice. The fine folks at Giant Bomb have asked me to give them a Game Of The Year List, and their instruction was, “Make it whatever you want.” So my list is not necessarily the accessible game of the year for 2023, but the “Challenge Accepted” Accessible Game Of The Year List in 2023.

Meet Julie Muncy, former contributor at Wired.com and present video game and narrative design consultant working for firms like Hit Detection. We were asked to tell you that she is, in fact, very charming and pretty.

Well, haven't done this in a while. Thanks to Giant Bomb, I am making my triumphant (?) return to Game of the Year lists after a several year absence from video game writing. As such, please bear with me, as I no longer understand where I am or what I'm doing. What year is this?

Okay. Okay. I can do this. Let's go.

Hey, it’s ya boy, Jesse Vitelli, A.K.A Young Elmo. I’m here to run down my top ten games of the year, but I’d like to say a few words before we do that.

While it’s been an excellent year for video games, it’s also been an incredibly stressful and difficult one for the people who make them. My heart goes out to all the developers who were laid off, treated unfairly by their corporate overlords, or never saw their incredible project cross the finish line. As much as we celebrate the games of the year, we celebrate your hard work and dedication despite insurmountable odds.

Thanks to the GB Staff for having me and welcoming me into their slice of the internet, my friends for helping me through a tough year, and to all the weird little freakos in games this year that I will also celebrate below.

After a one-year hiatus, guest lists are back and so is the Giant Bomb Moderator team. We started using cold, hard math to determine the Game of the Year long before the staff did, so it's good to see them come to the correct side of history!

We currently have twelve members on the mod team. Two of our #1 picks didn't even make into the top ten. And two of us didn't play anything new this year. So, as I (Marino) started tabulating the results over the course of several days, our list was briefly, very, very odd. In the end, I feel like it's a mostly normal list, but it came down to the wire. Our first and second place games were only separated by a single point. Anyway, let's get to the list!

10. Marvel's Spider-Man 2

From @marino (#5)

Adam Cole is a professional wrestler working for All Elite Wrestling. This past August in London at Wembley Stadium, he main evented the highest paid attendance show in pro wrestling history. You can often find him playing games on Twitch where he goes by TheCHUGS.

10. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Insomniac has knocked it out of the park on every entry of Spider Man, & Spider Man 2 is no different! I LOVE what they have done with this entry, and I’ve never had more fun not using fast travel!

Mary Kish is the Director of Community Marketing & Production at Twitch and one third of the Fire Escape podcast with Dan Ryckert and Mike Mahardy. You may also remember her as the world's #1 Downwell player during her time at Gamespot.

Weird! I'm writing into a CMS. I haven't done that in a while, and now that I'm doing it -- well, I probably won't have time to do it more often going forward. I do like it, though.

I played a lot of games in 2023. Like normal, I did a ton of dabbling. The thing with ADHD is that you're never doing the thing you're supposed to be doing. That causes me to frequently bounce off of games if I get to a point where I "get it." That's how I know 2023 was such a good year because I actually completed so many games. Not enough for Bailey to not make fun of me on the Bombcast, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

But for me, a year of gaming is not really about a list of games that I finished. That is nice, but I'm more interested in the moments and the stories I can take away from them. So with that in mind, let's talk about some of my highlights and lowlights before we get to my top 10.

I have a lot of feelings about video games in 2023. A lot of feelings about the state of the industry and the treatment of the people making the games we love to play. I’m hopeful that the industry will pull together and unionize and collectively fight to not be wildly exploited by the companies they make profitable through their talent, creativity, and tremendous work. We see you and we see what’s being done to you and it sucks fucking ass.

I played a lot of games this year and it’s been a good ass year for gamers. There are games that are supposedly amazing that I haven’t even had time to touch. There are also a number of games I’ve started, that I want to get back to, that I haven’t had the chance to finish yet. Out of all the games I’ve had the pleasure of playing, these are the games I enjoyed playing through the most this year:

Meghna Jayanth is a writer and narrative designer for games such as Thirsty Suitors, 80 Days, Horizon Zero Dawn, Sable, and Boyfriend Dungeon.

Leon Chang is a New York-based musician whose work you can find on Bandcamp. He's @leyawn on Twitter and can be found on Twitch several times a week.

Before we start I have to preface that I have not yet played Star Ocean: The Second Story R, the remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story. So don’t get mad that I did not put Star Ocean: The Second Story R, the remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story on my games of the year list. Now we can proceed.

Hey! I'm one of the newer faces around these parts, but Jeff reached out and asked if I wanted to regale the Giant Bomb audience with my favorite games of the year. Thanks Grubb, you're a real one.

A quick caveat: If there's a game missing from this list, it is most likely because I simply haven't been able to play it yet. Apologies, for example, to Baldur's Gate 3 fans; it's not you, it's me.

Now, on with my Alphabetical Top 10 Games Of 2023!

Alan Wake II

Let's start by calling myself out: I don't do horror well. Call it being a sissy, call it a fear fueled by a knowledge of my family history combined with my, uh, above-average stature, but horror games and I don't mix. As such, while Alan Wake 2 figures to feature on a lot of GOTY lists, its appearance here honestly surprises me.

Hi. I'm Excalibur. I played A LOT of EA FC 24 this year. More than I should have. I didn't play Alan Wake II or Street Fighter VI this year. That's on me, I'm sorry.

Circling back, I'm Excalibur. I am a play-by-play commentator for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), appearing weekly on our DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE professional wrestling broadcasts that air on various networks and streaming services around the world. I also just started Against the Storm, which seems really cool, and, in full transparency, worked on AEW: Fight Forever, the first-ever video game launched by All Elite Wrestling, which at the end of the day (or year) is a really cool thing to be able to say.

The 10 Best Games of 2023 (Based on How Much I Want to Hang Out With the Characters, and What We Would Do)

By Bailey Meyers

10. Hi-Fi Rush

When I played Hi-Fi Rush, I became certain of one thing: I don’t think I know how to listen to music correctly. Though the devs did create tools that would allow beat-challenged losers like myself and several of the people reading this (you know who you are) to play their game, I think I’m better off just going to a concert or something with Chai, Peppermint, CNMN, et al. We’ll have fun, and I’ll finally learn how to clap along to a beat correctly.

Well well well, here we are again. We made it to the end of the year, folks. Time to relax, unwind, and reflect. It’s been a weird one, hasn’t it?

Giant Bomb’s Game of the Year lists serve to celebrate what we enjoyed the most this year, to talk about the moments that’ll stick with us, the soundtracks we added to our playlists, the games that truly left a mark.

People made those games.

2023 will go down in history for having some of the best games ever made released in quick succession, but also for being relentlessly cruel to the people who make and cover them. Another day, another studio closure, or downsizing, or project cancellation. Opening up Twitter or LinkedIn every morning to see bad news impacting those who simply do not deserve it, while those who made the decisions get off scot free.

Greg Sewart is one of the co-hosts of the Player One Podcast and formerly an editor at publications such as Gaming Age, EGM, and Expert Gamer. You can check out his retro gaming channel, Generation 16.

One of the best parts about turning in my Games Media™ membership card was getting a chance to take a breath and only play the games I wanted rather than jumping from new release to new release all year long. The freedom to play whatever I want has crystalized into a tendency to play way more retro games each year in between the major releases I’m most interested in. So with that in mind, here are three retro games I’m glad knocked off the ol’ backlog in 2023!

Webster’s Dictionary defines “Game of the Year” as “The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search bar above.” That sentiment is especially true in 2023, a year that was chockablock with really quite good video games.

There were so many really quite good video games released this year, in fact, that some really, really quite good video games have kinda fallen out of the “Game of the Year” discussion because other really, really quite good video games came along and hijacked the conversation. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. What am I gonna do? Complain about too many good video games?

The Top 10 Games of the Year That Aren’t HUMANITY

Because HUMANITY Is Great. Play HUMANITY.

Hello wonderful Giant Bomb family! Alex Boniello here, excited to be back for another Game of the Year list. As always, endless shout outs to the crew who are not only hard workers, but are just great people. Congrats to you all on another fun year filled with change, transitions, and laughs.

Like most of you reading this, I’ve played a lot of amazing games this year, and I had a tougher time than usual narrowing this list down. I only wish I had more time to cross a few more of the ones I missed off my list.

I like to get a little funky with these lists, because games are just one of the art forms that help me get through the year, and it is always fun to share! So before we get to the games, here are some Not Video Game things that I loved this year.